Chapter 817 Yahoo Buys Alibaba
It was the summer of 2005. The scorching heat in August was unbearable. Every time at this time, everyone would thank the air conditioner for saving their lives. But when I think about the fact that the air conditioner also contributed to the rise in temperature, I suddenly feel that this is very contradictory.
Lu Yiming planned to take a summer vacation for himself. Although he had already graduated from college, it didn't matter.
Although it was cool in the air-conditioned room, Lu Yiming always felt something was off.
There was a meaningless soap opera playing on TV, but Shi Qingxue was watching it with great interest while lying on the sofa.
A pair of delicate little feet wrapped in ultra-thin flesh-colored pantyhose rested on Lu Yiming's knees, enjoying Lu Yiming's massage service.
"The weather is really too hot. In my impression, Shanghai is already in the north, but I didn't expect it to be so outrageous. How about we go on a trip? How about Jiuzhaigou? There is a big forest there, the climate is cool and pleasant, and the natural air-conditioned room is much more comfortable than using air conditioning."
Lu Yiming played with Shi Qingxue's beautiful legs in stockings and offered his suggestions distractedly.
Shi Qingxue watched the sunlight outside turn almost white. She imagined the feeling of jumping into an oven as soon as she went out, and she became very hesitant.
Of course she wanted to travel with Lu Yiming. After all, everyone was busy with their own careers and they hadn't relaxed for a long time.
Obviously this should not be the life of a rich person - at least not the life of a rich person that Lu Yiming imagined.
Although it felt like it would be very hot to go out, Shi Qingxue still said very considerately: "If you want to go, then let's go."
After all, they are financially independent, so traveling whenever they want is not difficult for them.
But just as the two of them got up and prepared to pack up and leave, Li Yiwen called.
"Something happened, something serious happened!"
His tone was so urgent that even Lu Yiming was startled.
Li Yiwen is usually very calm. Something that can make him so anxious today must be something very important.
Lu Yiming asked quickly: "What happened? Someone died?"
In Lu Yiming's understanding, the most troublesome thing is loss of life, and everything else is secondary.
However, Li Yiwen's words made Lu Yiming feel relieved.
"What human life? I heard that Yahoo is planning to invest in Ali, and Yang Zhiyuan has already arrived in Beijing and is discussing cooperation with Lao Ma!"
Hearing Li Yiwen say this, Lu Yiming was completely relieved. In history, Ali did accept Yahoo's investment, spending $1 billion to get 40% of Ali's shares, becoming Ali's largest shareholder.
Of course, this will definitely not happen now. Even if Ali accepts Yahoo's investment again, Yahoo will not be able to get more than 40% of the shares. After all, most of the shares are in Lu Yiming's hands. If Jack Ma sells his shares again, he will probably be left with nothing.
Li Yiwen felt that Yahoo was trying to steal money from Future Capital when it came to buy Ali's shares at this time, which made him very unhappy.
Li Yiwen asked: "Should we stop this possible transaction?"
Lu Yiming shook his head slightly and said, "This man would be a so-called local hero in ancient times. He is the kind of person who would 'not be depressed and inferior to others for long'. How can we stop him? The more we try to stop him, the more determined he will be to make this deal."
As for Jack Ma, the traitor, Lu Yiming has been a spectator for a long time.
If this guy wanted to make money, he would have nothing to worry about being the richest man. But he had the crazy idea of opening a university to recruit children of officials and build up his own connections. When the truth came out, many of the graduates had reached the level of vice-provincial level.
Many people think that Jack Ma was caught in a tragedies because the banks did not change. But in fact, in Xia Country, economic issues are not really a problem.
Li Yiwen didn't know this, but he could hear the hidden meaning in Lu Yiming's words, and asked in surprise: "You mean, he brought in Yahoo on purpose, just to check and balance us?"
"What else?"
Lu Yiming was not panicked at all, and he had no opinion on Jack Ma's idea at all: "Although Jack Ma was very respectful to me in the beginning, he is now strong enough to be his own boss. It is natural for me to do it. There is no need for me to interfere. As long as I still hold the shares, it is enough. Let him do whatever he wants. When the stock price of Ali reaches its peak, I will sell some of the shares."
