Chapter 51: Leek Field
The relationship between Song Yang, Kevin Kelly and "Wired" magazine is very special, and the two sides are truly "insiders".
"I heard about DoubleClick, it's really crazy, maybe this is the Internet!" Kevin said to Song Yang. He remembered that when Song Yang came last time, he was just a poor boy, but after a month or so, he has transformed himself into a multi-millionaire.
Song Yang also gave Kevin Kelly a gift, a new PDA handheld computer, and said, "This is the newest PDA designed by Jeff Hawkins!"
"A gift from a multimillionaire?" Kevin Kelly joked.
He also interviewed Jeff Hawkins, but that guy was having a hard time. PDA handheld computers were popular for a while, but then buyers voted with their feet. Now Apple and other manufacturers have also entered the PDA market, and are making a big killing in this industry that was not profitable to begin with.
Song Yang pointed outside the office, indicating that he was not giving it to Kevin alone, but the entire Wired magazine was "bought" by Song Yang.
"Song, I think you should come to Silicon Valley. It's not easy to meet you now. You don't know how many media want interview you. Now those media are all doubting whether your Double Click company is built on a farm in Texas!" Kevin looked at Song Yang and smiled.
Song Yang's face turned black. Those media were really wicked. They cursed Double Click Company in a roundabout way, saying that Double Click Company was built on a farm. Isn't it just a subtle mockery of Double Click Company being old-fashioned? Of course, the whole Texas has been criticized in America for many years. Those people in New York and Los Angeles called Houston the "Houston Village" more than once or twice.
Kevin couldn't help but smile when he saw Song Yang's expression, "So Song, why are you here this time...?"
DoubleClick is far away from Silicon Valley, the center of the Internet, so Kevin can only learn about DoubleClick through some Texas media reports.
"Talking about some cooperation with Yahoo. DoubleClick wants to deepen its cooperation with Yahoo, including in terms of equity." Song Yang had nothing to keep secret from Kevin Kelly and didn't mind telling him some things that were not too important.
After hearing Song Yang's hint, Kevin Kelly stopped asking questions. Wired magazine is not an unscrupulous tabloid that is keen on reporting false news. Now Wired magazine is the face of American Internet media and represents the banner of Internet culture!
Kevin Kelly and Song Yang casually talked about the recent rumors in Silicon Valley. DoubleClick and Yahoo received huge investments in succession, and Netscape's valuation soared, making the entire Silicon Valley completely agitated. A large number of Internet companies have sprung up like leeks, and funds from Wall Street and the global investment industry have also been poured into this leek field. As for who will reap the leeks , that depends on who has better skills.
"Song, do you have any new plans?" Kevin just asked casually without much expectation. After all, it is not easy to establish a concept like "digital advertising", even though Song Yang is the person with the keenest sense of the Internet that Kevin has ever met.
But what Kevin didn't expect was that after hearing this, Song Yang actually nodded directly, "I do have some new ideas."
"Is it convenient for you to tell me?" Kevin asked immediately. He wanted to know what idea Song Yang had come up with.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Marc Anderson and others once surprised Kevin Kelly, but now this group of people has slowly made Kevin lose that feeling of surprise. It’s not that these people are no longer geniuses, but with their identities, it is difficult for them to set off a new wave that will sweep the Internet and technology industry.
On the contrary, it was Song Yang in front of him who constantly surprised Kevin. The changes in Silicon Valley today were enough to explain everything. The emergence of digital advertising has caused the website to begin to show explosive growth!
"I can guarantee that Wired magazine will be the first to receive the news. In addition, I will also invest in a new project in Silicon Valley by the end of this year at the latest!"
Before leaving, Song Yang said to Kevin Kelly that after moving to Silicon Valley, Song Yang would first investigate those media outlets that mocked DoubleClick as a farmer, and told them not to ever appear in front of Song Yang again.
Driving from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, Song Yang came in a hurry last time. This time, Song Yang noticed how many companies were gathered in this valley less than 25 miles away, not to mention the famous HP, Kodak, Apple, Cisco, Nvidia, etc. As for the less famous companies in the industrial chain, there are more than .
In addition, universities and various scientific research institutions are clustered here. Stanford, Berkeley , San Jose, Cameron and other universities also gather here for meetings. Stanford also has a large industrial park here.
Song Yang was sitting in the car, holding a local map in his hand and looking outside from time to time. He wanted to choose a suitable place to build an office building for ICQ and other future industries.
