Back to 1995

When Song Yang, the major shareholder of ICQ, Brian Roberts, the next head of Comcast, and Immelt, who will become the next head of General Electric, all agreed to the merger, it represented today's A merger and acquisition will definitely succeed!

But this does not mean that today’s negotiation will be smooth sailing. On the contrary, it means that the competition will be more intense. All parties present today, who would not want to get an extra share of ICQ, even 1% more, it means more points Facing the temptation of tens of billions of dollars, Paulson is ready to go all out, let alone others?
Bob Wright, who has decided to change his family, has acted as Immelt's pawn. His mentality has changed, and General Electric is about to enter the Immelt era. He is a veteran of the Welch era. There is only one, either switch to Immelt, or pack up and leave, even if he is Welch's confidant, then... so what.

"NBC Group is willing to complete the merger with ICQ at a price of 400 billion U.S. dollars and a one-to-one equity exchange!"

As soon as Wright came up, the lion opened his mouth and made a condition, directly fixing the market value of NBC Group at 400 billion U.S. dollars, which is more than 100 billion U.S. dollars higher than the price set by Wall Street institutions for NBC Group.

Immelt reached an agreement with Song Yang, allowing General Electric Group to own at least about 20% of the shares of the merged ICQ company, allowing General Electric to become ICQ's major shareholder in name.

But that's a guaranteed bottom line. If you can get more shares in ICQ, General Electric will definitely get more, so don't take advantage of the bastard!

If NBC Group and ICQ were to be merged according to the price Wright said, then NBC's valuation of $400 billion would at least be able to exchange for 30% of ICQ's equity, which is simply not a good deal.

Hearing that General Electric wanted to take away 30% of ICQ's equity, the first objection was not from ICQ, but Edison.

The rebellious Edison is not comparable to Wright. He squinted at Wright. Edison ignored Wright. Instead, he looked at Immelt. He knew who was here today. Spokesman on behalf of General Electric.

"NBC Group is indeed a good industry, but that's all. ICQ does not necessarily have to acquire NBC Group. If necessary, the purchase price of 400 billion US dollars, Deutsche Bank is enough for ICQ to start with Disney, CBC, Fox or Time Warner's WB Television has completed the merger!"

Edison is telling Immelt that the NBC Group is not irreplaceable, and without Zhang Butcher, can they still lose their meat?

Edison took the lead because he didn't want to give away too much equity. If General Electric took away 30% of ICQ's equity in one go, the equity in the hands of all ICQ shareholders would be diluted. 10% of the equity, how much is left, this kind of interest-related matter, it must be a matter of pennies.

After Edison, Paulson also stepped in, and the two Wall Street intrigues began to work together at this time. It can only be said that there is really no absolute enemy in the world. The only difference is how many dollars there are...

"At a valuation of US$400 billion, it is impossible for ICQ to acquire NBC Group at such a price, and it is impossible for the Federal Securities Commission to agree to this transaction!"

Compared with Edison, Paulson has to directly pull out the Federal Securities Commission as a shield. As for the Securities Commission, whether it really disagrees depends on Paulson's mind. As long as he doesn't want to, the deal , will certainly not be passed by the Federal Securities Commission.

Edison and Paulson both opposed it, and the rest of Betts, Brian Roberts and others naturally followed suit and would certainly not speak for General Electric.

Song Yang and Irene will not speak up for General Electric. The lower the price of NBC Group is, the better ICQ will take advantage anyway!
Others are afraid of General Electric, afraid of being put on small shoes, but Addison and his gang of Wall Street are not afraid. Even Carl Icahn dares to call "Wolf of Wall Street" and dare to short those giant American companies. As long as you catch the opportunity, you will definitely dare to short, and you can do General Electric.

Addison has fired the first shot, and he doesn't care if he offends Immelt, the future head of General Electric.

"President Irene, director Bruno," Edison first looked at Song Yang and the two who were watching the show, "I propose that ICQ issue new bonds and stocks, and Deutsche Bank Investment Bank is willing to subscribe for ICQ's new stocks and bonds. The ICQ equity that NBC Group received in exchange should not exceed 15%!"

Immelt still had a smile on his face, just like the gentle and modest image he had shown in front of the media for so many years, but he looked at Edison with indifference.

Without Wright playing forward, Immelt said bluntly, "No matter how much NBC is valued, if General Electric wants to exchange shares with NBC Group, and can even provide cash compensation, General Electric must get more than 20% of ICQ's shares. The premise of today's transaction!"

Paulson, Edison, Betts and others all heard the implication of these words. Immelt needs this credit to let him get the position of the head of General Electric. NBC Group, is it worth it? It's worthless, and Immelt doesn't care about how many chips he can get in exchange. He has only one purpose, to make General Electric the majority shareholder of ICQ!

