"That's true!" Tang Jun, for once, agreed with Kiat. From Tang Jun's understanding, white-collar workers in China—or rather, anyone in China who considered themselves elite—looked down upon QQ and 00. One started by copying ICQ, and the other by copying QQ. They were practically a disgrace to business and a global joke.
Only the esteemed...
"That's a full $2 billion acquisition fee!"
"Now, for just $100 million, we can secure QQ with tens of millions of users. It's clearly a very worthwhile deal. The key is speed; we can't afford to delay!"
With Kiat's words going that far, Tang Jun naturally didn't hold back. He quickly reached an agreement between Microsoft China and Tengda Group.
Ultimately, Microsoft China acquired all QQ-related businesses under Tengda Group, including all QQ users and QQ Zone, for $98 million.
However, it's worth noting that Tengda's servers were not part of this sale. So, while Tengda sold QQ, the servers purchased to operate QQ, costing over 500 million RMB, all remained with Tengda.
These servers could then be fully utilized to continue operating Lianzhong World and new games. Coupled with the $100 million in cash, the investment institutions that had invested in Tengda were all beaming. At the very least, they felt they had completely recouped their investments.
They had no idea that Tengda's greatest wealth had already departed from them.
After selling QQ, Tengda began to fully introduce the game "Kaixuan." This time, Zeng Qing had become very confident. He felt there was no need to rely on the traffic from Jiangnan Group, just as Shanda's "Legend of Mir" had not relied on such things and had risen on its own.
Besides, Tengda still had the Lianzhong World platform with millions of users, and these users were willing to pay. He believed Tengda could operate "Kaixuan" successfully on its own, without having to pay any "toll" to Jiangnan Group.
In short, Huang He spent two days in the Cayman Islands only to find that his plans had been completely disrupted. QQ had staged a comeback, and Tengda was preparing to go it alone. This world was truly miraculous.
Huang He sighed a few times, then shook hands with a blond man in a suit in front of him. The man said, "Congratulations, sir. You have successfully registered. Your 'America First' has become a formally registered enterprise in our Cayman Islands. I'm just curious why you, a Chinese person, would register a company with such a name!"
The white man was very perplexed. He was the only person in the world who had seen the detailed information of America First and knew that 100% of the company's equity was controlled by a Chinese person named Huang He. Yet, the company's name was "America First."
Indeed, for a company founded by a Chinese person to be named "America First," it was truly difficult for him to comprehend.
"This isn't my company. I'm registering this company on behalf of a major American figure!" Huang He blinked and then smiled.
"So that's how it is!" The white man suddenly understood and then dismissed the matter from his mind.
At this point, everyone must be very curious why Huang He traveled all the way to the Cayman Islands to register a company named America First.
The reason is simple: Huang He needed an enterprise that could operate freely in the United States, unaffected by his Chinese background. This company would serve as Huang He's front company in America in the future.
In fact, it wasn't just Huang He who registered a company in the Cayman Islands. Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Netease, Xiaomi, JD.com, Evergrande, China Unicom, Lenovo, Shanda, 51job, Giant Interactive, Qihoo 360, Sina, Huiyuan, Mengniu, Focus Media, and many more – most companies listed in the United States and Hong Kong are registered in the Cayman Islands.
Nor is it just Chinese companies. Major global enterprises have their own registered subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands. Furthermore, the Cayman Islands is the fourth-largest offshore financial center globally, with over 10,000 international companies registering there annually.
So why do so many companies choose to register in the Cayman Islands? Naturally, it's because the Cayman Islands offers compelling advantages.
To understand this, one must first grasp the history and geography of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are a small archipelago located in the heart of the Caribbean Sea, with a total population of 64,000. Seventy percent of the island's population is engaged in the financial industry, with the rest in tourism. It is a renowned developed country globally.
The Cayman Islands were discovered in the early 14th century by the famous navigator Columbus, who named them "Cuyma." Later, British explorers occupied the islands and renamed them the Cayman Islands, making them a British colony.
Subsequently, the Cayman Islands were incorporated into Jamaica, and together with Jamaica, they became a British colony.
In the mid-20th century, Jamaica gained independence. However, the Cayman Islands did not wish to join Jamaica. Thus, they separated from Jamaica and returned to the embrace of Great Britain, becoming a direct British colony and one of the nine remaining British overseas territories, administered by a Governor appointed by the United Kingdom.
When the Cayman Islands first became a direct British colony, it was a very poor and impoverished place, even poorer than a third-world country. The British government at the time did not even want this colony and begged them to declare independence themselves. However, the indigenous people of the Cayman Islands refused, stubbornly clinging to Britain and refusing to leave.
This put the British government in a very awkward position. According to British law, the government had no right to expel any of its direct colonies unless the colony itself requested independence. Therefore, the British government could not get rid of this burden.
But since the Cayman Islands were a direct British territory, the people on the island were British subjects. Yet, the British government was unwilling to invest a large amount of capital to develop this island, which seemed incapable of development. After several years of back and forth, the British government decided to grant the Cayman Islands significant autonomy, almost indistinguishable from independence, allowing them to develop themselves and not bother their financially strained sovereign.
The Governor of the Cayman Islands at the time was also a highly ambitious man. He hoped to develop the Cayman Islands to enhance his future political career back in Britain.
This brilliant governor pondered and realized that given the resources of the Cayman Islands, only two industries were viable: tourism, which was traditional, and the financial industry, which required no resources.
However, competition in the tourism sector was already fierce. The Cayman Islands did not possess particularly beautiful scenery or fine white sandy beaches. Moreover, developing the tourism industry required substantial financial support, and the Cayman Islands were penniless. Therefore, pursuing tourism was impossible.
Thus, the brilliant governor decided to design a path for the Cayman Islands that no one had ever conceived of before: to make the Cayman Islands one of the world's financial centers.
But for such a small island located in the heart of the Caribbean Sea, it seemed improbable to become a financial center.
However, this governor did not see it that way. He discovered that the Cayman Islands possessed extremely significant advantages.
Firstly, as a direct British colony, the Cayman Islands enjoyed all the privileges of the United Kingdom in various international affairs.
Although the glorious British Empire had declined by then, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. The British Empire still held numerous privileges internationally, including various trade agreements, financial organizations, visa-free policies, and listing permits. The British Empire possessed significant policy advantages.
For example, if a British company wanted to operate in the United States, it could enjoy commercial policies almost identical to those of American companies, and even some special tax exemptions. Furthermore, listing in the U.S. had minimal scrutiny, as long as basic information was compliant.
However, if a Chinese company wanted to do the same, it would face various commercial restrictions, numerous taxes, and exclusion from many industries. Even listing on Nasdaq would involve more than ten times the complex scrutiny.
Therefore, if a company were established in the Cayman Islands, it would inherently enjoy the privileges afforded to British companies. These privileges were extremely tempting for many international enterprises aspiring to develop globally.