Reborn since 1993

Chapter 491 A scholar dies for his confidant
"Jerry, the founder of Yahoo, rejected the $450 million acquisition offer from Case, the president of America Online!"

Gruner told David Burnett the rumors he had heard.

In Silicon Valley and Wall Street, real news cannot be hidden. As soon as there is a little movement, it will start to spread.

Rumors that America Online wanted to acquire Yahoo also began to spread, along with various gossips.

To be honest, the acquisition price offered by America Online was not low. At least this acquisition price made Gruner and others quite jealous after hearing it.

If someone was willing to spend $400 million or $500 million to acquire ASK, Gruner would definitely sell it now without blinking an eye.

That’s hundreds of millions of US dollars. It will take these founders of small Internet companies several lifetimes to earn that much!

According to the news reported by Wall Street media, Yahoo's valuation after its IPO is only more than 300 million US dollars. America Online has shown great sincerity in offering such an acquisition price.

"I heard that it was Li, the president of Zhixing Foundation, who supported Jerry and the Yahoo founders and made Sequoia Capital give up its support for this acquisition!"

Burnett also talked about the rumors he heard, which were just gossip.

But for Silicon Valley newcomers like Burnett and Gruner, they are still quite envious of Li Dongling's support for Yang Zhiyuan.

By the way, who doesn't want to meet a true mentor, an investor who can support him or her at a critical moment? Such investors are very rare in Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Most of them are ruthless to founders and treat them like old shoes.

"President Steve, this way please!"

While Burnett and Gruner were talking in low voices, a figure came in and asked Steve Kissir and Li Yanhong to leave.

After all, there is a difference between close and distant relatives. The Zhixing Foundation has now invested in Sooxin, but has not yet invested in GeoCities website and ASK. It is impossible for Li Dongling to bypass Sooxin and meet Gruner and others first.

……

"plum!"

"Soushin needs your support. You said you would support Souxin. We need more funding now!"

Li Dongling, who was bending over his desk and processing documents, heard Steve Kissir complaining loudly as soon as he entered the room. Li Yanhong, who was following behind him, had a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

Obviously, Li Yanhong is not used to asking for money from venture capital companies. But think about Li Yanhong, he is indeed different from other founders.

He has been an outstanding student since he was young, and went to famous domestic universities and then studied abroad. The most difficult days were when he first arrived abroad, sharing a house with other people, taking turns to make phone calls, cooking and cleaning the house by himself, etc. But it was during that time that he went to work for Dow Jones, the parent company of Wall Street, with an annual income of more than $50,000 or $60,000, and he didn't have to worry about life at all.

Even when he founded Baidu, Li Yanhong was able to easily obtain large amounts of venture capital thanks to his overseas fame. Compared with Alibaba and Penguin, which were worried about funding, his life was much easier.

After Li Dongling wrote the last word, he put down the pen. Li Dongling had come to America, but there were still some documents faxed over from China that needed to be processed by Li Dongling.

In other words, email technology has not yet become completely popular. Otherwise, even if he arrived in America, Li Dongling would probably have a lot of emails waiting to be dealt with.

He extended his hand and asked Steve Kissir and Li Yanhong to sit down, and Li Dongling poured two glasses of water for them.

"Steve, of course I remember the agreement reached between Zhixing Foundation and Souxin!"

Li Dongling pushed the water cup in front of Steve Kissir and said, "What Souxin is worried about now is not the funding, but when it can be listed, right?!"

Steve Kissir, whose acting skills were not up to standard, couldn't help but blush when Li Dongling hit the nail on the head. Indeed, compared with the funding, what made him more anxious was when Souxin could be listed on NASDAQ.

You know, Sohu and Yahoo were launched at the same time, and they successfully applied for listing in just one year, but Sohu's listing is still a long way off. How can Steve Kissinger not be anxious?

More importantly, the Internet industry is not optimistic about the search industry and believes it is a money-losing business, which casts a shadow on Sooxin's path to listing.

“Venture capital firms in Silicon Valley and Wall Street institutions are not friendly to the search industry. They think the search industry is just a burden!

Damn it, they don’t think about it, Netscape, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft IE browser and other websites, in-site search, don’t they all need to use search technology! ” Steve Kissell complained.

Hearing this complaint, Li Dongling glanced at Steve Kissinger and shook his head secretly. It was no wonder that Silicon Valley venture capital was unwilling to invest in Souxin. Even Steve Kissinger himself did not regard Souxin as the protagonist of the Internet, but only as an auxiliary product for Netscape, Yahoo and other websites.

If the founders think so, how can they convince others? What really makes search one of the major industries on the Internet is the advertising bidding ranking. It has made search one of the most profitable industries on the Internet, with revenues crushing portals, e-commerce, games, social networking and other industries.

