My Age of Investment

   Chapter 1534 It was a mistake after all

  After inspecting the development of Tai Li Speed, Xia Jingxing returned to Silicon Valley on the west coast alone.

   But before he left, he arranged for Li Zexiang and Wang Tao to stay at the headquarters of Taili Speed, which is Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.

   Both of them have a special mission, which is to try to persuade Carl, the founder of Taili Speed, to hand over some of the company's basic technologies, such as the R&D drawings and related manufacturing technologies of the first-generation Transition.

   Of course, DJI is not just taking their stuff for nothing. It can be bought with money or set up a joint venture company specializing in the Chinese market with Taili Speed.

  If the above goals cannot be achieved, then take the next step and obtain Taili Speed’s understanding of DJI’s entry into the flying car business.

   As an important shareholder, DJI will compete with Taili Speed ​​in person, which will easily cause unhappiness in Taili Speed ​​Company, and is not conducive to the overall reputation of Fuxing Industrial Group.

  Xia Jingxing was still thinking that when the time is right in the future, he would bring Tai Li Speed ​​under his command.

   At present, the founder Carl has not experienced too much market beating and is reluctant to sell the company. He is optimistic about the development of flying cars, and feels that his company can become the next Tesla.

   For such companies and founders, Xia Jingxing has a lot of experience in dealing with them. First, they will pay to support them, and when the time is right, they will carry out wholly-owned mergers and acquisitions. This is how Tudou, Kugou and other websites have obtained them.

   This method of controlling frogs boiled in warm water not only does not harm Xia Jingxing’s reputation as the world’s fourth richest man, but also makes it easier to win the favor of the founder, and at the same time does not delay the development progress of the target company, which can be described as having many benefits.

   After returning to Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing met with Kevin Strom at the summer palace, which has been renamed "The Summer Palace", and Christina was there to accompany him.

  Strom, with his full face shaved, looked several years younger than the last time we met, and his outfit changed from a plaid shirt to a tailored slouchy suit.

   He sat leisurely under the sun umbrella, drank coffee, and looked at the green organic farm in the distance.

   "Derron, Christina, or the super rich like you will enjoy, such a large piece of land, without building a house, will be turned into a farm."

Hearing Strom juxtaposing her name with Xia Jingxing, Kristina didn't bother to refute, she said with a smile, "I feel more at ease with the produce I grow myself. And sometimes I also grow vegetables. , experience what it's like to be a farmer."

   Looking at the busy farm workers in the fields, Strom smiled. He wanted to say how precious your time is, and what a pity to waste it in the fields? But then he thought about it, Christina is already famous for being super rich, so why does she need to run around for a little money.

  Xia Jingxing crossed Erlang's legs and held a cigar in his mouth, smoking it beautifully.

   Some rich people love mansions, yachts, famous paintings and antiques, or they spend all their energy on various sports such as skiing, mountain climbing, and flying airplanes.

  Christina’s hobby is quite special, that is, she likes to plant flowers, grow vegetables, herd cattle and ride horses.

  What is your hobby? I like to step on my opponents one by one and see them unlucky. I don't know if it is a hobby. After all, fighting with people is the real joy.

   "Daren, what are you thinking, why don't you speak?"

Xia Jingxing turned his head to look at Strom and smiled, "I was thinking, you actually agreed to sell the company to Facebook. I thought you would wait a year and a half for Instagram users to reach 10 million or even a few days. Don't sell it again."

  Xia Jingxing was really curious about Strom's choice. With the confidence of the other party, he didn't have to make the decision to sell the company in such a hurry.

   The best option is to take the investment of Vision Capital, burn a wave of advertisements, increase the number of Instagram users, and then sell the company to Facebook at a high price.

   Of course, this was only the best choice in Xia Jingxing's heart, he was used to thinking about problems from the perspective of maximizing interests.

   And what Strom was thinking might be completely different from what Xia Jingxing thought.

  Christina also looked at Strom with a smile. She was also quite surprised by the other party's choice, and she hastily signed the acquisition agreement before she had time to ask deeply.

  Strom smiled lightly, "Early and late, all will be sold.

  Daren, what you said that day touched me deeply, the commercialization of Instagram is indeed something I am not good at.

   Find a solid backing for it early, maybe you can make Instagram go further.

   Money gains and losses, I don't take that seriously.

   And you have already given a lot. An app that has been online for only one month has given a sky-high price of 100 million US dollars! What am I not satisfied with? "

   Kristina glanced at Xia Jingxing, the price of 100 million US dollars was offered by him, which caused her to fight a war of words with the board of directors.

  Because many people in the company felt that Facebook didn’t need to spend such a waste of money at all. With Facebook’s technical strength and huge number of users, they developed a photo social application by themselves, and they killed Instagram in minutes after going online.

