"Buzz~Buzz~Buzz~" The loud sound went south along El Kamino Avenue, through Stanford, and stopped at the door of a house on Lubis Road in Sunnyvalle.

Peter Thiel and Maxslav and several other PayPal employees were weeding the lawn in front of the door, watching in amazement as Zhang Chen emerged from the yellow Ferrari.

"Where did the F50 come from?" Russell Simonson, who had just joined PayPal, couldn't help but touch the smooth paint of the F50 with his hand, "You have to buy at least two Ferraris to be eligible to buy this car!"

Zhang Chen said disapprerovitically: "Yes, that's right, so I also bought three F550s." ”

Everyone, including Peter Tier, almost burst into foul language.

If you want to buy an F50, you just buy two entry-level models like a Ferrari 355 to make up the numbers, why do you buy a production flagship like the F550?

In fact, in terms of Zhang Chen's current consumption, it is really not a luxury. It's a place in Silicon Valley where billionaires aren't as ubiquitous as they are twenty years from now, tech upstarts are amassing wealth at an incredible rate with the rise of new tech waves.

Indeed, 20 years later, there are many Silicon Valley bigwigs who advocate green energy conservation and environmental protection, and have replaced their cars with low- and medium-priced models such as Tesla or Toyota Hybrid. But now in the 90s, Bill Gates, who is praised by everyone as simple, has at least a dozen luxury cars, including a classic Porsche 959.

Larry Ellison, the current richest man in Silicon Valley and president of Oracle, is a supercar fanatic, with thousands of square meters of exclusive garages filled with all kinds of supercars, and even McLaren's F1 cars are in his collection.

And Zhang Chen doesn't need to calculate assets now, only to say that the cash dividends that are distributed every month for personal consumption, just Matrix, even if Zhang Chen only deducts 10% of the monthly net profit as his personal income every month, there are as many as 3 million US dollars. What's more, now Belankefen's three funds and Starcom are also continuing to pay dividends. And no matter how expensive this Ferrari F50 is, the price at hand does not exceed 800,000 US dollars, but it is limited by qualifications and is not easy to buy.

Coupled with two F550s, Zhang Chen did not spend a total of two million US dollars.

In addition, of the three cars I bought, one was for Tang Miaomiao, and the other one was still driven by myself, and the other one was delivered in Xiangjiang and had not yet arrived in Hong Kong.

The F50 is very cool, as a Ferrari 50th Anniversary Limited Edition, there is no such thing as speed, horsepower, and handling. But it's really uncomfortable to drive, not even air conditioning, and the collection value is much greater than the practical value.

Peter Thiel patted Russell Simonson on the shoulder, "Don't be envious, when PayPal goes public, you can buy as many cars as you want." ”

Zhang Chen glanced at the PayPal people and found that in addition to Musk and Chen Shijun, almost all the other PayPal gangsters had been gathered, even though the birth of PayPal was a year earlier, these people still gathered together.

In fact, the YPAL gang itself was built around Peter Thiel and Maxslav. Peter Thiel was responsible for contacting friends he had met at Stanford, while Maxslav was responsible for recruiting alumni he knew at his alma mater, the University of Illinois, including Chen Shijun, the creator of YouTube, who was recruited from the University of Illinois to PayPal.

It was these people, together with later Musk, that constituted the most influential small group in Silicon Valley in the later generations - the PayPal gang.

There are also contradictions between these people, and they are not a group of harmony. But strangely, every time they find a good project, these people will also ventilate with each other and launch a wolf attack.

Therefore, Silicon Valley gave them a very vivid name, PayPal mafia, mafia means mafia, indicating that their organizational structure is very similar to the Italian mafia.

"How many PayPal users are there now?" Zhang Chen waved his hand, letting Luke Northsco, who was still weeding, also return to the office, "It only costs one hundred and fifty dollars to hire a weeder, and every minute you have now may be worth tens of thousands of dollars, if weeding is a hobby, you can go home and hoe." ”

Peter Thiel found that Zhang Chen was in a bad mood and explained: "I was busy with offline marketing a few days ago and forgot to make an appointment with a weeder. As a result, he was complained by his neighbors twice, and in the morning, he was issued a fine by the Environmental Protection Bureau, requiring that it must be removed within three days, so he had to do it himself. ”

Zhang Chen sighed, "How is the effect of offline promotion?

Gislabos, who also just joined PayPal, looked at the data: "Eight thousand five hundred users, but only seven hundred and eighty active users." ”

Zhang Chen shook his head: "The growth rate of users is too slow, I estimate that within three months, competitors who follow the trend will appear, if we can't quickly increase the user base and market coverage, then our competitive costs will rise at least three to five times." ”

Peter Thiel nodded: "I think so too, so we have to use greater discounts to win users." ”

Zhang Chen remained silent: "What are you going to do?"

