Chapter 977 Reporter Interview
Netscape's IPO attracted worldwide attention because, compared to Microsoft, Netscape was the only publicly traded technology company that truly represented the Internet. In this sense, Netscape's IPO was of great significance, and its emergence marked the beginning of the Internet era.
A new company that was established just over a year ago and had a total investment of less than 16 million US dollars suddenly became a large company worth 2.5 billion US dollars on the first day of its listing.
The next morning, the Wall Street Journal commented on Netscape's listing, lamenting that it took General Electric 43 years to become a company with a market value of $2.7 billion, while Netscape achieved this goal in just one day, which was simply incredible.
Netscape's performance after its listing and its soaring market value made people astonished and excited, especially for those who had paid a price to defeat their competitors and thus obtained the capital to invest in Netscape.
In just half a year, the previous investment has received a huge return. Such an investment return is simply unheard of and has directly subverted the imagination of the investment community. The Internet has also demonstrated in this way that everything is possible.
The news in China was a few days later than that in the United States. After all, as an Internet company, Netscape's listing did not attract much attention from the domestic news media. But after Netscape went public, it attracted domestic attention due to the miracle it created and the hype of the American media.
At first, domestic news media only forwarded news reports from American media, but soon people noticed Zhang Hao who was standing next to Mark when Netscape rang the bell for its IPO.
As a Chinese, Zhang Hao's Asian face was very eye-catching. Although Song Chaoyuan was also involved at the time, he did not stand in the front but in the last row, hiding in the crowd. In addition, the pixels of the newspaper photos were not high, so few people noticed Song Yuanchao in the crowd.
But Zhang Hao was different. His position was second only to Mark, and when Mark rang the bell, the three of them put their hands together. This action was clearly captured by the journalists at the time.
In the American media reports, Mark of course occupied a large part of the coverage. As the core of Netscape, Mark was not only the founder but also the CEO of Netscape.
An ordinary technician who had just graduated founded this company with his talent and ability, and then completed a gorgeous transformation in such a short period of time, thus possessing huge wealth. Isn't this the best embodiment of the so-called American dream?
Because of this, the American media's publicity and reports on Mark were overwhelming, and the praises were countless. For a time, Mark even replaced the popular Bill Gates and became the new idol of young people. Even Jimmy was reported a lot. Many interviews mentioned that Jimmy was one of the founders of Netscape, and his experience of starting a business before graduating from college was widely publicized, calling him the second Bill Gates.
Compared with Mark and Jimmy, there are very few mentions of Zhang Hao. Many reports simply mentioned that Zhang Hao was a member of Netscape. Even Zhang Hao's Chinese name was not mentioned. Instead, the English name Zhang Hao used when he was studying in the United States, which was Mike, was used, thus downplaying Zhang Hao's existence.
But even so, when the domestic media noticed Zhang Hao's appearance in the photo, they immediately became very curious about this young Asian man standing with Mark . In the subsequent media digging, information about Zhang Hao was gradually dug out. When it was confirmed that this young Asian man was not only Chinese, but also one of the three founders of Netscape, the shareholder with the most individual shares of Netscape, the chairman of Netscape, and even a Chinese student studying in the United States, the domestic media exploded instantly.
When the news reached China, the leaders who reviewed the news could not believe their eyes after reading the materials. What? A young man in his early twenties, a student who went to the United States to study, actually became the chairman of the hottest Internet company, and with the listing of Netscape, the value of his shares was as high as 700 million US dollars? This was as bizarre as a fairy tale.
Shocked, the leader immediately contacted the reporter in the United States to inquire about the authenticity of the information sent back. When the reporter in the United States assured the leader on the phone that all this was true and there was absolutely no falsehood, the leader suddenly became excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood.
After hanging up the phone, the leader walked around the office excitedly, his face flushed with excitement.
He never imagined that the real founder of Netscape was a Chinese, and a Chinese student studying abroad!
Due to the success of Microsoft, Bill Gates is now an idol for young people all over the world, and many young people in China also admire Bill Gates. Now, Zhang Hao, as a Chinese student studying in the United States, founded Netscape with two friends in just over a year, and became a successful person with such a huge fortune. This experience is simply too bizarre and incredible.
Although Zhang Hao's current wealth is far less than that of Bill Gates, with assets of US$700 million, he can be considered a wealthy man in the world. Moreover, Zhang Hao is still so young and Netscape is at its peak. It is inevitable that Zhang Hao will become the second Bill Gates in the future.
Once this news is reported, it will inevitably cause a huge sensation in the country, and a leader who has worked in the news industry for most of his life can be fully sure of it.
However, despite his excitement, the leader still kept a clear head and quickly called the editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief and others to discuss the matter. After discussing behind closed doors, they decided to proceed in three steps. The first step was to immediately organize the news materials and information about Zhang Hao sent back from the United States and write a report.
