Open business day-to-day

Chapter 415 Valuation of Hundred Billion Dollars

Time passed quickly, and it soon came to the end of August. After nearly two months of negotiations, the valuation of Weiyang Technology was finally determined at US$980 billion.

Although it is a post-financing valuation, the valuation of nearly [-] billion US dollars is shocking enough.

If it hadn’t been for Facebook’s listing a few months ago, its market value would have been US$1040 billion based on the issue price, and its performance after listing had been poor, and its current market value would have fallen below [-] billion.

The valuation of Weiyang Technology can be further improved.

Today, the company with the highest market value in the world is Apple. This year, its market value has just surpassed Mobil, reaching 6000 billion U.S. dollars, ranking first in the world.

Microsoft's market cap is currently around $3000 billion; Google's is around $800 billion; Amazon's is around $400 billion.

Compared with these global Internet giants, Weiyang Technology can reach a valuation of 980 billion US dollars, and Lin Rui is already satisfied.

If it weren't for the conditions he set out, these VCs would have no worries, and the valuation would not be so high.

"Weiyang is valued at US$980 billion..."

From time to time, gossip like this spread out, making everyone pay more attention and look forward to the financing of Weiyang Technology.

When many people hear this valuation, their first reaction is to not believe it. Baidu, the Internet company with the highest market capitalization in China, has a market capitalization of just over US$430 billion, and you can directly double it.

Not only ordinary netizens couldn't believe it, but even some small and medium-sized venture capitalists were stunned when they heard the news.

They thought the previously circulated valuation of US$550 billion was reasonable, but now it is directly raised to US$980 billion, which is indeed a bit difficult to understand.

However, all doubts were explained in August NO.18.

August NO.18, Weiyang Technology, together with Goldman Sachs, Sequoia, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Temasek, CICC, and National Pension Insurance Fund, jointly held a large-scale press conference.

At the press conference, Lin Rui personally announced that Weiyang Technology's A-round financing has been successfully completed, with a financing amount of US$98 billion and a post-financing valuation of US$980 billion.

Among them, Goldman Sachs invested 31 billion US dollars, which is the largest investor in this financing.

The National Pension Fund invested $18 billion, the second largest investor in the financing.

The above two institutions accounted for half of the financing amount.

Next:
CICC invested US$[-] million.

Sequoia invested $[-] million.

UBS invested $[-] million.

Deutsche Bank invested $[-] million.

Temasek invested US$[-] million.

These five institutions accounted for the other half of the financing.

Not only that, in this financing, Lin Rui generously took out [-]% of Weiyang Technology's shares and established an option pool. This is another reason why investors recognize Weiyang Technology.

Many companies set up option pools after financing, which will dilute the equity of investors.

Lin Rui directly took out a part of the equity, set up an option pool, and diluted the investor's equity.

Moreover, based on the valuation of Weiyang Technology at 980 billion US dollars, take out 10% of the equity worth 98 billion US dollars and set up an option pool.

It also let them see Lin Rui's courage and ambition.

In this way, Weiyang Technology's option pool worth nearly tens of billions of dollars is almost irresistible to the attraction of all kinds of talents.

Just like those large foreign technology companies, whether it is Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon... They naturally also have option values ​​to motivate and retain talents.

However, even Google, which was listed the latest, has been listed for 8 years, and the shares in their option pool have long been pitifully small, perhaps only one or two points.

Apple and Microsoft, which were the first to go public, have been on the market for nearly 30 years. At that time, the concept of option pools did not even exist. Even later, in order to attract and retain talents, option pools were also established.

But at that time, they were already large and mature technology companies with a complicated equity structure, and they had no equity at all to set up option pools.

In order to retain talents, the only way to buy back shares is to use the company's cash to repurchase the company's shares circulating in the market, inject them into the option pool, and use them as equity incentives.

The same is true for domestic companies. Whether it is Baidu or Tencent, they have been listed for seven or eight years. The option pool established at that time does not have many stocks in it.

In order to maintain the option pool and retain and motivate talents through options, they can only repurchase shares to fill the company's option pool.

