Chapter 168 A Small Setback

Although the Internet businesses controlled by Su Yehao were valuable, the shortcomings were obvious.

Whether it was the Yanwenzi Group, already listed, or Google and tAt, which had yet to be listed, they all lacked a stable profit model to convert their massive user base into corresponding profits.

Due to the lack of profit, their development was, in turn, restricted.

After Larry Page stepped down from Google, the newly appointed CEO, Eric Boyle, met with Su Yehao a few days ago and suggested that he consider acquiring several outstanding online game companies to facilitate Google's user acquisition and increase company revenue.

This reminded him of Blizzard Games, which was cooperating with Valve.

Recalling more than two months ago, on New Year's Eve, Su Yehao received an email from Valve stating that Blizzard wanted to obtain a license to use Valve's game engine. At that time, he simply told his partners to handle it themselves and then completely forgot about it.

Although he hadn't played Blizzard's games, he knew that this company was particularly famous in the gaming world. He had also been to the cinema to see the movie *Warcraft*, adapted from the game's background, and still remembered it somewhat.

That's why he was in Los Angeles this time, to find projects for Jiang Yu and Nangong Tian's Tianyu Entertainment, which was a side benefit.

After checking into the hotel, he went to the suite to sit down and rest.

Linda Yun opened Su Yehao's computer and routinely checked his emails, saying with surprise:

"Oh? There's news about Microsoft's MSN acquisition of AOL's business. It was just announced twenty minutes ago that a deal has been reached for four billion dollars!"

"...It's really done?"

Su Yehao walked over to look at the content on the laptop screen and clicked his tongue in admiration, saying, "It's good to have money. As expected, Microsoft is generous enough to be such a fool."

Linda Yun had been a secretary for so long, and had learned a thing or two. She asked,

"Aren't you worried? It's a Microsoft company. Even if they don't deliberately target us, there will be a lot of friction, right? The Yanwenzi Group is stronger than them, but now it will inevitably become a stumbling block."

"What do you mean by not deliberately targeting us? If they had no ambition, why would they spend so much money at this time? Search for Yanwenzi's stock price and see how much it's dropped."

After Su Yehao finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something, gasped, and said with heartache, "Don't let it fall too much. If the market value really falls below eight billion dollars, wouldn't I have to keep my promise and completely privatize the Yanwenzi Group, so that people don't think I'm full of hot air?"

Linda Yun searched and found that the Yanwenzi Group's stock price had fallen by about 4.7%.

Microsoft's MSN Messenger instant messaging software, acquiring AOL's related businesses, meant that it was about to create a formidable enemy that could barely compete with the Yanwenzi Group.

Today was Monday, during trading hours, and it was no surprise that the stock price would fall with such explosive negative news.

Jiang Yu came over to take a look and patted Su Yehao on the shoulder, comforting him, "You have to hang in there. A big plane is gone just like that. I can't stand being bullied like this. Can't you think of a way to hit back?"

Hearing this, Su Yehao was speechless. He pinched Jiang Yu's cheek and explained,

"They're a giant with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars and cash reserves of tens of billions of dollars. The gap between us is so big, how can I fight them?"

"Besides, it's a normal business transaction. The market is there, and whoever has the strength can grab it. AOL's user base is inflated anyway. Many of their netizens mainly use tvt and ICQ."

"But then again, there are so many directions I could try, but they just had to target my Yanwenzi Group. I'll remember this grudge and get it back sooner or later..."

Su Yehao logged into his nesmroblog Weibo account, first checked the relevant trending topics, then thought about it, and pushed the computer to Linda Yun, saying to her,

"Help me translate this. Write that MSN's acquisition of AOL's business further proves that Microsoft is abusing its market dominance, and I will consider hiring a lawyer to file a lawsuit. Damn it, I thought no fool would actually take over, but one actually popped up, spending a full four billion dollars. What couldn't they invest in instead of throwing it down the drain?"

"...Do you want me to translate the last sentence too?" Linda Yun tilted her head and asked.

Looking at her as if she were an idiot, Su Yehao was speechless and sighed helplessly,

"Of course not. Since my company's stock price has fallen, Microsoft shouldn't have it easy either. But I don't think it will do much good. The Yanwenzi Group dominates the market, so antitrust laws don't seem to apply. But Microsoft's actions are enough to cause industry resistance."

Jiang Yu nodded and said, "That's right. Today they acquired AOL's business and are developing in the instant messaging industry. Tomorrow they may acquire eBay and compete with Amazon in the online shopping business. Ahao, are you sure that this transaction won't have a major impact on the Yanwenzi Group?"

"...Most likely not. Whether it's ICQ or tvt, they're not just pure chat software. Social functions are the key. Otherwise, their market share would have been taken away long ago. It's almost impossible for MSN Messenger to replicate our success."

Su Yehao was nervous for a while, but then relaxed again, smiling and saying,

"It seems that I really need to speed up the pace of development. I'll seriously plan to launch a few new features and increase investment in the international market to avoid MSN from taking the lead."

Linda Yun edited the content, Su Yehao glanced at it and found nothing wrong, so he called John Zhou, the chief operating officer of Yanwenzi, to inform him in advance.

After thinking about it, he felt that it would be too formal for him to come forward.

So he copied and pasted it to the CEO of the Yanwenzi Group, asking him to respond online first to avoid further declines in the company's stock price.

Ever since he threatened to privatize and delist if the market value fell below eight billion dollars, the company's stock price had been very stable, and even the short sellers had disappeared. Today, it had fallen to its current level, but the market value was still above ten billion dollars, so it was still safe.

He chatted with John Zhou for a few words.

After hanging up the phone and thinking about it carefully, Su Yehao realized that there was no need to make a fuss.

That part of the market share was already in the hands of MSN Messenger and AOL. The Yanwenzi Group's base was completely unaffected. As long as he suppressed Microsoft's momentum, the third-place company would only spend a sum of money to become the second-place company, with a market share only half that of the Yanwenzi Group.

If he could hold on for a few more years, when mobile terminal devices became widespread, he would be confident that he could further widen the gap.

Su Yehao was thinking about how to retaliate, and after thinking about it, he could only think of Apple's operating system.

He casually checked Apple's stock price...Good heavens, it had plummeted from its peak of more than ten billion dollars last year to just over four billion dollars. It was completely out of control and falling sharply.

Even if the stock price was still overvalued, it probably wouldn't be much higher. He immediately contacted Goldman Sachs and asked them to help contact Apple's major shareholders one by one to ask if anyone was willing to sell the company as a whole.

If that didn't work, he could provide Apple with a financing loan...