"Heh heh!" Yang Zhiyuan's expression was a little awkward. "You are only talking about Yahoo's data in the United States. The total number of users for Yahoo worldwide has already exceeded 200 million."
"But President Yang's quote just now should only be for the North American region, right? Your advertisements for each region are sold separately, so it seems fine for me to only count the results from North America," Huang He retorted unflinchingly.
"Mr. Yang, if you insist on saying that, then forgive my frankness, but how can Chinese people compare to Americans?" Yang Zhiyuan snorted. "That's right, you may have a lot of users in China, but how many of these users are paying users? I see pirated users everywhere!"
"To give a simple example, Microsoft only has 1% of genuine users in China, and the remaining 99% all use pirated copies. So I think your users should also be multiplied by 1%!" Yang Zhiyuan said.
"That's because Microsoft deliberately used piracy to occupy the market. Don't bring up such tactics that even a child can see through, President Yang, lest you lower your standing!" Huang He continued to retort.
The two bosses, each with a net worth exceeding a billion, were thus directly confronting each other in the club.
"Brother-in-law, President Yang, we are here to do business, not to quarrel. Let's not forget our original purpose!" Leng Zhiruo stepped in to smooth things over.
"Indeed!" Yang Zhiyuan nodded. He was in the wrong in this matter, being greedy. Arguing further would yield no benefit. So Yang Zhiyuan seized the opportunity and said, "How about this, I'll compromise. If you give us one year of direct access to 00, I'll give you the qualification to bid. Is that acceptable?"
Yang Zhiyuan was indeed making a significant concession. Originally, it was unlimited direct access, which was now reduced to one year. Moreover, he was giving up the direct access to Facebook and only wanted 00. In Yang Zhiyuan's opinion, he was giving Huang He a lot of face, and Huang He should not be ungrateful.
"President Yang, may I ask what is the purpose of your bidding?" Huang He countered.
"Of course, it's to purchase the best servers!" Yang Zhiyuan said lightly.
"That's right, so what constitutes the best servers?" Huang He asked again.
"Naturally, it's servers that meet all our requirements and can operate stably!" Yang Zhiyuan continued.
"Indeed, and coincidentally, the servers produced by our Jiangnan Group meet the standards of these excellent servers you mentioned. Especially our storage servers, I dare say without exaggeration, they are absolutely world-class servers. But our price is only half of that of equivalent American brands."
"The servers you originally needed to procure for 1.5 billion US dollars will only cost you 800 million US dollars here. If such servers do not have the qualification to bid, then I would like to ask, what kind of servers do have the qualification to bid?"
"Bidding, bidding, is to put all the world's servers on display so that we can select the most suitable products. Therefore, bidding should not require any bidding qualifications. As long as the technical specifications are met, one can participate in the bid. This is basic business logic."
"President Yang, are you going to disregard this most basic business logic?" Huang He asked.
"Boss Huang, you speak very well. So in the end, you want to get the bidding qualification without giving anything in return?" Yang Zhiyuan said with a cold smile.
"Oh, President Yang, you also speak very well. You not only want to get servers that are $700 million cheaper but also want to get a year of advertising direct access from me for free. Do you really treat our Jiangnan Group as the Qing Dynasty?" Huang He said.
"..." Yang Zhiyuan shrugged and then said, "Mr. Huang, I understand your feelings very well, but in fact, I only hold 10% of Yahoo's shares. The remaining 90% are held by various investors and shareholders. I cannot make a decision to allow you to participate in the bid behind the board of directors, so I am very sorry!"
"You are welcome to continue resting and playing here, and all expenses will be on me. My wife is waiting for me at home, so I will not be able to accompany you!" With that, Yang Zhiyuan left directly, leaving Huang He with his two wives sitting in the private room.
Yang Zhiyuan was talking utter nonsense. If the decision of which company's servers to use definitely needed to be decided by the board of directors, then just the qualification to bid was a matter of Yang Zhiyuan's word.
By using the board of directors as an excuse to leave, Yang Zhiyuan had blocked the path for Huang He to continue negotiations. He clearly did not want to talk any further.
"Brother-in-law, have you completely blocked the path, and we should prepare to go home?" Leng Zhiwen asked curiously, blinking her eyes.
