Chapter 171: Where There Are People, There Is a Jianghu

Having studied and worked in America for several years, suddenly encountering Lü Wenhua from the mainland, Robin Li couldn't help but feel a bit more enthusiastic.

The current Robin Li was not yet the Boss Li of Baidu, one of the three giants of the internet era. When he first came to America, Robin Li shared a rented apartment with a couple from the mainland and a student from Jiaozhi.

From the kitchen to the bathroom, and other room equipment, they were all used in turns. They also had to buy groceries, cook, pay rent, and even check every phone bill to calculate the cost. When he first came to America to study, Boss Li, like other international students, had a hard life.

But, regardless of how badly Baidu was scolded in his past life, Boss Li's technology was indeed not just a name. At the University at Buffalo, he got a job at Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal. This was an opportunity that generally required a PhD in America. One could imagine how Boss Li's technology was.

Now, Boss Li had been dug into Infoseek by the Chief Technology Officer of Infoseek, William Chang, who was also an ethnic Chinese, to develop Infoseek's search technology!

In a foreign land, Lü Wenhua and Robin Li chatted for a few sentences. Hearing that Lü Wenhua was the investment manager of the Zhixing Foundation and that the Zhixing Foundation was established by Li Dongling, Robin Li's reaction was much greater than Jerry Yang's.

"Are you representing Boss Li of Dongling Gao Ke to invest in Infoseek?!" Robin Li's voice couldn't help but rise a bit.

Jerry Yang of Yahoo didn't pay much attention to the mainland, but Robin Li was different. He was in America, but he paid close attention to the mainland. As a technology company that rose rapidly in the country, especially with electronic pet machines, Shenzhou Telephone, etc., which were big hits overseas, how could Robin Li not pay attention?

What surprised Robin Li was that Li Dongling had actually started investing in the internet industry. This was a fashionable industry in America, but it was a fresh thing in the country, with few people paying attention.

"We have already invested in Yahoo. Perhaps it won't be long before we hear the news!"

In these years, although there were many gilded loafers among overseas students, there were quite a few people with real strength, and Robin Li was one of them. His search technology and theory, as well as hyperlink technology, were all top-notch in the search industry.

Hearing that Lü Wenhua was here to invest in Infoseek, Infoseek founder Steve Kirsch, Infoseek Chief Technology Officer, and Robin Li's mentor, William Chang, and a host of other executives all welcomed them out.

But when going out, one's status is given by oneself. The Zhixing Foundation had no fame, especially overseas. The names of Dongling Gao Ke and Li Dongling were much easier to use.

Robin Li introduced the background of the Zhixing Foundation to the executives of Infoseek on behalf of Lü Wenhua. Hearing this, Infoseek President Steve Kirsch and other executives' eyes shone, feeling that they had met a big financier.

Anyway, back then, the existence that could rival Google had a great opportunity to unify Chinese search engines and then enter search engines in other languages. Baidu, however, became addicted to advertising for some irregular hospitals, ignoring everything for traffic, and was left behind by Google so far that it couldn't even see the taillights. As for Baidu's later stage... it's better not to mention it. It's like some people who only live for the first thirty years, becoming heroes, and if they live for another thirty years, they become old thieves.

Lü Wenhua said to Robin Li. He came to America this time, besides wanting to invest in Yahoo and other companies, he was actually also holding the idea of recruiting talent for Dongling Gao Ke.

"The Zhixing Foundation and Shenzhou Telephone are founded by the same parent company, Dongling Gao Ke. Dongling Gao Ke is now a mainland technology giant, and even one of the best technology companies in Asia!

Its founder, Mr. Li Dongling, sued Microsoft in New York last year and made Microsoft pay 18 million USD. The electronic pet machine that swept America was also developed by Dongling Gao Ke, as well as Shenzhou Telephone..."

Although the Zhixing Foundation and Dongling Gao Ke were indeed founded by the same person and had cooperation, they were actually two distinct companies.

Seeing Steve Kirsch and others seem to misunderstand the Zhixing Foundation, thinking that Dongling Gao Ke was investing in Infoseek, Lü Wenhua just smiled and didn't speak. Anyway, it was their own brain supplement; it wasn't something he said himself.

"300,000 USD. The Zhixing Foundation is willing to give Infoseek the same treatment as Yahoo. The Zhixing Foundation will invest 300,000 USD in Infoseek in exchange for 25% of Infoseek's equity!"