This is also the reason why those technology companies often announce the repurchase of company shares.

However, this would drain the company's cash.

Compared with the above companies, Lin Rui directly set up an option pool with a value of 98 billion US dollars and 10% of the shares, which has too many advantages.

……

In addition, the shares in the option pool can not only be used as equity incentives to motivate and retain talents, but can also be paid as wages.

Now the annual salary of Internet company executives sounds tens of millions, and some even reach tens of millions, which feels very high.

But they don't get a lot of cash, only a small part of it, and they issue more of the company's stock.

Just like the annual salary of an executive of an Internet company is tens of millions, the cash may only be 200 million, and the remaining 800 million are issued in stocks.

The more famous one is Liu Zhiping, the president of Tencent. After joining Tencent in 05, after so many years, his shareholding in Tencent has reached 0.7%.

It is because his salary is very small in cash, and most of the money is in stocks, so that his shareholding in Tencent has skyrocketed.

Having said so much, there is only one meaning.

Having a high-quality option pool is very important to the company, it can promote the development of the company, and in many cases it can replace wages to pay employees.

The $98 billion option pool established by Lin Rui is obviously very high-quality. As the company's valuation rises, its future value will even rise to $200 billion or even $300 billion.

These stocks can be used as wages in the future and distributed to employees of Weiyang Technology.

Not only can it reduce the company's cash expenditure on a large scale, it is more like a huge pool of funds and strengthen the company's foundation.

……

After the A round of financing, Lin Rui's direct holding of Weiyang Technology's shares dropped to 28.8%, and Xingkong Technology Group's holding of Weiyang Technology's shares dropped to 51.2%.

Calculated, after the A round of financing, Lin Rui still indirectly and directly holds 80% of the shares of Weiyang Technology, maintaining an absolute controlling position.

Moreover, for this financing, Lin Rui directly adopted the AB share system.

Although only 28.8% of the shares under his name have been given super voting rights, one voting right equals 10 votes of ordinary shares, and 51.2% of the shares under the name of Star Technology Group are still treated as ordinary shares.

However, after this operation, Lin Rui can obtain 28.8% of the company's voting rights with only 80% of the shares registered in his name.

If the 51.2% voting rights of the shares under the name of Xingkong Technology Group are added, Lin Rui will hold 95% of the voting rights of Weiyang Technology, and his control over the company is solid.

Compared with the case of Tencent and Ali, which barely maintains control with only a minority stake, there is a world of difference.

……

At the press conference, when Lin Rui officially announced the news of the financing, the media at the scene were completely stunned.

With a valuation of US$980 billion and financing of US$98 billion, this is definitely an astronomical figure for China in 2012.

With a valuation of nearly [-] billion U.S. dollars, Weiyang Technology has completely thrown off the BAT domestic Internet giants and become the only one.

Not to mention the financing of 98 billion U.S. dollars, which is converted into more than 600 billion yuan. Many companies have never owned or seen such a huge amount of cash in their entire lives.

Take a look at the three Internet companies of BAT.

From the establishment of Tencent in the last century to the present, the net profit of more than ten years plus one piece is only more than 400 billion.

From its establishment to the present, Baidu's net profit for so many years plus one piece is only about 500 billion.

As for Ali, he was even more vain.

This means that Weiyang Technology has obtained more cash than the sum of the profits of these domestic Internet companies over the years in just one financing.

In terms of background, Weiyang Technology may be a little worse, but in terms of comprehensive strength, Weiyang Technology has already stood at the pinnacle of domestic Internet companies.

Later, through the Chinese and foreign media at the scene, Weiyang Technology’s A-round financing was valued at [-] billion U.S. dollars, and the news of the financing of [-] billion U.S. dollars spread across the entire network in an instant.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately parachuted into the top search on major news platforms and Weibo platforms, and instantly spread wildly across the Internet.

Not only the editors of the self-media and websites went crazy, but even the netizens were dumbfounded.

The valuation of 550 billion US dollars, the amount of financing of [-] billion US dollars, didn't you say that the valuation was [-] billion US dollars?Make sure today is not April Fools' Day.

