Hong Kong Movies: You Hongxingzi, what the hell is the charity king?

Chapter 893 "5" Investing in Facebook! Unable to escape Brother Zu's grasp!

Harvard in September

The afternoon sun illuminated the "University Café" brightly.

Zuckerberg was wearing a wrinkled gray hoodie.

Besides Zuckerberg, there's also his financial manager, Eduardo, who's always dressed in a suit.

Opposite them stood Guan Zu, dressed in a sharp dark blue suit, wearing glasses, exuding extraordinary charm.

Zuckerberg and Eduardo observed Guan Zu and felt that the man in front of them was the most handsome they had ever seen, a man so handsome that he was almost dazzling. Every move he made carried an air of authority, yet he was also approachable.

Zuckerberg was on guard.

Eduardo, however, thought the man was a good person.

Meanwhile, Guan Zu was also observing Zuckerberg and Eduardo.

Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York, into a family of squid. His father, Edward Zuckerberg, is a dentist, and his mother, Karen Kempner, is a psychiatrist. Zuckerberg grew up according to squid cult rules and had a squid cult coming-of-age ceremony at the age of 13.

Eduardo was born into a squid family in São Paulo, Brazil, and grew up in Miami, Florida, USA.

These two were the original founders of Facebook.

Then, in the spring of 2005, these two staged a "brotherly betrayal drama," which has been ridiculed on the internet for over a decade.

At that time, Zuckerberg owned 70% of the shares, and Eduardo owned 30%.

Facebook's initial funding of $15000 was provided by Eduardo, while Zuckerberg was in charge of the technology.

(Image: Brothers turning against each other (authenticity not guaranteed))
In the spring of 2005, Facebook moved to California, and Eduardo was interning at Lehman Brothers on Wall Street.

Zuckerberg soon met Sean Parker, a student of Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital, and Parker soon joined Facebook.

Upon his arrival, he immediately took over the responsibility that Eduardo had left behind—financing.

It was at this point that Eduardo's role was replaced by Sean Parker, who did an even better job.

Zuckerberg and Parker then exchanged ideas on diluting Eduardo's shares.

The method was to restructure a new company in Delaware on the East Coast, acquire the former Facebook company, and issue new shares to everyone except Eduardo to dilute Eduardo's stake.

Edward trusted Zuckerberg and signed the agreement without carefully reviewing the terms.

then……

Got cheated.

Eduardo's shareholding was reduced to less than 10%.

Guan Zu looked at the two of them with a playful smile.

Watching the two fight each other, while enjoying the spectacle and sowing discord, is truly a wonderful thing.

……

"Hello, Mr. Guan!"

"Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Saverin, hello..."

After exchanging greetings, the two sides began to talk.

Guan Zu first introduced himself.

Republican supernova...

New York House of Representatives candidate...

New York Family Property, covering 10 residents...

With the Republican Party behind them, knowing the party leader and his wife, and possessing abundant political resources and financial capital, they can easily raise funds...

Zuckerberg and Eduardo were very interested in hearing these offers one by one.

“I remember Mr. Zuckerberg, he’s from New York. You can call my family to check on my situation…”

Guan Zu's language always carries a convincing quality.

Zuckerberg: "Okay, Mr. Guan, how much money can you come up with? How many shares do you want?"

Kwan Cho: "US$100 million, 25% of the shares."

Without a word, Zuckerberg shook his head: "I'm sorry, Mr. Guan, I don't want to sell so many shares. I can only offer a maximum of 10%."

He is an ambitious man, and selling too many shares is detrimental to his control of the company.

"Moreover, we are currently adding 10 new users every week, and next month we will be entering schools in Chicago and California. By the end of the year, our valuation will be at least $800 million. Exchanging $100 million for 25% is equivalent to reducing the valuation to $400 million, which is unreasonable."

Kwan smiled and said, "But I have a resource advantage... My family's properties will continue to expand, covering individual American families. Facebook shouldn't just be in schools, but should be in every American family, integrated into everyone's life."

Zuckerberg and Eduardo were somewhat tempted when they heard this.

Users are extremely important!
"If you're willing to accept my investment, I can help you gain at least 5 new adult users within 3 months, and they're not students..."

Zuckerberg and Eduardo were both interested.

They all understand the importance of "breaking out of the circle"—college student users are the foundation, but without adult users, Facebook will forever remain just a campus tool.

University student users are easy to grow, but adult users are difficult to grow.

But the 25% stake still made him hesitate; he didn't want to relinquish too much control so early in the business.

“10% at most.” Zuckerberg looked up, his tone firm. “$500,000, 12% of the shares. And I have a condition: you must add 50,000 new users to Facebook within three months.”

Guan Zu smiled and extended his hand: "It's a pleasure to cooperate with you!"

“It’s a pleasure to work with you!” Zuckerberg extended his hand. “The agreement should clearly state that you will only provide resource support and will not interfere with the company’s operations.”

Guan Zu shook his head: "NONONO, I won't interfere in ordinary matters, but if it involves very important matters, I must have the right to know and the right to vote..."

Then the two sides began to bargain.

Finally, an agreement was reached.

That evening, Zuckerberg had someone check Guan Zu's information and confirmed that there were no problems.

The next day, both parties went to the law firm to discuss the contract. They spent five hours negotiating repeatedly before finally signing the contract.

