Chapter 762 I think it is worth 1.5 trillion
Next, Lu Yiming analyzed the success of selling 3721 to Yahoo.
Following Lu Yiming's analysis, Zhou Hongyi felt more and more that this deal could be done.
Compared to raising money through an IPO, Zhou Hongyi is actually more interested in selling to Yahoo.
The stock market is like a poker table, and it is even more dangerous than a poker table. Once you are at the table, you cannot control your win or loss.
Although Zhou Hongyi is always confident in herself, the stock market doesn't care about you. Moreover, in the Internet winter in recent years, many Internet stocks have become worthless.
Selling to Yahoo is different. You can argue with reason and clearly mark the price. Then you can just take the money and leave.
As for how much money Yahoo can make from 3721 in the future, that depends on Yahoo's own ability.
If Zhou Hongyi's goal is to go public and then grow bigger and stronger to create greater glory, then she would definitely not be happy to listen to Lu Yiming analyzing Yahoo here.
However, Zhou Hongyi's goal is only to raise money and cash out, so naturally whoever gives the money is the boss, and it doesn't matter whether the company is listed or not.
Zhou Hongyi looked at Lu Yiming and said with a smile: "Mr. Lu, aren't you a shareholder of Yahoo? How about you help me make the trip? After all, you are also a major shareholder of 3721. If this deal goes through, you will still be the one who makes the most money."
Lu Yiming laughed and scolded, "Damn it, if you say that, I am just transferring money from one hand to the other, how can I make money? But I do have to go to the United States soon, I can ask for you."
"Then I would like to thank Mr. Lu first."
A few days later, Lu Yiming arrived in the United States by plane and walked into Yang Zhiyuan's office at Yahoo headquarters.
"Boss Yang, long time no see."
At this time, Yang Zhiyuan was sitting in front of his desk with a depressed expression and wandering eyes, looking as if he was immersed in some kind of mode.
In fact, he was sad.
He recalled his entrepreneurial experience over the past nine years, and felt more and more that the times were changing so fast, so fast that it was hard to keep up and so fast that people were unprepared.
In early 2000, Yahoo's market value reached its peak, reaching $128 billion, which was $20 billion higher than the market value of Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by Warren Buffett.
This made him the leader of the entire Internet market for a time, unrivaled in the industry and a well-deserved leader.
However, in just three short years, Yahoo has experienced great ups and downs. Although it is now showing signs of returning to its peak, with the gradual recovery of the Internet cold wave, Yahoo's revenue this year has also taken advantage of the opportunity to break through to US$1.6 billion.
But everyone knows their own business. Yahoo has exhausted its potential, especially in the search field where it lost to Google. This was a fatal strategic mistake, as it was equivalent to handing over its own traffic entrance to others.
An Internet company without traffic, even if it is still worth some money now, has lost its greatest investment value for investors.
So Yang Zhiyuan is worried about this. In fact, he has already thought of all possible business solutions, but he is not as good as others in search engine technology, which is a fatal flaw. He is completely helpless against Google.
Hearing the voice, Yang Zhiyuan looked up and saw Lu Yiming walking in. His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Boss Lu, why are you here?"
Lu Yiming nodded to thank Yang Zhiyuan's secretary beside him, then walked in and sat on the sofa, smiling and said, "I came to the United States to do something, and it just so happens that I haven't come to see you for a long time, so I came in to see you."
Yang Zhiyuan stood up and asked his secretary to come in and make coffee, but an idea suddenly came to his mind.
Yes, Lu Yiming is not only a shareholder of Yahoo, he is also a shareholder of Google. Why don't you just leave this problem to Lu Yiming to solve? He is a shareholder of both sides, so he will get a share of the losses on either side!
Thinking of this, Yang Zhiyuan felt that the burden on his shoulders was greatly lightened, and he felt indescribably relaxed.
"Hey, Mr. Lu, why didn't you call me earlier? I could pick you up at the airport. And I can also help you arrange your itinerary."
Yang Zhiyuan swept away the previous gloom and sat opposite Lu Yiming, talking and laughing.
