Rebirth of the Wild Age

In the afternoon, when it was still night in the United States, Ding Ming made an overseas call: Lao Song, Sogou will ring the bell tomorrow.

Are you tired? Song Weiyang asked.

It's okay. Ding Ming said with a smile.

Ding Ming has led a team to the United States for a month and a half. He doesn't like to speak in public, so he has done the IPO roadshow for three consecutive weeks.

When he was in college, Ding Ming's English scores were good, but unfortunately he was a dumb English speaker. Even his listening ability has deteriorated after graduation. Ding Ming's performance in this IPO road show is similar to that of Rebus in another time and space, and he can't speak English very well. In the face of investors' on-site questions, he sometimes had to ask the team's CFO to translate, and his poor spoken English often made the audience laugh.

Sogou's current CFO is Pei Yigen, who is an old acquaintance with Song Weiyang. In the original time and space, Pei Yigen had been working in Citigroup China, working his way up from a young employee to vice president of Citigroup China and general manager of the cts department.

But the butterfly effect brought by Song Weiyang completely changed Pei Yigen's life trajectory. When Song Weiyang was still in college, the two were both Fudan alumni, so Pei Yigen worked as Song Weiyang's account manager and financial advisor for more than two years. When Golden Bull Capital was first established, Pei Yigen was transferred to Hong Kong City by Citigroup China because of his relationship with Song Weiyang, and was responsible for the business dealings of Golden Bull Capital.

Soon Pei Yigen changed jobs, first worked in Barings Bank Asia Investment Company (Hong Kong City), then was transferred to the mainland, and then transferred to Singapore for promotion. Afterwards, he went to the United States for two or three years and obtained a master's degree in finance from Stanford by the way. During this period, he has been working at Credit Suisse First Boston.

About three years ago, Sogou's chief financial officer was incompetent, and it happened that Pei Yigen was recruited by Citigroup and sent to China, so Ding Ming tricked him into being Sogou's CFO.

This time Sogou went to Nasdaq for listing, and Pei Yigen was in charge of the IPO-related matters, and even the main underwriters were recruited by him, namely Citibank and Credit Suisse First Boston.

On June 20, 2005, Ding Ming rang the bell at Nasdaq.

Sogou's stock code is SOGO. After the IPO, the total share capital is 65.2 million shares. The initial public offering of 5 million shares plans to raise 150 million US dollars. After a series of negotiations, Sogou's issue price was set at US$28. After several rounds of inquiries before the opening, the opening price was confirmed at US$70. Investors have great confidence in Sogou.

In just one hour of opening, Sogou’s share price soared to $68, closing at $128.37 on the first trading day.

Ding Ming and Pei Yigen were stunned on the spot, and the news was quickly spread back to China, and the Chinese media were too shocked to speak. With an issue price of US$28 and an opening price of US$68, it rose to US$128 in just one day, becoming the company with the highest stock price listed in the US.

This situation is a bit like Baidu in the original time and space.

At that time, Baidu’s issue price was US$27, the opening price was US$66, the highest price on the first day was US$151, and the closing price on the first day was US$122, an increase of 354% on the day.

And Sogou was established earlier than Baidu in history, with better development and stronger strength, and the first-day increase is even greater!

The reason for this situation, in the final analysis, is Google's success.

Google's stock price has soared to close to 300 US dollars, and search engine stocks are therefore considered to have great potential. Sogou, which has the largest market share in China's search market, is naturally favored by investors. If Sogou was listed in the U.S. before Google’s soaring price, it is very likely that it would directly fall below the issue price on the same day, because there is no successful precedent before Google.

As for why it is not listed in China's A-share market?

Sogou's performance has reached the A-share listing standard, but the A-share market has been miserable in the past two years. When the Shanghai Composite Index fell to 1,300 points last year, investors thought the sky was falling. This year, the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 1,000 points due to various official policies to rescue the market. How do you collect money in the face of a super bear market?

How good it is to go to the United States to borrow the wind from Google!