Guan Zu acquired a 12% stake for $50.

What will Facebook's market value be in the future?

$1000 billion. Of course, the key point isn't the money, but the power of public opinion.

Manipulating public opinion is always effective, and Kwan Tsoo did the same thing in Hong Kong.

"Happy cooperation!"

"Happy cooperation!"

After signing the documents, both parties shook hands and smiled.

quickly,

Guan Zu, accompanied by his bodyguard Yin Yang, left the law firm.

As Zuckerberg watched Guan Zu's retreating figure, he said to Eduardo, "Do you know what kind of inspiration this collaboration has given me?"

Eduardo: "What revelation?"

Zuckerberg: "Umbrella properties, happiness properties... they are much larger than family properties and cover a wider range of people."

“We need to investigate as soon as possible and then bring in their investment.”

Eduardo, upon hearing this, wholeheartedly agreed.

Zuckerberg smirked: "Besides, this guy is a Republican, so we can bring in Umbrella Property and Happy Property, both Democrats, to compete with him."

None of the squid people are kind.

“By the way, let’s move to Silicon Valley!” Zuckerberg suddenly said.

"You're not going to school anymore?" Eduardo looked at Zuckerberg in surprise.

Zuckerberg is only a sophomore this year.

Eduardo had already received an offer from Lehman Brothers (the company that triggered the 08 financial crisis)... no, an offer.

Zuckerberg's eyes were resolute: "I'm going to drop out of school. Facebook will be my opportunity. Time is very important to me and to Facebook!"

Zuckerberg's family was an ordinary family, and they were always very poor during his school years. He experienced firsthand the superiority of the wealthy.

A battle for supremacy among wealthy female students.

The Phoenix Society of wealthy male students.

He longed to join the Order of the Phoenix, but the wealthy students there looked down on him.

He knew that the opportunity to get rich and rise in social class was fleeting, and he had to seize it this time.

Seeing Zuckerberg's bright eyes, Eduardo didn't try to persuade him further.

……

……

One month later,
Zuckerberg and another technologist, Moscowitz, both dropped out of college and then moved Facebook to Silicon Valley, California.

Facebook has officially entered a phase of rapid expansion.

(Image: What software in China is Facebook equivalent to? It's like the communication features of QQ and WeChat, and the trending topics and celebrity interactions on Moments and Weibo.)
The air conditioning in Facebook's new office hasn't been set up yet, but thankfully Silicon Valley isn't hot in October.

Zuckerberg pinned a map of the United States to a whiteboard, held a red marker in his hand, and drew a large circle on the West Coast—that was the area covered by "Umbrella Properties"—and added another circle on the East Coast, marking it as "Happy Properties".

Zuckerberg put his arm around Eduardo's shoulder and pointed at the map.

"In just one month, our family and the property management helped us open up the community, resulting in 4 new users..."

"This shows what?"

"This shows that our property is a perfect fit for our family's needs, and it can provide us with a rapidly growing user base!"

"So, besides family-owned property management, there's also 'protective umbrella property management' and 'happiness property management'!"

"The umbrella of protection covers tens of millions of people on the West Coast and manages countless communities in California, Oregon, and other states... Happy Property uses their services in half of the communities in New York and Boston on the East Coast—these two companies combined can reach almost a third of the residents in the United States!"

"Therefore, we can contact these two property management companies..."

A shrewd glint flashed in Zuckerberg's eyes. "Guan Zu's (Guan Wenlong) family properties are competitors with these two companies. By binding all three of them at the same time, we can not only get more resources, but also make them check and balance each other."

Eduardo hesitated: "We currently have $40 in our account. If we invite these two companies to invest, how many shares would we have to offer?"

“We were poor before, so of course we asked for less, but now we have $40, so naturally we want much more money.”

Eduardo: "I think we shouldn't rush things. We should spend the money thoroughly. When we have a larger user base, we'll have more room for negotiation."

Zuckerberg smiled and said, "That's what I think too."

Eduardo hesitated: "There's another thing, won't he be angry if we give him a competitor like this?"

Zuckerberg smiled and said casually, "We're not kicking him out. In fact, once these two companies come in, Kwan Cho (Kwan Man-lung) will invest even more resources to avoid falling behind—that's exactly what we want."

"When two tigers fight, we, the fishermen, reap the benefits!"

Zuckerberg raised his hand and clenched his fist!

Many people in the past have portrayed Zuckerberg as a tech geek who is "only interested in technology", but they are wrong. If he were really just a tech geek, how could he have led Facebook to such a large scale?
He possesses a shrewdness and ruthlessness hidden deep within him.

It's like kicking Eduardo out.

……

……

And on the other side,
Guan Zu is busy preparing for his legislative election and the rapid expansion of his family's properties.

at the same time,

Guan Zu also had Xiao Fu do something through "Umbrella Property"—contact MySpace and Friendster.

These two websites are Facebook's competitors.

Friendster is the pioneer of social networking.

MySpace is a new generation of social networking sites, and it has a larger user base and stronger financial resources than Facebook.

(Image source: MySpace, Friendster)
Zuckerberg wants to stir things up.
Unfortunately, it's Zu Ge's home ground!

I'll kill you!
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P.S.: I'm currently working hard on writing Chapter Two.

(End of this chapter)