The second step was to immediately send someone to contact the relevant departments to find out the true situation of Zhang Hao and confirm that Zhang Hao, one of the founders of Netscape, was their own person and his family background, origin and other details.
As for the third step, which is also an important step, it is to report to the superiors immediately after the first two steps are completed, seek their opinions, and then carry out publicity and reporting.
These three steps were agreed and approved by the leader, and everyone immediately assigned their own work and went about their business. A few hours later, the confirmed information was gradually summarized to the leader. Looking at this confirmed information, including the photos of Zhang Hao in China that were obtained from nowhere, the leader felt relieved and picked up the phone on the table and directly dialed the number of his superior...
Zhang Jianguo had no idea what was happening. He showed up on time today as usual and took the bus to the company.
As the scale of logistics companies grows, the company has undergone several adjustments and has reintegrated its corporate structure. This integration is in response to the expansion of the company's scale and management needs.
The logistics company's headquarters is still in Shanghai, but in addition to the headquarters, the logistics company has now divided the country into several regions, such as East China, South China, North China, and Central China. These regions have district-level headquarters and are vertically managed by the group headquarters. Under the regions are provincial companies, and under the provincial companies are municipal companies. The entire company is like a complete network, covering all business scope of the logistics company.
It was exactly 8:30 in the morning when he arrived at the company. Zhang Jianguo's working time was 9:00 in the morning, but he usually arrived half an hour earlier.
After arriving at the company, Zhang Jianguo does not go to the office immediately. Over the years, he has developed a habit of walking around various departments after arriving at the company, using this half-hour break to walk around and have a look at each department. When he finishes walking and looking, it is already nine o'clock. Only then will Zhang Jianguo go to his office on the top floor of the company to handle work.
"Chairman, your tea is ready." After entering the office, assistant Xiao Lu took the bag from Zhang Jianguo and said this softly.
This is how Xiao Lu arranges his daily life. Xiao Lu is a college student at Shanghai Jiaotong University. He graduated in 1991. With his academic qualifications, he could have been assigned to work in a state-owned enterprise. However, Xiao Lu was not satisfied with the unit he was assigned to. At that time, a logistics company happened to be recruiting talents. Since the salary and benefits of the logistics company were high, Xiao Lu came to apply after seeing the advertisement. He was successfully hired and became an employee of the logistics company.
Xiao Lu has a high degree of education, is smart, and has strong work ability. He quickly stood out after joining the logistics company. Two years ago, Zhang Jianguo noticed Xiao Lu. After a period of observation, he transferred Xiao Lu directly from the lower department to the chairman's office and made him his assistant.
Assistant to the chairman, this position is not low. You should know that Xiao Lu was just a supervisor before, but now he has become the assistant to the chairman. Within the company, the assistant to the chairman is someone that the deputy general manager has to be polite to. Xiao Lu, a young man who is not even 30 years old, occupies such a high position, which is really enviable.
The reason why Zhang Jianguo transferred Xiao Lu to his side and made him his assistant was mainly to train the company's future management in this way. As the company grows larger, the requirements for the company's management are also getting higher and higher.
Today's logistics company is not what it was when it was first established. Back then, anyone with some experience in transportation and dispatch could manage it. But now that the company has grown to its current size, it is no longer appropriate to manage the company with the old ways. In the past two years, Zhang Jianguo has been constantly adjusting the company's management team and discovering and recruiting available talents. Xiao Lu is one of the talents he has set his eyes on. He plans to let Xiao Lu stay with him for a few years and then let him go when the time is right. By then, it will be a suitable choice for him to go to the region to be the general manager or stay in the headquarters to hold an important position.
Nodding, Zhang Jianguo walked to the desk and sat down, picked up the teacup and opened it. The tea in it had been brewing for a while and was not too hot. He blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface, took a sip, and listened to Xiao Lu giving him his daily routine work report.
As he was listening, there was suddenly a noisy sound coming from downstairs. Zhang Jianguo frowned slightly, and a trace of displeasure flashed across his face.
But Zhang Jianguo didn't say anything. In his opinion, it might be a trivial matter. But he didn't expect that in less than a minute, the noise downstairs not only did not stop, but became louder and louder. It seemed that many people were arguing about something.
"What's going on? What's going on in the office area?"
"Chairman, I'll go take a look."
"Well, go and see what's going on." Zhang Jianguo nodded. Xiao Lu put the folder in his hand aside, turned around and walked quickly towards the door.
But when he just opened the door of the office, a man rushed in from outside. This man was the office director, Lao Xu. Lao Xu's hair, which was not much to begin with, looked a little messy because he ran in a hurry. As soon as he entered the door, he didn't bother to talk to Xiao Lu at all. He directly said to Zhang Jianguo who hadn't recovered yet: "Chairman... there are... a lot of reporters downstairs, saying they want to interview you...!"
