Reborn since 1993

Chapter 527 Today’s Yahoo, Tomorrow’s Flying Geese

"Lee, what do you think the stock price of Yahoo will reach after its IPO today?"

Those gathered here today are basically media and journalists related to the Internet industry, as well as some media from Wall Street in New York. Many of the media were invited by Yahoo itself to create momentum.

At this moment, Yahoo is like a star who is about to debut and needs to try its best to increase its exposure to improve its popularity.

After the development of Himalaya Radio, American media focusing on the Internet are now no strangers to Li Dongling and Yao Luoying. In addition, Feiyan Technology has also exchanged equity with Yahoo and is one of Yahoo’s major shareholders!

These media and reporters were only following convention when asking questions to Li Dongling, and they did not expect to get any earth-shattering comments.

But when he heard this question, Li Dongling stopped and looked at the reporter with the CNET Technology Information Network sign in front of him. This is an emerging Internet technology website that will be listed on NASDAQ this year. In the future, this website will also be one of the most successful American companies in localization in the inland United States.

Li Dongling put the index fingers of both hands together and made the number ten.

"One billion dollars!"

"I think Yahoo's market value today could be over a billion dollars!"

After hearing Li Dongling's words, not only the reporters from CNET, but also the reporters from other TV stations and media around were stunned for a moment, and then suddenly burst into laughter, obviously thinking that Li Dongling was just joking.

"Then I'm really going to buy a thousand shares of Yahoo stock today. I hope I won't be disappointed!" The CNET reporter who asked the question looked like he had heard a huge secret.

"I believe that Yahoo will not let you down!"

Li Dongling also laughed and said that Yahoo's issue price was US$13 per share, and one thousand shares was US$, which was not a small amount. The reporter in front of him might not really take tens of thousands of dollars to support Yahoo.

Li Dongling didn’t know whether he would buy it or not, but if he really bought it, after four or five years, the thirteen thousand dollars might become one million and three hundred thousand dollars. However, who would believe it at this moment!
The Nasdaq trading hall is already crowded with people. Jerry Yang and Filo are the protagonists today, especially Jerry Yang. Compared with the somewhat taciturn Filo, the Yahoo chief is standing under the spotlight, chatting and laughing while dealing with continuous media interviews.

Yahoo's board of directors members and company members, except for those who stayed in the company to maintain the operation of the website, all other Yahoo employees were present.

After all, the entire Yahoo staff currently only has 49 people in total, which means that for a company that was established just over a year ago and went public, its staff size is less than people. This is the characteristic and style of the Internet. Everything is full of incredible things, and it is also the reason why countless people dare to set up a stall in a garage and clamor for going public.

Yahoo President Koogle and a number of Yahoo investors, including Moritz of Sequoia Capital and Masayoshi Son of Softbank, the largest shareholder, are also here today.

The sudden noise outside the trading hall attracted the attention of people in the hall, including Jerry Yang, Moritz, Masayoshi Son and others, who all looked outside.

"It's Li, here we are!"

Koogle said to Jerry Yang and others, and then said with a smile, "He announced to the media that Yahoo's market value today will exceed one billion US dollars!"

Hearing this, Jerry Yang, Filo, Moritz and others all smiled. The higher the market value of Yahoo goes, the greater their profits will be. If the market value can really exceed one billion US dollars, the profit of Sequoia's investment in Yahoo will directly exceed a hundred times!
Only Masayoshi Son's smile seemed forced. Logically speaking, SoftBank is a major shareholder of Yahoo, and he should be happy about Yahoo's higher market value.

But Masayoshi Son came to America this time not only to participate in Yahoo's IPO. The faster Yahoo's market value soared, the more disadvantageous it would be for him to do next. This made Masayoshi Son look a little depressed.

Over the years, since his debut, he has been successful in everything he does. He is the only one who sets traps for others, but he is always the one being set traps by others. However, this time, when he invested in Yahoo, he was pecked in the eye by an eagle. He feels happy about the investment in Yahoo, but not that happy, which makes Masayoshi Son very helpless.

Li Dongling knew who should play the home game today. After a long talk outside, he and Yao Luoying entered the hall and declined media interviews, not wanting to steal the limelight from Jerry Yang.

In the short term, promoting Jerry Yang's title as Yahoo chief can indeed increase Yahoo's visibility and boost Yahoo's stock price.

Zhixing Foundation holds 5% of Yahoo's shares, while Feiyan Technology holds 8% of Yahoo's shares. The higher the market value of Yahoo, the more beneficial it is for Li Dongling. He wishes Jerry Yang could be more famous, so he would never steal the limelight from him!
"Mr. Li!"

"Director Yao!"

After shaking hands with Li Dongling, Jerry Yang said to the two of them that as the general manager of Feiyan Technology, Yao Luoying, who has 8% of Yahoo's voting rights, is naturally qualified to join the Yahoo board of directors.

