novelnext 48. Cloud services
48. Cloud services
Li Xiang didn't want to take responsibility and had already told Marina that he had a girlfriend and was about to become a father. Marina didn't want to be labeled as an oligarch of the old guard and claimed that as a popular celebrity, she wasn't suited to have a public relationship.
The two maintained their relationship without ever tacitly understanding each other.
This meeting in Moscow was also an "affair." Li Xiang did not go to Marina's residence openly, but instead booked a suite in Shangri-La.
At 3:30 a.m., Li Xiang, who had just lain down to rest, suddenly sat up straight.
"Aren't you tired yet?" Marina looked exhausted.
Li Xiang sat there lost in thought for three or four seconds, then quickly got out of bed and dressed. "You rest, I'm leaving, going back to St. Petersburg."
"You're done making a fuss and then you just leave? What do you take me for?" Marina was clearly unhappy.
"It's serious business." Li Xiang leaned over and kissed Marina on the cheek. "I'm going back to make big money. If this deal goes through, you can quit being an actress. What can you do with that little bit of money? I'll support you from now on."
"What kind of business?" Marina quickly got out of bed to help Li Xiang tidy his clothes and grab his coat.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you." Li Xiang patted Marina's bottom. "Let's go back."
"Let me know when you have the results."
Marina didn't go back to the bedroom immediately. Instead, she saw Li Xiang to the door, gave him a goodbye kiss, and her face was full of reluctance.
Only after the door closed did the captivating smile gradually fade, replaced by a hint of confusion.
What kind of business is it? Why are you being so mysterious?
-
The luxury residential area of Rublevka, near Moscow, is located in Nemchnovo.
"Give it to me."
The housekeeper took the breakfast from the maid, took a deep breath, composed himself, and walked into the dining room.
Russia's top oligarch, Potanin, was reading a newspaper. The butler placed the breakfast down without speaking or leaving.
Potanin noticed the butler hadn't left. After reading the passage before him, he slowly looked up and asked, "What is it?"
The butler hurried forward, bowing as he reported to Potanin, "The Ivanov women have started secretly selling their properties. Should we remind them that the Khodorkovsky liquidation team is still watching them?"
Potanin pondered for a few seconds, then waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it, just pretend you don't know."
Potanin is engaged in a silent struggle with the men of the Ivanov family, and the more these beasts refuse to submit, the more it fuels his desire to conquer.
The confiscation of the Ivanov family's hidden assets was not a bad thing for Potanin.
Andrei, I'd like to see how tough you are, whether you'd rather have your family destroyed than plead for mercy.
Potanin's attitude toward the Ivanov family was clear: he would neither betray them and deliberately push Andrei to the brink of despair, nor would he act as a pushover and offer help.
Leave everything to God.
Potanin put down his newspaper, stood up, and began his pre-meal prayer: "Christ our God, bless this food, for you are holy..."
-
Li Xiang took the train back to St. Petersburg, a four-hour journey. He managed to take a nap and went straight to the VKontakte studio without even going home after arriving at the station.
"You're here pretty early."
After VKontakte officially launched, the studio had staff on duty 24 hours a day, although the day shift employees clocked in at nine o'clock and arrived at the company one after another.
Xiao Du arrived right on time.
"Have something to eat." Li Xiang asked Da Jiao to buy McDonald's, enough for thirty people.
The boss's perks are that everyone in the studio is eating there.
"I'm not interested in junk food." Xiao Du took a Coke, stuck in a straw, and looked at Li Xiang with a grin. "I thought you'd be more generous than me. You're back to talk about money so soon. So, how much for renting the server room?"
Li Xiang said, "Let's talk about financing first."
"Want to add more shares?" Xiao Du took a sip of his cola and shook his head. "What are you thinking? Series A funding can't wait until we have a million users."
"So confident?" Li Xiang's eyes lit up.
Xiao Du's lips curled up. "I'll show you the backend data later."
"No need to look, I believe you." Li Xiang changed the subject and started to reason... "Since you are so confident, it's definitely more beneficial for us existing shareholders to start financing later."
"That's true, but relying solely on bank loans won't solve the problem. We still need to seek financing; we can't let small gains lead to big losses." Xiao Du remained calm.
Li Xiang proceeded cautiously, saying, "VKontakte's biggest expense is its servers. You can rent my server room without paying; you can pay me back. When we have our Series A funding, you can include me in the equity and convert the debt into shares."
"Without server pressure, you don't need to rush when choosing funding targets; you can take your time to pick. In the internet industry, you not only need strength but also luck. There's no reason to sell off the jackpot you've won so hard for nothing."
"You mean VKontakte doesn't build its own servers and rents them all from you?" Xiao Du frowned slightly.
Li Xiang adjusted his expression and said sincerely, "I'm not sure if WeTV will work. If you're willing to rent my server room, it will help me mitigate some of the risk."
"If I really can't continue, I'll shut down the website. With VKontakte as a tenant, I can at least recoup some of my costs. It's a win-win situation."
"Think about it."
Xiao Du holds 100% of the voting rights in VKontakte, and the company's operational decisions are entirely up to him; other shareholders have no right to interfere.
"No additional conditions?"
"Of course there are conditions," Li Xiang grinned and said. "Nothing is absolute in this world. If VKontakte is just a flash in the pan and fails to take off in the end, who will I rent all those servers to?"
"I took the risks, so I should receive commensurate rewards."
Xiao Du pointed at Li Xiang's nose and said, "I knew you had conditions. Do you want to sign an exclusivity agreement? You can only rent from me, not from anyone else?"
Li Xiang has been using the [scan] function to observe Xiao Du's emotions, and it seems this plan will succeed.
"I'm just limiting you to renting. Once you've raised the funds, you can build your own server."
Xiao Du finished his cola, pondered for a moment, and said, "Your suggestion is indeed good, but you have to give up something in return. If you want to bind me with an exclusive agreement, you have to lower the cost of renting the server."
"That makes sense!" Li Xiang immediately stated. "Taking advantage can only be temporary. For long-term cooperation, it must be mutually beneficial, and neither side should feel like they're losing out."
Xiao Du said eagerly, "Then let's talk about the price."
Li Xiang wasn't full yet. He picked up a bag of McDonald's to take away and eat, but then stood up and said, "I don't even know the price, how can I negotiate with you? Let's wait until I finish my research."
Xiao Du said half-jokingly, "Hurry up, I won't charge you for using your server during the time before we sign the contract. Don't say I'm taking advantage of you."
This year marks the beginning of the cloud computing era.
In March, Amazon officially launched its Elastic Compute Cloud service, the world's first commercial public cloud product, marking the beginning of the commercialization of cloud computing.
A month ago, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt introduced the concept of "cloud computing" at the Search Engine Conference, bringing the term into the public eye.
The momentous decision Li Xiang made last night while lying in bed was to become Russia's first cloud service provider by meeting VKontakte's server requirements.