Chapter 102: Acquiring a Stake in Sohu

Looking at Zhou Xuan, Mai Zhuo recalled what Jiang Yun had told him and could not help feeling a surge of excitement.

One billion! As long as he could make one billion, he would finally be able to stand tall and hold his head high at home. His parents would look at him with a new level of respect and would no longer nag him about joining the military.

Mai Zhuo came from a military family spanning three generations. His parents and older brothers were all career soldiers. Yet, since childhood, Mai Zhuo had no desire to learn martial arts, let out-and-out refuse to become a soldier.

To say that Mai Zhuo was a spoiled young scion would not be entirely accurate. He lacked the arrogance, bullying nature, and hedonistic pursuits of others who relied on bureaucratic connections and illicit commodity permits to make a fortune.

All he wanted was to emulate Sister Yu—making his own money and spending it on his own terms. Unfortunately, he lacked any business acumen, and the two ventures he had tried ended up wiping him out completely.

Of course, this was because he had refused to use his family's prestige or connections at all. If he had, anyone would have happily thrown money at him the moment he opened a company.

Yet, he dared not do so. If he ever traded on his family name, his father would break his legs by the next day and mercilessly throw him into the army.

Ever since receiving the call from Jiang Yun, Mai Zhuo knew his luck had finally turned. Within a single day, he had thoroughly investigated everything about Zhou Xuan.

This time, Mai Zhuo placed immense importance on Zhou Xuan, which was precisely why he had personally gone to the airport to pick him up. Wasn't it all for the sake of money?

Since Zhou Xuan could offer him a future, the pressure from Sister Yu amounted to nothing. Mai Zhuo wasn't trying to woo Sister Yu, so there shouldn't be any problem.

Sometimes, people are simply unwilling to act only because the price isn't right. For a three-hundred-percent return, many people would risk even their lives.

As for Zhou Xuan, he believed that future opportunities to make money were abundant. He only needed to grasp the core pillars of the internet, while delegating everything else to others. On one hand, this would allow him to cultivate a vast network of connections; on the other, it would help him build a tight-knit, solid interest group centered around himself.

Regarding Mai Zhuo, the business venture he had in mind was the MP3 player—an industry about to enter the market and destined to shine brightly for a decade.

Unlike mobile phones, which had relatively high technical barriers at present, entering the MP3 market only required acquiring an electronics factory and hiring a few talented individuals. Whether purchasing decoding chips or developing them independently, both paths were entirely viable.

By the year 2000, it would be entirely feasible to develop a product and achieve mass production, grabbing a lucrative share of the future MP3 player industry.

After arriving in the downtown area, Mai Zhuo first took Zhou Xuan to a pre-booked hotel. Once settled, the two of them went out for lunch. After taking a brief rest, the lawyer hired by Mai Zhuo arrived, and the three of them headed toward Sohu.

Zhou Xuan had already called Charles Zhang, scheduling the meeting for three o'clock that afternoon at Sohu to sign the agreement. Of course, the equity transfer could not be completed today, and Sohu urgently needed the Sohu website to go live immediately. Therefore, a preliminary contract would be signed today, with the equity transfer slated for completion within a month.

This investment in Sohu was made by Zhou Xuan in the name of Universe Technology Company—the principal entity that would operate the instant messaging software YY in the future—and had nothing to do with Universe Software.

The capital, naturally, came from Zhou Xuan's royalties, though it was now designated as Universe Technology's funds. Just yesterday, on July 20, 1998, Universe Technology was officially established with a registered capital of ten million RMB.

Upon arriving at Sohu, the company sent a department manager to greet them. Because Zhou Xuan's youthful appearance was genuinely baffling, the representative mistook Mai Zhuo for the person in charge at Universe Technology and ushered him directly into the meeting room.

Tea was served, and less than three minutes later, Sohu founder Charles Zhang appeared at the doorway.

Seeing the three of them, Charles Zhang looked at Mai Zhuo and smiled, saying, "You must be President Zhou, right? I didn't expect you to be so young."

