Chapter 497

"Once Himalayan Radio is established, Sequoia Capital will see it!"

Mo Mo Lizi wanted to wait and see before making a decision, and Li Dongling didn't force him or beg Mo Mo Lizi for anything.

What Himalayan Radio lacked now wasn't funding, but resources and connections!

But since Sequoia Capital wasn't willing to bet immediately, then once Himalayan Radio went online, if it performed outstandingly, Sequoia Capital would come rushing over to send money without him having to ask.

Holding this banquet today was actually to tell Silicon Valley that Himalayan Radio had appeared, letting Silicon Valley, the center of the American internet, know of Himalayan Radio's existence.

In the end, it would depend on Himalayan Radio's own performance. If you bloom, the butterflies will come. Whether it's a mule or a horse, you have to take it for a walk to find out.

"Yahoo will support Himalayan Radio!"

After Mo Mo Lizi left, Yang Zhiyuan expressed his attitude to Li Dongling, which was also to thank Li Dongling for his support of the Yahoo founding team.

Li Dongling was counting on the returns Yahoo would bring to the Zhixing Foundation; how could he allow someone to hijack Yahoo halfway!

If Yahoo could reach the market value of his previous life after going public—at its peak, Yahoo's market value exceeded 128 billion dollars—according to the 7.5% Yahoo equity held by the Zhixing Foundation, the value of this equity would exceed 9.6 billion dollars!

Of course, it was impossible to cash out all of such a large amount of stock at the peak. Basically, once Yahoo's market value approached 100 billion dollars, he would start to cash out slowly. At the peak, he would sell off almost all of Yahoo's stock, leaving just a little as a memento and to retain his status as a member of the Yahoo board of directors. Li Dongling wouldn't fight others for the last penny of Yahoo.

"I believe in Yahoo's founding team, and I believe that under your leadership, Zhiyuan, Yahoo will be able to exceed the outside world's expectations. On the Yahoo board of directors, the vote held by the Zhixing Foundation will always be cast for you!"

Li Dongling's output of chicken soup made Yang Zhiyuan, who had seen the deceit between Silicon Valley venture capital and Wall Street institutions over the past few years, feel deeply moved.

Not all venture capitalists would support a company founder as unconditionally as Li Dongling. Venture capital firms abandoning founders, turning against them, and kicking them out was the norm; there was nothing strange about it at all.

On the contrary, Li Dongling's support for the founder was quite rare in Silicon Valley. Yang Zhiyuan felt that perhaps only investors from the mainland back home would stage such a story of a talent scout and a steed in a place where only the dollar was the standard of measurement!

"As long as I am still at Yahoo, Yahoo will support Himalayan Radio, I promise!" Yang Zhiyuan said to Li Dongling solemnly.

Li Dongling looked at Yang Zhiyuan's expression, not knowing what kind of inner drama he was playing, but seeing Yang Zhiyuan's expression, Li Dongling still nodded.

The banquet was more than halfway through, and Li Dongling had collected quite a few business cards, many of which were from founders of Silicon Valley startups who had stuffed their cards into Li Dongling's hands.

Although the Zhixing Foundation's reputation in Silicon Valley wasn't as great as Sequoia Capital or KPCB, its two bets, Yahoo and Sohu, now had quite a reputation, especially since Yahoo was about to go public. This 100% success rate made many small internet companies want to try their luck with Li Dongling.

"Li!"

"We need to talk!"

After Li Dongling exchanged pleasantries with the founders of several small internet companies, Sohu CEO Steve Kirsch couldn't help but find Li Dongling.

Looking at Steve Kirsch's serious expression, Li Dongling glanced at the time, "Tomorrow, let's talk at the Himalayan Silicon Valley office!"

Steve Kirsch hesitated for a moment but still nodded. Although he was anxious, he also knew that some things couldn't be rushed, and he didn't care about the time of this one night.

"What's wrong with Sohu?"

When the banquet entered the second half, Li Dongling, who had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, withdrew. After returning to the hotel conference room, he asked Zhou Hualiang.

Dongling Gao Ke's business in America, including Feiyan Technology, the Zhixing Foundation, and a host of other businesses, were all managed by him, so Zhou Hualiang naturally knew the most about Sohu's situation.

"I'm afraid it's mainly a matter of funding. Internet companies are all short on funds. Not all internet companies have the luck of Netscape or Yahoo to go public in a year or a year and a half, or to receive large amounts of venture capital," Zhou Hualiang said.

Sohu's funding was already running low, but the search industry wasn't favored by investors, who considered it a money-losing business!

Netscape played the browser game, and Yahoo never claimed to be a search company, but rather a portal website concept. Sohu, however, was a thorough search company, and no one knew how to monetize search, so naturally, it wasn't favored.

Silicon Valley venture capital firms didn't favor search companies like Sohu and ASK at all. Seeing that their funding was about to burn out, coupled with the news that Yahoo was going public, it somewhat stimulated Sohu.

