Chapter 1087 The market value has exceeded 2 billion US dollars (monthly tickets owed in April
Chapter 1087 The market value exceeded 2 billion U.S. dollars (monthly ticket arrears in April are over) A 10,000-word chapter
Liang Rubo had already knelt down and opened his arms. The girl threw herself into his arms: "Uncle Liang!"
"Girl, do you miss Uncle Liang?" Liang Rubo asked.
The girl thought for a while and nodded: "I have thought about it. Did Uncle Liang buy me a toy?"
This means that if you don’t buy a toy, you won’t want it anymore, which is a bit more realistic.
Zhang Yiming burst out laughing, and Tongtong also said: "I miss Uncle Zhang too. Uncle Zhang, when will you buy me toys again?"
"Tongtong, let's wait until today's work is over and Uncle Zhang will buy it for you tomorrow, okay?" Zhang Yiming asked her.
After Tongtong heard this, he immediately stretched out his little finger to pull the hook with Zhang Yiming: "Uncle Zhang, let's pull the hook and hang ourselves. It won't change for a hundred years!"
"Whoever becomes a puppy is a puppy." Tongtong said hummingly.
She was the only one who could say this, and if someone else came here, she would definitely be beaten.
"^_^" Zhang Yiming suddenly felt refreshed when he heard Tongtong's statement. His whole person became a little more cheerful, and his two eyebrows raised in happiness.
Zhang Lidong saw that Director Zhang was so happy, and he was also happy in his heart. The company's Series B financing was about to come, and he had a lot of things to be busy with. Director Zhang didn't say it, but he often worked overtime until late at night. He saw all this.
of.
Seeing Director Zhang smiling at this time, he felt relieved.
"Yiming, Rubo, good morning!" Xia Zekai came over holding his wife's hand and said hello to them both.
The two shouted almost at the same time: "Brother Xia!"
Zhang Lidong looked at Xia Zekai carefully for a while, and he was a little nervous for no reason as he overlapped with the tenth-ranked man on the Forbes list of China's richest people.
But when he thought that even this person was a shareholder of their company, he felt very at ease.
I suddenly feel that the future of their company is limitless!
"Brother Xia, sister-in-law, it's hot outside. You go up and rest for a while. When everyone comes over, let's go to the Jingyi Hotel next door for a meeting." Zhang Yiming pointed to the tall building 300 meters away and said.
Xia Zekai glanced over there and nodded: "I happen to have nothing to do, so I'll accompany you guys to receive people here."
After saying that, without waiting for Zhang Yiming to refuse, he turned to look at Luo Xiyun: "Daughter-in-law, please take them up first."
"Lidong, send your sister-in-law up." Zhang Yiming ordered.
Luo Xiyun glanced at Yatou and Tongtong, and thought that it would be better to go up, so as to save them from doing mischief down there instead of doing serious business.
Zhang Lidong led the way, leading Luo Xiyun, Yatou, and Tongtong to the tenth floor. Xia Zekai was chatting with Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo downstairs.
Xia Zekai also asked: "Yi Ming, who is here now?"
"A lot of people have come, including individual investors and investors," Zhang Yiming said.
Like individual investors, there are usually other channels for making money behind them. When they have more money in their hands, they want to invest it to get more generous returns.
"Cao Yi from Source Code Capital, Director Wang from Haina Asia Venture Capital, Yuri from DST Global, and Zhou Hongyi from Qihoo 360 are all here."
"There are also those invested by Tencent..."
Every time Zhang Yiming talked about someone, he felt more confident. At the end of the sentence, he remembered something and said: "The people from Kaiyun Investment are also here. They went up first."
"Yes, I know!" Xia Zekai responded.
His wife has already told him about this.
As he was talking, a middle-aged man with black hair and a smile came over. He had a pair of black-framed eyes and looked quite kind, but everyone who knew him knew that he was not anything. He is not an easy person to get along with.
In the investment community, he is known as a bloody wolf.
"Boss Shen is here, please come in." Zhang Yiming saw him coming and greeted him with a smile.
Shen Nanpeng did not rely on his parents. Although the young man in front of him was less than thirty, his capital and strength were not comparable to those of ordinary Internet companies.
The 24th person on the Forbes China Rich List just released on the 12th.
