My Age of Investment

One thousand five hundred and forty-one, it was a mistake after all

After inspecting the development of Taili Speed, Xia Jingxing returned to Silicon Valley on the West Coast alone.

But before leaving, he arranged for Li Zexiang and Wang Tao to stay at the headquarters of Taili Speed Car Company, which is Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.

Both of them have a special mission, which is to try to persuade Carl, the founder of Taili Speed, to hand over some of the company's basic technologies, such as the first-generation R\u0026D drawings and related manufacturing technologies.

Of course, DJI doesn’t take their stuff for free. It can be purchased with money or it can be jointly formed with Taili Speed to form a joint venture company specializing in the Chinese market.

If the above goals cannot be achieved, then the next best thing is to obtain Taili Speed's understanding of DJI's entry into the flying car business.

As an important shareholder, DJI's decision to personally compete with Taili Speedy Auto will easily cause displeasure on Taili Speedy Automobile Co., Ltd., and will also be detrimental to Fuxing Industrial Group's overall reputation.

Xia Jingxing was still thinking about taking Taili Speeder under his command when the time came in the future.

At present, founder Carl has not experienced too many market beatings and is unwilling to sell the company. He is relatively optimistic about the development expectations of flying cars and feels that his company can become the next Tesla.

Xia Jingxing is very experienced in dealing with such companies and founders. He will first pay to support them, and when the time is right, he will carry out wholly-owned mergers and acquisitions. This is how Tudou, Kugou and other websites were acquired.

This control method of boiling frogs in warm water not only does not damage Xia Jingxing's reputation as the fourth richest man in the world, but also makes it easier to win the favor of the founder. At the same time, it does not delay the development progress of the target company. It can be said that there are many benefits.

After returning to Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing met with Kevin Systrom at the summer palace that had been renamed "thesurpace", with Kristina accompanying him.

Strom, who has shaved off all his beard, looks several years younger than the last time we met, and his outfit has also changed from a plaid shirt to a custom-made casual suit.

He was sitting under a sun umbrella with a leisurely expression, drinking coffee and looking at the green organic farm in the distance.

"Dylan, Kristina, it's better for super rich people like you to enjoy such a large piece of land, not to build a house, but to turn it into a farm."

Hearing Strom put her name next to Xia Jingxing, Kristina didn't bother to refute, and said with a smile: "The agricultural products grown by myself are more reliable to eat. And sometimes I also grow vegetables. , experience what it’s like to be a farmer.”

Looking at the farm workers busy in the fields, Strom smiled. He wanted to say how precious your time is, and what a pity it is to waste it in the fields? But then he thought about it, Kristina was already a well-known super rich man, so there was no need to run around for a little money.

Xia Jingxing crossed his legs and had a cigar in his mouth, smoking it beautifully.

Some rich people love mansions, yachts, famous paintings and antiques, or they spend all their energy on various sports such as skiing, mountain climbing, and flying airplanes.

Kristina's hobbies are quite special, she likes to plant flowers and vegetables, herd cows and ride horses.

What are your hobbies? I like to trample every opponent under my feet and watch them suffer misfortune. I don’t know if that counts as a hobby. After all, fighting with others is the real fun.

"Dylan, what are you thinking about, why don't you speak?"

Xia Jingxing turned to look at Systrom and said with a smile: "I was thinking that you actually agreed to sell the company to Facebook. I thought you would wait for a year and a half until the number of Stagra users reaches ten million or even several I’ll sell it again for tens of millions of dollars.”

Xia Jingxing was really curious about Systrom's choice. With his confidence, there was no need to make the decision to sell the company in such a hurry.

The best option is to invest in Vision Capital, burn a wave of advertising, increase the number of Stagra users, and then sell the company to Facebook at a high price.

Of course, this is just the best choice in Xia Jingxing's mind. He is used to thinking about issues from the perspective of maximizing interests.

But what Strom had in mind may be completely different from Xia Jingxing's thoughts.

Kristina also looked at Strom with a smile. She was also quite surprised by the other party's choice. She hastily signed the acquisition agreement without having time to ask further.

Strom smiled faintly, "Sell early and sell late, you will always be able to sell.

Darren, what you said that day touched me deeply. The commercialization of Stagra is indeed something I am not good at.

Finding a solid backing for it early may help stagra go further.

I don’t take financial gains and losses that seriously.

And you have already given a lot. For an app that has only been online for a month, you have given a sky-high price of 100 million US dollars! What else am I not satisfied with? "

Christina glanced at Xia Jingxing. He had offered the price of 100 million US dollars, which caused her to have a war of words with the board of directors.

