BAT's start with T.

1.

The 199s were the era when the domestic Internet was just emerging, and now all the Internet bosses we are familiar with were the trendsetters at that time.

In November 1998, Mark and his friends established Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, and the company's business is actually to expand the wireless network paging system, that is, the network BB.

At that time, Netease had launched its own portal website and e-mail business, and Zhang Chaoyang, a returnee, formally established Sohu.com after three years of transformation. Compared with these real Internet companies, Tencent was really a scrap of the Internet sector at that time.

in the early days of Tencent's establishment, Mark wrote the OICQ program, which is the predecessor of QQ, in order to bid for projects.

who knows, this product has not been selected.

what should I do? Since it can't be wasted, just use it yourself. So, Mark was forced to open its business and transform from an intermediary to a provider.

The biggest highlight of OICQ products at that time was the function of chatting with strangers. In order to win users, Mark led his friends to the university campus to sell, and even personally played the role of a girl to accompany the chat service.

By the end of 1999, the number of registered users of this software had exceeded 6,, and it was officially renamed QQ due to trademark disputes, but it was still a tiny one.

Second,

With the New Year's bell ringing, the Millennium has officially entered. There is no end of the world and there is no millennium bug, but the global Internet bubble has quietly burst.

At that time, although the number of QQ users was increasing, it was never profitable. After much deliberation, Mark decided to sell this penguin, which was actually equivalent to selling the company, because at that time, Tencent had nothing but this lovely penguin.

we don't know the exact number of people he found.

But the more certain versions are as follows:

After becoming famous, Mark was interviewed once, and the host asked, "Was it difficult at that time, should I sell the business?"

"It's not whether you want it or not, it's just that you can't sell it all the time." Mark a face of helpless replied.

But fate will never disappoint your every effort. At the end of the rope, IDG Capital and "Little Superman" Li Zekai's PCG Digital came to your door.

how do IDG and PCG know about Tencent?

It turns out that in 1999, China International Hi-tech Fair was held in Shenzhen. At that time, Mark, who was struggling with funds, ran around every booth with a thick business plan, and finally caught the attention of IDG Capital and PCG Digital.

In short, no matter how tortuous the process is, IDG Capital and PCG Digital decided to invest 1.1 million US dollars each in Tencent.

As a result, the shareholding structure linked by Tencent and Capital has initially taken shape.

IDG Capital and Pacific Century Digital each account for 2%, and Mark and his friends account for 6%.

3.

The $2.2 million of IDG Capital and PCG Digital burned out in less than a year, but Tencent still has no profit.

So, Mark came to the financier for financing.

IDG: You can't make money with this business model!

Pacific Century Digital has the same attitude.

the result of failing to make money is that the company can't maintain its operations and will close down.

Just then, a man named David Wallerstein appeared.

This person with a strange name is not from China. At that time, he was the vice president of MIH's China business department, which was in charge of the company's Internet merger and acquisition business in China.

He took a fancy to Tencent because at that time, when he went to any Internet cafe, young people were chatting or playing games with QQ software on their desktops, so he thought that with such a huge user base, once the company found a profit model, it would definitely become a great Internet company.

With the joining of this South African company, IDG Capital and PCG Digital breathed a sigh of relief.

IDG Capital was ready for this investment to go to waste at that time, and PCCW also urgently needed funds to withdraw to buy Hongkong Telecom.

at this time, someone came to talk about the acquisition, and I couldn't wait to get rid of this hot potato.

to their surprise, the South African company gave Tencent a valuation of 6 million dollars! It is more than 1 times higher than a year ago!

idiot!

So PCG hastily cleared 2% of its shares, and IDG Capital thought about it, but still kept 7.2% of its shares.

a year later, MIH bought 13% of the shares from Mark.

At this time, Tencent's shareholding structure has changed into South African MIH accounting for 46%, IDG capital accounting for 7.2%, and the remaining 47% is still in the hands of Mark and his friends.

Since then, Tencent's business has basically been smooth. In 24, Tencent was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and it will grow into a giant in the Internet industry.

according to the financial report released in 219, Tencent's net profit in 219 was 93.31 billion yuan, earning nearly 3 million yuan a day, and its products made amazing money.

Summary

Today, looking back, many people only remember the 2% stake in Tencent that Li Zekai, the "Little Superman", sold at the beginning, and the people who ate melons thought that if he hadn't sold it at that time, he would have surpassed his father to become the richest man in Asia.

Of course, when "Little Superman" himself talks about Tencent, he is also worried.

but, as time goes by, who can see the future earlier?

from the investment point of view, more than 1 times a year is already a very good return, just like retail stocks, 1 times a year is an unimaginable gain.

Moreover, at that time, in the eyes of PCCW, Tencent was just like many projects of Tencent Haitou now. Who knew which little-known company would "turn dragons into dragons in a storm"?

As far as Masayoshi Son of Softbank, who took a bet on treasure, there are few successful cases of taking a shot except Alibaba in these years.

in the rivers and lakes of the internet, some people enter and some people leave, that is, no one can reach the top forever.

in the past twenty years, the chaotic pattern of the internet has become clear, and several giants have also put their swords and guns into storage, but the former king has now become a bystander, but who can guarantee that the current king will not become an audience after 2 years?