The Internet crisis of 2000.

The year 2000 is a special year in the history of China's Internet, before the establishment of China's three major Internet mountains, Penguin, Ali and Baidu, and then China's three major web portals Sohu, New Wolf and Yiwang were listed in the United States, these companies constitute the basic disk of China's Internet and have lasted for nearly 20 years, and China's Internet has begun to enter the 1.0 era.

In the history of the Internet in the United States, the year 2000 is also a very special moment, but it is not the highlight moment of Internet development, but the darkest moment when the Internet bubble completely burst.

To sum it up, there are actually two points:

The first is foam. The reason for the bubble is very simple, after entering the 90s of the 20th century, the Internet has become a hot industry, and everyone knows that this is the future development direction, that is, the outlet. So if you have money, you basically invest in Internet companies.

In the 90s, as long as an Internet company went public, it could fly.

There is a bit like the house in Huaxia from 2010 to 2020, everyone knows that the house will definitely rise, and if you have money, you will invest in it.

And so the bubble of the Internet was blown up.

The second is to puncture the foam, and the reason for the puncture is very simple:

In February 2000, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan felt that the situation was not right, felt that the bubble was a bit big, and the price-earnings ratio of 200 which country's central bank could stand it, and began to crack down on investment enthusiasm, announcing a large interest rate hike, adding it to the level before 1995, raising the cost of capital flow, and prompting people to be more cautious when investing.

A month after announcing the interest rate hike, the Nasdaq reached its peak of 5048 on March 10, and on March 13, the news that the neon economy had entered a recession again caused a sell-off in technology stocks in the international market, and investors' worries began to rise.

On March 20, Barron's, a well-known financial magazine, published a cover article titled "Burn Out", revealing the current dire state of these Internet companies:

Of the 207 Internet companies surveyed, 71% had negative profits, 51 companies ran out of cash within 12 months, and even Amazon, an Internet idol unit, had only 10 months of cash flow.

Many founders and early investors of Internet companies are doing their best to cash out, and the money flowing from the old economic system to the new economic system is about to run out, and Internet companies that have no money to burn and no money to make are about to fall off the altar.

Then came the tragic scenario of the free fall of internet companies and stockholders, with investors panic selling, and the Nasdaq fell more than 25% in less than a month, and 9% on April 14 alone.

The decline in the stock index lasted for 2 years, and the impact of 911 caused the entire NASDAQ to lose $5 trillion in market capitalization.

The index is less than a quarter of its peak, one of the largest financial bubbles in the country's history, and it took 15 years for the Nasdaq to return to pre-2000 levels.

Internet companies have not been spared, with 52% of companies going bankrupt in the crisis, most of them losing 75% of their market value, and even Amazon and Ebay, which are doing well, have lost half of their market value.

Such a feast across the millennium came to an end, leaving a lot of chicken feathers and the Internet ushering in a long recovery period.

……

It's March 30th.

There has been a panic sell-off in the stock market in the United States, but as we all know, the more times like this, the more it can't be sold, and now it has entered a spiral of collapse, which is simply weak.

And Qing Zhiyuan is still calmly and calmly eating barbecue with Son Zhengyi.

"I didn't expect this stock market crash to come so violently, you said that Greenspan is really this person, why should he raise interest rates, does it mean that the Internet will not be the outlet in the future?"

Son Zhengyi is bitter and bitter, his height of 1.5 meters, coupled with that twisted little face, is more and more like a horse.

At a glance, I knew that this person should have lost a lot in the stock market.

Son Zhengyi is a person who gambles too much, and has basically pressed the Internet with all his strength for so many years, and now the Internet is thundering, I'm afraid he wants to die.

"It's come to this point, it's already beyond our ability, so whatever, come on, Sun Sang, eat a piece of Arctic shellfish."

Qing Zhiyuan is right, the total circulating funds of Pokeni and SoftBank together are less than 1 billion US dollars, which is a huge amount of money compared to ordinary companies and astronomical amounts for ordinary people.

But putting it in the stock market is a drop in the bucket.

Now that the fire is raging, it is not at all something that the company level can change.

No one can return to heaven.

