Google was founded in September 1998. By March 2000, a year and a half later, it was still an obscure little company based in California, USA.
At that time, its market value was less than $700,000. It was merely a small startup founded by a few enthusiastic Stanford University students.
In the second half of 1999, the two student founders of Google were willing to sell the company to Excite for $1 million.
But interestingly, the CEO of Excite thought Google was too expensive! Even if the asking price had been lowered to $750,000, he still wouldn't have bought it. In the end, Google conquered the world, while Excite filed for bankruptcy after the dot-com bubble burst…
This story once again proves that Mavi was reborn at the perfect moment! The future internet giant, Google, with a projected market value of $900 billion, was now up for sale for just $1 million!
For Mavi, $1 million was nothing—like a sneeze, gone in an instant. To put it simply:
"For $1 million, he couldn't get ripped off. For $1 million, he couldn't make a bad deal…"
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Wednesday, 4 PM, Washington Dulles International Airport.
Two American men, dressed in cheap suits and dragging heavy suitcases, walked out of the airport terminal, looking around cautiously.
These two men were none other than Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google Search. Both were Stanford graduates, now 27 and 26 years old, respectively.
"Larry, are those two black cars in front of us here to pick us up?" Sergey, dressed in a gray suit, pointed at two Cadillac sedans parked not far away and asked Larry.
Larry, wearing an old-fashioned burgundy suit, squinted and hesitated before replying, "I don't know… They said there would be a car to pick us up, but I doubt it would be something this nice."
Frankly, it was a little embarrassing—Larry and Sergey, fresh out of college just two years ago, hadn't seen much of the world. Despite their company being valued at tens of thousands of dollars, they hadn't spent much money on personal luxuries. Instead, they had reinvested every cent into buying network infrastructure and internet equipment.
Just as they were whispering to each other, the doors of the two Cadillac sedans suddenly opened, and three or four men in black suits stepped out, walking straight toward them.
Among them was a middle-aged man in his 50s, dressed in an impeccably tailored gray suit, a stark contrast to Larry and Sergey's attire.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Larry Page and Mr. Sergey Brin, the founders of Google?" the middle-aged man asked as he approached them with the security team.
"Yes, yes, we are!"
"Are you… Mr. Mavi?" Sergey and Larry, overwhelmed by the grand reception, instinctively assumed that this middle-aged man was their potential investor, Mavi Ivanovich Mikoyan.
Hearing this, the man in front of them quickly waved his hands and shook his head vigorously. "No, no! That's my young master! I'm just his butler, sent here to pick you up."
The butler, Ivan, was genuinely startled by their mistake! Thankfully, his young master Mavi wasn't present; otherwise, he would have been in big trouble.
"A personal butler? Wow… And those two Cadillacs were sent to pick us up too?" Sergey asked cautiously. Cadillac was his dream car, so he had been eyeing them since the moment they arrived.
Standing beside him, Larry gave him a look of disdain, as if to say, "Why are you even asking? The cars are already here at the airport. What, you think we're supposed to take a cab?"
But just as Larry was silently teasing Sergey, the butler, Ivan, smiled and shook his head. "No, sir. My young master has prepared a special surprise for you. The real car that will take you to your destination is that red one."
As he spoke, he gestured toward a red car parked behind the Cadillacs.
Larry and Sergey followed his gaze—and there it was: a fire-red Ferrari F50, parked majestically in the distance.
The unexpected twist left both of them in shock. They looked at each other, their mouths slightly open in disbelief. Larry even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"My God! A Ferrari F50, the dream car! Are we really riding in that?"
In response to their astonished question, Ivan patiently smiled and said, "Yes, sir. However, the Ferrari F50 only has two seats, so you'll have to decide who gets to drive."
With that, Ivan pulled the car keys from his pocket and presented them to the two men.
Larry and Sergey stared at the silver horse-emblem key, both instinctively reaching out at the same time, eager to seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive a dream car.
"I'll drive! My driving skills are better than yours!"
"No, no! You just said you were tired! Let me drive!"
The two bickered, unwilling to back down, while the Russian bodyguards nearby exchanged glances and subtly shook their heads.
"Why are they even arguing? Either way, in a few days, our young master will probably destroy this car… Maybe he'll smash it, burn it, or even blow it up. We've seen it happen many times before."
The original Mavi, the Russian billionaire, loved destruction. He would always buy multiple sports cars—one to collect and another to wreck in some spectacular fashion. After all, when you're that rich, who's going to stop you?
Unaware of the bodyguards' thoughts, Larry and Sergey finally agreed to split the drive, each taking half the journey. After all, driving a Ferrari supercar was every man's dream—this was no time for modesty.
With two Cadillac sedans escorting them from the front and back, Larry and Sergey carefully drove the Ferrari F50 onto the highway.
They were extremely cautious, afraid of even the smallest scratch or dent—after all, Mavi's dream sports car was worth more than 80% of Google's shares at that time! This was no joke.
---
One hour later, outside the Pullman Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin reluctantly stepped out of the Ferrari F50.
Over the past hour, they had fully experienced the thrill of being rich—not only did they turn heads wherever they went, but even luxury cars like Lexus and BMW made way for their convoy.