Looking again, Xia Zekai, who is ranked 10th on the rich list, and Liang Rubo, who is ranked 22nd, are both here. It is not an exaggeration to say that the big guys are gathered here.
And the net worth he had worked so hard to accumulate was not as good as a quarter of these young people. To say that there was some imbalance in his heart, but from another aspect, it was even more obvious that the development of these young people was limitless, which also prompted him to More like investing in them.
"Boss Xia, Director Liang!" Shen Nanpeng shook hands with the two of them one by one.
"Lidong, send Boss Shen up." Zhang Yiming watched Zhang Lidong come down and asked him to run again.
Zhang Lidong worked hard without any complaints.
They were chatting below. When people were almost here, Zhang Yiming glanced at the time and said to Xia Zekai and Liang Rubo: "Brother Xia, let's go up too."
"Let's go!" Xia Zekai waved his hand cheerfully, and the three of them went up.
Zhang Lidong was left below to continue to receive the visitors from behind.
At this time, the office on the tenth floor of Yingdu Building has been suspended today. Those who have important work arrangements have gone to the eighth, ninth and eleventh floors.
In this way, this 900-square-meter office area is considered spacious.
However, the densely packed tables and chairs in the office area can also be seen as very reluctant.
But no one cares. Any capital investor who comes here today knows very well that in the early stages of starting a business, conditions are many, many more difficult than this. This is nothing.
And it is extremely easy to change it. Most people present also know that after today, Toutiao can change its location at any time.
Change to a place with a larger area, better office environment, and more lighting than here.
…
Cao Yi from Source Code Capital looked very cheerful. After he came over, he found a quiet corner and sat down alone.
Seeing many familiar or unfamiliar faces at the scene, he thought that he was going to have to fight a tough battle today.
Apart from anything else, please don’t underestimate SIG’s Wang Qiong just because she is a woman.
If that's the case, you're destined to suffer big losses.
Besides, Zhou Hongyi from Qihoo 360, Master Zhou, has never been a good person. He smiles all day long, and some people call him Smiling Tiger in private.
If you're not careful, your car may overturn on his side.
Cao Yi was observing these potential opponents, but he didn't notice that another lady came up with two children. This combination was very strange and rare in the capital circle, and he immediately thought of something.
That was what a friend said to him as a joke. The friend told him at that time: "If you go to invest in the future, if you meet a woman with a child, you must be careful, otherwise you will suffer a big loss."
"This must be the one invested by Kaiyun!" Cao Yi thought to himself.
This investment company has only just started in the past two years. It is not large in scale, but it is very active. People in the circle know that it has invested in many Internet companies with potential.
Not long afterward, he saw Boss Shen, the blood wolf who was often active in the 'Internet' investment circle. This former boss subconsciously narrowed his eyes to a slit, and his expression became more and more wary.
.
This top student who graduated from Tsinghua University served as vice president of Sequoia China before founding Source Code Capital. He also invested in well-known companies such as Snowball and Meilishuo for Sequoia Capital. He is also the youngest vice president of Sequoia China.
.
But that is already in the past, he is only working hard for himself now.
While Cao Yi was observing everyone who arrived today, today's protagonist Zhang Yiming did not keep everyone waiting, he came up quickly.
But what made everyone present's eyes freeze were the two people standing next to Zhang Yiming.
Liang Rubo of Yixing, and Xia Zekai, founder of Jingtong Development Co., Ltd., the legendary major shareholder of Yixing.
Even though they are all very young, many of the older guys here have to admit that there are talented people from generation to generation, and each generation is better than the last.
This world is already dominated by young people!
After the three of them came up, Zhang Yiming glanced around and saw Cao Yi. He waved to Cao Yi and shouted: "Old Cao, come here and I will introduce you to him personally."
Then, in the envious eyes of others, Zhang Yiming pointed at Xia Zekai and said to Cao Yi: "Old Cao, this is my brother Xia, you know him!"
"Boss Xia, I have admired you for a long time!" How could Cao Yi not recognize him?
Xia Zekai waved his hand: "Dr. Cao, you are too polite. Let's just do whatever we want."
Many of the people present were thick-skinned. When they saw this scene, they all came over to shake hands with Xia Zekai and form a good relationship.
If nothing else, everyone knows that although industrial investment is stable, it is also very expensive to expand the scale.
What if Xia Zekai's Jingtong Development Co., Ltd. needs money in the future?
