For Yang Zhiyuan, Lin Qi knows, this guy is one of the founders of Yahoo.

Historically, Yang Zhiyuan entered Stanford in 90 years, and it took only four years to obtain a bachelor's and master's degrees, and he met David Ferro during college.

By the time they graduated, the two hit it off, co-founded Yahoo Internet Navigation Guide with David Ferro in April 1994, and incorporated Yahoo Inc. in March of the following year.

Yahoo created the prototype of the portal, in the mid-to-late 90s, when Amazon, Google and other websites were not so popular, Yahoo was in full swing, monopolizing mainstream applications including URL navigation, news portals, forums, blogs, mailboxes, and even search, e-commerce, chat rooms, etc.

Many users once thought that going online was to log in to Yahoo, and in the glory days of Yahoo, half of the users who accessed the Internet every day would visit Yahoo. With quite a lot of users, basically a Yahoo meets most of the Internet needs.

In the 90s, Yahoo was once the world's most trafficked and most user-used website. Later, Yahoo, although because of the search engine, social networking sites, mobile Internet and other factors, in the end, retired from the status of the first-line Internet, and even later Yahoo sold all the Internet business, which is equivalent to announcing its withdrawal.

But...... It doesn't mean that Yahoo doesn't make money, and the rate of return that Yahoo brings to investors is extremely amazing. Only later Yahoo invested in Alibaba, which brought investors who held Yahoo shares a return of no less than 100 billion dollars.

So, maybe Yahoo is not as good as companies like Tencent, Alibaba, Amazon, Google, etc., but it is definitely a very high-return investment.

However, Yang Zhiyuan was still a freshman at this time, and he should not have appeared in the planning, but he didn't expect to be dug up by William Zhang.

"The classification method of website information proposed by Yang Zhiyuan is very good, and I think it is very promising in the future, Mr. Lin, what do you think?"

William Zhang did not intimidate Lin Qi to hide it.

As he spoke, he took out the computer he had brought with him, which contained dense code, a lot of manuscript drawings, and ideas for the website.

Lin Qi saw the initial form of Yahoo, in fact, a large part of it came from Yang Zhiyuan's conception, but the current layout is very rough, if you have to summarize, it is chaos.

The whole website is still in the most rudimentary form, and the homepage is sprinkled with water, like tofu blocks, pasted everywhere, and there is no systematic classification and arrangement.

"I can see that the idea is very good, but there are some things that still don't work, so I will briefly give you some advice. ”

In the midst of the loud noises around him, William Zhang came up with great interest.

"You see that Steve Jobs' NTV is not available, why it can be a big hit, in fact, the reason is the same, people can quickly find their favorite TV shows according to their preferences. A portal is also a reason, making it easier for users to find information, and finding the website links and information they need in one place. ”

"Your kind of website, which I call a portal, should be the most promising way of the early Internet. However, it is mainly the early force, not necessarily the final form of the Internet in the later stage. ”

William Zhang was so engrossed in hearing that he didn't notice the beer in his hand spilled.

"Mr. Lin, we haven't even considered a lot of your opinions. ”

Lin Qi moved the computer in front of him, directly picked up the marker pen and marked it on the shield, and said, "Have you thought about how to make a profit from such a portal?"

William Zhang said: "Of course, it is to go public and realize it, and when we achieve a certain amount of traffic, we will gradually find a way to make money." After that, relying on the concept of the Internet, it was listed on the NASDAQ. ”

"You're wrong, William, Internet companies are really not very profitable in the early stage. Once you invest in the Internet, you must be prepared to burn money for a long time and not make a profit. ”

"Can't there be other ideas that can make money?"

Lin Qi pointed to the layout of the web page and said: "Other websites are more difficult, but the portal is easy, you can add some advertisements on the web page, in addition, the portal will add news, mailboxes, forums and other services in the future!"

In fact, the first time the portal became profitable, mainly through advertising.

But the world's portals, in the end, also decayed because of advertising. For the sake of profit and the publication of more advertisements, the older the portal becomes, the more bloated it becomes, and the quality of the advertisements does not dare to compliment. A lot of spammy advertisements are also posted on the portal. Moreover, the advertisements on the portal cannot be avoided and are displayed naked in front of the user's eyes.

As users feel more and more ads, the portal becomes an advertising station. Gradually, more and more users will be lost.

But Lin Qi will not be responsible for giving Zhang William a thorough analysis of the decay of the portal.

William Zhang quickly took the pen and paper, sketched out the website design described by Lin Qi in a slippery manner, and after a while, he took a sip of beer and said excitedly: "Mr. Lin, if you are not the boss of the new business, I will kidnap you, and I will not be able to pull you in." You are much more reliable than Yang Zhiyuan's kid's idea!"

