“To put it bluntly, the only two Internet companies that currently have sufficient funds on their books to acquire Quora are Yahoo and Americen Online.
In addition to these two companies, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM, the computer giants of the previous generation, also have sufficient cash flow. However, in terms of strategic positioning and behavior style, only Microsoft has this motive.
Quora seems to be a piece of cake, but for most companies, it can only be seen but not eaten. This cake is too rich.
In my opinion, whoever Yahoo or Microsoft can acquire Quora can achieve leapfrog development in the Internet field in one fell swoop.
For Yahoo, acquiring Quora would allow them to take a big step toward their goal of becoming a media empire in the Internet age.
For Microsoft, annexing Quora will allow them to not fall behind others in the Internet era. They will finally have their own masterpiece and will no longer be an old giant that fails to make one product after another.
Because IBM, known as the "Blue Giant", entered the personal PC era, it was quickly overtaken by the former small supplier Microsoft, and could only survive by relying on corporate business. Microsoft was very afraid that it would repeat IBM's failure.
Therefore, they have a special obsession with the Internet. From the browser battle with Netscape to the MSN portal battle, Microsoft has been trying to declare to netizens and prove to Wall Street in the Internet era that Microsoft is not old yet and that Microsoft still has the ability to innovate.
They once had the best chance. Newman was once an intern at Microsoft. If Microsoft could reuse Newman at that time, then Riot Games, NewPay, and Quora, a series of products, would all belong to Microsoft.
Microsoft was going to continue its dominance in the Internet era, but unfortunately, they didn't do it.
Now there is an opportunity for Microsoft to take back Quora, the best online forum at the turn of the century. Every time I browse other online forums, I can only read it for half an hour, and there is no interesting content. Every time I look at Quora, I can go home. See till night.
According to statistics from Americen Online, Quora is currently the second most visited website in the United States. I am sure that if users were ranked by average browsing time, Quora would definitely be the first.
Not to mention that Quora has already achieved profitability. The only shortcoming of Quora is that the threshold is too high, but this problem can be easily solved by introducing high-quality users from other countries.
Therefore, I definitely don’t think Microsoft will let Yahoo acquire Quora and ignore it. This acquisition war will determine the Internet landscape for a long time to come. "
It is an opportunity for Internet companies, and it is also an opportunity for financial institutions. While Zhou Xin eats the cake, they can also get a share of the pie.
Basically only listed companies can afford to acquire Quora, which first requires the intervention of a law firm and secondly the audit by an accounting firm.
A due diligence audit of the company's financial, legal and commercial situation is required before signing a contract.
If a listed company has insufficient cash flow but wants to acquire Quora, then they need to raise funds. After submitting documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission, they can only raise funds after being reviewed by the SEC.
Financing requires the intervention of investment banks.
Acquisitions can be made last.
This series of steps takes about half a year, which is also an important reason why Zhou Xin started the work in June.
If the Internet bubble bursts, listed companies may refuse to admit their debts and would rather pay liquidated damages than execute transactions. It has happened before.
"Putting the acquisition of broadcast on hold, we must focus all our energy on acquiring Quora. Compared with Quora, the value of broadcast is limited."
“I agree that both the number of users and the way to make money are far from being comparable to Quora. Quora has found a stable profit model and is still far from this goal.
The gap with Quora is like the gap between Levi's and Hermès, and the price of Hermès is only three times that of Levi's.
What reasons do we have to acquire? "
"But we have already issued an announcement."
"We can issue an announcement to withdraw this matter, and investors will completely understand us. Who would want to acquire Quora if we can acquire it?"
After Yahoo learned that Zhou Xin was interested in selling Quora, the entire company began to move quickly, and many previously planned acquisitions were put on hold.
Yahoo's acquisition of Broadcast was also the butterfly effect brought about by Zhou Xin. This famous acquisition should have occurred in April 1999. Yahoo acquired Broadcast for US$6.7 billion.
Broadcast is an Internet broadcasting company that specializes in providing sports broadcasting services to users on the Internet. Due to bandwidth limitations, it can only provide live broadcasts of sounds, which is somewhat similar to Hupu in later generations.
Such a company with only 670,000 users would have been sold to Yahoo for US$10,000 per user if it had not been affected by Zhou Xin.
Why Zhou Xin postponed this matter is because the companies founded by Zhou Xin have all achieved profitability without exception. This has made investors and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley realize that the Internet can also be profitable, and everyone's emphasis on profitability has increased.
Broadcast is a listed company with serious losses. In 1998, its annual revenue was only US$5.1 million, and its net loss was US$185.3 million.
