Fight to the third generation

On Monday local time, I will meet ICQ shareholders tomorrow.

After a short break, go through all the house registration and handover procedures first, and also meet with Adrian from McKinsey at home to talk in advance.

According to the information obtained by Adrian, it is said that the shareholders of ICQ have held a meeting with the employees, but there are more managements who support the acquisition by AOL. They feel that the income is guaranteed and the benefits are better.

Comparing TVT with America Online, it is indeed commonplace and unpopular.

Whether to sell or not depends mainly on the attitude of the shareholders. After all, Su Yehao's quotation is 1000 million US dollars higher than that of AOL, so the shareholders are more supportive of selling the company to Su Yehao.

Considering the possible employee loss and other issues after taking over, Su Yehao will find a way to move out the ICQ listing plan in advance. It is logical to throw out an equity reward plan.

After the conversation, Adrian immediately felt relieved. For ICQ's current employees, getting the company's equity is undoubtedly a big killer, and they can gain their support.

Once the shareholders and employees reach an agreement, the next acquisition plan will be smoother, which will facilitate the realization of the idea of ​​merging the two companies.

That night.

Su Yehao first took Xiao Nizi to Stanford University for a walk.

They are still young, and there is no sense of disobedience when walking on campus. As a representative of the counterattack of second-rate universities, Stanford's campus is very large and quite beautiful.

After a long journey, I was really tired, so I simply finished my meal and went home early to rest.

At four o'clock in the morning local time, Su Yehao woke up again, sat in front of the computer, checked the email from Adrian, and continued to prepare for the negotiation.

Suddenly remembered my long position, opened the account and checked it.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

Cisco released its financial report for the first quarter of this year, and predicted a further increase in profits in the second quarter. The stock price soared 17.3% in a single day, and the option value increased by more than 4000 million US dollars in a single day. Buy three luxury houses at the foot of...

Chapter 321 Miss Zhao Regrets Again

Make a fortune that day.

The excitement has not yet passed, and the investment enthusiasm of investors and institutions was ignited the next day, and the Nasdaq market continued to soar, turning green.

The U.S. stocks rose green and red fell. At first, Su Yehao was very uncomfortable, but gradually he accepted it.

Officially started contacting ICQ shareholders.

For three days in a row.

Su Yehao met with people from ICQ twice, and some price details were not agreed upon. ICQ shareholders not only hope to get 3000 million US dollars, but also want to keep 20% of the shares, which means that it is more than 6000 more expensive at once. million dollars.

Such an excessive request, of course, will not be granted.

So during the second negotiation, Su Yehao proposed that he was willing to add 500 million US dollars, but he had to buy it as a whole.

ICQ has a lot of shareholders, three co-founders, plus a group of financing shareholders, including company executives who fan the flames. It is not easy to make a decision.

After the second negotiation, they didn't say a deal was made, nor did they say they couldn't make a deal. Their ambiguous attitude made Su Yehao very upset.

That's barely bad news.

There is good news too.

The stocks he originally held, plus the long positions set up to earn quick money, earned Su Yehao a paper wealth of more than 2000 million U.S. dollars in just four days.

The U.S. stock market is huge and there are many investors. The daily turnover of Nasdaq is gradually increasing, and there are many speculators who like to play options.

Options are a zero-sum game. There is never a shortage of opponents in the U.S. stock market. A group of speculators who look at Internet companies with traditional value investment concepts always like to sell short and bad-mouth Internet companies on the Nasdaq market. From Su Yehao's point of view, it was obviously against the general trend.

Su Yehao, who has made a lot of money in the past few days watching others jump into the fire pit, just feels very happy about it.

The act of simply raising the price to 500 million US dollars also has the meaning of "not short of money". Although some bubbles can already be seen in the Nasdaq market, it has only just begun after all, and it is still Very safe.

So Su Yehao temporarily decided to continue holding it for a while, and was not in a hurry to cash out and leave.

……

Day five back in Silicon Valley.

