Chapter 974 The Day Before the Bell Rings
Although he said this, Zhang Hao still felt a little disappointed, even though he understood that Mark was much more suitable to represent Netscape in its IPO than himself.
It was already afternoon when he arrived at the hotel. Zhang Hao delivered his simple luggage to the room, tipped the waiter and sent him away. After the waiter closed the door and left, Zhang Hao buried himself in the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.
Zhang Hao is very tired these days. This tiredness is not only physical fatigue, but also mental reasons.
Netscape has developed so fast, faster than anyone expected. It has only been a year and a half since the company was first established. In such a short period of time, Netscape has completed all the steps from product to market, from capital introduction to the upcoming listing. As the founder and current chairman of Netscape, Zhang Hao has put in so much effort that ordinary people cannot imagine.
But everything paid off. Tomorrow they will ring the bell, and after the bell ringing is completed, Netscape's stock will be officially listed.
All this seemed like a dream, making Zhang Hao feel a little bit unreal. You know, when he and Mark and others first established Netscape, they never thought they would achieve such success today. At the beginning, they only established this company out of hobbies and interests. But after the company was established, with the completion of the development of the browser, the subsequent step-by-step development to the present has completely exceeded their previous imagination.
Thinking of this, Zhang Hao couldn't help but laugh at himself and shook his head. This was all too incredible. Last year, Zhang Hao was just an ordinary overseas student, but now he has become the chairman of an IT company that is about to go public.
Even before the listing, Zhang Hao's shares were much less due to the capital injection, but in terms of shareholding ratio, the return he received was far higher than his previous investment.
According to previous capital valuation and investment, Zhang Hao's 31.5% stake is equivalent to a wealth of 15.75 million US dollars. Although this financial figure is only on paper, it is real when calculated from the company's valuation.
Now, because of the listing, Zhang Hao's shareholding ratio has further decreased. Now Zhang Hao still holds 28% of the shares, which is more than half of the 60% he originally held. But the accounts are not calculated that way. With Netscape's upcoming listing, Zhang Hao's share value will undoubtedly soar again. According to the capital and the company's financial team, for the most conservative reason, when the listing is completed, Zhang Hao's wealth will be in the hundreds of millions, thus jumping from a student to a billionaire.
With assets worth hundreds of millions, and in US dollars, Zhang Hao never thought that he would achieve such an achievement. You know, his study abroad career has not yet ended, so in this sense he is still a student.
Zhang Hao is not a young man who has never seen money. Ever since Zhang Jianguo resigned from his job to do logistics, the Zhang family's situation has changed dramatically.
Later, Zhang Hao's mother Sun Xia started a clothing business on Maiyang Road. Although the business on Maiyang Road has been transferred long ago, the Maiyang Road market also moved to Ladu Road a few years ago.
But the boutique clothing business that Sun Xia and Gu Jie are collaborating on is now growing bigger and bigger. In addition, when Gu Jie invested in the commercial project of District 8, Sun Xia also made a part of the investment as an investor. With the gradual construction of District 8 and the popularity of the commercial project, this part of the investment is now beginning to yield good returns.
Sun Xia is like this, not to mention his father Zhang Jianguo. Relying on the channels and help of Song Chaoyuan, Zhang Jianguo's logistics company is now the largest private (joint venture) logistics company in China. Due to its early entry into this industry, Zhang Jianguo's logistics company not only has a fairly complete transportation network, but also has established professional warehousing centers across the country, which is beyond the reach of many peers.
Even though some foreign-funded logistics companies, such as ZTO Express, have entered China in the past two years and started to develop logistics businesses, they still cannot compete with Zhang Jianguo's company.
During the company's development period, Zhang Hao was able to invest more than 300,000 US dollars in the company. This amount of money is a considerable sum even in the United States. So Zhang Hao is not a young man who has never seen money, and his understanding of money is much better than that of ordinary people.
But now it's different. When Zhang Hao thinks about the fact that he will soon have a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, he feels a little overwhelmed. After all, this fortune is too huge and far beyond his imagination. You know, although Zhang Jianguo and Sun Xia are considered wealthy people in China, the wealth they have accumulated after so many years of hard work is nothing compared to his success in such a short period of time.
For a moment, a smile appeared on Zhang Hao's lips. He suddenly thought of the scene when Zhang Jianguo and he had an argument on the phone last year. At that time, Zhang Jianguo scolded Zhang Hao on the phone for not knowing how expensive firewood and rice are, and for being a talker and unreliable. He didn't listen to his explanation at all, and they finally parted on bad terms.
Although Zhang Hao was not very clear about how Song Chaoyuan persuaded Zhang Jianguo afterwards, both sides avoided mentioning this matter in their contacts with his family over the past six months. Zhang Hao didn't say anything and Zhang Jianguo didn't ask, as if this matter had never happened.
But as Zhang Jianguo's son, Zhang Hao is very clear about Zhang Jianguo's temper, personality and ideas. In his opinion, Zhang Jianguo simply thinks that Zhang Hao is investing recklessly and wants to watch Zhang Hao's investments fail and then have him, as his father, clean up the mess for him, thus confirming that Zhang Jianguo's views are correct.