However, advertising bidding ranking cannot be achieved by simply pushing it. At least the search technology must keep up. You can’t just search for nonsense and get nothing out of it. Then who would be willing to use this search engine?
Based on the current accuracy of search results and search content, it will take at least two years before the advertising bidding ranking system will be useful.

"The most important thing for Sooxin now is to survive. Only by surviving can Sooxin let the Nasdaq committee see its value, and then it can go public!"

Li Dongling comforted Steve Kissir, "Zhixing Foundation will seek to work with other investors to invest no less than two million US dollars in Souxin again. Of course, Steve, you and the founding team may need to give up some of your equity!

In addition, the Zhixing Foundation will act as the agent for the Sooxin brand and start business in various regions of Asia, including inland areas, ports, Singapore, Malaysia, etc., to increase Sooxin's revenue.

Steve, what you need to do is to make SouXin a search engine for Netscape and Yahoo. Of course, if necessary, you can also make it a search engine for Microsoft IE browsers to capture the search market!"

It will take several years for search engines to become the protagonist of the Internet industry. During this period, the search industry can only rely on browsers, portals, etc. to occupy the search market.

The Internet industry also needs to take sides. Netscape, which was the dominant team in the early stage, was able to quickly gain market share in the search market. Later, it changed its team and supported IE browser, but that was also due to the pressure of life...

There is no way. Microsoft will definitely win the browser war. This is not determined by personal will. After all, if Microsoft plays rogue and forces users to choose between Microsoft system and Netscape browser, and there is Netscape browser on the desktop, Microsoft system will not be able to run, and the computer will freeze and freeze. Who will the user choose?
"As long as we have the search market share and users, and we have revenue, who can stop SouXin from going public?"

Li Dongling painted a big picture, of course, this was just for Steve Kissier to hear. Li Dongling would not be reluctant to sell the search letter, and finally turn the gold nugget into dirt.

It would be fine if SouXin could go public, but if it couldn't, Li Dongling would have to find a buyer for it. Either let Yahoo acquire it, or sell it to one of Netscape and Microsoft at a sky-high price at the critical moment of the browser war!

The last option is to merge SouXin with Google, the future search giant in America, and exchange SouXin for cash and Google stock, and then cash out when Google's market value rises.

But no matter which of these three paths you choose, you must ensure that the information search is strong. Otherwise, who would want a waste?
After hearing Li Dongling's words, Steve Kissir felt a little hope. Now the only one Souxin could rely on was the Zhixing Foundation. If not Li Dongling, who else could he rely on!

But it is indeed as Li Dongling said, even if search is not taken seriously, as long as there is market share and revenue, why worry about not being able to go public?
"As long as it can help Souxin, I and the people at Souxin are willing to do anything!" said Steve Kissir.

Li Dongling nodded, then pressed the phone on the table and asked Zhou Hualiang and the legal department to come over and talk to Steve Kissir about investing again in Souxin.

This time, Li Dongling plans to pull Yahoo in to invest in Souxin. As long as Yahoo goes public, Souxin will benefit from it. If the next two paths don't work in the future, he will encourage Yahoo to acquire Souxin.

Anyway, Yahoo spent so much money to acquire a bunch of junk, and now they just want to add a search engine, what's wrong with that? !

Li Yanhong originally wanted to go out with Steve Kissier, but Li Dongling signaled him to stay. Li Yanhong hesitated for a moment, but still sat down.

"Have you ever considered returning home?"

After Steve Kissier left, Li Dongling and Li Yanhong were the only ones left in the office. Li Dongling asked directly.

Shaking his head, Li Yanhong said truthfully, "Not yet. Currently in China, whether it is the Internet environment or the technical conditions, there is no place for me to use my skills!"

Li Dongling nodded, and then asked a question that Li Yanhong had not expected, "Have you ever thought about leaving Souxin?"

"Leave the letter search?" Li Yanhong was obviously frightened.

"With your search technology and hyperlink patent, you are qualified to become a partner or even a founder of any search company!" said Li Dongling.

It seems that Li Yanhong is highly valued in Sooxin now, but he is just a senior engineer. When he left Sooxin in his previous life, he cashed out the Sooxin stocks he was allocated, which was only a few hundred thousand dollars. To be honest, for someone of his technical level, it was really "ordinary".

"I……"

At this time, Li Yanhong obviously began to hesitate again. He was still quite satisfied with his current life. Although he had thought about starting his own Internet company, he did not want to change immediately.

Seeing this, Li Dongling did not ask Li Yanhong to make a decision immediately. He took out a business card and placed it in front of him.

"If you want to return to China someday, you can call this number at any time. Dongling Hi-Tech's domestic Internet division, Tianya Company, can support you in establishing a search company in China. You will be a partner and chief technology officer!"

With Li Yanhong's skills and personality, he is more than capable of developing search technology, no worse than Google. However, it is only limited to the technical aspect. In terms of operation and management, Li Dongling definitely needs Tianya Company to take the helm, so as to avoid being mired in scandals like in his previous life.

(End of this chapter)