1980 My literary era

While the first part of "Li Jianguo" was being promoted to the altar step by step by domestic public opinion, a feast of wealth was being staged in New York, far away in the United States.

In February last year, Sohu received $68.4 million in financing from Goldman Sachs and Intel Capital, and still has tens of millions of dollars on its books. Sohu couldn't wait to start the company's listing journey.

At this time in 1999, when Internet companies talked about going public, their first target was not their own stock exchanges, but the Nasdaq in the United States.

This electronic securities trading institution was founded in 1971. In just over twenty years, it has become one of the largest stock markets in the world. It is also the most friendly securities trading institution in the world to emerging industries, including computer software and hardware, Start-up companies in many fields such as the Internet, electronic communications, biotechnology, retail and many other countries around the world have achieved the goal of listing and financing here.

Sohu, which launched its listing plan, used extremely high efficiency to clear the obstacles to domestic listing with the help of Guowen Group, and successfully embarked on the road to Nasdaq with the help of Goldman Sachs.

May 5, New York, Manhattan, Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

The hotel located next to Central Park is one of the most representative five-star hotels in the Big Apple. The floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the hotel offer an unobstructed view of Central Park.

Today, a road show is being held in the banquet hall here.

Roadshows serve as a communication bridge between investors and financiers, and securities issuers are the team that builds this bridge. When Sohu went public, it received three powerful institutions, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, as market makers, and the help of Goldman Sachs was indispensable.

Zhang Chaoyang, who was wearing a suit and leather shoes on the stage just now, talking eloquently and answering questions from individual investors and investment institutions, came off the stage and his back was wet.

The last road show was finally over. For nearly half a month, he traveled to major cities in the United States almost every day, working with market makers to face questioning and difficulties from various investment institutions and individual investors.

For all companies that want to be listed on Nasdaq, this is something they must face.

As a foreign company, Sohu and Zhang Chaoyang face greater difficulties.

Fortunately, it all finally came to an end.

Zhang Chaoyang drank water while communicating with representatives of several market makers. Through these days of roadshow exchanges, many investment institutions and investors have shown strong interest in Sohu.

Although in the eyes of many investment institutions and investors, China is still a backward country, and the Internet companies born there do not have much future, there are still many institutions and investors who are full of interest in Sohu, because many people believe in one truth , often undeveloped fertile soil will bear the fullest fruits.

Ten days later, New York, Nasdaq exchange.

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are not very close to each other. They are both on Manhattan Island in New York, but one is on Broadway and the other is on Wall Street.

The decoration of the New York Stock Exchange is very similar to the exchange style people see in movies, but on Nasdaq, there are big screens everywhere, like a TV studio.

Nasdaq's bell-ringing platform is like a large lecture podium, with Zhang Chaoyang and many Sohu executives and board members standing on the stage.

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on the clock in front of them, and their faces were full of excitement, excitement and nervousness.

The opening time of Nasdaq is 9:30 a.m., while Sohu Enterprises rings the bell at 9:10. At this time, the clock has reached 9:09, and there is less than one minute left before ringing the bell.

The heartbeats of everyone present were beating with the rotation of the second hand. The last time was getting closer and closer, and the staff of the exchange had prepared celebration props.

"10,9.8..."

Someone read out the sound unconsciously, and everyone shouted loudly in unison: "...3, 2, 1!"

Ringing the bell for the listing is said to be ringing, but Nasdaq does not have a bell. The New York Stock Exchange also has a small hammer that looks like a judge and pretends to ring once, and then the sound of the bell is controlled by an electronic bell.

Nasdaq doesn’t even have a hammer, just an on-screen button.

Zhang Chaoyang pressed his hand on the screen, and the executives and board members behind him also crowded around to share their joy.

The media reporters who were ready to go were flashing their flashlights. When Sohu went public today, in addition to the local financial reporters in New York, the most popular ones were domestic media and reporters.

As Zhang Chaoyang pressed his hand on the screen, Sohu officially became China's first Internet company listed in the United States. This not only created the history of China's Internet industry, but also broke the history of Nasdaq.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

Under the exposure of flash lights, the staff pulled the ribbons that had been prepared. The sky full of ribbons and colorful sequins turned the bell-ringing scene into a sea of ​​joy.

Zhang Chaoyang and his companions behind him embraced each other enthusiastically, and they made history!

After the exciting celebration scene, it was time to open the market.

Sohu's issuance share price is US$36 million. Based on this issuance price, Sohu's market value will reach US$2.44 billion after listing.

As the most famous website among the three major portal websites in China, Sohu has always been the representative of "getting up early and catching up with the evening market".

In later generations, before 2000, Sohu was originally the big brother of domestic portals. However, due to internal management chaos, it missed the investment from Goldman Sachs. Sina took advantage of it and listed on Nasdaq half a year ahead of it. At that time, Sina's market capitalization reached 3.4 billion US dollars, while Sohu's market value when it went public was only 490 million US dollars.

This is of course related to the stock market crash in 2000, but the more important reason is that Sohu was too late.

Now, with the intervention of Lin Weimin and Guowen Group, Sohu's shareholders and total share capital have changed. It has also successfully obtained two rounds of financing from Goldman Sachs. It was listed on Nasdaq more than a year in advance. The stock issuance price is higher than that of later generations. More than doubled, the estimated market value has increased several times.

At 9:30, Nasdaq officially opens.

Sohu's stock code is SOHU, and the opening price is displayed on the big screen.

45 meters knife!

Sohu's stock surged 25% at the opening, which represents the recognition of Sohu by the market and investors. It also represents that countless investment institutions and investors are buying crazily on Sohu's stock code at this time.

Everyone present understood the meaning of this number and cheered.

