[Portal Site ‘Yahoo!’ Goes Public... Soars from $13 to $44]

[IPO Financial Network: “A runaway train on a short track.” Critics claim the company’s valuation—800 times this year’s revenue—is excessive]

[Yahoo Hits Intraday High of $44, Closes at $33. 15 Million Shares Traded... Far Exceeds Expectations]

As I smiled brightly while reading the newspaper, Seo Ji-yeon looked at me curiously and asked:

“Umm, Miss. But didn’t Alpha Fund barely invest in this? Why is that?”

“The biggest reason is that Yahoo is still small. And, Ji-yeon, I’ll tell you one more thing you didn’t mention when answering earlier. I forgot to say—I own a venture capital firm.”

“Uh... ah! Right! You could’ve made money even before the IPO? You just didn’t get involved in the public offering...”

Normally, venture capitalists invest in startups before they go public.

After all, the whole point of a VC is to fund ventures that need capital and then recover the investment later through an IPO or M&A.

It’s your typical high-risk, high-return model.

“High risk, high return. Those are my favorite words.”

“Then why did you just now start a venture capital firm? If Yahoo is your first investment, you could’ve made even more earlier considering Alpha Fund has already invested in several IT companies.”

“Well, obviously, hedge funds yield bigger returns.”

– Rustle.

I shook the newspaper and showed Seo Ji-yeon a small article tucked in the corner.

[Aqua Capital Invests $1M in Yahoo Before IPO... Mythic Success for New VC Firm]

Aqua Capital was a company I acquired after working closely with Ha Yeong-il. Even in the middle of this massive boom, there were always failing VCs. I paid just enough to silence them and turned it into my own firm.

With the Yahoo investment, I managed to recover around $50 million—peanuts for me at this point. Granted, a 50x return is never actually a small multiplier.

“Didn’t you throw a tantrum last time because you lost $5 million in a trading mistake...?”

“...Fine. Maybe $50 million isn’t ‘peanuts.’ But considering the effort I put into acquiring and quietly funding that company, it’s not that much. Without Alpha Fund’s connections, I couldn’t have pulled it off either.”

“Hm, that’s true.”