Chapter 175 Li Xiaofan Is Ecstatic
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Moritz rushed to the Fairmont Hotel where Li Xiaofan was staying.
After taking a seat in the hotel lobby bar, Moritz directly entered the topic and said straight to the point: "Mr. Li, our company's decision-making committee discussed the Yahoo project this afternoon. Before coming to your place, I also talked with the two founders Jerry Yang and Ferro. All came through on the phone and they were so grateful for their first advertising business!”
In fact, since Li Xiaofan visited Yang Zhiyuan at the Yahoo RV office on the Stanford campus to propose investment intentions, Yang Zhiyuan's team, Moritz and others have recently been investigating the backgrounds of Li Xiaofan and Tang Xinyi.
Of course, Jerry Yang's team relies on their own online search engine, while Moritz not only uses online search, but also uses more resources from their company and himself. Because he was once the head of the Los Angeles reporter station of "Times" and had a strong network of friends in the news circle, he called friends from several major American news organizations stationed in Singapore to help investigate Tang Dehua's Indonesian Tang Syndrome Group and Minghua Holdings Company, Yifan Company and other related background information.
Although Tang Dehua keeps a low profile, Indonesia's Tang Group and Singapore's Ming Wah Holdings are still very influential in the coal energy industry in Southeast Asia, and are frequently reported in English media such as The Straits Times...
So after the preliminary background investigation results came out, Moritz began to believe that Li Xiaofan and Tang Xinyi were well prepared and would have extraordinary strength behind them.
After Moritz took a sip of coffee, he smiled and said: "After discussions within our company, Mr. Li, I'm sorry! We cannot accept your proposal that our company and your company will each invest US$1 million in the Yahoo project. .During internal discussions, someone within our company suggested that you The resources owned by Singapore Yifan or Minghua Holdings cannot match those of Sequoia Capital in the United States. If we hold the same shares in Yahoo in the future, once we have differences of opinion, we will not be able to deal with them in the future. Decision-making on Yahoo's major issues will bring about a series of problems and troubles..."
Li Xiaofan had anticipated this result. He slowly raised his coffee cup and took a sip of the delicious coffee, then asked calmly: "What is the attitude of Mr. Yang Jerry and his team?"
"The attitude of Jerry Yang's team ultimately depends on our negotiations today..." Moritz said.
When Li Xiaofan heard this, Moritz's words showed that Yang Zhiyuan still recognized him, and he couldn't help but secretly rejoiced: There is a chance!
"Mr. Moritz, if you don't accept our proposal to invest US$1 million each in Yahoo. Then, do you have any good suggestions?"
Moritz took out a piece of glasses cloth, took off his glasses, wiped them lightly, and then pretended to be casual and said: "Mr. Li, the plan we propose is: Mr. Jerry Yang's team will continue to hold 50% of the shares. Of the new investment of US$2 million, Sequoia Capital invested US$1.6 million to hold 40% of the shares. You Our Singapore Yifan Company invested US$400,000 to hold 10% of the shares. In this way, the two founders, Jerry Yang and Ferro, each hold 25%. We, Sequoia Capital, are the single largest shareholder, and your company is actually the fourth largest shareholder. This plan is also one of your alternatives. What do you think, Mr. Li, can you accept this plan? "
Li Xiaofan felt ecstatic when he heard the plan proposed by Moritz.
In the spring of the next year, 1996, Yahoo was successfully listed on NASDAQ. Although Yahoo was still losing money that year, Wall Street was still optimistic about its potential. On the day of listing, Yahoo's stock rose from more than ten dollars to more than thirty dollars. The market value has reached nearly US$1 billion, which is 250 times Yahoo’s current valuation of US$4 million!
In Li Xiaofan's impression, in his previous life, Sequoia Capital invested US$2 million in Yahoo in 1995. After Yahoo went public, Sequoia's investment continued to appreciate, and finally reached an astonishing US$3 billion, an increase of more than 1,700 times, becoming a textbook risk. A classic case of investment!
Li Xiaofan remembers that before Yahoo was listed on NASDAQ in the spring of 1996, Yahoo was spotted by another venture capital giant Softbank Group in November 1995. It first bought 5% of Yahoo's shares for US$2 million. At this time, Yahoo The valuation is already US$40 million, a tenfold increase! .
Then at the beginning of the next year, 1996, SoftBank Group invested an astonishing US$100 million in Yahoo, thus owning 33% of the entire Yahoo company. In other words, before Yahoo went public, its valuation had reached US$300 million, which is 75 times Yahoo’s current valuation of US$4 million!
Now, if I accept Moritz's proposal and exchange $400,000 for 10% of Yahoo's shares, the valuation of this $400,000 investment will become $4 million by the end of November this year. If by the beginning of next year, I have the money to increase capital with SoftBank Group, and the share ratio remains unchanged, the valuation of my 10% share will become US$30 million, and it will increase several times after listing! If I keep these shares unchanged, they will be worth at least several hundred million dollars later...
Oh groove, oh groove, oh groove!
Holy crap!
Li Xiaofan was ecstatic, but he took a sip of coffee nonchalantly and said slowly: "Mr. Moritz, I understand the investment thinking logic and behavior of Sequoia Capital as a well-known investment company in the industry. I can basically accept your plan. Mr. Moritz, our Yifan Company has already given Yahoo a timely advertising business. So once our investment plan is finalized, what plans and plans does your Sequoia Capital have for the long-term development of Yahoo?"
Moritz smiled and said: "After our Sequoia Capital finalizes this investment, the first thing I have to do is to help Yahoo find a general manager with management experience to help the two founders manage the company. Their company's current management is too bad! You have been to Jerry Yang's RV office and should know the situation inside. When I first visited their RV company, I pinched my nose to go in. The smell and environment inside were really terrible!"
When she said this, Tang Xinyi smiled knowingly.
Li Xiaofan also laughed: "Haha, it's really too bad. If a more particular customer sees such an office, he might be scared away before he even enters the door!"
"Haha, that's right. If the investment funds are in place, I will help them find a new office immediately. I can't let them squeeze into that broken RV anymore!"
Li Xiaofan continued to ask: "Mr. Moritz, what do you think of Yahoo's future profit model?"