My Age of Investment

  Chapter 372 Anti-routine play card (seeking monthly pass)

  The next day.

  Xia Jingxing asked Zhang Chen to drive to an office building in downtown San Francisco. After searching for a long time, he finally found Ari’s US office in an old and remote office building.

  Ma Yun personally came to the front desk to greet him, and while inviting Xia Jingxing in, he said sorry: "Dalun, the office environment is rudimentary, don't mind!"

  Xia Jingxing waved his hand, “It’s okay, be thrifty and diligent, and give play to the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.”

  Ma Yun did not explain too much, after all, Ari does not have much business in the United States, so it is enough to set up a simple office.

  This kind of pragmatism, he thinks, in the eyes of wise investors, it should be a plus.

   is indeed a bonus item. Xia Jingxing knows some of Ari’s past.

  In 1999, Ari received a round of US$5 million in financing; at the end of 2000, he received another round of US$25 million in financing.

  At the time, it was not a small amount of money.

  That’s why Jack Ma, who was so complacent, directly explored the five markets of China, Hong Kong, Korea, Europe, and the United States at the same time.

  Take the United States as an example. Forty to fifty employees with an annual salary of 100,000 U.S. dollars were recruited.

   Then, from the end of 2000 to the beginning of 2001, the Internet bubble began to erupt.

  Jack Ma was educated directly!

  First, the B round investors repented, and after paying 10 million US dollars in financing, they stopped making money.

   Then, Ari broke out in a financial crisis, and the total accounted for was 7 million US dollars, and the monthly fixed expenses such as salary expenses and office rent were as high as 1.8 million US dollars.

  At that time, Ari, not to mention profit, even the revenue was pitiful.

  The company had only five months of cash flow left, which directly scared Jack Ma and started a drastic layoff.

  First, the foreigners from the Lin'an headquarters will be cut, because this group of people has the highest salary.

  At that time, Ari felt that foreigners knew the Internet and hired dozens of foreigners with a monthly salary of at least seven or eight thousand US dollars. In the same period, the monthly salary of Chinese employees was only one to two thousand yuan, and the more one was only three to five thousand yuan.

  Ari asked foreigners to halve their cash wages and triple their options.

  But almost all foreigners are gone, no one accepts this salary adjustment plan.

  Next, Ari began to attack overseas branches again.

  Under the fierce operation of Cai Congxin and Guan Mingsheng, Ari cut the U.S. branch from forty to fifty people, leaving only three people, including a front desk, and they are part-timers.

   Relying on the fierceness of cutting meat to survive, Ari reduced the fixed expenditure of 1.8 million US dollars a month to 500,000 US dollars.

  Following, with the introduction of profit models such as Chengxintong, Ari has also slowly survived, and the B2B business has begun to break even.

  Ari conducted another C round of financing in February 2004, totaling US$82 million, of which Softbank invested US$60 million, all of which were solely invested in Taobao.

  Because the B2B business was already profitable at that time, Jack Ma took out Taobao and raised it separately.

  It has been more than four years since the layoffs, and Ahri’s US office has not yet returned to its heyday.

  Xia Jingxing followed Ma Yun and walked into the office. He looked around. It was estimated that there were fewer than ten employees, and the office environment was very simple.

Once bitten, twice shy.

  He guessed that Ari now estimates that the cash flow is still under exaggerated control, after all, Taobao is still burning money at the moment.

  Ma Yun led Xia Jingxing into a conference room.

  As soon as he walked in, Xia Jingxing saw a little old man with a Mediterranean hairstyle and a short suit.

  Xia Jingxing naturally knows this Internet emperor and venture capital emperor!

  Even after many years, Ari is still SoftBank’s most successful investment.

   even said that without the investment of Ari, Sun Zhengyi should have been cold.

  Sun Zhengyi stood up with a smile, handed out his right hand, and greeted in English: "Dai Lun, hello, I’ve been admired for a long time, and I’m glad to meet you!"

  Xia Jingxing and the other party shook hands and began to compliment each other in business: "Mr. Sun, I have also admired you for a long time. Facebook needed financing at that time, and I thought of you."

   "Then why not send SoftBank a financing plan?"

  Sun Zhengyi was a bit more truthful, and asked immediately.

  Xia Jingxing had no choice but to put on a guise, “Before it had time, Axel and Microsoft both took the initiative to find the door.”

  Sun Zhengyi understands, this is to blame for not taking the initiative to attack.

  The actual situation is that after Facebook completed the A round of financing, it entered his line of sight.

  But as the valuation of Facebook continues to rise, he has gradually lost interest because he has not made a profit.

  Especially the tens of billions of dollars in valuation was exposed some time ago, which made him completely give up.

  Today I mainly talked about Ari. He didn't talk much with Xia Jingxing on Facebook. After a few words, he sat down.

  The seating order is very particular, Ma Yun sits in the first place, Xia Jingxing and Sun Zhengyi sit on both sides of Ma Yun, forming a tripartite trend.

  Sun Zhengyi took the lead and said: “Dalun, Jack has already told me everything about Envision Capital’s wanting to invest in Ari.

  I just said it straight, I want to transfer the shares of Taobao to Yahoo. "

  Xia Jingxing smiled. If Sun Zhengyi is really determined, I am afraid he will not agree with him today.

   Called himself here, and claimed that he still wanted to transfer shares to Yahoo. The picture was not just to make an offer that would make him more satisfied.

  "We can give up the acquisition of Taobao's equity and only inject capital into Ari!"

  How could Xia Jingxing let this old man take care of it at will, and directly came up with an anti-routine.

  Xia Jingxing didn't play the cards according to the routine, and he was really shocked by Sun Zhengyi. Is this going to retreat?

   "Dalun, turn Taobao into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ari, this is Jack's core financing requirement."

  Sun Zhengyi was a chicken thief and kicked the ball to Jack Ma.

  Ma Yun also looked at Xia Jingxing with a puzzled face. What do these mean? Isn’t it all done?

  Xia Jingxing kicked Jack Ma under the table to signal the latter to stay calm.

After pondering for a moment, Xia Jingxing said, "There is nothing wrong with it. If you invest in Ari, Ari can take the financing and continue to invest in Taobao.

  Mr. Sun Zhengyi can inject capital into Taobao in an equal proportion at that time, or he can give up the capital injection and choose the equity to be diluted.

  Ari’s B2B business is already profitable anyway, and most of the financing can be injected into Taobao. "

  Sun Zhengyi understands, this is not willing to be manipulated by himself, he wants to force himself to invest in Taobao, or choose Taobao shares to be diluted.

  Ma Yun's eyes lit up, this is a good way!

  Sun Zhengyi said every day that Taobao burned too much money and was under great financial pressure. He also wanted to sell Taobao’s shares to eaby.

   asked you to put pressure on Lao Tzu, now you meet a ruthless person!

  "This question is put aside first, let's talk about the capital injection of Ari!"

  Sun Zhengyi could not figure out Xia Jingxing on this issue, and Ma Yun did not come out to help speak, so he changed to a new topic.

  Xia Jingxing nodded, "Okay, let's talk about Ari!"

   "Ari's capital injection must involve Yahoo."

  (End of this chapter)