At this time point in October 1999, most domestic Internet companies were convenient and suitable for financing. However, it was not convenient for Huang Yi, which makes sense.
According to Nasdaq's review rules, no new financing is allowed within six months before the IPO, and many operational actions are also prohibited to avoid interfering with the IPO. This is equivalent to a "freezing period."
Even if it is half a year before the freeze period, that is, 7 to 12 months before the IPO. Although it is not strictly forbidden to accept investment during this period, the money coming in at this stage will have a longer ban in the future than other original stocks.
During the sale period, you won’t be able to cash out for several years after the IPO, and there are a bunch of other restrictions.
At the same time, if you invest money now, Huang Yi's valuation will be at a very high level (it was always high before the IPO), which will not give you the opportunity to be much lower than the future public offering price, and you will even become the first person to be listed in the future public offering price.
price benchmark.
In a nutshell, if you don't get in early, you won't get in later. If you join Huang Yi now, you will be a pick-up man.
Ding Sanshi may have a high self-esteem, and he feels that raising new financing now can be regarded as a win-win cooperation, giving the other party a chance to make money together.
But Gu Kun knows history better than the average person. He knows that even if Huang Yi survives, it will only be a successful IPO before the Internet bubble bursts at the last moment.
If it hadn't caught up with the IPO, history might have been changed and Huang Yi would have died silently.
Even if history has not changed and there is still an IPO, then in the cold winter years, Huang Yi's stock price will fall to a few cents per share, falling below the issue price and halving again.
Who the hell is going to cooperate with him at this time?
Even if Gu Kun wants to buy Huang Yi's shares, or wants to better control the domestic media's influence on the tourism, luxury industry, literary and artistic fields, etc., and get a few percentage points symbolically, he will not buy it at such a time when he is taking advantage of someone.
ah.
However, it's too early to say anything at the moment.
It all depends on how Ma Feng helps to negotiate an agreement.
It's still unclear whether Ding Sanshi just stepped in and felt almost confident and wanted to beg for alms. It's useless no matter how much Gu Kun speculates.
The matter was temporarily forgotten.
…
Two or three days passed quickly, and just when Gu Kun was about to forget about it, Ma Feng finally gave Gu Kun a reply and sincerely invited Gu Kun to return to his country:
"Xiao Ding said there might be some misunderstanding here and he wants to interview you."
Since the other party hasn't shown any obvious malice, Gu Kun doesn't mind talking about it.
Given his status, he should have sneaked Ding Sanshi to Lanfang to negotiate at Gu Kun's home ground. He was not worthy of letting Gu Kun make the trip himself.
However, considering that the middleman Ma Feng was also in Fangzhou City, and it was still relatively hot in Lanfang, Gu Kun just dropped by to Fangzhou City to escape the heat.
He didn't bring his own woman, but two beautiful secretaries, and then booked a first-class ticket for the next day and flew directly to Donghai Province.
The A330 special plane he bought from Airbus at the beginning of the year has not yet been refurbished and will be delivered next year. So Gu Kun finally had to endure flying on civil aviation for half a year, or on a temporary charter flight.
Early the next morning, Gu Kun wore a hat, sunglasses, a light plaid shirt and beach sandals, and took a few beauties with him to board the plane through the exclusive passage.
Lanfang Airport has been in operation for more than two full years, and the number of routes has increased several times since the beginning of operation.
After all, when it opened in July 1997, the financial crisis in Southeast Asia had not yet hit. At that time, the main currency in Malaysia was still the ringgit, and prices in Southeast Asia were generally relatively high.
With the popularity of tourism in Lanzhou at that time, the domestic routes to China could only support the three first-tier cities of Beijing, Guangdong and Hujiang, and each route could only maintain a passenger flow of about two flights a day.
However, since the second half of 1998, as Lanzhou has fully switched to RMB, and materials purchased from Malaysia have become cheaper due to the depreciation of the ringgit, the number of domestic tourists visiting Lanzhou has tripled compared with the previous year——
In the whole year of 1997, there were only 300,000 Chinese tourists visiting Lanzhou, and cruise ships and flights were about half. In 1998, the number suddenly increased to 800,000. In the first three quarters of 1999, the number of tourists combined has exceeded 1 million.
The last three months plus at least 1.3 million people.
Among these 1.2 million people, about 300,000 travel by cruise ship and 1 million travel by air. The number of tourists by air has increased six times compared with more than two years ago, and the number of routes has naturally increased dramatically.
Nowadays, Lanfang International Airport receives 40 international arriving flights and 40 international departing flights every day, 30 of which are to and from mainland China, and 3 are daily commuter flights to and from Southeast Asian countries such as Lijiapur/Kuala Lumpur/Bangkok, Japan and South Korea.
Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, and Busan also have two waves each day.
With the number of flights to China reaching 30 per day, domestic tourists naturally have a wider range of travel options. They no longer have to sit on trains for hundreds or thousands of kilometers to rush to three major first-tier cities to take off.
Shudu in the southwest, Chang'an in the northwest, and Wuchang in the central part of the country, these newly emerging tourist destinations, now have two flights a day, making them unstoppable.
Even affiliated cities such as Jinling City/Angzhou City/Shenzhen City, which were originally within the radiation coverage of Hujiang/Guangdong Province, also have their own independent routes, but with fewer passengers and only one flight per day.