Su Yehao received a call from Zhao Yimeng. She said in a gloomy tone, "I regret it. You never called me the money. Can you still regret it now?"

"Of course...no, but even if I allow you to go back on your word, can you guarantee that you will continue to trust me? The Nasdaq index has risen for four consecutive days. Are you afraid that it will suddenly plummet after the opening of the market today, and all profits will be discounted?"

After Su Yehao's soul questioned, he asserted: "Change your concept. If you are a businessman, you are not dark and courageous. How can you have the opportunity to make a lot of money. Compared with losing money, what is more uncomfortable is that you once seized the opportunity, but because of courage Little, just let it go again."

Zhao Yimeng, who had been taught a class by him, replied angrily: "I want you to meddle in your own business, and you'll be killed! Also, where's my money?"

"Let me use it for a few days, the dignified Miss Zhao family, how can you be petty. I am discussing business in the United States and plan to acquire ICQ. I have contacted it several times, and I don't know if it will be successful."

The negotiation between Su Yehao and ICQ had already been released by ICQ on its own initiative.

It is estimated that he wanted to use this opportunity to disclose the news that "our company is very popular" to the outside world, and try to find other buyers with higher bids.

Zhao Yimeng was not afraid that he would renege on his debts, so he became even more depressed after hearing this.

Compared with other people, he was so angry. In the past, Su Yehao had poor grades, was ignorant, and was busy playing all day long. However, after leaving high school for less than a year, his business flourished and he became what others called an "excellent entrepreneur".

However, her old Zhao family was affected by the Donghuang Group and was still struggling in the quagmire. The stock price had fallen by about [-]% from its high point, and there was no sign of a rebound for a long time.

Even the original new headquarters was bought by the Su family's Universal International Group at a low price.

Every time she met Su Yehao, Zhao Yimeng's pride would shatter into pieces, no wonder she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists to punch someone.

Her voice continued: "You can borrow it, but you have to pay interest. I contacted you today to ask if your family is interested in the hotel. The Donghuang Garden Hotel in Sheung Wan will be sold for one billion Hong Kong dollars."

After hearing this, Su Yehao said in surprise: "If I remember correctly, it only opened in August last year. The investment seems to be more than one billion Hong Kong dollars? It is also the core asset of your family. After the bank gives your family a loan, it should not be so short. It’s money, why sell it?”

"Barely survived the difficulties, but the capital flow is still very short. The total cost is 19 billion Hong Kong dollars, and it is sold at almost a half discount."

Zhao Yimeng sighed, and continued: "My parents want to make a transition. I talked with your father last month. They plan to continue to reduce the debt ratio, travel light and start again. It is very likely that they will try it in the mainland. Sell it The decision of Donghuang Garden Hotel was only approved by the board of directors today. This hotel is more expensive than Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula is too old. Originally, my parents wanted to use it as my dowry, but I didn’t expect it to depreciate so much all of a sudden.”

"...Then why should I spend money to buy it? Why don't you just bring it to me?"

With Xiao Nizi not around, Su Yehao continued to run wildly, letting himself go.

over the phone.

Zhao Yimeng didn't bother to answer, and always felt that salt was sprinkled on the wound, so he said impatiently: "Anyway, you can help me to ask, the price must not be lower."

Donghuang Garden Hotel, located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong City, is currently being mortgaged by Donghuang Group.

As the price of real estate in Hong Kong City continues to decline, the bank has recently offered to supplement the pledge, otherwise it is likely to withdraw the loan.

The partner of East Phoenix Group is HSBC, and a group of British executives of HSBC Bank do not intend to share weal and woe with Hong Kong companies. There is also a lot of interest, so it is better to cut the meat yourself.

The financial crisis in Southeast Asia has continued until now.

From time to time, the international hot money came back, or pretended to be a scare, and both the stock market and the property market plunged, falling again and again.

