Chapter 496

Netscape and Microsoft were bound to clash sooner or later. Both sides wanted to become the hegemon of the global internet industry. Whether it was Netscape or Microsoft, if they had no opponents, they would be that evil dragon to all other internet companies.

Don't think Netscape is some kind of saint; that's only because it hadn't yet had the chance to become an evil dragon. Otherwise, given Netscape's ambition, users would have to go through the Netscape browser to use software like Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon.

Netscape's goal was to become the gateway to the internet; everyone entering or leaving the internet would have to pass through Netscape. This kind of dominance was not one bit inferior to Microsoft's!

Only when they started fighting would Yahoo, Amazon, and other internet companies have a chance to develop; otherwise, sooner or later, they would all be swallowed up by Netscape one by one!

After Jim and Andreessen left, Li Dongling called over Zhou Hualiang and gave him a few instructions. The latter then walked toward the founders of the two companies, GeoCities and ASK, and whispered a few words to them.

Subsequently, the founders of both GeoCities and the other company looked toward Li Dongling with expressions of surprise, and Li Dongling raised his champagne to signal to them.

This evening, Li Dongling didn't have time to attend to the founders of the two companies, ASK and the other, but he didn't want to let these two big black fish slip away for nothing.

By hooking these two big black fish, he could recoup his investment in just two or three years and gain returns of several hundred to a thousand times over; Li Dongling was not willing to miss out on that for nothing.

For tonight's banquet, the main target for Li Dongling and Larsen was actually Mo Mo Lizi. Li Dongling was preparing to bring in Sequoia Capital as the Silicon Valley venture capital firm for the Himalayan Radio funding, and he was also looking for another venture capital firm on Huaerjie.

With Silicon Valley venture capital and Huaerjie venture capital, as long as Himalayan Radio could demonstrate sufficient potential, the Nasdaq would basically open its doors to Feiyan Technology!

When Li Dongling walked over, Yang Zhiyuan was talking to Mo Mo Lizi about something, his expression looking slightly agitated.

"Yahoo isn't afraid of anyone!"

"It's not like anyone can replace Yahoo. Users are already accustomed to Yahoo now. We are the website with the highest click-through rate in Silicon Valley, aside from Netscape!"

"Why can't we wait until after Yahoo goes public to make a decision!"

When Li Dongling walked over, he faintly heard Yang Zhiyuan say these words. For the usually composed Yang Zhiyuan to make such a statement, it was clear that Yahoo had encountered a situation.

"Calm down, Jerry!"

Catching sight of Li Dongling walking over, Mo Mo Lizi said to Yang Zhiyuan. Since it involved Yahoo, Li Dongling's Zhixing Foundation was also a Yahoo shareholder and naturally had a right to know, so Mo Mo Lizi had no intention of hiding anything.

"The matter with America Online (AOL) is just a proposal; we haven't demanded that Yahoo must sell!" Mo Mo Lizi said.

Yang Zhiyuan said indignantly to Li Dongling, "Case and America Online are completely taking advantage of a crisis!"

Seeing Li Dongling's puzzled expression, Yang Zhiyuan explained, "This news hasn't even had time to reach the Yahoo board of directors yet; Yahoo just received the acquisition offer from America Online.

That guy Case is threatening Yahoo that if we don't accept America Online's acquisition, he will support a new portal website to compete with Yahoo!"

After hearing Yang Zhiyuan's words, Li Dongling understood what was going on. Seeing the internet becoming more and more popular, more and more people were setting their sights on internet companies.

Among them, America Online, which provided dial-up internet services to American families, was now one of the rising giants in the tech industry. After all, computers nowadays couldn't go online without the internet services provided by America Online.

America Online was currently lacking a search engine and had set its sights on Yahoo. What America Online founder and CEO Case wanted was not just a search engine, but to swallow Yahoo whole.

This would allow America Online to directly become one of the internet concept stocks and then boost its stock price.

America Online founder Case certainly had an eye for things. In his previous life, America Online was one of the super giants of the internet industry, and its merger with Time Warner established an empire spanning telecommunications, media, and the internet, only it fell too quickly.

Yang Zhiyuan was naturally dissatisfied with this acquisition. He and Filo had worked so hard to raise Yahoo to this size, and now that it was about to go public, how could they be willing to sell their baby just like that!

But the timing Case proposed for the acquisition was indeed very subtle. Proposing an acquisition suddenly on the eve of Yahoo's IPO, and threatening to support a search company to compete with Yahoo if the acquisition wasn't accepted, put Yahoo in an awkward position all of a sudden.

If the news got out, Yahoo's stock price might face setbacks after the IPO, and more importantly, it might even affect the IPO itself.

As one of Yahoo's shareholders and the one who had supported Yahoo all the way to now, Sequoia Capital had to consider the consequences. If they didn't take risks into account, they might end up with nothing at all.

Furthermore, selling Yahoo at a high price now would mean the several million dollars Sequoia Capital had poured into Yahoo would have already earned them hundreds of times over; they wouldn't lose at all!

And if Yahoo went public, no one knew what kind of market value it could reach. As for Yahoo reaching a market value of 100 billion dollars, let alone Mo Mo Lizi not believing it, even Yang Zhiyuan, who had more confidence in Yahoo, probably didn't believe it himself!

This made Sequoia Capital's stance on America Online's acquisition request very subtle, which was also the reason why Yang Zhiyuan was furious.

"Jerry, Sequoia Capital hasn't insisted that Yahoo must accept the acquisition by America Online, nor will we force you to accept it!"