On the first day of trading alone, Sogou’s market capitalization skyrocketed to US$8.369 billion, Song Weiyang’s net worth surged by US$5.5 billion (including Song Weiyang’s Sogou shares held through Golden Bull Capital), Zhang Chaoyang’s net worth also increased by US$150 million, and Ding Ming’s net worth increased by US$5.5 billion. Become a rich man with assets of nearly 1.6 billion US dollars.

In the Forbes China Rich List at the end of this year, Zhang Chaoyang's ranking will definitely rise by several places, and Ding Ming will directly enter the top ten 100%!

Baidu headquarters.

Li Yanhong hung up the phone, staring at the ceiling in a daze. The shareholders are forcing him to speed up the progress of the IPO. There is really no way to do this. If he doesn't go public quickly, he will be fired by the shareholders, and he may be directly removed from the CEO position.

Because Baidu's major shareholder is not Li Yanhong himself, several rounds of financing have diluted the shares too much.

Any ab stock model is nonsense, and that thing will only take effect after it is listed. It is not recognized by the laws of any country for non-listed companies to engage in the AB stock model—unless relevant agreements are signed.

It's a pity that Baidu's current development status is far inferior to another time and space. It is fully qualified to go public in the United States, but it will certainly not meet expectations, and it is impossible to see a rise of more than 300% on the first day.

But in order to control the company, Li Yanhong must go public as soon as possible, so that Baidu's cattle card plan (ab shares) can take effect as soon as possible.

...

On June 28, Ding Ming led his team back to China.

The next day, well-informed media reporters rushed to block Sogou's gate.

Mr. Ding, did you anticipate the unprecedented success of Sogou's listing this time?

Mr. Ding, with Sogou's current stock price, your personal assets have almost reached 1.8 billion US dollars. What do you think is different from before?

Mr. Ding, will Sogou develop overseas markets in the future?

Mr. Ding, how much do you think Sogou's stock price will rise this year?

Boss Ding...

When Ding Ming arrived at the company, he was surrounded by a group of people. After a look of bewilderment, he quickly smiled and said, Please make room for me. Since the media friends are so enthusiastic, I will hold a special press conference to answer your questions. Today Forget it, I have been abroad for nearly two months, and I just came back yesterday, and there is still a lot of work to be done. Three days later, everyone will come back in three days, I am very sorry today!

After finally persuading the reporters to leave, Ding Ming came to the company sweating profusely, and the employees of Sogou headquarters applauded and welcomed him.

The listing of Sogou this time not only made Song Weiyang, Ding Ming, and Zhang Chaoyang's net worth skyrocketing, but also gave birth to dozens of millionaires and several multi-millionaires. Of course, it is not the dollar, but the renminbi.

Mr. Zhang Chaoyang, a famous film and television investor who has successfully entered the entertainment industry, also came back from other places specially at this time. He opened his arms exaggeratedly, and gave Ding Ming a bear hug with a smile: Boss Ding, it's been a hard trip, I'm going to treat you tonight!

Then let Brother Zhang spend the money. Ding Ming didn't refuse, he was very happy.

Zhang Chaoyang is naturally very happy too. He has never been in charge of Sogou, but it is the fourth largest shareholder after Song Weiyang, Jinniu Capital, and Ding Ming. Now, his net worth has increased by 150 million US dollars out of thin air.

It's no different from picking up 150 million US dollars for nothing!

Well, it's more than 150 million. With the rise of Sogou's stock price, it has now exceeded 160 million.

However, as one of the company's founders, Zhang Chaoyang's stock cannot be cashed out in the short term, unless there are investment institutions willing to take over the offer at a high price. All his money belongs to book wealth, and he will have to wait two or three years to fully realize it. At that time, he will not know whether it will fall or rise.

Ding Ming will not be able to work normally today. Even though most of the calls are blocked by his assistant, there are still twenty or thirty congratulatory calls to his private mobile phone.

Except for Daoist Nie Jun, the brothers from the former dormitory have all called in the past few days.

Especially Zhou Zhengyu, this kid chatted with Ding Ming for a long time last night, and said that he flew to the capital for dinner on weekends.

Another call came. Ding Ming checked the number and answered, Dad, what's the matter?

