March 5th.
Today marks LinkedIn's first day of relocation from Silicon Valley to the Seattle Page Industrial Park. Coincidentally, LinkedIn's third anniversary is also less than two days away.
At this moment, a dozen LinkedIn executives had already gathered in the spacious, brand-new conference room.
Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn's CEO and one of the highest-paid professional managers in the original timeline, was also seated there.
However, the head seat was empty.
Because the protagonist of today's meeting was Kyle!
"Mr. Weiner, I must say, the company's new headquarters are much better than the old ones," exclaimed Morian Zira, Director of Research and Development.
"That's right."
George Vikast, Director of Marketing, echoed, "When we were in Silicon Valley, we shared a building with Waterworld Animation. Yes, the Page Building has eight floors, and the area isn't small. But Waterworld Animation is a globally renowned animation production company, with over 300 employees at its headquarters alone. Well, we also have a lot of people at LinkedIn, so sharing a building was simply too crowded."
Waterworld Animation is a listed company on the US stock market, with a market value of over 2 billion US dollars, much higher than LinkedIn's valuation.
To be honest, LinkedIn felt a bit stifled facing Waterworld Animation in Silicon Valley.
Who told you that you were not as good as others?
"Haha, it's different now. After LinkedIn relocated to the Seattle Page Industrial Park, we occupied the best geographical location in the first phase of the industrial park. There's an 8-story main company building, two 6-story administrative buildings, three 5-story departmental buildings, and a 7-story R&D building."
Demola, the Financial Director, chuckled, "As it stands, our new LinkedIn headquarters can accommodate 1,000 people working simultaneously, with plenty of room to spare."
During the conversation, smiles constantly appeared on everyone's faces.
There was no other way!
The facilities at the new company headquarters in all aspects completely exceeded their expectations. Every employee across the company was extremely satisfied.
Even some employees who had moved away from their hometowns to work in Seattle were also immensely satisfied after receiving a generous relocation allowance from the company.
"Boss!"
Just then, all the executives in the conference room rose simultaneously, as the big boss, Kyle, had arrived!
Kyle sat down firmly at the head of the table and went straight to the point: "The company has just moved into its new headquarters, and everyone has a lot of work on their hands. I believe none of you want to spend your valuable time here."
Upon hearing this, many people laughed.
Demola, the Financial Director: "You understand me, boss, long live understanding! After moving into the new headquarters, a large batch of equipment purchases has just been completed, and our finance department has been busy with calculations recently."
Weilong, one of the Administrative Department supervisors: "Our Administrative Department and Human Resources Department have been busy recruiting local graduates in Seattle recently. Time waits for no one!"
Kyle nodded and said, "I'll keep it short."
As his voice fell.
Everyone present, including CEO Jeff Weiner, immediately became highly attentive.
"As of the end of February 2001, as LinkedIn approaches its third anniversary, we will officially welcome the company's first Series A financing and share expansion since its establishment."
"According to professional financial magazines such as Fortune, Time, and Bloomberg, including a number of professional investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, all have made varying degrees of professional evaluations of LinkedIn. Our current valuation for LinkedIn is... 420 million US dollars!"
Kyle surveyed the crowd.
420 million US dollars!
In just 3 years, Kyle had invested a total of 100 million US dollars, achieving such excellent results!
Especially after the internet bubble at the beginning of 2000, LinkedIn still stood strong and prospered, which was absolutely precious among the many newly emerging internet companies.
CEO Jeff Weiner quickly followed up, saying, "If it weren't for the impact of this internet bubble, which cooled the market, LinkedIn's valuation would definitely have exceeded 800 million US dollars."
The major wave of the internet bubble had not completely passed by the beginning of 2001, and many internet companies were still facing cash flow shortages.
"Lack of liquidity... and LinkedIn is no exception!"
Jeff Weiner stated solemnly, "As you all know, our company's valuation has grown rapidly, but since the company's establishment just 3 years ago, our books have always been in a state of loss, which makes us have to be cautious."
Losses, burning cash, pursuing user numbers, expanding visibility and influence... all of these are always unavoidable topics for internet companies.
Without sufficient capital investment and strong ally support, how can we defeat the newly emerging online recruitment and job placement companies in the market?
"Well said."
Kyle looked around at everyone and added, "LinkedIn is one of the earliest internet job placement companies, and currently the most influential and powerful company in online recruitment and job placement. However, a large number of newly emerging companies of the same type are catching up, and if we're not careful, we will be surpassed!"
The existence of competitors and fierce competition is indeed a huge pressure!
To firmly hold the top position in the industry, development must be accelerated!
Series A financing is imminent!
...A few days later.
LinkedIn's third-anniversary celebration was held as scheduled.
A large number of enterprise leaders from Seattle attended; many partners from Silicon Valley also made the special trip to come.
It was exceptionally lively!
Three days after the third-anniversary celebration, LinkedIn's Series A financing attracted a large number of powerful companies and wealthy individuals.
In fact, even before LinkedIn announced its Series A financing, many big names had already set their sights on LinkedIn.
For example, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, had proposed to Kyle more than once to invest in LinkedIn when the company was less than half a year old.
Similarly, there was also Microsoft!
Furthermore, Heidrick & Struggles, one of the "Global Five Headhunters," also repeatedly wanted to participate.
LinkedIn was clearly a hot commodity!
These companies that wanted to invest were all industry giants, with money and strength.
However, it was also necessary to prevent the strong from bullying the weak!
Especially Microsoft!
Throughout history, Microsoft has invested in many companies, then continuously added investments, gradually diluting the shares of the founding management team, and then turning them into Microsoft subsidiaries.
Microsoft had a bad reputation!
Of course, Kyle himself had also kicked out company founders and taken over other people's companies. For example, McAfee (antivirus) company.
While others worried that Microsoft would take over, Kyle was not afraid!
Kyle had the strength and was fully qualified to negotiate with Microsoft on equal terms.