socalfunplaces Chapter 257 Balanced Equity Structure
Chapter 257 Balanced Equity Structure
The plane began its descent; the impact of the tires hitting the ground sent shivers through the fuselage, before it began to glide smoothly. Passengers started moving around, gathering their belongings, and turning on their phones.
The cabin door opened, and fresh air rushed in, mixed with the unique smell of the terminal.
Lingyun followed the crowd down the gangway and onto Silicon Valley soil. The temperature was indeed higher than in Jinan, the air was humid, and it carried the smell of the sea.
There was a long queue in the arrival hall. He handed over his passport and visa, the immigration officer flipped through a few pages, stamped a few times, and waved him through.
Carly was already waiting outside the railing by the baggage carousel. She was wearing a dark blue suit skirt, her blonde hair was tied in a neat ponytail, and she was holding an A4 sheet of paper with the words "Lingyun" printed on it.
"Welcome back." Carly took Lingyun's suitcase handle. "The car's outside."
"How's the situation?" Ling Yun asked as he walked.
"Khalid changed his itinerary and arrived earlier. Yesterday he visited the Silicon Valley branch of Spark Internet Cafe and played StarCraft for three hours." Carly spoke quickly. "Durand from the French National Investment Bank emailed this morning, hoping to meet this afternoon, saying they are flying to Paris the day after tomorrow."
"What about the others?"
"Goldman Sachs' Richardson has scheduled an appointment for 9 a.m. tomorrow, Morgan Stanley for 2 p.m. tomorrow, and Sequoia and KPCB have both expressed their willingness to participate, but they want to see the data first." Carly pressed the elevator button. "Microsoft's Jim Olson called again, and I told him I just got off the plane and am jet-lagged, and I'd call him back tomorrow."
The elevator doors opened, revealing a crowded elevator. The two waited for the next one.
"Is the meeting room all ready?" Ling Yun asked.
"Everything's ready. The conference room on the tenth floor—the projector, whiteboard, and coffee machine—have all been checked. The legal team is in place, and the draft financing agreement has been sent to your email." Carly glanced at her watch. "We're going to the company now; it'll take about forty minutes. You can rest for a bit first."
Stepping out of the terminal, the sunlight was a bit dazzling. Carly's car was a silver Toyota Camry, in excellent condition. She opened the trunk and put her luggage inside.
The car entered Highway 101. The morning rush hour had just ended, but traffic was still heavy. The roadside presented a typical Silicon Valley scene: low-rise office buildings, glass curtain walls reflecting sunlight, and parking lots packed with cars. Occasionally, construction sites could be seen, with cranes slowly turning.
"This is the latest data." Carly picked up a folder from the passenger seat and handed it to Lingyun in the back seat. "User growth curves, server load reports, and competitor analysis for the past week. In addition, here are supplementary background materials for several major investment institutions, including decision-making chains, internal factions, and historical investment cases."
Lingyun opened the folder. The first page was a color-printed line graph, showing Xingyu's user growth curve rising at almost a 60-degree angle. Next to it, in small print, was a note: "In the 24 hours following the announcement of Microsoft's acquisition of ICQ, Xingyu's new registered users increased by 300% year-on-year."
“Public opinion is on our side.” Carly looked at him in the rearview mirror. “There’s an article in the tech section of The New York Times titled ‘Post-ICQ Era: Who Will Rule Instant Messaging?’ It mentions StarTalk and says we are ‘challengers with greater technological ambition and an ecological vision.’”
Who is the author?
"Michael Lewis. The one who wrote 'Liar's Poker.' He seems very interested in you and is trying to arrange an interview through his PR department."
"Let's put it aside for now." Ling Yun turned to the next page. "Let's rearrange the order of the financing meetings. We'll meet with the French this afternoon, Goldman Sachs tomorrow morning, and Morgan Stanley tomorrow afternoon. Abu Dhabi is scheduled for tomorrow evening, a private dinner."
"Khalid might be unhappy; he prefers formal occasions."
"So I arranged dinner to be more intimate," Lingyun said. "I told him that I made special arrangements for him."
Carly nodded, made a phone call using her Bluetooth headset, and gave instructions in a low voice.
The car entered downtown Palo Alto. The cafes lining the streets were packed with people, and almost every table had a laptop on it. Groups of young people in hoodies walked by, backpacks slung over their shoulders, discussing technical jargon they couldn't understand.
StarCraft's offices are located in a five-story glass building, where they have rented the top floor. The downstairs tenants include a biotech startup and a law firm.
The elevator went straight to the tenth floor. The doors opened, revealing the Starry Sky Technology logo on the reception wall—a deep blue starry sky with a silver star arcing across it. The receptionist looked up and smiled, "Mr. Ling, welcome back."
"Where is everyone?" Lingyun asked.
"Everything is ready in the conference room." Carly led him inside.
The office area has an open layout with rows of workstations, most of which are empty—it's not yet time to start work. Only a few programmers are there, wearing headphones, staring at their screens, their fingers flying across the keyboards. The air is filled with the smell of coffee and the fumes from cooling electronic devices.
Inside the largest conference room, behind the glass wall, were already seven or eight people. They all stood up when they saw Ling Yun enter.
"Sit down." Ling Yun hung his coat on the back of the chair and sat down in the main seat.
Laptops, projector remotes, and stacks of printed materials were laid out on the long conference table. The whiteboard was covered with formulas and charts, some of which had been half-erased.
"Let's begin," Ling Yun said.
Carly turned on the projector, and a blue beam of light shone onto the screen. "First, the expected quotes from various institutions. Based on feedback from our contacts and third-party intelligence, our preliminary predictions are as follows..."
The meeting lasted two hours. It included data analysis, strategy deduction, and role-playing to simulate negotiation scenarios. The legal representative emphasized several risk points related to key clauses. The CFO reported on the latest cash flow forecast—more strained than before because server costs from user growth exceeded expectations.
"We need to get the money as soon as possible." The CFO was a white man in his fifties with gray hair who spoke bluntly. "At the current rate of cash burn, we'll have to start laying off employees in four months."
"It won't come to that," Ling Yun said. "Who will be attending the afternoon meeting with Durand?"
"Durand himself, accompanied by an assistant and a technical advisor," Carly said, flipping through the schedule. "The French National Investment Bank is taking this investment very seriously; the board has given them a very high authorization limit. But their demands may go beyond just financial returns."
"Of course not." Ling Yun stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and said, "What the French want is digital sovereignty. Europe is afraid of being completely monopolized by the United States in the Internet age. They are investing in us in the hope of having a non-American option in the crucial field of instant messaging."
He drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard: USA (Microsoft, AOL) vs Europe (blank) vs Others.
"Our positioning," the pen tip points to "other," "can be a neutral global platform. This is attractive to Europe, and it's also attractive to the Middle East. Abu Dhabi wants to export soft power; it doesn't want to be just an oil tycoon."
"But this also means we have to walk a political tightrope." The legal representative adjusted his glasses. "We have to please Americans, Europeans, and Middle Easterners at the same time, while ensuring that our Chinese background doesn't become an obstacle."
"Therefore, we need a complex but balanced equity structure." Ling Yun wrote a few numbers on the whiteboard. "American capital will take a portion, European capital will take a portion, Middle Eastern capital will take a portion, and my team and I will retain controlling equity. This way, everyone feels they have a stake, but no one can unilaterally decide our direction."