Because many people in the company feel that Facebook does not need to spend this unjust money at all. With Facebook's technical strength and huge user base, it can develop a picture social application on its own and kill Stagra in minutes after it goes online.

But it turns out that the directors still took it lightly.

Stagra, which only had one million users last month, has doubled this month to two million.

This is still the case when Stagra only launches iOS applications.

In just over two months, this Internet celebrity application has become popular throughout the United States, and has spread to surrounding countries like a prairie fire. Even Canada, Mexico and South America have begun to have Stagra users.

Compared with software applications in the PC era, the promotion speed of mobile applications represented by Stagra has undoubtedly entered a new level, and its growth can no longer be judged and evaluated based on past experience.

They didn't pay enough attention last time, thinking that after the launch of Faessenger, it would crush this startup with a thunderous force.

The result was a slap in the face. The development of faessenger is indeed not slow, but it is developing faster. The upgraded versions are diligently upgraded, and the various small functions launched are also more popular among users.

Facebook is like a lion. When I meet this guy with a flat head, I feel like I have nowhere to talk.

So this time Christina learned from the failure and spared no effort to promote the decision to acquire Stagra.

Facts also proved that her decision was extremely correct.

The acquisition agreement was signed just last month, and the number of users has doubled this month. Although it is still not profitable from a book perspective, in the long run, this acquisition is definitely worth the money.

Xia Jingxing looked at Systrom with a smile on his face and said: "After the acquisition is completed, you can get 2 million shares of Facebook. From now on, we will really become a family.

I don’t have any extra requirements, just that I hope you can understand and support Christina’s work. "

Strome took a deep look at Xia Jingxing and then at Kristina, feeling that these words had profound meaning.

But before he had time to think about it, he immediately responded: "Of course, Kristina is my immediate boss now. If I don't support her, who will I support?"

Xia Jingxing smiled and said nothing more.

According to Stagra's development trajectory and growth, this is a business worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and it will become an important pillar of Facebook in the future. As long as Systrom stays at Facebook, sooner or later he will become an important executive or even an important executive of Facebook. director.

If he is on Christina's side, Christina's position will become more and more stable.

Of course, this does not mean that Christina's current position is unstable, but that she should make more preparations to avoid uncontrollable things in the future.

In the previous life, the little pockmarked guy just didn't know how to behave. He offended everyone including the founder of Stagra. He even chose to resign from Facebook even though he gave up the billions of dollars in stock that he had not yet received. He also publicly complained on major Internet platforms. Xiao Mazi's already bad public image became even worse, and in the end he became what everyone calls a lizard man.

Xia Jingxing looked at Kristina. In the long run, the position of CEO of Facebook is very difficult to sit in. It is a test of one's business and political wisdom.

…………

After staying in Silicon Valley for more than half a month, Xia Jingxing returned to the capital in late December.

The things he asked Zhang Yong to handle were basically completed.

Sohu and Charles transferred 84% of their shares in Sogou to Overseas Holdings based on a valuation of US$300 million.

Vision Capital transferred 22% of its equity in UC Youshi to Overseas Holdings based on a valuation of US$600 million. Later, Overseas Holdings invested an additional US$200 million in uc Youshi. Currently, Overseas Holdings holds a total of the company. 41.5% equity.

Vision Capital transferred 26.21% of its equity in AutoNavi to Overseas Holdings based on a valuation of US$800 million; AutoNavi then issued an additional US$200 million of new shares to Overseas Holdings. Currently, Overseas Holdings holds a total of the company 40.97% equity.

During the time when Xia Jingxing left China for the United States, Zhang Yong personally signed and completed all three transactions.

Sitting in the chairman's office of Domestic Holdings Group, Xia Jingxing listened to Zhang Yong's work report and said: "Does Sogou still have 16% equity?"

Zhang Yong replied: "In the hands of Ahri and Yunfeng Fund, I have already contacted Jack Ma. He said that when you return to China, he will personally visit you."

"Visit me in person?"

Xia Jingxing was a little confused. For such a trivial matter, whether to sell or not, Jack Ma just gave him a quick word and it was over. He still had to come to negotiate. Lao Ma was a very thoughtful person.

"Okay, let me handle his side."

Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "As long as we buy the 16% equity they hold, Sogou will be completely ours."

Xia Jingxing felt unspeakably excited when he thought that he would be able to trouble Robin Li next.

Among the three giants of bat, the old horse has surrendered, and the young horse was whipped by him with his whip until he moaned incessantly. The only thing missing was Robin Lee!

As the saying goes: A gentleman takes revenge no later than ten years. There is still an unsettled score between him and Robin Lee, and Sogou is a powerful weapon for him to deal with Robin Lee.

