That night, Donn and Penelope Cruz lingered overnight.

It's a pity that neither Natalie Portman nor Nicole Kidman accepted Done's invitation to join him.

Fortunately, his private jet is already in place, and on the weekend, Donn can fly non-stop to the "Unsinkable" crew, where there are Charlize Theron and Liv Taylor, both of whom are models and have a more open style. Moreover, their personal relationship with Don is average, and it is impossible to have the courage to refuse.

According to information provided by Reese Witherspoon, the co-founder and CEO of Netflix is Reed Hastings, who rented a videotape from Pepsi that year, and because he was busy with work, the return was overdue, and he was given a late fee of $40.

Such a high fine directly led Reid Hastings to give birth to a rental model that exempted from paying "late fees", and Netflix was born!

Now Netflix, in addition to the early online payment model, has also added a membership subscription model, which is the biggest difference from Pepsi.

Users only need to pay a monthly membership fee of $19.99 and get no rental fees, no late fees, no postage, and no rental period, which is undoubtedly attractive.

Passcard's business model is the "landlord model", which means that I have assets, lend them to others for use, and collect rent through asset-heavy stores.

And Netflix's business model is asset-light, no storefront, online operation, to change the term beyond the times, that is the O2O model!

As a person who has come over, Don can certainly see the prospects and potential of this model.

That morning, Donn was in his office and received Reed Hastings and his party.

"Mr. Walker, your time is precious, let me tell you my request first, the selling price of Netflix is not less than $50 million!"

Reed Hastings' self-confidence made Donn laugh dumbly, "$50 million, it's that simple?"

"Huh?"

Reid Hastings was stunned, $50 million is not a small amount, I didn't expect Donn's tone to be so relaxed.

Donn smiled: "Reed, I've already read all the information about Netflix, and I have a good relationship with the top students at Stanford University, so I might as well tell you that I'm very interested in Netflix." ”

Reid Hastings immediately became excited, he had heard Reese Witherspoon on the phone say that Don was very optimistic about Netflix. But he didn't expect him to be so magnificent, $50 million, without even questioning.

"This ...... I'm sorry, Mr. Walker...... I was really surprised. ”

"Surprised? Are you so unconfident in Netflix's business model?"

"No, I'm very confident in Netflix!" Reed Hastingston paused, and he couldn't say that he didn't have faith in Donn, right?

Well, now the maximum basis for cooperation, there are no problems.

Everything else is a few details, but for Reed Hastings, it's just as important.

"Mr. Walker, you can buy Netflix for $50 million, but not all of the shares, you can only own 60% at most. ”

"Huh?"

Tang En raised his eyebrows and glanced at him, "I'm afraid this is not an acquisition, but a financing, right? ”

Reed Hastings was a little nervous, and immediately said: "No, no, Mr. Walker, this is the plan we discussed with investors, and the $50 million will not fall into anyone's pocket, it will go into Netflix's account to help the company grow." ”

Tang En said lightly: "That's financing." ”

"In any case, I have to get Netflix to run it autonomously. Reed Hastings looked at him cautiously.

Don waved his hand, "It's natural, you go and look at PayPal, I have never interfered in the company's operations." Just a matter of financing, I need an explanation. ”

Reed Hastings took a deep breath and said slowly, "Mr. Walker, the acquisition ...... Oh no, the financing plan, in fact, the stake is more than 50%, it is equivalent to an acquisition. We designed two plans, and if you're not satisfied, there's a second one. ”

"Tell me about it. ”

"$60 million, you can get 80% of Netflix's shares. ”

For Reed Hastings, there is no difference between Donn's 60% and 80% stake in Netflix, and once the deal is completed, Netflix will become a holding subsidiary of Don Capital.

Don's eyes lit up, "I'm interested in the second plan, let's talk about it." ”

Reid Hastings said: "Prior to this, Netflix had two rounds of funding, and 20% of the equity was held by three foundations. However, they are not optimistic about Netflix's prospects and refuse a third round of financing. We've talked to investors that if you bid $10 million, they're willing to give you 20% of their shares. ”

In recent years, it is the dream of many venture capital funds to recoup the upfront investment in high-tech companies.

Don understood what he meant, "You mean...... I can only own up to 80% of Netflix, right?"

