Silicon Valley

Zhongguancun, NetEase Inc.

"Mr. Ding, there are two guests in the hall who want to discuss things with you. One is Ma Yun and the other is Cai Chongxin."

"Ma Yun, Cai Chongxin?" Ding Lei muttered to himself, moving his butt on the seat unconsciously, "Could it be Ma Yun who made the Chinese Yellow Pages and then created Taobao?"

In the early days of China's Internet circle, Ding Lei had a general understanding of this group of Internet entrepreneurs.

"Please come in!"

"Okay, Mr. Ding!"

After a while, the assistant brought Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin to Ding Lei's office.

Although Ma Yun and Ding Lei have not met, they are very familiar with each other.

"Mr. Ding, hello!" Jack Ma greeted Ding Lei with a smile, "I'm Jack Ma, and next to me is Cai Chongxin."

"Hello, please take a seat. Assistant Li, make a cup of tea for the two distinguished guests!" Ding Lei greeted with a smile.

"Yes, Mr. Ding." The assistant nodded and brought two cups of tea over after a while.

Ma Yun and Cai Chong channeled a thank you, and then looked at Ding Lei. This time, Jack Ma said to Ding Lei straight to the point: "Mr. Ding, to be honest, I founded an e-commerce company before. I came here to seek investment!"

When Ding Lei heard the words, he fell silent.

At this time, Ma Yun continued: "Mr. Ding, e-commerce is booming in the United States. I believe that it will not take long for China's e-commerce to develop."

Ding Lei said: "Well, I also believe this. However, given the current situation in China, whether it is logistics restrictions or the integrity of merchants and users, it has caused huge obstacles to China's e-commerce! Therefore, the development of e-commerce has caused huge obstacles. It's pure money-burning behavior!"

Ma Yun didn't know what to say for a while. Obviously, Ding Lei also knew something about e-commerce, which just hit the soft spot.

That's right, if you want to develop and survive, you have to burn money!

"Mr. Ma," Ding Lei said, "I also understand your purpose. Since you have begged me, I can't ignore it. Let's just say that NetEase invested 1 million US dollars in Taobao and obtained 50.1% of the shares. Mr. Ma, what do you think?"

When Ma Yun heard this, a fire suddenly rose in his heart, and he really wanted to throw the cup and leave on the spot. Jack Ma forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath, and said to Ding Lei, "Mr. Ding, don't you think that Taobao's market value is too underestimated?"

Ding Lei smiled and said, "As far as I know, your registered capital when you started your business is only a few hundred thousand RMB. After more than 4 months, I valued Taobao.com at about 2 million US dollars, and you must have made a lot of money. Come on! Besides, in the Chinese e-commerce market, Nicholas International E-commerce and 8848 are the main ones. The scale of Taobao.com is far inferior to them. Whether it can develop in the end is still a question. Therefore, the risk of investing in Taobao.com is very high. big!"

"Mr. Ding, although Taobao has a slow start, it has developed rapidly. As long as the funds are sufficient, it can catch up with them. In addition, I do not agree with your valuation of Taobao."

"Mr. Ma, what do you think the market value of Taobao should be?"

Ma Yun paused and said, "$10 million!"

Hearing this, Ding Lei laughed, "Hehe... President Ma, isn't the valuation too high! With your valuation, it is impossible for NetEase to invest in Taobao. If you are willing to accept the conditions I said earlier , we have the opportunity to cooperate!"

Ma Yun shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Ding, the price you offered is too low, it's impossible for me to agree!"

With that said, Ma Yun got up and said goodbye.

Ding Lei looked at Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin's departure, shook his head and smiled, "Haha, the valuation is 10 million US dollars, I can really imagine it. What's so difficult about an e-commerce website? With millions of dollars, NetEase can build an e-commerce by itself. website!"

...

"Cai Chongxin, contact foreign venture capital!" As soon as Ma Yun walked out of NetEase's headquarters, he was indignant.

"Ok, no problem."

That night, Cai Chongxin contacted five venture capital firms including Goldman Sachs and Sequoia.

"Mr. Ma, foreign venture capital institutions have offices in Beijing. We can meet them tomorrow."

"it is good!"

The next morning, Ma Yun stared at the dark circles under his eyes and got up very early, although he didn't sleep well last night because of his nervousness.

Goldman Sachs is more interested in Taobao, so this time Goldman Sachs led the investment, and several other venture capital firms followed. The meeting place is at the Goldman Sachs (China) office, where representatives of other venture capital firms will rush to.

Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin hurriedly had breakfast, and then drove to Zhongguancun, the Goldman Sachs office.

The meeting time was about 9 am, but at 8:30 am, Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin had arrived ahead of schedule.

The two sides greeted each other, and the person in charge of Goldman Sachs led Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin to the reception room to rest first. It didn't take long for representatives from other venture capital firms to arrive.

Everyone sat around a long table, Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin sat opposite the people from the venture capital company.

"Mr. Jack Ma, please give a detailed introduction to Taobao and its future plans, so that we can make the most accurate assessment of it!" said Bob Ellen, head of Goldman Sachs.

"Okay!" Ma Yun responded and stood up from the stool.

Facing more than a dozen pairs of eyes, Jack Ma started his "speech" calmly.

In English, Jack Ma spoke eloquently for more than half an hour, and he almost performed the magic of flickering! But it happened that the other party took this set, and I saw more than a dozen foreigners on the opposite side nod from time to time, and talk to each other from time to time.

"Clap clap clap!"

After Ma Yun finished speaking, everyone applauded.

Bob Ellen, head of Goldman Sachs, said at this time: "Mr. Jack Ma, after listening to you, I think investing in Taobao is a good choice."

"Thank you Mr. Bob Ellen!"

"Okay, Mr. Ma Yun, let's negotiate."

...

Geely Hurt frowned and looked at an employee on the opposite side who was calling his mobile phone, "Is Jack Ma's mobile phone still unavailable?"

"Yes, his phone should be off."

"Well, then call again after a while. Get through and tell him that Jiulong Investment, Prestige Capital and Nicholas International E-Commerce Company want to talk to him."

"Yes!"

...

Goldman Sachs offices.

"Mr. Jack Ma, tell me first, what is your valuation of Taobao.com?" said Bob Ellen, head of Goldman Sachs.

"$10 million." Jack Ma said with a serious expression. After speaking, he stared at them nervously and observed their expressions.

Ma Yun thought that his offer would scare them, but he only saw them frown slightly.

(To be continued ~^~)