Chapter 500: Shearing the Same Sheep

Looking at the business card in front of him with only a name and a phone number, Li Yanhong knew what it would mean if he dialed the number on this business card one day.

At that time, his life might undergo earth-shaking changes in an instant. From a senior engineer to the founder of a search company, his status, position, and net worth might all undergo earth-shaking changes!

Hesitating for a moment, Li Yanhong still put away the business card, nodded at Li Dongling, and walked out of the office.

Li Dongling touched his chin. If Li Yanhong returned to the country and jointly established a search company with Tianya Company, then as an investor in Yahoo and Souxin, Li Dongling might be able to operate a bit, letting the search department under Tianya directly merge the search businesses of Souxin and Yahoo in Asia, directly becoming the largest search company in Asia!

Of course, these things are still unknown. Li Dongling can only make some shallow preparations for the future.

"Luo Bin!"

Steve Kirsch, who had just finished discussing the new investment contract and equity distribution with Zhou Hualiang, saw Li Yanhong returning, called Li Yanhong by his English name, and took him aside.

"What did Li talk to you about?" Steve Kirsch stared closely at Li Yanhong. He had noticed the scene where Li Dongling kept Li Yanhong just now.

"Nothing, just some things about my hometown," looking at Steve Kirsch's gaze, Li Yanhong thought for a moment and said, "And asked me if I have any intention of returning to the mainland!"

Hearing Li Yanhong say this, Li Yanhong clearly saw Steve Kirsch breathe a sigh of relief. What Steve Kirsch feared most was that Li Dongling would use his status as an investor and major shareholder to promote Li Yanhong to a high-level position at Souxin, or even replace him, the founder.

It is very normal for Steve Kirsch to have this thought. Among the various ethnic groups in America, they all report to each other. After all, Li Yanhong came from the country, and Li Dongling also came from the country. It is simply too normal for Li Dongling to promote Li Yanhong to act as the agent for the Zhixing Foundation at Souxin.

Hearing that Li Dongling had no intention of letting Li Yanhong replace him, Steve Kirsch returned to normal, "Luo Bin, I understand your feelings, but the mainland is still a desert for the internet. I don't even know if there are 50,000 internet users. What's the use of you going back?"

"Souxin needs you, we all need you. As long as Souxin can go public, you can become a millionaire or multi-millionaire!" Steve Kirsch drew a big pie for Li Yanhong.

Li Yanhong listened to Steve Kirsch's words without refuting, just smiling and agreeing. However, judging from the size of the pie drawn, Li Dongling gave Li Yanhong the status of a partner, while Steve Kirsch seemed much more stingy, unwilling to share equity or let Li Yanhong enter the high-level ranks of Souxin.

"Steve, this is the latest agreement. The Zhixing Foundation, together with Yahoo, will invest 2 million dollars in Souxin in exchange for 35% equity in Souxin!"

Zhou Hualiang handed a drafted agreement to Steve Kirsch, waiting for him to sign it. That would mean the Zhixing Foundation would become a major shareholder holding 55% of Souxin.

The Zhixing Foundation previously obtained 25% of Souxin's equity. Now, together with Yahoo, they are investing 2 million dollars in Souxin, with the Zhixing Foundation taking 30% of Souxin's equity and Yahoo taking 5% of Souxin's equity.

Regarding this investment, Zhou Hualiang had some doubts in his heart. This is watching stock speculation turn into becoming a major shareholder. Whether Souxin can break even in the future is really hard to tell.

After all, the average survival cycle of a newly established company in Silicon Valley is only a few months. The Silicon Valley internet companies that people can remember are all survivors that have gone through rounds of fighting. As for those that didn't survive, the grass on their graves is already several feet high, and they have long been forgotten by people...

As the general manager of Dongling Gao Ke America, Zhou Hualiang manages all the businesses of Dongling Gao Ke, Feiyan Technology, Zhixing Foundation, etc., in America, including investments like Souxin. He has to consider these.

But adding to the investment in Souxin was Li Dongling's decision, and Zhou Hualiang could not refute it. He only hoped that this investment would not lose money in the future.

Steve Kirsch looked at the agreement in front of him, knowing that if he signed it, his status as a major shareholder would be gone. But there was no way. Souxin was about to run out of food, and if he didn't sign, what other way was there?

As for losing controlling interest, it is a common occurrence for founders in Silicon Valley. Founders of companies like Cisco, Yahoo, and Apple also lost their controlling interest.

However, Li Dongling was still polite to Steve Kirsch. Although he took away the controlling interest, he did not directly interfere with Souxin's operations and management, which made him feel a bit more at ease. Compared to those venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, this is already quite "friendly"!

