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From 1UpMedia, Empires is an immersive storytelling that dives deep into the history of the most successful businesses in Asia.
Every Monday, you’ll learn the history of its leaders, the decisions that have rippled across the industry, and the factors that allowed them to become the empire’s that they are today.
From triumph and victories, to monumental failures – Empires gets you behind the scenes of some of the most successful companies in Asia.
Copyright: © 1 Up Media
VNG, often referred to as the "Tencent of Vietnam," is one of Southeast Asia's pioneering unicorns.
Mirroring Tencent, a significant 70% of VNG's revenue comes from gaming. Among its array of products, VNG boasts Zing, Zalo, and Zalopay, which parallel QQ - a social app, WeChat - a messenger, and WePay - a mobile wallet respectively.
VNG's remarkable success in Vietnam is nothing but extraordinary, especially since it'll stand its ground against global powerhouses like Facebook, carving a distinctly local path forward for the land of the ascending dragon. In Ep 1. Dive into Kingsoft's gamble on the young upstart Vinagames, the precursor to VNG. In Ep 2. Trace the evolution of Vinagames into VNG, through the ZING division whose internet products will touch over a 100 million lives. In Ep 3. Witness what happens when Facebook comes to town, and VNG's struggle in the battle for social media. In Ep 4. Delve deeper as their business skirmishes becomes a full-blown war over messaging platforms, reshaping the roles of VNG and Facebook in Vietnam In Ep 5. Hear from industry insiders as they shed light on VNG's significance in the region.
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We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
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Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
VNG, often referred to as the "Tencent of Vietnam," is one of Southeast Asia's pioneering unicorns.
Mirroring Tencent, a significant 70% of VNG's revenue comes from gaming. Among its array of products, VNG boasts Zing, Zalo, and Zalopay, which parallel QQ - a social app, WeChat - a messenger, and WePay - a mobile wallet respectively.
VNG's remarkable success in Vietnam is nothing but extraordinary, especially since it'll stand its ground against global powerhouses like Facebook, carving a distinctly local path forward for the land of the ascending dragon. In Ep 1. Dive into Kingsoft's gamble on the young upstart Vinagames, the precursor to VNG. In Ep 2. Trace the evolution of Vinagames into VNG, through the ZING division whose internet products will touch over a 100 million lives. In Ep 3. Witness what happens when Facebook comes to town, and VNG's struggle in the battle for social media. In Ep 4. Delve deeper as their business skirmishes becomes a full-blown war over messaging platforms, reshaping the roles of VNG and Facebook in Vietnam In Ep 5. Hear from industry insiders as they shed light on VNG's significance in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
VNG, often referred to as the "Tencent of Vietnam," is one of Southeast Asia's pioneering unicorns.
Mirroring Tencent, a significant 70% of VNG's revenue comes from gaming. Among its array of products, VNG boasts Zing, Zalo, and Zalopay, which parallel QQ - a social app, WeChat - a messenger, and WePay - a mobile wallet respectively.
VNG's remarkable success in Vietnam is nothing but extraordinary, especially since it'll stand its ground against global powerhouses like Facebook, carving a distinctly local path forward for the land of the ascending dragon. In Ep 1. Dive into Kingsoft's gamble on the young upstart Vinagames, the precursor to VNG. In Ep 2. Trace the evolution of Vinagames into VNG, through the ZING division whose internet products will touch over a 100 million lives. In Ep 3. Witness what happens when Facebook comes to town, and VNG's struggle in the battle for social media. In Ep 4. Delve deeper as their business skirmishes becomes a full-blown war over messaging platforms, reshaping the roles of VNG and Facebook in Vietnam In Ep 5. Hear from industry insiders as they shed light on VNG's significance in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
VNG, often referred to as the "Tencent of Vietnam," is one of Southeast Asia's pioneering unicorns.
Mirroring Tencent, a significant 70% of VNG's revenue comes from gaming. Among its array of products, VNG boasts Zing, Zalo, and Zalopay, which parallel QQ - a social app, WeChat - a messenger, and WePay - a mobile wallet respectively.
VNG's remarkable success in Vietnam is nothing but extraordinary, especially since it'll stand its ground against global powerhouses like Facebook, carving a distinctly local path forward for the land of the ascending dragon.
In Ep 1. Dive into Kingsoft's gamble on the young upstart Vinagames, the precursor to VNG.
In Ep 2. Trace the evolution of Vinagames into VNG, through the ZING division whose internet products will touch over a 100 million lives.
In Ep 3. Witness what happens when Facebook comes to town, and VNG's struggle in the battle for social media.
