January of 2003.

Su Yehao, having left Changbai Mountain, accompanied his father around the capital, the better part of a month swiftly passing.

The day before Chinese New Year's Eve at the end of the month.

Su Yehao hosted a charity auction for Bauhinia Institute of Technology in the castle at his Deep Water Bay residence. Nearly all of Hong Kong's tycoons and celebrities attended.

Businessmen from Casino, 1997 also came to show their support.

Luxury cars stretched from the courtyard all the way outside the mansion. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if anything were to happen that night, more than half of Hong Kong's richest people would be wiped out.

Su Yehao himself contributed a jade Maitreya pendant and a Qianlong-era vase, which together fetched over HK$37 million. Combined with donations from other wealthy people both domestically and internationally, the charity auction raised over HK$300 million.

This money was just a small contribution, a way to liven things up.

An additional HK$2.9 billion in donations was raised, with Sixth Master contributing HK$2 billion alone, along with the Qu family's HK$100 million and Mr. Zhuang Shiping's HK$500 million.

Several Hong Kong real estate developers jointly donated a teaching building.

Seeing how active everyone was, Su Yehao was truly surprised, as it saved him at least HK$1 billion.

Reporters were on hand to cover the event, ensuring that good deeds were also publicized.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, news of the donation event dominated the headlines of major newspapers. The government also seized the opportunity to announce its willingness to provide the seaside land west of Hong Kong Island, fully cooperating with Su Yehao to complete the construction of the Bauhinia Institute of Technology.

After finishing the fundraising event, Su Yehao spent a few days with the girls, then hurried off to Silicon Valley to personally oversee Google's Series B funding round.

Google's current valuation is around US$12 billion.

The plan was to raise US$3 billion this time. In addition to using the funds for its own development, Google would also independently develop or acquire a browser.

Su Yehao still remembered that msnmessenger was sharpening its knives against Yanwenzi Group.

Recently, Netscape, controlled by America Online, finally lost to its arch-rival Microsoft, reaching a settlement agreement for over US$700 million. The anti-trust lawsuit that had dragged on for several years finally came to an end.

Netscape would receive over US$700 million from Microsoft, but the price was that it would abandon the browser market and dissolve the entire company.

Su Yehao certainly didn't want Microsoft's IE browser to dominate, lest it use its traffic to expand into search engines and online games.

Restricting Microsoft had almost become a consensus among Silicon Valley internet giants. Everyone was worried that Microsoft would leverage the traffic from its Windows operating system to steal market share.

Including Su Yehao, they only wanted Microsoft to focus on its operating system and office software business. Coincidentally, rumors had spread that Microsoft was forming a search engine development team, and its ambitions were growing.

Building a Google browser became a very natural thing...

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February 20, 2003.

Su Yehao had been living in Silicon Valley for more than two weeks. As a master of time management, how could he miss the opportunity to spend time with Yin Liuli?

He had her bring her daughter over to stay for more than ten days, as compensation for not taking her on vacation during the Christmas holidays.

It was a little after ten o'clock in the morning, local time.

At Google headquarters, he listened to Goldman Sachs' funding arrangements with other shareholders and executives. The US$3 billion in funding was one of the largest fundraising plans in Silicon Valley in recent years.

It was said that the subscription amount had already exceeded expectations, with dozens of companies, such as Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and the Norwegian and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, actively seeking to participate.

In addition to this.

He hadn't forgotten his "friends" on the East Coast, and had someone specifically promote it in Washington, D.C., saying it was an excellent opportunity with a direct listing in two to three years.

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, everyone basically understood that this was Su Yehao extending goodwill, and they were particularly active in subscribing.

Doing business in America has its own set of default rules. Many of the flashy things can probably only be seen in Hollywood movies, and only a fool would believe them.

Last year alone, Yanwenzi Group spent more than US$60 million on "consulting fees," successfully delaying the development of msnmessenger and causing it to be investigated due to its acquisition of America Online's business, with hearings dragging on.

If it hadn't been for the need to seize the opportunity for development, Yanwenzi Group's profits last year would have been even higher without this extra expense.

At this moment.

Elvis, the head of Goldman Sachs, stood in front of the whiteboard, writing and drawing as he said:

"There's a problem now. More than one potential investor has asked us how we plan to deal with Microsoft's impact. I've had people investigate, and although Microsoft's search engine business has only just begun, it's expected to launch in six months to a year..."

Su Yehao sat lazily in the main seat, and now raised a finger, interrupting the other party and saying:

"I think you've misunderstood the concept. People who use IE browser don't care about the browser itself, the search engine is the key. Google will soon develop its own browser, which will provide users with convenient installation services. This will actually increase user stickiness and introduce new features."

One of the white-robed tycoons present was named Omar.

He was the one who sold Apple shares to Su Yehao, representing Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Company.

Previously, because he was optimistic about Google, Omar had already spent money to buy about 3.6% of Google's shares from other shareholders, so he was qualified to be invited to attend the meeting today.

After Su Yehao finished speaking, Omar agreed and said:

"That's right, the IE browser itself is very simple. I've always wanted a more advanced browser. If you want to recruit the Netscape team, I can help. In fact, just raising US$3 billion is easy for me to get from my friends in Saudi Arabia."

Kingdom Holding itself represents the interests of many Saudi tycoons. The recovery trend of Nasdaq is already quite obvious, and Google's performance is particularly good, so the investment value is undoubtedly very attractive.

By now, no one doubts that it can become the next Yahoo, and even has the opportunity to do better than Yahoo.

Su Yehao smiled at Mr. Omar and said:

"You should understand that the purpose of me having Google raise funds is not just to raise the funds themselves. I can fully use my pre-emptive financing rights. For the safety of the company, I've given up some equity in order to diversify the equity structure, so introducing more powerful shareholders is more important."

Omar had been in Silicon Valley for so many years, so of course he understood the importance of "sharing."

It can be said that Google's next development will not only depend on how the company itself does, but also on how many allies are willing to help, smoothing out the troubles that may arise at any time.

In his opinion, Su Yehao had already made a fortune through Google. It was indeed a very wise decision to distribute some of the cake before going public...