After Steve Kirsch left, David Bohnett and Gruna, the founders of the GeoCities website and ASK, came to Li Dongling's office.

"Li, it's an honor to meet you!"

When Gruna faced Li Dongling, his attitude was quite respectful. For newcomers to Silicon Valley like him and David Bohnett, Li Dongling is definitely a "big shot."

As search companies like Souxin, Souxin's days are not easy, so how can ASK's days be easy? The GeoCities website has met with some investors, but ASK has been met with closed doors. When they went to the door, those venture capital firms were too lazy to even meet Gruna.

"Ask is different from other search engines. We plan to design it as a natural language engine that can answer user questions!

What it gives first is the answers that may exist in the database. This allows users to get answers at the fastest speed when searching for the same question. If there are no similar questions in the database, it will then perform website linking!"

Gruna told Li Dongling about the concept of Ask search. This is actually more similar to the search concept of later generations.

During the search industry war, search companies did not allow other search engines to crawl their own databases. Whether a search engine is easy to use actually depends on the amount of database and web page content. This is also the reason why emerging search companies are difficult to develop, because the database has no content at all. Who would be willing to use it?

After Li Dongling finished listening to Gruna's words, he just nodded, and then his gaze turned to David Bohnett, who also talked about the concept of the GeoCities website, which is mainly to use the internet to record time, allowing users to store photos, etc., on the GeoCities website!

"ASK and the GeoCities website, I believe you, will both become companies remembered by countless users in the future.

Gruna, we all know the purpose of your coming. The Zhixing Foundation is willing to invest!"

Li Dongling's words made David Bohnett and Gruna show joy on their faces. Without the expected long-windedness, Li Dongling was willing to invest in their websites. Those Silicon Valley venture capital firms they encountered before were all picking on them, and finally left a sentence to go back and discuss, and then there was no news.

"The Zhixing Foundation can invest 1 million dollars each in ASK and the GeoCities website, requiring 41% equity in ASK and 35% equity in the GeoCities website!"

Li Dongling said to Gruna and the other. Hearing Li Dongling's offer, different expressions appeared on their faces. Gruna was clearly moved, while David Bohnett was somewhat hesitant.

No matter what their reaction was, Li Dongling continued, "If there is a need in the future, the Zhixing Foundation might also introduce Yahoo or even Netscape to make follow-up investments in ASK and the GeoCities website!"

Li Dongling left an ambiguous sentence, letting David Bohnett and Gruna guess. If they are invested by Yahoo or Netscape in the future, the probability of going public will greatly increase. If they can't go public, acquisition is also possible. It just depends on how they guess.

As for what Li Dongling said, Gruna and the other did not doubt it. After all, Li Dongling is one of Yahoo's shareholders, the first person to invest in Yahoo. Could he deceive them, the greenhorns?

Li Dongling felt that Yahoo's tiger skin was almost being sheared like wool. In the future, in the territory of Silicon Valley and the American internet, Li Dongling would inevitably have to pull out Yahoo's tiger skin.

As for the websites like Souxin, ASK, and GeoCities that he invested in, if they can't go public, he would inevitably stuff them all to Yahoo, letting Yahoo acquire them at a high price...

Anyway, Li Dongling is not the only one doing this. People lift each other up in flowery sedan chairs. Do you really think that Yahoo in the previous life swallowed everything, spent a lot of money, and acquired so many useless companies—how did that come about?

Among them, there were even acquisitions that outsiders couldn't understand, but Yahoo did it. Why? Because these acquired companies were invested by members of the Yahoo board of directors, Silicon Valley venture capital firms, and Wall Street institutions!

Just like Souxin, if it was propped up by Sequoia Capital, then if Souxin has no hope of going public, and Sequoia Capital doesn't want the money invested in Souxin to go down the drain, what should they do? The simplest way is to let the two companies it invested in merge. This not only solves the trouble but also makes a big profit!

During the internet frenzy, no matter how you toss and turn, the stock price can rise sharply. Naturally, all kinds of fancy operations emerge. The many big-ticket acquisitions by Yahoo in the previous life were not what it wanted to acquire, but what the board of directors and investors wanted it to acquire. Yahoo was actually like a fat sheep, being sheared hard by all parties!

While Li Dongling was using the banner of the Zhixing Foundation to invest in internet companies like Souxin and ASK,

Larsen was also following Li Dongling's requirements, recruiting suitable creators for Himalaya podcast programs.

In the game between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, Larsen's gaze, however, was on the player sitting next to the water cooler on the bench. ===== CHAPTER 501 =====