After these few days of familiarity with Silicon Valley and the internet, Lü Wenhua gradually began to get familiar with the internet's routine. As soon as he came up, he wanted to take away 25% of Infoseek's shares.

Steve Kirsch felt a bit of heartache upon hearing this. It wasn't that he was reluctant to part with the shares, but that he felt this investment was too little.

"Respected Lü, Infoseek is very grateful for your arrival and also welcomes the investment from the founder of Dongling Gao Ke, but 300,000 USD is really too little!

We are developing a new generation of search engines, collecting more URLs and web pages, and building larger servers. This money is really not enough!" Steve Kirsch said to Lü Wenhua.

"This is not the last investment!"

Lü Wenhua said familiarly, "If Infoseek can meet expectations, we will continue to invest!"

Hearing this, Steve Kirsch felt a bit more at ease, only thinking that this was just...

But in reality, Lü Wenhua himself didn't know if he would continue to invest in Infoseek. The cash that could be used in the Zhixing Foundation's account was almost bottoming out. He was betting that Infoseek would have new venture capital companies to take over in the second half of this year. Otherwise, who knew if Lü Wenhua would be able to take out dollars...

After exchanging the agreement with Steve Kirsch, Lü Wenhua breathed a sigh of relief. The tasks Li Dongling gave him for this trip to America were basically completed. He invested in two internet companies, Yahoo and Infoseek. As for whether the money invested could earn a big profit or be thrown into the water, Lü Wenhua actually had no bottom in his heart.

But, just as Lü Wenhua joined Wu Xinyi, who had just obtained the MIPS chip architecture authorization, and prepared to return to the mainland, a piece of news that shook the entire Silicon Valley suddenly broke out!

America's "Fortune" magazine claimed that the emerging internet company Yahoo had completed its first round of investment, raising a total of 2.3 million USD. Among them, Sequoia Capital, one of the twin stars of Silicon Valley venture capital, invested 2 million USD in Yahoo, obtaining 30% of Yahoo's equity. The other was the Zhixing Foundation, which obtained 10% of the equity.

In fact, Sequoia Capital wanted 40% of Yahoo's equity before, but the Zhixing Foundation that popped up gave Yahoo a boost. The venture capital plus the Asian brand operation rights made Yahoo's value soar by a large margin, forcing Sequoia Capital to lower its equity requirements for Yahoo!

Yahoo's first round of investment reached 2.3 million USD in venture capital, and its valuation exceeded 5.7 million USD. For the internet industry that had just risen in Silicon Valley, this was definitely a thunderclap. Even Netscape, which was considered the boss of Silicon Valley now, couldn't help but cast its gaze toward Yahoo.

And Yahoo was destined to become the focus of Silicon Valley this month. Just after announcing that it had received the first round of venture capital, Yahoo immediately announced that it would enter the Asian market, carry out Yahoo business in Asia, and revealed to the outside world that Yahoo had obtained...

How much is 1 million USD? For a large company, it might only be a few hours of revenue, but for the internet industry, being able to start earning dollars was definitely an earth-shattering event. One had to know that in his past life, Yahoo only stopped losing money several years after going public.

In his past life, that was when the internet was at its hottest, and Yahoo started to make a profit, which could cause an uproar, let alone now. Yahoo almost announced that it had started to have revenue as soon as it was announced, and a host of media in Silicon Valley and the technology industry began to report it overwhelmingly, making Yahoo's fame and heat soar straight up, attracting a host of gazes, and the heat of the internet in America followed and raised a notch.

And as one of the venture capital companies that invested in Yahoo, the Zhixing Foundation suddenly had a bit of fame in the American internet industry!

While things were boiling over in America, the General Manager of Dongling Gao Ke's Internet Business Department, who was also the General Manager of Tianya Net, Guo Jingyun, dragged someone to the Yuhe Leisure Resort in Pingyang.

However, when they arrived at the entrance of the Yuhe Leisure Resort, the person dragged over by Guo Jingyun hesitated again, not knowing whether to go in.

Seeing this, Guo Jingyun became anxious. "Old Zhou, we have already agreed. I have already made a military order in front of President Li. The person in charge of Tianya Net's input method project is you, one of the five great programmers in the country. What do you mean by not going in now?!" ===== CHAPTER 172 =====

Guo Jingyun saw this and became somewhat anxious. "Old Zhou, we already agreed on this. I've already made a military pledge before Li Zong. You are one of the five great domestic programmers, the person in charge of the Tianya Web input method project. What do you mean by not going in now?!"