"It really looks the same every year. I built it all with my own hands."
Sitting in the first class cabin, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice brought by the beautiful stewardess and rubbing the leather armrests of the first class sofa, Gu Kun felt quite happy in his heart.
For an international airport runway of the highest standard, a generally stable flow configuration is 200 aircraft takeoffs and landings per day. If it is to be improved further, the takeoff runway and the landing runway should be specifically distinguished. Separating takeoffs and landings can improve efficiency.
Now this runway is suitable for more than 80 takeoffs and landings per day. The airport itself can break even, and there is no need to spend money on subsidies. The so-called more than 200 flights per runway per day mentioned above are all for the Atlanta Airport or the airport.
Staying at a place like Heathrow Airport is a world record. Airports in those places are very profitable.
But the vast majority of airports can already break even if they have one-third of the runway utilization rate of Heathrow. Especially in countries like China, civil aviation infrastructure is sometimes not considered entirely based on economic benefits, but also as a function of local level and political achievements.
benchmark.
In later generations, many prefecture-level cities with poor economies, even though they knew that if a runway could only handle 50 takeoffs and landings a day, they would definitely lose money in subsidies, they still launched the project and did not hesitate to fly a few planes a day.
Therefore, Gu Kun feels that it is almost time to build a second runway. Because this kind of project itself requires a construction period of two to three years. According to the current growth momentum, when it is completed in two or three years, Lanfang Airport's No. 1 runway will definitely be
It is already overloaded with 240 takeoffs and landings every day.
While thinking wildly, the plane had already taken off, and after a two-and-a-half-hour flight, it landed steadily at Cambridge Airport in Ark City.
This should be Gu Kun's first time flying to this airport, and it will also be the last time. Before, he came to Ark City from Hongqiao, Hujiang River. Even if he comes to Ark City again in the future, it will probably be converted to military use - Ark City on the other side of the river.
The international airport is about to be completed and will be put into commercial use next year. By then, Cambridge, this old and outdated historical airport, will be converted to purely military use.
Ma Feng made very careful arrangements and sent a car to pick him up at the airport. He also came in person. He also found the highest-end hotel he could find near the headquarters of Ali Baba and Huang Yi in the west of the city and booked a presidential suite on the first floor.
.
"The hotels in Qiantang are not as good as those in Xiangjiang and Hujiang, don't mind." Ma Feng knew that Gu Kun was very particular, so he took the initiative to remind him.
Gu Kun smiled casually: "What does it matter? I don't stay in hotels in Hujiang, I always live in river view villas - I can tolerate the smelly mud soup of the Huangpu River. I can buy a lake view here.
Any room with a river view is fine. This time I’m here, Lao Ma, you have to introduce me to me."
Ma Feng was really surprised: "I thought you didn't like buying a house. You've been in Hong Kong for so long, and haven't you always stayed in hotels? I heard that you reserved the presidential suite at the Peninsula Hotel for more than a year."
Gu Kun waved his hand magnanimously: "That's different. Xiangjiang is because I don't think it's worth it. After a few years when housing prices fall and become more reasonable, I will consider it.
But I am optimistic about the development of your mainland. Whether it is Hujiang, Guangdong, the Special Economic Zone, or even your Ark City, there is a lot of room for future development. Even those in Beijing that rely on policies cannot be underestimated."
Ma Feng immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's easy to say. It's rare that you think highly of the development here. I'll take care of small things like buying a house. I'll contact you for you. It will be more convenient for you to come in the future."
With that said, the car had already driven to the hotel. After Gu Kun was settled in, Ma Feng's people left, and the whole night was silent.
…
The next day, Ma Feng invited Ding Sanshi to Ali Baba's headquarters, and then asked Gu Kun to go over for an interview.
"Mr. Ding, you are really as young and promising as me. It's not easy." As soon as the two parties met, Gu Kun proudly praised Ding Sanshi.
This was the first meeting between Gu Kun and Ding Sanshi. When they held a reception in Lanfang, Ding Sanshi didn't go to the reception because the company was busy with business. He only went to see a few editor-in-chief staff. After all,
Among the three major portals, Huangyi is the only one that has not yet been listed on NASDAQ. Before and after the listing of these companies, the work rhythm and intensity of the bosses are completely different.
Before going public, the boss was basically busy, working desperately to prepare the way for the listing to defraud money. Once it was listed and the money was defrauded, he started to become arrogant, just like Zhang Chaoyang's before and after contrast.
This meeting actually surprised him, because he had the impression that Ding Sanshi in later generations was a fat man.
But I didn't expect that in 1999, Ding Sanshi, who was only 28 years old, was still very thin and handsome.
It seems that some people really have to encounter some setbacks before they become Buddhists. Young people are arrogant and domineering until they hit the wall.
Can you still call yourself a young person if you are not full of energy?
"You said there was some misunderstanding between us, what was it?" After meeting and sitting down, Gu Kun leaned against the sofa and lit a cigar.
Ding Sanshi didn't feel inferior at all. He sat down next to Gu Kun and said, "I wonder if Mr. Gu is interested in new online media? I heard that you have done a lot in Nasdaq and the Internet stock sector of Hong Kong stocks.