"Mr. Huang, I just asked you for your 'direct train' and you turned around and sold it. Is that appropriate?" Yang Zhiyuan questioned as soon as the phone was connected, aiming to occupy the moral high ground.
"Mr. Yang, you're thinking too much. After you mentioned the 'direct train' that night, didn't I already show you the completed quotation proposal? Is that a proposal that can be made in just a few minutes?"
"Our Jiangnan Group began its layout in the advertising alliance business months ago. These were all prepared in advance. Whether Mr. Yang said that to me or not, our advertisements were going to be sold!" Huang He retorted unapologetically.
"But Mr. Huang also said that this quotation will be announced after a week. It's only been a few days, and Sohu has already been featured on your company's 'direct train'. Aren't you doing this specifically to target us at Yahoo?" Yang Zhiyuan sneered.
"That's right, I did show it to the bosses of Sina and Sohu a few days in advance. But if we're talking about the timing, Sina and Sohu only got it five days early. However, for your Yahoo, I got it to you seven days early, and I personally delivered it to you. So if you want to say I'm biased, then I'm biased towards your company!" Huang He said with a smile.
"..." Yang Zhiyuan was speechless and could only interrupt, "Mr. Huang, let's put aside the previous talk. You want the bidding qualification, but you must withdraw the advertisement given to Sohu!"
Yang Zhiyuan was weakening.
"I'm sorry, we have already signed with Sohu, and the advertising fees from Sohu have all been received. What is written on paper cannot be changed!" Huang He said calmly.
"What if we are willing to pay the same advertising fees as Sohu?" Yang Zhiyuan sighed.
"That might not be possible either, because according to the contract, if there's a breach of contract, I have to pay three times the penalty to the other party!" Huang He laughed. "Of course, if Mr. Yang is willing to help me pay this penalty, then I have no objections!"
"Then you'll never be able to sell servers to Yahoo. No, you'll never even get into the American market!" Yang Zhiyuan hung up the phone with a bang, filled with anger.
He had already backed down and agreed to pay. This Huang He dared to be so stubborn, so there was nothing more to say.
It was just an advertising slot. What truly mattered for portal websites was their own capabilities and quality. Yang Zhiyuan believed that Yahoo, with its American heritage, its noble spirit of freedom and democracy, and its operation by top global business elites, would not be defeated by a couple of local bumpkins from China.
"Brother-in-law, can we go back now? You've completely severed any possibility with Yahoo!" Hearing Huang He hang up the phone, Leng Zhiwen, who was lying in bed, revealed a snow-white arm and said with a smile.
"Zhiwen, you don't know your brother-in-law well enough. He won't give up. He's definitely thinking of other ways!" From the bathroom not far away, the familiar voice of Leng Zhiruo drifted over.
"I'm out of ideas, but I just feel that we can't come to America for nothing. We should at least sell some servers, so I've decided to try a few more companies. Maybe other companies will need our servers!" Huang He said with a cheerful laugh.
"There might be a few companies with demand as high as Yahoo's. That's a $2 billion order!" Leng Zhiwen muttered. She originally had no interest in or understanding of company operations, but after following Huang He around recently, she had learned a little.
"That's not necessarily true. Yahoo is a big company. With an increase of tens of billions of dollars, it's natural that they wouldn't think much of our Jiangnan Group. But it's different for small companies. Even a few tens of thousands of dollars are crucial to them!" Huang He said with a smile.
"But small companies can only afford things worth tens of thousands of dollars!" Leng Zhiruo came out and said.
"Let's take it slow. Maybe a small company will become a golden phoenix!" Huang He chuckled.
——————————
"Mr. Jobs, Mr. Swift Jr. wishes to see you immediately!" Jobs's secretary said to him.
"Damn it, I don't have time for these damned capitalists!" Jobs grumbled, but considering that Swift Jr. was currently Apple's largest shareholder and chairman of the board, even though Jobs was unwilling, he had to go to the chairman's office and meet this chairman who rarely appeared at the company.
"Mr. Jobs, we meet again!" Swift Jr. said enthusiastically upon seeing Jobs.
"Yes, it's been five months since we last parted!" Jobs also said with a smile.
In fact, Jobs was very satisfied with Swift Jr. Although Jobs considered Swift Jr. to be an absolute idiot, inheriting the black people's terrible genes perfectly.
