Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1355 The Gears of Destiny

Yang Zhiyuan's trip to Asia was quite grand, with his first stop being Beijing.

Although Li Dongling and other insiders knew what Yang Zhiyuan's real purpose was in coming here this time.

But outsiders don't know that Yang Zhiyuan and Yahoo can't make a big fuss about it all over the world, so they can't go straight to Pingyang as soon as they arrive, that would be too conspicuous. Their first stop was Yanjing.

In today's world of frenzied global internet activity, Yahoo, as the world's most valuable internet company, and its founder Jerry Yang, wield considerable influence.

Countless accolades have been bestowed upon Yahoo and Jerry Yang, making them seem like paragons of virtue.

Well, as for the question, how high can it go?
We can refer to Tesla's peak period in the past, how Musk was praised by the media and how he was deified. Yang Zhiyuan is now even more so.

Although Yahoo has been seized by Wall Street institutions, the deification campaign for Jerry Yang has never stopped.

This sudden appearance in Zhongguancun has drawn countless people in Zhongguancun and the internet industry to pay homage to Jerry Yang as if they were pilgrims.

Receptions from relevant departments, media interviews, invitations to speak at universities, and invitations to visit from internet companies all came one after another to Yang Zhiyuan.

To be honest, this kind of treatment is much better than what Yang Zhiyuan received in America.

Frankly speaking, in America, tech luminaries like Jerry Yang and Bill Gates might not receive the same treatment, or be as sought after as they are here.

However, what piqued Li Dongling's interest was that photograph.

Yang Zhiyuan visited Yanjing and climbed the Great Wall with celebrities from Zhongguancun and the internet industry, and then took a group photo.

This photo, however, was blown out of proportion by the media, who called it the Great Wall Internet Conference, a landmark event for the mainland internet, and a historic handshake between the mainland internet and the American internet.

Li Dongling knew that someone was pushing this, and that some internet companies in Zhongguancun wanted to ride on Yahoo's coattails.

There are also Wall Street institutions behind Yahoo that hype up Yahoo's popularity, letting American investors see Jerry Yang and Yahoo's popularity and influence overseas, and then further raising Yahoo's stock price.

There is no such thing as something that happens without a reason in this world; some things may indeed be accidental events.

But for giant companies, whether it's Yang Zhiyuan now or Musk in his previous life, they wouldn't do anything without a reason. They all have a lot of interests involved behind them, including those of Wall Street institutions!

Looking at the photo, Li Dongling had to admit that it contained a great deal of information, especially if viewed decades later.

In the photo, with the Great Wall as the background, Yang Zhiyuan stands firmly in the center, surrounded by a crowd of people, while Zhou Hongyi, president of Yahoo! China, is to his left.

On the right is Guo Jingyun, the first landlord in Zhongguancun and the general manager of Tianya Company, the largest Chinese venture capital firm in Zhongguancun.

When Yang Zhiyuan came to Yanjing, Tianya Company, as the biggest local power in Zhongguancun, would definitely have to receive him. If Guo Jingyun didn't go, all sorts of rumors would spread.

As for Zhou Hongyi, there's no need to mention her. Yahoo! China is still under the Yahoo! name. Although the major shareholder of Yahoo! China is the Zhixing Foundation, Yahoo! America still holds 30% of the shares in Yahoo! China.

Zhou Hongyi was naturally by Yang Zhiyuan's side this time, and naturally, she also became one of the highlights.

Besides Guo Jingyun and Zhou Hongyi, two prominent figures from the Dongke School of the internet industry, Li Yanhong, who is currently a relatively unknown figure in Zhongguancun and serves as the president and chief engineer of Tianya Search, is also in the photo.

The rest are the founders of the three major portal websites: Sohu, NetEase, and Sina, all of whom appeared in the photo.

In other words, apart from China.com, one of the four major Chinese internet portals headquartered in Hong Kong, which did not attend, this could have been considered a gathering of all four major Chinese internet portals.

At present, the four major Chinese internet portals are all trying to list on Nasdaq and are making a lot of noise. It is completely understandable that these three companies would come to ride on their coattails.

Besides these companies, representatives from well-known internet companies that have emerged in Zhongguancun in the last year or two, such as Yinghaiwei, 8848, Dangdang, Ctrip, Focus.cn, Yitang, and Yabao.com, also appeared in the photo.

In addition to these internet companies, there are also a number of venture capital firms in mainland China, such as IDG, Sequoia Capital, and KPCB.

At first glance, this photo certainly looks like an all-star lineup on the Chinese internet right now, no wonder the media is hyping it up.

Not only these already famous figures, but also in the corner of this photo, Li the Great Philanthropist saw another name that not many people have heard of now, but which was very famous in his previous life: Alibaba's Ma!

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, is currently spending his time in Beijing. He hasn't reached the point of regretting founding Alibaba yet, but it's estimated that he will soon return to his old base in Yuhang with his eighteen founders to regroup.

Touching his chin and looking at the photo, Li Dongling could clearly sense that the expressions on the faces of the people in the picture were all different; some wore expressions of pride, some of excitement, and some of bewilderment. The photo itself reflected the current state of the internet industry: some were thriving, while others were tightening their belts and barely scraping by.

