Li Mu had wanted to ask Su Yingxue out for lunch and give her the photo album and photos, but he was too late. Su Yingxue, who was reading in the library, was picked up by her aunt. Li Mu didn't get to see Su Yingxue, and Su Yingxue really wanted to see what Li Mu had taken of her that day. So she told Li Mu that she would tutor her sister at her aunt's house in the afternoon, and that she could come out for dinner at night.
So Li Mu made an appointment with her to pick her up at her aunt's house in the evening, and then they would go to Sanlitun for western food.
The reason why Li Mu asked Su Yingxue to go to Sanlitun for dinner was mainly because there were many foreigners in the embassy area, so the food, drink, and entertainment there were more western and modern than other places. This was also why Sanlitun became a gathering place for bars and nightclubs in the future. Besides, Li Mu also wanted to investigate the nightlife in Sanlitun. When Fatty Wang's nightclub business was completed, he would at least be a shareholder, so he had to pay attention to it.
When Li Mu returned to school with the photo album, Hui Ka Ming was working overtime in his office.
In order to test the strength of the third generation of the Xu family, for the first time, the old man of the Xu family cast aside his doting or prejudices towards his sons. He gave each of the third generation heirs a sum of money, allowing them to attempt to build a career with their own strength. As for how this money should be spent, the old man of the Xu family had his own requirements. Firstly, they could not be involved in anything that violated the law. Secondly, they could not borrow the Xu family's resources and connections. Thirdly, they could not use any cheating methods to increase their own career or falsify the funds.
For a large and prosperous family like the Xu family, the person at the helm of the family would generally not show too much favoritism towards their heirs, especially towards the younger generation. On the surface, there was still some fairness. For example, in a competition between the third generation heirs, it was said that everyone would receive the same amount of money, and no one was allowed to help. However, because there was a huge gap between the strength of each family, there was a huge gap between the resources and connections of the third generation heirs.
Although Old Master Xu did not allow them to use the Xu family's resources and connections, who could say for sure? For example, Xu Jiaming's cousin, Xu Jiahua, was the most pampered member of the Xu family in his twenties to thirties. His father was the eldest son of Old Master Xu's first wife, and was more than ten years older than Xu Jiaming's father. He had always been adored by Old Master Xu, and Xu Jiahua was the youngest son of Old Master Xu when he was old. Among the three generations of children, no one could compare to him. After he received the money from Old Master Xu, he didn't do anything, but a developer came knocking on his door and invited him to invest. This was because of his father's connections, but it wasn't a contract, so who could say for sure?
It had only been a year since the competition started, and Xu Jiahua's company had already doubled its capital through a real estate project. Moreover, this was just the valuation. Once the real estate was sold, the actual profit should reach 200%.
In comparison, Hui Ka Ming was miserable. After more than a year, he was left with only 50 million from his 100 million. He had lost almost half of his money.
Hui Ka Ming had high hopes for the internet, but he was unlucky. He had invested in a few internet companies, but none of them made it past Series A. In 2001, someone recommended him to invest in Chen Tianqiao, but he went to Shanghai and felt that Chen Tianqiao was a gambler. He did not have high hopes for Chen Tianqiao, and in the end, he missed the chance to invest in Legend of Mir.
From the time Legend of Mir was released, his actuary told him that Shanda's annual profits were estimated to be in the tens of millions.
Hui Ka Ming immediately went to look for Shanda, but they also saw great hope in Legend of Mir and started ignoring him.
Shanda's first investment in Legend of Mir was in 2003. At that time, Shanda and Actoz, the parent company of Legend of Mir, were at odds. It was also Shanda's lowest point at that time. At that time, SoftBank invested 40 million USD and held 24.9% of the company's shares. This was considered a low price. SoftBank had invested this money in the event that Shanda and Actoz's dispute couldn't be resolved.
This shows that if Shanda is developing smoothly, they will not let their investors in easily. Before Legend of Mir was released, the former Hui Ka Ming did not dare to enter the company. Now, it's too late for him to do so.
Looking at the other three generations of his heirs making money while his money was shrinking, Hui Ka Ming was having a headache. He was someone who knew economics and finance, but he did not know anything about the internet. Yet, he chose to invest in the internet industry. That's why his failure was understandable.
Today, Xu Jiaming was the only one working overtime in the whole company. He didn't have any important work to do, but he had to wait for a friend. That friend was the person he asked yesterday to help him investigate Li Mu's situation. Just an hour ago, he called to tell Xu Jiaming that the information from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce showed that Li Mu had another company called Muye Technology. When he heard that Muye Technology was registered, he immediately financed a series A with a valuation of 50 million yuan, and the leading investor was Baidu, which was rising at the moment.
