Adrian called the CEO of ICQ in front of Su Yehao.

After introducing himself, he immediately received an affirmative answer that they were in contact with America Online. The reasons why ICQ's shareholders wanted to cash out were complicated. To sum it up, it was because traffic couldn't be monetized, and the extremely high customer acquisition costs were overwhelming ICQ. On top of that, investors weren't optimistic about its future and were unwilling to invest more money.

The phone's speaker was on.

Su Yehao couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head slightly when he saw the CEO of ICQ sounding so excited while talking to Adrian.

As the world's first successful instant messaging product, the company's management was facing a complete unknown. They had to figure out everything themselves, such as how to make a profit, how to reduce customer acquisition costs, and how to formulate a future development strategy.

From the looks of it, ICQ hadn't been successful in these areas and had almost reached a dead end. By clinging to instant messaging itself, they had narrowed their own path.

To put it simply.

The company was already holding onto a gold nugget, but they didn't even know it.

It could only be said that starting a business too early isn't necessarily a good thing. Facing a boundless wilderness, knowing how to turn the land into fertile fields is a skill, and the timing clearly wasn't right yet.

America Online, with a market value of tens of billions of dollars, had initially grasped the secret to wealth by adopting a "paid chat room" model. This method was undoubtedly a bit clichéd, and if it wasn't changed with the arrival of the free wave, it would inevitably be eliminated by users.

His heart was beating much faster than usual.

While Su Yehao was feeling nervous, he heard David, the CEO of ICQ, ask on the other end of the phone, "So... how much is your client willing to offer to acquire our company?"

Adrian immediately looked at Su Yehao, with a hint of inquiry in his eyes. At the same time, he said, "I asked my friend, and America Online wants to acquire all of your shares for $320 million, right? Our client is willing to offer..."

Su Yehao held up a finger and pointed upwards, silently saying something.

He had only intended to say hello today, but he didn't expect them to be so direct. Su Yehao hadn't discussed the pricing issue with Adrian in detail. He had only said that the valuation was around $350 million.

Valuation is one thing, but the actual transaction price is another.

ICQ was losing money continuously, and the losses were increasing. Few people thought it was really worth that much, otherwise the Silicon Valley giants would have swarmed over, and Su Yehao wouldn't have had a chance.

Adrian carefully read Su Yehao's lips, nodded, and said, "My client is willing to add another $10 million, with no other conditions. It will be settled after the transaction is completed. Moreover, they will treat your existing employees well after the acquisition. America Online just wants to eliminate a competitor. They have their own technology, I think you understand that, right?"

Su Yehao understood this simple English.

$330 million, and his budget was around $350 million. Converted into Hong Kong dollars, it was more than two billion, even more expensive than the unlisted Bojue Medical Group.

Making such a major decision in just a few days, Su Yehao's blood pressure was soaring.

He had been thinking about raising money, but now he was wondering if the deal could go through.

ICQ wasn't listed yet, which meant that once the board of directors approved it, they could start the process directly. Su Yehao only had a little over $50 million that he had taken out for investment, far from the amount needed to pay. He would have to sell everything he had...

John Zhou couldn't understand Su Yehao's "poor and desperate" mentality. After listening to everything by his side, he only felt nervous and excited.

A few days ago, he was still wondering how to get TVT to accumulate enough users and help the programmers under his command find bugs. In the blink of an eye, they were already discussing the acquisition of ICQ.

As the company's COO, how could John Zhou not know how much help taking ICQ, the second largest after America Online, would be for TVT? Even if only one-tenth of the users were diverted to TVT, that would be 700,000 people, which was very good even in Silicon Valley, and would qualify them to attend some forums, parties, and so on.

Hearing the interest revealed in the words of David, the CEO of ICQ, John Zhou was even more excited, hoping to hear the other party say "deal."

Unfortunately.

The other party said that he wanted to discuss it with the members of the board of directors first, and hung up the phone soon after.

……

The transaction might be accelerating.

Adrian had to prepare the negotiation materials, and Su Yehao had to raise money.

After asking Adrian to clarify the terms of the leveraged buyout, as well as the handling fees and interest, Su Yehao contacted President Peng of the Bank of China again, directly asking if he could approve $100 million, and promising that as long as this cooperation was successful, they would cooperate more in the future and help the Bank of China attract some big business.

One shouldn't narrow their own path. Since he might have to pay at any time, he had to be prepared first. Then, he contacted a private plane and asked Nong Qingying to return to Hong Kong to help contact a few more banks.

In addition, Su Yehao also called his old man, asking for $100 million.

Far away in Casino, 1997.

Su's father had just fallen asleep. Hearing that he wanted to borrow $100 million, he was still half-asleep and was very annoyed. He said, "Money, money, money! I thought something had happened to you. Couldn't you wait until tomorrow to talk about it? Do you know how hard it is for me to get a good night's sleep at my age? You don't contact me usually, and you only look for me when there's nothing good. Do you think I'm a money printing machine?"

Too lazy to explain too much, Su Yehao decisively said, "Borrow it from the company account, and I'll pay you back $50 million more by the end of the year. This is an emergency, Dad!"

"...Tell me first, what do you need the money for? If you've been kidnapped, just say yes."

"..."

The reason why Su Yehao didn't say hello to his old man was because he was afraid he would ask too many questions. Helpless, he explained:

"To acquire a company worth more than $300 million, an internet company. Whether our family can become the richest in Hong Kong depends on this one gamble. After we sort it out this year, we can list it early next year and raise a sum of money. Si Hai International should have a credit line, and there's enough cash on the books."

"That's not right, where's your own money? I asked your accountant last time, and you should have a little less than two billion Hong Kong dollars. More than $300 million, are you going to pay it all? You haven't been scammed, have you?"

Completely unable to sleep, Su's father asked a series of questions very quickly.

Borrowing money, he inevitably lost the upper hand.

Su Yehao patiently explained for a long time, saying that his money was still useful for the time being. His old man was still not at ease, asking him to go back and talk in person, and plan carefully.

With such a huge difference in investment concepts, the deal would probably be rejected as soon as they discussed it.

He regretted mentioning borrowing money. He might as well think of other ways.

More than two hours later.

Su Yehao and Nong Qingying took a car to San Francisco Airport to go home and find some money in person...