Faced with Yang Zhiyuan's hospitality, Lu Yi was obviously more enthusiastic. After all, he came here today to trick Yang Zhiyuan into spending money, so he certainly would not be stingy with his compliments.
"Boss Yang, you are very busy, how dare I disturb you? To be honest, Boss Yang, you are my idol. I chose to start my own business after reading your entrepreneurial story. How can I let my idol pick me up at the airport?"
Although this statement may seem like flattery, Yang Zhiyuan still has a lot of influence in the circle.
In 1995, Robin Li was still working on Wall Street, Lei Jun and Pony Ma were still writing code, and Jack Ma had just resigned from the Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Industry to start Xiaguo Yellow Pages. They were all unknown.
Yang Zhiyuan, a doctoral student at Stanford University, had already founded Yahoo and soon received a $10 million investment from Sequoia Capital.
You have to know that it was the starting stage of the Internet industry at that time. If people wanted to browse the web, they could only find the corresponding domain name by searching the directory and entering it. The operation was very troublesome, which gave Yang Zhiyuan the idea of providing "Internet navigation services."
In short, what Yahoo did was to bring together a large number of websites on one web page for everyone to use for free. It was this idea that allowed Yahoo to go public just one year after its establishment and created a brand new business model for the Internet.
Thanks to the huge traffic gained from this, Yahoo can make profits by selling advertising space.
While other companies are still dreaming of making profits by charging users based on the length of time they spend online, Yahoo has already achieved the goal of allowing users to have a good online experience by paying only for telephone and broadband charges.
Just in the second year after its listing, Yahoo's advertising business had already generated revenue of over $70 million.
In September 1999, when Lu Yiming was still in his senior year of high school, the website of Yahoo in Xia Country had already been launched. A few months later, Yahoo’s market value reached a high of 128 billion US dollars, shocking countless Internet peers in the United States and Xia Country.
It can be said that many people in this circle are actually Yang Zhiyuan’s “fans”.
Yang Zhiyuan was quite pleased with Lu Yiming's words. After all, that was the highlight of his life. He just said modestly, "Mr. Lu, you are too polite. You are the richest man in Asia at such a young age, and you are the leader in the field of diversified investment. You are really a young man to be feared."
The fancy sedan chair was carrying the person, and Lu Yiming and Yang Zhiyuan were getting more and more excited as they talked, and they were just about to chop off the chicken's head and burn yellow paper.
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "Haha, Mr. Yang, you are joking. My small business cannot be compared with Yahoo. To be honest, my first email address in my life was Yahoo Mail. That was my first impression of the Internet, and I still can't forget it."
Lu Yiming showed a nostalgic look on his face, which was a rare expression of true emotion.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Lu Yiming did not forget the main business and began to explain his purpose: "Boss Yang, I came to see you today mainly to discuss a business with you."
However, as soon as Lu Yiming finished speaking, Yang Zhiyuan also said with a smile: "What a coincidence, Mr. Lu, I saw you coming here today, and I also wanted to discuss a big deal with you."
This was beyond Lu Yiming's expectations. He joked, "Were we thinking the same thing? Tell me first, what kind of deal are you going to discuss with me?"
Yang Zhiyuan did not hesitate to speak directly, "To be honest, I want to buy the Google shares in your hands, Mr. Lu."
Then, he smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, are you coming here today just to sell me Google's stock?"
Yang Zhiyuan wants to buy Google stock?
This was indeed beyond Lu Yiming's expectations. He recalled carefully in his mind, and he really couldn't remember when Yang Zhiyuan bought a large amount of Google stocks.
However, Lu Yiming knew exactly how powerful Google was. To be frank, if he had to choose between Google and Yahoo, he would definitely choose Yahoo without hesitation.
There is no need to say more about how awesome Android is.
Thinking of this, Lu Yiming did not beat around the bush and said bluntly: "Boss Yang, I am very optimistic about the development potential of Google, so the price will be relatively high. I am afraid that you will be in a difficult situation at that time. How about buying something else? To be honest, I still have a lot of good things in my hands."
