Back To 1995

   Chapter 326 Big Fish Eat Small Fish

  Double-click before going public, went to Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and other companies, and got 60 million US dollars in financing. At this time, this financing is nothing at all, but at that time this financing was sky-high financing.

   When the investment was obtained, Deutsche Bank required the investment to obtain 5% of ICQ's equity, but there was no regulation on when to invest, only the investment was required to be completed before the listing.

  Song Yang will not be cheap. Deutsche Bank will definitely blow the ICQ bubble before going to Deutsche Bank to invest.

Deutsche Bank also saw that ICQ's valuation began to snowball, and it continued to increase. Finally, it couldn't bear it anymore. It wanted to take advantage of this ICQ financing and join in. Even if it is a high-priced investment now, it is also afraid of the future. ICQ is so much more expensive.

   But on Song Yang's side, Deutsche Bank won't be so cheap. If it's so easy to take away the 5% stake in ICQ from Song Yang, wouldn't that be too cheap for Deutsche Bank?

Hearing Song Yang's rejection of Deutsche Bank's shareholding, Irene, Greck, Marcus and the others just nodded, and they had been dealing with Wall Street for so long. That sense of mystery had long since disappeared. Sex, the style of Silicon Valley VCs, everyone is already aware of it.

   "Send umbrellas on sunny days and collect umbrellas on rainy days", which is what Silicon Valley VCs and Wall Street love to do. The icing on the cake, let them send charcoal in the snow, don't count on it.

Looking at the name of the investment, the above are big and famous groups, and Microsoft in the technology industry will not talk about it. Now Song Yang and Microsoft are "allies", and Microsoft's investment seems to have been said in the past. .

However, Microsoft's investment this time obviously has other purposes. It wants to brand Song Yang as "Microsoft". Now that Microsoft is still cleaning up Netscape, to expand its influence in the American Internet, it needs a strong allies.

   Pulling Song Yang into the Microsoft camp is absolutely beneficial to Microsoft, but in the name of Microsoft, joining the Microsoft camp is not very good for ICQ, but the knife is really fragrant.

  The rest, needless to say General Electric, the world's largest group by market capitalization, has invested in many industries, and now obviously has also reached out to the Internet.

  General Electric and Microsoft are the most wealthy investors in this ICQ, and they are not bad at all. What they want is to use ICQ to gain influence in the Internet industry and use ICQ as a tool.

The rest are Comcast in the telecommunications industry, Sequoia in Silicon Valley, KPCB, Goldman Sachs in Wall Street, Morgan, etc. Silicon Valley and Wall Street are sitting on the fence, constantly complaining that ICQ is "too expensive", while thinking To let ICQ lower the price and let them invest, this is also the usual routine of Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

   First belittle a company or region, spray it as useless, then buy it at a low price, and finally start touting it, and then sell it at a high price.

  In general Internet companies looking for investors, in addition to needing US knives, also need to use investors to gain influence, just like DoubleClick last time to find Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, just to be listed on Nasdaq as soon as possible.

   But for the current ICQ, it does not need that kind of influence. The current ICQ itself is one of the faces of Silicon Valley!

   "Do you want to accept Enron's investment?" Greck asked Song Yang first.

   Among these investors, the most special one is Enron Corporation. Enron is really a model of "not asking for return". Now investing in ICQ, I'm afraid I don't expect much return at all.

  Because Enron invested in ICQ, the purpose of Enron was to put on the concept of "Internet". As long as the stock price rose, that investment would be nothing to Enron at all.

  Song Yang glanced at Enron. He was also born in Houston. Song Yang's side and Anran's side were destined to be inextricably linked.

   "Enron seems to be doing well now?!" Song Yang said with a smile.

Thanks to the "Enron Online" website, Enron's online energy futures trading market is booming. Since the website was launched, Enron's stock price has risen by a third in half a year, and there is an elephant dance. .

Now, many state pension funds, fire protection funds, and state teachers' foundations, including Texas and New Mexico, have begun to buy Enron stocks generously. Enron has also become the most beautiful baby among traditional stocks this year. Foundations and investors have begun to pursue Enron's new model.

  Greek has the closest contact with people in Houston, and acts as a channel for Song Yang to contact Houston and Texas.

   "The commander went to Texas to canvass votes recently, and he took the private jet of Enron President Kenneth"

  Grek said to Song Yang and others.

   Although Enron is a natural gas energy company, Enron is sure to win over someone like the big commander.

