Reborn since 1993

Chapter 169 Opening the Blind Box
In America, the names Bill Gates and Microsoft are quite complex symbols for software companies, Internet companies, and programmers.

Bill Gates' reputation did not become bad at the beginning, and no one would be regarded as a devil or a villain by countless people from the beginning.

Even once upon a time, he was regarded as a hero by countless technical practitioners. He founded Microsoft and let software companies and programmers start to come in. Regardless of whether he relied on the power of his parents and family when he founded Microsoft, his self-made reputation was indeed He gave hope to countless people from ordinary families, ushered in an era where technology changed their destiny, and made countless people regard him as an idol!

Microsoft took the lead and rebelled against IBM, ending IBM's monopoly on America and the global technology industry. Then Microsoft went public and became the richest man for the first time. All these allowed him to gain huge global reputation in a very short period of time. Follow followers.

If it hadn't been for what happened later, and he was repeatedly involved in plagiarism scandals, using the bundling system to suppress his peers, and not giving emerging software companies a way to survive, just like Kingsoft WPS, dealing with all kinds of opponents, then Bill Gates' reputation probably wouldn't have changed that much. Smelly.

Now, in America, Bill Gates's reputation is completely bad. Companies all over the world, such as Kingsoft in China, hate Microsoft.

But outside the technology industry, Microsoft is still one of the world's top technology giants, Bill Gates is still a technology leader, and the charitable foundation he established is well-known around the world. Well, these are all in Image outside America...

As for today, the image of Bill Gates and Microsoft is still a bit shabby, and they are scolded by their peers. It will be a few years before the image of Bill Gates has completely collapsed. Even if he does charity, he will be criticized by Americans in various ways. Conspiracy theories.

In the American technology industry, it doesn't matter if two people are not familiar with each other, but as long as they scold Bill Gates and Microsoft together, they will definitely become "good brothers" quickly.

Hearing that Lu Wenhua moved out of Li Dongling, Yang Zhiyuan's attitude towards Lu Wenhua couldn't help but change a bit. This is not because of the influence of Li Dongling and Dongling Hi-Tech in America, but because Li Dongling had let Microsoft suffer before. This is not a problem for Yang Zhiyuan and others. For those in the American technology industry, that’s enough!

"Very good investment conditions, but..." Yang Zhiyuan said helplessly to Lu Wenhua, preparing to reject this venture capital from the other side of the ocean.

Another point is that Netscape makes money by selling paid browsers. Every time it sells a set of browsers, it can earn dozens of dollars. But Yahoo is providing free Internet services. Before the emergence of Internet advertising, Yahoo has been struggling to make profits. .

People who can cause problems for Microsoft are "friends" to Yang Zhiyuan and others. In his previous life, it was Yang Zhiyuan who vetoed Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo. You can know Yang Zhiyuan's attitude towards Microsoft and Bill Gates. .

However, in response to Yang Zhiyuan's rejection, Lu Wenhua did not stop and continued, "In addition, Zhixing Foundation hopes to obtain Yahoo's brand agency and operating rights in Asia and promote Yahoo throughout Asia.

As for, if Yahoo fails to meet expectations and is not so popular, what will happen if Yahoo sells its agency rights in Asian countries? Anyway, the Zhixing Foundation does not have the money to pay Yahoo any Asian brand general agency licensing fee. …

Lu Wenhua said to Yang Zhiyuan. Hearing the investment amount, Yang Zhiyuan couldn't help but nodded. For an Internet start-up company to get the first venture capital of 300,000 US dollars, it was not a small amount. If Yahoo hadn't been working with Sequoia, Investment cooperation, maybe Yang Zhiyuan has accepted the investment.

"Zhixing Foundation is planning to invest US$300,000 in Yahoo this time!"

When Lu Wenhua said this, his tone was a little unnatural. It was nonsense to give Yahoo half a million US dollars in licensing fees every year to promote Yahoo to mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. How can the Zhixing Foundation have the money to promote Yahoo in various Asian countries?

At that time, Tanglin Hi-Tech and Zhixing Foundation did not need to spend money. Instead, other Asian companies had to spend money to beg for Yahoo's local operating rights.

For this reason, we are willing to pay Yahoo a licensing fee of US$60 per year. 40% of Yahoo's revenue in Asia belongs to the Zhixing Foundation, and % belongs to Yahoo America! "

Li Dongling's preparation is to wait until next year when Yahoo has already become famous in America and is being wildly pursued by the media and Wall Street. By then, there will be no need for the Zhixing Foundation to work hard to promote Yahoo in Asia, and companies will come to visit. Please cooperate with Zhixing Foundation to represent Yahoo!

When Yang Zhiyuan heard Lu Wenhua's words, he couldn't help but feel a little moved. It was not because of the 300,000 US dollars of investment, but because of Yahoo's brand agency in Asia. This is more important to Yahoo than money!
Now the Internet in Silicon Valley is just getting started, including Netscape, the current leader of Silicon Valley Internet, which is also located in one-third of an acre of land in America. If Yahoo can promote its business overseas, it will definitely detonate the entire Silicon Valley!

