Chapter 112 Want More

Today's meeting is about Yahoo's Series B financing.

Yahoo was founded the year before last, and Sequoia Capital invested $5 million in its angel round.

The A round was led by Milo, which was around last year.

This is the third round of financing, which is the B round of financing.

If you like, you can also have C, D, E, F, and G rounds.

Of course, the names A, B, C, D, and E are just common names.

Or it can be called the first round, the second round, the third round...

Morgan Stanley wants to lead the third round.

If it were entirely arranged by David Filo, Morgan Stanley would be the only one involved in the B round.

But before the meeting began, Milo brought in Wells Fargo and First National Bank of Boston.

So today's meeting took place.

"…As of yesterday, Yahoo's seven-day average daily active users were 5.88 million, and the seven-day average daily hits were 31.5 million, far exceeding America Online's AOL website and Microsoft's MSN website. The daily active users are even the sum of the two..."

After the opening remarks, many people in the conference room looked around with their eyes fixed on each other.

Milo drank Coke calmly, and Hector, who was sitting next to him, drank with him.

Cousin Edward also declined the iced cola that Milo offered him.

“This is the answer from Yahoo.”

Jerry Young doesn't want to come up, and David Filo hasn't come yet.

The meeting was chaired by a Yahoo veteran who co-founded the company with Jerry Young and David Filo.

Yahoo's veterans gritted their teeth and asked administrative staff to distribute materials and documents to everyone.

"The details are all in the materials, please read them."

As Asumur was the lead investor in this round, he of course also got a share.

But basically no one paid much attention to it, because for them, the investors.

They have already seen this information.

Asumur looked across.

Milo, who took the lead in drinking Coke, gave the department director of the equity research department of Morgan Stanley's San Francisco branch a very uncomfortable feeling.

Since successfully manipulating Netscape's IPO last year, Asumur has been having a great time in Silicon Valley.

The Wall Street Journal called him "the man who started the Internet wave."

The New York Times called Asumur "Silicon Valley's No. 1 engine."

The local San Francisco Chronicle even said that Asumur ushered in a new era for Silicon Valley.

This is true, because without Mo Asumur's strong push.

Netscape might not be able to go public even this year.

You should know that before approaching Morgan Stanley, Netscape had actually approached many Wall Street investment banks.

But because the Internet was a new thing, those investment banks did not accept Netscape's IPO application.

Netscape finally approached Morgan Stanley with the help of AOL.

Finally, with the full support of Mo Asumur, it was successfully listed.

And as soon as it went public, it created a new miracle in the stock market.

Because of this, Asumur and the relevant department of Morgan Stanley he leads have become the favorites of startups and investors in Silicon Valley.

After Yahoo's opening remarks, it was Morgan Stanley's turn.

Asumur waved his hand and asked the secretary to speak.

It's nothing more than talking about experiences, cases, and then talking about the beautiful vision of some Internet companies after they go public.

These are all endorsements for Morgan Stanley's investment, as they were indeed the main driving force behind the first Internet company's listing.

They have experience and ability.

Then it was Milo's turn, and his chief advisor, Saboteur, was in charge of speaking.

Before Shabtai stood up and spoke, he couldn't help but look at his boss.

I noticed that the boss put the Coke aside and was writing something on his seat with a serious look on his face.

The boss is confident that everything will be fine.

What Shabtai didn't know was that his boss was drawing naked women in his notebook...

It's just that he doesn't have much artistic talent and his paintings are very abstract.

Hector, who was standing next to her, took a glance and immediately shook his head. He took over Milo's work, added a bikini on the naked woman, and drew a few small hearts.

This person probably doesn't have much artistic talent, the bikini he drew looks like two big bags.

The little heart was also drawn crookedly.

The two had indifferent expressions, causing Edward, who was sitting on the other side of Milo, to turn his head to look.

After seeing what the two had drawn, the Wilson heir laughed.

Then he took the notebook and pen from Hector.

Then Edward added a few more strokes on top, adding some background and curves.

It's magical. The originally very abstract painting suddenly became vivid and looked very good.

Milo and Hector saw it and gave Edward a thumbs up.

The strange interaction between the three people made everyone present very curious about what they were discussing in writing.

I think he's talking about this financing meeting.

That must be the case.

Asumur's eyes twitched as he watched, and he wished he could have someone snatch the paper away right now to see what conspiracy these three people were plotting.

"...Yahoo has no competitors and is unique in its field. It has also pioneered other areas, such as search and..."

Shabtai's opening remarks acknowledged Yahoo's current market position.

This is the most attractive thing about Yahoo at the moment.

This is the biggest story it can tell the capital markets.

Even because it is so far ahead, its story is far more fascinating than that of Netscape, which has already gone public.

"...But Yahoo did all this by breaking its agreement with Mr. Blackburn. Without Mr. Blackburn's idea book, Yahoo would now be at most on the same level as AOL and MSN."

"So on behalf of my boss, Mr. Blackburn, I have officially warned Yahoo! - we will formally sue Yahoo! tomorrow for stealing ideas. Yahoo! has violated the California and US Intellectual Property Act and other relevant laws."

As soon as these words came out, the originally quiet conference room was immediately in uproar, especially several Yahoo executives, whose expressions changed immediately.

Unlike the lower-level employees who are unaware.

These senior executives, like David Filo and Jerry Young, are aware of this matter.