However, Swift Jr.'s strategy of only investing in Apple made Jobs very happy, especially since Swift Jr. had publicly stated more than once that the reason he invested all his funds in Apple was because he was optimistic about Apple's new surge after bringing Jobs back as chairman, and that Apple under Jobs would surely become the most brilliant technology company in history.
Although many commented that Swift Jr. said this merely to cover up his lack of understanding of investment and finance.
After all, even the most incompetent financial investors wouldn't put all their funds into one company. Otherwise, if the market showed any signs of turmoil, the investment company would immediately collapse. No investor, regardless of their name, should entrust their funds to such a financial company for management.
Furthermore, true investors should be familiar with a company's operations, economic situation, product details, market layout, etc., and consider a company's future development comprehensively, rather than investing all their funds because of a celebrity CEO. This is the most foolish decision in the world.
In any case, the entire financial circle cursed Swift Jr. fiercely, but the more they cursed, the better Jobs felt about Swift Jr. It's just that Jobs naturally hated all capitalists because he was kicked out of the CEO position at Apple by capitalists in the first place.
However, fortunately, Swift Jr. was probably a financial ignoramus, so as chairman, he never interfered with his operations.
Any product development projects he proposed at board meetings were always approved by Swift Jr. without any obstruction, which made Jobs very pleased.
"Perhaps cooperating with a fool is the best choice!" Jobs once said this in a drunken state.
From this sentence, it can be seen that Jobs didn't have much gratitude for Swift Jr. in his heart.
Because he believed that he was the one who made Swift Jr. successful. Normally, a fund investing in only one company would put that investment fund on the verge of collapse.
But Swift Jr. invested in him, and under his leadership, Apple created one achievement after another, steadily increasing Apple's stock price. This, in turn, contributed to Swift Jr.'s investment myth.
A newly established fund company with a possible annual return rate of 140%. With such terrifying data, the result is self-evident.
Although Swift Jr. was criticized by the entire financial circle, with this return rate, all criticisms and problems ceased to be problems. It was simply the eccentricity of a genius.
Therefore, more black people chose to buy funds from West Mustang Company, causing the funds held by Swift Jr. to continuously expand. While a portion of this growth was due to the appreciation of Apple's stock price, the sale of funds alone generated nearly $3.5 billion, meaning he took $3.5 billion in massive funds from the American market. This was all thanks to his contributions, Jobs's contributions.
So Jobs felt there was no need to be grateful to him.
However, the last time Jobs met Swift Jr. was at Apple's New Year's party, which was a routine company event that all board members had to attend, so meeting was inevitable.
After that, the two had not seen each other again. Even during regular board meetings, Swift Jr. sent his representative to attend, while he himself participated in various social events, promoting the black-led West Mustang Company. His proactive visit to Apple to meet with Jobs this time was indeed a rare occurrence.
"Mr. Jobs, I just reviewed our second-quarter interim financial report and found that the company's funds are almost depleted. Is this true?" Swift Jr. directly asked a question that made Jobs's scalp tingle as soon as they met.
"This damned black capitalist is, after all, a capitalist. His biggest concern is still money!" Jobs thought to himself.
Although Apple had recently achieved some success in the market with its iPod, at least it had successfully turned losses into profits, bringing the once perpetually losing Apple company back to profitability.
In addition, Jobs always disliked dividends. Unlike some companies that distribute all their profits to the company's directors once they made money, Jobs preferred to keep funds in accounts for unforeseen needs. Therefore, in theory, Apple's accounts should have a large amount of funds.
However, the reality was that the funds in the account were indeed running low. The reason for this was mainly attributable to Jobs himself. Jobs had launched as many as 18 different projects internally, including mobile phone chips, smart TVs, automatic bicycles, smart mice, robots, and various other high-tech projects.
These technology projects looked very promising, but they all required a lot of money, so the funds on Apple's books were quickly depleted.
This was over $1 billion in vast sums of money! The disappearance of such a huge amount of funds was bound to attract the attention of capitalists, so Jobs was well aware that Swift Jr. was likely here to cause trouble. After all, once Apple's second-quarter financial report was released, Apple's stock price would plummet, and the terrifying 140% return rate created by West Mustang Company would collapse, leading to the potential collapse of Swift Jr.'s fund.
Swift Jr.'s current persona as a black financial genius would also crumble.