Yang Zhiyuan was prepared for Lu Yiming's rejection. Although he felt a little disappointed, he was not surprised. After all, Lu Yiming was not short of money and had a large amount of cash flow. There was no need to sell stocks with healthy performance to cash out.
However, he still asked somewhat unwillingly: "Why? Mr. Lu, are you worried that I can't afford the money?"
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "How could that be? I'm just worried that the price I offer will hurt the harmony between our two families. After all, it's Google. If I sell it cheaply, I'll feel bad. If I sell it expensively, Mr. Yang, you'll think I'm asking for too much. There's really no need for that. Mr. Yang, you're worth billions. Is there anything in this world that you can't afford?"
However, Lu Yiming's words did not make Yang Zhiyuan back down. Instead, they gave him hope to continue the discussion, so he urged him directly, "Mr. Lu, please stop complimenting me for now. Let's talk business, just name your price."
"real?"
Seeing that Yang Zhiyuan could actually say such words, Lu Yiming was actually surprised in his heart, because this showed that Yang Zhiyuan's needs were very urgent, and he even put this urgency out in the open, which is a big taboo in business.
It's like putting a sign on your forehead that says "I am a big enemy, come and cut me."
However, after a careful analysis, Lu Yiming could understand why Yang Zhiyuan was so eager. After all, Yahoo was beaten by Google and couldn't raise its head. If this continued, Yahoo would be beaten by Google and couldn't find its way. So Yang Zhiyuan came up with a trick, which was to buy the Google stocks in Lu Yiming's hands and get into Google directly.
No matter how much money is spent, as long as Google can be dealt with, the money can definitely be earned back from the leeks.
If we don’t do this, what we have left now may be slowly eroded.
Yang Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and said, "Of course it's true. Mr. Lu, let's be frank. As long as you are willing to sell me your Google shares, I can accept any price."
Seeing Yang Zhiyuan say this, Lu Yiming could only say with a reluctant expression, "To be honest, Mr. Yang, I have never seen a businessman as sincere as you! Moreover, we are all descendants of Yan and Huang, and you are also my idol. If I were to bid a high price for you, it would definitely be very inappropriate. In this way, I will take a loss and give you a 70% discount based on the psychological price. How about that?"
When Yang Zhiyuan heard Lu Yiming's words, he was overjoyed and even had the urge to kowtow to Lu Yiming on the spot.
He was prepared to be ripped off by Lu Yiming. But instead of asking for an exorbitant price, Lu Yiming was willing to sell it at 70% off his psychological price.
Yang Zhiyuan felt that Lu Yiming was his biological father even though he had no blood relationship with him.
" Mr. Lu, thank you so much! You are the most down-to-earth person I have ever met in business!"
Lu Yiming said cheerfully: "Hey, you're welcome, we're all family. Don't you think that in this beautiful country, when fellow villagers meet, their eyes are filled with tears. Don't they support each other?"
"Yes, that's the truth!"
Yang Zhiyuan nodded his head and said, "That's right! Then, Mr. Lu, please give me a price."
At this time, Yang Zhiyuan felt refreshed and full of fighting spirit.
However, Lu Yiming's next words made Yang Zhiyuan a little defensive.
Lu Yiming said, "What do you think of $33.75 billion?"
"How many?!"
At this moment, Yang Zhiyuan felt that the half-brother and the honest man who did business with his idol were all just empty talk! They were all garbage!
Mr. Lu, ah, Mr. Lu, you have such a black heart.
Yang Zhiyuan was already regretting what he had said just now.
What do you mean by fellow villagers meeting and having tears in their eyes? It's obvious that when fellow villagers meet, they shoot each other.
A few months ago, Sergey Brin and Larry Page's offer was only $5 billion, and that was to sell Google as a whole to Yahoo.
At that time, Yang Zhiyuan thought that the price was too high, but now facing Lu Yiming, he realized what excessive meant.
33.75 billion US dollars, you can buy Google seven times by negotiating!
All kinds of thoughts went through his mind, and Yang Zhiyuan's tone became unfriendly: "Mr. Lu, if I remember correctly, the total Google shares you hold are less than 8%."