Knowing Immelt's bottom line, even if it doesn't prevent General Electric from becoming a major shareholder of ICQ, it is necessary to add some obstacles to Immelt.

Brian Roberts also took advantage of the situation and brought the senior vice president of Comcast Group to join the battle group, "Comcast Television Network requested to complete the merger with ICQ at a price of 450 billion US dollars!"

Comcast TV network is worth the price, because the old rival, John Malone's TCI cable TV network, was valued at $1993 billion by the Telephone and Telegraph Group as early as 340, but at that time, because the new telecommunications bill was still Before it was released, the merger was rejected by the Federal Securities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, and it was directly put on hold.

Recently, it has been rumored that the Telephone and Telegraph Group has hooked up with John Malone again. The Telephone and Telegraph Group wants to renew the old relationship and acquire John Malone's TCI TV network at a sky-high price of 480 billion dollars. This matter is sitting at the meeting today Bates in the room is probably the clearest.

As for the top two cable TV network groups in America, Comcast TV Network users are not much less than TCI, and may even exceed them. Comcast Group’s asking price of 450 billion US dollars is really not expensive... …

At least Bates, at this moment, is a little bit moved. If there were not too many people today, if there were too many bids to grab the bid, the food would be too ugly. She wanted to cut it off and let the Telephone and Telegraph Group buy Comcast TV Network. After winning TCI, Telephone and Telegraph will become America's largest cable TV network in place, and nearly three-fifths of the entire American cable TV network's subscribers will belong to Telephone and Telegraph!
At this moment, Bates was really envious of ICQ. Look at the good things in ICQ's hands. If the Telephone and Telegraph Group gets any of American Telecom, Comcast Television Network, and NBC Group, it is not worth it. take off? !

But at this time, the conference room was already full of quarrels. All parties sitting at the negotiating table wanted to get more bargaining chips, and no one was willing to let go and make concessions.

"GE must get more than 20% stake in ICQ!"

"Comcast also demands a 20% stake in ICQ!"

Immelt and Brian Roberts made demands, and Edison and Paulson were not satisfied.

"NBC Group, it's not worth that price at all!"

"ICQ can buy Comcast TV Network with bonds and stocks, it is impossible to give up so much equity to Comcast Group!"

Paulson, Addison, Immelt, and Brian Roberts were arguing with each other, and no one wanted to let go.

If Comcast Group and General Electric directly take away 40% of ICQ's equity, then the other companies will still play with the hammer.

This side has not stopped yet, and Bates also stood up over there, "The Telephone and Telegraph Group is willing to subscribe for ICQ's stocks and bonds."

If the media interviews Bates tomorrow, what is the most regrettable thing since she took office, then Bates will definitely say that she did not swallow ICQ, let go of America Telecom, and then push forward, then That is, we shouldn’t have used 800 million to test DoubleClick. If there was a choice, the Telephone and Telegraph Group would spend 8000 million, 80 million, or even [-] billion dollars on DoubleClick, and then bring Song Yang into Telephone and Telegraph. Song Yang has worked for the Telephone and Telegraph Group all his life...

Seeing that the conference room has turned into a vegetable market, ICQ finally can't sit still. Today's agreement must be signed, and it is impossible to actually slap the table and leave.

As ICQ's chief financial advisor, Marcus, who was in charge of Song Yang's money bag, coughed and made the meeting room quiet.

"ICQ agreed to complete the merger and acquisition of NBC Group at a price of 370 billion U.S. dollars by means of equity exchange, and transferred 20% of ICQ's equity to General Electric, but General Electric must compensate ICQ's board of directors in cash!"

"In addition, in the form of bonds and stocks, Comcast TV Network is provided with an acquisition offer of 450 billion US dollars. After the acquisition is completed, Comcast Group will own about 15% of ICQ's equity!"

Not waiting for Paulson, Addison, Betts and other people to pick their noses and eyes, Marcus glanced at Song Yang's direction, seeing that Song Yang hadn't stopped him for a long time, Marcus had to go again He said, "Director Bruno, I am willing to transfer part of the equity to everyone who sits again!"

Hearing that Song Yang was willing to "cut the meat" and give up his ICQ equity, Paulson and others who were originally planning to object stopped instantly.

Looking at Song Yang, Paulson, Edison, Bates and others, although they didn't speak again, they all felt that Song Yang was still too young and lacked experience in dealing with today's situation.

They don't care who gave up the ICQ equity, as long as they can ensure that the ICQ equity held by Goldman Sachs and others does not shrink too much, they don't care who cut the meat!