booktalesy 35. Acquisition of KinoZal
35. Acquisition of KinoZal
Li Xiang took out his notebook and found a pirated video website called KinoZal.
KinoZaI means screening room in Russian.
"I know this website, I use it often." Dalia is a fan of Korean dramas.
While Russian television stations do import some foreign dramas, the number is limited, and the audience watches them by downloading torrents.
KinoZaI is the top figure among Russia's many pirated video forums, and he is currently still in the stage of generating revenue out of passion, without any commercial monetization.
It is precisely because there are no illegal or shady GGs that the user experience is relatively good, which is why KinoZaI has accumulated a large number of loyal users in just two years.
Li Xiang began to paint a rosy picture: "KinoZaI has 150 million active users, which is like a small TV station."
Dalia interrupted, "I don't understand any of what you're saying. I'm just asking you, do you want this website?"
"Yes." Li Xiang nodded in agreement.
Dalia asked bluntly, "If you want it, you have to pay for it. How much are you willing to pay?"
Li Xiang cleared his throat and replied, "Two hundred thousand US dollars."
"We're all family, can't you be honest with your aunt?" After playing the family card, Dalia asked again, "What exactly is your bottom line?"
Li Xiang truthfully replied, "Anything under 400,000 US dollars is acceptable."
Dalia pointed at the computer screen, her face filled with shock, and said, "This crappy website costs four hundred thousand US dollars? My house isn't even worth four hundred thousand!"
"It's about worth it now," Li Xiang blurted out without thinking.
The commodity market is experiencing a super bull market, and Russia's economy is like it's on steroids, driving up housing prices. In the two major metropolitan areas of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the average increase in housing prices this year has reached 80%.
It is expected to double by the end of the year.
That's how resource-exporting countries are. When they're making money, everyone is rich, leading to a surge in housing demand. However, the increase in housing supply takes time, which in turn drives up housing prices in the short term.
When the economy collapses, everyone suddenly stops making money, and when housing prices fall, it's like a sudden plunge.
Dalia rolled her eyes at Li Xiang and continued, "I don't understand or care about technology, but I can help you with the acquisition of KinoZaI."
"Your target price is $400,000. Give me that $400,000, and you don't need to worry about the rest. I'll go talk to KinoZaI. How much I can negotiate down the price is up to me, don't ask."
"You're robbing me without giving me a single penny?" Li Xiang frowned.
"What kind of person are you making me out to be? I just wanted to scare them a little. I'd be happy if I could get a discount of 20,000 or 30,000." Seeing that Li Xiang was still hesitating, Dalia continued to persuade him, "I know what you're worried about. I promise I won't hurt anyone or cause you any trouble."
"Even if something unexpected happens, I can just run away to Germany and deal with the mess I made myself. It has nothing to do with you."
Li Xiang earnestly advised, "Think about Roman before making any decision."
Dalia said, "I'm just thinking about my son. You should transfer that $400,000 to Natasha and let him keep it for Roman."
"Turn around, huh? You're still planning to steal it, aren't you?"
"I'll pay in cash."
Li Xiang just realized, "Oh, right, saves me the trouble of washing it."
In order to join the WTO, Russia has begun to tighten copyright regulations and just revised its Copyright Law this year, but it will not be officially implemented until 08.
This is the golden age of internet piracy in Russia, and also the last two years of the piracy boom.
Although pirate websites are currently largely unregulated in Russia, especially at the law enforcement level, it is still an illegal business. Even if no one intervenes, the owners won't be foolish enough to come forward and reveal their identities.
The first problem I faced when trying to buy KinoZaI was finding someone to buy it.
Dalia does have some talent in social engineering.
She found a mediocre hacker who, posing as someone applying for a job in a subtitling group, hacked the group with an email and then continued to exploit the group leader's computer.
The problem lies in Russia's lax regulation of internet piracy; there is no sense of crisis, and therefore no preventative measures.
Dalia actually managed to uncover the real controller behind KinoZaI.
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Zelenoglar is Moscow's "Silicon Valley," home to a large cluster of microelectronics, semiconductor, and IT industries, with a population of approximately 200,000.
With a population of 200,000, it wouldn't even qualify as a small county town in the country.
But in sparsely populated Russia, this is considered a relatively large satellite city.
The founding team of KinoZaI is located here.
The passage of the new copyright law in Russia is a major shock to the industry for the three founders of KinoZaI.
There are only two possible futures for the website: either it goes underground or it goes legal.
Of course, there is a third option.
Take advantage of the last two years of the piracy boom to quickly commercialize and make a fortune.
"Clearing our name? I'd like to clear my name too, but who's going to invest in a pirate website like ours?"
"Gerry has a point. We should find a way to monetize our work as soon as possible, instead of working for nothing."
"We have traffic because we have a good user experience and no spam. Once we start monetizing, we'll lose a lot of users..."
The three are discussing.
"Knock knock!" Someone knocked on the door.
Who is it?
The three founders of KinoZaI have absolutely no professional awareness as criminals; they don't even look through the peephole when someone knocks on the door.
They simply opened the door.
Five heavily armed police officers filed in, led by a short-haired female officer.
Although she had cut her hair, added a lot of freckles to her face, and wore sunglasses, people who knew her well could still recognize her upon closer inspection; it was Dalia.
"Police!" Dalia flashed her fake ID, which was just a quick glance.
The person who came in later had already closed the door.
The three musketeers are only twenty-three years old on average, and they are all tech geeks who have lived in a small city like Zelenogler for a long time. They have never seen anything like this before.
One of them was so scared that his legs went weak, and he was pulled up by the "police officer" next to him.
"What do you want with us?"
"Don't you know what illegal things you've done?" Dalia forgot her lines, turned around to look at her cheat sheet, then turned back with a stern face and said, "The special crackdown on online copyright infringement and piracy, KinoZaI, you guys were behind it, weren't you?"
"No." "No." "Yes."
Dalia stared wide-eyed and asked, "Is it true or not?"
"Yes." "No." "Yes."
"You're the most stubborn one. You said it twice when we asked you. Would we have come here without evidence?" Dalia found a place to sit down, cleared her throat and said, "You've really messed up. This is a federal operation, cross-regional law enforcement. Local connections are useless. No one can help you."
"I see you're all quite young, and it's your first time committing a crime. If you really go to jail, your lives will be over. If you're willing to cooperate, it can be considered that you've turned yourself in."
"Tell me, where is the server?"
Illegal websites have no ownership; whoever gains control of the website owns it.
"The new copyright law hasn't been implemented yet, so what we're doing is just a regulatory blind spot, not a crime," Grigory retorted boldly.
Dalia pointed at Gerry and snapped, "You talk too much nonsense. I don't need you to say anything more now. Shut your mouth. Once he's done talking and everything's alright, you can go to jail yourself."
Dalia withdrew her hand, crossed her arms, and said, "I think you're all just kids from ordinary families, so I don't want to get physical with you. If you want to see how Russian police handle cases, I can give you that opportunity."