In Ep 4. Delve deeper as their business skirmishes becomes a full-blown war over messaging platforms, reshaping the roles of VNG and Facebook in Vietnam
In Ep 5. Hear from industry insiders as they shed light on VNG's significance in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
Alibaba is the Amazon of China, who's annual active user base is equivalent to the entire population of India. Alibaba, draws 70% of its total revenue from domestic operations and an additional 7% from international commerce. The firm also has a growing cloud division, similar to Amazon's, accounting for 9% of its revenues. The remaining revenues are generated from its digital media and distribution sectors. Throughout its growth, Alibaba would face industry titans such as eBay, and Amazon themselves, but emerge on top - creating the next wave of China billionare dragons. In Ep 1. We'll learn the humble life and painful experiences that turn Alibaba founder, Jack Ma into a global icon. In Ep 2. We'll follow the establishment (Joe Tsai, John Wu, Savio Kwan), rise then repercussion of Alibaba's ambitions as the dot com recession came smashing in. In Ep 3. We'll witness the intense war games between Alibaba and eBay, that birthed Taobao & Alipay (Ant Financial). In Ep 4. We'll observe the major mistep that eBay made, and the controversial deal that turned Alibaba into a billion dollar enterprise. In Ep 5. We'll behold the final transformation of Alibaba - that formed what experts call the iron triangle; dominating in e-commerce, mobile payments and supply chain. In Ep 6. We'll speak to both Cynthia Ding (Founder Partner of Yincubator) and Jeremy Au (VC & Chief of Staff for Monk's Hill Ventures) to learn more about their involvement in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
Alibaba is the Amazon of China, who's annual active user base is equivalent to the entire population of India. Alibaba, draws 70% of its total revenue from domestic operations and an additional 7% from international commerce. The firm also has a growing cloud division, similar to Amazon's, accounting for 9% of its revenues. The remaining revenues are generated from its digital media and distribution sectors. Throughout its growth, Alibaba would face industry titans such as eBay, and Amazon themselves, but emerge on top - creating the next wave of China billionare dragons. In Ep 1. We'll learn the humble life and painful experiences that turn Alibaba founder, Jack Ma into a global icon. In Ep 2. We'll follow the establishment (Joe Tsai, John Wu, Savio Kwan), rise then repercussion of Alibaba's ambitions as the dot com recession came smashing in. In Ep 3. We'll witness the intense war games between Alibaba and eBay, that birthed Taobao & Alipay (Ant Financial). In Ep 4. We'll observe the major mistep that eBay made, and the controversial deal that turned Alibaba into a billion dollar enterprise. In Ep 5. We'll behold the final transformation of Alibaba - that formed what experts call the iron triangle; dominating in e-commerce, mobile payments and supply chain. In Ep 6. We'll speak to both Cynthia Ding (Founder Partner of Yincubator) and Jeremy Au (VC & Chief of Staff for Monk's Hill Ventures) to learn more about their involvement in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee -
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
Alibaba is the Amazon of China, who's annual active user base is equivalent to the entire population of India. Alibaba, draws 70% of its total revenue from domestic operations and an additional 7% from international commerce. The firm also has a growing cloud division, similar to Amazon's, accounting for 9% of its revenues. The remaining revenues are generated from its digital media and distribution sectors. Throughout its growth, Alibaba would face industry titans such as eBay, and Amazon themselves, but emerge on top - creating the next wave of China billionare dragons. In Ep 1. We'll learn the humble life and painful experiences that turn Alibaba founder, Jack Ma into a global icon. In Ep 2. We'll follow the establishment (Joe Tsai, John Wu, Savio Kwan), rise then repercussion of Alibaba's ambitions as the dot com recession came smashing in. In Ep 3. We'll witness the intense war games between Alibaba and eBay, that birthed Taobao & Alipay (Ant Financial). In Ep 4. We'll observe the major mistep that eBay made, and the controversial deal that turned Alibaba into a billion dollar enterprise. In Ep 5. We'll behold the final transformation of Alibaba - that formed what experts call the iron triangle; dominating in e-commerce, mobile payments and supply chain. In Ep 6. We'll speak to both Cynthia Ding (Founder Partner of Yincubator) and Jeremy Au (VC & Chief of Staff for Monk's Hill Ventures) to learn more about their involvement in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
