Restart life

Chapter 220 0217 [Youth Idol]

(The agreement on concerted action has been modified. Old Wang doesn't understand anything about it, so thanks to the experts for the correction.)
Just as negotiations stalled, YouTube's funding round in the US also concluded. The post-money valuation was $1.5 million!
Tudou.com's popularity soared.

ByteDance's financing negotiations also proceeded smoothly.

“Mr. Chen, this is our final valuation,” Yang Lin emphasized. “It’s not that we previously underestimated ByteDance, but rather because Tudou.com has recently been on the rise.”

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I understand."

ByteDance was valued at $2.3 million before the investment.

凯雷领投2600万美元。软银跟投850万美元。DCM跟投800万美元。IDG追加150万美元。DJF追加200万美元。

The Series B funding round raised a total of $4600 million. The post-money valuation was $2.76 million.

The equity structure has been changed to:
Chen Guiliang 53.67%. Guo Feng 4.67%.

IDG 8.87%. DFJ 6.28%.

Carlyle 9.42%. SoftBank 3.08%. DCM 2.90%.

The options pool is 11.11%.

Furthermore, Chen Guiliang's sole right to nominate independent directors, while currently valid, must be voided before the IPO. The investors do not support the veto power to remove independent directors.

Furthermore, Chen Guiliang's veto power over the board of directors, particularly regarding amendments to the articles of association, was rejected by the investors. He can retain his veto power over the appointment and removal of senior executives, but this power must be voided before the IPO.

Everything is for the sake of a successful IPO.

"Pleasant to work with."

"Pleasant to work with."

The parties have reached a preliminary agreement, and the next step is to go through a detailed due diligence process.

It is estimated that the formal signing will take about half a month.

……

The school sports meet has already begun.

There are serious Olympic events, as well as fun competitions like tug-of-war.

"come on! Come on!"

The Yuanpei Class tug-of-war team was composed of men and women selected from several cohorts of the Yuanpei Class. Their first opponent was the team from the School of Mechanics and Engineering.

Chen Guiliang exerted all his strength and finally managed to stabilize the situation.

After a full three minutes of stalemate, the Yuanpei Class began to shout slogans and fight back, gradually pulling the other side towards them.

"Mechanics, mechanics, the power is inexhaustible! One, two, one, two, one, two..."

The guys and girls from the Mechanics Department also cheered and put in a lot of effort.

The cheerleaders from both sides crowded closer and closer, wishing they could personally grab a rope.

Zhao Beibei jumped and cheered Chen Guiliang and the others, shouting, "Yuanpei, Yuanpei, who else but us! Yuanpei, Yuanpei..."

Even a fangirl from a neighboring department came to cheer Chen Guiliang on: "Chen Guiliang, you're the best!"

Chen Guiliang had truly given it his all, but his team's overall strength was inferior to their opponents. In the constant, rhythmic back-and-forth, some of the Yuanpei Class members had lost their rhythm and were unable to effectively coordinate with the team.

Moreover, the opposing mechanics team had two burly men standing in the back row.

There wasn't a single person with that build in the Yuanpei Class.

"Depend on!"

Chen Guiliang was still pulling, but he noticed that several of his teammates in front of him had lost their balance. The rope he was holding was being pulled uncontrollably, and Chen Guiliang was also thrown off balance.

The stalemate had lasted for several minutes, but the outcome was decided in an instant.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

Several members of the Yuanpei Training Program were so exhausted that they sat on the ground.

There was also a female team member from the Yuanpei Class who felt that she hadn't performed well and had dragged the whole team down, so she burst into tears on the spot.

The winning mechanics student came over to shake hands in a very friendly manner.

Chen Guiliang clenched and unclenched his hands, his palms burning. After a while, he calmed his breathing, smiled, and shook hands with the other person.

Damn, with the strength of the mechanics department, they could probably make it to the top four in the tug-of-war.

Yuanpei Class was unlucky, encountering a strong opponent in their very first match.

Chen Guiliang helped the two guys who were sitting on the ground up and then went to comfort the crying girl.

"Chen Guiliang!"

Director Zhu waved to him from the sidelines, with Principal Xu standing beside him.

Chen Guiliang walked over slowly with his hands on his hips; he had just exhausted himself and hadn't recovered yet.

"Hello, Principal Xu. Hello, Director Zhu."

Chen Guiliang greeted him.

Principal Xu smiled approvingly: "Not bad, actively participating in school and department activities."

Chen Guiliang said, "It's a pity we lost the first match."

"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war," Principal Xu commented. "The athletes from the Yuanpei Class are generally not as physically strong as those in the back row of the Mechanics Department. It's already quite impressive that they were able to persist for so long."

Chen Guiliang followed the two school leaders and strolled leisurely along the edge of the playground.

They walked for a while and then stopped, because the sprint was about to begin.

"How are the Series B funding negotiations going?" Principal Xu asked, looking at the sprinters who were warming up.

Chen Guiliang said, "We should be able to sign the contract by the end of this month."

President Xu praised you, saying, "You are a model of entrepreneurship at Peking University. The university has decided to recommend you for the 'Beijing Youth Role Model' selection."

"Thank you for your attention, leaders." Chen Guiliang had never even heard of this selection event.

This event is divided into three lists: Top Ten Outstanding Youths of Beijing, Outstanding Young Entrepreneurs (10 Gold Awards), and Capital Contribution Award for Young Entrepreneurs (10 Gold Awards). The Top Ten Outstanding Youths award is the most prestigious, and Chen Guiliang probably won't be selected.

