After returning to Forty-Nine City, a few days later, Li Min came to Forty-Nine City, but a person who Lin Fan didn't expect came to him.
In a high-end Chinese restaurant, Lin Fan and Li Min met Rao Lei and Liu Jian who came to see him.
After exchanging a few words, Rao Lei got to the point directly.
"The current domestic SNS landscape is very chaotic. It is comparable to the Warring States Period, and perhaps the Warring States Period is not appropriate. It should be the Spring and Autumn Period, when dozens and hundreds of social networking sites, large and small, existed side by side.
In addition to Yiyou.com, there are also Youyou.com, Heyou, Youyou.com, meuu, uufriends..."
Lin Fan frowned when he heard this. This is the current situation of the domestic Internet.
In order to gain popularity, I also put a lot of effort into choosing a name. There is almost only one word difference between it and Youyoumi uume.
There is also an even more extreme one, which is just called meuu. It just changes the order of the words.
Rao Lei spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Moreover, basically every one of these named websites has received domestic or foreign fund investment, and every founder has a big background.
Take meuu for example. The founder, Li Song, served as vice president of JP Morgan and executive director of Asia. He also founded Xunlong Technology, the largest mobile value-added service provider in China. The company was acquired by Sina the year before last and was renamed Sina.
wireless……"
Lin Fan nodded lightly. Once a new Internet model is born, money and talents will immediately be concentrated in that field.
Everyone is considered a lucky person among the well-known Internet bosses in previous lives. The resumes of entrepreneurs who died on the way are more glorious than the last.
There are actually a lot of entrepreneurs with resumes from famous schools and famous companies, but most of them will eventually be lost in the crowd.
Factors such as ability, experience, etc. are all important, but luck is equally important.
After entering the 21st century, Lin Fan also turned his attention to the Internet.
You must know that the Internet in the future will be a trillion-dollar market. If you don't get a share of the pie, that's not Lin Fan's style.
And he is very familiar with many Internet companies in later generations. If you invest first, you will occupy the pit first, and you will get all the money for free.
Early on, Lin Fan asked Li Min in the United States to pay attention to Internet companies. As long as they were emerging companies that would have a place in future generations, Lin Fan would ask Li Min to invest in them.
Li Min has now handed over all the fruit phone matters to Lin Capital, which is in charge of Lin Group.
This time when I came to China, there was a slight problem with an investment. No, Lin Fan handed over the affairs of the Lin Group to his subordinates and came over to take a look.
After listening to this, Li Min frowned and asked, "They chose names with no limit, is there any way to sue them?"
Liu Jian shook his head and chuckled: "Mr. Li, this is China. Many commercial laws are still being improved, and our scale is limited now. Prosecution is also a very time-consuming, laborious and expensive process. Also, they can register trademarks,
This basically makes it clear that even if we file a lawsuit, we probably won’t be able to win.”
Lin Fan lowered his head and thought. Domestic SNS websites are contending with hundreds of schools of thought, but they have not succeeded in finding one. The competition is too big and there is no lower limit. It is just external factors.
In the final analysis, the internal cause lies with Penguin. The birth of QQ space directly destroyed all SNS websites.
"What are your plans next?"
Lin Fan asked calmly. He felt that the two of them had laid so much groundwork and must have something important to discuss.
As expected, Rao Lei said with a colorless face: "Chen Yizhou came to see us once."
When Lin Fan heard this familiar name, his heart moved and he asked, "Why is he looking for you?"
"He wants to acquire Youyoumi!"
Rao Lei said this calmly, and at the same time, he glanced at Lin Fan, paying attention to the changes in the latter's expression.
Lin Fan's expression was very dull, because this was Youyoumi's final destination in his previous life. Now that Chen Yizhou came to contact him on behalf of Thousand Oaks Group, he was not surprised at all.
Noticing that Lin Fan remained silent, Liu Jian, who was sitting next to Rao Lei, interrupted: "He expressed his willingness to pay us US$5 million in cash to fully acquire us."
Li Min sneered, "Isn't that exactly the same valuation as Youyoumi's angel round investment a year ago?
One year has passed and the company's valuation has not increased by one dollar? That Mr. Chen really knows how to set a price."
Lin Fan said nothing. Although this investment had not passed through his hands, he knew the result before. It was just a lonely investment, and it was destined not to make big money.
Liu Jian nodded, "Yes, we also think this quotation is unreasonable, it is too little.
However, Chen Yizhou also said that if he agreed to exchange shares, he would be willing to make some concessions in valuation.
Moreover, this is only the first round of contact, and it is still far from the final reserve price.”