And according to Qing Zhiyuan's understanding,

After the dot-com bubble bursts, the Nasdaq index will fall from an all-time high of 5048 in 2000 to 1114 in 2002, and the entire stock market value will evaporate by two-thirds.

The market value of many star companies has fallen off a cliff or even closed down, a large number of programmers have lost their jobs and changed careers, and less than half of the Internet companies survived until 2004.

But any Internet company that can survive can basically grow into a behemoth in the future.

For example, Amazon, eBay, NVIDIA, Apple......

Qing Zhiyuan sandwiched a piece of Arctic shellfish into Sun Zhengyi's plate, the latter thanked him silently, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, raised his head and looked at the handsome man in front of him suspiciously, "How can you still be so calm?" ”

"Me?"

Qing Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment, "I have nothing to lose." ”

"Nvidia and Microsoft aren't they?" Son asked suspiciously.

The corners of Qing Zhiyuan's mouth twitched slightly.

I can't say that the pain hurts, but the pain must still be a little painful.

Microsoft has just replaced 20% of Pokeni's shares with 3%, and Microsoft's market value has fallen from $600 billion to more than $580 billion, which is not a big drop and is still within the tolerance range of Qingzhiyuan.

If it weren't for the time limit of the exchange contract, which required Pokeni not to sell Microsoft shares in the next 10 years, Qingzhiyuan would have run away by now.

Nvidia's stock price has fallen from $2 last year to 0.5 now, a drop of almost 75%.

What a terrible word.

This time he went to the United States to participate in the Olympic Classics, and Lao Huang still complained to him for days, saying that if this continues, Nvidia will go bankrupt.

Frightened, Qing Zhiyuan hurriedly promised to buy more Nvidia shares.

Thinking of this, the corners of Qing Zhiyuan's mouth involuntarily raised.

As Warren Buffett said, I am afraid of others being greedy, and others are afraid of me being greedy.

At this time, Qing Zhiyuan did not fall into a desperate and pessimistic situation like others, but smiled and saw a lot of opportunities.

If you're looking to buy shares in some big companies, the next few years are a great opportunity.

The technical talents who are forced to lose their jobs by Internet companies are actually a valuable asset, and the key is how you use them.

This micro-expression happened to be glimpsed by an old Jianghu like Sun Zhengyi, and he couldn't help but be a little secretly surprised, Qing Zhiyuan is crazy?

Can you still laugh?

"I said a long time ago that P-NET should be listed early, you see, it's good now, the NASDAQ has plummeted, and I don't know how long this stock market crash will continue."

Masayoshi Son is really a bitter stomach, and he can flow from here to the Atlantic.

Originally, I was optimistic about P-NET, thinking that it could be a billion-dollar company once it went public, right?

As a result, Qing Zhiyuan has been dragging it out on the grounds that he has not made money yet and his business is still expanding.

Well, now it's time to drag out the darkest moment, and I can't go public if I want to.

Even if he can really pass the review and be listed on the NASDAQ now, Son estimates that it will not be worth a few dollars.

"If you went public last year, it would be worth at least 500000000000000000000000000000000 Hiccup, dollars. Son hiccuped and slapped him.

$5 billion?

You're underestimating P-NET too much.

Qing Zhiyuan said disdainfully in his heart:

At the very least, it should be worth more than $20 billion.

In previous years, pokeni was valued at $60 billion, and a third of that valuation was based on the P-NET business.

P-NET has become the largest Internet portal and network platform, and it will be trillions in the future.

Of course, Qing Zhiyuan will feel that the time is not ripe enough.

At the very least, the world must be shocked and feel the storm brought by the Internet.

"Now it will definitely not be able to be listed, so let's carry it for a few more years."

Qing Zhiyuan is not in a hurry at all, according to his estimation, it will be listed again in at least 2004.

When the time comes, together with Google, Pokeni is also a shareholder of Google anyway.

Thinking of this, Qing Zhiyuan was a little looking forward to 2004.

……

At night, Sun Zhengyi was drunk like mud, and Qing Zhiyuan helped him into the car.

Don't look at this person's small size, he is actually more competent than Qing Zhiyuan imagined.

……

A few days later, Tokyo.

Pokeni Co., Ltd.

"Expansion?!"

