My Age of Investment

On March 30th, Qihoo 360 Company was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its shares were enthusiastically pursued by many investment institutions on Wall Street.

The stock price closed at US$34 on the day of listing, a 134.45% increase from the issue price of US$14.5. The market value of 360 reached US$3.956 billion in one fell swoop, surpassing the US$2.876 billion of Shanda, the old king of the gaming industry, and also surpassing the US$2.876 billion of the old portal giant Sohu. With a market value of US$3.326 billion, it ranks among the top 4 listed Internet companies in China, only behind Qianxun, Ali, and Penguin.

Zhou Hongyi, who rarely wore a well-tailored black suit, stood tall and straight at the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange surrounded by people, showing off the posture of an upstart Internet person. When being interviewed by reporters, she also looked very proud. With ease.

"I am very excited at the moment, and I am very grateful to shareholders for their long-term trust and support. Today's honor not only belongs to me personally, but also to all 360 employees and shareholders..."

"Mr. Xia didn't come to ring the bell? Uh... Don't misunderstand me. Mr. Xia and I have always been the closest partners. Vision Capital still holds 17.48% of the diluted shares of Qihoo after listing, and is our number one The large institutional shareholder is also the largest shareholder other than myself, holding only one point less than myself.”

Seeing that a reporter was digging holes to "provoke" her close relationship with Mr. Xia, Zhou Hongyi hurriedly explained a few more words.

Today, Xia Jingxing is no longer the young rich man who returned from China who was "lucky" to make a name for himself on the other side of the ocean. Instead, he has become a world-renowned top tycoon and technology hero.

At the same time, Vision Capital is no longer the small grassroots workshop it was a few years ago, but has grown by leaps and bounds to become a newly emerging asset management giant on Wall Street.

Therefore, even though Xia Jingxing did not come to the bell-ringing site in person today, his influence and credit endorsement still deeply affected the newly listed 360 Company.

Zhou Hongyi is a thief, always mentioning herself to everyone, and there is also a close cooperative relationship between 360 Company and Xia Jingxing.

It has to be said that his set of tricks is quite easy to use. At least it helped 360 Company save a lot of publicity and promotion time in its listing work, and it also won unanimous praise from many investment institutions and analysts on Wall Street.

Rao Lei, who was standing not far from Zhou Hongyi, was also being interviewed by financial media reporters.

Compared with Zhou Hongyi, there are also many microphones and cameras aimed at him.

"Mr. Rao, is 360 the first IPO that Vision Capital has received this year?"

"The prospectus shows that Vision Capital invested US$8 million in 360 Company five years ago. If calculated based on today's highest intraday price, the value of your shareholding in 360 Company has exceeded US$700 million, so this Is it another investment case with a hundredfold return?”

"There was a joke on the Internet recently, saying that you have been either ringing the bell or on your way to ringing the bell in the past two years! How did you manage to discover so many successful startups?"

…

Thanks to the fact that the companies he invested in have lined up to go public in the past two years, Rao Lei has also successfully received a lot of media exposure, and unknowingly, he has become one of the most well-known investors in China.

When faced with the reporters' questions, he himself appeared to be particularly magnanimous and witty. He kept popping out some new Internet quotes, making the reporters laugh.

Becoming an Internet celebrity investor is not without its benefits. At least it can give you some advantages when grabbing projects.

Therefore, not only Rao Lei, but also senior executives such as Lin Bing and Zhang Yong have frequently appeared in the spotlight in the past two years and have begun to become well-known to the domestic public.

On the contrary, Xia Jingxing himself has become increasingly low-key. In recent years, apart from hosting some product launches, he has rarely appeared in other public events.

The people who interviewed Zhou Hongyi and Rao Lei were mainly Chinese financial reporters, while Zhao Peng, who attended the listing ceremony of 360 Company on behalf of the Vision Capital hedge fund, was surrounded by a group of blond American reporters.

"Zhao, congratulations to you, you have once again proved your vision and strength, and made another successful business!"

"If calculated based on the highest intraday price, the US$20 million in shares subscribed by Vision Capital Hedge Fund as a cornerstone investor of 360 has become US$47 million, more than doubling its profit in one day!"

"At the same time, your VC department is the biggest beneficiary of the listing of 360. Backed by the imaginative Chinese market, I think you will definitely become the most prosperous investment institution on Wall Street in the next few years."

