Speaking of Yahoo, it is necessary to introduce this company, because its development basically represents the development of the Internet all over the world.

Of course, only in the early stages of the development of the Internet......

In the summer of 1995, Yahoo, co-founded by two Stanford University graduates, Chinese Zhiyuan Yang and David Ferro, was officially launched.

In the beginning, the Yahoo website was relatively simple, it was just a simple classification of the whole network of sites, so that the website resources became orderly and easy for users to query and use.

It's such a small idea, but it is very popular with Internet users.

It may be hard for today's netizens to imagine how difficult it was to find a website on the Internet at the time.

Because there was no search engine at that time, you needed to enter the entire URL of the website into the address bar of your browser, and you could not make any mistakes in the letters and symbols to log in to the corresponding website.

So, Yahoo solved this pain point for all netizens and started to go viral!

Subsequently, Yahoo gradually expanded, building an ecosystem of search engines, email, instant messaging, web advertising, and website building platforms that covered all aspects of people's lives, becoming the world's largest Internet portal.

In 1999, when the Internet was just in its infancy, Yahoo had 120 million unique users, 100 million of whom had registered with at least one of Yahoo's channels or featured services. At that time, no matter what you wanted to do online, the first web page you landed on when you opened the browser was Yahoo!

BECAUSE WITH YAHOO, YOU CAN EASILY GO TO ANY WEBSITE, AND YOU DON'T NEED TO RECORD A LOT OF WEBSITE ADDRESSES, JUST WRITE DOWN THE SIMPLE AND EASY TO REMEMBER "YAHOO." That's it!

For example, Yahoo Mail once had 243 million users worldwide, and the first email address of many Chinese Internet users was Yahoo Mail with the suffix @.

Just over a year after its founding, Yahoo landed on the NASDAQ. On the day of listing, the stock price rose 1.5 times.

On January 3, 2000, Yahoo's market capitalization reached $128 billion.

How good was Yahoo back then?

It was the first website in the world to offer internet navigation services.

It pioneered the free Internet model, that is, the content is free and the advertising is charged.

From 2000 to 2006, it was the world's No. 1 Internet leader.

In 2006, it dominated three of the top 20 Internet companies in the world, with Yahoo, Yahoo Japan and Yahoo China ranking 1st, 7th and 14th respectively.

Google, Facebook in the United States, Sina, Sohu and NetEase in China, and Baidu, all of which are followers and imitators.

At that time, the Yahoo "empire" was almost invincible, and it could even be said that it was equivalent to the entire Internet.

Many Internet experts have exaggerated and said, "The Internet will one day change the whole world, but without Yahoo, I am afraid that I would not even be able to touch the door." ”

............

Therefore, for Yu Wenfei's question, Cai Congxin also gave his own answer.

"If you only talk about domestic websites, then Sina...... This is currently the most leading portal in China, but it also has hidden dangers, that is, NetEase and Sohu have been catching up. In addition, I heard that Tencent is also going to be a portal, and there will be more competitors in the future. Although Yahoo China now has a higher market capitalization, it ...... You also understand the policy factors. Cai Congxin said a little hesitantly.

understands that the domestic Internet will inevitably be affected by policy factors, which shows that this is a smart person, and Yu Wenfei likes to work with smart people.

"Hehe, do you believe it, it only takes a year for Facebook to surpass Sina, and surpass that in all aspects! Moreover, you will see that Sina can only be thrown farther away, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger!" Yu Wenfei smiled.

If another person said this, Cai Congxin might turn around and leave, he is very strict in what he says and does, so he doesn't like to talk about business with people who love to brag.

However, this was said by Yu Wenfei.

The achievements that Yu Wenfei has achieved are enough for anyone to listen carefully to every word he says, even if it sounds ridiculous!

"How can you prove it?" Cai Congxin asked cautiously.

"Facebook has been raising money recently, has Mr. Cai heard about it?" Yu Wenfei asked rhetorically.

Of course Cai Congxin has heard of it, he was originally from an investment bank and has many friends in that circle.

After the year, Facebook released the news that it was going to raise funds, and it only contacted SoftBank China and Jiaotong University Venture Capital, which caused a small shock in the VC circle.

Many of his friends in the investment bank are envious, jealous and hateful, and Jiaotong University Venture Capital is just that, why can SoftBank China be shortlisted.

Of course, those who know Xue Chun and his background are more relieved.

People's Facebook financing is also as long as their own people, this is called fertilizer water does not flow into the field of outsiders!

In addition, SoftBank is also a major shareholder of Alibaba, and even SoftBank's investment in Ali was strongly recommended by Xue Chunhe, and Cai Congxin himself and Xue Chunhe have a very good personal relationship.