Li Min crossed his arms and looked at Liu Jian meaningfully. Rao Lei glanced at the two of them and said with a smile: "As a strategic investment shareholder of Youyoumi, Lin Group has always been very supportive of you two. If you have anything,
You can express your ideas directly. If the idea is reasonable, we will definitely support it."
Rao Lei waved his hand and said, "Mr. Li, you misunderstood. We have no other ideas. We are not tempted by the conditions offered by Thousand Oaks Group. We think we should run Youyoumi well."
It's just that the domestic SNS websites started at about the same time. To put it bluntly, these entrepreneurs are almost all imitators and followers of the dating network.
Therefore, there is not much innovation in terms of functions and products, and they are almost evenly matched in terms of funds, talents, etc.
Now that Youyoumi has developed like this, some of it is not in line with our expectations, and it has also failed to live up to the trust of shareholders.
We chose to inform you of this news mainly because we do not want to hide anything and hope that both of us can achieve full communication and mutual trust."
The foreign girl thought that the two wanted to sell the company, but she didn't expect that was not the case.
After selling the company for US$5 million, the two shareholders who suffered the most losses were undoubtedly the Lin Group and Axel. They invested US$1 million together, and finally got back US$1 million.
Didn't make a penny, wasted a year.
The two founders are different. Excluding employee stock ownership, they can share almost 4 million US dollars.
I can't say that I made a lot of money, but I can still say that I was the biggest profiteer from selling the company.
Li Min stopped talking and looked at Lin Fan, who had been silent.
Liu Jian and Rao Lei also looked at the real person in charge.
Lin Fan finally understood. The two of them were probably worried that they were dissatisfied with Youyoumi's development speed, so they offered an acquisition to test their reactions.
So he smiled and said: "The reason why venture capital adds the word "risk" in front of investment is because the investment risk is very high.
Where are the projects that absolutely guarantee capital and make money?
You two, don't put too much pressure on me.
Look at the year the Lin Group invested in you, did they interfere in your affairs? Did they put any pressure on you?
None of them!
Investing in you will naturally give you absolute trust.
You just need to run the website well, and don't worry too much about the rest.
I am not a person who only values short-term interests and has no risk awareness.
Youyoumi now has nearly one million users and is considered one of the largest SNS websites in China. Its development cannot be said to be particularly good, but it is not bad either. https
Entrepreneurship is a rally, and ultimately it depends on the future.
We have enough patience to wait and wait for Youyoumi to create better results."
Hearing what Lin Fan said, Rao Lei and Liu Jian felt as if they had taken a reassurance and felt much more at ease.
They told the story about Thousand Oaks Group coming to discuss acquisitions, and they really wanted to test Lin Fan's reaction.
To be honest, Youyoumi's development is not particularly ideal. They are very worried that shareholders like Lin Group and Axel will lose patience and give up on Youyoumi.
But Lin Fan looked like he didn't take it to heart at all, which made them both happy and a little sad.
They witnessed step by step how the Lin Group started from scratch and gradually grew stronger.
Compared with the Lin Group, which is now valued at billions of dollars and is seeking investment from top venture capital firms, the development of Youyoumi is indeed somewhat difficult to handle.
However, both of them are in their thirties and have very mature minds. After talking about work matters and knowing that Lin Fan didn't have much opinion on Youyoumi's development, they stopped talking and started chatting.
Gossip.
Everyone was friends, and Lin Fan didn't put on any airs and chatted with the two of them very casually.
…………
The next day.
Under the leadership of Liu Jian and Rao Lei, the two went to Youyoumi Company to prepare for a visit.
The company is small, with only twenty or thirty employees.
These employees have just returned from vacation and have not yet entered into work mode.
When I saw the two bosses and two middle-aged men entering the company, I immediately became interested.
Young people all want to go online, and many people recognized him as the shareholder of the company, the founder of the Lin Group.
Rao Lei called the employees together and introduced Lin Fan and Li Min ceremoniously.
The employees were very excited. They had long heard that the company had a powerful shareholder, and they finally met it this time.
After a brief visit to Youyoumi, Rao Lei also asked Lin Fan to give a speech and encourage the employees.
Lin Fan couldn't refuse, so he had to say a few words.
Each of these young employees listened carefully, and some took out their mobile phones to take pictures.
2004 was the first year of mobile phone photography. In this year, megapixel mobile phones were born.
Many young people follow the fashion and buy mobile phones with camera functions.
After a quick snap, the photos of Lin Fan and Li Min were uploaded to Youyoumi's social networking site by these employees.
Youyoumi also has functions related to image uploading, which are similar to foreign social network products.