…

American reporters were very interested in Zhao Peng, the star fund manager who replaced Liu Hai as the head of the stock trading department of Vision Capital, and they were even more interested in Vision Capital. After a few friendly compliments to Zhao Peng, their questions gradually changed. Got to be sharp.

"Zhao, as the biggest profiteer from the subprime mortgage crisis, what is your attitude towards the recently released Dodd-Frank Act? Have you started to re-register with the SEC and provide transaction information and asset portfolio information to the SEC?"

Zhao Peng instantly became alert, but still had a smile on his face, "First of all, let me correct you. We are not the biggest beneficiaries of the subprime mortgage crisis, we are just investing in the right direction.

Also, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed by the House and Senate by vote last year, and Vision Capital has been actively cooperating with the SEC to complete various risk assessments as early as last year..."

Zhao Peng had received an order from his boss to reduce the size of the hedge fund a few days ago. At first, he still didn't understand this self-defeating move, but now he completely understood it.

In the past year, in order to win re-election, Ao Guanhai, who was in line with public opinion, began to vigorously rectify the financial order of the United States, targeting Wall Street giants who abused government relief funds and paid large bonuses. Under this background, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for Vision Capital to fish in troubled waters.

In the past, the United States has always had a laissez-faire attitude toward hedge funds, which resulted in the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

But now Ao Guanhai has introduced "Dodd-Frank", which is called the most comprehensive and stringent financial reform bill since the "Great Depression" in the 1930s. Wall Street's big and small giants will be affected for a long time. You have to keep your tail between your legs.

The biggest impact of this bill on Vision Capital is that it requires PE private equity investment funds other than venture capital VC, including hedge funds, to register with the SEC and be supervised by the SEC.

Previously, except for listed institutions, PE and hedge funds were not required to register and make public disclosures.

Vision Capital’s transaction information and positions other than VC funds must now be disclosed to the SEC on a quarterly basis. This is not only unsafe, but also very inconvenient. It is equivalent to putting shackles on Vision Capital, and many small tricks will no longer be able to do so. Made it.

The introduction of this bill also prompted Xia Jingxing to make up his mind to liquidate the hedge funds in advance, and put the share of the fund income earned after 2009 into his pocket first.

Moreover, there is still a discordant voice spreading on Wall Street, saying that Vision Capital made huge profits from the subprime mortgage crisis and was the main culprit in exacerbating the financial crisis.

Therefore, Xia Jingxing completely gave up his intention to become the king of hedge funds on Wall Street and kept a low profile for a while.

At this moment, Zhao Peng completely understood the boss's intention, and he no longer had any misunderstandings about the "low-key principle" that the boss planned to pursue in the future.

At the same time, he admired his boss for taking precautions and finding an escape route in advance.

Although the Dodd-Frank Act includes PE and hedge funds under supervision, the management of family offices is quite lax. For example, Daxia Capital does not need to disclose information.

Recently, some super-rich people on Wall Street and the United States have begun to vigorously build and improve their own family offices, and they are obviously determined to start taking advantage of loopholes.

Even the protagonists who make big news in the financial market may have to change in the future, from hedge funds that have become more and more transparent to family offices that have more confidential information.

"Sorry, let me take a call!"

Rao Lei suddenly interrupted the interview and walked aside with his mobile phone.

A few minutes later, he came back, walked up to Zhou Hongyi, who had just finished the interview, and handed over his mobile phone, "Old Zhou, Mr. Xia's phone number."

Zhou Hongyi took the call without thinking and started chatting with Xia Jingxing with a smile on her face. But soon the smile on his face disappeared. After looking around, he covered his mouth with his hand and whispered: "Mr. Xia , this matter is too important, and 360 has just been launched on the market, I suggest that it is better to wait a little longer."

"You're not giving up, are you?" Xia Jingxing said half-jokingly on the other end of the phone.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hongyi became anxious and said in an excited tone: "Mr.

The other end of the phone quickly became quiet, and after half a minute he said, "Okay, let's take it slow for a while, but we must take action within this year."

This time it was Zhou Hongyi's turn to hesitate, but he didn't think for long and quickly replied "Okay".

Rao Lei stood a few meters away, seemingly talking to others, but in fact he had been secretly observing Zhou Hongyi's various subtle expressions and movements.

It was already late at night in China. After ending the call with Zhou Hongyi, Xia Jingxing did not rush to go to bed, but dialed Zhang Yong's number again.

"You really guessed it. This old boy Zhou Hongyi is starting to swell."