If that day comes, whether it's lending him money to make a good relationship or buying the shares he holds, it will be a very good deal.
In addition, Xia Zekai is not only the major shareholder of Yitrip, he is also the second shareholder of Toutiao shares after Zhang Yiming.
There are rumors in the world that he also holds some very rare and high-quality targets in his hands. In the eyes of these capital investors, these things are just pieces of delicious fat, which makes people want to stop.
After finally dealing with these people, Xia Zekai finally breathed a sigh of relief. When he saw the two girls each holding a plate of diced fruits and eating happily, he felt in his heart that it was better for them both, and they didn't have to think about anything.
In the next half hour, Zhang Yiming walked among various capital parties, chatting with them.
Occasionally, someone would ask about some basic information about the company. At this time, Zhang Yiming would say that he would go to the Jingyi Hotel later, and he would give a unified answer.
Zhou Hongyi from Qihoo 360 said directly: "Director Zhang, the company has also seen it and drank the water. Let's go directly to the Jingyi Hotel to start."
As soon as he finished speaking, many people expressed similar opinions to him.
Seeing this, Zhang Yiming turned to look at Xia Zekai and Liang Rubo, and then said: "Then let's go there?"
"Let's go, it's time to take a walk." Wang Qiong said.
The distance of three hundred meters is really not that far, and it only takes seven or eight minutes to walk downstairs.
Yatou and Tongtong heard that there was a bigger place with more delicious food. They were so happy that they didn't care about anything else.
The two sisters held hands, then grabbed the hands of their father and mother, and skipped towards the Jingyi Hotel.
The people behind were filled with envy when they saw this scene. Everyone was thinking in their hearts, only those who get to be like Xia Zekai in this life will truly be the winners in life!
Worth it!
Not to mention the people at the back, even the few people walking in front turned around and saw this scene. They were all envious, thinking that when I was his age, I was still the leader of a small department.
Or you are just starting a business, and you are so busy during the day that you don’t know how dark the night is. You have no time to enjoy the human happiness of your wife and children.
Their careers were successful now, but when they wanted to go home and take their children out to see the world, they found that they didn't want to talk to them anymore.
We are destined to have missed the most beautiful period of our lives. We lacked each other's company, and many people have regrets in their hearts.
At this time, Xia Zekai's family happened to perform the scene they longed for but couldn't get.
"Jingyi Hotel" Xia Zekai raised his head and muttered the five red characters on the top of the door.
This is a hotel that can be used for business, accommodation, and dining. It also has a dedicated conference hall that can be used for meetings, etiquette, etc.
Zhang Yiming booked one of the largest conference rooms today. Even if there are not enough people, they don't care. They must show off their cards and momentum.
Special people have been arranged to wait here. After seeing Director Zhang coming with someone, a greeter quickly took the person to the conference hall.
In addition to welcoming guests, there are also many media people coming here.
There are people from all major platforms, and after seeing the person coming, these people’s cameras never stopped.
That is to say, they have now switched to digital cameras. If they had used film cameras, these people would definitely not be so willing to take pictures.
There is a stage in the conference hall. There is a table specially used for speeches on the stage. There are several wired and wireless microphones placed on the table.
There were rows of chairs under the stage, and those who came to attend the meeting sat down on the chairs under the guidance of the reception staff.
Xia Zekai and Luo Xiyun were sitting in the front row, while Yatou and Tongtong were nestled next to their parents.
"Dad, go get me some food!" Tongtong pointed to a place in the conference room and began to direct his father.
There are two rows of long tables over there. The tables are piled with various types of fruits, snacks, bottled mineral water, drinks, as well as freshly squeezed juice machines and coffee machines.
Before Xia Zekai could get up, a receptionist went directly over and brought over a piece of fruit and a snack. He handed it to Tongtong and the girl with a smile: "Kids, if you want to eat, just tell me what else you want to eat."
.”
"Thank you, Auntie!" Tongtong and Yatou smiled and expressed their gratitude.
The greeter smiled and waved his hand: "You're welcome!"
…
After a short period of busyness, under the chairmanship of Zhang Lidong, today’s ‘Today’s Toutiao’ Series B Financing Meeting officially began.
By this time, everyone in the venue immediately became energetic.
One by one, they looked at the center of the stage. Today's protagonist, Zhang Yiming, was standing there. He looked at the audience and felt a little excited.
