You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 260 Taking the blame
Xiong Xiaoge was stunned for a moment after receiving Qin Shaoyan's call, and asked, "Where did YouTube get the $240 million?"

"YouTube has just confirmed a new round of financing, with a valuation of $20 billion and a % stake." Qin Shaoyan replied, "Now it has the funds to acquire Qvod."

Xiong Xiaoge frowned and asked, "But I heard that YouTube is going to be sold?"

"Who told you that?" Qin Shaoyan was stunned.

Although a lot of information about YouTube has been released before, the contacts and negotiations with Yahoo and Google are business secrets and both parties will not disclose them to the outside world before an agreement is reached.

"It's the news from Yahoo," Xiong Xiaoge replied, "It is said that the acquisition amount reached 1 billion US dollars."

“……” Qin Shaoyan was a little confused. Is Yahoo so hungry now?

They haven't even signed the letter of intent yet, and they're already bragging as soon as the word "lette" is written.

Qin Shaoyan said with some displeasure: "The people at Yahoo have no professional ethics. Can they just talk about such things casually?!"

"So, the news about Yahoo acquiring YouTube is true?" Xiong Xiaoge asked curiously.

"We just negotiated. Both parties did not sign the acquisition agreement, so it cannot be considered as being sold." Qin Shaoyan said righteously, "YouTube is just trying to diversify its fundraising. The acquisition negotiation is just a plan and does not represent the final result."

Xiong Xiaoge doesn’t care at all whether YouTube is going to be sold or not. He only cares whether YouTube has enough funds to acquire Qvod.

"Which investor did you approach for this round of financing?"

"Vanguard and BlackRock," Qin Shaoyan replied. "They are very generous and have a very correct understanding of the value of YouTube. We are very happy to cooperate with investors with such a keen sense of business."

Your statement about the sucker is quite fresh and unconventional.

Xiong Xiaoge knew that the second half of Qin Shaoyan's sentence was aimed at him. He sneered, "Two hundred and forty million US dollars may not be enough."

"I remember that YouTube CEO David Banks said it was $360 million."

"It is indeed 360 million US dollars." Qin Shaoyan did not deny it, "But this is the price after IDG completed its second round of financing."

Xiong Xiaoge was stunned for a moment, but he quickly understood what Qin Shaoyan meant.

Qin Shaoyan is willing to let them on board at a price of 240 million US dollars, and at the same time guarantee that the valuation will be pushed up after they are on board.

Xiong Xiaoge thought for a moment and then asked a key question: "YouTube doesn't have enough funds."

"If the funds are insufficient, we can always raise more funds," Qin Shaoyan replied. "YouTube has already succeeded once, and the capital market will believe that it can succeed a second time."

"In short, it's just a show for others to see." Xiong Xiaoge said sarcastically.

"The acquisition negotiations are real, the funds are real, and the acquisition intention is real, so it is real." Qin Shaoyan said seriously, "Whether to sell or not depends on the shareholders' judgment of the market prospects and personal choice."

"After all, every investor has different ideas and faces different situations."

“Some venture capitalists know that a project is very promising, but they still have to sell it, such as IDG’s investment in Penguin.”

"Boss Xiong, do you have a deep understanding of this?"

Xiong Xiaoge's face turned dark at that moment. Qin Shaoyan, you are going too far. Why did you choose me as an example when there are so many other examples you could use?

"The capital market doesn't care about whether it's a show or not, they just know that Qvod is worth that much money." Qin Shaoyan continued, "YouTube is willing to spend real money to pay for it, they have to believe it even if they don't want to."

"Besides, I am no longer the major shareholder of YouTube, so this may be more convincing."

Xiong Xiaoge remained silent and did not speak.

Qin Shaoyan added, "Boss Xiong, this is not the first time we have cooperated. Do you have any concerns?"

"Are you worried that the Qvod team will mess things up after you get in the car?"

"Then we can sign a bet agreement. If the valuation of Qvod doesn't go up, I will buy back your shares at a price of 240 million US dollars, or simply sell Qvod, and we can all happily take the money and leave."

"There's no need for a bet agreement." Xiong Xiaoge sighed, "You just need to convince other investors."

"Mr. Hou of Fortune Ventures has already said that they will not invest in the second round and are preparing to sell their shares to SoftBank to cash out."

