Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1047: Fierce Fire Cooking Oil
"Clap!"

Zhang Dongchuan clapped his hands and said to Fanning and Parker, "Great plan!"

"It has been a long time since such an amazing plan appeared in the Internet industry. You are creating a new era!"

Hearing Zhang Dongchuan's flattery, Fan Ning showed excitement on his face, but he couldn't help but feel a little surprised, "Do you agree with Napster's concept?"

You know, there were small venture capital companies in Silicon Valley that came to Napste and wanted to invest tens of thousands of dollars in it to test the waters.

But after hearing Fanning's crazy idea, they all fled in panic, mainly for two reasons. First, Napster's model sounded very grand, building a utopian world of the Internet and allowing music to be free on the Internet.

But damn, Napster has made people free, and they don’t have to pay to listen to music anymore. But record companies, singers, producers, record stores and everyone in the entire record industry chain are starving to death!

This put Napster directly in opposition to the global record industry, posing huge legal risks.

This is the first reason. Secondly, this free model is too advanced in this era. Venture capital companies invested money in Napster in order to go public and reap profits, not to be taken advantage of.

Who would dare to invest in a company that has huge legal risks and has no idea how it will make money in the future?

It can be said that even dogs wouldn’t invest in this thing!
However, Zhang Dongchuan said that dogs would not invest, but Pacific Rim Venture Capital would, and they would invest in companies like Napster that cause trouble.

As long as Fanning and the other two want to cause trouble, Pacific Rim Venture Capital will definitely help them!
"Of course!"

Zhang Dongchuan's mind raced, "The Internet is an industry that creates miracles and changes the world. Who dares to say that Napster's model is not the future of the record industry?

Who dares to say that Napster can't find a way to make money in the future? Traffic and users are the key to the Internet now! "

Looking at Fanning and Parker, Zhang Dongchuan said, "As long as Napster can get Internet users and traffic, there will be a chance to go public. As long as the listing is completed, all problems will be solved!"

Zhang Dongchuan did not hide the fact that he invested in Napster in order to take it public. After the listing, Pacific Rim would be able to recover all the money it invested.

When Fanning and the other man heard the word "going public", their hearts trembled. It can be said that they developed Napster just to cause trouble.

At that time, the two had never thought about going public. Zhang Dongchuan's words made them think: Does Napster really have a chance to go public?

"But Napster has to be fast!"

Zhang Dongchuan talked about what Lv Wenhua had told him, "Napster needs to race against time and must make a quick decision. Before the record giants can react, Napster must complete the listing!"

“Pacific Rim Venture Capital is willing to invest $40 million in Napster in exchange for a % stake, and the two of you will still be the controlling shareholder of Napster.

Pacific Rim Ventures promised not to interfere with Napster's technology development or require changes to Napster's operating model.

In addition, I will help Napster with promotion and publicity, etc. The only requirement is..."

The conditions proposed by Zhang Dongchuan made Fan Ning and the others excited. These conditions could be said to be quite tempting.

Napster, which hadn't even been launched yet, was valued at over $30 million. If Fanning and Parker each held 75% of Napster's shares, their net worth would be over $!
The net worth of an American high school student, a sophomore, soared to nearly one million dollars overnight. They have now experienced the magic of the Internet and suddenly understood why so many young people in America want to start a business.

"Napster must be online within this week!" Zhang Dongchuan stated the subsequent conditions.

“Will it be online within this week?”

Fanning couldn't help but exclaimed, "This is impossible. Napster hasn't even been developed yet..."

Zhang Dongchuan interrupted Fanning and said, "This is the only requirement that Pacific Rim Venture Capital has for Napster.

We need to let the major shareholders of Global Venture Capital see Napster before they can invest the money with confidence. I hope you understand.

Moreover, Napster must move quickly and complete the listing this year, or no later than next year, otherwise it may be targeted by major record companies!

After it goes online, Napster can also update the version and improve the functions. Isn't that what other Internet companies do too? "

"You two can think about it. I hope to hear your answers today!"

Zhang Dongchuan gave his business card to Fan Ning and the other person, and then left as they looked reluctant.

After all, Zhang Dongchuan has been in the venture capital industry for many years, and he is quite experienced in handling rookies like Fan Ning. Basically, he has to use the tactics of playing hard to get to make the two of them fall into his trap.

After leaving the small office building where Napster was located, Zhang Dongchuan got in the car and went to a nearby cafe.

Before getting off the car, Zhang Dongchuan deliberately stopped for a moment and observed carefully to make sure that there was no one following him. Then he entered the coffee shop and came in front of Lu Wenhua.