Now, if we can sell the rights to operate the Yahoo brand in Asia and earn US dollars every year, Yahoo will be able to strengthen its waist when promoting externally, at least it will not make a penny.

Various thoughts flashed through Yang Zhiyuan's mind. Now Yahoo is in difficult negotiations with Sequoia Investment. Sequoia Investment has a very big appetite and wants to take away 40% of Yahoo's equity. If it can attract the Zhixing Foundation, this will Will become one of Yahoo's bargaining chips.

"I need to discuss this matter with David!" Yang Zhiyuan raised his head and said to Lu Wenhua. The David he mentioned was David Filo, another founder of Yahoo. Lu Wenhua nodded. Yang Zhiyuan did not refuse. I feel like there's drama in this matter.

After going out for more than ten minutes, Yang Zhiyuan came back and said to Lu Wenhua, "For one million U.S. dollars, the Zhixing Foundation can take away Yahoo's brand agency and operating rights in Asia, but it needs to pay Yahoo one million U.S. dollars a year for authorization. fee!"

Yang Zhiyuan feels that the licensing fee of one million US dollars is already quite high. Now Yahoo has no way to make money at all. It is already quite high to have a profit of one million US dollars on paper. As for making tens of millions every year in the future, Hundreds of millions of dollars, let alone Yang Zhiyuan, no one in Silicon Valley has thought about it now.

"I need to ask Mr. Li for instructions!" Lu Wenhua also said.

Li Dongling, who was in Pingyang, received a call from Lu Wenwen. Without thinking much, he said directly, "Promise him!"

"But the requirement is that the Zhixing Foundation must obtain 10% of Yahoo!"

Regardless of whether it was one million US dollars or several million US dollars in licensing fees, Li Dongling was not prepared to give Yahoo a penny anyway. He was just waiting for Yahoo to become famous and sell Yahoo's operating rights in various Asian countries.

30 US dollars in exchange for 10% of Yahoo's equity. Yahoo will have to go through several rounds of investment next, and by then this share will shrink a lot.

But there is nothing we can do about it. Of course Li Dongling can spend more dollars to invest in Yahoo, but if Li Dongling becomes the major shareholder of Yahoo, will Sequoia Investment and Wall Street still be willing to support Yahoo as they did in their previous lives? It is really difficult to say that it is difficult to become the leader of Silicon Valley.

Even SoftBank, which became Yahoo's major shareholder in the previous life, suffered in every aspect. As a major shareholder, it had no management rights over Yahoo. Yahoo was completely managed by Wall Street institutions, and Yang Zhiyuan, the founder, was kicked out at the drop of a hat.

Regarding Lu Wenhua's request to take away 10% of Yahoo's equity, Yang Zhiyuan directly agreed and sold 10% of the equity for yuan. Yahoo currently has less than ten employees and only such a small office. The valuation can be instantly Over three million dollars!

Through Zhou Hualiang, Lu Wenhua borrowed legal personnel from the American branch of Tangling Hi-Tech, drafted a contract, signed it with Yang Zhiyuan, and then rushed to the next one.

It is also Li Dongling's request to let professional legal personnel draw up contracts. How many domestic companies have entered overseas markets, but they have suffered losses in contracts, and they have not spoken out about their sufferings. There are not a few who have been cheated and lost their entire fortune.

Especially when facing the old fritters in Silicon Valley and the vultures on Wall Street who eat people without spitting out their bones, you must be more careful, otherwise you may suffer a lot of losses!

After Lu Wenhua left Yahoo, he went to several Internet companies one after another, but these companies made Lu Wenhua not feel good.

These companies either made long talks when they first started, praising themselves vigorously, and then the lion opened their mouths, wanting to get a large amount of venture capital from Lu Wenhua, or they were completely like grass-roots teams, and might close down at any time. Lu Wenhua felt that the money was really invested In the past, the company could shut down and run away immediately.

In today's Silicon Valley, Lu Wenhua's feeling is that there are energetic and ambitious people like Netscape and Yahoo, and there are also rotten shrimps fishing in troubled waters. Investing in these Internet companies, in addition to relying on vision, is also like opening a blind box. No one knows what will come out of the box when a sum of money is invested.

Until, when he came to Infoseek, this was the company that Li Dongling gave him to invest in, second only to Yahoo as a company that needed investment.

As soon as he entered Soxin Company, Lu Wenhua immediately felt that this place was different from other Silicon Valley companies because there were many more Asians here. Even Lu Wenhua could feel that there were Chinese and even mainlanders.

Until he saw a twenty-six or seven-year-old man with a somewhat bookish attitude coming over, Lu Wenhua looked at the man for a few times and said, "Are you from mainland China?!"

Hearing the familiar Mandarin, Li Yanhong, who has been in America for several years, was stunned for a moment, and then realized, "A native of Shancheng, Hedong, are you from the mainland?"

(End of this chapter)