You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 259 The outlet
Qin Shaoyan hesitated for a moment, looked at Steve and asked, "You mean... we should work together? How should we work together?"

"Yes, let's work together." Steve said excitedly.

New concept Internet projects like YouTube, acquiring websites and inflating valuations perfectly fit Yahoo's style of doing things.

This website is tailor-made for Yahoo.

Find a way to get YouTube, and then let YouTube acquire China's video website.

Expanding the Chinese market and creating a video website targeting the global market is a very good story, and it is also a story that the capital market loves to hear.

As long as this story is told well, the benefits it brings to Yahoo will definitely be more than doubling the valuation of YouTube.

After all, Yahoo is much larger than YouTube. Any good news can stimulate the stock price to rise, and the resulting market value can buy several YouTubes.

In 2000, Yahoo's market value once exceeded $1250 billion.

Although the Internet bubble burst and Yahoo's market value plummeted, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

What's more, Yahoo has always been the leader of the Internet. From 2000 to 2006, it has always been ranked first in the global Internet.

2006年全球互联网公司前20名中，它独霸3席，雅虎、雅虎日本和雅虎中国分别位列第1、第7和第14。

It is no exaggeration to say that at this time Yahoo was the undisputed overlord of the Internet.

Later Internet giants such as Microsoft and Google are not at the same level as Yahoo at the beginning of the century.

Unfortunately, this huge empire quickly declined, and the speed of its decline was beyond everyone's expectations.

As late as 2008, Microsoft offered $500 billion to Yahoo, hoping to break Google's monopoly in the search and online advertising markets through a merger.

However, Yahoo, which was ambitious but lacked the ability to achieve its goals, rejected this cooperation, and the cooperation that all parties were optimistic about eventually came to nothing.

Having missed this opportunity to sell at a high price, Yahoo is like a discounted item on the shelf, waiting helplessly for bargaining, and looking forward to buyers' presence.

On July 2016, 7, the American communications giant Verizon announced that it would acquire Yahoo for US$25 billion.

For the former Internet giant, this ending is more like a humiliation. The selling price of US$48 billion is less than a fraction of its valuation of hundreds of billions at its peak.

By this point in 2005, Yahoo had already realized its decline.

Therefore, investors and shareholders began to use various methods to stimulate the stock price, trying to maintain Yahoo's market value through continuous acquisitions and business expansion, and constant storytelling.

Moreover, at this time, Yahoo could still come up with a large amount of funds to discuss acquisitions.

For example, in the original time and space, Yahoo offered $10 billion to acquire Facebook.

For example, exchanging US$10 billion for 40% of Alibaba’s shares.

If you miss this time point, even if you really want to sell in two or three years, it will be difficult for Yahoo to come up with the money.

Yahoo is the most suitable company that urgently needs a new story to maintain its market value and stimulate its stock price, and can also come up with large sums of money without hesitation.

Qin Shaoyan looked at Steve with complicated eyes. After a long while, he sighed and said faintly, "Actually, Yahoo is my first choice for cooperation."

"But the price you offered is too low, it's an humiliation to us at YouTube."

"So we had to go and negotiate with Google."

"John, this is actually a misunderstanding." Steve began to curse the guys in charge of the negotiations in his heart, "Let's talk business and put aside the unpleasantness, okay?"

"I think your plan is actually very good. It's a very ambitious business plan."

"It's a pity that no matter how good the business plan is, what's the use?" Qin Shaoyan said helplessly, "The other shareholders don't support it at all."

If other shareholders support it, you should be talking about financing instead of waiting here to sell your YouTube shares.

Steve guessed that Qin Shaoyan's statement that he and other shareholders had differences in business philosophies was probably a euphemism.

I guess they had a very heated argument, which led to the breakdown of the talks, so everyone finally decided to sell their shares, cash out and leave.

Of course, we can’t blame other shareholders for being short-sighted.

After all, any business plan is risky, let alone a cross-border acquisition like this, which requires a lot of money.

YouTube may need to raise $300 million in financing to be sure of success, but that's how much YouTube itself is worth.

Investors are looking for profits, not risks.

There are a lot of investors in Silicon Valley who cash out after one or two rounds of a project, and they don’t care how big the project will grow in the future.

After all, compared with the illusory market prospects, it is more reassuring to get the money in hand and pursue the highest rate of return in the shortest time.

"If we support your business plan, would you be willing to continue talking to Yahoo?" Steve asked.

Qin Shaoyan hesitated for a moment, "Only if you can give a reasonable offer."

"What do you think is a reasonable offer?" Steve asked.

"One billion dollars." Qin Shaoyan gestured, "I think this is quite appropriate."

