Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1359 He could have easily stolen it, but he made excuses because of his kindness.
Li Dongling's words had a tremendous impact on Yang Zhiyuan, far exceeding his expectations.

It's like a man who has been single and living alone for decades suddenly running up to him and asking if he wants a wife, and as soon as he asks, she'll be delivered to his door that very night.

Which man could withstand such a test?

Yahoo is desperate for traffic and users.

At this point, if you tell Yahoo that you can acquire GeoCities, the world's largest personal community website that accounts for 2% of global internet traffic, has 1900 million user homepages, and over 3500 million unique monthly visits, and is also considered the third most popular website in America after Yahoo and AOL, would Yahoo be tempted?
If GeoCities was a surprise, then Yahoo's equity stake was an overblown surprise, a shock to Jerry Yang.

In recent years, Yahoo has continuously issued new shares to dilute the Yahoo shares held by Zhixing Foundation and Feiyan Technology.

As original major shareholders, these two companies can remain neutral as long as they don't actively sell their Yahoo shares or sign any messy agreements.

It's extremely difficult to remove Zhixing Foundation and Feiyan Technology from Yahoo's board of directors simply by issuing new shares.

To date, the Zhixing Foundation still holds about 5% of Yahoo's shares, while Feiyan Technology stubbornly holds onto its 8% stake.

Speaking of which, Feiyan Technology's market value has now exceeded 30 billion US dollars, while its 8% stake in Yahoo is worth 64 billion US dollars, equivalent to 21% of Feiyan Technology's market value. It sounds like a dark joke, but it is the truth.

Yang Zhiyuan's hand trembled slightly as he held Yahoo's investment in Himalaya Music. This world's number one internet figure was truly astonished as he looked at Li Dongling.

But Yang Zhiyuan had seen his share of ups and downs, and had even chatted and laughed with the governor of California, bigwigs on Capitol Hill, and even the president. He quickly calmed himself down.

At that moment, his first thought wasn't to devour all of Dongling High-Tech's releases.

The question is, why is Dongling Hi-Tech doing all this?
Keep in mind that these two transactions, taken together, are conservatively estimated to be worth over 10 billion US dollars each!
Moreover, Yahoo is currently at its peak, and the fact that Li Dashanren wants to transfer Yahoo's shares has aroused Yang Zhiyuan's suspicions.

When people are under a lot of pressure, they often like to chew on something or have something in their hands. Whether it has a significant effect is unknown, but it can relieve some anxiety and unease.

Yang Zhiyuan took out a custom-made Ruyan electronic cigarette from his pocket and gestured to Li Dongling and the others.

This e-cigarette is clearly custom-made, and it even has the Yahoo logo on it.

All trends are artificially created.

In the past, smoking cigars was considered a sign of wealth, sophistication, and status. They even made the absurd claim that smoking cigars was healthier than smoking cigarettes. But if you're already smoking this stuff, and you still want to be healthy, isn't that just deceiving yourself?

Now, in America, e-cigarettes are being touted as miraculous "smoking cessation" devices, even touted as having no side effects and being much healthier than tobacco.

Furthermore, e-cigarettes do not produce secondhand smoke in the traditional sense, which has made them even more popular. When Ruyan e-cigarettes were promoted in America, housewives became the largest group of people promoting Ruyan e-cigarettes on the ground.

This has allowed Ruyan e-cigarettes to penetrate deep into American households. In addition, truck drivers, office workers, and even celebrities such as sports stars and politicians have accepted it, making Ruyan e-cigarettes appear in all walks of life, and even being used in public.

If you smoke in public, you'll definitely be criticized by anti-tobacco organizations, the media, and the public for lacking public morality and disregarding the health of others. But is smoking e-cigarettes really smoking? It's clearly quitting smoking!
Currently, vaping is seen as trendy, fashionable, and civic-minded; people are considered potential smokers and future members of anti-tobacco organizations…

While e-cigarettes do not produce secondhand smoke, they do contain hot melt adhesive, and the composition of this adhesive can sometimes be even more outrageous than that of secondhand smoke.

But that's in the future, after the e-cigarette myth has been shattered. The harm of tobacco was only proven half a century later, and whether e-cigarettes affect health will be proven at least twenty years from now. By then, Ruyan e-cigarettes will probably have already cashed out!
Currently, Ruyan e-cigarettes are still highly sought after by countless people in America. Silicon Valley companies like Yahoo are now purchasing Ruyan e-cigarettes as a commodity, like coffee, and providing them as employee benefits, especially during overtime work.

As for the identity of someone like Yang Zhiyuan, Ruyan e-cigarettes specially customized a batch of Ruyan e-cigarettes exclusively for them.

After receiving Li Dongling's consent, Yang Zhiyuan took two puffs of his e-cigarette and finally asked, "Why?"

"As far as I know, Mr. Li's Zhixing Foundation has already sold off a number of shares in internet companies."

Now, they're selling a controlling stake in GeoCities and their Yahoo stake. What's the real reason behind this?