He didn't even understand his own search business yet, so he just imitated other people's random interference in the disputes in the world, and Robin Li was completely lost.

Zhang Yong added: "Amap and UC Browser did not do well, and they only received a little more than 40% of the stock."

Xia Jingxing waved his hands and said nonchalantly: "I've said it before, there's nothing wrong with resolving these two companies a little later. Let's get a share first.

AutoNavi is easy to do, just buy some stocks from the secondary market to complete the controlling stake.

He Xiaopeng's side is a little more troublesome, but he still doesn't give up on going public? "

Zhang Yong nodded lightly, "Every entrepreneur has a dream of going public, and He Xiaopeng is certainly not immune to this.

However, after my persuasion, he has become much more awake now. Qianxun, 360, and Penguin are all engaged in this market. UC Browser may not always be able to guarantee that the existing market share will not be eroded.

Joining a giant may not sound heroic enough, but it is a more realistic choice.

At the same time, he also gave me a guarantee that if it cannot be listed within three years, he will sell the company to us.

In addition, he also promised to do his best to cooperate with the strategic layout of overseas holdings in the past three years. "

The corners of Xia Jingxing's lips curled up slightly, "He's very smart in his calculations. He can advance and retreat freely! No matter what, let him do whatever he wants."

"By the way, what's Lao Zhou's reaction?"

The last time Xia Jingxing went to the airport to pick up Zhou Hongyi, he wanted to share with him the good news that he had acquired Sogou, but in the end he didn't.

He didn't know what kind of reaction Zhou Hongyi would have after learning about this bolt from the blue.

Do you feel that you have failed him?

Zhang Yong's expression became a little exciting, and he hesitated: "What he said... I don't know what the situation is. He hasn't contacted me for a long time."

"He should know that we acquired Sogou, right?"

"I must know it. I don't even know how many times it has been reported in the news."

"That's it!"

Xia Jingxing held his chin and thought for a long time before saying, "Okay, don't worry about his affairs, leave it to me to enlighten you."

…………

The next day.

Carrying large and small bags, Xia Jingxing arrived at the door of the villa where Zhou Hongyi's family lived and rang the doorbell.

After a few sounds, Hu Huan, wearing an apron, trotted over and opened the door.

"Sister-in-law, I just came back from the United States and brought some small gifts for you and your eldest nephew and niece."

Xia Jingxing handed the gift box to Hu Huan with a smile on his face. After some refusal, Hu Huan happily accepted the bunch of small gifts.

Then she called Xia Jing into the house and shouted into the house: "Old Zhou, Mr. Xia is here~"

After a while, Zhou Hongyi walked down the stairs with a gloomy face and looked at Xia Jingxing, who was sitting on the sofa and eating an apple. Her eyes were like those of an angry little daughter-in-law, full of resentment.

"Lao Zhou, your apples are pretty good. Did you buy them from Pan Shitou's hometown?"

Xia Jingxing acted like a normal person, as if he didn't see Zhou Hongyi's cannibalistic eyes, and even teased Zhou Hongyi with a smile.

"Why are you here?" Zhou Hongyi tried her best to control her emotions and resisted getting angry.

"Hey, look at what you said, it seems like you don't welcome me."

Seeing Xia Jingxing with his legs crossed and not looking serious, Zhou Hongyi could no longer suppress the evil fire in her heart and said loudly: "Why did you lie to me?"

"I'm not lying to you! There is a little misunderstanding here. I came here today just to explain it to you."

Xia Jingxing also put away his playful smile and said with a serious face.

"You asked me to fight penguins, and I went to fight. Did I not try my best? In the end, I almost got caught! My family was destroyed, and my wife and children were separated. The fate of being separated from me was just a short step away from me. So far.

Now, the battle is over, you can acquire Sogou with your backhand.

Let me ask you this: are you worthy of me? "

Looking at Zhou Hongyi, whose eyes were red and her face was full of grievances and unwillingness, no matter how thick-skinned Xia Jingxing was, she couldn't help but blush.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I feel a little sorry for the loyal and brave old Zhou?

Zhou Hongyi looked up to the sky and sighed, "Maybe in your opinion, 360 is just one of your chess pieces, and I am also your chess piece.

We have outlived our usefulness now, so you no longer need to consider our feelings. "

Zhou Hongyi tilted her head and looked out the window, suddenly feeling a sore nose.

He thought that Xia Jingxing would be a good mentor and friend in his life, but in the end... he paid by mistake after all! After inspecting the development of Taili Speed, Xia Jingxing returned to Silicon Valley on the West Coast alone.