Media Tycoon since 1999

Chapter 464 You are the CEO
Gao Yang communicated with the core staff in the Android company all morning, visited the office area of ​​Android, and briefly exchanged a few words with a few ordinary employees who worked overtime.

Finally, take a group photo together.

In the afternoon, Andy Rubin, Yang Ruian, and Chen Lan accompanied Gao Yang and his party to the Twitter company for an investigation.

The android company invested 400 million US dollars in Twitter, holding 60% of the shares, and is the major shareholder, but according to the agreement, the voting rights are only 35%.

Twitter was originally just a project of Obvious, and now it has been registered as a separate Twitter company.

After the android company invested in Twitter, the garage company, which had only a dozen guns at the beginning, moved to an office building near the park in northern Palo Alto.

Twitter currently has nearly 50 employees. The main management personnel of the company are CEO and CTO Jack Dorsey, COO Ivan Williams, CMO Biz Stone, and CFO Chen Lan.

Chen Lan represents the Android company, works part-time as the CFO of Twitter, and is in charge of the financial department, but does not receive a salary from Twitter.

Twitter's office is 3 kilometers away from the Android company. The office area is less than 300 square meters. Except for a small conference room, financial room and CEO office, other personnel work in the large office area.

Funds are limited, and the current office conditions have satisfied Dorsey, Stone and Williams.

Gao Yang also met Ivan Williams for the first time today.

Williams is 34, also a geek, bald-smart and a little shorter than Bilsey.

Before Gao Yang arranged for Android to invest in Twitter, among the three entrepreneurial founders, Williams actually dominated.

Williams controls the Obvious company, and after the android injection of Twitter, he still has a 23% stake in Twitter, Dorsey has a 12% stake, and Stone has a 5% stake.

Some time ago, after Dorsey and Stone returned from their visit to China, in order to follow Gao Yang's plan, they pushed Dorsey to the position of CEO and CTO of Twitter to lead the development of Twitter.

Chen Lan and Andy Rubin spent a lot of thought before they, together with Dorsey and Stone, persuaded Williams to accept such an internal management structure adjustment.

Williams' original intention is naturally to want to control Twitter in his own hands.

However, in late September last year, accepting the android company to inject 9 million U.S. dollars into Twitter in the VC model is indeed very fragrant, and it is also the development funds that Twitter urgently needs.

At the beginning of January this year, after Dorsey and Stone returned from their visit to China, Williams was stunned by the power of 1 Weibo, and quickly put away his arrogance towards China's Internet development level.

"Mr. Gao, you are very welcome. I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."

Williams held Gao Yang's hand tightly, very enthusiastically.

Gao Yang smiled slightly: "Mr. Williams, I have been looking forward to meeting you, and you are welcome to visit Huaxia in the future."

Williams looked sincere: "Mr. Gao, I am very much looking forward to visiting Huaxia. 51 Group is a very good company..."

In the brief exchange with Williams, Gao Yang did not see the sincerity of Dorsey and Stone in his eyes.

Gao Yang also realized that this person might be the biggest unstable factor for Twitter in the future, and he had to find a way to reduce Williams' shareholding in Twitter.

Williams' Twitter stake, which is nearly double Dorsey's, could be a ticking time bomb.

Dorsey's shareholding must be higher than that of Williams.

Or, after Shao Hanyun marries Dorsey, it is fine to hold shares through Shao Hanyun...

Gao Yang and his entourage were welcomed into the conference room. Dorsey, Williams and Stone introduced Twitter's development, operation and related marketing plans respectively.

In the end, Stone introduced: “Twitter launched a new version on January 51 with reference to the innovative application of 1 Weibo, which was warmly welcomed by users.

From January 1 to yesterday, the number of new registered users reached 25 in 10 days, which is a very surprising result.

We expect that the scale of Twitter users in the North American market this year is expected to reach about 800 million, and the number of global users will exceed 1000 million..."

After listening to the introduction, Gao Yang praised: "I'm glad to see that Twitter is on the right path, and the development situation is gratifying.

Twitter is very hopeful to develop to the level of 51 Weibo, or even surpass 51 Weibo, because 51 Weibo has no plans to develop multilingual versions other than Chinese, and 51 Weibo only considers the development in the Chinese market.

The future of Twitter will focus on the mobile market, rather than the current PC client. I suggest that Twitter establish a mobile version development team as soon as possible to catch up with the development speed of smart phones, especially 3G smart phones.

The development of Twitter in the mobile market is also closely related to the growth of android. If android is welcomed by the market and users, Twitter will also benefit from it.

