Chapter 253 News from the Mining Area
Chapter 253 News from the Mining Area
YouTube has been growing rapidly in recent months.
Fan Wumian rarely posts videos and has only about 20,000 fans, mostly Asians living in North America.
Britney Spears, who was attracted to this platform by him, has over 60 followers on her YouTube account, and the number of weekly active users on the entire platform is approaching the 300 million mark.
The outside world has long begun to use "the second Facebook" to describe its popularity among young netizens, and the valuation given to it by evaluation agencies has also rapidly soared to around US$5500 million.
If Youtube had not yet found the right monetization model, its revenue data would be relatively low and its cash flow scale would be a bit pitiful.
With its rapid user growth momentum, it would not be a big problem for its market valuation to double.
The reason why the trend is called the trend is that many times, only a gust of wind is needed to enable some companies to soar to success, and their development speed is so fast that it makes people jaw-dropping.
Youtube has obviously hit the right spot for online videos and has successfully spawned a group of first-generation video bloggers. For example, a rock band from California became famous by performing and filming videos in bars and signed with Warner Music Group.
There are also high-end real estate agents who have successfully sold properties in Hawaii, Miami and New York by playing luxury home videos on Youtube, with the transaction prices all exceeding US$2500 million.
Recently, he even helped a Hollywood star buy a private island in the Bahamas. Even Fan Wumian followed this blogger's account.
As the number of Youtube users increases, the company's expenses also increase.
Recently, Chen Shijun and others have been trying to cooperate with Internet advertising companies and have attracted some advertisers to join.
Unfortunately, he was spending more than he earned, and had already started discussing the B round of financing with Fan Wumian via email.
I recorded the song for a few days.
Compared with the English album "That Girl", the special edition of "Dislocation in Time and Space" seems more important.
Fan Wumian was worried that the stage effect was not good enough and that it would ruin the atmosphere of the entire song. He could only keep discussing with the music producers and carefully grasp the scale in order to present the most perfect effect.
In the evening of October 10th.
He had just left the Sapphire Blue Records Studio and was on his way to meet Feng Ying'er for dinner.
Chen Shijun, one of the founders of Youtube, called and said to Fan Wumian impatiently:
"Hi! I have good news for you. Yahoo sent someone to contact us yesterday and offered 1 million US dollars, hoping to acquire our company!"
Fan Wumian was not happy but surprised, and asked quickly: "You agreed!?"
Over the phone.
Chen Shijun's voice sounded very excited, and he replied:
"Of course not. Apart from some problems with cash flow, the growth momentum in other aspects is very good. It is far from reaching a bottleneck."
"I and the other two founders have decided to reject this acquisition offer. Being favored by a giant like Yahoo should make it easier to raise funds in the future. YouTube is really successful! Its valuation is no longer just book wealth. Yahoo is willing to pay $1 million in cash!"
"However, the Russian venture capital firm that raised the A round of financing suggested that we seize the opportunity to sell as soon as possible. The boss of that firm is a pure businessman. He has already made several times the profit from this investment and has no intention of staying with us for a long time."
Fan Wumian felt a little sour and said:
"I suggested that I provide the funding, but you rejected it. Others don't understand the charm of video websites, but I do. The value of YouTube is far more than that."
"If the Russian investor really wants to cash out, I'm willing to buy his shares at a valuation of around $7000 million. Can you help me negotiate it?"
"So what are you going to do now, strike while the iron is hot and continue to raise funds?"
Chen Shijun replied:
"Haha, I'll ask them for you when I have a chance, but the possibility that they will agree is not high. We were in a hurry to raise funds last time, but this time we want to hold on until the end of this year, or in February or March next year to raise the B round of funds. General Motors just signed a contract with us and gave us $150 million in advertising fees. We are also discussing cooperation with the shopping platform Amazon recently."
"Congratulations to us. Let me make it clear in advance that I will continue to invest in the B round and maintain 25% of the original shares."
Through this investment, Fan Wumian has earned tens of millions of dollars in paper wealth.
At this critical juncture when the business is about to bear fruit, he certainly cannot allow his equity to be diluted.
Chen Shijun replied:
"No problem, I'll talk to you next time. I've been working for 12 hours straight and I need to go home and relax."
After listening.
Fan Wumian first thought, it’s only 12 hours, can this be considered overtime?
I realized later that there was something wrong with my thinking. I shouldn't have worked so long.
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at the same time.
Southeast Asia.
A jade mining area in Myanmar.
After the rainy season that lasted for several months this year ended, various mining areas seized the opportunity to resume mining.
An old excavator was working at full speed to dig through the thick soil.
As it was getting dark, the young guy driving the excavator was very excited and couldn't wait to get off work. He wanted to find a massage parlor and have a chat with the girl he just met recently.
Even if I have to contribute a day's hard work salary just for a few minutes of pleasure, I will still enjoy it.
