Shen Fang nodded: "No problem, it's only the beginning of 2003 anyway, no need to rush. Let's talk about two acquisition projects."
Jane was taken aback by what she heard.
"Acquisition?"
Shen Fang nodded: "It's more like an investment than an acquisition. The first investment target was Yahoo, and the second was Google. It's not just you investment banks who are optimistic about the internet; I'm also very optimistic about its future."
Jane frowned when she heard those two names.
"Yahoo??? Are you sure?"
Shen Fang smiled: "That's right."
"Sigh, Yahoo is a behemoth, and you..."
Jane didn't say it aloud, but the meaning was clear: this money was simply not enough.
Shen Fang smiled and said, "As for investment, I'm not optimistic about Yahoo's future. I'm more optimistic about Google. I heard that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are jointly planning Google's IPO, but the plan was postponed due to the cold wave. I think it wouldn't be difficult for you to get a share of the pie. I'll invest $100 million to play around with it."
Jian looked at Shen Fang with a wry smile: "Shen, the internal share dividends have basically been divided up. Now you're entering the market."
Shen Fang flashed his bright white teeth: "Show some sincerity. Yahoo's stock price is around $11 right now, so I'll probably only buy less than 10 million shares, not much."
"Chen, I want to ask you a question. Why do you favor Google over Yahoo? You know, Google was almost acquired by Yahoo in the beginning."
Shen Fang smiled: "If I told you, would you be willing to help me acquire Google shares?"
Jane nodded upon hearing this: "Actually, you can acquire it on the market without going through us, but it will take a lot of time. Although we are optimistic about Google's future, the shock brought by the cold wave makes it a bit unclear about its future. We hope you can enlighten us."
Shen Fang sneered: "Why don't I have a high opinion of Yahoo? Because its founder is an idiot!!!"
Jian Yi was stunned and bewildered: "Huh??? A fool???"
Xu Xin, who was standing to the side, almost burst out laughing...
"Ahem, it's like that, being stubborn, or you know, not being very bright, darling."
Jane nodded upon hearing this.
Why do you say that?
Shen Fang sneered: "Yahoo was born during the first dot-com bubble. At that time, investors and brands were throwing money into the internet like crazy, so Yahoo didn't need to make money through technology."
In this market environment, Yahoo became a company solely reliant on its business model and content output, thus missing out on the blue ocean of search engines. They were only focused on their own little world, thinking themselves superior, the best in the world, and invincible in the internet industry.
Yahoo was very successful in the early days of the internet, but now the emergence of Google's keyword search has transformed portal search websites.
Their failure was inevitable, partly due to organizational and strategic missteps. Initially, Yahoo was primarily a portal and search engine company, but in the face of new market changes and competition, Yahoo lacked the keen insight and decisiveness to seize market opportunities. In the early 2000s, Yahoo missed the opportunity in the search engine market, abandoned the chance to compete with Google, and also missed the opportunities presented by social networks and mobile internet.
Yahoo chose to acquire other companies to expand its business, but the acquisition costs were high, and it also brought about management and integration problems.
Strategic Issues: Yahoo! faced numerous strategic problems. In its early days, Yahoo! primarily focused on its search engine and online yellow pages. However, with the rise of search engines like Google, Yahoo!'s search business gradually shrank. Despite several attempts to restructure its search business, Yahoo! failed. Later, Yahoo! attempted to combine search and content to become a content and advertising platform. However, this strategy was unsuccessful, and Yahoo!'s advertising revenue also dwindled. Furthermore, Yahoo! attempted to expand its business through acquisitions, but these often resulted in unprofitable acquisitions due to high prices.
"Sometimes, money alone can't get things done. Their founder, Jerry Yang, can be summed up in three words: pretentious and empty-headed. He'd be fine as a technician, but he's hopeless at business, especially in the ever-changing world of the internet. After achieving fame, he didn't know how to adapt; he just wanted to acquire other people's achievements to build his empire, and he wasn't even willing to spend a lot of money..."
PS: Rejected Google twice, rejected Facebook three times.
In 2004, Yahoo wanted to acquire a mainland Chinese company in hopes of improving Yahoo China's performance. There were two options at the time:
Baidu: $150 million; 3721: $120 million
As a result, Yahoo, without considering the consequences, chose the cheapest option, and we all know the outcome. Baidu, though more expensive, has its reasons. Of course, the founder of 3721 is no slouch either.
Jerry Yang chose the latter, and Zhou Hongyi naturally became the head of Yahoo! China. Imagine what would have happened if they had bought Baidu back then? {Probably nothing much. Given Jerry Yang's character, if he had actually acquired Baidu, Baidu would probably have been in serious trouble.}
Zhou Hongyi's rise to power was remarkable; in his first year, the company achieved $40 million in revenue and $10 million in profit.
Yahoo Search was second only to Google China at the time, and its search engine, YiSou, was booming. Its email users surpassed NetEase, ranking second, and its instant messaging service, Yahoo Messenger, had over ten million daily active users. Zhou Hongyi's actions demonstrated his unwavering dedication to search, a commitment that had permeated his entire career. While Yahoo was doing well, even at its peak, its strategy for China was fundamentally flawed. Yahoo refused to invest in Zhou Hongyi while expecting him to succeed—a classic case of wanting the horse to run fast without feeding it. And that wasn't all; Yahoo actually sold Yahoo China! And to Alibaba, Jerry Yang chose to trust Lu Yun.
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