Now, we invite Dr. Yang Ruian, CTO of Android Company, to introduce the release plan of Android and the long-term strategic development plan of Android..."

Yang Rui'an briefly introduced the plan of android company to officially release android on February 2, and to develop the 20G version immediately after that, as well as the long-term strategic development plan centered on the GMS platform.

After Yang Rui'an finished his introduction, Williams took the lead to speak: "I very much agree with Mr. Gao's suggestion that Twitter needs to cut into the mobile market in time, saying that the era of mobile is coming, and this is where the future of Twitter lies.

However, if we want to develop the mobile version, we need to form a new development team, and this team needs at least 20 engineers.

We may soon face financial pressure again, Twitter has grown to the current user scale, and it is hoped that new venture capital will be introduced..."

After listening to Williams' speech, Gao Yang smiled slightly: "Mr. Williams, you don't have to worry about the funds needed for the development of Twitter.

Ms. Chen Lan also said just now that Twitter currently has more than 330 million cash, which is enough to maintain the company's expenses for a year.

In the next step, if necessary, the android company can continue to inject capital into Twitter according to the new valuation level.

We suggest that before Twitter's IPO is officially put on the agenda, there is no need to consider introducing new venture capital, and android companies have funds to support Twitter's development.

Before Twitter's IPO, it only needs to introduce investment banks or PE capital.

In addition, according to Twitter's current development trend and referring to 51 Weibo's operating model, it will soon be able to generate operating cash flow. "

Chen Lan also smiled and said, "Mr. Williams, please rest assured that Android has sufficient capital to support the development of Twitter."

Andy Rubin also said: "Yes, the Android company has no shortage of funds, let alone materials to support the development of Twitter."

Hearing Gao Yang and the other three's statement, Williams nodded with a smile, expressing his relief.

In fact, Williams is concerned about Twitter's financial issues, and he is more or less acting on his behalf. Dorsey is the CEO. According to the division of labor, Williams is the chief operating officer.

The development speed of Twitter is in line with Gao Yang's expectations, and he suggested that Twitter organize technical forces as soon as possible to develop a mobile version.

After returning to China, the development of the mobile version of 51 Weibo will also be put on the agenda.

Gao Yang visited and communicated with Twitter for more than two hours, and then returned to the hotel to rest. In the evening, he will have dinner with the management teams of Android and Twitter. On the afternoon of February 2, he will fly directly back to China from San Francisco.

After 8 o'clock in the evening, Shao Hanyun and Dorsey walked arm in arm near the hotel again.

Shao Hanyun suddenly said: "Jack, I have a suggestion, you should be more powerful in the management of Twitter.

Gao always considers investing in Twitter because of you. You are the CEO of the company. Mr. Gao, the management of Android, and Mr. Stone all support you.

As Mr. Gao mentioned to you when he was in China, only you can control the future of Twitter. You must be the leader of this company. This is your responsibility.

Gao has always been a very easy-going person. You haven't seen his strength when he controlled the 51 Group.

When it comes to the company's major project plans and development direction, Mr. Gao is always very strong. He will even get angry with his very good friends on the board of directors.

When it comes to matters of principle, Mr. Gao has always been steadfast. Without Mr. Gao's persistence, 51 Group would not have developed to the scale it is today.

If you want to control Twitter well, I suggest you learn more from Mr. Gao and establish your own authoritative image within the company.

For our future, you should also control Twitter..."

Faced with Shao Hanyun's suggestion, Dorsey fell into deep thought, and then looked at Shao Hanyun:
"Jessica, I still need some time, please believe me, I will be a good CEO."

Gao Yang and Wu Ruohan in the hotel's open-air cafe are also explaining the follow-up work arrangements to Wu Fei and Chen Lan.

The key point is the evolution of the subprime mortgage bubble. Gao Yang specifically told him to stay calm and respond to all changes with the same.

Gao Yang suddenly asked Wu Fei: "Brother, are you considering leaving Columbia and focusing on our business?"

Wu Fei smiled and said, "Gao Yang, I've considered this matter, when do you suggest I resign?"

Gao Yang thought about it: "After we completely withdraw from subprime mortgages, if we succeed this time, Titan Fund will have the capital to invest in U.S. stocks for a long time, and we can also issue private placements to expand the size of the fund.

As I mentioned to you and my sister-in-law before, it is in the best interest of you and our investment in the United States to become celebrities in the American investment community and use your investment ability to break into the upper class of the United States. "

Wu Fei smiled heartily: "Okay, if this short subprime loan is successful, I will leave my job and concentrate on doing a good job in Titan Fund..."

(End of this chapter)