Yang Zhiyuan had a cooperative relationship with SoftBank in the early days of Yahoo's development and received a large amount of financing from Masayoshi Son.
Until now, Japan's SoftBank is still Yahoo's major shareholder.
The largest shareholder of Yahoo websites in other countries is Yahoo headquarters in the United States. The only exception is Yahoo Japan. SoftBank holds 51% of the shares in Yahoo Japan, and the head office has become the second shareholder.
This shows how close the relationship between the two parties is.
When he first heard that SoftBank was preparing to bid about US$1.2 billion to acquire Google from himself, Su Yehao crossed his legs, the cigar between his fingers was burning, and a faint white smoke rose.
In his mind, he thought of many things in an instant.
For example, why did Yang Zhiyuan suddenly contact me today and know that he came to Silicon Valley? How could he suddenly comment on Google and point out that it has no long-term advantages?
In Su Yehao's view, Google has probably been targeted for a long time.
On the one hand, it is estimated that Google's rapid expansion has put pressure on Yahoo. On the other hand, it may also be related to SoftBank's senior executives being optimistic about Google's prospects.
To some extent, Yahoo's interests are SoftBank's interests.
If Yang Zhiyuan joins forces with SoftBank and Masayoshi Son to jointly finance the acquisition of Google, this means that it will not only solve a potential competitor, but also continue to increase Yahoo's share of the global search engine market.
At the same time, it can also enable SoftBank to win another good project and firmly control its voice in the industry.
Su Yehao is only the sixth largest shareholder of Yahoo. He can ignore his own interests in Yahoo and invest in Google. Once he does it well, he will have the opportunity to maximize his profits.
As for SoftBank and Yang Zhiyuan, most of their assets are placed in Yahoo. If Google is allowed to further squeeze out market share, their profits will inevitably be affected.
After taking a puff of his cigar, Su Yehao thought about it briefly and said with a smile:
"Since my KOKO venture capital acquired Google, it has cost me almost 100 million US dollars. Now you actually want to acquire it for 1.2 billion US dollars. You really think highly of this company."
Hearing the word "you", Yang Zhiyuan did not refute, but smiled and replied:
"Yahoo's business model is too single. Acquiring Google for diversified development is not a bad thing for us. I'm serious. I discussed it with Mr. Son before coming here. As long as you agree to this price, we can sign a contract in the next few days. In just a short period of time,
In half a year, you will earn 1.1 billion US dollars through Google. By then, the stocks you hold in Yahoo will also rise sharply, making money on both sides."
"...the returns are indeed quite high."
"Well, and I heard that you acquired land in Hong Kong City and went to China to invest and build a factory. Wouldn't it be much easier to cash out and relieve the pressure on capital flow?" Yang Zhiyuan continued.
Su Yehao's expression was a little weird.
Mainly because I thought that people had always heard that Yang Zhiyuan had poor vision, missed out on Google and Facebook one after another, and finally rejected Microsoft's acquisition plan, finally killing Yahoo.
Su Yehao didn't know much about the specific situation, but he seemed to have a good eye this time.
Looking deeper into the reason, I am afraid it has to do with Google's too strong development momentum, with four million new users in the first half of the year. Although old users still prefer Yahoo, many new netizens prefer the concise and accurate Google.
Regarding this point, Yahoo sent people to secretly conduct a questionnaire survey, and there is data to support it.
If it develops slowly and leisurely like in its previous life, neither Yang Zhiyuan nor SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son will necessarily take Google seriously.
Now that Su Yehao is spending money regardless of the cost, the situation immediately becomes more difficult. Google's outstanding development performance has made many venture capital financing institutions take a fancy to its potential and treat it as the second Yahoo.
Yahoo's market value is already very high, and it is gradually reaching the ceiling of Internet companies. Google is a new company, and its potential for growth and appreciation is much higher than that of Yahoo.
If Su Yehao chooses to raise funds externally to allow Google to obtain other financial support, Yahoo's situation will become increasingly passive.
