Chapter 306: LinkedIn Meeting

……

"Ms. Whitman, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Looking at the young man who was smiling and reaching out to him, Meg Whitman's eyes naturally showed a look of scrutiny.

This year-long legend has so many secrets to explore. Even people like her are just as curious. Of course, curiosity is curiosity, and she has not forgotten the etiquette and rules.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Guo!"

The two briefly shook hands, looked at each other, and then sat down. At George's orders, the waiters at the manor quickly brought coffee to everyone.

Looking at the opponent who tasted slowly with a mug and didn't mean to speak first. Meg Whitman was not willing to waste any more time waiting.

"Mr. Guo, can you understand your positioning of PayPal?"

“PayPal？”

"That's right!"

Guo Shouyun smiled and put down the cup, "Ms. Whitman is interested in PayPal?"

"Yes! A company that can play the role of intermediary and guarantee in online transactions will have a good role in promoting the development of eBay e-commerce!"

"yPal is decisive for the history of e-commerce, and its existence can effectively ensure the security of transactions. So, it has been growing at a breakneck pace since its inception. Today, PayPal has more than 60 million customers and generates more than $370 million in online transactions every day. And that's just the size of the day, as the number of people who go online increases, the use of yPal will become more and more common!"

Looking at the other party's expectant eyes and eloquent tone, although Meg Whitman knew that it was not very likely, she couldn't help but ask: "If eBay plans to buy PayPal, is Mr. Guo willing to sell?"

"Acquisition?" Guo Shouyun smiled, "How much is eBay willing to pay?"

"$1.2 billion!"

Meg Whitman said solemnly.

Under Guo Shouyun's early guidance and sufficient funds, PayPal has developed faster than remembered. The cost of a natural acquisition has increased accordingly.

"$1.2 billion?" After a pause, "Ms. Whitman, why don't you do it?" I don't want cash, you just take out the equivalent of $1.2 billion in eBay common stock and I'll sell you PayPal!"

The corners of Meg Whitman's mouth twitched. The guy on the other side had a good plan.

According to her understanding, in the past year, the equity of eBay acquired by the other party through Phoenix Company, Guo Family Trust, Thunder Fund and other institutions has been close to 30%. If he is allowed to get the equivalent of $1.2 billion in eBay equity, then the other party's shareholding in eBay will definitely exceed 50%. In this case, even if you successfully acquire PayPal, you will lose yourself.

Of course, she doesn't mind selling the company to the other party. After all, this man's achievements in the past few years have told everyone that he is one of the people in the world who knows the Internet industry best, and I believe that eBay is in his hands, and the support he has received will not be bad. But eBay's board of directors will certainly not agree to sell the company. Or rather, sell it so simply.

They have said it many times in the previous acquisition negotiations with Guo Shouyun. Unless he is willing to trade LinkedIn and Google shares, they won't sell.

If it's just a LinkedIn stake, forget it. After all, he knows what LinkedIn and eBay will achieve in the future. Strictly speaking, there is not much difference between the two. But Google certainly can't. Guo Shouyun can reduce his stake in Google, but not now.

So, the negotiations that began a year ago through Goldman Sachs to buy eBay are now largely over. It's just that what he didn't expect was that eBay actually came to buy PayPal!

Obviously, the historical inertia has not changed because of Guo Shouyun's change.

"Mr. Guo, I can give you 15% of eBay Class B shares. ”

"Class B shares?"

Guo Shouyun shook his head. Class B shares are usually one-tenth of the par value of Class A shares, and the corresponding voting rights are one-tenth of them. Selling PayPal, which he values, for this part of the stock is obviously a stupid idea.

"Sorry, I don't have any interest in Class B shares!"

"Mr. Guo, is this refusal?"

"That's right!" Guo Shouyun nodded affirmatively.

After taking a slight breath and adjusting his emotions, "Mr. Guo, you are the largest individual shareholder of eBay, and you should fully support things that are beneficial to the development of eBay." Moreover, I believe that with your wisdom, you should be able to find that only by combining PayPal with eBay can it maximize its value and make it grow rapidly. ”

"I agree with you! eBay is indeed a good match for PayPal. However, the companies engaged in e-commerce are not only eBay, but also Amazon, Yahoo and AOL, and the benefits between PayPal and them are no worse than selling themselves to eBay, or even better. … As for what you said about eBay's largest individual shareholder. Sorry, I'm not a shareholder of eBay, Phoenix Company, Kwok Family Trust, Thunder Fund and other institutions are. Guo Shouyun smiled.

"Isn't it possible?"

Meg Whitman, who has a strong personality, is not reconciled. In his opinion, PayPal's business connection with eBay is too high. Almost four out of every ten eBay transactions now go through PayPal. If the two sides merge, it will play a decisive role in the development of eBay.