"Softbank." Qin Shaoyan was happy to hear that. "It's OK for Softbank to join. This means that Qvod.com has a better future."

Xiong Xiaoge said coldly but didn't say anything. The impression of SoftBank in China's Internet industry is that it throws money everywhere. No matter what project it is, you can get an investment from SoftBank.

"Boss Xiong," Qin Shaoyan said, "Don't think I'm forcing you to pay. I'm doing this for the good of you, the investors."

"The spring of video websites will soon arrive, and there will definitely be a large number of competitors emerging next."

"I got this financing in order to cope with the upcoming competition. I will use my financial advantage to burn money to kick out my competitors and make Qvod the leader in China."

"As long as Qvod secures its position in the Internet video market, its valuation will soar."

Xiong Xiaoge sighed. He had to admit that Qin Shaoyan's judgment on the Internet market was correct.

Because of the stimulation from the previous acquisition news, the domestic Internet has been ready to move, and has set its sights on the blank market of video websites.

Coupled with the rapid development of YouTube, with such a good example in front of them, those hungry and thirsty investors can no longer sit still.

It is certain that many domestic video websites will emerge in the future, and it will depend on who will come out on top.

However, Qvod will definitely not be a loser. Qin Shaoyan has already reserved funds in advance and obtained the "Information Network Audiovisual Program Distribution License".

Coupled with the first-mover advantage, the only suspense for Qvod is its stock price after listing.

"Then I'll wait for your good news." Xiong Xiaoge said lightly.

"It won't take too long." Qin Shaoyan assured confidently.

……

YouTube reached an agreement with Vanguard Group and BlackRock Foundation, and the two parties soon signed a letter of intent for investment.

But this is not the end of the story, because YouTube still has a more important thing to do.

That was how to explain to Yahoo that YouTube was canceling acquisition talks.

Although the business world is like a battlefield, business credibility still has to be maintained.

David Banks, the website's CEO, had a conflicted look on his face and looked at several shareholders with speechless eyes.

Especially Qin Shaoyan, the major shareholder. You had negotiated with the CEO face to face to acquire YouTube for $1 billion. But he changed his mind the next day. Isn't this a bit too fast?

Microsoft's Davis comforted him: "It's okay, this is normal. Didn't Yahoo do something similar?"

This kind of thing is indeed very common. For example, if something has already been agreed upon and then changed, not to mention regretting it the next day, there are also many examples of things that were said in the morning but not being honored in the afternoon.

But this was all done by the subordinates. It is rare to see a big boss being unethical.

David Banks sighed. Although he was the CEO, he had to do this kind of work.

Anyway, Yahoo has done a lot of this kind of thing, and now it has backfired and retribution has come upon it.

Before David Banks could make the call, Qin Shaoyan stopped him.

Qin Shaoyan looked at Davis and said slowly: "No, this matter requires you to come forward, Davis."

Davis was surprised, "Why me?"

"When YouTube acquired Qvod, the negotiations went smoothly, but they were canceled in the end," Qin Shaoyan said seriously. "Now YouTube's acquisition negotiations with Yahoo are also going smoothly, so it's normal for them to be canceled unexpectedly."

Davis was stunned at first, then his eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "I don't think Mr. Steve Bowman would agree to sell YouTube to Yahoo, so we can only end this acquisition negotiation with regret."

If Steve Bowman could ruin YouTube's acquisition negotiations for Qvod, then isn't it normal for him to ruin another acquisition negotiation?
Qin Shaoyan still remembered the last backstabbing and was obsessed with the trouble caused by Steve Bowman, and was always ready to repay him.

This pot is very suitable for him right now.

Qin Shaoyan said appreciatively, "In fact, I admire people like Steve Bowman who work hard for the interests of the company."

Davis gloated: "I appreciate it, too."

Not only did Steve Bowman ruin the acquisition negotiations, he also colluded with Davis's opponents, which was an even more serious crime.

Davis then threw himself into his work with great enthusiasm and proposed several investment plans in the company, which were not surprisingly rejected by his opponents.

This includes YouTube's financing and acquisition plans. Of course, Davis' opponents may just be opposed out of habit, but this is exactly what Davis wants.

So Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang received an apology notice from YouTube, saying that the acquisition was canceled due to certain shareholder factors and we regret the inconvenience caused.