   But it turned out that the directors still took it lightly.

   Instagram, which only had 1 million users last month, has doubled its users this month to 2 million.

   This is also the case when Instagram only has an iOS app.

   In just over two months, this internet celebrity app has swept the entire United States and spread to neighboring countries like a prairie fire. Even Canada, Mexico and South America have begun to appear Instagram users.

  Compared with software applications in the PC era, the promotion speed of mobile applications represented by Instagram has undoubtedly entered a new level, and its growth can no longer be judged and evaluated based on past experience.

  Last time they didn’t pay enough attention to WhatsApp, and felt that after the launch of Facebook Messenger, it could crush the startup company with a thunderous force.

   The results were abruptly slapped in the face. Facebook Messenger did not develop slowly, but WhatsApp developed faster, the upgrade version was very diligent, and the various small functions launched were more popular among users.

   Facebook is like a lion. When I met the flat-headed brother of WhatsApp, I felt like I had nowhere to talk.

   So this time Kristina learned the lesson of failure and spared no effort to advance the decision to acquire Instagram.

   Facts have also proved that her decision was extremely correct.

  The acquisition agreement was only signed last month, and the number of users has doubled this month. Although it is still not profitable on paper, in the long run, this acquisition is definitely worth the money.

  Xia Jingxing looked at Strom with a smile on his face, and said, "After the acquisition is completed, you can get 2 million Facebook shares, and at this point, everyone will really become a family.

   I don’t have any extra requirements, just a little, I hope you can understand and support Christina’s work. "

  Strom took a deep look at Xia Jingxing, then looked at Kristina, and always felt that these words were very meaningful.

   But before he could think about it, he immediately responded: "Of course, now Christina is my immediate boss, I don't support who she supports?"

  Xia Jingxing smiled and said no more.

According to the development trajectory and growth of Instagram, this is a business worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and it will become an important pillar of Facebook in the future. As long as Strom stays at Facebook, sooner or later, he will become an important executive and even an important Facebook executive. director.

   If he is on Kristina's side, Kristina's position will become more and more stable.

   Of course, this is not to say that Christina's current position is unstable, but to make more preparations to avoid uncontrollable things in the future.

The little Mazi in his previous life just didn’t know how to deal with people. He offended the founders of WhatsApp and Instagram all over again. People who gave up the billions of dollars in stock they had not yet had to choose to resign from Facebook, and also made it public on major Internet platforms. Spraying Xiaopazi has made Xiaopazi's already unbearable public image worse and worse, and in the end, he has become the lizardman in everyone's mouth.

  Xia Jingxing looked at Kristina. In the long run, the position of Facebook CEO is very difficult to sit on. It is a test of a person's business and political wisdom.

  …

  …

   After spending another half month in Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing returned to Beijing in late December.

   The things he explained to Zhang Yong were basically done.

  Sohu and Charles transferred their 84% stake in Sogou to Domestic Holdings at a valuation of US$300 million.

According to the valuation of 600 million US dollars, Envision Capital transferred 22% of the shares of UC Youshi Company it held to Domestic Holdings; then Domestic Holdings invested an additional US$200 million in UC Youshi Company. Currently, Domestic Holdings holds a total of the company. 41.5% equity.

According to the valuation of 800 million US dollars, Envision Capital transferred 26.21% of its shares in AutoNavi to Domestic Holdings; then AutoNavi issued a private placement of 200 million U.S. dollars of new shares to Domestic Holdings. Currently, Domestic Holdings holds a total of the company. 40.97% equity.

   During the period when Xia Jingxing left China for the United States, Zhang Yong personally took charge of the formal signing of these three transactions and completed the delivery.

   Sitting in the chairman's office of the domestic holding group, Xia Jingxing said after listening to Zhang Yong's work report: "Sogou still has 16% equity?"

   Zhang Yong replied: "In the hands of Ali and Yunfeng Foundation, I have already contacted Jack Ma. He said that when you return to China, he will come to visit you in person."

   "Visit me in person?"

  Xia Jingxing was a little puzzled. It was such a trivial matter, whether to sell it or not, Jack Ma would just give a happy message and it would be over. He had to come to the door to negotiate, Lao Ma was a man with a lot of heart.

   "Okay, he will leave it to me to deal with it."

  Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "As long as we buy the 16% stake in their hands, Sogou will be completely owned by us."

   Xia Jingxing felt unspeakably excited when he thought that he could go to trouble with Robin Li next.

  The Big Three of BAT, the old horse has already subdued, and the pony was beaten with a whip by him and complained so badly that Robin Lee was left behind!

