Reborn Russia As An Oligarch

Wang Ye didn't know much about Voloz. After all, in his "previous life", the company Yandex was not very famous. He didn't even know the name of the founder of this company.

According to the information collected by the employees of Polar Bear Investment Company, Wang Yecai had a little understanding of Voloz.

This guy is an absolute technical genius!

Voloz was one of the first people in Russia to come into contact with computers, in 1984 during the former Soviet Union...

At that time, there were only a dozen computers in the entire former Soviet Union!

And in the early 1990s, Wroz founded a company and began to specialize in search engine technology.

In terms of technical level, it is definitely leading the world!

In 1997, Voloz joined two partners to found Yandex and officially launched a Russian search service, one year before the establishment of Google.

In Russia in 2001, Yandex was the largest Russian search service provider!

Currently, Voloz is the largest individual shareholder and CEO of Yandex, accounting for 15% of the shares.

The other 85% is owned by multiple investment institutions and individual investors. Because the stock price plummeted by 97%, the company's current market value is less than $4 million...

These are the current situation of Yandex Company.

………………

Under the leadership of Voloz, we briefly visited the company, and then everyone entered the large conference room and prepared to start negotiations.

Internet companies actually have nothing to look at.

In addition, the company has laid off nearly half of its employees, and the whole building seems empty and deserted.

Voloz was the first to speak: "Welcome Mr. Mikhail and everyone at Polar Bear Investment Company, and thank you for your trust in Yandex and your willingness to invest in our company in the current environment. It is undeniable that since last year At the beginning, the global Internet industry was facing great difficulties, and Yandex was no exception. Currently, the company's funds are very tight and it really needs new funds..."

He was very candid and talked about the external environment and internal difficulties without any concealment.

Of course, even if you want to hide these things, you can't. After all, investment companies are not vegetarians. They must have investigated clearly before coming.

Therefore, if he takes the initiative to speak out, he can gain a good impression.

After listening to Voloz's words, Wang Ye nodded with a smile and said: "Yes, the global Internet is in a cold winter, but in the long run, I still insist on being optimistic about the development of the Internet industry. We established Polar Bear Investment Company , the goal is to invest in Internet companies around the world, and Yandex is the first investment target we choose!"

Voloz's face was full of gratitude and expressed that he was honored.

There had been early contact between the two parties, and Voloz certainly knew the public background of Polar Bear Investment Company.

This company is backed by the energy giant Yukos Group, and it just acquired Sibneft for US$5 billion a few days ago!

Although the news was not widely publicized, it had already been widely circulated in some circles.

Obviously, this investment company is definitely financially strong!

If Yandex, which is in trouble, can get equity investment from Polar Bear Company, it will basically be able to come back to life.

"Mr. Mikhail, how much do you plan to invest, and what are the requirements for shares or board seats?" Voloz asked cautiously.

These are the core questions!

How much money is given, how many shares are required...

Wang Ye smiled and said directly: "The market value of Yandex is very low now, only a few million US dollars. We must acquire it wholly. If Yandex is privatized and delisted, how much will it cost?"

Voloz was stunned and shook his head: "Mr. Mikhail, although Yandex's current market value is indeed only a few million dollars, everyone understands that this is only affected by the Internet winter, and the company is seriously underestimated! Facts On top of that, our company’s headquarters building alone would probably cost more than a few million dollars if sold. Plus..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Wang Ye.

"Mr. Voloz, please pay attention to one thing, that is, Yandex still has no profit! It requires a large amount of money every month. In a few months, your company will probably sell the headquarters building. Let’s just pay the employees’ wages.” Wang Ye said with a smile.

On the surface, Yandex's market value of several million US dollars is indeed low. The fixed assets alone are more than that. Adding the company's website, technology patents, etc., it is estimated to be 20 to 30 million US dollars.

But for any company, it is reasonable to have a low valuation, and you cannot just look at the surface!

Because Yandex does not make any profit, although it also does advertising, the Internet is not very popular, so there is not much advertising. The income from this area is far from being able to cover the company's monthly expenses.

Therefore, the company continues to suffer losses.

When the Internet industry was prosperous, no one cared about these losses, because everyone was looking at the company's earnings ten years later, and there was a lot of venture capital for Internet companies to burn and seize market share.

But during the Internet winter, no one dared to invest money, and the consequences of these losses began to be revealed.

The company has no money in its account, but employees' salaries still have to be paid every month, and the money for various broadband expenses and hardware purchases has not decreased...

If nothing happens, the company's market value will only fall all the way!

What the stock price reflects is only what will happen to your company in the future, so it really can't be called undervalued.

…………

Being exposed by Wang Ye's words, Voloz had nothing to say, because he knew very well that this was indeed the situation in the company.

If there is no new capital coming in, we really won’t be able to survive.

Even if we continue to lay off employees, we still need to pay severance pay to employees, which also requires a lot of money.

Moreover, employees in the Internet industry generally have relatively high wages. Take Yandex as an example, the average employee salary has exceeded two thousand US dollars!

The salary of one employee is as much as that of four university teachers...

Of course, because it is the top Internet company in Russia, the employees they recruit are indeed top programmers and are worth the price!

The remaining several hundred employees now need one million US dollars in salary every month!

"Okay, Mr. Mikhail, how much are you willing to pay to privatize and delist the company? In addition, I also want to know your plans for the company's future development." Voloz said weakly.

If Yandex is indeed privatized, it may not be a bad thing.

Of course, this is for the company.

But for company founders like Woloz, that's definitely not a good thing.

After all, they are now so-called executives of listed companies!

After being acquired, it depends on the new boss's face...