Jerry Yang was stunned at the time. Yahoo had made a lot of preparations for the acquisition of YouTube, even various news reports and online advertisements were prepared in advance.

So now you say it's cancelled?
Jerry Yang is getting a little anxious. It's been publicized that Yahoo is going to acquire YouTube, and the stock price has started to rise recently. And you're saying it's cancelled?!

How do I explain this to the board of directors?

How do I explain this to my shareholders?
How do I explain this to the capital market?
What will happen to Yahoo’s stock price when the news of the cancellation of the acquisition gets out?
If things go wrong, the loss will be tens of billions or even hundreds of billions!

It’s like when you’re about to get the marriage certificate, the wedding banquet is ready, and all relatives and friends have been notified.

As a result, you said that you would not get married, and the reason was unclear. Even if you wanted to add more gift money temporarily, that's fine.

Now it is not a question of embarrassment, but it will actually cause huge losses.

Yahoo has always been the one that stood people up, but today it got tricked and it couldn't stand this.

Jerry Yang decided that he must get an explanation, so he called Qin Shaoyan personally and asked him why he went back on his word.

Qin Shaoyan said with emotion, "Boss Yang, I'm sorry, brother. This matter is no longer under my control."

"What happened?" Yang Zhiyuan asked angrily, "You have to give me a reason! Is YouTube still for sale?"

"I want to sell it." Qin Shaoyan said very sincerely, "but someone doesn't want me to sell it."

"Boss Yang, let me reveal something to you. Originally, this matter was our internal trade secret, but since you asked me, I have no choice but to expose our dirty laundry to you."

"There was a problem with YouTube's acquisition of Huaxia Qvod.com. The two parties were waiting to sign the agreement, but Microsoft, one of YouTube's shareholders, suddenly made a move to block the acquisition plan."

"If YouTube cannot successfully acquire Qvod, then YouTube's value will be hard to match the price offered by Yahoo."

"I am also considering the interests of Yahoo. Otherwise, if Yahoo really acquires YouTube and finds that the facts are different from what I said before, Yahoo will suffer greater losses."

"Microsoft?!" Yang Zhiyuan was even more annoyed. "What does this have to do with them?"

"It's MSN Video, a division of Microsoft. They want to acquire YouTube at a low price." Qin Shaoyan replied, "Now that things have come to this, I can only say that I tried my best."

What kind of bullshit reason is this?
Jerry Yang was so angry that he almost burst into curses, MSN Video is like a toad wanting to eat swan meat, you can't afford the acquisition, so why are you stopping me from acquiring it?

He doesn't care whether YouTube can successfully acquire Qvod.com. It would be good for Yahoo to spend 1 billion to buy YouTube alone.

Of course, if this kind of thing gets out, it will not look good on either Yahoo or Microsoft, and it is impossible for the two companies to openly fight each other.

However, Jerry Yang was not willing to swallow this insult. He called Bill Gates directly and denounced Microsoft's actions as harming others and not benefiting itself.

Bill Gates was confused by Jerry Yang's question, as it was a matter caused by a subordinate department and he was completely unaware of it.

Even though he is the CEO of Microsoft, it is impossible for him to know everything.

Bill Gates comforted Jerry Yang and said he would investigate the situation before giving Yahoo a reply.

Jerry Yang said that if Microsoft cannot give an explanation, then don't blame us for falling out and making the matter known to everyone.

Bill Gates quickly called the relevant parties over, and Steve Bowman, the scapegoat, was completely confused.

It was he who sabotaged the acquisition of YouTube and Qvod, but it was not him who did the YouTube and Yahoo thing.

Seeing that his boss was in a bad mood, Steve Bowman naturally denied it strongly, claiming that he had nothing to do with the matter.

However, another party involved, Davis, showed up and also brought YouTube CEO David Banks as a witness.

Now that it has been proven that the acquisition plan of Qvod was indeed sabotaged, there is no need to find any further evidence regarding the matters of YouTube and Yahoo.

Bill Gates is not a judge and does not need to see evidence. He was very angry and asked Mr. Steve Bowman to resign on his own and leave Microsoft smoothly.

But now that things have come to this point, it is no longer possible for Yahoo to acquire YouTube.

Vanguard Group and BlackRock Fund did not raise funds to sell the website, but also wanted to take YouTube public.

(End of this chapter)