He didn't know what kind of results Toutiao could deliver today, so he was both looking forward to it and feeling anxious.
After Zhang Lidong announced the official start of the meeting, Zhang Yiming stood in front of the podium.
His voice was gentle, and he said softly to the microphone on the podium: "I am Zhang Yiming, one of the founders of Toutiao. I am standing here today, and I am very excited inside."
"I am very happy to gather together with everyone to work together and cooperate wholeheartedly for Toutiao's better development tomorrow."
"At this moment, I believe that many of my friends here who have come from afar feel the same as me."
"Today's Toutiao was founded on New Year's Day last year. It was officially launched on July 6, six months later. As of today, it has grown for 22 months and officially launched for 16 months. Today's Toutiao has gone through various channels.
With the joint promotion and huge investment of funds, Toutiao’s DAU (daily active users) has exceeded 30 million.”
When he said this, there were waves of low exclamations from the audience. Many people knew that the cumulative downloads of "Today's Toutiao" had already exceeded 100 million, but many people did not know its daily active users.
It is actually so high, it has reached the level of 30 million.
If this data is true, the number of daily active users exceeds 10 million, and this product is already a hit. However, Toutiao has surpassed 30 million in just over a year. This is an unprecedented achievement for Internet companies.
In terms of development history, it is a miracle.
At the same time, it also proves that the current development strategy of "Today's Toutiao" is correct, and its leader does have a vision for development.
This also made the people present more and more look forward to the follow-up of "Today's Toutiao".
“If we get money today, will Toutiao’s DAU continue to skyrocket?” Many people are thinking about this question.
This also means that they can give Toutiao a more reasonable valuation and obtain part of its equity, which is very important to every capital party or individual investor present.
They want to hear what Zhang Yiming's next development plan is.
After a brief thought, Zhang Yiming on the stage also answered several questions raised by investors present.
Zhang Yiming then entered the stage of introducing the product ‘Today’s Toutiao’.
He said: "In the next step, we plan to continue to explore new markets and attract more users on the basis of consolidating the existing market. At the same time, we plan to officially launch the internationalization of 'Today's Toutiao' in 2013.
We strive to improve the development of language products in multiple countries and strive for a larger market for Toutiao."
"In order to achieve this goal, we have now begun to recruit relevant foreign employees."
"In addition to the market, our company is also actively seeking to explore profit models for 'Today's Toutiao' products. Starting in the second half of this year, we will officially sell key advertising spaces for 'Today's Toutiao' products to external parties and charge a certain percentage of advertising service commissions.
In this area, we are still newcomers to this field, but I believe that in the near future, we will definitely become the leader like Tencent, Alibaba, iQiyi, Sina Weibo and other companies." Zhang Yiming
It was said clearly and resonantly, without feeling exaggerated at all.
A newly emerging company has already set its sights on those big manufacturers.
Some investors think he is a bit too arrogant.
They admit that Toutiao now has the potential of some big companies, but it is hard to say whether it can fully transform these potentials into strength in the end.
Perhaps netizens have just started playing Toutiao and feel that this product is quite new. This is why the DAU data in a short period of time is very high?
But the big guys present didn't say anything, including Lao Cao, the head of Sina Weibo whom Zhang Yiming just mentioned, was also present today, but he laughed off Zhang Yiming's boastful words and didn't take it seriously at all.
Although Zhang Yiming is at the top of the rich list, anyone with a discerning eye knows that 95% of his net worth comes from taking a taxi from "Yixing".
In the eyes of these powerful bosses, the success of "Yi Chuxing" taxi hailing is all indispensable: the right time, the right location, and the right people.
Background, policies, social needs, etc., it was the product of that special time period, and because the idea was so sudden and fresh at the time, it caught many people off guard.
It also created a window period in this market. The rapid emergence of "Yixing" driving service, and later the taxi service, made it unique in the market for a long time.
During that time, the taxi-hailing service "Yixing" quickly occupied most of the domestic market, leaving other rising stars unable to fight back.
Until now, there is no second similar product on the market that can compete with Yi Chuxing's taxi-hailing services, and it can't even hold it back.
But ‘Today’s Toutiao’ is different. There are too many products with similar social attributes to it.
Sina Weibo itself is such a similar product.