"Mr. Lu, the fish seems to have taken the bait, and there should be results today!" Zhang Dongchuan said to Lu Wenhua.

"But..." When Lu Wenhua heard Zhang Dongchuan's words, he looked at him inquiringly.

"Napster is too risky. It is bound to be embroiled in lawsuits in the future, and... I don't see any hope of it making a profit!" Zhang Dongchuan reminded Lv Wenhua of the risks of Napster, and that in the end all the money invested might be lost.

Internet companies these days are not profitable, except for one, and that is Feiyan Technology!

Feiyan Technology is currently the only profitable company among Nasdaq Internet concept stocks.

However, Feiyan Technology's profitability does not come from Himalaya Radio's Internet business, but from its radio business. Feiyan Technology is basically selling dog meat under the guise of sheep meat, but its performance is very impressive anyway.

When Lu Wenhua heard Zhang Dongchuan's concerns, he remained calm, but he was actually a little surprised in his heart.

If Napster really goes online and is accepted by Internet users, it will be a huge blow to the entire record industry!

However, this blow is not a good thing for the record industry, but it is not a bad thing for Feiyan MP3...

Users can download free music online, and Feiyan MP3 players are really useful!

"That's not something you need to worry about!"

"We let you serve as the manager of Pacific Rim Venture Capital and pay you enough because we need you to invest in Internet companies with enough potential. Whether the Internet companies you invest in can go public is the company's business and you don't need to worry about it!

What you need to do now is to invest in more Internet music websites.”

"I see!"

Zhang Dongchuan's expression froze, and he quickly said to Lu Wenhua that he didn't want to lose this job with an annual salary of $200,000. If the big money sponsor was willing to spend money, could he stop it?

After Zhang Dongchuan left, he began to travel around Silicon Valley, looking for potential Internet music companies to start investing in.

Lu Wenhua drank all the bitter coffee. Remembering what Mr. Li had told him before he left, Lu Wenhua decided to help Fan Ning and the other man and make the name of Napster known throughout the American Internet industry!
……

It was still the same small office as Napster, but now there were three more people working there. Some were technicians recruited from society, and some were fellow students from the same school as Fanning, who were hired by him.

"Napster will be online on time at 8 o'clock tonight!"

Sean Fanning said to several people in the office.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Sean Fanning stared at the computer screen nervously, and at eight o'clock, he immediately began to refresh the computer page.

"Someone is using Napster!"

A few minutes later, Parker, who was in charge of backstage maintenance today, shouted to Fanning.

This was like a signal, and users began to log on to the Napster website one after another, and began to experience the songs on the Napster website. These songs were of course "collected" by Fanning and others from the Internet, but it was unknown how they collected them and whether they paid copyright fees to the record companies.

Within half an hour of the site opening, Napster's visitor numbers had exceeded fifty!
Then the number of visits suddenly began to increase!
One hour after the site was launched, the number of visitors exceeded 400, which surprised even Fanning.

“Yahoo is advertising for us!”

"Napster ads also appeared in Netscape and IE browsers!"

When Fan Ning heard that Napster advertisements had appeared on websites such as Yahoo and Netscape, he suddenly thought of Zhang Dongchuan and realized that it was Pacific Rim Venture Capital that was placing advertisements for the website.

"Napster, an Internet startup that went online yesterday, set a record of 1.2 user visits after its launch. This is the best performing Internet startup in the history of Silicon Valley!"

The next day, Silicon Valley Daily published the news that Napster had gone online.

Not only Silicon Valley Daily, but the San Jose Mercury News also reported the news about Napster.

"Napster pioneered a new Internet music model that used the P2P model to allow users to share music with each other.

This is a controversial model. There is no conclusion yet on whether the music copyright on Napster is compliant, and federal law does not have clear provisions.

But Internet users are currently very welcoming to the Napster website! "

Just after various Silicon Valley media began reporting on Napster, for some unknown reason, a piece of news suddenly spread among American Internet users: as long as you log in to Napster, you can find the songs you want to listen to or download, and you don’t have to pay any fees!
Media reports, coupled with various rumors, are like the scene when middle-aged women and men rush to grab free eggs when a supermarket opens. So what does the opening of Napster mean to Internet users?
On the first day of Napster's launch, it received 27.5 visits and over users downloaded Napster!

This was the media's report on Napster the next day. Napster appeared in the Internet industry like a comet, with a performance that Silicon Valley companies had never seen before.

(End of this chapter)