They were not the only ones with gloomy eyes.

You have to know that Sequoia Capital also has a vested interest in this matter.

If Milo really does this, Yahoo's current valuation of around US$1 billion will definitely be greatly affected.

In today's critical period when everyone is racing against time.

If Yahoo is embroiled in lawsuits, AOL and MSN will seize the opportunity to catch up.

Yahoo may really be doomed.

Even Morgan Stanley doesn't want this to happen.

Who says Yahoo tells the best story in the entire Silicon Valley?

If we tell stories about other companies, no matter how well they tell them, they may only make tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Using Yahoo to tell the story, the bottom line is that the profits of several hundred million dollars are the basis.

With the same amount of time and the same effort, Asumur certainly knows what to choose.

But before this, no one believed that Milo would be willing to do this.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Because Milo is also one of Yahoo's major shareholders.

The result of doing so is that his interests will also be damaged.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

In this matter, everyone should prosper together and suffer together.

This is also the reason why David Filo and Jerry Young dared to violate the agreement and use the contents of Milo's creative book.

They don't believe that someone would leave hundreds of millions of dollars to chance.

Of course, the emergence of Morgan Stanley is also one of the reasons.

"unless……"

After the uproar died down, Shabote continued, "Unless Yahoo buys Mr. Blackburn's idea book in exchange for shares of equivalent value, Mr. Blackburn will not pursue Yahoo for stealing ideas."

"Given that Yahoo has already torn up the agreement once, this time Mr. Blackburn is asking for a valuation of one billion US dollars, and Mr. Blackburn is asking for a 50% stake in total, plus the original shares and the idea book."

"…I have finished what I want to say. Thank you everyone."

The chief adviser smiled and put away the speech.

Snap, snap, snap…

In the quiet meeting room, only one person clapped his hands forcefully and vigorously.

It was none other than Milo Blackburn after he threw away a sip of Coke.

Then, Saboteur and Wendy quickly followed suit and applauded.

Behind Milo, David, who was responsible for handing him Coke, and Kenny, who was carrying a small portable refrigerator full of Coke, clapped along.

Hector and Edward looked at each other and slowly clapped their hands.

and the rest from First National Bank of Boston and Wells Fargo.

Seeing the two bosses clapping, of course they clapped along with them.

The remaining Yahoo executives, as well as people from Morgan Stanley and Sequoia Capital looked at them with gloomy faces.

Asumur suddenly raised his hand: "I request that the meeting be suspended. We need to discuss this."

Sequoia Capital's Gorman raised his hand to second the motion.

Shabtai, who was serving as the representative, quickly looked towards his boss.

Seeing Milo wave his hand, Shabtai stood up and said, "Okay."

So the meeting was suspended and people from Morgan Stanley and Sequoia Capital left together.

Go to other meeting rooms provided by Yahoo for discussion.

Yahoo executives also left one after another.

Jerry Yang wanted to follow, but after seeing Wendy's smile.

The co-founder of Yahoo had no choice but to stay.

In the large conference room.

"Azumur won't agree to that."

After everyone left, Edward said, "Morgan Stanley always only takes the biggest piece of the pie."

"That's right. Netscape went public last year, and Morgan Stanley achieved a win-win situation. They won twice."

Hector said, "They make money by underwriting Netscape's stock, and they make money by selling the stock of many glove companies as collateral. Last year, Morgan Stanley made at least $1.5 billion from Netscape."

A successfully listed Internet company can make so much dollars.

No wonder Morgan Stanley would send out a capable person like Asumur, and no wonder other Wall Street capitals would be tempted.

"It's better if he disagrees. If he disagrees, Yahoo will be mine."

Milo waved his hand and said, "But as long as Asumur is still sensible, he will not refuse. Because Morgan will only make more money by cooperating with me."

"Think about it, without my idea, Yahoo's market value before its IPO would have been only $300 to $400 million. Now, it's valued at $1 billion."

"If I wanted, I could make Yahoo's pre-IPO valuation more than Netscape's $2 billion."

Looking at the confident Milo, he said these confident words.

Hector and Edward couldn't help but look at each other.

It was mainly because of Milo’s success in the past year that they felt they had to believe it.

Write a novel and make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Make a movie and earn hundreds of millions of dollars.

After going to Wall Street for more than a month, he made even more outrageous money, nearly 2 billion US dollars!

Before anyone noticed the Internet boom, Milo had already made plans.

He invested only over 20 million U.S. dollars, but now the combined valuation of these companies' shares exceeds 800 million U.S. dollars.

A new fairy tale book was released a few days ago.

It looks like a lot of people are scolding.

But it’s only been four days and sales have already surpassed 800,000 copies…

As Milo's cousin and former best friend, Hector and Edward felt that Milo would succeed in everything he did.

Now he said it again, and Yahoo's valuation did increase by two or three times more than expected after getting his idea book.

Hector suddenly chuckled and shrugged. "Of course I believe you. But the shares you gave us are too small. Only 10%. You know, Milo, you are from Boston!"

"Yahoo's headquarters is in Silicon Valley, which is in California. This is our territory. 10% is also very little for us! And, Milo, you are also a quarter Californian!" Edward also said.

10%, this was the share that Milo had agreed upon with them before.

But now, the two representatives from the California consortium and the Boston consortium want a larger share.

This is human nature.

(End of this chapter)