The next day, Zhang Chen called Bellankefen and told him that he had reached an agreement with Steve Case.

Because it was the Thanksgiving holiday, Bellankefen flew back to New York after the meeting ended yesterday morning, and spent Thanksgiving with his parents in the evening.

When Blankefen heard that Zhang Chen had knocked out $215 million from AOL with ICQ shares, he exclaimed, and in anyone's eyes, the deal was too crazy.

This means that the valuation of the entire ICQ has reached $700 million.

Jobs has been working on NeXT for so many years, and it was only $400 million to sell to Apple. In Bellankefen's view, Steve Case's acquisition was too irrational.

He even wondered if Zhang Chen had done some kind of oriental witchcraft on Steve Keys that made Steve Keys dizzy, so he would agree to such an outrageous price.

Faced with Frankfen's question, Zhang Chen chuckled: "Lauerde, the value of the same thing is completely different for different buyers. Last year, Microsoft wanted to buy Netscape for more than $45 billion, and Netscape was worth less than $10 billion at the time. But for Microsoft, he's worth 45 billion. ”

"Netscape is very likely to affect Microsoft's foundations, and Netscape's operating income and profitability are very good, but ICQ has not been able to show any profitability so far," Bellankefen retorted. ”

Zhang Chen laughed and said: "Lauerde, do you really think Netscape will become Microsoft's gravedigger? Just with a browser? No, in this matter, Bill Gates was completely deceived by the story Netscape told to the market, and the most terrible thing is that Netscape deceived himself into believing that he really could replace Microsoft's position." ”

Belankefen wondered: "Don't you think Netscape is a threat to Microsoft? Netscape's technology may become another Microsoft, so that computers no longer need an operating system, but only need a browser to connect to the Internet, and Microsoft will certainly have a sense of crisis." ”

Zhang Chen smiled: "No, this is impossible, and it will not be possible in another ten years." This can only be said to be a beautiful vision told by Netscape to Time Magazine, but unfortunately, this vision is completely contrary to the development of the Internet. Microsoft's operating system position is unlikely to be threatened by Netscape, and they don't have to be so nervous. ”

Netscape is able to gain traction in the market because it is the most popular paid browser on the market, selling for $45 per copy, accounting for more than 90% of the browser market. But these alone are simply not enough to support its $20 billion market value.

The fundamental reason why it can have such a high market value is Netscape's super storytelling ability.

The story told by Mark Anderson, the founder of Netscape, is this: the Internet will dominate the rivers and lakes, and the computer of the future is just a tool of the Internet, and this tool does not need to have an operating system at all, because people can directly access the Internet through the Netscape browser and complete all their needs on the Internet.

In fact, even ten years later, there are computer manufacturers who are trying to do this.

Lianxiang, Dell, and even Amazon, have all laid out the so-called Internet computer, without hard disk, the operating system uses Linux kernel, with the browser as the core, and only provides Internet access functions and weak computing power. Most applications rely on network computing.

Without exception, all failed.

Bellankefen hurriedly asked: "Do you think Netscape is doomed to fail?"

Zhang Chen affirmed: "Yes, even if Netscape has a certain possibility of predicting the future, he can't compete with Microsoft, after July this year, Microsoft has built its own IE browser into the in95 on sale, and this month announced that IE will be bundled with indos." This sounded the clarion call for the demise of Netscape. Mark Anderson had made a mistake, and if he had agreed to Microsoft's acquisition, he would have become a billionaire, but now, he may never have that chance. ”

Blanciffen nodded, "I know about this, but Netscape is said to have started collecting Microsoft's monopoly materials and is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft." ”

Zhang Chen sneered, "When the court verdict comes down, maybe it will be two or three years later, and it will be difficult to say if Netscape is still there by then." ”

Bellankefen hesitated: "Even if Microsoft is strong, Netscape won't lose so quickly, right?"

Zhang Chen said confidently: "In a year, at most a year, Netscape will collapse, and this war is destined to end in Microsoft's victory." Everyone wants to see the collapse of Microsoft's empire, so there are too many unrealistic expectations on Netscape. Okay, let's not talk about Netscape, in short, we sold ICQ's shares for more than $200 million, you need to form a team, Q those three people, and Sequoia, Steve Keys has already done it all, and after we approve it, this acquisition can be completely completed. ”

Bellankefen was silent for a while: "Maybe you're right, but this situation makes me very uneasy. Any acquisition can cost hundreds of billions or even tens of billions of dollars, completely deviating from its own commercial value. I think there is a serious bubble in the Internet market now, the risk is getting bigger, the bubble may burst at any time, I think we must start to be vigilant and do a good job in risk control. ”

Zhang Chen chuckled: "Maybe the bubble of the Internet will indeed burst in a few years, but it certainly won't be now." I met with John Doerr today, and he thinks that the current Internet market is not overvalued, and even if the overall value is tripled, it is within a reasonable value, and I agree with that. ”

Blancfin perked up: "John Doerr?"

Zhang Chen said: "Yes, today he found me and said that he hoped to cooperate in Amazon's case, but I haven't thought about whether to agree to him." What do you think about this?"

Zhang Chen repeated John Doerr's proposal to Bellankefen.

Bellankefen held up the phone and rubbed his temples with his hand, "I think we can talk about it, he is right, KPCB is indeed very experienced in IPOs." If we were to run an IPO for Amazon, we might only be able to try the NASDAQ, but if KPCB was also involved, it would be possible to do an IPO on the main board of the New York Stock Exchange. ”

Although the NASDAQ is famous, its listing requirements are much lower than those of the New York Stock Exchange.

For example, the New York Stock Exchange requires that IPO companies must have net tangible assets greater than $40 million and pre-tax income greater than $2 million. But the Nasdaq only requires that the company's net tangible assets be greater than $4 million, and that pre-tax income is only $750,000.

It's just that in later generations, the reputation of the NASDAQ is too great, giving birth to a large number of high-tech companies, with a total market value of more than 8 trillion US dollars, which is the second largest stock exchange market in the world, and the first is still the New York Stock Exchange, with a total market value of more than 14 trillion US dollars.

In the 90s, the gap between the two was even more wide, both in terms of market size and financing capacity.

Zhang Chen didn't give up, he really didn't want to give up the interests that he had already received, this was Amazon, he couldn't pry the corner of KPCB, but he took the initiative to give up the benefits, how could he be willing.

"Can't we run our own IPO on the NYSE?" Mr. Zhang questioned.

Frankfin smiled bitterly: "Boss, although the New York Stock Exchange is the same as the NASDAQ, it is a registration-based system, but the conditions required for an IPO are much higher, even if we don't cooperate with KPCB, we have to cooperate with professional investment banks in the PE field such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs." Only they have the ability to make IPO materials that meet the application conditions of the New York Stock Exchange, and we are only a VC after all. Without enough CPAs, not enough investment managers, and not enough legal resources, it is too difficult to complete an IPO on the NYSE. ”

Zhang Chen was silent, even if he is now an out-and-out billionaire, he is still too weak in the capital market.

"Lauerde, you come up with a plan, I want Tinder Source within three years, and I must have the ability to operate the IPO!"

(End of chapter)