Rebirth of the Wild Age

Zhongguancun, known as "China's Silicon Valley", was once a desolate cemetery in the Ming and Qing dynasties, where most of the eunuchs in the palace were buried when they died.

The eunuch is also called "Zhongguan", so this place is called "Zhongguan Tomb".

At the same time, the eunuchs are still buying landed houses near Zhongguancun, so that they can have a shelter when they are old, and they will be dragged directly to Zhongguancun for burial when they die. And the powerful eunuchs built Buddhist temples and temples here, and asked the retired old eunuchs to burn incense and pay respects to the Buddha, praying for the ancestors to forgive the loss of their little brother, and to face their ancestors shamelessly after death.

Gradually, "Zhongguan Tomb" became "Zhongguan Tun", and it was renamed "Zhongguan Village" during the Republic of China.

After the founding of New China, "Zhongguan Village" was designated as the cultural and educational district of the capital, and a large number of colleges and universities moved here. "Zhongguancun" has nothing to do with cultural people. The literary giant Guo Moruo swiped a pen, and the name "Zhongguancun" was settled in this way.

Since 1984, batches of scientific and technological personnel have gone to sea to do business, and Zhongguancun has become the "electronic street" in Beijing.

Up to now, there are many technology companies and many electronic stores, which have developed to the point of daily traffic jams.

In order to alleviate the traffic pressure, many large trees with decades of age were cut down last year, and the roadside was widened as much as possible, but the bad traffic situation still could not be solved.

What is even more troublesome is that there is no decent office building nearby.

This year, the signal released by the central government became more and more clear, and real estate developers took action after hearing the news. Zhongguancun immediately became a large construction site and built several office buildings at the same time.

...

Zhongguancun Building was built relatively early, and it finally opened this year. Sohu Network and Sogou Search jointly rented an entire floor for office use.

Today, more than 30 mainstream media reporters across the country gathered in the public meeting room of Zhongguancun Building.

"Lao Li, have you heard of Sohu.com before?"

"Yesterday, I temporarily learned to surf the Internet, and I logged on to Sohu.com, and I felt pretty good."

"I heard from my friends that this time there are several American companies investing in shares, and at least one or two million dollars will be invested, or US dollars!"

"I estimate $3 million!"

"Zhang Chaoyang is going to become a multi-millionaire."

"The high-tech industry is all about making money."

"..."

The reporters discussed in private, envious of Zhang Chaoyang, a young man, and even more interested in the emerging industry of the Internet.

Zhang Chaoyang walked into the meeting room in a suit and leather shoes, stopped sideways at the door, and invited the investment representatives in with a smile.

"Crack, click!"

Flashes went everywhere.

Everyone took their seats, and Zhang Chaoyang raised his hand and said, "Thank you, friends from the press, for coming to Sohu.com's financing signing ceremony in your busy schedule. My name is Zhang Chaoyang, and I am the CEO of Sohu.com. After nearly two years of development, Sohu.com , has grown into the largest Internet business company in China, and is the first in the world to launch the webpage comment function. This is a great initiative, people will be more closely connected with the world, the network is getting bigger, and the earth is getting smaller... After the Wall Street investment bank According to the calculation of scientific research, Sohu.com is valued at 13.5 million US dollars, and idg, Intel, Harrison, Dow Jones and Hang Lung Corporation of Hong Kong City will jointly inject 6 million US dollars into Sohu.com today..."

"Wow!"

There was a sensation in the audience, and the reporters were stunned.

"13.5 million U.S. dollars? That's more than 100 million yuan! Are foreigners crazy?"

"It's amazing. Sohu was founded less than two years ago, and it didn't make any money. It's actually valued at more than 100 million yuan."

"It's more than that, these five companies have to invest 6 million US dollars, and the combined market value of Sohu is 160 million!"

"I don't understand, I don't understand, it's too profitable to engage in the Internet!"

"How many shares does Zhang Chaoyang own? Isn't it a sole proprietorship?"

"Don't know, but the multi-millionaire certainly didn't run away."

"..."

This is the first time that a Chinese commercial website has received financing from the United States. Where have the reporters seen such a large amount of money? In their view, a website is nothing more than a website, and no matter how they think about it, they can't figure out that it can be worth more than 100 million yuan.

Because it's 1998!

The Internet bubble in the United States has inflated so much that many young people have become multi-millionaires or even billionaires through financing.

All investors firmly believe that the Internet represents the future, and the Internet boom has just begun. This is true, but the timing is wrong.

America's Internet companies have been snapped up, and Wall Street is looking for any potential site to invest in. And China is still an undeveloped land, which has promoted the inflated valuation of Chinese Internet companies.

Historically, in order to "cheat investment", Zhang Chaoyang could only make Sohu into a portal website. Just after the successful revision of Sohu, the number of visits is much lower than that of People's Daily Online. It was valued by Wall Street at more than 3 million US dollars and received a one-time investment of 2.1 million US dollars.

