The other day I saw Charles Zhang Chaoyang on the “Boss town”, No. 1 Caijing’s (China-CBN) talk show between CEO and guest commentators. This reminded me that Chinese Internet companies are coming of age. Two interesting stories Charles told on the show:
1) Two MIT professors are the earliest investors for Sohu, they put in $ 75,000 each, and it’s worth $30 mil later. Charles is a graduate from MIT. Obviously he knows how to talk to his professor.
2) He went to New York to talk to potential investors in 1996. He wasn’t successful; and found a phone booth calling his lawyer (in crying tone). He had to insert coins to keep the line alive. People waited behind him became impatient. At that time cell phone is still rare in the US.
Keso had a good article about the current status of Chinese Internet companies.
The following is a Boss Town vedio clip featuring Wang Shi, the Chairman of Vanke (courtesy of tudou.com, todou is China’s YouTube).
The second part of the show is here.