The Capital Contribution Award for Young Entrepreneurs also depends on luck. The CEOs of Shougang Group, Beijing Urban Construction Group, Tsinghua Unigroup, and the Beijing Cigarette Factory… these bigwigs are definitely on the list.

Chen Guiliang is mostly selected as an outstanding young entrepreneur.

"Oh!"

The starting gun fired, and the sprinters dashed off.

Chen Guiliang felt that the shouts around him were like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing.

"come on! Come on!"

Chen Guiliang also shouted, because a senior from the Yuanpei Class was currently running in third place.

"so beautiful!"

That third-year student overtook everyone just before reaching the finish line, securing second place in his group during the preliminary round. This was a pleasant surprise.

After applauding the athletes, Principal Xu said, "There's an entrepreneurship lecture in May. Are you free to attend? Wang Zhidong, Lei Ming, Chen Hua, and Wu Minhui will also be there."

"I will definitely participate," Chen Guiliang immediately agreed.

These are all Peking University alumni.

Wang Zhidong was the founder of Sina, but he has been ousted and is currently developing the Jingkai Collaborative Application Platform.

Lei Ming is the former technical director of Baidu and the founder of Kuwo Music.

Chen Hua is the founder of Kuxun. He just received $200 million in venture capital and will receive another $1000 million in venture capital in six months.

Although Kuxun is a newly founded company, its core team consists entirely of future industry leaders, with over 30 entrepreneurs having emerged from its ranks. They've even been jokingly referred to as the "Kuxun Gang." For example, the company's first engineer was Zhang Yiming, the same person who founded ByteDance and Toutiao.

Yes, Zhang Yiming was working at Peking University Science Park at that moment. He only needed to take the elevator upstairs to reach Chen Guiliang's ByteDance company...

Wu Minhui provides enterprise data services and plans to transition to big data and artificial intelligence in the future. Sequoia Capital is currently in negotiations with him and expects to secure an investment of $800 million to $1000 million.

This year has entered an era of frenzied investment, with a large number of startups receiving funding.

Within the Peking University Science Park alone, there are more than just one or two companies that have received venture capital funding. Therefore, Peking University is planning to hold an entrepreneurship lecture and invite alumni who have achieved entrepreneurial success to return and participate.

……

In late April, ByteDance held a signing ceremony for its Series B financing round.

Not only did leaders from the science park company and incubator company participate, but President Xu from Peking University also attended.

The ceremony was held in the Innovation Center building, which was completed at the end of last year.

Zhang Yiming arrived at the company early in the morning. Looking at the festive balloons and banners, he said to his colleague Xie Xin (the future vice president of Toutiao), "It's so lively over there."

Xie Xin smoothed her hair behind her ear: "A huge amount of funding, it's true that we should make a big splash. We only got $200 million in venture capital last month, which was quite impressive last year, but it's nothing this year."

Zhang Yiming frowned: "I always feel that the name ByteDance is strange."

"It has a very futuristic and romantic feel to it," Xie Xin said.

Zhang Yiming said, "What I mean is that ByteDance seems to have a strong connection with me."

Xie Xin laughed and said, "I feel a connection with many of Li Bai's poems. I always feel that I wrote 'Quiet Night Thoughts'."

"What are you guys doing?" Another colleague, Chen Chi, also came to work. This man would later become the vice president of Ganji.com and later founded Xiaozhu.com.

Xie Xin said, "Zhang Yiming said he has a special connection with ByteDance."

Chen Chi laughed and said, "You still want to switch jobs?"

“That’s not true.” Zhang Yiming shook his head.

"Wow, a few more reporters have arrived. Chen Guiliang is quite good at publicity."

"Our boss is pretty much the same, always talking about becoming the next Baidu. I was attracted to apply for the job because of this slogan after reading the newspaper."

"Let's go, let's go, time to work."

There are 38 media outlets here today to attend the financing signing ceremony.

Venture capital firms' valuation of ByteDance isn't the highest among companies that received funding this year. But Chen Guiliang's age is more newsworthy, something that naturally attracts attention.

When reporting related news, the media likes to use phrases like "the next XXX" or "the second XXX" to describe it.

A whole host of companies have emerged that claim to be "the next Baidu," and there are more than a dozen that claim to be "the next Robin Li."

Some media reporters, focusing on Chen Guiliang's age and status as a university student, decided to try something new, such as being dubbed "China's Bill Gates."

Venture capitalists are celebrating, and so is the media.

Even the travel expenses for reporters have increased; the money reporters receive for attending these financing ceremonies is double what it was last year.

"Mr. Chen is here!"

"Is that the president of Peking University?"

"He's an absolute gold digger. If he ever gets married, it'll probably make the entertainment headlines."

"Mr. Chen, look over here, let's take a picture!"

"Principal Xu, please turn around for a moment before taking a picture."

"..."

Principal Xu smiled and waved as he slowly walked down the red carpet.

This year has seen a surge in Peking University's incubation programs, with six startups already securing venture capital funding. Although most investments are under $200 million, the positive outlook has everyone in high spirits.

It's similar at Tsinghua Science Park; the leaders are so happy they're practically grinning from ear to ear.

ByteDance's publicity team is currently ready to go. As soon as the signing ceremony ends, they will begin their promotional campaign.

Attracting new user registrations is one aspect, but attracting advertising is even more important!
The more famous a website is, the more businesses will be willing to advertise on it, and the higher the advertising fees will be.

With this round of financing completed, Chen Guiliang will likely become an idol in the hearts of countless young people.

(End of this chapter)