   As the saying goes: It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge in ten years. There are still unresolved accounts between him and Robin Lee, and Sogou is a great weapon for him to deal with Robin Lee.

   He didn't even understand his own search business, so he just learned to meddle in disputes in the arena, and Robin Lee was completely lost.

   Zhang Yong also said: "The matter of AutoNavi and UC Browser is not very beautiful, and they only got a little more than 40% of the stock."

  Xia Jingxing waved his hand and said indifferently, "I said earlier, it's okay for these two companies to take a slow step to solve the problem, just get a share of the shares first.

   AutoNavi software is easy to get, just buy a little stock from the secondary market and complete the holding.

  He Xiaopeng is a little more troublesome, but he still doesn't give up on the listing? "

   Zhang Yong nodded lightly, "Every entrepreneur has a dream of going public, and He Xiaopeng is naturally no exception.

   But after my persuasion, he has become much more awake now. Chihiro, 360, and Penguin are all in this market. UC Browser may not always guarantee that the existing market share will not be eroded.

  Joining a giant may not sound bold enough, but it is a more realistic choice.

   At the same time, he also gave me a bottom line. If the company cannot be listed within three years, he will sell the company to us.

   In addition, he also promised that within the past three years, he will do his best to cooperate with the strategic layout of domestic holdings. "

   The corners of Xia Jingxing’s mouth twitched slightly, “He is quite good at abacus, he can advance and retreat freely! It’s okay, just let him.”

   "By the way, what's the reaction from Lao Zhou?"

  Xia Jingxing went to the airport to pick up Zhou Hongyi last time. He wanted to share with him the good news that he had acquired Sogou, but in the end he didn't say it.

   He didn't know what kind of reaction Zhou Hongyi would have when he learned of this thunderbolt.

   Do you feel that you have failed him?

   Zhang Yong's expression became a little exciting, and he hesitated: "What about him... I don't know what the situation is. He hasn't contacted me for a long time."

   "He should know that we acquired Sogou, right?"

   "I must know, I don't know how many times the news has been reported."

   "That's it!"

  Xia Jingxing pinched his chin and thought for a while before saying, "Okay, don't worry about his business, leave it to me for guidance."

  …

  …

   The next day.

  Xia Jingxing came to the door of the villa where Zhou Hongyi's family lived with a large bag and a small bag, and rang the doorbell.

   After a few sounds, Hu Huan, who was wearing an apron, trotted all the way over and opened the door.

   "Sister-in-law, I just came back from the United States and brought some small gifts for you, eldest nephew and niece."

  Xia Jingxing handed the gift box to Hu Huan with a smile on his face. After some resignation, Hu Huan happily accepted the pile of small gifts.

   Then she greeted Xia Jingxing into the house, and shouted into the house: "Old Zhou, President Xia is here~"

   After a while, Zhou Hongyi walked down the stairs with a gloomy face, and looked at Xia Jingxing who was sitting on the sofa eating apples, like an angry little daughter-in-law, full of resentment.

   "Old Zhou, your apples are good, did you buy them from Pan Shitou's hometown?"

  Xia Jingxing was like a normal person, as if he didn't see Zhou Hongyi's cannibalizing gaze, and laughed at Zhou Hongyi.

   "Why are you here?" Zhou Hongyi tried her best to restrain her emotions, so she didn't get angry.

   "Hey, look at what you said, it seems like I'm not welcome."

   Looking at Xia Jingxing with his legs crossed and not being serious, the evil fire in Zhou Hongyi's heart could no longer be suppressed, and he said loudly, "Why did you lie to me?"

   "I didn't lie to you! There are some small misunderstandings here. I came here today to explain to you specially."

  Xia Jingxing also put away his hippie smile and said with a serious face.

"You asked me to fight the penguin, I went to fight, is there something I didn't do my best? In the end, I almost got caught! My family was destroyed, my wife and children were separated, and the fate of my head was just a short distance away. such a step.

  It’s all right now, the battle is over, you backhanded and bought Sogou.

   Let me ask you: Are you worthy of me? "

   Looking at Zhou Hongyi, whose eyes were red with grievances and unwillingness written on his face, no matter how thick Xia Jingxing's face was, he couldn't help but blush.

   Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I am a little sorry for the loyal and brave Lao Zhou?

   Zhou Hongyi looked up to the sky and sighed, "Maybe in your opinion, 360 is one of your chess pieces, and I am also your chess piece.

   We are now out of use, so you don't need to think about our feelings anymore. "

   Zhou Hongyi tilted her head and looked out the window, suddenly feeling a sour nose.

   He thought that Xia Jingxing would be a good teacher and friend in his life, but in the end...after all, he still paid by mistake!

   (end of this chapter)