Steve was stunned for a moment, "Are you kidding me?"

"I am discussing this with you very seriously, Mr. Steve." Qin Shaoyan said solemnly, "YouTube's valuation reached $800 million half a month ago, but it's a pity that you don't admit it."

"Now Google has offered $850 million."

“But this doesn’t reflect YouTube’s true value.”

Qin Shaoyan waved his arms excitedly and said, "The YouTube team has reached an agreement with China's Qvod. The contract has been drafted, and we just need the funds to sign it."

“YouTube is only one step away from doubling its valuation.”

"It is inevitable that YouTube's valuation will rise. If we still evaluate YouTube's true value based on a valuation of $800 million, is this reasonable?"

“So, acquiring YouTube requires a certain premium!”

“A billion dollars is a low price!”

Steve frowned. He also knew that Qin Shaoyan's offer of ten billion dollars was indeed a bit high.

However, YouTube's valuation will soon rise, so a slight premium is reasonable.

The bottom line is, a billion dollars is a lot of money for YouTube, but it's not a big deal for Yahoo.

What Yahoo values ​​is the series of positive news on its stock price brought by the acquisition of YouTube. Even if the stock price only increases by 10%, it will be a profit of several billion dollars.

"So this is your final bottom line?" Steve asked seriously.

Qin Shaoyan nodded and said firmly: "Yes!"

Steve let out a long sigh and said, "I'll go and convey your request to the boss."

He stood up and picked up the copy in his hand. "Can I take this with me?"

"No, this won't work." Qin Shaoyan took the copy back and said, "You can't take this away."

Steve was a little helpless, "I need some evidence to convince my boss."

"You can go to China to verify the authenticity of the license." Qin Shaoyan hesitated for a moment, but still handed the copy to Steve.

Steve carefully put away the copy of the license and hurried away.

Soon, Yahoo verified the authenticity of certain news through Yahoo China.

Steve called Qin Shaoyan that day and said that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang wanted to meet with him.

Afterwards, Qin Shaoyan notified YouTube's negotiation team and asked them to tell Google that Yahoo was willing to offer $1 billion to acquire YouTube.

……

The next day, Qin Shaoyan met with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang at a golf course.

Since the other party was also Chinese, Qin Shaoyan did not bring an interpreter, but only brought Zhang Pingyi to the appointment. As soon as Yang Zhiyuan met him, he smiled and said in Chinese: "Mr. Qin is really young and promising."

Qin Shaoyan modestly said, "I often tell others that Mr. Yang is my idol. He started from scratch and created the Yahoo Empire. He is truly a role model for Internet people."

"Just Yahoo's achievements alone are something we can only look up to."

Yang Zhiyuan laughed, "Mr. Qin, you are too modest."

"I have also heard a little about Mr. Qin's deeds. He has achieved so much at such a young age. His future is limitless."

"I wasn't as good as you when I was young."

"For a person, one must not only look at his personal struggle, but also the course of history." Qin Shaoyan said with emotion, "I have caught up with the express train of the times, not because I have any extraordinary abilities."

"When the wind is blowing, even pigs can fly."

"Only when the tide recedes will everyone know who is not wearing any underwear."

Although Qin Shaoyan's tone was very modest, Yang Zhiyuan always felt that he was speaking strangely, so he changed the subject, "Mr. Qin, can you play golf?"

"I can't." Qin Shaoyan answered directly, "Our school doesn't teach this in physical education class, but I can play tennis."

Jerry Yang was stunned for a moment, "Schools in mainland China also teach tennis."

"Of course, we also have a dedicated tennis court." Qin Shaoyan said with emotion, "But I still like the ice skating lessons in winter. By watering the playground, it only takes one night to turn it into an ice skating rink."

Yang Zhiyuan was a little curious, "That must be fun."

"It's really fun. This is the most interesting class I've taken in my five years of college." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "If there's a chance, please invite Mr. Yang to visit my hometown."

"Okay, I'll definitely go if I have the chance." Jerry Yang sighed, put away the golf club in his hand, and spoke as he walked.

"I've seen Mr. Qin's resume, it's really amazing."

"I heard that you made your first fortune by making game software. Is that true?"

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "This is what I am most proud of. At that time, I was still a poor student with only a few hundred dollars in my hand."

"Vice President Zhang Pingyi and I completed the game software in our spare time and sold it to the United States."

"That game software was very successful and made me a lot of money, which enabled me to build Facebook."

Yang Zhiyuan said enviously, "I heard that Mr. Qin took out 10 million US dollars at once. I couldn't do that when I was in college."