Today, among all private companies in China, except for Huawei, which is not listed, none of them has a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Not to mention raising tens of billions of dollars at a time.

For domestic companies, such a large amount of financing is basically the same as the 668 billion yuan raised by PetroChina when it went public in the same year.

However, this is only the A-round financing of Weiyang Technology, and only 10% of the equity has been taken out.

As the news spread on the Internet, Weiyang Technology was valued at [-] billion and raised tens of billions of dollars, which shocked the hearts of every netizen.

Now China's richest man, Zong Qinghou, has a net worth of just over US$120 billion. How can it not be shocking that you have integrated the net worth of the richest man in one round of financing.

Money is the greatest stimulant, stimulating everyone's nerves. Countless people who saw this news felt a little restless in their hearts and wanted to share it with others.

Countless people flooded Weiyang's Weibo, found Lin Rui's Weibo, and began to message Aite frantically.

Lin Rui's Weibo fans began to rise rapidly under this popularity, and officially broke through the 1 million mark a day later.

People were dumbfounded.

The major domestic mainstream media followed up one after another, and in an instant, Weiyang Technology became the biggest hot spot in China during this period.

Even Lin Rui became a household name, and became the most mentioned name during this period.

This is not only the case in China, Weiyang Technology's financing has also caused a great shock internationally.

With a valuation of [-] billion US dollars, the world's largest unicorn company, every label is shocking.

This means that Weiyang Technology is not only a start-up company, but also a unicorn company, and has stepped into the threshold of the world's top technology companies.

The Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily…The Times of London, the London Daily…The Asahi Shimbun of Japan, the United Daily News of Singapore, the Bild of Germany, the Neue Zürich Zeitung of Switzerland, the West de France of France, the Oriental Daily of Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post…

The mainstream media from all over the world have launched reports on Weiyang Technology.

The valuation of hundreds of billions of dollars shocked everyone.

For the first time, the name of Weiyang Technology appeared on a large scale in major mainstream media around the world, and began to spread in front of people all over the world.

In addition, WeChat, a social software, has also begun to break the circle. Countless people who did not know it before began to know about it, and countless people who had never used it before began to try to use it.

The consequence is that the number of new users of WeChat, a social software, is increasing rapidly at a terrifying rate, with countless new users joining every day.

Let the influence of WeChat slowly take root and sprout all over the world.

Affected by this news, Facebook, which has already been listed, fell sharply again after its issue price fell below [-] billion US dollars, which caused numerous media reports.

And Lin Rui, after this financing, undoubtedly became the richest man in China.

There is a lot of controversy in the media about his specific worth.

First, according to Weiyang Technology’s valuation of 80 billion U.S. dollars, he holds 800% of the shares, and other properties are not included. The value of Weiyang Technology’s shares alone is close to [-] billion U.S. dollars.

But this kind of algorithm is not recognized by many people, mainly because Weiyang Technology is not listed, and the valuation of [-] billion US dollars is just a valuation, and there is no way to cash it out.

Assessing personal net worth, for unlisted industries, it is impossible to follow the valuation, and needs to be evaluated according to specific circumstances.

This kind of debate started at home and gradually spread abroad, causing the participation of countless media.

None, according to the Forbes billionaires list released this year.

The world's ten richest people are worth:
Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim Helu beat Microsoft founder Bill Gates and "stock god" Buffett with a net worth of US$690 billion, becoming the world's richest man.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates ranks second in the world with $610 billion.

Stock god Warren Buffett is worth $440 billion, ranking third in the world.

Bernard Arnott, President and CEO of French luxury giant Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton Group (LVMH), ranked fourth in the world with US$410 billion.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has $360 billion, ranking sixth in the world.

Li Ka-shing ranks ninth in the world with a fortune of US$255 billion.

According to the Forbes Global Rich List just released, if Lin Rui has a net worth of 800 billion US dollars, he will directly become the world's richest man.

The issue of the position of the world's richest man is not only a domestic issue, but also a global issue. Foreign media will naturally get involved.

(End of this chapter)