Mai Zhuo was only around twenty-four or twenty-five, so he indeed looked youthful.

However, Charles Zhang had made a mistake. Mai Zhuo simply pointed at Zhou Xuan beside him and smiled, "President Zhang, this is our President Zhou."

At that moment, Zhou Xuan extended his hand promptly and smiled, "Hello, President Zhang. I am Zhou Xuan from Universe Technology. It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time."

Charles Zhang had not expected to make such a blunder, but as a seasoned veteran of countless battles, he naturally reacted instantly.

"Haha, I never imagined President Zhou would be so young. It truly makes veterans like us feel ashamed. I inferred from our phone call that President Zhou was young, but meeting you in person makes me realize what a true genius looks like."

"Haha, President Zhang, you flatter me. I've just had a bit of good luck," Zhou Xuan replied modestly.

Following that, Charles Zhang introduced his three colleagues to Zhou Xuan, all of whom were core executives at Sohu. Seeing Zhou Xuan, who appeared to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, they were all privately shocked.

Naturally, the conversation then shifted to the contents of the current negotiations, as well as Sohu verifying that Zhou Xuan indeed owned the Sohu domain names and the hao123 navigation website.

Upon confirming that Zhou Xuan indeed held the four relevant domain names and the hao123 website, Charles Zhang finally felt at ease.

"President Zhou, since you will soon be a shareholder of Sohu as well, could you block NetEase's icon? That would be much more favorable for Sohu."

"Haha, President Zhang, you must be joking. The original positioning of hao123 is to be a fair navigation website. If we abandon the principle of fairness, users will lose trust in the site, which would be extremely detrimental to a navigation website. However, I can move NetEase's icon down to the fourth row and give Sohu top-row ad placement for a month. How does that sound?" Zhou Xuan proposed.

Charles Zhang raised an eyebrow. "Make it at least a year."

"Three months at most. You must realize that many companies are currently calling us to place advertisements on the site!" Zhou Xuan refused.

Charles Zhang was well aware that numerous internet cafes had installed the Universe Internet Cafe Management System, which forcibly set the computer's IE browser homepage to hao123 while generating a hao123 shortcut icon on the desktop.

As a result, the daily traffic of hao123 actually surpassed that of Sohu. If Universe also ventured into web portals, he believed Sohu and NetEase would face a formidable competitor.

Moreover, as far as he knew, Wang Zhidong of Bafang Litong was actively campaigning and preparing to transform content into a portal website. He was currently active overseas with an obvious goal: to acquire Huayuan Information, the largest overseas Chinese website.

If Wang Zhidong succeeded, backed by Huayuan Information and several BBS forums like Bafang Litong, the new portal website would pose an immense threat.

If Sohu failed to take measures now to expand its user base and increase its influence, it risked being surpassed in the future.

With Ding Sanshi's NetEase already acting as a formidable roadblock ahead, and Wang Zhidong pressing from behind, Sohu's current situation was, frankly, far from secure.

Consequently, he had agreed to let Zhou Xuan invest in Sohu with two million RMB and the Sohu domain names, all to secure a leading edge in the impending development of web portals. The influence of the Universe Internet Cafe Management System across internet cafes nationwide was the very hope he was pinning his strategy on.

Finally, Charles Zhang made his decision: "500,000. I want the prime ad placement on hao123 for two years."

"Deal!" Restricted by the limited number of internet users at the time, the hao123 of his past life had only generated tens of thousands in ad revenue during its early stages. Being able to secure 500,000 from Sohu for a two-year ad placement left Zhou Xuan extremely satisfied.

Afterward, both parties negotiated a few remaining details and, under the witness of the lawyer, signed the various agreements.

"Welcome to Sohu, President Zhou!"

"Pleasure doing business with you, President Zhang!"

Less than a year after his rebirth, Zhou Xuan had finally taken his first true step into the grand tide of the internet.