In Lao Cao's view, the current Toutiao is just a seedling, far reaching the height of Sina Weibo. He feels that Toutiao will not be enough to compete with Sina Weibo in the future, let alone surpass it.
And one thing I have to admit is that if a product or a company cannot reach the level of monopoly in a certain industry and cannot capture the largest market share, its value will drop a lot.
‘Yixing’ taxi-hailing service is a product whose ‘monopoly’ status is secretly acknowledged.
On the stage, Zhang Yiming continued to share the product segments that Toutiao will use to retain users in the next step. He talked about short videos, the more popular online novels, and various mobile phones that are popular all over the Internet.
tour.
As the popularity of smartphones or 3G mobile phones becomes higher and higher, the market occupied by these segments is also getting higher and higher.
After Zhang Yiming finished all the plans for "Today's Toutiao" in one breath, he breathed a sigh of relief, but the media on various platforms under the stage, the cameras, recording equipment, and video recorders in the hands of reporters were all busy, and they were taking pictures frantically.
More photos.
It was a busy day for them.
Not to mention anything else, the big guys who came here today are enough for them to use whatever they want when writing press releases.
One thing you have to admit is that these big guys came to the scene in person, no matter what their ultimate purpose was, it at least shows that Toutiao has value that they value!
Just now Zhang Yiming said that he believes that Toutiao is targeting major companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, iQiyi, Sina Weibo, etc., but it is completely understandable that he wants to be on an equal footing with these major companies. This is another line.
Breaking news.
These days, especially those who work on the Internet, they are not afraid of you bragging, but they are afraid that you are not courageous enough or loud enough. If you are not good enough or not good enough, it will make people more uncomfortable.
…
"Zekai, how much more money are you going to invest?" Luo Xiyun asked as she listened to Zhang Yiming's lecture, which was coming to an end.
Xia Zekai said with a smile: "Follow the investment, you know, the company's next large amount of funds will be closer to the 'Jingtong Industrial Park', where a large amount of funds will be invested, and I don't have much money on hand now."
, and we are not going to embezzle any more money from the company."
"Well, everything is fine. If you are short of money, I still have some here. If it doesn't work, I will sell the house." Luo Xiyun said.
She didn't give her husband any constructive suggestions. She knew very well that in comparison, Jingtong Development Co., Ltd. was her husband's foundation.
Other "Yi Chu" taxis, "Today's Toutiao", and even investments in Kelan Chemical, Capita Home Improvement, Ningde Battery, etc. are all continuations of capital generated by chance, even in those few years.
No matter how much you earn in one aspect, it’s just external wealth!
In this area, she knows the priorities!
She said: "I have prepared a capital of 200 million this time. I'll see if I can invest more."
"You have prepared quite a lot of funds!" Xia Zekai was quite surprised.
Luo Xiyun smiled and said: "It's okay, you can't be the only one running ahead, and I can't be left behind too much, otherwise we will have nothing to say one day!"
"Nonsense, don't think about these messy things all day long, I can still lose you mothers." Xia Zekai scolded her.
When Luo Xiyun heard what Xia Zekai said, she smiled happily from the bottom of her heart: "Stop talking and listen to what Yiming has to say."
Zhang Yiming didn't say anything else, but Zhang Lidong introduced the bidding rules for today's financing.
According to the plan, Toutiao will need a large amount of funds this time to ensure later market development and product research and development, and to add more servers across the country to ensure that users have a better experience with Toutiao's product.
Thereby obtaining more advertising commission income.
According to Zhang Lidong, the rules are very simple. It is divided into two rounds. In the first round, you will report your psychological price, select the top ten, and the rest will be eliminated.
In the second round, four or five more people will be selected, and the rest will be eliminated.
In the final stage, the original shareholders can choose to follow the investment or give up the investment.
After he finished speaking, staff on site began to issue quotations.
Then there was another person waiting next to him holding a plexiglass box with transparent sides and a hole on the top.
This trick is very frustrating, and it is also what investors find most uncomfortable.
There were at least more than 40 investors at the scene, and the low bids in this round meant that they were eliminated in the first round.
If the quotation is too high, and it comes to the stage of taking out real money, there will definitely be a lot of bleeding.
Many investors below began to use various terms among themselves to inquire about each other's quotations, but no one made a sound. The atmosphere at the scene was very tense.