"Pick a piece of land here!" Song Yang circled a piece of land in San Jose with a pen and said to Greg next to him, planning to circle the land first and build a building when he has money. Song Yang learned this trick from Yahoo. Later, Yahoo suffered a huge loss and ended up selling the land for building its headquarters for more than a billion US dollars...
Greg felt a little pain in his forehead when he saw the large area that Song Yang circled on the map. "With our current funds, we can't buy much land."
Greg counted on his fingers, thinking that he had to maintain the operation of DoubleClick, establish a New York branch, develop Hotmail and ICQ instant messaging, and now buy land, and the money was flowing out like water.
" Buy a part of it first, and then buy the land here when you have the chance. The money will be solved, I promise." Song Yang handed the map with a large area of San Jose City to Greg.
Think about the future housing prices in Silicon Valley. Even people from big companies like Google and Intel are complaining. People from those big companies also live an hour's drive from their offices. If these lands are enclosed, whether they are used to build office buildings and rent them to those big fish farmers, or developed into communities and sold to those people working in Silicon Valley, it will be a sure win.
Yahoo moved out of its original office building and moved into a new one, but the style remained the same. When you entered, you could hear deafening rock music. Various documents were piled on the computer desks, and there was still a mountain of fast food boxes piled up in the corner.
This is the "mainstream culture" of the Internet industry today. The Internet is now a culture, just like rock and roll, representing trends, uninhibited creation of everything. People who flock to this industry believe that they are changing the world.
Of course, since I found out that this thing can make me rich, things have become a little different.
So the Internet industry doesn’t care about image at all nowadays. In comparison, Song Yang and DoubleClick seem to be a bit out of place...
"Song!"
The first person Song Yang saw was Brady. After Brady shook hands with Song Yang, he said, "I'm glad you can come to Song. Yang and Ferro are both inside."
In a conference room, Song Yang met Yang Zhiyuan, the controversial "Yahoo Chief" for the first time.
Yang Zhiyuan had long hair at this time. When he saw Song Yang, he immediately stood up and gave Song Yang a hug. "Nice to meet you, Song!"
"You can call me Song Yang!"
Yang Zhiyuan was surprised to hear Song Yang speak Chinese fluently, which was far beyond his imagination. Then he became more warm to Song Yang. Just like Yahoo now, Yang Zhiyuan was a little proud but very humble, without any airs, just like a good leader of a school club.
Song Yang, Filo and Tim Krug, the current CEO of Yahoo, all greeted each other. Compared with Yang Zhiyuan, Filo was much more dull. Although he had a smile on his face, he had an air of keeping strangers away. Krug was a little hard to read.
After just a quick look around, Song Yang had a vague impression of the current Yahoo.
"I didn't expect that your Chinese is so good!" Yang Zhiyuan looked at Song Yang and said, "You know, it's not easy to find someone who speaks Chinese in Silicon Valley nowadays!"
Song Yang laughed, "There will be more and more in the future!"
In ten or eight years, when Yang Zhiyuan looks back, he will find that the streets of Silicon Valley are full of people speaking Chinese and English with strange accents. If there are not a few people who can speak Chinese in major Internet companies, they probably won't be able to do business.
"Song, we are glad that you are here. Yahoo welcomes everyone to come!"
After Song Yang and Yang Zhiyuan reminisced for a while, Kuger spoke up and said that it was now clear who was managing Yahoo now. Although Yang Zhiyuan and Filo were still the founders and shareholders of Yahoo, it was now people sent by Wall Street who were managing Yahoo.
"I think Brady has already talked to you, Song. Your presence today also shows that both sides are willing to cooperate more deeply!"
"DoubleClick is Yahoo's most important partner. I want to exchange equity, which will be beneficial to both parties!" Yang Zhiyuan said at this time.
Hearing Yang Zhiyuan suddenly speaking, disrupting his rhythm, Kuger frowned slightly, but soon relaxed, "This is also the wish of the Yahoo board of directors!"
"According to our valuation, Yahoo is willing to give up 5% of its shares in exchange for 18% of DoubleClick's shares. In addition, DoubleClick needs to add US$1 million in cash and agree to some of Yahoo's conditions."
After getting to the point, Kuger spoke bluntly, without showing any leniency because of Yang Zhiyuan's recent closeness with Song Yang.
This condition was a concession compared to what Brady had mentioned on the phone before, but Song Yang still felt it was a bit high. "Impossible, DoubleClick can only exchange 10% of its shares for Yahoo!"
