My Age of Investment

"I've never heard of any start-up company's B-round valuation reaching 10 billion U.S. dollars, never before!"

Before the old man Gates could speak, a middle-aged white man with a Mediterranean haircut and a hooked nose spoke first.

He stared straight at Xia Jingxing, as if he wanted to see through the latter's little thoughts.

"Mr. Ballmer, since Facebook was founded, we have been making history, creating the world's largest Series A financing, 100 million users in three years.

I think we deserve that valuation. "

Xia Jingxing looked at this old man who was about the same age as Gates, and said neither humble nor overbearing.

"It hasn't reached 100 million users yet."

Ballmer's mouth is very hard, Microsoft has money and money, but it is not taken advantage of.

He thought that the Chinese boy in front of him had taken them for a fool and slaughtered them.

This old man is not an ordinary person. He is the current CEO of Microsoft and the future owner of the NBA Clippers. He is already worth tens of billions of dollars at this time. Ten years later, his worth is as high as 50 to 60 billion dollars.

The experience is also quite legendary. When he joined Microsoft, the company had been established for four years. He was neither a co-founder, nor an investor, nor a key veteran. When he joined Microsoft, his employee number was 30.

Why can you get a few points of shares in Microsoft?

That's because Ballmer signed an agreement when he joined Microsoft as a business manager.

Not only can he get a basic annual salary of around US$50,000, but he can also share 10% of the profit growth he achieves.

Later, Microsoft's business was booming, and Ballmer's agreement became a stumbling block to the company's development.

Under the coordination of the venture capital firm, Ballmer gave up the sharing agreement and converted his interest in Microsoft into eight points of shares.

Paul Allen disagreed with life and death to give Ballmer eight points of shares. In the end, the old man Gates gave up a part of the shares with emotion.

The old man Gates and Paul Allen have been reducing their shareholdings and optimizing their asset portfolios since Microsoft went public.

But Ballmer did not. By 2020, he still holds about four points of shares in Microsoft.

Other working emperors,

Compared with this one, they are all weak!

Xia Jingxing knew that this person had an extraordinary status in Microsoft and was not an ordinary professional manager, so he didn't rush to insult others.

Instead, he laughed and joked, "Why don't we wait for three months to talk? There will be 100 million users by then."

Ballmer didn't answer and looked at Gates.

Gates said with a smile: "Isn't it just a matter of 10 billion US dollars? I agree with this valuation."

A smile appeared on the faces of Facebook executives such as Babes and Puppies who were listening.

As expected of the richest man, he is so generous in his work!

Ballmer looked a little worried, this agreement was too hasty!

Gates noticed Ballmer's face, smiled, and changed the subject, "But..."

Gates glanced at Xia Jingxing and other Facebook executives, and then said, "But I have a small request."

"What request?" Xia Jingxing asked.

"The cooperation agreement between Facebook and Microsoft has been extended to ten years!"

Hearing this, Ballmer finally laughed. Gates was still the Gates he knew, without dementia.

After being tied to Bing search for ten years, Xia Jingxing felt that old man Gates wanted to tie Facebook to death.

Let’s not talk about whether Bing or Facebook will have any surprises in the development of this decade.

If Facebook develops better and better, then Bing Search will make money.

Among the FAAMG five US technology giants, Facebook's biggest competitor is Google, because both of them are mainly engaged in the realization of advertising.

Advertising revenue accounts for nearly 90% of Google's total revenue, while Facebook's is 98% or 99%.

Although the two companies have different formats, the final traffic is directed to advertising.

Blocking people's money is like killing your parents.

Google has never stopped its social ambitions. Xia Jingxing judged that after Facebook showed the potential of social advertising, Google's counterattack will only become bigger.

And if Facebook provides social data to Google search engine, so that it has the opportunity to grab social data, will the other party honestly give up the idea of ​​social networking?

Basically impossible.

Capital is always greedy and will never stop extending its tentacles to any corner of interest.

The cooperation between Facebook and Bing Search can't guarantee anything else, at least it can guarantee that Bing will surpass Google in the social search business.

If you don't train Google to have an opponent who can spy on them from behind at any time, then Google's attention will be all on Facebook, and the pressure will naturally be great.