There have been voices within Yahoo saying that broadcast is definitely not worth $6.7 billion. After Quora said it would accept the acquisition, the opposition to the acquisition of broadcast became the loudest.
Indeed, this acquisition was later hailed as one of the 10 worst deals in Silicon Valley history.
"We have just passed a board of directors resolution to suspend all transactions and focus all our energy on acquiring Quora. This is our most important goal during this period, and I am personally responsible for it." Jerry Yang walked into the conference room and said.
Although Jerry Yang is not the president, as a member of the board of directors and a major shareholder with a high proportion of voting rights, his voice is obviously higher than that of the president.
This is like Jack Ma giving the position of chairman of the board of directors to Zhang Yong in later generations, but his words are still the most effective.
Not only Yahoo, but Microsoft also attaches great importance to this matter. Bill Gates is personally responsible for this matter.
Even AOL, which had little money, tried to get involved.
If there was a list of favorite acquisitions, AOL, which was Americon Online, would definitely be at the top of the list in the 1990s.
In 1998, it acquired ICQ and CompuServe. ICQ can be said to be the earliest instant messaging software. In 1998, it acquired Netscape Browser, a rundown giant. In 2000, it acquired Time Warner.
Bob Pittman, the president of AOL, was dancing in the conference room, describing to every executive how the acquisition of Netscape was the right deal, and how wonderful the prospects would be once AOL acquired Quora.
“We previously acquired Netscape for $4.2 billion, and Netscape is now over $10 billion.
Facts have proved that this is a successful transaction, although before the acquisition of Netscape, this transaction has been criticized. People think that our corporate culture and Netscape's corporate culture are quite different and are not very compatible.
But the reality is here, and the board's opponents won't say a word.
And once we acquire Quora, Quora will be able to bring us extremely high-quality content and the best group of users.
To be honest, I am also a loyal user of Quora. I often think about how much better Quora would be if it were a product developed by AOL. Once Quora is acquired, AOL will become the number one portal, surpassing Yahoo.
At the same time, we have Quora’s high-quality content, and AOL will become the New York Times in the new era.
Quora is now profitable, and I already have a plan on how to make Quora more profitable.
So there is only one thing we need to consider now, and that is how much money we need to prepare to acquire Quora. "
"Bob, I understand your thinking, and I also think AOL's acquisition of Quora is definitely the best merger in the history of Silicon Valley.
But you need to consider a problem, that is, our market value is approaching US$100 billion, but we only have US$1.26 billion in cash on our books. This amount of cash is definitely not enough to compete with Microsoft and Yahoo. "
Bob waved his hand: "We need to do a private placement. I know we don't have enough cash, but we can do a private placement to raise funds.
If it were for this purpose, Wall Street investors would definitely be willing to conduct a private placement of shares. "
Targeted financing is equivalent to completing an acquisition with AOL as the main body, but it is Wall Street investors who actually pay.
At this time, the Internet bubble had been blown up.
When the bubble was blown, Commerce One, with revenue of only US$3 million, had a market value approaching US$20 billion.
When the entire Silicon Valley was stirred up by the sale of Quora, Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar made an appointment to meet with Zhou Xin through NewPay.
"Newman, although NewPay and Ebay have reached a good cooperative relationship, this is the first time the two of us have met.
I am very happy to meet the best Internet product manager in the entire Silicon Valley and even Americen today. I admire your keen sense of human nature. It is an honor to know such outstanding alumni. "
Pierre is a Frenchman of Iranian origin, with brown hair and reddish skin. He has a very typical Persian appearance. He is also a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Zhou Xin didn't know what the other party's purpose was for chatting with him, but since Ebay was NewPay's main customer, Zhou Xin came to see him anyway.
Pierre chose a well-known Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, obviously taking Zhou Xin's taste into consideration.
"I'm also glad to meet you. I often shop on eBay. If its delivery speed can be faster, then I think Ebay will be perfect." Zhou Xin said.
Sometimes the right flaws can make your compliments seem more genuine.
Pierre was obviously very impressed by the compliment. He raised his eyebrows and said, "It's great. I also like Quora. This is the best Internet product I have ever used."
Zhou Xin originally thought that the other person would ask him why he wanted to sell Quora next, because he knew Ebay would not buy Quora and the business was not compatible at all.
It is even less likely that Pierre purchased it in his own name.
What Pierre said next surprised him greatly.
There is another chapter today. This is actually a relatively crucial plot. It involves real start-up capital, which was obtained from Wall Street.
(End of chapter)