Everyone in the conference room let out an exclamation.

Especially Ken Akanishi and Satoshi Iwata, both of them looked at Qing Zhiyuan with wide eyes and looked at Qing Zhiyuan like monsters.

Is this crazy, president?

Just an hour ago, Qingzhiyuan presided over such a strategic meeting, at which Qingzhiyuan not only proposed to invest half of the company's cash flow in the future to buy some of the company's shares in the United States stock market.

For example, Nvidia, which promised Lao Huang before, and Apple, which Qingzhiyuan is very optimistic about......

In addition, Qingzhiyuan also demanded that the total number of people in Pokeni be doubled, whether in Tokyo or the North Rice region.

In particular, we should try to recruit as many technical personnel as possible in the field of the Internet.

At such a time, even Iwata Satoshi himself was more cautious and pessimistic, and it was impossible to guess the president's thoughts.

Ken Akanishi and Satoshi Iwata glanced at each other, and each of them was extremely uneasy.

"Now that the NASDAQ has collapsed and the entire Internet bubble has burst, I don't know when it will get better," Iwata hesitated, "If I still have to invest at this time, I'm afraid I will lose all my money." ”

"That's right, president, many companies are laying off employees, or employees are unemployed after going out of business, and it's better for us to recruit people instead, so we always feel that the risk is too high, right?"

"Isn't it just right to hire people now?" Qing Zhiyuan laughed, "It's like neon in the 90s, but it's easier to recruit high-quality talents at a low price." ”

"Moreover, we were originally going to expand our business, Akanishi-san, the matter of the online film and television platform that I told you a few days ago, the jobs that will be created in the future, in addition to technical personnel, will also require a lot of customer service, maintenance personnel, operations, and so on......

Coupled with the expansion of other industries, there is definitely a need for personnel, and it is not a bad thing to reserve more at this time. ”

"Hmm......"

Akanishi Ken clasped his hands, as if there was nothing wrong with him.

It's just that the recent period has been affected by the Internet crisis, which has made a lot of noise and panic, and he is a little inexplicably worried about the future prospects of the Internet.

The president is very confident, and Ken Akanishi is a little confused.

Should I trust the market?

Or should I trust the president?

"As for the stock price, we can take a long-term view.

Don't just look at the moment. "Even if the price fluctuates, it will eventually return to its rightful value." High-quality assets may fall now and rise in the future.

That's value orientation. ”

"Hmm...... That doesn't seem like a problem. Satoshi Iwata did the same, clasping his hands, and had the same expression as Ken Akanishi next door.

It's painful and deep, like constipation.

This time, Satoshi Iwata was able to understand the hardships of Ken Akanishi when facing the president.

The main uncomfortable thing is that he is now the head of the strategic research department of Pokeni, and he will have to take the blame in the future.

The president's actions were a complete gamble.

The president's guts are too fat.

……

After more than three hours of polemics (Cheong Chi-won's unilateral PUA), everyone accepted the president's future strategic plan.

Satoshi Iwata also memorized the contents of a small half notebook.

He had never written such a long essay since the college entrance examination.

Walking out of the conference room, Satoshi Iwata and Ken Akanishi only felt their brains buzzing.

"Do you want to do it or continue to reason with the president?" Ken Akanishi asked.

"I didn't prepare enough today, so I'll ask the president when I'm fully prepared." Satoshi Iwata mentally accepted Seoh Chi-won's statement, but he still felt emotionally risky.

"However," Satoshi Iwata thought about it again, adding, "Maybe the president's vision is indeed more long-term than ours, and if you look at it in a longer time dimension, maybe this stock market crash is only temporary."

The Internet of the future will still be a golden industry. ”

"Hmm...... There is also this possibility. Akanishi Ken clasped his hands and asked as he walked back to his workstation side by side, "How long is this time dimension?" ”

"Two or three years." Satoshi Iwata said.

At this time, Qing Zhiyuan had just left the conference room and kept up with them.

Hearing the conversation between the two people, Qing Zhiyuan couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

Where is this two or three years?

The time I saw it, but 20 years.

……

……

——————————————————————————

There is no update tonight

Thank you

See you tomorrow (end of chapter)