Reborn Russia As An Oligarch

After communicating with Sergey, the two reached an agreement, so other shareholders would not raise any objections at the shareholder representative meeting.

Wang Ye's plan received unanimous support.

There is no problem in communication and negotiation with Penguin, because Facebook and Penguin themselves have no competition, but rather a complementary relationship.

Both are social networks, but one is a "one-to-one" private social network, and the other is a "one-to-many" public social network.

In China, Facebook has no real competitors, and Weibo and the like have not yet appeared.

There are just a few websites that "learn to imitate" Facebook, and the best one is called Renren.

Now the "genuine" Facebook is going to enter the country, teaming up with Penguin, and attracting investment from Zhang Xiaoxi's asset management company and Yukos China.

Now that we have the people, money, and technology, it is probably difficult to even do it!

Moreover, according to Wang Ye's request, the domestic company is completely independently operated, and its name is "China Facebook Technology Co., Ltd.". Except for a market operation team transferred from Penguin, the rest of the staff are from the new company. Recruitment after establishment has nothing to do with Penguin.

…………

The North American Facebook company is in a similar situation. Wang Ye roped in Google, Amazon and Citibank to jointly establish a new company.

This company is actually the real core subsidiary of Facebook!

After all, the English Internet has a wider coverage, and because of the strength of the United States, North American Internet companies will not be targeted or boycotted in most countries and regions around the world, and can freely develop their business.

If Facebook goes public in the future, its valuation should mainly depend on the development of the North American company...

Similarly, with Google and Amazon providing the market operation team, Citibank providing the capital, and Facebook Holdings providing the technology, the large framework of the North American company was established.

It can be seen that whether it is Facebook in China or Facebook in North America, the new partners are actually no strangers.

Either it was originally a company controlled by Wang Ye, or it was someone who had dealt with it before.

After such operations, the wealth is still not going to outsiders...

…………

After solving Facebook's overseas development problem, Sergey raised a new question.

That is, since the Moscow company no longer needs to pay for overseas business development, there is still a huge sum of money lying in the company's account that will not be used in a short period of time, but it cannot just be wasted.

He was talking about the US$1 billion that Facebook received in its second round of financing. This was indeed a huge sum of money, and the plan was to use it to expand overseas markets.

But now the two new overseas companies are operating independently and new investments have come in, so this money cannot be used.

On the Russian Internet, Facebook's development has also reached a bottleneck.

There are only so many total Internet users. No matter how much you promote, the number of users cannot exceed the number of Internet users...

And at this stage of development of Facebook, there is no need for advertising and promotion. Basically everyone on the Russian Internet knows it!

Faced with Sergey's "happy troubles", Wang Ye burst into laughter. This problem was so easy to solve.

Making money is never easy at any time, but if you want to spend money, there are 10,000 ways to spend it at any time...

Moreover, a plan he has recently hatched can just solve Sergey's "trouble".

So Wang Ye smiled and said:

"This is very simple. Didn't you say last time that as the company expands and the number of employees increases, the current office space is not enough.

Just use the money to build a headquarters building. If you can't use it all, you can also rent it out.

Although this kind of commercial real estate seems to have relatively low returns, the advantage is that it is very stable, and with the development of the country's economy, the value of real estate will also grow rapidly. Looking back in a few years, maybe this is also a good investment. "

To be honest, for most companies, spending a huge sum of money to build a so-called headquarters building is usually not a good choice.

There are many negative examples. The construction of a headquarters building broke the company's capital chain and even led to the company's bankruptcy.

But on the other hand, when a company develops to a certain scale, especially when it has enough funds, it is also a good choice to negotiate with the government to get a piece of low-priced land to build a building.

Sergey was a little tempted. He had already had this plan, but in the past he had to consider the expansion of overseas markets, which required a lot of money, so he didn't dare to actually build a headquarters building.

Now that the overseas market does not need to use the Moscow company's funds, it can indeed build a headquarters building.

Firstly, it can solve the problem of office space, and secondly, it can also "show" the strength of the company!

Don't underestimate this invisible influence, it is actually very necessary.

If the company can own a building of its own in the center of Moscow, it will not only prove the company's strength, but also increase the cohesion of employees and their sense of belonging to the company!

…………

"Since it is your proposal, of course I, a small shareholder, will not object, and the company really needs a building of its own.

How about I go back and talk to the city government about getting a piece of land to build a building on? "

Sergey said with a smile.

Wang Ye shook his head and said:

“You don’t have to go to the Moscow city government for this matter.

Because the National Economic Council will propose a bill on the construction of Moscow's central business district.

At that time, a piece of land will be designated in the best location in the city center for the construction of high-end office buildings.

Call together a group of the most powerful companies in the country and each undertake the construction of at least one skyscraper!

After completion, it will become the core business district of Moscow, comparable to Manhattan in New York, Hong Kong Central, and Ginza in Tokyo!

The land prices provided to various companies will be very cheap. This can be regarded as the support given by the government to major group companies. After all, you have to invest a lot of real money to build buildings.

However, there will be relatively high requirements for the qualifications of the relevant companies, and there will also be requirements for the design style and budget of the building.

With Facebook’s strength and budget, there will definitely be no problem. "

This matter is indeed a new plan that Wang Ye has recently brewed.

In fact, someone has already raised the issue of Moscow CBD, but it has been delayed.

There are various reasons, but in the final analysis, we are still poor, and many large companies are not willing to spend so much money to build buildings.

But now the situation is different. In the past two years, the national economy has soared at a speed visible to the naked eye. In addition, the economic policies formulated by Wang Ye himself have begun to be implemented. Many companies are very optimistic about the future prospects.