Xia Zekai and Luo Xiyun actually enjoyed the process. They didn't need to make a bid. They just agreed to follow the investment in the end, or gave up on it.
At this moment, I was still in the mood to get some other desserts for Yatou and Tongtong, and drink a glass of freshly squeezed juice to moisten their throats.
While waiting silently, Xia Zekai also watched the nervous scenes of other investors filling out quotations.
As the atmosphere became more and more solemn, half an hour passed unknowingly. Zhang Lidong walked onto the stage and said: "Everyone, if you haven't filled out the quotation form yet, let's wait for another ten minutes. If you haven't finished filling out the quotation form in ten minutes, we will wait for another ten minutes."
All quotations filled in will be invalid!"
When he said this, many investors at the scene began to curse in their hearts. It is really unethical for you to use this set of psychological hints in such a serious session!
I don’t know where Director Zhang found such a thing.
But it has to be said that with Zhang Lidong's urging, some investors who had not filled out the quotation form at the scene began to get nervous. They wanted to seize this opportunity, knowing that at this time, the trick of lowering the quotation was simply not appropriate.
.
If you want to get the ten admission places in the second round, you can only bid a high price.
As the ten-minute countdown for the first round begins, the entire first round of quotations enters the final stage. Investors or natural investors who have already filled out the quotation form begin to hesitate again, feeling that the quotation they just made may be too low.
, when time was running out, they changed the quotation.
After waiting for the on-site staff to start collecting quotations with transparent plexiglass boxes, this round was finally over.
The investors who were extremely nervous just now finally breathed a sigh of relief, and they regained their composure. With this wave of their hands, you can't guess the result of their quotation from the expressions on their faces.
They are all elite figures who use psychological tactics.
"Okay, all our quotations have been received. In line with the principle of fairness and justice, we will make public quotations on the spot, and the top ten with the highest prices on the quotations will enter the second round." Zhang Lidong said.
This approach won praise from everyone present. It was very fair and allowed them to know exactly where their quotations were.
At this time, Xia Zekai still had time to ask his wife: "Daughter-in-law, how much do you think the highest quotation in this round is?"
"The highest?" Luo Xiyun pondered for a while and said, "Can it be 1 billion US dollars?"
Luo Xiyun thought to himself, if there was this amount, then today's financing valuation would have increased by more than ten times.
But the first result of Zhang Lidong's vote made her shut up.
"Source Code Capital, quoted price is US$1.68 billion."
Good guy, he came up as someone who played with lucky numbers, and the price he offered was pretty ruthless.
This quotation broke through the psychological bottom line of many people present. When they heard this quotation, many people knew that they were out of luck.
It doesn't matter that the other party's offer is higher than theirs, but that they have not been 100% sincere in participating in this financing round from the beginning, so that when they make the offer, they have no bottom line even if they hesitate even a little bit.
Then an unknown investment company quoted a price of US$1.37 billion, which was not low.
Then in the next stage, most of the quotes were around US$1 billion.
When Zhang Lidong was counting the votes, his voice suddenly rose: "Sequoia China quoted US$1.81 billion."
Good guy, seeing that the market valuation of Toutiao's product is about to exceed 2 billion US dollars, many people have various thoughts in their minds, wondering whether they can break through this round number mark.
If it breaks through, Toutiao's market valuation may reach a surprising peak in the second round of quotations.
However, until the end of this round of quotations, the highest amount on the quotation was the US$1.99 billion invested by Tencent. Its quotation made many people want to spit on it.
Many people are thinking that it is truly a troublemaker in the Internet industry, and its reputation is well-deserved.
As a result, the remaining ten investors in the first round of quotations are Source Code Capital, Sequoia China, Haina Asia, Tencent Investments, SIG, Sina Weibo, Qihoo 360, and individual investors Liu Jun and Zhou Zijing
, and the last capital square became capital.
Ten are just right!
Zhou Zijing, the one with the lowest quotation among these ten, has a price of US$1.489 billion, and the rest are just running around.
Xia Zekai took a look at the ten companies. There were several companies that he would later become familiar with. He looked at them deeply, thinking that these people really had the same vision.
Without wasting any time, the second round started on the spot.
In this round, only the ten investment funds or individuals that survived the first round have the right to continue investing.
The second round didn't even change places, and continued in this conference room.
The rules are the same as in the first round.