"Unless you agree to my initial conditions, no, yes, yes!"

Meg Whitman's face changed, and after opening her mouth, she finally didn't say anything.

"Excuse me Mr. Guo!"

"You're welcome. Whether it is a business or a private matter, I am here to welcome Ms. Whitman's visit. When the words fell, Guo Shouyun beckoned. George Fields, who was next to him, stepped forward quickly, took out a golden card from his pocket and put it in Guo Shouyun's hand.

After taking it and looking at it briefly, "Ms. Whitman, this is my gold card from the Hanshan Annex, when I am free, welcome to play here!"

This time Meg Whitman did not refuse.

Now, with the success of Guo Shouyun's career, and the expansion of his network. The name of the private club under his name, Hanshan Villa, gradually became known to the upper class. Because of the status of the members here who are either rich or noble, and Guo Shouyun's amazing financial talent, countless people are eager to become guests here. Meg Whitman is no exception.

"Thank you!"

Guo Shouyun smiled, waved his hand, and asked George to send them out.

After Meg Whitman and his party left, Guo Shouyun did not stay longer in the Hanshan Courtyard. He's taken a year's vacation, and now it's time to pick up his work again.

Mountain View Hills Tower, a modern six-storey office building with floor-to-ceiling windows, and the surrounding 27 acres of land have all been bought by LinkedIn. In addition, this is not only the headquarters of LinkedIn, but also the office area of PayPal. Together, the two companies occupy nearly two-thirds of the office space in the Hills Tower. The remaining vacant part was not rented out either, as it would soon be used.

"Boss!"

“Boss!”

Although Guo Shouyun has not been here for nearly a year, the old employees of LinkedIn and PayPal have not forgotten the founder and soul of the company.

After nodding his head, Guo Shouyun didn't stop and walked straight inside.

"Is he the big boss?

"Of course. I heard that the big boss was a school grass when he was at Stanford. But why are his sideburns white?"

"I don't know, but I think the boss's white hair not only didn't lose points, but made his whole person look more mature!"

"Agreed... I don't know if the big boss has a girlfriend!"

"Look at the name of the BOSS on the list of the top ten 'Diamond Kings and Top Five' in the United States in "Men's Wear", you know that he must have it!"

Guo Shouyun didn't know that he had become a topic of conversation among the beauties at the front desk at the moment. After a brief walk around the LinkedIn and PayPal offices, he walked into the company's conference room.

"Boss, you're here!"

Peter Thiel and Tim George, who got the news, walked in one after the other.

After saying hello, Guo Shouyun said quickly: "Immediately convene the company's department managers and above, I want to have a meeting!"

The two looked at each other, and a hint of surprise appeared on their faces at the same time. But in the face of the big boss's request, they didn't dare to slack off, and after answering, they hurriedly walked out.

In a short time, more than 30 department heads and above PayPal and LinkedIn came in one after another. Seeing the big boss sitting on the main seat and not seen for a year, everyone didn't dare to slack off. Subconsciously quickened the pace, and did it separately according to the position.

"Are they all there?"

"Except for the seven who are on a business trip, the rest of the headquarters executives have arrived!" said Tim George.

"What about PayPal?"

"Two are away on business, and the rest have arrived!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, and his eyes filled with seriousness quickly swept over everyone, "The reason why I gathered everyone today is because there is a big event to discuss about the future of the company." Before I do, of course, I'd like to hear about how your various departments have been going so far... Peter, you guys PayPal start first!"

The latter nodded, opened the laptop placed on the table, connected the projector, and a PPT file was presented on the white screen behind it.

"Boss, this is our company data at the end of October, which is the latest and most comprehensive at present!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, "Let's start!"

"Yes... By the end of October 2002, PayPal had 58,472,900 registered users. There are 13,000 cooperative commercial users, with an average monthly turnover of 1.527 billion US dollars. The cumulative turnover in the first three quarters of 2002 was US$15.381 billion. Cumulative pre-tax revenue of $472 million and net profit of $308 million!"

"In terms of Internet finance business, we have signed distribution agreements with 37 financial companies, including Phoenix Company and Merrill Lynch. At present, there are 201 funds sold on the PayPal platform, including all open-ended fund funds, including money funds, bond funds, equity funds, hybrid funds, index funds, QDII, etc. In the first three quarters of 2002, we achieved pre-tax revenue of US$232 million and net profit of US$163 million in the Internet finance business through pre-deposit management and agency fees.