However, Lu Yiming said with a sincere face, "Yes, Google is worth at least 1.5 trillion US dollars to me. If I give you a 70% discount, 33.75 billion US dollars is fair, right? Don't worry, I'm good at math, and I definitely didn't make a mistake."
Yang Zhiyuan's face turned dark on the spot.
$1.5 trillion?
Is this US dollar issued by Tiandi Bank?
There isn't such severe inflation even in hell.
Seeing Yang Zhiyuan's gloomy expression, Lu Yiming also looked innocent: "Boss Yang, I'm really not kidding you. Google is indeed worth the price. How about we talk about something else?"
Yang Zhiyuan knew that it was impossible for him to buy Google shares from Lu Yiming.
33.75 billion US dollars, he can't even bargain with this offer!
There is no doubt that in his opinion, Lu Yiming had no intention of selling the Google shares in his hands, so he just bid the price randomly.
With a market value of 1.5 trillion US dollars, even those crazy people on Wall Street don’t believe it!
The plan to buy Google fell through. Yang Zhiyuan was not interested in what Lu Yiming wanted to talk about next. He leaned on the sofa and said weakly, "Boss Lu, what else do you want to talk to me about?"
Lu Yiming did not say it directly, but asked with a smile: "Mr. Yang, I wonder if Yahoo is interested in entering the mainland market of Xiaguo now?"
Entering the mainland market of Xiaguo?
Yang Zhiyuan immediately became alert.
The company does have plans in this regard, and this involves Yahoo's core strategic direction. Even within the company, only a few senior executives know about it. How could Lu Yiming, an outsider, get wind of it so quickly?
Yang Zhiyuan’s first thought was: Is there a traitor in the company?
It's no wonder he thought so. After all, the business world is like a battlefield, and tactics like infiltration and alienation are common among large companies.
Seeing this, Lu Yiming smiled more meaningfully: "Boss Yang, facing the pressure from Google, Yahoo now has few options. And I think, Boss Yang, you will definitely want to replicate the success in the island country and Taiwan Province to boost Yahoo's stock price, right?"
Yang Zhiyuan has a strong gambler's mentality and is not the kind of person who can calm down and do things well.
What he likes is "fast, accurate and ruthless", and he wants to strengthen Yahoo and expand rapidly through financing .
This kind of gameplay was not a problem in the chaotic and disordered Internet 1.0 era. After all, everyone was a novice at that time and was unfamiliar with this new thing, so of course whoever was faster would eat more and have a bigger piece.
But the Internet 2.0 era is coming soon, and the entire industry will have to start fighting hand-to-hand. The competition will no longer be about who has a larger scale or more capital, but who has stronger technology and who can better grasp the psychology of users.
At this point, Yahoo was a bit behind and gradually fell behind.
It’s a pity that Yang Zhiyuan is still obsessed with the glory of the past and fails to realize this.
When Yahoo landed in Xiaguo in 1999, Xiaguo's portal website was just in its infancy, while Yahoo already possessed brand influence and technical strength far exceeding that of domestic Internet giants. However, not only did Yahoo fail to seize this opportunity, but it gradually marginalized itself in Xiaguo's Internet industry.
The key reason why Yahoo fell behind at the starting line was that it completely “copied and pasted” the English website in the early stage. Yahoo Xiaguo was completely a translated version of the English website, but the original Western content obviously could not meet the local needs of Xiaguo netizens, so that in the portal website field, Yahoo lost to several up-and-coming companies such as Zhalang and NetEase.
Similar situations are not only happening in Xiaguo. Apart from the global market in beautiful foreign countries, Yahoo has only been relatively successful in Taiwan and the island country.
Yang Zhiyuan, who realized the situation later, was thinking about replicating the Taiwan model and hoped to acquire a mainland company to boost Yahoo's performance in China.
There were two choices before him, Li Hongyan's Qiandu and Zhou Hongyi's 3721.
Unfortunately, one of these two companies is in the hands of Li Yiwen and the other is in the hands of Lu Yiming.
No matter what choice Yang Zhiyuan made, he would inevitably be hit hard. It can only be said that from the beginning to the end, Lu Yiming had arranged everything for Yahoo clearly.