Besides, there is no need to say much else. As long as Wang Ye cheers up, wouldn't there be many big companies that will follow suit unconditionally?

Yukos Group, Gazprom, Kitty Eagle Group, New Sun Group, Siberian Coal, Siberian Gold...

These companies are either Wang Ye Holdings or have close relationships with him, so of course they will support Wang Ye's policies.

And for these companies, there is no difficulty in spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a building.

Oh, there are also two major communications companies controlled by the Romanov family, banks owned by Kovchenko, and Aluminum Group Aviation Group owned by Abramovich, etc.

As long as each group company undertakes to build one building, then basically this central business district can be built smoothly...

…………

Sergey was overjoyed when he heard this.

Because according to Wang Ye's plan, the company will definitely be able to get a piece of low-priced land to build the headquarters building. The key is that the location is very good!

After all, this is to build the core business district of Moscow, so the site selection must be very cautious.

And this is a project pushed from the top down. It is very big in terms of efficiency and policy strength. It is much better than going to talk to the city government alone!

“Since we have such an opportunity, we might as well spend more money and build a building that will be enough for at least the next twenty years!

Budget...

Let’s take $500 million, which should be enough. "

Sergey rubbed his chin and said excitedly.

With $500 million, this is going to be a landmark building!

At this time in 2005, although construction costs were higher in Europe, US$500 million to build a building was still a very high budget and could definitely build a landmark skyscraper!

Although it is not clear how much the construction cost of a skyscraper is, Wang Ye vaguely remembers that in his previous life in Pengcheng, he was famous for visiting the Ping An Financial Center when it was built.

That building is almost six hundred meters high. It is the tallest building in Pengcheng and a landmark building.

Moreover, it was completed ten years later. It is said that the construction cost was less than 10 billion yuan, which is more than a billion US dollars.

For example, Facebook doesn’t want to build a super skyscraper. It is estimated that if it is built to be two to three hundred meters high, it will be full. Then the facade will be made more beautiful and distinctive, and the architectural shape will be graceful. The budget of US$500 million will definitely be more than enough!

Besides, Wang Ye didn’t expect Facebook to build this real landmark of the CBD, because the real tycoon is Yukos, an energy giant like Gazprom!

At that time, several energy giants will spend two to three billion US dollars each, or even more, to build a few real landmark buildings. Only then can the face of this CBD be propped up.

As for the question of whether the budget is too high, there is actually no need to worry, because the money does not have to be spent all at once.

Those super buildings basically took several years to build, and funds were invested in stages.

For energy giants such as Yukos and Gazprom, it is not easy to extract more than one billion US dollars every year.

It’s just that when the dividend is distributed at the end of the year, the shareholders will get less money...

…………

Wang Ye nodded and said with a smile:

“Since we want to build a core business district, of course there will be a very high threshold.

We want to build a unique CBD. Every building must have its own highlights. The cost should start at least US$100 million, with no upper limit!

In the future, this will be the top business district in Eastern Europe. All major companies will gather here, possessing extraordinary business vitality and creating ultra-high economic value and influence.

Not only will there be top-grade office buildings, but there will also be five-star hotels, luxury shopping malls and other supporting facilities. "

Such a central business district may be regarded by many people as a so-called face-saving project, which wastes people and money but has no effect.

But Wang Ye doesn't think so.

If the country is rich enough, then there is no need to deliberately engage in these things, just let nature take its course.

But if the country is not rich enough, or is struggling to develop, these things can indeed play some role.

For example, it provides a better office environment for foreign-funded enterprises, facilitates the establishment of foreign investment companies, and stimulates national pride.

Anyway, some things are very subtle and you think they are of little use, but they work in invisible and intangible places.

Moreover, after such a central business district is built, it can also be regarded as a window for external display.

Let the whole world see that in the past few years, under the leadership of the Kremlin and the efforts of the Economic Committee, the Maoist economy has achieved some results...

…………

When Wang Ye proposed this plan at the National Economic Council, as expected, some members raised questions.

“Director, why are these buildings grouped together?

I think it would be good to be scattered in several major urban areas and streets as it is now, and it will not cause traffic congestion problems.

If we really want to focus on building a business district, we will face many difficulties.

The first thing to bear the brunt is the issue of demolition, because the location of this business district must be as close to the city center as possible. In that case, the old buildings will inevitably be demolished. There is not such a large amount of open space in the city center.

There is also a very critical issue, that is, building skyscrapers is very expensive!

Where are we going to get so much money? We won’t have to use funds for major infrastructure projects. All that money has its uses and cannot be touched..."

Obviously, the member who raised the question did not mean to make things difficult. The questions he raised were very practical and would be encountered.

Wang Ye smiled slightly, knowing that these questions must be answered.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to convince all members to support you.

After all, this is not a trivial matter, and the city of Moscow may also encounter resistance by then, so it must be unanimously recognized and supported by everyone in the Economic Committee.

He waved his hand and asked his assistant Nova to bring a large map of Moscow city and hung it on a writing board standing there.

Then he stood up, picked up the oil-based pen, drew a circle on the map, and said:

"This is the place I chose!

Across the river from the Kremlin, most of the area is now covered with woods. In addition, there is a family area for a government unit, with a total area of ​​about four square kilometers.

This area is not large, and I plan to divide it into two development phases. In the first phase, only about one square kilometer of the area along the river will be developed, and the rest will be reserved for later development depending on the situation.

As for the companies and funds that will be settled, of course I will consider these.

How about, the day after tomorrow, I invite some relatively powerful business representatives to come over for a meeting and listen to their opinions? "