The Hong Kong dollar is still strong, but speculators have already obtained the income they want from the Hang Seng Index and bottom-hunting oversold assets, and the Zhao family is also raising funds to increase their holdings of Donghuang Group. Seven or eight billion Hong Kong dollars.

The last time Su Yehao went to the Peninsula Hotel to attend a wedding, he also thought about owning a hotel of his own in the future.

The opportunity suddenly appeared in front of him. Su Yehao felt that if he paid [-] to [-] million Hong Kong dollars out of his own pocket and borrowed the remaining funds from the bank, it seemed pretty good. It was suitable as a core asset and would serve as a way out.

From last year's high point, real estate prices in Hong Kong City have almost halved. After the bubble evaporated, asset prices not only became reasonable, but also showed signs of oversold.

Different from the acquisition of ICQ, the bank is willing to provide funds for this kind of hotel purchase transaction, and the loan should be no problem.

After struggling for a short time, Su Yehao found that he really wanted it. Rationally, he knew that the appreciation potential was not that great, but his emotion told him that it should be very cool to own a super luxurious five-star hotel.

Not yet made up his mind, Adrian from McKinsey came over again.

It was a bit of a surprise that AOL was quiet and had no intention of following up, and still insisted on the offer of 2000 million US dollars.

After a short analysis, Su Yehao guessed the problem.

It can only be that those guys are not optimistic about his development after the acquisition of ICQ. Now that the troubles have been "settled", of course there is no need to spend more money to acquire a company that is of no use at all...

Chapter 322 Sold

The speculation about America Online looking down on Su Yehao is probably the truth.

Once again, I asked Adrian to help inquire about the news. The information I got was from AOL, who already believed that once ICQ was acquired by Su Yehao, the threat to them would be reduced.

So some executive directors proposed to abandon the acquisition plan and use the funds to deploy the online music and online game markets.

Su Yehao asked Adrian how he knew what AOL's board of directors said. Adrian didn't explain, but just spread his hands and told him that the news was true. He had a way to get the information, and he owed him the favor of others.

As a large company with a market value dozens of times higher than ICQ's valuation, AOL does have the confidence to underestimate Su Yehao.

Before, they thought that with the growth rate of ICQ, it was very possible to get involved in the paid chat room field and reduce the living space of AOL, so they thought about spending money to buy Ping An, and killed ICQ in the cradle first.

However, if the shareholders choose to sell ICQ to Su Yehao, it seems that there is no threat if they have no connections and no funds in the future. It is no wonder that AOL will relax.

After hearing the news, although Su Yehao was very angry, but after thinking about it carefully, AOL chose not to increase the price, which was a good thing for him after all. He could take the initiative during the negotiation with ICQ. After all, no third party was willing to interfere. And come in, you should be able to save a lot of money.

The fact is as he expected, let Adrian cooperate to stage a drama of "turning to invest in Amazon", the shareholders of ICQ really let go, and called for a price of 4000 million US dollars, and the shareholders collectively withdrew. There is no longer a requirement to reserve shares.

And the 4000 million U.S. dollars in funds must be fully credited within one month. Once the contract is breached, the liquidated damages will be calculated at 1% of the amount to be paid every day.

As for ICQ's labor union, they demanded that the annual salary increase be no less than 8% for three consecutive years, and promise not to lay off employees within two years. Layoffs need to pay liquidated damages of [-] months' salary.

In addition, in terms of equity incentives, ICQ’s trade union representatives hope to distribute 3% of the total equity to them before listing, which is equivalent to about 1000 million US dollars based on the current value.

To do business in the United States, you must deal with trade unions. These requirements are not too excessive and are within the acceptable range.

Su Yehao made a decision to reduce the equity reward to 2%.

After talking for more than two hours, they quickly reached an agreement and began to arrange for lawyers to draw up the memorandum.

It is estimated that several shareholders of ICQ also noticed the decline of AOL's enthusiasm, so they accelerated the pace of the transaction, trying to get rid of the burden of increasing losses before Su Yehao changed his mind.