Upon learning that Lu Yiming actually wanted to sell Ali's shares at the right time, Li Yiwen was very confused and said, "Ali owns a business platform like Taobao, whose value is beyond imagination. Shouldn't we keep it firmly in our hands?"
At present, Ali has gradually developed a monopoly nature. If one controls such a platform, one can obtain more than just monetary benefits. In a sense, one can even control power and even influence the economic direction of a region.
This is not a delusion. When Ali was at his most glorious time, when Jack Ma traveled abroad, even foreign leaders came to greet him. The treatment he received was so high that an ordinary businessman could not enjoy it at all.
Why?
It’s because the interests involved on the Taobao platform are too huge.
Lu Yiming said to Li Yiwen: "It is because the interests involved are too great that we must know how to protect ourselves and retreat at the right time. When online shopping develops to a certain extent, it will cover the entire country. Do you think such a platform can be simply handed over to capitalists to manage?"
“Ah, this…”
As the saying goes, the Celestial Empire has its own national conditions. Li Yiwen understood it all at once and was so frightened that his face turned pale.
Lu Yiming sighed and said, "Capital is a ferocious tiger , and if the tiger is not locked in a cage, it will definitely jump out and eat people."
In the previous life, when Taobao was developing, it initially took care of small and medium-sized businesses, but after the platform was monopolized, all kinds of outrageous operations followed.
When it comes to making money, you can only make more if you lose your conscience. How can capital not cut leeks?
In the end, why did he suddenly disappear, and even his social media identity became that of a rural teacher?
There are many tricks involved.
So as a big capitalist, you have to have some vision and understand what money you can make and what money you cannot make.
As for wanting to control huge social resources by controlling the platform, this idea itself is extremely outrageous, because this is a power that only the government has. How can a capitalist exceed it?
Therefore, Lu Yiming has a clear positioning of himself: he should do business only and should not do anything that crosses the line.
Lu Yiming explained this truth to Li Yiwen. Although Li Yiwen felt very sorry, he was also a smart man and knew what his duty was.
Not making money or giving away the money you earn will indeed make people feel extremely lost, but compared with losing your life, it is actually nothing.
Li Yiwen: "Then do you want to go talk to Jack Ma?"
Lu Yiming thought of Jack Ma opening a university, so he said, "It's good to have a chat, so that Jack Ma won't get too carried away and do something irrational."
Beijing, Badaling.
Although it was the height of summer, a team still climbed the Great Wall despite the high temperatures.
They are naturally the team led by Jack Ma and Yang Zhiyuan.
Yang Zhiyuan looked at the vast and magnificent mountains and rivers in front of him, and he felt proud. He said to Jack Ma: "Taobao has defeated eBay. You have no rivals in the whole world."
Although Jack Ma was a little bit arrogant, he didn't get too high. He still maintained a certain degree of humility at this time. He looked at the rolling mountains and shook his head and said, "There is always a mountain higher than the other. Taobao can win, not because we are so powerful, but because eBay has made too many mistakes in Xiaguo."
It is now the second half of 2005. Thanks to Lu Yiming's full support, Taobao's market share in Xia Country has reached nearly 80%, while eBay has less than one-fifth left, and can be said to be on its deathbed.
As a result, the Ali Group is showing a thriving posture, and it is just around the corner to become the industry leader in the e-commerce field.
Therefore, Yahoo, which is in a development dilemma, saw the potential of the Ali Group and wanted to bet on Jack Ma.
Yahoo is in a lot of trouble right now.
First, Google took over the company’s market share, and now the search engine market, its “starting point”, is almost gone.
Secondly, Yahoo also got involved in the previous battle between MSN and QQ, but it chose the wrong camp. As MSN was defeated, Yahoo’s stock price also collapsed.
So, in desperation, Yang Zhiyuan wanted to get back at Jack Ma. The stock price couldn't fall any further, otherwise the shareholders on the board of directors would definitely get angry.