Is Dongling Hi-Tech exiting the internet industry?

Yang Zhiyuan stared intently at Li Dongling.

This was Yang Zhiyuan's biggest concern, and the lack of an answer to this question made him very uneasy.

Facing Yang Zhiyuan's gaze, Li Dongling shook his head, "Dongling Hi-Tech will not withdraw from the internet industry."

This year, China.com, a subsidiary of Dongke, has confirmed its listing on Nasdaq.

"Also, Jerry, as you know, Yahoo! China's 3721 website is also going to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange." "However, Dongling High-Tech's investment focus in the internet industry may be shifting."

The Silicon Harbor project has reached its most critical moment and requires more funding. Dongling High-Tech must make some choices!

Li Dongling said in a helpless tone, claiming that it wasn't that he wanted to give Yahoo a bargain by returning the GeoCities website and its shares to Yahoo, but that he really had no other choice.

The Silicon Harbor project is a money-devouring beast; to build an Asian internet center in the port city, a massive amount of money needs to be poured in.

We need to build hardware facilities for the Cyberport Global Technology Center, and we need to invest money in Zhongguancun Internet companies to help them list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Everything requires money.

But with so much money, Dongling Hi-Tech felt immense pressure and had no choice but to rob Peter to pay Paul. Selling its Yahoo stake was a last resort.

Hearing this explanation, Yang Zhiyuan was somewhat skeptical, but he didn't feel that Li Dashan was lying to him.

He had heard about the Silicon Harbor project in America, but in American media reports, it was basically treated as a joke, with many American media outlets mocking it.

What kind of Tom, Dick, or Harry dares to compare themselves to Silicon Valley? Does Hong Kong stock market even deserve to be compared to Nasdaq?
This was the main theme of American media reports on the Silicon Harbor project; they all treated it as a joke.

Many countries and regions have tried to imitate Silicon Valley and create a new Silicon Valley, but in the end, they all end up in a mess.

When Yang Zhiyuan heard that Li Dongling was planning to continue investing in the Silicon Harbor project, he felt that Li Dongling was doing something completely futile and that it would all end up being a waste of money.

As a result, they even had to cash out their Yahoo shares and pour money into the Silicon Harbor project. It was like throwing away the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed, and in the end, they got nothing at all!

But then I thought, if Dongling Hi-Tech hadn't been so foolish as to cash out Yahoo's shares for an impossible plan, how could Li Dongling have been so willing to do it?

This is not good news for Dongling High-Tech, but it is good news for Yahoo!
Moreover, regardless of Li Dongling's motives for cashing out Yahoo shares, the Yahoo shares he offered could not be fabricated, and Yahoo would not let this opportunity pass.

With this in mind, Yang Zhiyuan stopped worrying. Even knowing that Li Dongling's reason for cashing out was somewhat lame, he was willing to give up his Yahoo shares.
Believe it or not, once word gets out that Yahoo isn't going to buy back its shares, plenty of institutions will be eager to snap up Yahoo shares and get on the Yahoo board.

"Dongke and Yahoo are allies, so we hope that Yahoo will repurchase the shares to reduce the impact on Yahoo's stock price!"

Li Dongling seemed to be going to great lengths for his sister company, Yahoo.

After putting away the customized Ruyan e-cigarette in his hand, Yang Zhiyuan finally spoke, "GeoCities website, what price are you planning to offer?"

"Five and a half billion US dollars!"

Li Dashanren spoke without batting an eye, but his words almost made Yang Zhiyuan's heart stop beating.

He knew that Dongling High-Tech wouldn't be selling off its controlling stake in GeoCities cheaply, but he never expected it to go this far.

Yang Zhiyuan really wanted to say, "Why doesn't Li the Great Philanthropist just rob him?" But then he thought, "This is practically robbing Yahoo!"
But, with this kind of predatory transaction, does Yahoo want the GeoCities website?

If you buy a top-ranked American website, you can gain tens of millions of internet users and become the leader in the internet business. Does Yahoo want it?

"This price is way too high!"

However, when faced with Yang Zhiyuan's bargaining, Li Dongling was not as easy to talk to as before. Himalaya Music was just a way for Yahoo to get a taste of success, and he needed Yahoo's help to boost Himalaya Music's valuation, which was why he was bargaining with Yahoo.

GeoCities and Yahoo shares are hard currency in the internet industry. If Yahoo doesn't want them, plenty of others will, and Wall Street institutions are willing to pay a premium.

“Jerry, you should know GeoCities’ position in the American internet industry.”

If Yahoo isn't willing to acquire it, then companies like AOL, Excite, Disney's Go.com, and Lycos might all be interested in GeoCities!

Li Dongling then revealed Yahoo's list of competitors in America.

The meaning is clear: Yahoo won't accept this offer, so Dongke will have to find Yahoo's competitors.

This is a silent threat, but it is also the norm in the current internet industry. In order to prevent a target company from being acquired by a competitor, they are often willing to pay a sky-high price to snatch it up.

(End of this chapter)