After the visit, Lin Fan and Li Min declined Rao Lei's offer to stay and came to the airport, preparing to return to the United States.
At this time, Lin Fan received a call from Liu Hai.
"Mr. Lin, have you returned to the United States?"
"At the airport, getting ready to board the plane."
"You may need to change your booking, someone wants to see you."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Fan smiled and said to Li Min: "It seems that I have passed this time. How about you go back to the United States first?"
Finally, Li Min returned to the United States alone.
Because Lin Capital has too many affairs, someone must go back and take charge of the overall situation.
And Lin Fan flew to the Magic City with others.
The next day.
At the Shanghai Airport, Lin Fan met Liu Hai, who had rushed over from the United States.
Looking at Liu Hai who was not in a good state of mind, Lin Fan smiled and said with concern: "You didn't rest on the plane, okay? I see you have dark circles all over your eyes.
I told you to book first class but you didn’t do it, you had to go to economy class.”
Liu Hai waved his hand, "It's okay! It's important to do something important, so hurry up and leave."
Lin Fan patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work. When this matter is over, I will give you a long vacation."
The three of them got into a rented Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Zhang Chenguang acted as the driver in the front seat. Lin Fan and Liu Hai sat in the back seat, chatting quietly.
"Mr. Lin, you are very well informed. Shanda is indeed absorbing Sina's shares from the secondary market.
Following your instructions, we bought 10,000 shares of Sina at the average price of US dollars per share, and our shareholding accounted for % of Sina's total share capital.
The work of building a warehouse has been completed, with a total investment of 22 million US dollars.
Currently, Sina’s stock price has soared to around US$28, and our floating profit exceeds US$12 million.”
When the figure of 12 million US dollars was mentioned, Liu Hai looked extremely excited, and his slightly narrowed eyes quickly widened again.
For financial practitioners, there is nothing more exciting than watching the money in their accounts grow rapidly.
He paused for a moment and continued with difficulty concealing his excitement: "Sina's shareholding ratio is very dispersed. Even the largest shareholder Stone Company, their shareholding does not exceed 5%, only %.
Based on our shareholding ratio, we are among the top ten institutional investors in Sina.
I think it is precisely because of the dispersed shareholding of Sina that the new richest man in China wants to acquire Sina!"
Lin Fan nodded, "His dream of online Disney still needs an online portal to complete the territory.
Among the three major portals, Sina has the most dispersed equity and is also the best target.
Let’s not talk about him anymore, what about Shanda? What’s their situation now?”
Liu Hai continued to report: "Speaking of Shanda, after you told us to continue building positions, we later added additional mortgage loans and made additional investments.
All US$22 million was spent, and a total of 10,000 shares of Shanda were purchased, accounting for % of Shanda’s total share capital.
The average purchase price at that time was US dollars, and Shanda’s stock price is now fluctuating around US$30, with floating profit probably close to US$10 million.”
Lin Fan nodded. Ever since he remembered the "Poison Pill Plan", he had ordered Liu Hai and the investment research team of Lin Capital to start making deductions and analyses.
In the end, Lin Capital invested a total of US$44 million to deploy the two companies, which was almost the limit of funds they could use.
In just two months of investment, the book made a profit of US$22 million, earning a 50% return.
However, this is not the final yield.
We won’t know how much the final profit will be until the money is settled.
“Because we are joint shareholders of Shanda and Sina, Shanda approached us and hoped that we would sell all our Sina shares to them.
I see that Sina's stock trading volume has been extremely active recently.
I guess, in addition to us, Shanda must have also contacted Morgan Stanley, the common institutional shareholders of the two companies.
The two sides cooperate very well, one side ships the goods and the other side sweeps the goods."
Liu Hai smiled and asked again: "Do you think Sina management is aware of this matter?"
"Some people should know better and deliberately act stupid to exclude dissenters."
Lin Fan has a very clear understanding of this incident, which has left a mark in the history of Internet mergers and acquisitions in China, including its causes, processes, results, etc.
Shanda contacted Sina in October 2004 to discuss the marriage.
The bride price had not been agreed upon and the bride was unwilling to get married, so Shanda just forced herself on her.
An internal action called "Lightning Plan" was launched to quietly acquire Sina shares in the secondary market with the intention of launching a hostile takeover.
At the same time, Shanda secretly reached a tacit agreement with various institutional shareholders of Sina, and even Sina executives reduced their holdings during this period.
In the end, the acquisition failed because the price could not be negotiated.
As Lin Capital is a joint shareholder of Sina and Shanda, Shanda naturally contacted them.
At the same time, Chen Tianqiao expressed his hope to meet Lin Fan in person to discuss important matters.