After walking for a while on the Great Wall, everyone was sweating profusely. During this time, Yang Zhiyuan also talked with Jack Ma about the acquisition of shares.
"As you can see, we at Yahoo are very sincere. We are willing to pay 1 billion US dollars for 40% of Ali's shares. No one can afford this price except Yahoo."
Although Yahoo is in trouble now, it is still Yahoo after all.
Jack Ma was also very tempted because it was ten billion dollars after all.
One billion US dollars, converted into Xia country’s currency, is more than 8 billion.
What is the concept?
The reason why Jack Ma agreed to the deal was because Yahoo offered too much money, which was simply something he could not refuse.
Thanks to this transaction, Yahoo was able to break free from the quagmire as Alibaba's stock price soared.
However, that is all old news.
Now, even if Jack Ma wants to complete the deal, he is unable to do so.
He smiled bitterly and said regretfully: "Boss Yang, I know you are sincere, but I have to tell you with regret that even though I am the founder, I don't have that many shares to sell now."
Although Jack Ma now holds more than 40% of the total shares, the excess is not much. If this deal is completed, it will be no different from leaving with nothing.
Although he coveted the ten billion dollars, he was an ambitious man. He founded Ali with great difficulty, and after seven or eight years, he saw that it was on the right track, so of course he would not stop there.
After thinking for a few seconds, he said to Yang Zhiyuan: "I can sell you 20% of the shares at most. After all, I have to keep some for myself. You have to figure out the rest yourself."
Ali has several small shareholders , all of whom are investment companies with Wall Street backgrounds. Together they don't even own 10% of the shares. Even if Yang Zhiyuan buys all of them, he won't be able to get 40%.
Yang Zhiyuan frowned slightly and asked, "Why?"
Jack Ma did not hide anything and said directly: "Because most of Ali's shares are in the hands of Mr. Lu, if you really want that much, I'm afraid you can only go and talk to Mr. Lu."
"Most of Ali's shares are in the hands of Mr. Lu, the richest man?"
This news really surprised Yang Zhiyuan.
Although they did a lot of background checks, because Ali was not listed and Lu Yiming was very low-key, they didn't find out anything about this.
Thinking of dealing with Lu Yiming, Yang Zhiyuan suddenly felt a headache.
There is no doubt that Lu Yiming is definitely a difficult person.
Apart from anything else, the most important point is that Lu Yiming is not short of money.
Talking business with people who have plenty of money is a maddening thing in itself.
But thinking of the current situation Yahoo is facing, Yang Zhiyuan had to take this step.
He couldn't help but stretched out his hand and pinched his brow, and said distressedly: "I have dealt with him before. Alas, it seems that I will bleed heavily again this time."
The last time Yahoo bought 3721, it was seriously over budget.
Having to confront Lu Yiming again this time, Yang Zhiyuan suddenly felt exhausted.
I just want to make Yahoo great again, why is it so hard?
In the time and space before Lu Yiming was reborn, in August 2005, Yahoo and Ali officially announced that Yahoo would invest 1 billion US dollars in Ali, and Ali would acquire Yahoo ZG.
At the cocktail party after the cooperation ceremony, Jack Ma once joked while holding a glass of wine: "This is the most expensive sake I have ever drunk."
One billion dollars, forty percent of the shares.
At the peak of Ali's stock price, the Nasdaq market value was 860 billion US dollars and the Hong Kong stock market value was 6 trillion.
Forty percent, that's $344 billion.
Now it’s only worth $1 billion.
But the deal had to be done - it was with this money that Jack Ma was able to proceed step by step and defeat eBay.
The following year, eBay's stock price plummeted, from a high of $46 to $24 in August, while Taobao branded itself as "Asia's largest shopping website," announcing that more than 9 million people "shopped" on Taobao every day.
Of course, now Jack Ma has defeated eBay with the help of Lu Yiming, so he doesn't need this life-saving money at all.
The group walked down the Great Wall and got into the car with the air conditioner turned on. Yang Zhiyuan said, "I'll go talk to Mr. Lu."
