Wang Haoran was conducting the first interview in his life, and on the other side, Zhang was discussing a big matter with Xu Mingwen.

Of course, Zhang Chaoyang, the dignified president of Sohu, would not come to Jinling because his news editor-in-chief wanted to interview Wang Haoran, not to mention that it was Wang Haoran who was interviewed, even if it was an interview with a senior official, Zhang Chaoyang could not be responsible.

On the one hand, there is a specialization in the art industry, and professional things are left to professional people to do, such a simple reason Zhang Chaoyang, the president who single-handedly created Sohu, will not understand.

Similarly, Wang Haoran also knew this, so he found an excuse to be interviewed and left temporarily not long after he met Zhang Chaoyang, no matter what Zhang Chaoyang's purpose was, it was always right to let Xu Mingwen, a professional person, deal with Zhang Chaoyang.

It just so happens that Wang Haoran can also try to think about what is the purpose of Zhang Chaoyang's visit to Aihua this time.

Speaking of Zhang Chaoyang, we have to mention Zhang Chaoyang's early joke: "Mr. Two Million", which was a slightly ridiculous nickname at first.

In 1986, Zhang Chaoyang graduated from Tsinghua University and then went to the United States to leave a message, at that time Zhang Chaoyang's dream was to win the Nobel Prize for the country.

In 1993, Zhang Chaoyang studied for a Ph.D. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a few months, and suddenly felt that studying physics for many years was not suitable for him, so he decided to change his career.

Why physics is not suitable for Zhang Chaoyang, Wang Haoran doesn't know, there is no explanation given by Zhang Chaoyang on the Internet in his previous life, in this life, Wang Haoran can ask Zhang Chaoyang in person, skip it first.

Later, Zhang Chaoyang began to look for work everywhere, and was eventually selected by a high-tech company called ISI in the United States and appointed as the chief representative of ISI China.

Until 1996, Zhang Chaoyang's life was not a story, and in that era, studying abroad was a normal thing.

But like some people are born to be the protagonists in it, although they may be unknown to the public at first, they will definitely shine in the end, Zhang Chaoyang's story has gradually become exciting.

At the beginning of 96, Zhang Chaoyang was unwilling to continue to work for others and wanted to do a career alone.

Don't look at Zhang Chaoyang at this time, he has been working for two or three years, but he actually has no money on hand.

What if you want to start a business but don't have the money?

Then borrow some money from the bank.

What if you don't have a house or a deposit, and the bank is unwilling to lend you?

If the bank doesn't borrow, then ask friends and relatives to borrow some first.

After having the idea of starting a business, the first thing Zhang Chaoyang did was to set a price for himself.

This is a bit difficult to understand, how to set a price for yourself?

Regardless of whether this matter is ridiculous or not, ordinary people may not even have such thoughts, but Zhang Chaoyang, who was born in science, is different.

His identity as a Chinese, his education as a high-achieving MIT student, and his excellent performance during his work at ISI, combined with Zhang Chaoyang's price, set a price of two million dollars for himself.

At that time, Zhang Chaoyang's idea was very ridiculous in the eyes of many people in China, Zhang Chaoyang contacted several rich Chinese people he knew during his work, and the other party politely rejected Zhang Chaoyang's "selling himself", and secretly many people thought that Zhang Chaoyang was whimsical, wanted to make money and wanted to go crazy, and ridiculed Zhang Chaoyang as "Mr. Two Million" behind his back.

However, success will not fail because of the ridicule of metrics, but will come because of persistence, Zhang Chaoyang continues to work hard, while continuing to work hard to sell himself.

First of all, a professor named Edward at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology agreed with Zhang Chaoyang's approach, Professor Edward promised to invest $50,000 in Zhang Chaoyang, but Professor Edward said that the money could not be given to you immediately, and you had to find someone to sell yourself, but fortunately, this time it was not difficult, and Zhang Chaoyang's student named Bond at MIT said that he was also willing to invest $50,000 in Zhang Chaoyang.

Then Zhang Chaoyang registered his own company, ITC, the Chinese word is called Aitxin, which is the predecessor of Sohu.

However, although the company was successfully registered, the current capital of only 100,000 US dollars is definitely not enough, and Zhang Chaoyang can only continue to run around looking for investors.

It's a pity that this time it was not so easy, and a venture company got in the way, until half a year has passed since Professor Edward agreed to invest, Zhang Chaoyang still hasn't found a new investor.

