The heads of most venture capital companies such as IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, DFJ, Intel Investment, Morgan Stanley, Carlyle Capital, etc., saw the inquiry letter sent by Angel Capital at first glance, and almost decided that they would not pay attention to the outcome of Blogger, eBay, and ICQ this time. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

But with the exception of one venture capital firm, that is SoftBank Group.

Masayoshi Son has an absolute reputation in the Internet industry in later generations, and his history of making a fortune can be called a miracle light, of course, I will not repeat it here. Son was only five feet tall, bald, and unsightly. But this Korean-Japanese is known as the "godfather of the Internet" because he invested heavily in Internet companies, and a few years later SoftBank held 8% of the market value of the global stock market with shares in listed Internet companies.

Some people call him crazy, that is, in November 1995, he invested $2 million in Yahoo, and the most crazy thing is that in March 1996, a month before Yahoo went public, he injected another $100 million to own a 33% stake in Yahoo. This is not crazy, you must know that the profit model of Internet websites at this time is very simple, and there is only one online advertising fee. That is, Yahoo invested $100 million when its profit model was not clear, which is not a worthless currency such as the Korean won and the yen.

"Kitao, what do you think?" Son asked Kikuo Yoshitaka who was standing in front of him.

Yoshitaka Kitao, graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1978 and worked for Nomura Securities at Osaka Co., Ltd. In 1995, Kitao Yoshitaka joined SoftBank Corporation, founded by Masayoshi Son, a giant in the Japanese software industry, and served as the managing director and head of the management headquarters.

"Boss, subordinates don't dare to talk nonsense!" In Japan, the hierarchy is extremely strict, and Kitao replied with a respectful bow of his head.

"If I let you say it, you can say it, a man's mother-in-law." Son only immigrated to Japan after founding SoftBank, so he doesn't pay much attention to Japanese etiquette.

Kitao knew that the president was cultivating himself, so he thought for a while and said, "President, I personally think that Blogger, eBay, and ICQ all have their own innovation points in the Internet industry, and they have absolute market share in their respective fields. In this regard, we don't have to worry about the market and user problems, but the current revenue model of all Internet companies is limited to the online advertising revenue model, and the revenue model is not clear. In addition, based on the experience of Amazon and Yahoo listings, Blogger and eBay are valued at $500 million, and ICQ is valued at $800 million, which is really high. If we invest in three companies at the current valuation, we really can't make money when the three companies are listed on the NASDAQ. ”

"Well, you have a point. In the end, though, I decided to invest. Son Masayoshi listened carefully to Kitao Yoshitaka's point of view, but slapped the table and made a decision, "Kitao, do you know why I want to invest?" ”

"President, his subordinates are stupid."

"I know some people don't convince me, and the $100 million I invested in Yahoo in March last year made the outsiders on the board very unwilling. But if you look at the market value of Yahoo, which is only more than $900 million, it has exceeded $1.3 billion, and I believe that in the next year or two, Yahoo will decide that it will rise, and it will rise a lot. "Son was not as glamorous as later generations at this time, although he didn't lose $100 million invested in Yahoo, but he really didn't make any money.

"I believe in the president's vision."

Son Masayoshi glanced at Kitao Yoshitaka and intended to cultivate him, "What is the most important thing in this world?" Person. Incredible things like airplanes, cannons, electronic components, etc., were created by people. Consumption is also people-led, and it is not important that the profit model of Internet companies is not clear. Although I don't know the exact profit model, as long as an Internet company catches users, then I believe that it has a bright future. ”

"Thank you, President, for your teaching." Kitao Yoshitaka listened very attentively, and then admired the sermon.

"Kitao, you can arrange it, I need to go to the United States tomorrow to meet with the president of Angel Capital to talk about SoftBank's investment in Blogger, eBay, and ICQ." Blogger, eBay, and ICQ will involve hundreds of millions of dollars in Series A financing, and such an important financing naturally needs to be handled by SoftBank President Masayoshi Son himself.

Son Masayoshi wants to go to the United States to meet Jeff, which requires applying for visas, booking plane tickets, making appointments with Jeff and other affairs, but fortunately, SoftBank has an extraordinary status, and this aspect of the matter can be completed in half a day.

When Jeff called Liu Si again, he happened to be in the Alibaba Madrid office of Weixing Tower to discuss the establishment of Liu's Capital's U.S. office in the United States, and Madrid was honorably appointed as the first top head of Liu's Capital's U.S. office.