Peter Till raised an eyebrow: "It's very simple, give the money directly." There's nothing more appealing to users than giving money directly. I'm going to launch a $5 giveaway for new users this weekend, where every new sign-up user will send $5 cash to their account as soon as they use PayPal for the first time, and we'll give them another $5 if they refer a friend to use. I did the math, and that would cost us about $700,000 per user acquisition, and even if we had 100,000 new active users, it would only cost $700,000. Although it seems to be a lot of money, the overall cost is actually the lowest. ”

Zhang Chen secretly exclaimed in his heart, in the end, it was Peter Thiel, the godfather of entrepreneurship, Huaxia did not start to engage in special subsidy tactics until after 2012, Peter Thiel actually came up with it now, is this also the butterfly effect?

In fact, Zhang Chen really thought too much, in the previous life, when Peter Thiel founded Confinity, he had already used similar tactics to win customers, and compared with Elon Musk to burn money, and in the end, the two companies burned their money and had to merge.

Zhang Chen was really in a bad mood today, Su Zhuoyuan's plane flew to Xiangjiang in the evening, and Zhang Chen tried to persuade again, but he still didn't succeed. When Larry Page heard that Su Zhuohui was about to leave the United States, he directly skipped work, and pulled his good friend Sergei Brin to get drunk at noon.

The reason why Zhang Chen drove out the F50 that he had just arrived so swaggering was that he wanted to vent his speeding car, but as soon as he got on the road, he was stopped by the police, checked his driver's license, and gave him a warning.

When people are in a bad mood, they have to get busy, and when they have something to do, they can relieve some of it. Zhang Chen is now feeling this way, communicating with the people of PayPal about the promotion, and the fire in his heart gradually dissipated.

Zhang Chen smiled: "Yes, Peter, your plan is very feasible. However, we don't need to use such a crude method to acquire customers for the time being. ”

"When PayPal was first launched, I used to say that finding the right customers was the most important thing. What is the target customer, that is, the group of people who have the habit of shopping and paying online. This morning, both Meg Whitman and Jeff Bezos have agreed to make PayPal the official recommended payment channel for eBay and Amazon. Steve Keys has now agreed to accept PayPal access, but if we want us to reduce their fee to 1.5% + $0.1, I have verbally agreed. With the support of these three sites, our user base will skyrocket in a short period of time, and if we now subsidize seven dollars per user, the money would be too unjustly spent. ”

Peter Tiel was ecstatic when he heard this, and even his breath was a little heavier: "AOL also agreed to access PayPal? God, they have more than 10 million paid users! Why don't they make their own charging platform?"

Zhang Chen couldn't help but laugh when he saw Peter Tier's expression, and only now can he see this future Silicon Valley tycoon so out of shape, "They have their own online payment channels, but the current operation is very bad, only 3% is a large company, the organization is bloated, the response is slow, and the execution is poor, these are the reasons why they can't do it themselves." In addition, Steve Keys is not interested in the huge commercial value of online payment, but if online payment is popular, they can reduce a large number of toll collector positions and reduce operating costs, so it doesn't matter to him who will make the platform. ”

Peter Till waved his fist excitedly and clapped his hands to the people around him: "Okay, hurry up and get to work!" Keese, contact the head of operations of Amazon and eBay immediately, and we want them to add the PayPal code to their web pages within this week! Max, be sure to pay attention to the load of the server, make a good backup of the system, and there must be no technical problems! Karim, the real-time anti-fraud system needs to be reorganized。。。。。。 ”

Peter Till was in good spirits, gave clear instructions, mobilized seven or eight people, and picked up the phone again: "Reed, it's me, you take Shamal to fly to Virginia now." Stop talking nonsense, leave your socialNet alone! There's a big business waiting for you to talk about, what big business?AOL!AOL!Quick!I'll let Shamal go to you now!"

Zhang Chen lit a cigarette and watched quietly for a while. After Peter Tiel arranged everything, his excitement was slightly suppressed, he opened the computer and was about to send an email, but he smelled a smell of smoke, looked sideways, and found that it was Zhang Chen who was smoking, and couldn't help but be stunned.

"When did you start smoking?" Peter Thiel frowned.

Zhang Chen smiled faintly: "Smoke one occasionally." ”

Peter Thiel wrinkled his nose: "Bad mood?"

Zhang Chen shook his head, found an empty can, and threw most of the remaining cigarettes in, "You guys are busy first, I still have something to do, so I'll withdraw first." ”

————————————————

San Francisco International Airport, First Class Lounge.

Zhang Peiwei was not hungry, but just sandwiched a plate of fruit salad in the self-service area, and complained while eating: "Irene, Zack said that he would send us on his plane, but you still don't want it, now it's okay, it is said that it was two hours late, and now the flight has not arrived, it is estimated that it will be at least three or four hours late." ”

Su Zhuorui just smiled faintly and didn't speak.

Zou Kaixuan quietly kicked Zhang Peiwei: "Okay, people's money is not blown by the wind, and it will be gone after a flight of two or three hundred thousand dollars, how can you be embarrassed? By the way, Irene, you go to Xiangjiang with us, Zack will not have an opinion, right?"

Su Zhuorui shook her head: "This is my own decision, it has nothing to do with you, Sister Kaixuan, I'll go get a cup of coffee, do you want to drink it?" Sister Debbie, do you drink it?"

