Back to 1995

Chapter 326 Big Fish Eat Small Fish

DoubleClick went to Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and other companies before going public, and got 6000 million US dollars in financing. At this time, this financing was nothing at all, but at that time, this financing was a sky-high financing.

When receiving the investment, Deutsche Bank required the investment to obtain 5% of the equity of ICQ, but there was no regulation on when the investment would be made, and only the investment was required to be completed before listing.

Song Yang will not be cheap with Deutsche Bank, and he will definitely invest in Deutsche Bank after the ICQ bubble is blown.

Deutsche Bank also saw that the valuation of ICQ began to snowball and began to increase. Finally, it couldn't help it. It wanted to take advantage of this ICQ financing to get in. Even if it is a high-priced investment now, it is also afraid that it will ICQ is more expensive.

But for Song Yang, Deutsche Bank will not be so cheap. If it is so easy to take away the 5% stake in ICQ from Song Yang, wouldn't it be too cheap for Deutsche Bank?

Hearing Song Yang's rejection of Deutsche Bank's shareholding, Irene, Greg, Marcus and the others just nodded. After dealing with Wall Street for so long, the sense of mystery has long since disappeared. What the fuck is wrong with Wall Street? Sex, the style of Silicon Valley venture capital, everyone already knows.

"Send an umbrella on a sunny day, and receive an umbrella on a rainy day" is what Silicon Valley VCs and Wall Street love to do. Don't count on it to add flowers to them and let them send charcoal in a timely manner.

Looking at the investment titles, they are all famous big groups, not to mention Microsoft in the technology industry. Now Song Yang and Microsoft are "allies". It seems that Microsoft's investment seems to be in the past. .

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

Pulling Song Yang into the Microsoft camp is definitely beneficial to Microsoft, but with the name of Microsoft, joining the Microsoft camp may not be very good for ICQ, but the beauty is really good.

The rest, needless to say, General Electric, the group with the largest market capitalization in the world, has invested in many industries, and now it is obvious that it has also extended its hands into the Internet.

General Electric and Microsoft are among the potential investors of ICQ this time, the richest and most powerful, and they are not short of money at all. What they want is to use ICQ to gain influence in the Internet industry, and use ICQ as a tool.

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

First belittle a company or region, spray it for nothing, then buy it at a low price, and finally start touting it, and then sell it at a high price.

Generally, Internet companies looking for investors not only need dollars, but also rely on the influence of the investors, just like the last time Double-Click Company approached Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch in order to be listed on Nasdaq as soon as possible.

But for the current ICQ, that kind of influence is not needed. The current ICQ itself is one of the top faces in Silicon Valley!

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

Among these investors, the most special one is Enron Company. Enron is really a model of "doing nothing in return". Now that you invest in ICQ, you probably don't expect much return at all.

Because Enron's investment in ICQ is to let Enron attach the concept of "Internet", as long as the stock price rises, that investment is nothing to Enron.

Song Yang took a look at Anran Company, who was also from Houston. Song Yang's side and Anran's side are destined to be inextricably linked, not to mention Anran's side, who continuously supported Song Yang on Double Click and American Telecom.

"Enron Company seems to be very good now?!" Song Yang said with a smile.

Relying on the "Enron Online" website, Enron's online energy futures trading market is booming. Since the opening of the website, Enron's stock price has risen by a third in half a year, and there has been a dance of elephants .

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

Greg has the closest connection with the people in Houston, acting as a channel for Song Yang to communicate with Houston and Texas.

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

Greg said to Song Yang and others.

Although Anran is a natural gas energy company, Enron will definitely win over someone like the Grand Commander.

This year is a general election year, although we have to wait until November, there are still more than two months before the American election this year.

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

But allowing the commander-in-chief to take his private jet and stay at the golf estate invested by Enron Company, it means that the commander-in-chief has recognized Enron as "one of his own", at least as his financial backer.

Enron is really booming now. Its revenue has soared from 60 billion US dollars a few years ago to [-] billion US dollars this year. Now it is frequently handing over olive branches to Song Yang. If it doesn’t continue, I’m afraid Kenneth will be dissatisfied up.

Song Yang doesn't want to make trouble with An Ran now, facing the prosperous An Ran, probably no one wants to wrestle with An Ran.

Irene, Greg, and Marcus all looked towards Song Yang. In fact, in the past few days, many people have called them. Irene, who is Jewish, is naturally favored by Wall Street. Greg, An Ran, etc. The Texas company has a close relationship, and Marcus was born in Silicon Valley and has deep connections in Silicon Valley.

However, no matter how they think about it, Irene, Greg, Marcus and the others didn't say it out loud. It needs Song Yang to make a decision on which big dog ICQ will take the money from.

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

Marcus said on the sidelines that although Microsoft, General Electric and other companies are also rich and powerful, it is impossible for them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, while Comcast really wants to use dollars to invest in ICQ.

Song Yang let out a sigh of relief. Now that the popularity of the Internet is about to reach its peak, there are still so many companies vying to take over the offer like ICQ, which asks for sky-high prices.

Of course, these few companies who want to take over the offer must not be eyeing the equity of ICQ. They either want to use ICQ to do something, or they want to get more equity before ICQ goes public. For a round of financing, at least 15% of the equity must be sold out before listing.

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

"Call Enron, Microsoft, Comcast and General Electric, and talk to them at ICQ this time!"

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 accept funds from outside the industry.

But it also makes sense, after all, in terms of wealth and wealth, even the Silicon Valley venture capitalists and those institutions on Wall Street, there are not many that can be compared with Microsoft and General Electric!
Song Yang explained a few words to Irene and the others. ICQ only gave up 5% of the equity this time, which is probably not enough for the Microsoft companies. Song Yang feels that this time is indispensable, just like the double-click , there will be many more "extra" agreements.

"The latest news from Silicon Valley, ICQ is ready to make an investment agreement with four companies including Microsoft, General Electric, Enron, and Comcast. Comcast Vice President Brian Roberts has already left for Silicon Valley. Comcast spokesperson Said that investing in ICQ is only Comcast's "first step in the 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, these companies will be able to follow suit. However, some Internet companies are a little embarrassed. Their valuations are still There is not as much money in one round of financing as ICQ, and the Internet has also begun to appear "polarized"!

In the future, there will be Internet giants with a market value of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions, while ordinary Internet companies are struggling to survive. In this case, within a few years, a wave of mergers in the Internet industry will rise Now, the scene where the big fish eats the small fish is about to take place.

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

Seeing that these companies are really planning to invest in ICQ at a valuation of US$60 billion, even Yahoo, which has now become the darling of Wall Street, has to say, "A bunch of lunatics!"

"Aren't they crazy? Their ICQ actually thinks that ICQ has surpassed Yahoo?!"

The CEO of Yahoo Coorg couldn't help laughing at himself and said to the two chiefs, Yang Zhiyuan and Fei Luo, but what he returned to Coorg was the silence of Yang Zhiyuan and the two chiefs.

Half a year after Yahoo went public, its market value doubled to $40 billion. However, ICQ, an Internet company that was born later than Yahoo, is about to transform itself into a new giant. This is really a bit of a stimulus for Yahoo! up.

(End of this chapter)