Angel Capital and Phoenix Capital are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Liu's Capital, just like the kingdom under the feudal system of the ancient empire, Liu Si felt that he should establish an office in the United States on Liu's Capital's supervision of its subordinate enterprises.

This time, he plans to withdraw funds in Southeast Asia to the NASDAQ in the United States to absorb high-tech stocks, and this time the withdrawal of funds is as high as 2 billion US dollars, and this is only the first phase of funds, and the scale of additional 3 billion US dollars ~ 10 billion US dollars will be added in the future.

With so much money, Liu Sike was reluctant to take the risk of choosing to believe in the qualities of Jeff and Daphne, and he confirmed that it was very necessary for him to set up an office of Liu Capital in the United States to supervise Liu Capital's subordinate conglomerates or carry out Liu Si's personal will.

The role of setting up Liu's Capital office in the United States is not only to supervise, but also to implement Liu Si's personal will. For example, if Liu Si wants to do things in the United States in the future, it is impossible to trouble Jeff, Daphne and others every time, after all, Liu Si does not want the relationship between Liu's Capital and Phoenix Capital and Angel Capital to be known to everyone.

Baidu is almost going online, but Google has not yet scored, so Liu Si hopes to find Larry Page and Sergey Bloom to set up Google in advance. Historically, Larry Page and Sergey Bloom were able to found Google, and Robin Li played a major role in it. In April 1998, Robin Li went to Australia to give a speech on searching for forward-looking technology, and there were Page and Brin in the audience. I don't know if in this life, without Robin Li's reminder, the two of them will not have such great achievements, and Google will see the light of day again.

In addition to Google's Liu Si is very concerned, there is also PayPal. Historically, PayPal has been created by? Peterthiel? and Maxlevchin were established in December 1998. is an Internet service provider based in San Jose, California, that allows the transfer of funds between users who use email to identify them, eliminating the need for traditional methods of mailing checks or sending money.

The achievements of Google and PayPal cannot be repeated, and now what Liu wants to do is to firmly grasp the two companies. But at present, QQ, Ctrip.com and other Internet companies need to be established, and he can't do without China, and naturally it is impossible to go to the United States every time he has something in the future, so Liu Sicai thought of setting up an office in the United States that only serves himself.

When Li Haiping entered the Madrid office to inform Liu Si, Liu Sichu was surprised when he heard that SoftBank replied that it would participate in the Series A financing of Blogger, eBay and ICQ. After all, SoftBank's fame is too great, and SoftBank's platform is very helpful to the three companies.

After listening to Jeff tell the whole story, especially when Masayoshi Son said that he would meet Jeff in person, how much he wished he was in the United States, which was the godfather of the Internet.

Liu Si was excited for a while and came back to his senses, knowing whether celebrities are more important or his own money is more important, and then he began to arrange the key points of Jeff's confrontation with SoftBank, "Jeff, this meeting with SoftBank, I don't want you to make concessions in terms of valuation financing." No matter what the founding teams or management of the three companies think, I'll give you a bottom line. First, the valuations I set for the three companies cannot be changed; Second, the financing amount of Blogger and eBay cannot exceed 200 million US dollars, that is to say, the transfer of shares cannot exceed 40%, and the financing amount of ICQ cannot exceed 400 million US dollars; Third, there can be no concessions in the transfer of shares, and at the same time, if SoftBank invests shortfall, the part will be made up by Phoenix Capital. Can you remember? ”

"Understood, boss."

"You have more confidence when negotiating, and in a few days, I will arrange for Phoenix Capital and Angel Capital to deposit a sum of up to $1 billion into their accounts. So, you don't have to worry about the boss I don't have any money! Liu thought about it and gave Jeff a bottom line, so that he would have enough confidence when he met with SoftBank.

"Really, boss, you're so nice......"

"Wait, don't think this money is for you to squander. In addition to the funds that can be used in the Series A financing of Blogger, eBay, and ICQ, you only have $50 million at your disposal. "The $2 billion this time is completely prepared by Liu Si to enter the NASDAQ high-tech market, not to invest in venture capital for angel capital and Phoenix capital.

“oh。”

"Jeff, give you a perk. I need a few traders, do you have any classmates or friends who can do this job, I will give you this place. By the way, traders' salaries are very high! The annual salary is $400,000. "Anyway, we need to hire traders, so it's better to use Jeff's hand to do this, and maybe Jeff is still grateful to himself.

"Ok, boss, don't worry about giving me this task! Guaranteed completion of the task. ”

"Well, nothing hangs like that."

"Bye-bye!"

"Goodbye!"