Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1396 Left Foot Steps on Right Foot, Spiral Ascension in Place
"The Qatar Foundation is willing to subscribe for 10% of the 3721 shares!"

Of all the institutions in the meeting room, only BNP Paribas believed that the valuation of 3721 was far too expensive and, not wanting to be taken advantage of, decided not to participate in the new round of investment.

When the Qatar Foundation, Hong Kong Future Industry Fund, CITIC Hong Kong City, UBS Hong Kong City, and SoftBank all confirmed their participation in 3721's new round of financing, the harmonious scene among the major investment institutions vanished instantly.

Khalid was the first to act; he wanted to achieve results and make the Al Thani royal family of Qatar see his abilities. Only in this way could he stand out from the Al Thani family and obtain more resources.

The struggle for the crown prince position has always been like this, not to mention in a large family with tens of thousands of members, the competition is even more fierce, and no opportunity can be easily given up.

In this round of venture capital, 3721 only released 15% of its equity, while Khalid wanted to take 10% in one go.

Based on a valuation of $3721 billion, this 10% stake is worth over $80 million.

For other institutions, this investment is not a small amount and requires review and approval, but for big players like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, it's incredibly cost-effective.

Back then, Saudi Arabia bought 35 Cloud Arrows in one go, each costing $100 million, which made Saudi Arabia stand firm in the Middle East ever since.

After all, no one dares to gamble on whether the arrow piercing the clouds contains TNT or a mushroom cloud. Who would dare to bet that Saudi Arabia might launch a colossal attack?

Wanting to go to space, they angrily spent 30 billion to send two astronauts into space, directly becoming the Middle Eastern tycoon most likely to reach the space station.

As for launching rockets, displaying the national flag and family banner of wealthy dog ​​owners, or using drones to create a celestial and terrestrial image, those are commonplace occurrences.

With these precedents in mind, how could Khalid not gamble? If he lost, so be it; those big-time foundations never avoid losing money.

But if they win, and 3721 goes public, its market value increases by $80 million, doubling, tripling, or even several times over. Then Khalid will be hailed as a legend, becoming the most astute member of the Al Thani family in terms of investment acumen.

Once he has the qualifications and merits, he may not only take charge of the entire Qatar Foundation, but also potentially become the Minister of Finance of Qatar!

Khalid is also a member of the Al Thani family, so why can't he touch the Chancellor's chair?
The thought of exchanging $80 million for so many opportunities made Khalid wonder if he would rather go all in than let the opportunities slip away.

Khalid's words, however, caused CITIC Port City, UBS Port City, and SoftBank to lose their composure.

They were still thinking about how many 3721 shares they wanted to subscribe to, but Khalid wanted to take them all at once and leave them a little bit of the soup.
Kitao Yoshitaka, on the other end of the phone, twitched his lips and cursed inwardly. He had long heard that the Middle Eastern tycoons were rich, but they couldn't be this uncivilized. It was almost on par with Japan's buying spree in America back then, without even bothering to bargain.

Back then, Japanese companies were incredibly arrogant. They would even get upset if a seller offered a low price, as the Japanese felt they were being looked down upon...

"impossible!"

Cao Zongyan was also cursing a bit. Looking at Khalid, he felt a new sense of crisis in his career.

Back then, Chinese capital in Hong Kong mainly dealt with British capital, but to be fair, the British were somewhat stingy and not the kind of big spenders who squandered money.

After all, if the British come to Hong Kong, they want to make money and return to England, not to do charity. Why would they be willing to invest too much capital here?

But now, Khalid's arrival makes Cao Zongyan feel that Bank of China Hong Kong City seems to have a new rival in Hong Kong.

Moreover, it is clearly visible that as the Silicon Harbor project progresses, the flames of the internet are ignited in the port city, and more and more investment institutions are beginning to flock to the port city.

These institutions include big players like the Qatar Foundation, who are really throwing money around. They don't use any fancy tricks or schemes; they just throw money at people, leaving Cao Zongyan feeling helpless!
But this is actually exactly the result that Li Dashan wanted: Silicon Valley, with the support of Wall Street, can fleece investors all over the world and attract hot money from all over the world to speculate on Nasdaq.

Regardless of whether it was a bubble or not, money poured in, and large-scale internet infrastructure, computer hardware, and internet websites began to develop.

Although it was money being burned off by people all over the world, it did indeed allow the American internet industry to develop, from base stations and network cables in the telecommunications sector to computers, websites, and software.

Even if the bubble bursts, the base stations, signal towers, websites, engineers, and other things left behind by the internet will not disappear. Given the right opportunity, the flame of the internet can be reignited on Nasdaq. Including the AI ​​era of the past, everyone knew that AI was just a bubble. OpenAI and Nvidia and Oracle actually achieved a plug-and-play approach without power, which is commonly known as "stepping on one foot while spiraling upwards in place."