And at this time, Professor Edward called Zhang Chaoyang and said: "It's been half a year, and you haven't found another investor, or you will lower your price?" I think one million dollars is more suitable for you, if you agree, I will put half more money into you, and I can transfer the money to your account today, what do you think?"

Zhang Chaoyang was also exhausted at this time, so he had no choice but to follow Edward's advice and agreed to deal with his worth of one million dollars at half price.

By the end of 96, Zhang Chaoyang sold 20% of himself at a price of 1 million, and one of the investors said that he would pay 20,000 US dollars first, and the remaining 30,000 US dollars would be talked about later, and finally Zhang Chaoyang returned to China with 170,000 US dollars and began his legendary road.

In July 2000, Sohu was listed on the NASDAQ, with a market capitalization of $490 million on the day of listing.

No one will call Zhang Chaoyang a nickname like "Mr. Two Million", even if it is behind the scenes, it only took three years, and no one will think that Zhang Chaoyang is not worth two million dollars.

From $170,000 to $500 million in three years, the group of people who laughed at Zhang Chaoyang for asking him for 2 million were crazy for money, and they couldn't cry because they regretted it.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the first decade of the twentieth century, Zhang Chaoyang was an idol in the minds of countless young people.

However, Zhang Chaoyang didn't know this, and he was uncomfortable in the face of Wang Haoran's admiring gaze that he threw at him from time to time, and said with a sneer: "Mr. Wang, you've been back for more than ten minutes, don't say a word, why do you keep looking at me." ”

Because you are my idol, I have admired you so rarely in my last life. Wang Haoran thought to himself.

Of course, Wang Haoran couldn't answer like this, and said with a slight smile: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just heard you and Mr. Xu chatting, I didn't expect that there is such a big difference between famous universities abroad and China, and I always thought that Mari was a group of science and engineering otaku." ”

Zhang Chaoyang and Xu Mingwen both studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Xu Mingwen is Zhang Chaoyang's younger brother, probably because of this, Zhang Chaoyang and Xu Mingwen can talk very well, after the interview, Wang Haoran returned to the office for so long, the two have been chatting about studying abroad.

Hearing Wang Haoran say this, Xu Mingwen pouted and said: "Boss, you are wrong, compared to domestic college students, American college students are really not homely, that is called a person who can play, I saw it within a few days of entering Mali." ”

Zhang Chaoyang smiled: "Brother Xu is talking about Mali's annual freshman ball." ”

Xu Mingwen nodded: "Yes, Americans are really good at playing, senior brother, you should have participated at that time." ”

Seeing that Wang Haoran looked very interested, Zhang Chaoyang explained with a smile: "Mari's freshman ball has the same meaning as the orientation party of our domestic university, but there is a little difference, Mari's freshman ball is organized by students, not by the school, when I say this, Mr. Wang understands, right?"

Looking at Zhang Chaoyang's retrospective expression, Wang Haoran could only nod without pretending to understand, but fortunately, Xu Mingwen took over the conversation and explained it to his boss a little.

The orientation party of domestic universities is generally led by the school, how long it lasts, and what performance projects are there, these must be approved by the school, and the student union is only a miscellaneous helper at most.

The freshman prom at American universities is different, the school doesn't care, and the students are generally responsible for organizing and implementing it, at most, they report to the school, and by the way, they want a venue.

So this student-led freshman prom is purely a carnival event.

Sing, you can sing whatever you want.

Dancing, ballet alone is OK, and it is more popular for a man and a woman to dance Latin.

Tasting the food, the ball usually prepares enough food for everyone.

There are also countless drinks, so you can drink them whenever you want.

As for what to do if you're drunk, please, ho care?

Therefore, the main purpose of Mari's freshman ball is to allow all the participating students to eat, drink and have fun together, and it is also the best opportunity for many people to hunt for beauty.

"You can't believe it, the prom is not over yet, I was pulled into a small room by a girl I don't know, good guys, there are already two men and two women glued together, and the girl doesn't seem to see it. Xu Mingwen added another sentence.

"Did you get on the result?"

"Definitely not, I can only say sorry to the woman, turn around and leave, but the girl didn't mind at all, turned around and joined the other four people's battle group. Xu Mingwen replied.

“......”

Although he knew that Lao Mei was more open, he didn't expect Lao Mei to be open to this point, Wang Haoran could only be silent.

The three of them chatted in the office for more than an hour, talking about topics ranging from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Xu Mingwen and Zhang Chaoyang studied together, to strange things at home and abroad.

said that it was small talk, that is, small talk, and for more than an hour, there was not a word about why Zhang Chaoyang came to Aihua this time.

