Media Tycoon since 1999

Chapter 295 How Much Is Android Worth?
Just chatting like this, it will soon be noon, and then we will arrange dinner.

Andy Rubin was a little depressed this morning, because Gao Yang had been leading the communication all the time, and talked a lot, but he didn't say whether he would invest or not, and how much he would invest in android.

Although it felt like Gao Yang was bragging, Andy Rubin couldn't help it.

The money is in the hands of others, and you have to wait for others to finish speaking.

At noon, we arranged to have dinner at the hotel where Andy Rubin lived, and everyone attended.

After lunch, Gao Yang excused that there was some business at home that would be delayed, and we will continue the discussion tomorrow morning.

Gao Yang could only entrust his uncle Wu Fei to continue to accompany Andy Rubin, and at the same time arrange for his sister-in-law Wu Ruohan to accompany him for half a day, and take Andy Rubin and Wu Fei to visit the Forbidden City in the afternoon.

Gao Yang then left politely, while Wu Ruohan drove and took Wu Fei and the two of them out for fun.

After getting into the car, Andy Rubin was a little depressed for a while, and couldn't help asking Wu Fei: "Jack, will your brother invest in android?"

Wu Ruohan's English is not bad, and she responded immediately: "Mr. Rubin, if my brother-in-law doesn't want to invest in Android, he won't talk to you so much."

Such a sentence immediately reassured Andy Rubin a lot. If it comes, it will be at ease, and the only thing to do is wait.

On Gao Yang's side, after leaving the hotel, he greeted Jin Yang, He Guangwen and others, and accompanied Lu Tao back to the company's office to drink tea and chat.

He Guangwen and Zhang Xiaolong, two professionals with programmer backgrounds, were mainly asked to provide some references for Lu Tao.

In the office, Gu Yawen made tea for everyone, and Jin Yang asked with a smile: "Gao Yang, do you want our company to invest in this Silicon Valley start-up company?"

Gao Yang shook his head: "No, at this stage, I will personally invest first, and the company will not take this risk. If Android does well in the future, the company can consider it again.

Brother Long, you and Guangwen both have a professional background in software. Brother Tao also intends to invest in Android with me. Please help me out. How much is such a Silicon Valley company worth? "

He Guangwen shook his head and smiled: "To be honest, I don't know much about companies in Silicon Valley, as Andy Rubin introduced in the morning, he only has a development team of 10 people.

Although many of them have rich experience in the industry, it is very difficult to challenge the smartphone market dominated by giants just by doing open source software systems.

The difficulty lies not in developing the operating system itself, but in building a developer ecosystem and marketing. For a small entrepreneurial company, it is very difficult.

This is a 2B business, not a 2C business.

Brother Long developed foxmail by himself. I think Brother Long should have more say. "

Zhang Xiaolong said with a smile: "Mr. Gao, Mr. Lu, then I will talk about my feelings from my personal point of view for your reference.

When Mr. Gao discussed with Andy Rubin in the morning, he talked about geeks. I feel like I was a geek a few years ago.

I developed foxmail by myself. At that time, I never considered commercialization. I just thought about whether I could challenge Outlook, which dominates the market.

Once, I also lived in poverty. Later, Foxmail was acquired by Boda Company for 1200 million, and now it was acquired by 51 Tongcheng for 4000 million. I joined 51 Company together with the technical team.

If there is no such a process, I think foxmail will never be strong.

The goal pursued and considered by Andy Rubin's team is naturally much bigger than a small product like foxmail. What he pursues is the operating system. The potential user scale in the future may be hundreds of millions. Once it is successful, the value will be immeasurable. unimaginable.

Of course, as Guangwen analyzed just now, it is very difficult, very difficult, to take such a road and achieve success.However, it is not that there is no chance at all, it still depends on how to invest and how to develop step by step.

I think the two aspects mentioned by Mr. Gao in the morning are very important. One is to build a developer ecosystem, and the other is to build a circle of friends in the entire smartphone industry chain and carry out extensive cooperation.

At the present stage, a ten-member team headed by Andy Rubin of the android company has already carried out preliminary development of the open source system android based on the Linux platform, and the system architecture has basically been formed, and the next step is the layered development .

I don't know how such a Silicon Valley company is valued in the U.S. market. If a big company takes a fancy to it, it is normal to offer 5000 million U.S. dollars to acquire it.

If you don't like it, it may be worthless in the eyes of others.

Considering the current domestic industrial environment, I think it is normal for someone who is willing to invest, such as Mr. Gao, who has matured thinking, to give around 2000 million US dollars.

Of course, the value may be higher, but it still depends on how the investors view the value embedded in the android company. "

Gao Yang nodded and looked at Lu Tao with a smile: "Brother Tao, what's your opinion?"

Lu Tao said with a smile: "Mr. He and Mr. Zhang are both experts in the software field. You and Mr. Jin are also experts in Internet projects. How about it, Gao Yang, if you are willing to invest, then I will follow you to invest. Venture capital, It’s impossible not to take risks.”

Jin Yang said: "Gao Yang, your goal is to hold this company, which is already similar to an acquisition. People like Andy Rubin seem to be more arrogant, and they may not agree."

Gao Yang said with a smile: "I'll let him agree. To be honest, with the few guns he has now, no matter how well the android system is developed, it's impossible to succeed. The final outcome will definitely be acquired by a big company.

If I want to invest in such a company, I must firmly control it in my own hands, mainly holding equity.

In terms of research and development, as well as future operation and promotion, I will not interfere too much.

I want to test whether investing in a small Silicon Valley team with such ambitions and relatively strong R&D capabilities, such as Android, can grow into a big company in the future, even a giant like Google.

At least, in the smartphone market, there is such potential. "

Jin Yang was stunned: "Gao Yang, if you have such a strategic goal, you may need to invest a lot of money in terms of funds alone, among other things."

Gao Yang said: "No problem, in fact, I'm considering a one-time investment to acquire the equity of this company, and then use this fund to invest in US stocks to solve the long-term capital needs of Android companies.

After the Spring Festival, I have already started to try my hand at the US stock market. The investment is not much, just 100 million US dollars, but the rate of return is still good. So far, the floating profit is about 80%. "

Jin Yang immediately laughed: "I almost forgot, you are a stock god, blessed is Andy Rubin.

If you have money, you can do things easily. There are many talents in Silicon Valley, and there are also many eccentric talents. When the funds are guaranteed, the talents will come.

If Android can make an excellent smartphone platform, there will always be people willing to cooperate with upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain. "

Lu Tao was surprised: "Gao Yang, are you still investing in stocks?"

Gao Yang said: "Yes, Brother Tao, I have been investing in stocks since 1999. When the return was the highest, it doubled ten times in two years, but the principal was relatively small at that time..."

(End of this chapter)