Xia Jingxing's eyebrows were a little dissatisfied. Zhou Hongyi was now shirkling over something that had been agreed upon long ago. He was very, very unhappy!

Although Zhou Hongyi still promised to continue to cooperate, Xia Jingxing could no longer trust him.

"Normally, after the company is listed and its wings are strong, some new ideas that should not be generated begin to emerge."

Zhang Yong on the other end of the phone sneered twice and then asked: "What should we do now? Continue to delay the matter?"

"We can't delay. The cooperation period between Sogou and 360 is only one year, and the agreement will expire at the end of the year. By then, Zhou Hongyi will definitely plan to launch her own search engine brand."

Xia Jingxing paused and then said: "I guess his idea is to postpone the plan to deal with Qianxun until the end of the year. We will detonate the bomb on the front foot, and he will launch the 360 ​​search engine on the back foot and swallow the biggest fruit of victory in one go."

"That won't work! We put all our efforts into dealing with Qianxun, not to make wedding clothes for 360."

Xia Jingxing said "hmm" and then said, "How about ditching 360 and going it alone?"

"Aren't you afraid that your relationship with Zhou Hongyi will break down? Not only does Vision Capital hold so many shares in 360, but just talking about Sogou, it still needs the traffic of 360's website navigation and browser."

Xia Jingxing said lazily: "I bet he doesn't dare to flip the table! If he terminates the cooperation with Sogou early, he will not only have to pay a sky-high liquidated damages, but also bear the censure of shareholders, and may even face the collective opposition of US stock investors. litigation.

He wouldn't do such a stupid thing! I understand him, he is aggressive but not crazy. "

"What to do with that large amount of shares in Vision Capital?" Zhang Yong asked again.

"In the worst case, just sell it. If Zhou Hongyi is willing to buy it back, I will sell it to him."

Zhang Yong chuckled and said, "Then he helped you cash out?"

"I don't care if he buys it or not. If he doesn't buy it, I will continue to be lazy and not leave."

Zhang Yong fell silent. If he were from the standpoint of Sogou and the CEO of Domestic Holdings, he would naturally be happy to see Qianxun dealt with in advance.

Because there is no trace of 360 search engine at present, after Qianxun is punished, Sogou can exclusively enjoy the market share lost by Qianxun.

But this exclusivity period is limited to this year. Next year, 360 search engine will definitely make its debut, and Zhou Hongyi may even be secretly arranging to develop this project.

But if he violates the verbal agreement with Zhou Hongyi and delivers a fatal blow to Qianxun in advance, Sogou will benefit greatly, but at the same time Xia Jingxing will suffer other losses. For example, after losing his eldest disciple Jack Ma, the second The apprentice began to become disloyal again, and the Xia sect fell apart in an instant, which would cause a certain loss to Vision Capital, Xia Jingxing's connections and reputation.

It was out of this consideration that Zhang Yong cautiously reminded his boss.

Of course he could choose to encourage the boss to join Zhou Hongyi, but he knew that the boss was not a fool. Such major decisions could only be made by the boss himself. As a professional manager, he did not dare to cross the line.

"Do it!"

Xia Jingxing quickly made up his mind. Without waiting for Zhou Hongyi to cooperate, the old boy would obviously choose a time that was more beneficial to 360 before taking action.

This is contradictory to Sogou’s interests!

In addition, considering that 360 has been listed safely, although both parties still have a common enemy Qianxun, sooner or later they will drift apart. This is an unavoidable problem.

Moreover, the whole thing was caused by Zhou Hongyi's selfishness. He left Zhou Hongyi to go it alone, but he actually didn't have much moral baggage.

Of course, when he made an agreement with Zhou Hongyi, he also deliberately avoided a key issue. The two parties did not agree on a precise time to take action. From this aspect, Zhou Hongyi actually did not feel sorry for him, but both parties They just have evil intentions and want to choose a time node that is more beneficial to their own side to take action.

In fact, Xia Jingxing could have chosen to wait, at least the relationship with Zhou Hongyi would not be too rigid.

But Robin Lee has been dancing too much recently, and joining hands with the penguin has touched his inner skin. He is completely impatient, and immediately wants to teach Robin Lee a profound lesson.

Chapter content in the web version is slow, please download the Haoyue Novel app to read the latest content

Please exit the transcoding page and download the Haoyue Novel app to read the latest chapters.

Providing you with the fastest updates on my investment era, 1576, expanded free reading.