Reid Hastings nodded, "That's right, 15.3% is the current management's shareholding, and the remaining 4.7% is reserved for the option pool." ”

A satisfied smile appeared on Don's face, "It looks like you've all planned it. ”

Reid Hastings sighed, "The stock market crash is getting more and more harmful, and I just hope Netflix can survive." ”

Tang En smiled: "Let's talk about it, after the 50 million financing is in hand, how do you plan to operate?"

Reed Hastings is obviously confident and has a good idea of Netflix's strategic layout, "At present, Netflix's films are delivered to customers by mail, but because of the distance, the mailing time is a problem, which will bring a very bad experience to customers." If the funds are in place, I plan to build at least 30 distribution warehouses in major regions of the United States, greatly shorten the mailing time, and strive to place an order the day before and receive the disc the next day. ”

Don was a little silent and let out a long sigh.

This is the year 2000, and the old American technology company already has such a strategic idea, and it is ironic to think that some domestic online trading companies in the previous life put forward such a concept more than ten years later, and still clamored that the business model is leading the world.

"According to the information, Netflix still has an online on-demand business, is this okay?" Tang En looked at the information in his hand, a little surprised.

Reed Hastings explained: "It's just an idea, it's too slow to watch movies online, but with the development of the Internet and the increase in speed, I think it's a very promising direction to go." ”

The real rise of streaming began in 2010.

Netflix spent $1 billion to buy a five-year streaming license for Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM movies, and signed agreements with HBO, SHO and other famous cable TV stations to become a paid distributor.

But in fact, at the end of the 90s, the streaming media business had already taken shape.

Netflix's current network on-demand business has a certain concept of streaming media.

Don nodded, "Narrowband Internet is destined to be replaced by broadband, and Netflix must make a layout in advance to meet the era of EB2.0." The online on-demand business, no matter how much it loses, it can't be cut!"

Reed Hastings couldn't figure out Donn's routine, didn't know if he was echoing his own views, or whether he was asserting authority, and asked tentatively, "Mr. Walker, what do you think of Pestell?"

Tang En suddenly smiled, "I heard that before this, you visited the headquarters of Besta?"

Reed Hastings blushed, "After all, Pepsi is the leader in the video rental industry, I thought it was ......"

Tang En waved his hand, and a little disdain flashed on his face, "Dragon, bullshit! Lei Shidong is old, he can't keep up with the context of the times, the future world is the world of science and technology, and the world of the Internet!"

A little surprise flashed across Reed Hastings' face, he didn't expect that Donn, as a layman, would have the same opinion as him.

Now is the period of the dot-com bubble crisis, and even many people in the industry have lost confidence in the Internet.

But I didn't expect Don to be so sure.

Tang En was still unsatisfied, and said lightly: "Pepsi is not to worry, sooner or later it will be crushed by heavy assets." Netflix has a bigger picture, and in essence, Netflix shouldn't be an entertainment company, but a technology company. ”

Donn's words set the tone for Netflix's future strategic development.

The future of Netflix is based on Silicon Valley, not Hollywood!

Tang En holds heavy shares in Apple and Google, and it is conceivable that Tang En will definitely have a pivotal position in Silicon Valley in the future.

And what about Hollywood?

This is complicated and shady, even if Towne Pictures can easily pass the Disney level, I don't know what kind of problems will await him in the future.

Netflix is Donn's last ground.

Keeping Netflix in Silicon Valley and away from Hollywood is the safest strategy for Donn.

Even if the future is difficult, Donn really encounters an insurmountable hurdle in Hollywood, and he can rely on Netflix, which is backed by Silicon Valley, to rise again.

Of course, Donn's decision is also extremely correct for Netflix.

The Internet is the direction of the future, and if Hollywood is strong, it will be forced to transform and move closer to the Internet.

……

Three days later, Donn Capital, led by Scott Swift, completed the signing with Netflix.

Don Capital spent $60 million to completely control Netflix!

And Reed Hastings also got $50 million in financing as he wished, and he personally holds 10.7% of Netflix shares, which is the basis of his independent operation and his asset guarantee after Netflix goes public.

At the same time, Donn, as an intermediary, also linked Netflix and PayPal.

This is a win-win cooperation, Netflix can eliminate the development of the payment system, and directly use the stable, free, and powerful current No. 1 payment platform to complete the network payment;

PayPal can use the Netflix platform to increase the number of users.

Every Netflix user is also a PayPal user, and the development of PayPal has ushered in new opportunities.