Seeing the truck coming, the excavator stopped working and first loaded the soil and stones that had been screened several times nearby and transported them away.
Trucks will transport the soil and rocks to a waste area called a "slag mountain" for dumping.
Some locals specialize in picking up stones from the slag hills. They use a small hammer to knock on each stone a few times. If they find any missed jadeite, they can sell it to the mine owner at a good price.
Occasionally, there are some unlucky people who are buried by the collapsed soil and waste. Those who are lucky enough can be rescued, but some die directly.
Even so, it still cannot stop many people's desire to get rich.
Smaller jadeite stones are easily missed, and the probability of genuine high-quality jadeite slipping through the net is extremely small.
Like this moment.
The guy driving the excavator hit a big hard rock as soon as he used his shovel to dig.
The supervisor standing nearby came over immediately and gestured to dig up the surrounding area first.
I was busy for a while.
An experienced craftsman began to examine the stone, estimating it to be at least one ton and covered in mud.
I poured water on it and wiped it casually, and unexpectedly I saw large areas of python patterns.
After shining the flashlight, other places around were also glowing with a strong sense of green.
The master who identified the stone immediately shouted loudly in Burmese, and regardless of the fact that the boulder was covered with mud, he hugged it tightly, kissed it and laughed.
The supervisor quickly stopped the excavator, ran quickly to the big rock, took out a flashlight and shone it. The skin on his face was dark, but his teeth were very white.
Not caring about his shaking hands, the supervisor quickly called his boss.
soon.
When other workers in the mine heard the news, they gathered around to check out the huge rock in front of them. They were amazed by its size and the quality of the jade at the fracture.
Even the old master who has made a living from jade for decades said that he has never encountered such top-quality raw stones in his decades of work.
Quality is only one aspect; the more crucial point is that it is very large.
After flushing the stone with water, the supervisor made a rough estimate and realized that the value of the stone must be no less than three or four million US dollars. So he quickly had someone cover it with cloth and asked all the workers to supervise each other and not to make phone calls or leave.
You have to know that this is old Myanmar. For such a piece of top-quality jadeite raw stone, some people are even willing to shoot everyone present.
Many nearby mine owners hope to come across such a treasure even in their dreams.
The supervisor finished calling his boss again.
That night, a carload of young men arrived soon, holding AKs in their hands, staring at everyone with a fierce look. They were sent by the mine owner's partners to prevent any accidents.
The stone was transported to the mine's warehouse overnight.
The mine owner personally cleaned and checked the mines. He was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He was busy until midnight but was still too excited to sleep.
I wanted to spread the news as quickly as possible so that I could get rid of it early and it would be safer.
Everyone made phone calls overnight, inviting powerful jade dealers to come to the warehouse to check out the goods tomorrow.
Fan Wumian, who has nothing to do with the jade circle, has long said that he wants to buy a piece of jade rough stone of the highest bid level in order to make a movie.
A smart businessman contacted Jiang Shixi as soon as he received the news, hoping to act as a matchmaker and make a direct profit from the difference.
Port city.
It was not until after 10 o'clock the next morning that Fan Wumian heard about this matter from his agent Jiang Shixi.
Key information such as it weighs more than one ton, its quality may reach glass grade, its color is very green, etc. all matched his impression of the "Big Jade King".
Jiang Shixi told me over the phone:
"Well, boss, the jade dealer said the seller wants $800 million. I think we can just use props for the movie. There's no need to spend so much money on a piece of jadeite. Many directors who shoot science fiction films won't build an alien warship themselves. Using computer special effects won't cost much."
Fan Wumian made an excuse and said:
"The special effects can be made, but there is no gimmick. At worst, we can just cut it up and sell it. What if the price goes up?"
Jiang Shixi continued to persuade him, "But if you really can make a fortune, the mine owner will cut it himself, right?"
Fan Wumian smiled and said:
"You don't understand this. As the old saying goes, even gods cannot tell the quality of jade. Many jadeite stones look good on the surface, but when cut open, there may only be a thin layer of plaster. The risk is very high."
"Businessmen think differently. The mine owners in Myanmar can make a lot of money by selling the mines directly. Why would they take the huge risk of cutting them open? Nine out of ten times they lose. Unless they are sure of winning, they won't take the risk."
"It's different for me. Even if I lose money, I still have a chance to make it back through the movie. I'm just worried that I can't find the inspiration to write the script for 'Golden Eyes'."
I thought Fan Wumian was starting to get stuck in a rut, just like many artists.
The agent Jiang Shixi reluctantly reminded:
"I contacted my jade dealer, who is going to the mine from the mainland today. He said that when he sees the stone, he will send me a photo by email. For such a big matter, you should make the decision yourself. If it is really valuable, I can't afford to pay for it."
(End of this chapter)