Alibaba is the Amazon of China, who's annual active user base is equivalent to the entire population of India. Alibaba, draws 70% of its total revenue from domestic operations and an additional 7% from international commerce. The firm also has a growing cloud division, similar to Amazon's, accounting for 9% of its revenues. The remaining revenues are generated from its digital media and distribution sectors. Throughout its growth, Alibaba would face industry titans such as eBay, and Amazon themselves, but emerge on top - creating the next wave of China billionare dragons. In Ep 1. We'll learn the humble life and painful experiences that turn Alibaba founder, Jack Ma into a global icon. In Ep 2. We'll follow the establishment (Joe Tsai, John Wu, Savio Kwan), rise then repercussion of Alibaba's ambitions as the dot com recession came smashing in. In Ep 3. We'll witness the intense war games between Alibaba and eBay, that birthed Taobao & Alipay (Ant Financial). In Ep 4. We'll observe the major mistep that eBay made, and the controversial deal that turned Alibaba into a billion dollar enterprise. In Ep 5. We'll behold the final transformation of Alibaba - that formed what experts call the iron triangle; dominating in e-commerce, mobile payments and supply chain. In Ep 6. We'll speak to both Cynthia Ding (Founder Partner of Yincubator) and Jeremy Au (VC & Chief of Staff for Monk's Hill Ventures) to learn more about their involvement in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
Alibaba is the Amazon of China, who's annual active user base is equivalent to the entire population of India. Alibaba, draws 70% of its total revenue from domestic operations and an additional 7% from international commerce. The firm also has a growing cloud division, similar to Amazon's, accounting for 9% of its revenues. The remaining revenues are generated from its digital media and distribution sectors. Throughout its growth, Alibaba would face industry titans such as eBay, and Amazon themselves, but emerge on top - creating the next wave of China billionare dragons. In Ep 1. We'll learn the humble life and painful experiences that turn Alibaba founder, Jack Ma into a global icon. In Ep 2. We'll follow the establishment (Joe Tsai, John Wu, Savio Kwan), rise then repercussion of Alibaba's ambitions as the dot com recession came smashing in. In Ep 3. We'll witness the intense war games between Alibaba and eBay, that birthed Taobao & Alipay (Ant Financial). In Ep 4. We'll observe the major mistep that eBay made, and the controversial deal that turned Alibaba into a billion dollar enterprise. In Ep 5. We'll behold the final transformation of Alibaba - that formed what experts call the iron triangle; dominating in e-commerce, mobile payments and supply chain. In Ep 6. We'll speak to both Cynthia Ding (Founder Partner of Yincubator) and Jeremy Au (VC & Chief of Staff for Monk's Hill Ventures) to learn more about their involvement in the region.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
In the 2020s, Philippines went through a fintech revolution. 80% of unbanked Filipinos or 90 million users were caught in the Gcash and PayMaya (now Maya) fintech war which had metamorphosized the country.
But this war is part of a broader picture.
From an international standpoint it seems like a proxy war between the China companies, Tencent (who backed Maya) and Alibaba (Gcash). But domestically the rivalry actually extends decades earlier as both fintech companies are offshoots from the 2 largest telecommunications company in the Philippines, PLDT (who backed Maya) and Globe Telecom (Gcash).
The latter, Globe Telecom is one of the greatest success stories in the Philippines, because back then PLDT had over twice the number of users, and operating cash flow, with about 4 times the market value as Globe Telecom.
But today? Globe Telecom had come to compete against PLDT as equals.
In Ep 1. We reveal the disproportionate rise of PLDT, forged during a time of great unfairness in the Marcos Ferdinand era. In Ep 2. We explain the astronomical challenges ahead of Globe Telecom to beat PLDT, and introduce the man responsible in leading the charge - Ernest Cu. In Ep 3. We explore into the rapid transformation that Globe Telecom underwent, eventually beating out PLDT. In Ep 4. We dive head first into the fintech wars between Gcash and Maya, which birth the country's first 2 unicorns. In Ep 5 (Guest). We speak to Maya's Chief Marketing Officer, Pepe Torres to understand more about the on-going fintech wars.
In Ep 6 (Guest). We speak to Gcash's Chief Marketing Officer, Neil Trinidad to understand more about the on-going fintech wars.
-
We're looking to grow our team! Help support our productions here :') Buy Me a Coffee
-
Want to discover more origins, rise & fall on Asian business empires? Follow us on our
Tiktok where we share 5 minute breakdowns of some of the most interesting Asian businesses.
Youtube to understand the bigger picture beyond the Asian business empires.
Want to meet the team? Follow me here!
-
If you love the style of Empires, and want similar content, check out:
📝💕 "Post, Love", Essays on Love, Life and Everything in Between. (On Spotify/ Apple)
🔪🩸 "Heinous", A Revive Look at the Most Heinous Crimes in Asia. (On Spotify/ Apple)
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