If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't make a profit and couldn't meet the requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, these people would have taken the company to go public a long time ago, and now the vast majority of shareholders only hope to get their pockets safe, and they are really burned. The speed of money is scary.

……

According to her preferences, Nangong Tian went to San Francisco twice in the past few days to purchase a batch of furniture.

Today she went to the gallery again and bought some oil paintings.

When Su Yehao came home, she was cooking steak herself, and said with a smile, "You're back, quickly find the camera in my bag, and take a picture of me, isn't it very virtuous?"

"Xianhui, but I was going to celebrate and take you out for a good meal. Since you cook yourself, why don't you eat at home?"

As soon as Su Yehao finished asking, he saw Xiao Nizi blink her eyes and silently turn off the fire.

She told me: "Then let's go out to eat. It always feels not cooked enough, as if it's fried too old. It's the kind that dogs can't bite. It's suitable for drying and making beef jerky."

"..."

Before Su Yehao could speak, Xiao Nizi untied her apron, and then asked, "What are you celebrating? Is it the anniversary of your love, and you want to give me a romance, oops. I'm also wondering whether to count according to the date of Hong Kong City, or according to The date here in California is calculated, or we can take some time to go shopping on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and take you to buy gifts..."

Su Yehao understood.

Since she is not at home, she seems to be bored all the time, with a small mouth, and she can't stop at all.

Raising his hand to interrupt Nangongtian, Su Yehao couldn't wait to tell her:

"I'll talk about those when the time comes. ICQ agreed to my acquisition invitation. I just signed a memorandum and will sign a formal contract in two days. I always feel that I'm going to make a fortune this time. Just tell me what you want to buy, and keep your eyes open." Not even blinking."

"...Is it really sold to you? Wasn't it very awkward before? How much do you want to spend?"

"The total cost is 6000 million U.S. dollars. They can sell the company at a price that exceeds the agency's valuation. How can they be dissatisfied? Valuation is valuation, and cash is cash. If America Online relaxes, these shareholders I can't stand it any longer."

Su Yehao put his arms around Xiao Nizi and forced her to go out. During the process, he said with a smile: "Before eating, I will take you to see the mountains and rivers that I have built for you."

Nangong Tian smelled himself.

Fortunately, there is only a faint smell of steak, so I decided to change my shoes and set off with me.

The transaction has not been completed yet, so going to the ICQ headquarters now is a bit of a bravado. In the end, I just parked the car at the door and stood on the side of the road to have a look.

"A total of 370 full-time employees, the office is rented, and there is still 100 million US dollars left on the books. After I buy it, at least 2000 million US dollars will be invested in the server, and there are a lot of messy expenses. The financing cost is almost 30 million U.S. dollars, more than [-] billion Hong Kong dollars, just ask you if it is good or not."

Su Yehao was very optimistic about the prospects of the merger of ICQ and TVT. At this time, the pressure was not great, but he was full of pride.

It's probably a state of mind where the sea and the sky let the birds fly.

While Xiao Nizi was happy for him, she was also a little worried, mainly because she was afraid that the business would not go well, and Brother Hao would be hit by it.

Actually doing business is different from investing in stocks and investing. They are two different things.

She took Su Yehao's arm and asked curiously: "Then what should I do next, are you prepared?"

"Not yet. Who knew that they would let go when they tried to make contact today. After the formal signing, let McKinsey help sort it out, let the programmers of the two companies have a meeting, and finalize the merger plan as soon as possible. Those who can come in handy Keep it, if it doesn’t work then redevelop it, it’s best to slowly divert users to TVT, lest there will be too many people all of a sudden and it will collapse directly, wouldn’t it become a joke.”

Su Yehao enjoyed a moment of high light, and didn't intend to go in, so he took her to find a place for lunch first.

This transaction seems to be relatively smooth, but in fact it was spent with money, and the debt of more than 3 million U.S. dollars was added at once. In terms of pressure, it was more or less a little bit.