Arriving opposite Simon's desk, Girl A in an OL suit handed over several pieces of information and said: "Boss, this is the latest meeting memorandum on the Christie's acquisition negotiations in Europe, as well as the collection and auction industry information you asked to collect. . Also, here’s my work schedule for tomorrow in San Francisco.”
Simon turned off the computer on his desk, just picked up a memorandum on the Christie's acquisition, and said, "Let's go back. The rest of the information can be read at home."
Alison quickly put away the remaining documents, held them in her arms and followed Simon out of the office.
Walking into the elevator, Simon opened the memo and went straight to the part he cared about most.
After agreeing to Sophia's proposal to acquire the Christie's auction house a few days ago, the female executive began negotiations with Christie's shareholders interested in selling their shares.
Founded more than 200 years ago, Christie's, like its archrival Sotheby's, has long been a listed company.
Because the auction industry has fallen into a downturn with the global economic recession, Christie's recent market value is only 430 million pounds, or about $670 million, which is only equivalent to a price-earnings ratio of 13 times compared with its profits in the previous fiscal year. The stock price of a listed company tends to reflect its long-term business performance. A price-to-earnings ratio of 13 times undoubtedly represents the capital market's unfavorable outlook on the auction company's prospects.
After confirming the acquisition plan, Melisandre Company made secret contacts with Christie's shareholders and management on the one hand, and also began to privately absorb the company's stocks on the other. In this way, even if the acquisition cannot be completed in the end, Melisandre's company can still make a small profit by buying low and selling high.
The main reason for doing this is that Simon is not determined to win this long-established auction industry giant.
During the initial contact process, Christie's board of directors directly proposed a purchase price of 20 times the price-earnings ratio, with a total value of up to US$1 billion, equivalent to a 50% premium.
If it is a hostile takeover, such a transaction price is actually not high. However, Christie’s is different.
Mainly due to the limitations of the auction industry itself.
With an investment of US$1 billion, if Simon invests in the Internet, he may be able to obtain a return of hundreds of times in the future. If he invests in the fashion field and operates it properly, he may be able to obtain a return of ten times in the future. However, because the auction industry mainly targets the crowd and the annual market capacity cannot show a stable upward curve, even if it can be determined that the auction house will be able to bring very stable profits due to continued economic prosperity in the next ten or twenty years, But the value of Christie's itself won't rise much. Ten years later, if the market value can double or triple, that will be the limit.
Therefore, Simon’s plan is to give Christie’s a premium of up to 30%, which is about $870 million, based on the recent market value of $670 million.
If agreement cannot be reached within the 30% premium range, Simon will decisively give up the acquisition.
At that time, it will not be considered illegal to sell the stocks acquired in advance and make a small profit while the stock price is at a high stage after the news was leaked.
Not only that, Simon also has no intention of paying all the planned $870 million by Melisandre's company. Black Rock Asset Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, has agreed to enter the game with $100 million, and Sophia is still looking for other partner investors in the near future. , Simon's goal is just to achieve Melisandre's absolute control of Christie's.
It's just that Simon thinks so, but others obviously don't.
In recent years, the promising areas of the Westeros system have basically shown very strong growth momentum.
Perhaps, when Melisandre Company launched a takeover bid for Christie's, many shareholders and management of Christie's had already changed their initial negative attitude towards the auction house's development prospects.
This is a company that Simon Westeros is interested in.
Therefore, Christie's may want to take advantage of Simon, who has strong financial resources, or may have no intention of selling it.
The U.S. economy has not yet recovered, and Europe has just experienced a financial catastrophe. At this time, the possibility of a competitor bidding for the auction house with Simon is very low. If the two parties cannot reach an agreement, Simon will definitely not publicly launch any malicious campaign. In terms of acquisition intentions, Christie's is simply not worth a hostile takeover. This is something that all parties know very well.
In short, the future of this acquisition is very uncertain.
The memo in Simon's hand also shows this.
In the past two weeks, Christie's board of directors has not given up on the two contacts.
Moreover, Christie's stock price has also risen to a certain extent. Compared with two weeks ago, the stock price has increased by 11%. The news has obviously been quietly leaked.
Through secret absorption, Melisandre's company currently holds 3% of Christie's shares, worth more than US$20 million.
The journey back to Point Dume Manor from Daenerys Studios in Malibu was short. Girl A sat quietly next to Simon and found that she was about to arrive home. The man was still reading the document in his hand carefully. After thinking for a while, he said: "Boss, I don’t think the acquisition of Christie’s is a very good deal.”
Simon raised his head, looked at the girl next to him, and asked, "Why?"
Girl A has obviously made a lot of preparations, saying: "The development potential of the auction industry itself is very small, and the uncertainty of performance is also very great. Even if the boss believes that the world economy will improve rapidly in the next few years, the cash investment of US$800 million, It’s still not worth it. If you invest this money in other areas, you will definitely get more returns.”
Simon smiled and nodded: "You are right, but acquiring Christie's is not just as simple as buying an auction house."
After saying this, Simon didn't go any further.
The people involved in the top auction industry are basically a group of people at the top of the pyramid in the world. If you can own Christie's, you directly have a pass to build a huge network of contacts.
Simon's wealth at this time has reached a peak that is difficult for ordinary people to reach, and his power in Hollywood is also unparalleled for a while. However, even at his current height, Simon does not think that connections are no longer important to him. On the contrary, for him now, connections are becoming more and more important.
On the other hand, the top social circles are just the "above the water" part of the auction industry.
This industry is actually more exciting below the surface.
Money laundering, tax avoidance, benefit transfer, etc.
If possible, Simon certainly hopes that all business activities for the Westeros system can be upright.
However, this is just a fantasy after all.