Zou Kaixuan shook his head and didn't drink, but Zhang Peiwei said thank you to Su Zhuohui and asked Su Zhuohui to help her bring a cup.

Zou Kaixuan watched Su Zhuorui leave, and whispered to Zhang Peiwei: "Be careful when you speak." ”

Zhang Peiwei smiled: "Did you say that the relationship between Irene and that kid is a little ambiguous?"

Zou Kaixuan said angrily: "I think you are the one who has a heart, why are you so gossipy?"

Zhang Peiwei was about to say something, but she heard the mobile phone on the table ring, and after a glance, it turned out to be Su Zhuoyuan's phone.

The two glanced at the caller ID, Zhang Peiwei gave Zou Kaixuan a color, and just as she wanted to say something, she saw Su Zhuorui coming over with two cups of coffee.

"There's only American style here, and I don't know if you like it or not. Su Zhuohui handed Zhang Peiwei a cup, and Zhang Peiwei smiled and said thank you, "Irene, someone called you just now." ”

Su Zhuorui said sorry, picked up the phone from the table and glanced at it, couldn't help but be stunned, and thought for a while, "I'm sorry, I'll make a call." ”

Zhang Peiwei smiled: "Go, go." ”

Su Zhuorui walked outside the lounge: "You called me? Well, the plane is late." Yes, it may have to wait a little longer. It's okay, we're in the lounge. I sat in economy class alone for fifteen hours, and I couldn't even stretch my legs, and I didn't have anything to do. you, you're only getting old. Is there something wrong? I'm hanging up. ”

"Say it's gone, don't say it's hanging, it's unlucky to hang up. ”

Su Zhuorui was stunned for a moment, why did it seem to have an echo? As soon as he wanted to turn around, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

As soon as Su Zhuorui turned around, he saw Zhang Chen standing behind him.

"You, how did you get in?" Su Zhuorui was a little dumbfounded, he had already passed the security check, how could Zhang Chen appear here?

Zhang Chen smiled: "I suddenly remembered that you have to go back to Kyoto after you go to Xiangjiang, just help me bring something to my parents, so that she always says that she gave birth to a white-eyed wolf." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Chen handed the paper bag with Hermes Big H in his hand to Su Zhuorui. Su Zhuorui opened the box and saw that in the dust bag was a Hermes platinum bag. Also in the box is a Vacheron Constantin men's watch.

Su Zhuorui pouted: "You let Xiao Lele bring it with him when he returns to China, and I have to go from Kyoto to Bincheng." ”

Zhang Chen rolled his eyes: "You are also their goddaughter, okay? I think you are the white-eyed wolf." ”

Su Zhuorui repacked the bag and watch again, "Okay, I know, I'll send them over when I go back, is there anything else?"

Zhang Chen was silent for a moment: "Anyway, I should also give you a parting gift, and I will open it when I leave." As he spoke, Zhang Chen took out a small long strip-shaped box holding colored paper and ribbons from his fat shorts pocket.

Su Zhuorui hesitated for a moment and took it, "You haven't said how you got in? ”

Zhang Chen said with a smile: "My Dongying's visa hasn't expired yet, and I happen to have a passport and a green card on me, so I bought Zhang Fei's economy class." Okay, you go in, I have to get out quickly, and I don't know if I can get a refund. ”

Zhang Chen waved his hand at Su Zhuorui and turned to leave.

Su Zhuorui watched Zhang Chen's back disappear into the crowd in a daze, shook his head, put the small box into the paper bag, and carried it back to the lounge.

"And a gift?so good?" Zhang Peiwei exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Look, look, what is it?"

Su Zhuorui shook her head: "Zack asked me to bring it to his parents." ”

Zou Kaixuan dissuaded: "Don't rummage over other people's things, it's not good." ”

Zhang Peiwei didn't care: "Let's see what's tight? Birkin, that's good." What's in this little box?"

Su Zhuorui's heart jumped, hesitated for a moment, and said honestly: "Oh, it was a farewell gift, no matter what, I also sold his life for a year, and he has a little conscience." ”

The fire of gossip in Zhang Peiwei's heart was burning, and she encouraged: "Take it apart and take a look." ”

Su Zhuorui was helpless, so she had to open the colored paper packaging outside, and when she saw the box inside, she was a little distracted.

"Tiffany, yes, open it up. Zhang Peiwei pouted in her heart, if it weren't for the limited-edition jewelry, whether it was Cartier or Tiffany, it really wouldn't be in her eyes.

Su Zhuorui gently opened the box, and her eyes were full of light.

Inside is a necklace.

"Wow, it's so beautiful~" Zhang Peiwei let out an exclamation, although it is not a top diamond jewelry, but at a glance, she also knows that this necklace will not be cheap. The entire necklace is embellished with small diamonds, the largest of which must have exceeded a carat in the middle.

"The total weight is at least eight carats. Zhang Peiwei's eyes were very poisonous, "At least sixty or seventy thousand dollars." ”

Su Zhuorui looked at the necklace in a daze and muttered, "Paloma Picasso's work, seventy-two diamonds, ninety-eight thousand dollars." ”

(End of chapter)