Chapter 186 Sina Shareholders Meeting
"He is indeed only nineteen years old, but his self-discipline has exceeded his age. Otherwise, it would be impossible to achieve such amazing achievements in such a short period of time." Li Yanhong sighed. .
"It seems you admire him very much?"
Li Yanhong did not deny it.
“He deserves my respect.”
Glancing at him, Xiong Xiaoge said: "You just heard it, 120 million US dollars. Even if the people from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and I agree to help you, Baidu will not be able to come up with so much money."
< br>"This is Baidu's only opportunity to enter independent search, and I will never miss it." Li Yanhong said firmly.
“Must we enter independent search?”
“Definitely. Now I understand that Hongmeng made a three-part agreement with us last time, which actually tricked us. If they didn’t compromise at that time, In the enterprise market, Baidu will definitely enter the independent search engine and fight to the death with them.
With our technical strength, we may not lose to them.”
A flash of regret flashed in Li Yanhong's eyes.
One step behind means one step behind.
Bing Search has completely occupied most of the domestic independent search engine market through major top platforms, and has initially established its own moat.
After Li Yanhong came to understand, she regretted that she had not been aware of Bing Ying's conspiracy.
It's a pity that it was a big mistake and it's too late to regret it.
But the sale of the website made him aware of an opportunity.
Also the only chance.
Seeing him like this, Xiong Xiaoge couldn't help but sigh.
To be honest, he is not optimistic about Baidu's strategy, but he has no choice but to be on board. For the sake of maintaining and increasing the value of IDG investment, he has to help Baidu.
“Xu Liang is a smart man, he will not sell the website to you.”
Li Yanhong smiled and said, "How can you know if you don't try it?"
Having said that, this time he asked Xiong Xiaoge to be the intermediary to invite Xu Liang to meet, which was just a superficial test.
The key is to clarify the other party’s conditions and bottom line and communicate them to the partner behind them.
As for telling IDG his plan, he is not that stupid.
Investment banks are just profit-seeking bastards. If they really got his trump card, they might immediately use it to claim credit from Hongmeng in order to get a share of the investment.
He saw this kind of thing a lot when he was in Silicon Valley.
Of course you have to be careful.
Xiong Xiaoge looked at Li Yanhong. He was rich and sophisticated, and he guessed that Li Yanhong had a back-up plan. However, he understood Li Yanhong's character. If the other party didn't tell her now, he wouldn't tell her even if he asked.
“Forget it, let’s see what you can do.” Xiong Xiaoge thought to himself.
——
The ideal building in Beijing.
"Mr. Xu, we're here."
"Old Liang, just pick me up in two hours."
"Okay."
After handing over the driver, Xu Liang opened the door and walked out.
Looking at the modern office building in front of me.
"If I remember correctly, Baidu also moved here from Peking University Resource Hotel, right?"
Secretary Lu Hui nodded quickly.
They moved in December last year.
“It seems they are doing well in the enterprise market.”
"If we hadn't given up on the corporate market, Baidu wouldn't have been able to develop so fast." Lu Hui said with some reluctance in her tone.
Xu Liang smiled. There were many people in the company who had the same idea as her.
But they never thought that it was precisely because they gave up the enterprise market and devoted themselves to developing independent search engines.
Bing was able to reach nearly 60% share in just one year, completely establishing its head advantage and establishing its own moat system.
Even if Baidu becomes the leader in the enterprise search market and turns losses into profits, there will be no way back.
"Let's go in."
All the way to the twentieth floor.
After the elevator door opens, you will see the Sina logo.
After exiting the elevator, four tall and beautiful ladies in cheongsam stood against the wall.
Seeing him come in, a young lady with an oval face hurriedly came over to greet him.
"Sir, are you here to attend the Sina Shareholders Meeting?"
"Yes."
"What is the company you represent...?"
" Hongmeng Technology Company.”
After seeing the name of Hongmeng Technology Company on the list, the lady handed over a list and pointed to the line of Hongmeng Technology Company.
"Please write your name and position at the back."
Xu Liang nodded and returned it after writing.
Seeing the word president, the young lady showed a hint of surprise on her face.
Unexpectedly, the other party has already become the president of a large company at such a young age.
“Can I go in?” Xu Liang said.
"Of course, please come this way."
The young lady led the way and quickly took him to a relatively spacious conference room.
In the middle of the conference room, there is a large oval table with more than ten chairs placed around the round table.
Each chair corresponds to a nameplate.
Bring Xu Liang to the nameplate of Hongmeng Company.
"Sir, you sit here. Your assistant can sit on the chair at the back."
There are many chairs placed against the wall around the conference room.
“Thank you.”
The young lady smiled slightly and left. Xu Liang sat down on the chair.
The people around who came in advance looked over in unison, with curiosity and surprise in their eyes.
After more than a year of development, Hongmeng Company is only somewhat famous in the Internet and gaming industries. Some investment institutions are also aware of them, but in the business world, they are still unknown.
But even so, being able to participate in Sina's shareholders' meeting itself represents strength.
But he is so young, which makes people curious.
However, everyone is here for a meeting, and it is not easy to start a conversation right away.
Xu Liang looked around.