Wang Haoran was originally going to find an opportunity to guide the topic, but when he saw Xu Mingwen holding Zhang Chaoyang and didn't pay attention, he shook his head at himself, and Wang Haoran dispelled the idea of temptation.

After chatting for more than ten minutes, Wang Haoran also asked Zhang Chaoyang by the way why he thought of not studying for a good doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chose to drop out of school to start a business.

Zhang Chaoyang's answer is quite interesting.

Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile: "If ordinary people asked me, I really wouldn't tell him, but since Mr. Wang asked, I'll tell the truth, the reason why I didn't continue to finish my doctoral studies was mainly due to two reasons." ”

"The first one is that it's too difficult, to tell you the truth, I followed my mentor for a few months, and I felt that his topic was too profound, you know, my dream at that time was to win the Nobel Prize in physics, but in fact I found that I had to bury my head in studying for more than ten hours a day to keep up with the tutor's teaching progress, and I was 108,000 miles away from the Nobel Prize. ”

"Since I can't be a scholar or a businessman, I wanted to start my own business at that time, and in the past few years in the United States, I found that compared with the American Internet, the domestic Internet at this time can be described as a blank, so I think there is a lot to be done in China to engage in the Internet. ”

Zhang Chaoyang sees it very accurately, he is worth more than 100 million yuan in three years, isn't there a lot to do.

After chatting for a while, Mao Buyi, who had sorted out the first draft, walked in, Wang Haoran took a look, the title was slightly exaggerated, fortunately, the content in it was basically in line with what Wang Haoran said, and Mao Buyi did not reveal Wang Haoran's true identity.

Time saw noon, others rushed all the way from Shanghai to Jinling, as a landlord, he should do his best to be a landlord, this point does not need Wang Haoran to say, Xu Mingwen has already been arranged.

After a happy lunch, Zhang Chaoyang took Mao Buyi back to the hotel under the pretext that he needed to rest and rest first, and said that he would invite Wang Haoran and Xu Mingwen to come back in the evening.

After Wang Haoran and Xu Mingwen returned to the office, Wang Haoran, who was a little drunk, leaned back on the sofa and breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "This Zhang Chaoyang can really drink." ”

Xu Mingwen nodded and replied: "You know, I was drunk by him last time, and it is said that this guy often drank whiskey when he was in Mali." ”

Wang Haoran smiled, closed his eyes and rested, rubbed his temples with his thumb, and drank strong tea to sober up, feeling much more comfortable, Wang Haoran asked: "What's the matter? Did he tell you what he wanted to do when he was not there?"

Xu Mingwen nodded and replied: "I said, he wants to advertise on our campus network, but he knows that our campus network is not short of money, and he will not reduce the user experience for that advertising fee, so don't you come to me to play the emotional card, you want me to persuade you first." ”

It's always been my own campus network that advertises on Sohu, why is it the other way around?

Wang Haoran was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "No, he himself controls half of the domestic Internet, why do you want to advertise on our campus network?"

Xu inscription: "What he means is that our campus network is more in line with his advertising content." ”

Wang Haoran: "What advertisement?"

Xu Mingwen replied: "Do you know Sohu Mall, he just wants to advertise his Sohu Mall on our campus network." ”

"It is estimated that he thinks that the users of our campus network are more accepting of his Sohu Mall. Xu Mingwen saw that Wang Haoran didn't speak for a while, so he added another sentence.

Wang Haoran didn't answer right away because the memory in his head was brought out by the four words of Sohu Mall.

In China, when it comes to e-commerce, everyone thinks that Mr. Ma's Taobao is the ancestor of e-commerce, and later I don't know that Jingdong, who is a beautiful wife, is a latecomer.

However, if you want to talk about the real e-commerce pioneer, Mr. Ma's Taobao can't be ranked at all.

Before Taobao, there was Sohu Mall, and before Sohu, there was 8848.

Please call me a wayward two-in-one!

PS: There's a reason why this chapter has a bit more about Big Guy Zhang.

Someone blindly compared me to a book review in a certain channel, saying that the thief I wrote was exaggerated, and that the campus network was worth more than 10 million dollars in two years, thinking that others were fools and so on.

I don't bother to explain, just slap you in the face with facts, come, please see how long it took Big Guy Zhang to go from $170,000 to $500 million?

PS2: The results were miserable and the same as that, but the result was sprayed by people in various ways, it's really crying!

(End of chapter)