Bragging, as expected, came with a price. Shortly after Shanhai Capital's latest article about Long-Term Capital Management was published on Yahoo, eBay issued a new announcement regarding the adjustment of its business direction.
Sure enough, the market was in an uproar. Daisy Green called them, somewhat gloatingly, to ask if the remaining twenty million dollars would still be used to buy eBay shares.
"Buy!" He Zhengcheng said fiercely.
It must be said that the stock market often trades on a concept, regardless of whether there is real performance to back it up. Under Goldman Sachs' operation, with some additional documents submitted, eBay's listing date was surprisingly not delayed.
"What did you say?" He Zhengcheng received a call from Pierre Omidyar.
"Do you personally need eBay shares? I can lend you money to buy them, at the same price as company employees." Pierre Omidyar said.
"Of course, of course, no one would refuse!" He Zhengcheng knew that shares purchased this way would be restricted shares, generally requiring a year before they could be transferred.
"Then come over. It can be submitted along with the supplementary materials this time." Pierre Omidyar said.
"Okay, I'll be right there!" He Zhengcheng had no more pretense; he quickly took the bait.
Upon arriving at eBay, Pierre Omidyar handed He Zhengcheng a document: an employment contract, stating that eBay was hiring him as a senior consultant for the company. This position, used for public relations with important figures, also came with a substantial annual salary.
Omidyar gave him a loan agreement and a contract to purchase 100,000 eBay shares, with the loan amount being less than five hundred thousand dollars. As long as it listed, it would essentially multiply several times. Even at 1Bay, it was equivalent to giving him over a million dollars in profit, and the repayment period was after the stock's lock-up period, which further relieved him of any repayment pressure. Pierre Omidyar's generosity was truly astounding; how long had they even known each other!
In the revised listing document, eBay aimed to raise 60 to 70 million dollars, offering 3.9 million shares, with the share price range set at 16 to 18.
"Not bad, the stock price increase didn't exceed expectations." He Zhengcheng thought. A maximum of 18 dollars, which was the same level as in his previous life, but with 40 million dollars, could he buy more than 5% of eBay shares? Let's calculate... based on the issuance of 3.9 million new shares, and it seems there are also 100,000 internal employee shares, so eBay's total shares are approximately 40.2 million. At a price of 18 dollars per share, eBay's total market value upon listing would be approximately 723.6 million dollars. 40 million divided by this total market value is 5.53%, which is good; he wasn't out of the game.
"Do you think we should call Ji Jiasheng over?" Chao Yang asked.
"Call him over?" He Zhengcheng questioned.
Logically, he should indeed be called over. This time, not only was there an additional 20 million dollars in investment, and a connection with Yang Zhiyuan of Yahoo, but a board seat on eBay after its listing was also basically confirmed. This would be a huge boost for Shanhai Capital.
Of course, for other venture capitalists, Shanhai Capital would be like reaping where it did not sow, which could offend the venture capitalists who had previously invested in eBay. Whether they could successfully join eBay's board of directors still carried some risk. How to make the decision truly related to the future development of Shanhai Capital. So, often, when benefits are in front of you, whether to take them and how to take them truly tests a person's ability and luck.
"If he's called over, will you or he join eBay's board of directors?" Chao Yang asked.
"???" He Zhengcheng was confused.
"This is our first major project, and an unexpectedly large one, but Ji Jiasheng is the representative figure of our Shanhai Capital." Chao Yang explained.
He Zhengcheng already understood what this meant: he had picked the peaches of Silicon Valley venture capital, and Ji Jiasheng would come and pick his peaches.
"It's not that he wants it that way, but he needs to be on eBay's board of directors for us to potentially join Lenovo's board of directors." Chao Yang explained.
The reputation of an investment institution is sometimes more important than capital. With a reputation, one can acquire capital, which is equivalent to opening up a source of wealth. This allows for long-term stable survival, and the upper limit of capital is tied to the institution's reputation and strength. However, an investment institution founded by a rich individual, even if it has much more capital initially, the source of that capital is always his own, with an upper limit.
Ji Jiasheng was the boss; when the boss arrived, the subordinate naturally had to step aside. If he didn't tell him, He Zhengcheng could take the position directly.
"What do you think I should do?" He Zhengcheng asked. If he became an eBay director, he would be halfway into Silicon Valley, and his visibility would instantly increase countless times. Moreover, his personal growth with eBay would also bring him countless connections. Once he gave up this position, it would be like making wedding clothes for someone else... "I don't know. All these opportunities were created by you. I have no right to ask you to give it up." Chao Yang said.
Yes, if He Zhengcheng hadn't mortgaged his family's hotel for 5 million dollars, he wouldn't even have come to Silicon Valley before eBay's listing. Nor would he have known that the early explosion of the Long-Term Capital Management issue would have such a significant subsequent impact, almost changing eBay's path to listing. What he didn't know was that the stock prices of Amazon and Yahoo were also much lower than at the same time in history.
"What should I do?" He Zhengcheng called Yang Zhiyuan and Pierre Omidyar, but neither gave him a clear answer.
Temporarily putting aside his worries, He Zhengcheng went to Stanford University, the university that nurtured Silicon Valley. His friend Shi Hongwen was studying there.
There was no need to describe the scenery of Stanford University. Not only was he not in the mood, but even if he were, he couldn't tell where the main gate of Stanford University was.
"How is it, is college life at Stanford wonderful?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"Of course, there are too many geniuses here." Shi Hongwen replied.
"Are there many who are better than you?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"I'm not outstanding; I can only say I'm not falling behind." Shi Hongwen said.
"Have you made everyone remember you?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"I am actively participating in Python language development. The first generation of this language has many problems, but its development potential is huge." Shi Hongwen said.
"Developing the Python language, that's not a simple matter!" He Zhengcheng exclaimed.
"Of course it's not simple, but this language has great potential..." Shi Hongwen began.
"Forget it, don't say any more. I won't understand it anyway. Just teach me how to use it when it's developed." He Zhengcheng said, still thinking about using crawlers to retrieve various resources.
"Oh, by the way, I found a few search engines for you, but the best ones were developed by two of our university seniors." Shi Hongwen said.
"Really? I'll try them. Finding information in America these days is simply tormenting, especially without an assistant or secretary." He Zhengcheng said.
"You just started your business and you're already looking for a secretary. As expected, you're amazing." Shi Hongwen remarked.
"Who made me so capable? I can earn tens of millions in minutes!" He Zhengcheng boasted.
"You're getting more and more shameless..." Shi Hongwen laughed.
"How lonely, how lonely it is to be invincible. How empty, how empty it is to be invincible. My loneliness, who can understand me..." He Zhengcheng sang.