Across from him is the American Huacheng Investment, on the left is Singapore Innovation Technology, and on the right is Sumitomo Trading Company of Japan.
In addition, there are Goldman Sachs, one of the five major investment banks, the world's computer giant Dell, Wanwan anti-virus software company 'Trend Technology', Singapore Economic Development Board, Bank of America Ross Corporation, Ivanhoe International Group, Yingke, and Sina's major shareholder 'Sitong Lifang'.
Of course, these are actually only Sina shareholders who hold relatively large shares. There are dozens of other shareholders holding less than 1% of the shares.
Sina's equity is very dispersed, with the total number of shareholders reaching more than one hundred.
Obviously, those who held too few shares did not attend the shareholders' meeting.
In addition, except for SoftBank, which sold its shares to Hongmeng, the other companies are basically the same companies that originally invested in Sina.
When Sina went public on April 17, 2000, the Nasdaq crisis had already broken out. After the half-year stock ban period ended, Sina's stock price had fallen by half of the average shareholding cost.
In other words, they are all trapped.
Unless you are willing to sell your positions and exit, you will have to accompany Sina to continue to struggle in the Nasdaq crisis.
‘Da da’.
With the sound of footsteps, six people walked in one after another.
The one at the front is a young man wearing a black suit, with a big nose, thick lips, and glasses, who looks a little honest.
It was Wang Zhidong whom I had met once.
A tragic entrepreneur who will be kicked out of Sina in a few months.
His experience served as a great warning to Chinese Internet entrepreneurs, so much so that the AB-share model became popular in the Chinese venture capital industry in order to firmly grasp the management rights of the enterprise.
After Wang Zhidong, Jiang Fengnian, chairman of Sina, came in.
Duan Yongji, co-chairman of Sina and president of Stone Group.
Sina Director Chief Operating Officer Mao Daolin, Director Davis, Director Wang Yan.
At present, there are only five of them on Sina's board of directors. Later, after acquiring Sunshine Culture Network Television Holdings Co., Ltd., it became seven.
Later, two more outside directors were added, bringing the number to nine.
As the CEO and president of Sina, Wang Zhidong is not a member of the board of directors, but he is indeed the top leader of the company and sits at the top without hesitation.
Looking around at everyone, most of them are old faces.
But when I saw Xu Liang, I subconsciously stayed for a while.
Nothing else.
Among the directors and shareholder representatives who are in their 30s and above, and even most of them in their 40s and 50s, Xu Liang, who is less than 20 years old, still looks... young.
It’s hard not to notice.
After nodding to him, Wang Zhidong withdrew his gaze.
"Welcome to all shareholders to come to Ideal Building and participate in Sina's 2001 Shareholders' Meeting."
Wow....
After polite applause.
"Now, Mao Daolin, Chief Operating Officer of Sina, will introduce to you the development status of Sina in 2000, as well as its financial report."
Mao Daolin picked up the manuscript in his hand.
"Dear shareholder representatives, as of January 18, 2001, Sina has more than 17 million registered users worldwide, and the average monthly page views have increased to 84 million.
A 167% increase from last year.
It is a great honor that because of Sina's extensive global reach and in-depth understanding of the local market, it was selected as the only Internet partner of the Chinese Sports Delegation and its official website for the 27th Olympic Games last year.
With the extensive influence of the Olympic Games, Sina's position as the world's No. 1 Chinese portal continues to be consolidated and strengthened. "
After a pause to allow everyone time to digest, Mao Daolin continued.
" Thanks to the company's continuous development, Sina created a net revenue of US$24.2 million in 2000. Revenue increased 514% from net revenue of $4.7 million in 1999.
Including amortized non-cash expenses such as compensation related to intangible assets and stock options, the company had a net loss of US$43.35 million in fiscal year 2000.
The pro forma net loss per share was reduced to US$0.15, which was US$0.07 less than the market estimate of US$0.22 per share.
In other words, Sina's development is far better than market expectations.
In addition, judging from Sina's operations in the four quarters of 2000, the company's revenue growth is much greater than its debt growth.
The company's debt ratio decreased by an average of 18% in the four quarters.
So, we have every reason to believe that in one to two years at most, Sina.com can turn losses into profits and create good returns for shareholders.
Finally, Sina currently holds $98 million in cash and short-term investments, and our financial position remains healthy... ”
Under Mao Daolin’s explanation, everyone had a basic understanding of Sina’s current finances.
Especially Xu Liang found from Sina’s financial report that their debt ratio It is indeed declining, and advertising revenue has increased by more than 200% every quarter.
The business is indeed very good.
But judging from the expressions of other shareholders at the scene, it seems that they are not satisfied with Sina's financial performance. Very approved.
The reason is not hard to guess.
It can be seen from Sina's financial statements that it will take at least one or two years for them to turn a profit.
This takes too long and the efficiency of fund utilization is too low.
Moreover, it is still unknown whether China's economy can continue to develop for such a long time without encountering major problems.
After all, these days, the theory of China's collapse is popular in the United States, and there are also voices in Washington to curb China's development. What happened in Europe is proof.
Therefore, what they want is to get out of trouble as soon as possible, make a fortune and leave, rather than accompany Sina to grow old slowly.
(End of this chapter)