Hui Ka Ming's eyes lit up. He understood what Chen Ze meant yesterday. Li Mu's 3321 was not going to be used for profit. Chen Ze even said that if he wanted to get out of this mess, he had to befriend Li Mu. His meaning was obvious. He was sending a signal that Li Mu could help him. Looks like he was talking about Makino Technology.
As for what Makino Technology does, Hui Ka Ming did not ask over the phone. He only asked the other party, "How much do you know about Makino Technology?"
The other party said he only had a rough idea and was about to report to him over the phone when Hui Ka Ming said. "Come to my company for an interview."
Hence, Hui Ka Ming rushed to his company and waited for his friend.
When it was almost eleven o 'clock, a young man about the same age as Hui Ka Ming walked into his company quickly. He passed the workstation outside and went straight to his office.
Pushing the door open, Hui Ka Ming hurriedly stood up and said eagerly, "Kuankuan, have a seat."
The young man who was called Kuankuan was called Qin Kuan. His family had been born in Yan Jing for seven or eight generations. Although his family did not have a big business in Yan Jing, they were deeply rooted in all kinds of channels and were well-informed. He could be considered as a weirdo in Hui Ka Ming's circle. According to his family background, he would definitely not be able to enter this circle. However, he had an extremely well-informed information network, which was very useful to many people like Hui Ka Ming. Therefore, Qin Kuan was able to blend into this circle which was much more powerful than him.
Qin Kuan sat opposite Hui Ka Ming and took out a document from his bag. He handed it to Hui Ka Ming and said, "This is the information about Makino Technology."
Hui Ka Ming nodded and took the document. After skimming through it, he suddenly realized, "Oh, so Tieba is created by Makino Technology."
Qin Kuan said, "Not only Tieba, but also Easy Listening. This website is now the number one MP3 download website in China. By the way, it is said that Tieba will soon surpass all the chat rooms and forums and become the world's largest Chinese community."
Hui Ka Ming's eyes flashed and he asked, "How soon?"
Qin Kuan smiled and said, "Very soon. Even if Mu Ye announces that Tieba has become the world's largest Chinese community, I believe no one will refute it."
Hui Ka Ming exclaimed, "In that case, it should be worth far more than fifty million yuan."
"Yes." Qin Kuan said, "Fifty million yuan was the price one or two months ago. Now, it is estimated to be at least two to three hundred million yuan. This is a reasonable estimate given by a big shot in the industry. One of them said that if Tieba can find a new profit model, it will be valued at a premium."
Hui Ka Ming asked in surprise, "Tieba is so powerful. Doesn't it have advertising revenue?"
Qin Kuan smiled and said, "That's the strange thing. From Easy Listening to Tieba to Tieba, there is not a single advertisement. Both websites are very pure. Maybe Mu Ye's people don't care about advertising revenue."
Hui Ka Ming asked, "If we invest in Makino Technology now, will there be any prospects?"
Qin Kuan said awkwardly, "Brother Ming, now is not the time to think about the prospects, but whether they will let us invest in it. Before Makino Technology was established, several big companies wanted to invest in Tieba, and some even wanted to acquire it. They sent more than one offer, but they only wanted Baidu's money and 10% of Baidu's shares."
Hui Ka Ming had some understanding of the Internet recently. When he thought about the form of Tieba and Baidu's business, Hui Ka Ming understood.
"It seems that Makino Technology wants Baidu's money mainly because of Baidu's resources."
Qin Kuan nodded and said, "Brother Ming, you really hit the nail on the head. People in the industry have only one word to describe Mu Ye: shrewd. Ever since he founded Easy Listening, Li Mu has been meticulously planning every step of the way. Up until now, he has made every move very well, especially in terms of financing. Although Baidu only accounts for 10% of it, it has contributed a considerable amount of users and traffic to Tieba."
As he spoke, Qin Kuan revealed a piece of information to Hui Ka Ming. "Right now, everyone is calculating how long Mu Ye's Series A money can last. I heard that they are expanding their technical team and have started promoting everywhere. At this speed, they will be able to finance Series B in a month or two."
Hui Ka Ming asked, "How many companies are interested?"
Qin Kuan smiled and said, "One of Yahoo's buddies said that basically all the famous companies in the Internet industry are interested in Makino Technology."
Hui Ka Ming fell silent.
He did some calculations in his mind. Two months ago, Baidu invested in Makino Technology with 5 million yuan for 10% of the shares. Now, Makino Technology was valued at at least 300 million yuan. If Baidu pulled out now, the 5 million yuan would become 30 million yuan, which was equivalent to a six-fold increase. This was an unprecedented rate of profit.
If he waited for a year, how much would Makino Technology be valued at? He dared not say that it could multiply its initial valuation of 50 million every two months, but in a year, it should not be a problem to multiply its initial valuation of 300 million yuan, right? If that was the case, it would be rushing towards 1 billion yuan.
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