Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

January 5th.

Lin Baicheng brought his secretary Qin Lan and bodyguards to Apple to attend Apple's board of directors meeting today.

Apple's board of directors is very simple, with only five people. In addition to Lin Baicheng and Jobs, there are also Steve Gary Wozniak, the founder of the company, and Mike Markkula, the earliest investor. The last one is the company’s executives.

Apple was first founded by three people, the other one being Ronald Gerald Wayne, but Ronald withdrew from Apple when Mike Markkula invested in it and took control of it. Some 10% of the shares were sold to Steve Jobs.

It wasn't that Ronald couldn't accept Apple being invested in. It was a good thing for the company to receive capital attention and investment. What he couldn't accept was that the company had to borrow money from banks. He was afraid of failure and chose to withdraw. Of course, the reason for quitting would not be said to be that it was because of physical health and that I could not accept the crazy work.

Therefore, Ronald, the founder of the company, Lin Baicheng, has never been seen, because when he joined Apple, this person had already quit Apple.

Those who should be polite had already been polite before the meeting started, so after the board meeting, the five people went straight to the topic.

Among the five people, director Lin Baicheng is the only one who does not work at Apple. Although financial personnel are stationed, the financial personnel do not interfere in the daily management of the company. Therefore, this time the board meeting mainly involves Jobs and his colleagues explaining to Lin Baicheng.

"Alan, the company has now decided to reject IBM's acquisition of the company and decide to raise funds."

"We have recently been in contact with many investors, and many investors are optimistic about us. However, the three companies with the best conditions are Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Elephant Capital."

"All three of them have valued the company at US$90 million, which is not low given IBM's intention to enter the personal computer market."

"Today we are going to discuss whether to accept financing from one company, or whether to accept financing from all three companies and let them each contribute different proportions."

The three institutions Jobs mentioned, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, are well-known in the United States, and it would be difficult for Lin Baicheng not to know them. He had never heard of Elephant Capital, but that was normal. After all, there were so many investment institutions in the United States, and it was impossible for him to know them all.

Lin Baicheng tapped his fingers on the table and said, "Don't you think the valuation of US$90 million is a bit low?"

Jobs explained: "Alan, this is their initial price. The specific price can be discussed later. But the most important thing for us now is to get the financing funds early, and then use the funds to accelerate development. In IBM We don’t have time to talk slowly about strengthening ourselves before entering the market.”

"What you said is not unreasonable."

Lin Baicheng did not object when he heard this, and continued: "Regarding the proportion of financing and the specific method of financing, what are your plans?"

Jobs said: "This time we decided to take out 20% of the shares for financing."

Lin Baicheng frowned slightly: "Didn't you say last time that you would raise 10% to 15% of the shares?"

"Alan, IBM is an industry giant. Without a large amount of funds, it is impossible to defeat IBM. So we should strengthen ourselves as much as possible while IBM has not yet entered the market, and give up more shares to obtain more Only in this way can we try not to lose in the competition with IBM later. If we can't compete with IBM, it won't make sense no matter how many shares we hold now."

This time it was Steve who spoke up to explain.

Jobs also said: "Yes, IBM is a big mountain, and we must go all out."

"Okay, let's raise 20% of the shares."

Lin Baicheng hesitated for a moment and then agreed. Because of his participation, IBM may enter the personal computer market earlier, and Lin Baicheng is not sure whether Apple can still be as successful as it was before its rebirth. Therefore, although it is a bit heartbreaking to have more shares diluted, what Jobs and others said is not unreasonable. Surviving and growing is the most important thing at the moment.

Jobs continued: "Mike will sell 5% of the shares, and Allen will reduce the 6% of your shares by 3% in proportion to your financing, and the remaining 3% of the shares will be replenished with cash according to the financing market value. Except for Mike In addition, neither Steve nor I will sell our stock, so the company will receive 17% of the cash from this financing to grow the company."

"Before financing, the company's shareholding ratio is that I hold 32.725% of the shares, Steve holds 26.775% of the shares, Mike holds 10.5% of the shares, and Alan holds 30% of the company's shares."

"After financing, I personally hold 26.18% of the company's shares, Steve holds 21.42% of the company's shares, Mike holds 5.4% of the company's shares, Alan holds 27% of the company's shares, and the financier holds 20% of the company's shares. "

"No matter how many financing parties there are this time, the company will add two new director seats. If there are no less than two institutions participating in the financing, and each holds no less than 5% of the shares, then these two board seats will belong to Financing party. If there is only one financing institution, or only one holds more than 5% of the shares, then the remaining director position will be replaced by the company's management."

Before financing, Apple's largest shareholder was Steve Jobs. The reason why Jobs was still Apple's largest shareholder after two dilutions was because when Ronald quit Apple, 10% of his shares were acquired by Jobs. .

When Apple was first founded, Jobs and Steve each held 45% of Apple's shares, and Ronald held 10%. After Mike Markkula invested and acquired 30% of the shares, Jobs and Steve's shareholdings became 38.5% and 31.5% respectively.

When Lin Baicheng invested in Apple, 15% of the shares were purchased from Mike Markkula, and the remaining 15% was financed from Apple, so Mike Markkula had the least remaining shares.

It's the same this time. Not only does Mike Markkula have to dilute some of his shares through financing, he also has to sell some of his shares, so naturally he doesn't have many remaining shares.

However, the first sale of 15% of the shares allowed Mike Markkula to recover all the principal invested in Apple and make a huge profit. The profit from selling 5% of the shares this time will only be higher than last time, because Apple's current market value is more than ten times that of last time.

At this board meeting, Apple decided to raise 20% of its shares to fund development and add two more directors. As for the negotiations with investment institutions, they will be carried out by Jobs and others. Lin Baicheng only needs to send someone to supervise and ensure his interests.