  This year is an election year, although we have to wait until November, there are still more than two months for this year's election in America.

   Even a giant like Enron had to establish a good relationship with the commander in advance.

   But if the commander can take his private jet and stay at the golf manor invested by Enron, it means that the commander has recognized Anran as his "own person", at least he is his financial master.

An Ran is really booming right now. The revenue has soared from 6 billion US dollars a few years ago to 100 billion US dollars this year. Now he is frequently passing olive branches to Song Yang. .

  Song Yang doesn't want to get along with An Ran now. Facing An Ran who is in full swing, it is estimated that no one wants to break the wrist with An Ran.

Irene, Gleek, and Marcus all looked at Song Yang. In fact, many people have called them in the past few days. Irene, who is Jewish, is naturally favored by Wall Street, Gleick and An Ran, etc. Texas companies have close relationships, and Marcus was born in Silicon Valley and has deep connections in Silicon Valley.

   However, no matter how they thought about it, Irene, Greck, Marcus, and the others didn't say it. Song Yang had to make a decision about which big dog's knife ICQ would take.

   "Comcast is most concerned about this investment, and expressed its willingness to pay in cash instead of investing in stocks!"

  Marcus said on the side that although companies such as Microsoft and General Electric have deep pockets, it is impossible to get hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, while Comcast really wants to invest in ICQ with dollars.

  Song Yang let out a sigh of relief. Now the popularity of the Internet is about to reach its peak. There are so many companies like ICQ who are asking for prices.

Of course, those who want to take over the market are definitely not eyeing the equity of ICQ. They either want to do something with ICQ, or they want to get more equity before ICQ goes public. This is only the first time of ICQ. For a round of financing, at least 15% of the equity must be given up before the listing.

   However, if ICQ goes public in another two or three years, if the stock price goes up like crazy, then Song Yang doesn't mind throwing all of ICQ's equity to them to take over...

   "Call Enron, Microsoft, Comcast and GE, this time ICQ talks to them!"

  Irene and Marcus looked at each other, and they understood that Song Yang wanted to exclude Silicon Valley venture capital and Wall Street institutions this time, and accepted funds from outside the industry.

   But I also said that in the past, after all, in terms of wealth and wealth, even the gang of VCs in Silicon Valley, and those institutions on Wall Street, can be compared with Microsoft and General Electric, but few!

Song Yang explained a few words to Irene and the others. ICQ only gave up 5% of the equity this time. It is estimated that it is not enough for several Microsoft companies to plug their teeth. Song Yang felt that this time was indispensable, and it was the same as the last double-click. , there will be many more "extra" protocols.

"The latest news from Silicon Valley, ICQ has prepared to make investment agreements with four companies including Microsoft, General Electric, Enron, and Comcast. Comcast Vice President Brian Roberts has set up to go to Silicon Valley, Comcast spokesman Said that investing in ICQ is only the "first step" of Comcast's Internet, and will continue to invest in more Internet industries in the future..."

The news from the media has caused mixed reactions from major companies in Silicon Valley. Some are excited. The higher the valuation of ICQ, the more companies they can follow, but some Internet companies are a little embarrassed. Their valuations are still There is not as much money as ICQ's financing at one time, and the Internet has begun to "polarize"!

In the future, there will be Internet giants with a market value of 10 billion or even 100 billion, while ordinary Internet companies are struggling to survive. In this case, in a few years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the Internet industry will emerge. Now, the drama of the big fish eating the small fish will also be staged.

Yahoo headquarters, watching the reports on the news, Brian Roberts rushed to San Jose, Enron Kenneth's dog-headed military adviser Jeff Skilling also got up from Houston, and General Electric dispatched Welch's confidant Immelt, Microsoft also sent Song Yang's old acquaintances there.

   When seeing these companies, they are really going to invest in ICQ at a valuation of 6 billion US dollars, even Yahoo, which is now the darling of Wall Street, has to say, "A bunch of lunatics!"

   "Are they crazy, their ICQ thinks that ICQ has surpassed Yahoo?!"

   The president of Yahoo Coog couldn't help but said to the two chiefs, Yang Zhiyuan and Ferro, with self-deprecation, but what was returned to Coog was the silence of Yang Zhiyuan and the two.

Half a year after Yahoo's listing, its market value doubled to $4 billion, but ICQ, an Internet company that was born later than Yahoo, is about to change itself and become a new giant. stimulated.

   (end of this chapter)