For this sycophant, Lin Qi is also very useful, and said with a smile: "You are a pillar of talent, I don't dare to let it be buried at will, but there is also a problem, you have to think clearly, how are you going to solve the funds for the operation of the website?"

William Zhang was stunned, Yang Zhiyuan had no money, so he could only rely on him to raise funds.

"My stake in the group company is going to be sold after I leave, and I calculated that I can cash out $90 million. William Zhang thought, "This can be used as initial funds, and it should be no problem for a long time before the war!"

Lin Qi said: "Okay, although I am a little unwilling, but you have made up your mind, I have to release people." ”

"Boss, when the time comes, I will pull you into the shares, and you will still be my boss!"

"Count your kid a little conscience, in the future, if you can't get along outside, I will at least give you an errand position. ”

"I'm just running errands, at least I have to help with the idle. ”

"you, the more you talk about it, the more unscored. ”

……

On October 6, William Zhang sold the equity of the group company, sold the equity to the company, cashed out 90 million US dollars in cash, and announced his official resignation.

On the 16th, William Zhang and Yang Zhiyuan brought a team of 20 people to Lin Qi and submitted a plan.

"Mr. Lin......" Yang Zhiyuan was a little timid, although he was wild in his heart and very ambitious at this time, he still couldn't let go in front of a person who had become a legend by many people.

"You may be seated, and you need not be restrained. ”

Lin Qi smiled, and let the team that was less than entertaining William Zhang have nothing special about Yang Zhiyuan's first impression.

Not too tall, with a pair of glasses, and a little sneer in his expression, but Lin Qi saw the faint light in his eyes.

"Mr. Lin, this is our current preliminary design, which has a lot of reference to your opinions, and the whole team is also very recognized, and the beer skewers of the day are considered mentors. ”

William Zhang put out the detailed plan, and the simulated website has been prepared on the computer, although the official link has not yet been added, but it is already beginning to take shape.

Compared with the bloated Yahoo and other portals in later generations, the website that has just been developed now can be said to be very simple and refreshing, with not much content, let alone advertising.

Of course, this website started out as a way to categorize information, so that users don't have to memorize the names of many websites, and browse a lot of information in one place. This idea, in the early days of the Internet, can be called a very godly idea.

It is precisely for this reason that the Internet industry in later generations, Yahoo before 2000, was a symbol of the Internet myth. At one point, people thought that Yahoo would always be great. But...... In the end, it can only be proved that Yahoo's model is only the early one, the successful model of the Internet at the end of the 20th century, and does not represent the model of the 21st century!

"Mr. Lin, this is very easy to use, it's so convenient, you can have anything you want, but there is too little information. ”

After clicking on some of the catalogs, a surprise sound sounded.

"Because there is no official inclusion site, all you can find is some pages built in advance. Yang Zhiyuan hurriedly explained.

"It's very creative, and some of my favorite websites are put together, and it wouldn't be too convenient to be able to save personal data at the same time, so it saves a lot of time. ”

After all, young people are quick to accept new things, but it also reflects the mentality of most people, and this is what the portal does.

"Mr. Lin, is there anything that needs to be improved?" asked William Zhang.

Lin Qi made a simple comment: "It's already possible, let's start doing it according to your ideas!" However, the Internet industry will change rapidly, don't think that the current model will always be successful, and it will be constantly updated in the future. ”

"Mr. Lin, thank you for your advice, we will work hard and keep pace with the times. Yang Zhiyuan said loudly when he heard this.

Lin Qi's views are more advanced and advanced than his ideas. However, Mr. Lin was reluctant to say more, which is also natural, after all...... What good ideas does Mr. Lin have to make money, why should he tell them? Mr. Lin can do it himself!

……

At the end of October 90, William Zhang and Yang Zhiyuan jointly registered the Yahoo website, which appeared earlier than in history, and made a lot of opportunities for the Internet industry where time is money.

At the same time, Lin Qi personally invested $100 million and acquired a 49% stake in Yahoo.

After that, Yahoo established branches in North America and Hong Kong. Servers in North America are rented from local servers and network service providers, while in Asia, Pangu Cloud resources are rented.

Since the website has been completed for a long time, after a simple announcement, the official release begins.

Subsequently, the homepage of Pangu Browser included Yahoo in the recommended website on the homepage.

Yahoo's webpage is also linked to the download link of the Pangu browser.

In less than a week, the just-released Yahoo website has received 50,000 IP visits, and the content is constantly updated, and the user scale is also rising.

In the early days, Yahoo also paid more attention to user experience, the advertisements were not so flooded, and the pages were very streamlined and not bloated. And the user's word-of-mouth is also spreading rapidly, to put it simply, although this website is losing money every day, and the more users, the greater the loss. However, at present, William Zhang has spent $50 million, and Lin Qi has spent $100 million on Yahoo.com, and $150 million can support the website to not make a profit for a few years, and there is no need to rush for the next round of financing.