According to Zhang Lidong, Toutiao’s actual capital requirement is more than US$300 million.
Time passed by minute by minute.
The eliminated capital parties and investors have an easier time.
When they stayed away from the incident, the eliminated investors calmed down and relaxed. They saw that the remaining ten investors were still participating in the second round of bidding for Toutiao. To be honest, these eliminated investors still felt quite happy.
It’s so envious, it seems like they are not even qualified to advance to the next round.
Liang Rubo moved a chair and sat next to Xia Zekai. He looked at the last 10 investors and individual investors remaining on the scene and asked Xia Zekai: "Brother Xia, what do you think?"
"The pressure on the remaining ten companies is still quite high, but I feel that today's Toutiao is still somewhat powerless to make unimaginable hits," Xia Zekai said.
Hearing what he said, Liang Rubo agreed very much. He knew what was going on.
Xia Zekai asked him: "Are you really not going to vote?"
Liang Rubo shook his head: "I don't have much money on hand anymore, and I still have a large sum of money that I have to deposit in the bank. If I continue to invest, the shares I get are not too small."
Xia Zekai glanced at him and said nothing. Everyone has their own considerations and ambitions.
He feels that Lao Liang has done a good job in the "Yixing" Technology Co., Ltd., which is really better than anything else.
For example, Liang Rubo already has a huge wealth of nearly 2.6 billion US dollars in his personal books. This book wealth is equivalent to 16.45 billion yuan in RMB. In Liang Rubo's view, he has spent enough money.
"Rubo, I'm very happy that you think so!" Xia Zekai said with a smile.
Liang Rubo waved his hand: "Brother Xia, the longer I do this, the more cautious I become."
"You are right to consider it!" Xia Zekai just said this.
The first round of quotations was given a buffer time of half an hour, and this round was also given half an hour, but Zhang Lidong also said that there would be no temporary increase in quotation time in the second round.
In other words, thirty minutes is the bottom line. When the time is still undecided, the round is over.
Fortunately, the remaining people are all courageous people. Their eight investors and two natural investors all behaved very aggressively in this round.
Just now, when Xia Zekai was thinking that the quotation would be difficult to hit, no one expected that when Zhang Lidong called the votes, the first quotation would exceed US$2 billion.
He shouted: "Sequoia China is worth US$2.33 billion."
"Source Code Capital, US$2.15 billion."
“Sina Weibo offers $2.198 billion.”
"Qihoo 360 quoted US$2.5 billion."
Zhou Hongyi is still Zhou Hongyi, always at the most critical moment, a single blow determines the outcome.
This has also become the capital side with the highest quotation so far tonight.
Upon hearing his offer, the other nine capital parties or individuals who entered the second round were all speechless and didn't know what to say.
But among the subsequent quotes, only Tencent Investment’s quote was slightly higher, but it only just exceeded US$2.1 billion, which was still a little bit short of knocking Sina Weibo out of the top four.
I don’t know how they thought about it. This time they didn’t show the courage to stir up trouble in the Internet industry.
Xia Zekai looked at Zhou Hongyi several times, as if he was getting to know this person again for the first time, thinking that Zhou Hongyi, who started his business with free anti-virus software, was really not a simple person.
What is a little surprising is that Zhang Lidong previously said that four to five capital parties would be retained in this round.
Xia Zekai once thought that he would be done with just four families, but when he arrived at Zhang Yiming's place, he chose five.
The five companies are Qihoo 360, Sequoia China, Sina Weibo, Source Code Capital and Tencent Investments.
All of them are leaders in the domestic Internet industry. This result surprised Xia Zekai, but at the same time he was not surprised.
He knew in his heart that only these big manufacturers had this strength.
However, today's market financing valuation of "Today's Toutiao" exceeded US$2 billion, which still makes many people unbelievable.
The media people and reporters below the stage began to get busy. They knew that there would be bigger news here after everything was over.
"Well, how should I write this news?" Someone was already thinking about it.
Liang Rubo was also surprised, and his eyes fell on Zhang Yiming. He thought that Yiming had been busy for so many years and finally came up with a hit product, which was worthy of his hard work over the years.
In the following time, Zhang Yiming had friendly communication with the five finalists and was also confirming the final market valuation.
They are even busier!
Tomorrow I will start paying off the 37 chapters that are due for the May monthly pass.