"From Facebook to video websites, Mr. Qin has a keen sense of the Internet."

"I heard that Mr. Qin has several very good Internet projects in mainland China." Yang Zhiyuan asked curiously, "With Mr. Qin's ability, he should have achieved greater success if he stayed in the United States. Why did you choose to go back?"

"Maybe I'm not used to life in the United States." Qin Shaoyan smiled, "Everyone has their own aspirations."

"What a pity." Yang Zhiyuan said casually, "But Mr. Qin has also done a lot of success on the mainland Internet, almost replicating the website in the United States."

"You also founded Qvod, which was acquired by YouTube, right?"

"YouTube was co-founded by me and others, and the origin of Qvod is a bit more complicated." Qin Shaoyan said sincerely, "In fact, there have been teams in China that have been developing video websites for a long time, but they were a step behind me."

"I was originally planning to invest, and I found a team that was building a video website, so I simply acquired them."

“With the addition of funding from several venture capital firms, we built the website.”

Yang Zhiyuan continued to ask: "How much shares does Mr. Qin have in Qvod?"

"Less than 20%." Qin Shaoyan replied, "There are two investment companies that hold more shares than me, but they usually entrust their voting rights to me."

"Everyone says I'm a major shareholder, but that's just the way it is. I also have to listen to the investors."

"Then why did Mr. Qin choose to sell that mainland video website?" Jerry Yang asked curiously.

"It's actually similar to selling YouTube." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "Video websites look great, but they require a lot of money to maintain operations."

“Some investors are concerned about continuing to invest money and want to sell their shares.”

"And I'm tired of communicating with investors."

"I am now going to focus on running the social networking site. After all, I have to hurry up and go public."

Yang Zhiyuan smiled, swung the club and hit the golf ball far away, then picked up the club and handed it to Qin Shaoyan, "Come and try it, Mr. Qin."

Qin Shaoyan took the club and gestured twice, then handed it to Zhang Pingyi, "Let my partner try it, he has never played before."

"Okay." Yang Zhiyuan did not object, pointing to the distance and said, "How about taking that hole as your goal? If you can get it in ten strokes, then we can talk about cooperation."

Zhang Pingyi took a look and hesitated.

Qin Shaoyan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Fight as you like. If you lose, it's my fault."

Zhang Pingyi let out a long breath, gestured a little, and then swung the club hard.

The white ball spun at high speed, drew an arc in the air, and then fell into the hole very accurately.

"Wow, an eagle!" Yang Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment, then he applauded and praised, "This is a good sign. It looks like our cooperation will definitely be a great success."

Qin Shaoyan nodded and agreed with a smile: "It is indeed a good sign."

Jerry Yang held out his hand. "One billion dollars. It's a deal."

Qin Shaoyan also stretched out his hand, "I personally fully agree with this cooperation."

Then the two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

……

Davis, who got the news, drove directly to Qin Shaoyan's villa and rushed in excitedly, "John, one billion dollars?!"

"Yes, one billion dollars." Qin Shaoyan nodded.

"Great!" Davis was so excited that he almost jumped up. "John, you are awesome. We are about to succeed. Did Yahoo say when to sign the contract?"

"Don't worry yet." Qin Shaoyan replied, "Wait a little longer."

"Why?" Davis was stunned for a moment, "What are you waiting for?"

"Let's take a look at Google's offer first." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "What if Google is willing to bid higher than Yahoo?"

Davis thought for a moment and asked, “Should I notify the VCs at Vanguard and BlackRock Foundation?”

"Okay." Qin Shaoyan nodded. "Tell them that this is not YouTube's final price. I hope they can make a decision soon."

Davis immediately picked up the phone and started communicating with the other two investment funds.

At this time, David Banks also rushed over with an expression of uncontrollable ecstasy on his face.

"Boss, Google is willing to pay 1.1 billion US dollars, do you want to sell it?"

Davis, who was on the phone, was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly shouted into the phone: "Google has offered $1.1 billion. Do you want to reconsider it?"

"YouTube could be worth $1.2 billion tomorrow."

"If you don't get on the bus now, there will be no seat left!"

After a few seconds, Davis waved his fist vigorously and looked at Qin Shaoyan excitedly, "Vanguard and BlackRock Fund have given a new valuation."

"Twelve billion dollars!"

"20 billion US dollars, releasing % ​​of the shares, this is just right." Qin Shaoyan stood up, "Promise them to sign the contract tomorrow."

Then Qin Shaoyan picked up the phone and called Xiong Xiaoge.

"Boss Xiong, YouTube's $240 million will be in soon. Where's your money?"

(End of this chapter)