Chapter 475: Chapter 477 Auction
The market share was colossal enough to prove the terrifying nature of Qian Du Company.
In its heyday, Qian Du Company once held over ninety percent of the search engine market.
There are about eight hundred million Internet users in Xuan Country now, which is quite formidable.
The internet had effectively become humanity’s second world.
And the internet was also influencing reality, much like the last public opinion battle—if Qin Hao hadn’t launched a powerful counterattack.
Then he and his company might have been completely ruined. Such was the terror of the internet now.
...
Since Qian Du Company controlled the gateway for netizens, if it decided to block all information about Jiangshan Group, Xinghui Wine, and Qin Hao.
Then Jiangshan Group, Xinghui Wine, and Qin Hao would thoroughly vanish from the internet.
Even if people searched, they would find no results whatsoever.
Qian Du Company had done such things in the past, and it wasn’t long before those companies completely collapsed.
It was akin to an artist being blacklisted.
However, Qian Du Company generally refrained from doing this since it also entailed a certain loss for the company.
Qin Hao was not very worried, as his company was a brick-and-mortar business, not an internet company.
Even if it were blocked by Qian Du Company from rising up, it wouldn’t affect his business in the real world too much.
But information about the company, introductions, explanations, and website links, etc. would disappear from Qian Du searches, which would have a certain impact.
After the clothing factory and spinning mill auctions ended, the auction was not over yet,
There were still two plots of land under Ruixing Group that were more significant than the previous ones; they were the main targets of so many people present.
These two plots of land were not within Jianghai’s fifth ring road, but outside of it.
That area was the next focus of government development, rumored to become a new high-tech zone.
Therefore, the prices of these lands soared extremely high, with many high-tech companies already starting to select sites for new research bases.
“The first plot covers more than three hundred acres, with a starting bid of two hundred million. This price is based on the original purchasing price of Ruixing Group.”
The current valuation of this land exceeded twenty billion, with a location even better than that of Xinghai High-tech Company.
Qin Hao had spent nearly twenty billion on that land initially.
Once the auctioneer announced the start, many people joined in the bidding.
The price climbed higher and higher. Li Fengyu also kept bidding; Li Qiandu came here for one of the plots.
He planned to build an artificial intelligence research base in Jianghai City. Though the investment had been secured, only the land was missing.
He had to secure one of these two plots.
The competition was fierce, with many powerful companies present, such as Wanhao Real Estate Group, Huatian Real Estate Group, Du Group, and so on.
When the price reached fifteen billion, the number of bidders dwindled significantly.
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“Twenty billion,” Li Fengyu called out.
The room fell silent for a moment; this price scared off many bidders.
Zhang Zhi, the head of Huatian, spoke up, “I’ll give Mr. Li some face this time, I’m out.”
Zhang Zhi was someone Qin Hao had met during Jianghai University’s anniversary celebration; he was also a graduate of that university.
Li Qiandu smiled slightly, “Thanks, Mr. Zhang, for this favor.”
He wore a proud look—such respect was not something just anyone could enjoy.
“Twenty billion three hundred million,” a representative from Du Group called out.
They wanted to test if twenty billion was the limit for Qian Du Company.
“Twenty-one billion.”
Without hesitation, Li Fengyu added another billion.
From his expression and attitude, everyone could tell that Qian Du Company was determined to win and evidently had no shortage of money.
The Du Group gave up and stopped competing with Qian Du Company.
There didn’t seem to be much point in continuing the fight; the profit margins had become too slim.
After a few seconds of silence in the auction hall, Qin Hao’s voice suddenly rang out:
“Twenty-two billion.”
Everyone’s expressions changed slightly as they turned their heads to look at Qin Hao.
Qin Hao sat there with an indifferent expression, showing no change whatsoever.
He actually bid twenty-two billion? Adding to the money from before, did he have over thirty billion in liquid funds?
Where did he get all that money? The profits from Jiangshan Group couldn’t possibly be that terrifying, and besides, most of that money had been reinvested into the company’s development.
Indeed, Qin Hao didn’t have much money in his account at the moment, subtracting the billion from before, he had about twenty-five billion left.
But inside Xinghai High-tech Company, there were almost fifty billion more in liquid funds,
and from Xuan Science Academy and people like Du Yingqiang, the money had all been transferred over, amounting to over forty billion. Plus, after the recent investments from Qin Hao and others, the company’s funds were just under sixty billion.
Because they had opened several new production lines, it had cost them over ten billion.
Upon seeing Qin Hao raise the bid, Li Fengyu spoke up, “Do you even have that much money? Stop pretending to be a big shot here.”
Qin Hao smiled faintly, “You needn’t worry about that; I’m auctioning this land with plans to raise cattle on it.
If you don’t have the money you don’t have to follow, just watch and see if I can bring out this sum.”
Raise cattle?
Out of money?
My dad had just secured investment worth several tens of billions of Federation dollars, would we be out of money?
Qin Hao was clearly counterattacking; Li Fengyu had disrupted his plans, and there was no way Qin Hao was going to let that go.
Li Fengyu turned to look at his father. Mr. Li’s expression wasn’t great, even Huatian Real Estate Group had given him face.
Yet this newcomer was showing him none whatsoever.
Li Fengyu said disdainfully, “Twenty-three billion, keep going if you dare.”
Qin Hao: “Twenty-five billion.”
Everyone’s spirits lifted as it seemed the two parties were gearing up for a clash—holy smokes, this was getting exciting!
“Thirty billion,” Mr. Li suddenly said.
He and Qian Du Company had been silent for too long, to the point where many had forgotten about him, forgotten about the former internet colossus, forgotten about the records broken on the day Qian Du Company went public.
Starting today, Qian Du Company would rise again, waiting for when artificial intelligence technology was fully developed.
Once it was, Qian Du Company’s market value would skyrocket, surpassing Longteng and Amao Net Shopping to become Xuan Country’s number one internet behemoth once more, and perhaps even an international internet titan.
People’s mouths fell open as they looked at Mr. Li—holy cow, he had just added five billion in one go.
It was said that Mr. Li valued his reputation and was extremely competitive; the rumors clearly weren’t unfounded.
Qin Hao grinned slightly, “Congratulations to Mr. Li for securing this piece of land; I’ll leave this cattle farm to you.”
Li Fengyu’s expression changed, “Are you kidding me?”
Mr. Li: “Sit down.”
Qin Hao: “Mr. Li, you should really discipline your son better. With that quality, that demeanor, that appearance, why let him out at all? It’d be better to keep him tied up at home with a rope.”
Mr. Li’s face turned ashen as he looked at Qin Hao. Qin Hao had just insulted his son as a dog in front of everyone—what did that make Mr. Li himself?
“Everyone, please be quiet; this is an auction hall,” Zhu Huasheng walked out at the right time to intervene.
Mr. Li glanced fiercely at Qin Hao but said nothing else.
The second plot of land began the auctioning process again; this time, it was taken by Huatian Real Estate Group for twenty-one billion.