Li Dongling let Yao Luoying join the Yahoo board of directors and obtained the title of Yahoo board of directors. This title is insignificant now, but it will be quite impressive in the future and will be of great benefit to Feiyan Technology.

Ferro, Kugel, Moritz and others all shook hands with Li Dongling. Today, they were all considered "family members" and were on the same boat. It would depend on how high Yahoo's stock price and market value would go before they could decide whether to open the champagne or return to Silicon Valley in disgrace. "Mr. Li, I've heard of your great name for a long time and I finally meet you today!"

When it was Masayoshi Son's turn, he took the initiative to extend his hand to Li Dongling. Although Son is not tall, he has not yet become the Internet emperor, but his eyes are filled with an aura of looking down on the world.

Li Dongling shook hands with Son Masayoshi and looked at him, "Dongling Hi-Tech has dealt with SoftBank before!"

Seeing Son Masayoshi's puzzled look, Li Dongling smiled and said, "UTStarcom!"

UTStarcom, which is now a "famous" brand of PHS mobile phones in China, accepted investment from Japan's SoftBank before it came to Dongling Hi-Tech to seek cooperation. The founder of UTStarcom has a close personal relationship with Masayoshi Son.

When hearing Li Dongling mention UTStarcom, Masayoshi Son showed an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face, "Then SoftBank and Dongling Hi-Tech really have a "fate", UTStarcom and Yahoo, both sides have cooperation!"

"Who knows, there will be more cooperation between Dongling Hi-Tech and SoftBank in the future!"

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but when Masayoshi Son heard Li Dongling say this, he always felt that Li Dongling seemed to be hinting at something.

"Everyone, come take a photo together!"

As the bell ringing session was approaching, all Yahoo board members were called aside to take a group photo. When Yahoo becomes successful and becomes a giant company, these will be important information and will be played repeatedly in major media.

Masayoshi Son stood next to Jerry Yang. In an occasion like this, enough face had to be given to Yahoo's major shareholders. Then came Filo, Koogle, Moritz and others. Li Dongling and Yao Luoying stood on the far left.

In an instant, a white light flashed, and the most famous photo in the first wave of global Internet history was born.

The people in this photo are also some of the most famous and highest-valued men in the early days of the Internet. They appeared on the same Kodak film. Several of them are considered to be men who influenced the future global Internet landscape.

Now, when this photo appears in media reports, more attention may be paid to Jerry Yang, Kugel and others.

But five, ten, or twenty years later, when this photo was opened again, the focus was on Masayoshi Son, who was standing next to Jerry Yang with a serious expression, and another man, who was standing next to Yao Luoying, looking at the camera with a smile!
"Li, you've been making quite a fuss lately. You almost broke up the Microsoft-Intel alliance!"

While waiting for Yahoo to open, Moritz said to Li Dongling in amazement. Moritz thought about it and realized that ever since Li Dongling came to America, the commotion he caused has almost never stopped.

"No one can destroy the Microsoft-Intel alliance. Fortresses always collapse from within. What happens to their alliance has nothing to do with Dongling Hi-Tech!" Li Dongling would not take the blame.

Moritz laughed. How could a rift appear in the Microsoft-Intel alliance that had lasted for nearly twenty years be covered up by just one sentence?

Moritz and many conspiracy theorists believe that Li Dongling must have offered Microsoft conditions that were difficult for Microsoft to refuse in order to make Microsoft and Intel openly break up, and that this was definitely not as simple as just cooperating on a game console project.

But seeing Li Dongling's "tight-mouthed" look, Moritz knew that if he wanted to get the details, he would have to pay a high price, but he was just curious and didn't want to make a big fuss or anything.

"What is the current status of Feiyan Technology's application for listing?" Li Dongling asked Moritz.

"If nothing goes wrong, Feiyan Technology's listing application will be approved by the Nasdaq Securities Review Committee next month. As you wish, Feiyan Technology can also hold a bell ringing ceremony here at the end of the year!" Moritz revealed to Li Dongling.

Yao Luoying watched Jerry Yang and Filo ring the bell together, and then the Yahoo code appeared on the screen in the Nasdaq trading hall. Zheng Zheng looked at the screen, not knowing what he was thinking.

Yao Luoying felt someone holding her hand. She turned around and saw that it was Li Dongling. Li Dongling whispered to Yao Luoying, "By the end of the year, Feiyan Technology's code will also appear on this screen, making it the first Internet company in the mainland to be listed on NASDAQ!"

"Up!"

After the market opened, there were exclamations in the hall, and the eyes of people in the trading hall and countless people outside the hall were all looking at Yahoo's stock.

Then we saw that Yahoo's stock price, as if it had taken medicine, began to rise crazily, and in the blink of an eye, it had broken through the 17 US dollar mark. At this time, even those who had no experience in the business world knew that today Yahoo might follow the same path as Netscape did on its IPO day, and its stock price was heading for doubling!

(End of this chapter)