Simon has been discussing one thing with some core executives of the Westeros system these days, which is to significantly increase the 'investment' of the Westeros system in the political field.
According to preliminary plans, for this year only, the Westeros system is not only Schlapp Consulting, which is directly controlled by Westeros Company, but also includes Daenerys Entertainment, Cisco, America Online, and Verizon Telecom. Core companies in the Westeros system, such as Cersei Capital, Ygrit Corporation, etc., estimate that the total amount of funds planned for political donations and lobbying will reach US$100 million in 1993.
In this era, having US$3.5 billion is enough to make it onto Forbes' list of the 400 richest people in the United States.
The Westeros system plans to invest $100 million in the political field in one year. However, this money must be spent. Even if a large part of it may be wasted, this money will not decrease and will continue to increase every year in the future.
It’s just that this part of the investment cannot be completely operated on the surface. The amount that is actually registered in accordance with the provisions of the US lobbying law may be less than one-fifth of US$100 million.
But this is still not enough.
If you own an auction house like Christie's, you can do a lot of things in the future.
People outside the United States always feel that this country is so good. If you live in it and have more experience, you can probably understand that although the system may be different, many things are actually the same.
Because human nature is the same.
Girl A has a very smart mind. Simon just reminded her and she immediately understood it and wisely did not express any opinion on it.
The next day is Thursday, February 25th.
Simon flew to San Francisco early in the morning.
The company's 1992 financial report has also been released recently.
Compared with Daenerys Entertainment's "normal" annual growth rate, Melisandre Company's past year can be described as barbaric growth.
Therefore, when the new year's financial report came out, the entire Ygrit was happy but also a little uneasy.
If this financial report were released to the public, it would really be too eye-catching.
In 1991, Igret's annual revenue was US$491 million, while its losses reached US$381 million, almost losing the net worth of a billionaire ranked lower on the Forbes 400 list of America's richest people.
Whether it was a revenue of US$491 million in a new industry field or an eye-popping loss of US$381 million, they all triggered intense discussions in the media at the beginning of last year.
However, this year's data, if released to the public, will definitely attract more people's attention.
In 1992, the Amazon online mall, which opened early last year, achieved an annual turnover of US$623 million in its first year of operation, relying on the super traffic import of Igret, which has the only interface to the World Wide Web.
Although it is well known that sales in the retail industry tend to be very large and profit margins are often very low, however, the annual sales of Amazon's online mall of only US$623 million still easily surpassed the entire year of 1991 of Igret. of revenue.
In addition, relying on the almost exponential growth of World Wide Web sites in the past year, Yigrit's YWS department relied on business such as application software sales, server space leasing, solution services and even corporate e-mails to achieve annual growth Revenue was US$437 million, of which the most basic web design software sold US$283 million, surpassing the US$233 million of IE browser software in one fell swoop.
Simon's most important Internet business, compared with the annual revenue of 83 million US dollars in 1991, in 1992, because traditional advertising giants such as Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble also began to advertise on the Internet platform, coupled with the original IBM, Compaq, Advertisers in the technology field such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Intel, and Igret's advertising revenue in 1992 also increased significantly to US$278 million, an increase of more than 330%.
Finally, scattered revenue from application software stores such as Ystore and Ypay, online payment tools, and other aspects also achieved US$366 million in revenue throughout the year.
After all calculations, in 1992, the total revenue of Yigrit Company reached US$1.937 billion. Compared with 1991, the revenue growth rate reached 394%.
Even after accounting, Igret's full-year loss in 1992 still reached US$139 million. However, in the face of such a crazy annual growth rate of performance, let alone a loss of US$139 million in one year, even if it doubled several times, it would still be a loss. Totally worth the investment.
If the financial data in 1991 only made the outside world aware of the huge growth potential of the Internet industry, then Igret's revenue performance in 1992 was completely enviable.
The global economic downturn does not mean that there is a lack of funds in the hands of capital. On the contrary, it is more accurate that a lot of funds cannot find suitable investment directions.
Once the 1992 financial report of Yigrit Company was released, it was like a light suddenly lighting up in the dark night.
If one or two moths swoop over, they may only be burned to death by the flames. When countless moths swarm over, the lights may be in danger of being extinguished.
The light of Igret Company happens to have an obvious fatal weakness.
monopoly.
In the original timeline, the Internet industry began to rise in 1995, and it was basically a state of blooming. Netscape and Microsoft owned browser software, Yahoo provided portal services, and companies such as Amazon and eBay operated e-commerce. At that time, the Internet cloud Services have not yet appeared. Basic software and services such as website design software and server rental business are all shared by many companies.
Now, because Igret has built patent barriers to World Wide Web technology in advance, it basically represents the World Wide Web platform of the entire Internet industry, from the lowest tool software to server rental, to graphical interface browsers, and even the original timeline Online businesses such as portals and online shopping malls that have proven successful are all handled by Yigret.
Therefore, when the Internet industry began to explode, Yigrit Company was immediately supported.
The performance growth rate for the whole year is close to 400%. It does not need to persist for a long time, even if it only lasts for another two or three years, Igret will grow into an industrial giant with a revenue of tens of billions.
Other industries have continued to slump due to the impact of the general environment. Everyone is carefully looking for prey. However, Yigrit Company is alone guarding a pasture full of fat cattle and sheep.
Capital comes into the world, from head to toe, with blood and filth dripping from every pore.
If there is 10% profit, capital will be used everywhere; if there is 20% profit, capital will be active; if there is 50% profit, capital will take desperate risks; for 100% profit, capital will dare to trample all human laws; 300 % of profits, capital dares to commit any crime and even risk hanging.
Marx said so in Capital.
Now, the Internet industry in which Yigrit Company is involved obviously represents more than 1,000% of the interests.