"In terms of expenditure, mainly for international business venues, personnel training, hardware, logistics, etc., the cumulative expenditure in the first three quarters of 2002 was $284 million. At present, the company has a cumulative surplus of $217 million. According to the boss's instructions, 30% of the surplus subscribed to Phoenix Money Market Fund B, 30% subscribed to gold spot, and the remaining 30% purchased 12 properties in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and handed them over to Phoenix Trust for management, and the remaining 10% remained in the book as working capital. … I'm done!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, "Regarding PayPal's business, I don't have much to say for the time being. You've done a good job, so you can continue with the steps you have now. As for asset management, gold and property are not allowed to be sold without my signature. ”

"Yes!"

Originally, he also considered whether to let PayPal start an insurance agency business, but after thinking about it, he still forgot it. Now PayPal has just laid a foundation in Internet finance, and it is not too late to talk about it when they stabilize it.

"Tim, it's your turn!"

Tim George nodded, unlike Peter Thiel, who prepared the papers. And gave Guo Shouyun a copy, obviously he prepared it in advance.

"At present, LinkedIn has five major businesses, including professional networking and intermediary, LinkedIn forum, LinkedIn news, LinkedIn wealth network, and LinkedIn instant messaging. As of now, LinkedIn has a total of 86,725,300 users worldwide. The average online time was 5.37 hours. We are the largest Internet company in the field of professional networking and intermediary. In the online news space, we have second only to Yahoo News with 137 million daily views. In the forum field, we are the largest online Q&A community, with 730,000 directories and 398 million valid messages. In the field of Internet financial information, we are the largest, creating 1,547 pageviews per day. Our instant messaging business, surpassing ICQ, is second only to Microsoft's MSN. ”

"The growth of all these businesses, in the first three quarters of 20002, generated $837 million in operating income for us. However, because the company has been expanding, we currently have no retained profits on our books, but $120 million in liabilities. ”

LinkedIn's debt, Guo Shouyun is not surprised. After all, LinkedIn's business is far more complex than PayPal's, and it takes a lot more to invest in early expansion than the latter.

Guo Shouyun flipped through the information in his hand, and after a while, "Mike?"

“BOSS!”

Mike Donald, head of instant messaging at LinkedIn, hurriedly responded.

"What is our market share in the instant messaging space?"

"We occupy 28% of the U.S. market and 12% of the international market!"

"What about Microsoft's MSN?"

"47.8% for the U.S. market and 29% for the international market!"

"So Microsoft MSN is twice as big as us?"

"Yes!"

Facing the boss's calm eyes, Mike Donald stiffened. I don't know why, when I see this new boss again a year later, the oppression of the superior on the other party is several times stronger than before. Just a look made him subconsciously nervous.

"Can LinkedIn's instant messaging be voice transmitted?" After a moment of silence, Guo Shouyun continued to ask.

"Can't?"

"Where's the photo?"

"Also... Boss, the fiber is too slow right now. For the time being, it is not enough to meet the fast delivery of photos. Mike Donald quickly explained.

What is the current network speed, Guo Shouyun is naturally very clear. Open any website on the Internet, the most is text, add few pictures, not that the designer can't design a better layout, but if you load too many pictures will slow down the opening speed of the web page and affect the user experience.

"If you add voice transmission, it shouldn't be too stuck at the current network speed, right?"

"Yes!"

"That's good. As soon as you get back, contact an engineer to add a voice button to LinkedIn instant messaging. Also, to design a mobile version of LinkedIn instant messaging. ”

Guo Shouyun is very aware of the 'catfish effect' of the Internet, if he can't get the first place in the field of instant messaging, then LinkedIn's instant messaging will become a catfish like Alibaba Wangwang, which will always be pressed under Tencent and cannot turn over.

Fortunately, Microsoft's MSN has not yet doomed the big picture, and LinkedIn still has a chance to fight back. Voice service is one of the means.

"There's an IP web messaging company in Silicon Valley called Skype, find it and buy it!"

This surpassed MSN, the largest instant messaging company in the United States, Guo Shouyun still remembers. He wants to get ahead of eBay and take this piece of future fat.

"Understood!"

Tim George and Mike Donald nodded at the same time.

"If you don't have enough funds, you can issue an ABS bond!" Guo Shouyun said.

With the current popularity of LinkedIn in Silicon Valley, there are too many companies that want equity. The same goes for bonds.

"Boss, has Mr. Sachs arrived?"

Just as Guo Shouyun was about to continue to say something, the bodyguard standing on the side came over and leaned over and whispered.

"Let him in!"

"Yes!"

After a short time, David Sachs, dressed in a black suit, pushed the door and walked in.

For PayPal folks, David Sachs who walked out of here is no stranger to them.

"Boss!"

"Let's do it first, and I'll talk to you later. ”

"Yes!"