3.05 billion US dollars. Less than half an hour after the opening, Sohu’s market value reached 3 billion US dollars.

After four rounds of financing, Zhang Chaoyang’s shares in Sohu have been less than 35%, but even so, his shares have exceeded 1 billion US dollars.

Zhang Chaoyang stared intently at the stock price on the screen, his heart filled with an incredible feeling.

This is the magic of capital!

Before ringing the bell, he was just an entrepreneur with some achievements. After ringing the bell, he became a billionaire. Although this was only paper wealth, even if it was only 1%, it would be a huge wealth.

After the ecstasy, Zhang Chaoyang suppressed his extremely excited mood and chatted and laughed with his colleagues around him.

The bell-ringing ceremony is over, the stock market has opened, and it's time for him to be interviewed.

For Nasdaq, the listing of a foreign company is not very eye-catching, and the reporters who come to interview it are just routine.

When it was the turn of domestic reporters to interview, everyone paid more attention to it.

This is China's first company listed on Nasdaq, and it is also an Internet company.

When Zhang Chaoyang was being interviewed, his mind would jump to the rising and falling stock prices from time to time, making him restless.

This kind of attention lasted until the stock market closed in the afternoon, and Sohu's stock price was fixed at 52 meters.

On the day of listing, Sohu's share price soared nearly 45%, with a market value of $3.5 billion.

This price-to-earnings ratio certainly far exceeds Sohu's current value and potential, but now is the time when Nasdaq is most obsessed with and craziest about the Internet industry. Sohu is the first Internet stock from China, so this achievement is unreasonable. Strange.

After a day of magical journey, Zhang Chaoyang still couldn't believe it when he returned to the hotel in the evening.

In one day, he had a net worth of one billion dollars.

"Calm down, calm down, these are just paper wealth." Zhang Chaoyang warned himself in his heart.

After finally calming down, he finally remembered the business.

Today's bell-ringing ceremony, Sohu's shareholders and board members were all present, except Guowen Group.

Zhang Chaoyang is very grateful to Lin Weimin and Guowen Group, because during the development process of Sohu, Lin Weimin has provided help to him and Sohu more than once, and has always stood behind him and given him the firmest support.

"Teacher Lin, we have successfully listed!" Zhang Chaoyang said excitedly into the phone. "The market response has been very good! The opening price was 45 million knives and the closing price was 52 yen, a sharp increase of 45%. Sohu's current market value exceeds 3.5 billion knives. knife!"

Lin Weimin on the other end of the phone had just gotten up and said with a smile: "Chaoyang, congratulations! From now on, you will be an Internet upstart and a billionaire!"

Zhang Chaoyang's heart was filled with joy, but he said: "Don't belittle me. These are just things on paper and cannot be taken seriously."

"Why can't you take it seriously? When the stock ban is lifted, if you just sell hundreds of thousands of shares, wouldn't you be a billionaire?"

"Haha!" Zhang Chaoyang couldn't hold back the joy in his heart. He laughed out loud and then added: "This listing is my personal success and the success of all Sohu shareholders. The shares of Guowen Group are now worth more than 5 A billion-meter knife!"

Guowenshe initially invested US$375,000 in Sohu. After two rounds of venture capital and listing financing dilution, it now has about 15% left, worth more than US$500 million.

Lin Weimin also laughed, "Yes! We also benefited from it. You have worked hard during this period, and have fun in the United States these days!"

After chatting about the good news, the two hung up the phone.

At this time, Sohu executive Chen Jianfeng came to call Zhang Chaoyang.

Sohu went public today, and they were going out to celebrate with investors and brokers in the evening.

Zhang Chaoyang, who was in a good mood, put his arms around Chen Jianfeng and walked into the elevator. When he went down to the first floor, the elevator door opened, and a group of proud young people walked towards the colorful world outside.

The wealthy and prosperous Manhattan is opening its thighs to the new Internet rich.

The night in New York was the morning in Yanjing. Lin Weimin put down the phone. Tao Huimin had just gotten up and asked: "Who is calling in the early morning?"

"He's from the United States. The company our unit invested in has gone public. It's night over there right now!"

Tao Huimin didn't say anything. After washing herself, she went to call the "leader" at home.

The nannies Sister Qin and Sister Qian were preparing breakfast and cleaning the yard. Lin Weimin was stretching his muscles at the door when he saw Tao Huimin coming out of the house holding a humming bean bag.

This girl was so crazy last night that she didn't go to bed until nearly 12 o'clock. It's only 7 o'clock in the morning. It's strange that she can get up.

After being slapped twice by Tao Huimin, she finally came to her senses.

After breakfast, Tao Huimin sent the bean buns to school, while Lin Weimin drove to work.

When he arrived at the Chinese Literature Society, Lin Weimin told his subordinates the news he had received early in the morning.

Chinese Publishing House is the third largest shareholder of Sohu. Now that Sohu is listed, Chinese Publishing House has also gained huge benefits. This is naturally a happy event, and of course it must be well publicized.

It didn't take a few minutes for the news to spread throughout the Guowen Society.

Sohu went public with a market value of US$3.5 billion. The original investment of US$375,000 by Guowenshe has now become more than US$500 million.

The public opinion of the Chinese Publishing House was instantly ignited and quickly spread to various departments and subsidiaries working abroad.

More than 500 million dollars!

Everyone was shocked when they heard the news. This is more than 4 billion yuan when converted into RMB, which is more than all the assets of the Chinese Literature Society combined, right?

Only 375,000 meters have been invested, and it has not even been two years. How many times has it doubled?

Some thoughtful people did some calculations and found that in less than two years, this investment actually made more than 1,000 times!

Not to mention robbing a bank, you can't turn on a money printing press that fast!

Dong Lin’s brilliance and martial prowess will last for generations to come!