It is different now, Sina has not yet been formally established, NetEase is still selling software, Sohu is the only portal website in China, and the number of visits exceeds that of People.cn!

"Quiet, everyone, please be quiet." Zhang Chaoyang smiled, he was the protagonist of today.

Neither Song Weiyang nor Ding Ming showed up, just to highlight Zhang Chaoyang. In order to build momentum, Sohu.com must hold up an entrepreneurial hero and create a myth of wealth, which has become a hot topic that ordinary people talk about.

Under the lens of the reporters, Zhang Chaoyang signed contracts with representatives of five companies on behalf of Sohu Network.

So far, Sohu's shareholding structure has become: Song Weiyang (38.07%), Zhang Chaoyang (27.34%), Ding Ming (3.81%), idg (6.62%), Intel (6.81%), Harrison (6.65%), Dow Jones ( 5.95%), Hang Lung Corporation (4.75%).

It is expected to be listed in the US IPO next year to collect money!

If it cannot be listed next year, Song Weiyang will not plan to go public until after 2003.

Because until the first half of 2000, American investors had blind enthusiasm for the Internet. No matter whether you make money or not, no matter whether your profit model is unfeasible, as long as you have a lot of traffic, as long as you are famous, you will spend crazy money in it.

In the second half of 2000, the Internet bubble began to burst, and investors became more and more cautious.

Historically, Sohu was listed in July 2000. It repeatedly lowered the issue price, but it still broke on the same day. The closing price on the first day fell by US$0.0325 from the issue price.

If Sohu goes public next year, then Song Weiyang will sell part of it for cash after half a year, and sell another part of it for cash after half a year. When you have enough money in the circle, it is basically time to encounter a sharp drop in Internet stocks. At this time, you will buy back the shares and become a major shareholder after two or three years, and the stock price will rise again.

Free interview session.

The reporters suffocated and began to ask: "Mr. Zhang, how much equity in Sohu do you own now?"

Zhang Chaoyang smiled and said, "Close to 30%."

The reporter said: "That is to say, your current net worth is more than 6 million U.S. dollars, which is 50 million yuan when converted into RMB!"

"Almost." Zhang Chaoyang said.

"How much money did you have when you started your business?" the reporter asked again.

"Tens of thousands of dollars." Zhang Chaoyang said.

"Wow!"

The reporters once again exclaimed that in less than two years, tens of thousands of yuan became 50 million yuan, and the assets increased by 1000 times!

Another reporter asked: "Mr. Zhang, can you share your entrepreneurial experience?"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "Yahoo went public two years ago, and the total stock price reached 500 million U.S. dollars on the first day, but their turnover last year was only 1.3 million U.S. dollars, and their actual loss was 630,000 U.S. dollars. Among the two founders of Yahoo, One of them is Chinese. I was thinking, Yang Zhiyuan can do it, why can’t I, Zhang Chaoyang? I went back to China and inspected China’s Internet environment, so I wanted to build China’s first commercial website. I was looking for investment everywhere in the United States, and I also After looking for investors in China, I went back and forth for more than a month, and finally found a boss who is willing to invest.”

"Who invested?" The reporters asked with their small notebooks.

Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile: "Here, I would like to thank Mr. Song Weiyang, who provided me with the start-up capital."

"Song Weiyang, chairman of Xifeng?" The reporters suddenly became excited, and there was another news point.

"Yes, Mr. Song Weiyang," Zhang Chaoyang said, "At the same time, I would also like to thank my entrepreneurial partner Ding Ming. At that time, we only had a few employees, and we lived and worked in the basement. During the most difficult time, we ate instant noodles for two months. Ding Ming took care of all the logistical work, and later took charge of the administrative work, making great contributions to the development of Sohu.com.”

The reporter wondered, "Who is Ding Ming?"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "Ding Ming is Mr. Song Weiyang's college roommate. He didn't finish his sophomore year at Fudan University, so he started a business with me. His current net worth is probably more than 6 million."

Another breaking news!

A sophomore at Fudan University, who was also roommate Song Weiyang, dropped out of school to start a business just like Bill Gates. In two years, he had a net worth of more than 6 million.

The reporter asked, "Why didn't Ding Ming come today?"

Zhang Chaoyang said: "Ding Ming has resigned from the management job of Sohu.com and founded Sogou Internet Technology Company. This company is next door, and Mr. Song Weiyang and I also have shares. Ding Ming is very busy now, so he can't come to the signing ceremony today. .”

The reporter asked: "Is Sogou a portal website like Sohu?"

"No, Sogou is a search site, and its profit model is completely different from Sohu's," Zhang Chaoyang said. "If all goes well, Sogou's valuation next year will reach more than $5 million."

The reporters have already become numb, this shit costs millions of dollars, making money is easier than robbing banks.

Zhang Chaoyang also talked about various entrepreneurial stories, half true and half made up. For example, living in a basement is true, but eating instant noodles is a fabrication out of thin air.

But reporters like it, they don't know much about the Internet, and it's enough to catch these entrepreneurial stories and report wildly.