Ding Daguo asked: Whenever you are free, just go back to your hometown.

Let's go back for Mid-Autumn Festival or National Day. Ding Ming thought for a while and said.

Then it's settled, I'll be back on National Day. Ding Daguo said with a smile.

Ding Ming quickly warned: It's agreed that I'm just going home to visit relatives, don't let me meet those business friends of yours.

Ding Daguo said: It's not a business friend, it's Secretary Zhang from the city. We are attracting investment here, and we want to build a digital city. Your father and I also participated in the investment. Now the opening time has not yet been determined. When you come back on National Day, it will open on National Day. Secretary Zhang personally Go cut the ribbon. You must come then, don't let me release pigeons!

Ding Ming said speechlessly: You are a building materials and hardware company, what kind of digital city are you investing in?

My son is already a tens of billionaire (RMB) in the Internet industry. Why can't I invest in Cyber ​​City? Ding Daguo laughed.

All right, all right, I will definitely participate when the time comes, Ding Ming was so annoyed, he warned, It's settled, let's not set an example, and we will do our own business.

Ding Daguo spoke English: ok, no problem.

It is known to the world that he became rich overnight, and Ding Ming's hometown has long been a sensation.

Even the new digital city project in the city has urgently absorbed Ding Ming's father as a shareholder. Although there is only a small amount of shares, the publicity stunt in exchange is huge.

As for Ding Daguo, someone was rushing to give him money, and he couldn't get that many shares with his little investment. There is no negative impact on this matter, as long as his son shows up on the opening day, he can solve the rest by himself.

This has always been the case with Hongdingbai, when you are in trouble, countless people will step on you. And when you are prosperous, people you don't know will come to add icing on the cake, wishing to beg you to be your brother.

There are not many things to do today, but he is very tired. Ding Ming couldn't help but call Song Weiyang: Old Song, I have a question for you.

What's the matter? Mr. Ding. Song Weiyang teased.

Don't talk nonsense, I'm bothered. Ding Ming laughed angrily.

Song Weiyang said: Is it annoying to be a billionaire?

Ding Ming said: Although Sogou did a lot in the past, I was relatively low-key, so I wouldn't have so many messy people and things to bother me. These two days have been very annoying. Sogou's stock price has skyrocketed, and everyone came to congratulate me. My assistant My phone is about to explode. I have full appointments for dinner this week and next week, and they are all for me to celebrate, which is more tiring than normal work.

Song Weiyang said: If you don't know me very well, make an appointment, don't bother with them.

You want to offend someone. Ding Ming said.

Song Weiyang said: You are still the same as when you were in school. You are afraid of offending someone. Now that you are the boss of a listed company, you need to change your mentality. I really can't save face, so I asked the assistant to politely refuse, saying that you are going on a business trip.

Ding Ming was quite curious: You are a super rich man, how do you maintain your mentality?

What should I do? Song Weiyang said.

Ding Ming smiled and said, Okay. After the half-month dinner is over, I'll learn to say no, regardless of those cats and dogs. By the way, I've decided to get married within this year, and I'm picking a date now.

Congratulations, Song Weiyang asked, Is the bride the one who brought the rabbit out of the laboratory to eat?

Ding Ming said proudly: It's her. She joined a life science laboratory in the United States. This time I went to the IPO roadshow in the United States and accidentally made her belly bigger. It's impossible not to get married. She also decided to return to China. After giving birth, they will develop in China.”

Haha, you got caught in the trap, congratulations on entering the grave of love. Song Weiyang gloated.

an hour later.

Song Weiyang received a call from Chen Tao: I'm pregnant. I just came out of the hospital. The doctor said that the baby is eight weeks old and should be conceived in Hong Kong City.

Uh... Song Weiyang was speechless for a while.

Chen Tao said: I am going to give birth, it doesn't matter if you don't admit it, I can support myself. The child will not inherit your assets in the future, I have assets left to him (her), so be it, die!

What the hell?

Before Song Weiyang could speak, Chen Tao had already hung up the phone.

I didn't say I didn't admit it, why are you so excited? Are pregnant women so weird?