Mo Mo Lizi soothed Yang Zhiyuan. To be honest, this kind of scenario might be hard for Yang Zhiyuan to accept, but for an old hand like Mo Mo Lizi, this was just a transaction. Business is business, and it has nothing to do with personal feelings; this was Mo Mo Lizi's style, and also the style of Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

It was only because Mo Mo Lizi and Sequoia Capital valued Yahoo a bit more right now that he was discussing it with Yang Zhiyuan. Otherwise, if he really kicked Yang Zhiyuan out of Yahoo and joined forces with Huaerjie to sell Yahoo, what could Yang Zhiyuan do about it?

Do you really think the partners of Silicon Valley venture capital giants are kind-hearted? When it really came time to make a decision, Mo Mo Lizi wouldn't even blink. Things like friendship simply didn't exist for him. Otherwise, ask Yang Zhiyuan from the previous life why he was kicked out of the Yahoo he had built with his own hands!

"Even if we want to sell Yahoo, now is not the time!"

Suddenly hearing this, Mo Mo Lizi looked at Li Dongling with a sharp gaze.

But Li Dongling didn't care at all about Mo Mo Lizi's gaze. It was true that he was a big shot in Silicon Valley who could suppress Yang Zhiyuan, but could he suppress Li Dongling?

Even if he didn't make a living off the Silicon Valley internet, it wouldn't be a devastating blow to Li Dongling.

"Li, what is your opinion?"

Mo Mo Lizi composed his expression and asked Li Dongling after a moment of silence. Li Dongling was not some Silicon Valley startup founder like Yang Zhiyuan who was easy to manipulate.

Regarding Li Dongling, who was also an investor in Yahoo, Mo Mo Lizi and Sequoia Capital had looked into him. They weren't exactly wary, as Li Dongling's base wasn't in America and couldn't affect Sequoia Capital.

But Mo Mo Lizi, and even Sequoia Capital, didn't dare to take Li Dongling's words lightly. After all, who would dare to take lightly the words of the founder of a company with annual revenue exceeding six billion dollars?

"Yahoo right now is like a die that has been thrown. Before it lands, who can guarantee whether it will roll a high or low number?!"

"What if this die called Yahoo rolls the highest number?"

Li Dongling knew what Mo Mo Lizi wanted to say. He and Sequoia Capital were also afraid that Yahoo would flop after going public, so Li Dongling said directly.

"Even if the number this die called Yahoo rolls when it lands isn't ideal, it doesn't mean there won't be a chance to pull its performance back up!"

"The Zhixing Foundation holds the management rights for the Yahoo brand in Asia. We can establish local Yahoo brands in the mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and other places to increase Yahoo's revenue and make it one of the most 'profitable' internet companies in Silicon Valley.

Even if we really have to sell Yahoo, we can earn more profit at that time. Either way, it's only a few months away. Once Yahoo goes public, the outcome will naturally be decided!"

Mo Mo Lizi listened to Li Dongling's words. Li Dongling's meaning was very clear: even if they wanted to sell Yahoo, they had to wait until Yahoo went public and then see how the market was doing.

Even if the market wasn't good, they could "package" Yahoo in overseas markets and hype up its performance, and wouldn't the stock price and market value rise then? It wouldn't be too late to sell it for a good price then.

Of course, if Yahoo's stock price doubled on the day of the IPO, then the possibility of selling it wouldn't exist at all.

"Actually, Sequoia Capital doesn't want Yahoo to be acquired either. To hell with Case!" Mo Mo Lizi raised his glass after a pause.

Li Dongling, Yang Zhiyuan, and Mo Mo Lizi clinked glasses. The stone in Yang Zhiyuan's heart also fell to the ground. He understood that this was Li Dongling supporting him and the founding team of Yahoo.

To be honest, he was truly at a disadvantage facing Mo Mo Lizi and Huaerjie at Yahoo. Coupled with his personality, which wasn't that of a strong-willed person, he had always been very passive when facing Silicon Valley venture capital and Huaerjie.

Without the pressure from the board of directors and no need to worry about America Online's acquisition, Yang Zhiyuan could go all out for the IPO.

Of course, Li Dongling said this not just to help Yang Zhiyuan, but also for the Zhixing Foundation. Once Yahoo was acquired by America Online and became one of the brands under AOL, Huaerjie would definitely not be able to hype up Yahoo's stock like in his previous life, and the Zhixing Foundation would also lose out on a huge profit.

"Mr. Mo Mo Lizi, you should have just heard about the Himalayan Internet Radio project. I hope Himalayan Radio can receive support from Sequoia Capital, just like the support Netscape and Yahoo received!"

In the last sentence, Li Dongling emphasized his words. Mo Mo Lizi naturally understood what he meant. Li Dongling didn't want Sequoia Capital to invest a certain amount of dollars into Himalayan Radio, but rather wanted Sequoia Capital's connections and resources, just like with Netscape and Yahoo, to go public as quickly as possible!

Looking at Li Dongling's expression, Mo Mo Lizi laughed, then said seriously, "I and Sequoia Capital are certainly willing to invest in companies with potential, but this company must also be attractive enough to pass the review of the Nasdaq Securities Commission..."

Mo Mo Lizi's meaning was also very clear: Sequoia Capital was willing to support Himalayan Radio under Feiyan Technology, but even if they were fooling people or harvesting leeks, they at least had to make some noise, otherwise, it would look too ugly.