After all, Sohu and Yahoo were invested in by the Zhixing Foundation at the same time, but seeing Yahoo eating and drinking well, getting large amounts of venture capital, and about to go public, while Sohu still had to tighten its belt to get by, how could they be reconciled?

Hearing Sohu's situation, Li Dongling thought for a moment. He definitely couldn't let Sohu collapse. No matter what, he had to let it survive. Once the internet market completely picked up, he would let it go public, or like in his previous life, find a big financier like Disney to take over Sohu.

But regardless, within these one or two years, he definitely couldn't let Sohu collapse. He had to prepare some relief food for Sohu, and the poisonous chicken soup couldn't stop either!

"Larsen, we will be responsible for the Silicon Valley Himalayan Radio office, and we will get it online as soon as possible!

What you need to do is recruit the necessary creators for Himalayan Radio, create momentum so that the podcast creators and podcast program content on the Himalayan platform form public opinion and topics in America, and attract more people's attention!"

After the banquet, in the hotel conference room, Li Dongling, Yao Luoying, Zhou Hualiang, Xu Yansheng, and Larsen, who had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, were all present.

Larsen was returning to New York tomorrow, and Li Dongling had many things he needed to entrust him to do. The most important thing was that he needed Larsen to recruit many special and talented podcast creators for Himalayan Radio.

For example, some people who supported the Flat Earth theory, let him promote his Flat Earth theory on Himalayan Radio. Also, people with big mouths who spoke without restraint, let them spray hard, roast heaven, roast earth, and roast the air. Also, frustrated hip-hop rappers, etc., could all be recruited.

He wasn't afraid of them having big mouths or speaking without restraint; he was afraid of them holding back. Only with controversy would there be topics, and only with topics could they attract more people's attention. Only with people's attention would there be traffic, and once an internet company had traffic, it could go public!

"I know," although Larsen's face was flushed with alcohol, his eyes were still gleaming, "Li, don't worry, I will find the talent you need as soon as possible. But to be honest, can they really help Himalayan Radio?"

Regarding the Himalayan podcast creators Li Dongling needed, to be honest, Larsen had some doubts. He knew he wasn't a saint, but the people Li Dongling wanted to find were clearly not decent people either, at least almost completely different from those who appeared in traditional media.

"The internet is a platform completely different from traditional media. Sometimes, curiosity is the only place that can attract eyes and traffic. A dog biting a man isn't news; a man biting a dog is!"

Li Dongling briefly explained the logic of the internet to Larsen. Larsen scratched his head. Although he was still a bit puzzled, he felt that Li Dongling's theory seemed to make sense...

Negative publicity is also publicity. In his previous life, countless people on the internet would do anything to become famous, even if it meant being ruined, because it was truly profitable!

As long as you become popular and have traffic, you can start a live stream. Even if countless people scold you, relying on tips and donations, you can earn a monthly income that ordinary people only earn in half a year or even several years. If you have popularity, you can lower your face and sell goods via live stream, and making a million in a month or two isn't a problem. If you can clear your name later, you might even get sponsorships from advertisers.

For some people, what are face and conscience? If money is gone, you can earn it again, but if you lose your conscience and face, you earn even more.

Precisely because it is profitable, "aliens" appear on the internet. After all, who would want to do something that has no benefits?

The next day, Li Dongling and Yao Luoying got up from the hotel they were staying at in Silicon Valley and headed toward the Himalayan Silicon Valley office.

Inside the office, unlike yesterday, the worries of Ma Chaoyang, Shi Beiyang, and the other Himalayan staff were all swept away today.

When they learned that the parent company of Himalayan Internet Radio was Feiyan Technology, and that Feiyan was under Dongling Gao Ke, Ma Chaoyang and the others had absolutely no need to worry.

With Dongling Gao Ke as a big financier, as long as Himalayan didn't flop too badly, they didn't need to worry about the big financier not being able to afford it, nor did they need to worry about funding!

Especially after the banquet last night, Ma Chaoyang and the others understood clearly that the parent company was clearly planning to use Himalayan to make a big splash in the Silicon Valley and American internet industry!

"This is Himalayan Internet Radio's most important technical engineer, Jia Siding Frank. This guy's name will definitely appear in internet history in the future!"

Himalayan Radio Silicon Valley General Manager Lu Kui, after Li Dongling and his group arrived at the technical department, praised a technical staff member who still had a bit of youth on his face and was clearly not very old, without any hesitation.

"Himalayan Radio's most important AMP MP3 digital playback engine program, as well as the compression technology, was developed by Jia Siding. This set of programs supports multiple formats such as MP3, MP2, MOD, XD, and more!"

Lu Kui told Li Dongling about the contributions of the 19-year-old Jia Siding. If Himalayan Internet Radio were to go online, it couldn't do without the software developed by Jia Siding.