Looking away from the photos, I saw various media outlets praising Yang Zhiyuan, as if his arrival would instantly propel the Chinese internet to new heights.

Li Dongling merely chuckled at this, then couldn't help but shake his head.

So, who is the most willing to invest money in Zhongguancun these days? Who is attracting large amounts of investment to Zhongguancun's internet companies?

It's not Yahoo, nor an overseas venture capital firm, but Tianya Company, Zhixing Foundation, and Cyberport, which is promoting the Silicon Harbor project!
In this life, Zhongguancun and the Chinese internet industry are, to be honest, much better than in my previous life when I had to beg and plead to get investment and had to sell most of my shares to those American venture capital firms at bargain prices.
Tianya Company and Zhixing Foundation provide venture capital for Zhongguancun Internet companies. Cyberport continuously raises funds in the port city and pours money into Zhongguancun, attracting the attention of the port city's wealthy to Zhongguancun and constantly promoting cooperation between the port city and Zhongguancun companies, giving many Zhongguancun Internet companies a chance to survive.

More importantly, with Chinese venture capital firms involved, overseas venture capitalists dare not push the price down too much, nor do they dare to seize controlling stake or arbitrarily replace the founders.

But before that, no media outlets had praised Tianya Company, Zhixing Foundation, or Cyberport, and no one regarded them as saviors.

As soon as Yang Zhiyuan arrived, the media started praising him like crazy. It just goes to show that outsiders really do know how to chant sutras...

It remains to be seen whether these overseas saviors will come to the rescue of the dying Chinese internet companies after the dot-com bubble bursts.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Li Dongling tapped Yang Zhiyuan's name on the paper with his finger.

Li Dongling didn't know what other internet companies were thinking, nor was he interested in knowing, but he was preparing to make a big internet deal with Yahoo, returning Yahoo's shares to Yahoo.

Other assets include a stake in GeoCities, and it remains to be seen how much Yahoo can swallow!

But as long as Yahoo can handle it, Li Dongling is willing to keep feeding it.

……

"Yahoo! is always open to you. If you change your mind, feel free to call me anytime!"

"Yanjing," Yang Zhiyuan said to the manager of the Information Department of Yanjing International E-commerce, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, who was receiving him this time.

And this person is none other than Boss Ma, who has already decided to return to his old lair.

"I will definitely make that call someday!"

Mr. Ma smiled at Yang Zhiyuan, but at this moment, he had already made up his mind to return to Yuhang to regroup. Mr. Ma had had enough of living under someone else's roof in Yanjing, so why would he go to Yahoo to make trouble again?

After saying goodbye to Yang Zhiyuan, Boss Ma walked out of the hotel, glanced back at what was behind him, and then looked at Yanjing in front of him. He knew that he was about to leave this place of sorrow.

Recalling the Great Wall meeting, Mr. Ma couldn't help but take a deep breath.

At this grand event that could be described as an all-star gathering of the Chinese internet, to be honest, Jack Ma was just an inconspicuous figure, especially compared to the founders of the three major portal websites who were surrounded by stars.

What made Jack Ma even more upset was that, perhaps due to a clash of horoscopes, he and Zhou Hongyi, the president of Yahoo! China, simply couldn't get along and even had a falling out.

However, at this moment, Zhou Hongyi's status in the industry is much higher than that of Mr. Ma. Moreover, he is from the Dongke Department and is a fellow student of a certain philanthropist from Xi'an Jiaotong University. His influence in the industry is much greater than that of Mr. Ma. The outcome of the dispute is self-evident.

But Mr. Ma won't swallow this insult easily. He wants to be in the center position at the next internet event!

Back in the hotel suite, Yang Zhiyuan was quite impressed with Mr. Ma. Although Mr. Ma was not well-known at the moment, his insights into the internet were very unique, and the two hit it off very well.

Jerry Yang did indeed intend to recruit Jack Ma to Yahoo, as Yahoo wanted to expand its influence in the Asian market, especially the mainland internet market.

Or to put it more bluntly, Yahoo America previously adopted a hands-off approach to the Asian internet market, given its lack of energy, funds, and capabilities.

Therefore, Yahoo! Japan, Yahoo! in the Asian internet market, is managed by SoftBank, while Yahoo! Inland China, Yahoo! Hong Kong, and Yahoo! Singapore are managed by the Zhi Xing Foundation. Yahoo! America only nominally holds a 30% stake.

But now, Yahoo! America is a giant company and is unwilling to see Yahoo! America's power continue to slip away.

By recruiting Jack Ma, Yang Zhiyuan also wanted to inject some influence into Yahoo! China. Once Jack Ma joined Yahoo! China, Yahoo! America would gradually gain more say in the Chinese market, and might even eventually acquire controlling stake!

The current president of Yahoo! China is Zhou Hongyi. Although he is young, he is not yet experienced enough. He is not brainless. Even if he doesn't know what Yahoo! America is thinking, he can guess a bit about it.

This makes it strange that Zhou Hongyi would have a good attitude towards Mr. Ma. The fact that she didn't turn on him on the spot is a testament to the good manners of the "Red-Clothed Master"!
(End of this chapter)