Money was always mankind's greatest motivation.
Because he saw the hope of success, Gu Honglou was unprecedentedly proactive.
The next morning, Gu Honglou rushed to the hotel and met up with Li Dong.
The first thing he said when he saw Li Dong was, "General Manager Li, leave this to me. I promise I'll handle it properly!"
Li Dong was delighted. Gu Honglou wouldn't have said that if he wasn't confident.
"Then I'll count on you, Mr. Gu!"
Li Dong smiled. He didn't ask him what exactly he found to make him so confident all of a sudden.
Because Gu Honglou hadn't had breakfast yet, they went to see Xu Yong after having a simple breakfast.
Before leaving the hotel, Li Dong met Hu Yue's boss again, but he didn't see Hu Yue this time.
Seeing Li Dong, the mature woman didn't stop. She nodded slightly and left. Before leaving, she took a look at Gu Honglou.
Gu Honglou also took a look at her. Seeing Li Dong looking at him, Gu Honglou smiled and said, "You look familiar. I've probably seen you once at a friend's place."
Although Li Dong was a little curious, he didn't ask.
…
Seeing Li Dong again, Xu Yong's smile was a lot more fake.
"General Manager Li, we meet again!"
Li Dong smiled and shook hands with him. "Sorry to disturb you, but I'm really sincere."
Xu Yong smiled and didn't say anything. This was the second time. Next time, someone would probably stop Li Dong.
Because of Gu Honglou, Xu Yong couldn't help but take another look at him.
Seeing Xu Yong looking at him, Gu Honglou smiled and stretched out his hand. "General Manager Xu, I'm Gu Honglou from Honglou Intermediary. Nice to meet you."
Xu Yong thought for a moment and shook hands with him. "General Manager Gu, it's been a long time."
Gu Honglou immediately showed an extremely honored expression and said with an exaggerated smile, "I didn't expect that General Manager Xu would still remember me. I'm honored!"
Xu Yong smiled and said nothing. Gu Honglou was a Maitreya Buddha-like figure, so long as one saw him once, it would be hard to forget him.
Moreover, Gu Honglou specialized in dealing with the elites of the business world in Beijing, so it was not strange for them to have contact before.
Li Dong even invited Gu Honglou. Xu Yong couldn't help but be interested.
One had to know that Gu Honglou was a middleman, not a negotiator.
What was a middleman? It meant that both sides were trying to pull strings. Both sides had their own ideas, and they were the middlemen.
Furthermore, Gu Honglou had not contacted him before. Now that he had come with Li Dong unilaterally, he did not live up to his name as a middleman.
After asking Li Dong and the others to sit down, Xu Yong did not speak but listened attentively.
Since Li Dong came to see him again, he must have felt that there was something that could move him.
Xu Yong was very curious. Why did Li Dong think that he could make him change his mind?
Li Dong did not speak but looked at Gu Honglou. This time, he was counting on Gu Honglou.
However, Gu Honglou did not directly talk about the shares. Instead, he smiled and said, "I heard that Director Xu's company is developing a new drug recently?"
Xu Yong nodded. This was not a big secret, so there was no need to deny it.
"The investment for the new drug, from the development to the production, is not a small amount. Director Xu has already started to contact the banks and venture capital investors, right?"
Xu Yong became spirited. He glanced at Gu Honglou and did not speak.
Developing a new drug was not a secret, but contacting venture capital investors and banks was a real secret. Furthermore, it was only a preliminary discussion. They had not officially met yet.
Xu Yong still remained silent. However, it was not because he was impatient, but because he wanted to hear Gu Honglou continue.
Gu Honglou was not surprised. He continued, "Since Director Xu is short of money, why don't you consider selling your Baidu shares and choose venture capital and banks instead?"
Xu Yong did not remain silent this time. Instead, he replied, "Investment and return are directly proportional."
Both Li Dong and Gu Honglou understood what he meant.
What Xu Yong meant was that keeping Baidu shares would bring him more profits, and he would need to pay less for venture capital and banks.
This was a problem of money. In the end, it was still a problem of price.
Li Dong wanted to speak, but Gu Honglou shook his head.
Gu Honglou smiled and said, "To put it bluntly, Director Xu's new drug doesn't seem to be very optimistic about it. The banks won't give you a loan, right?"
Xu Yong's expression did not change. He said calmly, "Director Gu, you don't have to worry about this."
"Hehe, I understand what Director Xu means. You're mainly focusing on venture capital."
Gu Honglou drank a mouthful of water and continued, "Let's not talk about whether venture capital investors are willing to invest or not. Even if there are venture capital investors willing to take over, will Director Xu really be willing?"
One must know that venture capital was not a charity. Don't expect them to fork out money for a business that was not profitable.
If Xu Yong could not bring them the profits they deserved, they would definitely withdraw their investment.
Even if they did not withdraw their investment, Xu Yong's authority in the company would gradually decrease as time passed.
But the problem was that he had lost the right to speak. Xu Yong had learned his lesson from the mistakes of others.
Back at Baidu, it was precisely because his authority gradually decreased that he was kicked out of the board of directors, and he was even kicked out of the company.
It was not impossible, and the possibility was very high. Many companies were kicked out of the company because the founder's shares were reduced.
Xu Yong had already experienced it once. Was he really willing to go through it again?
Xu Yong's expression began to change. For the first time, he retorted agitatedly, "I'm very optimistic about my new drug. As long as it's released, it will definitely bring incomparably huge profits."
"How long will that take? Research and development, clinical trials … It will take at least a few years for the drug to hit the market. Can Director Xu hold on until then? "
"Baidu is going to be listed soon. After that, I can choose to sell a portion of it!"
Gu Honglou shook his head and disagreed. "Director Xu, a straightforward person does not resort to insinuations. Aren't you so determined now because you think that Baidu will definitely make a lot of money if it gets listed?"
Gu Honglou did not deny this, so he did not reply.
"But Director Xu, don't forget about NetEase!"
Speaking of NetEase, it was a great tragedy.
Since it was listed on NASDAQ in 2000, NetEase's stock price did not rise but fell. It had been almost five years since it was listed, and the stock price was still the same as the issue price.
In other words, the value of the shareholders who held NetEase's stock had not changed in the past five years.
And this was under the condition that the price of goods did not rise. After five years, they had suffered losses.
Xu Yong was in this business, so how could he not know about NetEase?
Xu Yong's expression changed slightly. To be honest, was he so confident in Baidu?
This was not necessarily true. Not to mention Gu Honglou, even Li Dong knew that Xu Yong had suggested selling Baidu as a package.
It was precisely because he did not think highly of Baidu that he had made some decisions that contradicted Li Yanhong's, which caused the rift between them to widen.
This was a stab in Xu Yong's sore spot. Xu Yong became silent again.
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