After all, the story of Xiao Tiantian becoming Mrs. Niu is completely normal in the eyes of capital. Since Yahoo was able to support Yahoo to break out of the siege before, there is no reason why it cannot support another company.
Yang Zhiyuan has been standing in the cloud for a while, and has long passed the stage where he was naive enough to think that capital would be nostalgic.
It can be imagined in advance that the shareholders who are making money now and the lunatics who are short selling in the future are most likely the same people.
Su Yehao frowned slightly, first thinking about finding a reason to refuse, because in his opinion, Google had huge room for appreciation, and selling it now would be equivalent to throwing away the hen that laid the golden eggs.
Then I realized it.
If Yang Zhiyuan and Son Masayoshi are rejected today, then they will probably face endless suppression and competition.
They first quoted US$1.2 billion, which is enough to show that they already attach great importance to Google. Peaceful coexistence is not in the interests of Yahoo at all. Competition and suppression are the norm in the business world. For example, the emoji group will not give advertising to competitors even if it does not make money.
advertise.
Su Yehao believes that his relationship with Yang Zhiyuan is not good enough to ignore the conflict of interests.
What must be considered is the Internet bubble. The valuation and market value of a group of companies have far exceeded the performance of the company itself. Even if it is explained by growth investment, it seems a bit reluctant.
If you cash out part of the money, or sell Google directly, even if you lose part of the income, you can still take advantage of the situation to buy low-priced companies such as Amazon, Apple, TSMC, and ASML. The long-term profits may be more than holding Google.
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You know, in the previous life, Yahoo made poor decisions and made a series of mistakes, which eventually led to its decline. However, it may not repeat the same mistakes this time.
There is currently a dispute between the two parties ahead of time, and Su Yehao really has no confidence in winning.
Thinking about it from another angle, it is true that it is short of money. Even if the City of Thousand Chips plan is not mentioned, if Google itself wants to survive the cold winter, it will have to burn at least 3.5 billion US dollars. This money is enough to build a wafer foundry...
It's rare for my mind to move so fast.
After thinking for a few seconds, Su Yehao continued: "It's a bit sudden. Let me talk about it slowly. In fact, I am quite optimistic about Google's future. The global search engine market is so big that it can accommodate two search engine companies."
Yang Zhiyuan nodded and said:
"I personally think it's okay, but other shareholders have already expressed their opinions. I alone in the board of directors have no say. If there is a chance to capture most of the market, who would be willing to let it go to others. Business is not about winning.
Even if you lose, if an instant messaging software company competes with your emoji group, I believe you will not sit idly by. Last month, someone wrote an article praising Google in the New York Times.
Yahoo’s stock price fell 2.6% the next day.”
After vaguely hearing some news, Su Yehao realized that... he was ostracized by other Yahoo shareholders.
He took another puff of his cigar and poured a glass of red wine for Yin Liuli who was sitting next to him.
Su Yehao replied:
"I understand what you mean. In fact, I am quite lazy. As long as I have the opportunity to make money easily, I will try my best to avoid fighting with anyone. I want to study the acquisition first. There should be a way between us.
We’ve reached an agreement. Let’s not play the cards. I’ll go to Google first and ask the partners for their opinions.”
The so-called partners only account for a small amount of shares in total. Yang Zhiyuan certainly knows this.
Today was not originally about playing cards, so Yang Zhiyuan did not stop him and sent Su Yehao out of the cigar salon in person. He also gave him a box of King of Denmark cigars as a small gift.
There were differences between the companies, but they were both Chinese and super-rich working in Silicon Valley. If it was not a last resort, he did not want to have too much trouble with Su Yehao.
As the chief operating officer of Yahoo, Yang Zhiyuan must consider the interests of the company and shareholders. Su Yehao certainly understands this, so he has no emotions.
After all, they are all weighing their own interests, which is in line with the saying that there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.
After happily accepting the box of cigars, Su Yehao got in the car and set off.
He really plans to go to Larry Page and the others to talk about acquisitions and seek some good advice...