He nodded: "Of course, after SoftBank takes a stake in Facebook, then our Ali and Facebook are also brother companies, and they both have the same shareholder, hehe." ”

"Then does Mr. Cai know the amount of financing and the share of shares given by Facebook?" Yu Wenfei asked again.

Cai Congxin didn't know about this, because this belonged to the category of trade secrets, and no matter how good the personal relationship was, Xue Chunhe would not be able to tell him.

He shook his head and said honestly, "I don't know, but I guess it should be higher than the financing Ali got last time." As for the shares, presumably Fei will not give away too much, 20 percent?"

After talking for so long, he was a little thirsty, Yu Wenfei picked up the teacup and drank it all.

Hu Jingjing, who was next to her, hurriedly picked up the teapot and helped the two refill the water.

"Facebook's valuation, I ask for the same as Sina's current market capitalization! shares, only 10 percent. Yu Wenfei said briefly and forcefully.

This made Cai Congxin a little incredulous.

Facebook is good, the upward momentum is fast, and the future prospects are good, he admits these.

However, to say that Facebook can now be on an equal footing with Sina, he can't accept it.

Sina's market value of more than $3 billion does not mean that it is worth so much money, you are not even listed on Facebook, so why do you want such a high price for the first financing?

You must know that the purpose of VC venture capital is to make money, not to do charity!

"With all due respect, Mr. Fei, I don't think the SoftBank headquarters will necessarily agree to this condition, and I know Mr. Sun better. Outsiders have seen him rich and rich, but his shrewd calculations are also unmatched. Cai Congxin shook his head and said.

"If you add two conditions, within three years, the number of registered users on Facebook will exceed 200 million, and the annual profit will exceed 500 million US dollars!" Yu Wenfei said quickly.

Cai Congxin, who was about to pick up the teacup and drink tea, shook his hand, and the tea spilled out.

"What do you say? 500 million dollars? annual profit? You...... Crazy!" He has always been elegant, but he wants to swear a little, and he can't believe his ears.

200 million users is enough, and soon Facebook will be able to break through the 100 million mark.

Besides, this thing has a lot of moisture.

Does a user's duplicate registration count?

However, the annual profit cannot be faked, because after VC investment, the use of funds and the company's financial status are very strict.

It's not that once you get that much money, you can spend it as much as you want.

Not really!

VC will send someone to keep an eye on what the money he invests is used for, and every year a third-party audit agency will be introduced to conduct a comprehensive audit of the company's finances!

There are many companies that are doing well, but they don't want to raise money, let alone go public, and there are also factors in this regard.

If you dare to sign a VAM agreement in the financing agreement and say how much profit you will make in a certain period of time, then you must be sure to do it.

Otherwise, there will be a corresponding price.

Yu Wenfei is so confident in Facebook?

Cai Congxin began to doubt his judgment a little......

............

"Yes, if you add these two VAM agreements, and break down the goals by stage, the corresponding goals must be achieved every year. So does Mr. Cai think SoftBank will approve my valuation of Facebook?" Yu Wenfei said with a smile.

"That should be fine!" Cai Congxin blurted out.

He himself used to be a venture capitalist, and of course he understands the style of doing things in venture capital firms.

Although the valuation of more than $3 billion now given to Facebook is too high no matter how you look at it, as long as Yu Wenfei dares to make such a promise and decompose it reasonably.

Then the venture capital company will be happy to accompany him to gamble on this!

Take 10,000 steps back, if three years later, Facebook really doesn't do it, let alone 200 million, not even 100 million, and still maintain the status quo level.

Then, if the corresponding penalty clause is triggered, the venture capital company will get a stake of 50% or even more, control Facebook, and even kick Yu Wenfei out of the company.

Spend 300 million US dollars to get more than half of the shares of Facebook, is it a loss?

No loss at all!

It's even a little bit of a profit.

Of course, there may be a worse situation, that is, Facebook is getting worse and worse, like the original Yitang, to go bankrupt and go bankrupt......

The current $300 million in venture capital is basically equivalent to a waste, and it is useless to take more shares.

But don't forget what VC is!

Venture capital is the abbreviation of venture capital, if there is no risk, then what is it called venture capital!

The greater the risk, the higher the return!

People who are venture capitalists have a lot of gambling nature......

The gambling clause given by Yuwenfei, Cai Congxin is sure that if SoftBank does not dare to accept it, then what big investment banks such as Sequoia, Goldman Sachs, IDG, and DTS will rush to sign this agreement with Yuwenfei!

$300 million is not a small amount, but there are still a lot of investment banks that can afford it.

But a unicorn company like Facebook may only come out with one in a few years.

How could a person who is an investment bank let go of such an investment opportunity?