Therefore, the cooperation between Facebook and Microsoft is almost an inevitable result.

Amazon concentrates on e-commerce, Apple concentrates on hardware, and has no competitive relationship with Facebook for the time being.

Xia Jingxing thought carefully and weighed in his heart.

This scene, in the eyes of Gates, became a kind of hesitation.

So the old man said with some displeasure: "Daren, do you still have fantasies about Google and Yahoo?"

Ballmer also looked at Xia Jingxing coldly, and cooperated tacitly with Gates to put pressure on Xia Jingxing silently.

"I have no hesitation!"

Xia Jingxing said indifferently: "It's okay to ask Facebook to sign a ten-year cooperation agreement. Microsoft has to guarantee that it will not enter the social network."

He did not forget that in addition to the instant messaging tool MSN Messenger under MSN, MSN Space will also be launched in the future.

Microsoft also has ideas about social networks. After all, social data is in the hands of partners, so how can it be safe in their own hands?

It's just that social networks are no different than others, and the siphon effect is obvious.

Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and even Apple and Google have tried social networking, but without exception, all failed.

Even the best Google+, at its best, is bound to be shut down.

Although none of these products could threaten the fledgling Facebook, Xia Jingxing still wanted to use this as a bargaining chip to get some benefits from the old man Gates.

Sure enough, Xia Jingxing's words immediately hit Microsoft's sore feet.

Ballmer jumped up like a cat on its tail and snapped, "You know, it's not Microsoft begging to invest in Facebook.

There are more young people who want to get Microsoft investment! So many to travel from Silicon Valley to Seattle.

Do you think other than Microsoft, which investment institution can give you a small company that has been established for less than three years at a valuation of US$10 billion?

Let’s not talk about the Russian investment agency DST. Everyone knows what premium factors are involved.

DST invested in you, and everyone will not agree with the valuation of tens of billions of dollars.

And Microsoft voted for you, so Facebook is a real 10 billion.

This is the brand endorsement given to you by the technology company with the largest market value in the world! "

Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Ballmer restrained his tone a little: "Young man, Microsoft has given Facebook such a high valuation, I'm afraid we all need to explain it to our stockholder friends.

This is not an easy task, and we also need to take considerable pressure and risks.

Enough is enough, good for everyone. "

Gates remained silent, letting Ballmer put the pressure on.

Big companies also have their own pride, and Xia Jingxing really slapped them in the face for making such a request.

Xia Jingxing took a deep breath. After all, Microsoft still didn't treat Facebook on an equal footing, and felt that it would be a great deal of face to invest in Facebook.

Now Facebook is going to restrain them in turn, isn't this a joke?

If it is agreed, it will be a laughing stock if it is spread out.

Thinking of this, Xia Jingxing felt that he had to hold back for the time being, as a little intolerance would lead to big plans.

However, he would not let the other party make decisions, and said coldly: "Then sign a five-year contract! The cooperation period will continue until the end of the first quarter of 2010. After the expiration, Bing still has the priority to renew the contract."

Ballmer still wanted to speak, but was stopped by Gates. He was afraid that young people would get angry, and he would really flip the table. The scene was not good. In the end, he forced Facebook to cooperate with Yahoo and Google, which was even more stupid. The loss outweighs the gain.

Five years is not short, enough for Bing to gain a place in the search engine.

"Okay, then five years!"

Gates said with a smile, drawing the final conclusion to this matter.

After reaching an agreement, the atmosphere in the office eased a lot.

Gates took the initiative to talk to Xia Jingxing again, and began to repair the relationship between the two parties.

"Daren, I heard that you also have a hedge fund under your umbrella, and I have a good relationship with Buffett, so I can introduce you to each other.

That old guy is good at investing and likes to communicate with young people. Maybe you can gain something from him. "

Business is business, Xia Jingxing quickly adjusted his mentality and said with a smile, "Okay!

However, I can say yes first, if you have to pay for the auction qualification, forget it, you can't afford such an expensive dinner. "

Gates laughed loudly and said, "No, no, that's all for cheating foreigners. As my friend, if Buffett dares to take money from you, I won't play table tennis with him next time."

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