Unfortunately, I am destined to be disappointed. When Zhang Hao thought about what kind of expression Zhang Jianguo would have when he found out about the official listing of the stock after the bell rang tomorrow, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
I had just laughed a few times when there was a knock on the door.
Zhang Hao stood up and walked quickly to the door and opened it. When he saw the person outside the door, Zhang Hao was stunned. He originally thought that it was Mark or Jimmy knocking on the door, but he didn't expect Song Yuanchao to appear in front of him.
"Brother? Why are you here?"
"What? How can I not come to such an important occasion?" Song Chaoyuan said with a smile. He looked at Zhang Hao in front of him who was taller than him, and recalled the time when he had just returned to Shanghai. At that time, Zhang Hao was still a naughty little guy.
So many years have passed, and Zhang Hao has grown from a child to an adult, and has made achievements that he could never have imagined. He couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
"Of course, of course..." Zhang Hao said with a chuckle, then he remembered he and Song Yuanchao were still standing and talking, so he quickly invited Song Yuanchao into the house.
After entering the room, Song Chaoyuan looked around. Zhang Hao's room was a nice business suite with a small reception room and a small office. Nodding slightly, Song Chaoyuan and Zhang Hao sat down on the sofa.
"Brother, what would you like to drink? We don't have tea, but we do have coffee. How about we have coffee?"
"Stop doing this and get me a bottle of water."
Zhang Hao smiled and nodded, walked to the side, got a bottle of water from the small bar in the room and handed it to Song Yuanchao. Song Yuanchao took it, said thank you, unscrewed the bottle, took a small sip and put it on the coffee table.
Song Yuanchao arrived two days earlier than Zhang Hao. He arrived in the United States last weekend, first went to California to meet George and others, and then went to New York.
Netscape will go public tomorrow. This is a big event, not only a big event for the Internet, but also an important day in Zhang Hao's life. As Zhang Hao's elder brother, how could Song Chaoyuan give up this opportunity to personally participate? Moreover, Song Chaoyuan also holds some shares of Netscape, although the proportion of the shares is not large.
"Brother, when did you arrive in the United States?"
"I've been here for a few days, but I've been busy with my own things these past few days. Aren't you going to ring the bell tomorrow? So I came here specially to take a look. By the way, are you ready for the bell ringing?"
"We're ready. Mark is the company's CEO. He will ring the bell on behalf of the company. Jimmy and I will accompany him." Zhang Hao said calmly.
Song Chaoyuan frowned slightly, but soon returned to normal. He understood something from Zhang Hao's words, and also understood why it was Mark who rang the bell on behalf of the company instead of Zhang Hao. Although he felt a little regretful, there was nothing he could do about it, and such an arrangement was not a bad thing for Netscape.
After all, Zhang Hao's identity is there. If Zhang Hao rings the bell on behalf of the company, it will inevitably cause a lot of trouble. Neither the American business community nor the political circles would be willing to see a Chinese person acting as such a representative of an American company. This is actually true for any country. According to the American explanation, it can also be regarded as a kind of "political correctness."
Reaching out and patting Zhang Hao on the shoulder, Song Chaoyuan comforted him in this way. Zhang Hao was quite open-minded and said with a smile: "It's okay, brother. Besides, I don't like to show up in public. It's more suitable for Mark to go than for me."
"It's good that you think this way. It shows that you are mature." Song Chaoyuan praised him.
"By the way, brother, my parents...?"
"Don't worry, I haven't told them about this, but things will be different in a few days. After the company goes public tomorrow, as a Chinese and the chairman of Netscape, I'm afraid some things will spread to China soon, and they will definitely know by then."
"Haha, that's true." Zhang Hao nodded with a smile.
Song Chaoyuan was right. Netscape's IPO was a big event in the Internet industry . Zhang Hao was the chairman and major shareholder of the company. Although he did not ring the bell on behalf of the company, his position in the company was obvious. After Netscape went public, it would not be long before Zhang Hao's name became known in China. As a Chinese and a Chinese student, he had made such achievements in the United States. It would be strange if the domestic media did not publicize him. By then, Zhang Hao would have become famous.
"Do you want to call them first? Let them know about this?" Song Yuanchao asked.
Zhang Hao thought about it and shook his head: "Forget it, it's better not to talk about this for now."
"Are you still mad at your dad? Or are you planning to give him a 'surprise'?"
"Haha, that's not the case. It's just that I'm too lazy to explain anymore. Wouldn't it be better to let the facts tell him the situation?" Zhang Hao winked at Song Yuanchao and said playfully. Song Chaoyuan laughed when he heard it. This kid said he was not angry, but he was still not convinced in his heart. As he said, he planned to give Zhang Jianguo a surprise, but Song Yuanchao felt that after the domestic media reported it, this surprise might become a "shock" in Zhang Jianguo's eyes. Song Chaoyuan was a little looking forward to it at this time. He was looking forward to what kind of expression Zhang Jianguo would have when he knew that his son had achieved such an achievement.