"Yes, I have blocked Yang Zhiyuan's path!" Huang He sighed, then said, "Zhiruo, call home and send this quotation to Sina and Sohu. Also, tell them that whoever buys a year or more of direct access to 00 and Facebook, I will give them a benefit: when someone searches for keywords like 'Jiangnan search portal' in China, their website results will be displayed preferentially."
"Also, unless someone directly searches for Yahoo, Jiangnan Search will block all links related to Yahoo!" Huang He said lightly. "Yang Zhiyuan still doesn't understand who is the controller of China's internet now!"
Jiangnan Search was a search engine launched by Jiangnan Group in early January. The technology was not very advanced, it was about the same level as Baidu, but because Jiangnan Search was integrated into all of Jiangnan's network products and deeply bound.
At the same time, 00 and Facebook also offered a reward for adding Jiangnan Search to the browser's favorites and placing it in a very prominent position. They would give away 100 points of 00 experience and a Baidu exclusive emoji pack, one Facebook Baidu search exclusive skin, and one double win card for oo games.
Soon, at a speed unimaginable to anyone, Jiangnan Search easily broke the current situation of Google Search and Baidu Search competing for dominance, directly becoming the number one search engine in China. The entire process took only 7 days.
This kind of crazy achievement also made all domestic network enterprises deeply feel the terror of Jiangnan Group, which had become a terrifying internet behemoth.
In his previous life, the Chinese internet was initially a three-way competition, then a two-way competition, and there were always competitors. But in this life, Jiangnan Group directly eliminated all its opponents and became the sole behemoth.
---
"Brother-in-law, are we going home now?" After Yang Zhiyuan left, Leng Zhiwen asked with a bit of fear as she looked at the dark, unfamiliar world outside.
"Not now, we still have a meal to eat!" Huang He said with a smile, and under Huang He's leadership, the two younger sisters left Yang Zhiyuan's private room somewhat confused, walked to another private room two seats away, and then directly opened the door and walked in.
"Boss, I finally see you!" Just as the two younger sisters were full of confusion, an excited voice spoke, saying the Chinese somewhat awkwardly.
"Little Swift, it's you!" Leng Zhiruo said with some surprise. It turned out that waiting for Huang He in the private room was the president of Western Horse Company, Little Swift.
"Boss lady, long time no see. You are still as charming as ever!" After not seeing each other for nearly a year, Little Swift not only started learning Chinese but also became very sweet-mouthed. Dressed in a suit, he truly looked like a business elite.
"Who is this black person?" Leng Zhiwen asked softly.
"He is the president of Western Horse Investment Company, and Western Horse Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary controlled by brother-in-law personally, responsible for some of our investments in the United States," Leng Zhiruo introduced.
"That's good. Why did you think of learning Chinese?" Huang He asked with a smile, directly in Chinese.
"My boss is Chinese, so of course, I have to learn Chinese. Otherwise, I am an unqualified employee. I can't let the boss always rely on translators to talk to me, so I decided to learn Chinese!" Although the Chinese still sounded very awkward, this long string of words was spoken completely. This shows that Little Swift's Chinese level is quite good, and he has learned it seriously.
"Good, which guy said that black people have low IQs and can only do sports and play music? Little Swift, I think you can prove that black people are the most excellent race in America!" Huang He encouraged excitedly. Little Swift was naturally full of excitement. Being praised by his great boss like this, Little Swift felt like he had found a wise ruler.
After all, for more than a year, Little Swift had been surviving in America with the persona of being a financial elite even though he was black. While being celebrated by countless black people, he had also been subtly influenced to believe that black people were one of the excellent races in the world.
Of course, in Little Swift's heart, Chinese people were the most excellent, and black people were the second most excellent race. So being praised by Huang He made Little Swift truly happy.
"However, you are so busy with work, do you still have time to learn Chinese?" Leng Zhiruo asked curiously.
"Yes, I have plenty of time!" Little Swift said with a smile. "Actually, my work is not too busy. Besides attending various activities for two to three days a week, I spend the rest of my time learning Chinese."
"I have specifically hired three Chinese teachers. They teach me in rotation and help me practice my pronunciation, which is how I have reached my current level. Boss, what do you think of my Chinese now?"
"Very good!" Huang He nodded with satisfaction.
"But, aren't you in charge of an investment company? Don't you need to look at market data and research various financial operations?" Leng Zhiwen asked in confusion.
"No need!" Little Swift shook his head very decisively. "Because I firmly remember my boss's words, buy nothing else, just buy Apple's stock!"