Although it's all just hype, AI infrastructure is indeed being built, including AI chips, AI servers, data centers, computing centers, large AI models, and related technologies such as autonomous driving and robots.

As for what these infrastructures will actually be used for and when they will be available, no one can guarantee anything.

Just like an arms race, no one dares to stop. If they stop, what if the other side really makes a technological breakthrough?
In the current context, Hong Kong stocks certainly cannot operate like Nasdaq, profiting at the expense of investors worldwide.

But if it can attract investment from major oil-producing countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and then pour money into Zhongguancun, allowing the inland internet infrastructure to also start construction, even if the bubble bursts, the internet infrastructure will still be built domestically, so that not a single thing is left behind!
“3721 is only giving up 15% of its shares this time, and the Qatar Foundation is taking 10%. Are you suggesting that we, the few companies, should split the remaining 5%?” Cao Zongyan retorted to Khalid.

But Khalid didn't care at all about Cao Zongyan's dissatisfaction. He fiddled with the cloth on his head, revealing a set of white teeth, and said something that made Cao Zongyan and the others' eyebrows twitch.

"Since none of you were willing to express your opinions just now, I assumed it was because you were unwilling to invest in 3721. The Qatar Foundation is willing to take the risk for you!"

Khalid's words silenced Cao Zongyan and the others. Their silence was a calculated move, a strategic maneuver, a psychological tactic. Did Khalid not understand any rules?

"UBS doesn't need the Qatar Foundation to bear the risk!" said the head of UBS Port City, expressing his dissatisfaction.

The meeting room was filled with arguments again, but just moments before it was about how expensive 3721 was, and now it was about arguing over 15% of 3721's shares.

After exchanging barbs for a while, Liang Botao finally spoke up, ending the argument.

He still has several tough battles to fight against Li Dongling, so he doesn't have time to waste here.

"The Qatar Foundation, Hong Kong Port City Future Industry Fund, BOC Hong Kong Port City, SoftBank, and UBS have jointly invested in 3721. If you wish, you can split this 15% equity equally!"

Liang Botao offered a fair and impartial solution: each company would contribute US$24 million to acquire 3% of 3721's equity.

Upon hearing this proposal, Khalid and others were naturally somewhat dissatisfied, believing that the 3721 shares they received were too few. However, they also knew that this was the only proposal that could be accepted by all parties.

Seeing that the representatives of the various investment institutions in the conference room had stopped arguing, Liang Botao whispered a few words to Li Dongling and Zhou Hongyi before continuing to speak.

"After this financing is completed, 3721 will formally apply for listing, and plans to issue 50 million shares at a price of US$4 per share, or HK$31.2 per share, accounting for 25% of 3721's total equity!"

Leung Pak-tao said that given the Hong Kong government's attitude towards the internet, as long as 3721 applies for listing, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will approve it as quickly as possible.

Peregrine will begin its roadshow for 3721, promoting 3721's shares to Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and overseas. This time, 3721 will raise nearly US$200 million, which is quite astonishing.

3721 will also allocate 3% of its equity as a reward to senior executives and all employees.

After 3721 went public, Zhixing Foundation remained the largest shareholder with 33.21% of the shares, Yahoo held 11.07%, Future Industry Foundation held 6.15%, and SoftBank held 5.94%.

The remaining shareholders hold less than 5% of the shares, including Zhou Hongyi with 3.69%, CITIC Port City and UBS Port City each with 3.48%, BOC Port City and the Qatar Foundation each with 2.25%, and BNP Paribas's shareholding has been diluted to 1.23%, essentially marginalized.

In the future, the Zhixing Foundation, together with the Future Industry Foundation, Zhou Hongyi, and the shares held by 3721 employees, will hold nearly 46% of 3721's shares, making them the absolute majority shareholder of 3721 and able to control the board of directors of 3721.

Li Dongling found Liang Botao's proposed listing plan acceptable. Although the shareholding structure appeared somewhat dispersed, these shareholders essentially bound the entire inland region, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern oil-producing countries to the 3721 chariot.

In order to prevent their investments from going down the drain, these investment institutions must support 3721 and continue to hype it up after its listing, so that they can recoup their investment!
Zhou Hongyi appeared calm and composed, but Li Dashanren's hands trembled as he watched Zhou Hongyi sign the agreement.

Zhou Hongyi's 3721 shares have also been diluted and shrunk considerably, but since 3721 went public with a valuation of $800 million, Zhou Hongyi's net worth reached $29.52 million, equivalent to 236 million RMB!

He will also become the first true billionaire to emerge from the internet industry in Zhongguancun, Beijing!
(End of this chapter)