"Of course not, you are simply slandering. According to the routine of Hong Kong Island movies, I am going to sue you," Eric made a joke, then changed the subject, saying: "Your side, this year's Victoria's Secret University Preparations for the show should have already started, right?"
"Well, we have already started to choose the theme," Emily said without dwelling on the matter just now, "We just opened the Victoria's Secret store to Europe in the first half of the year, and this year's big show is going to be held in London."
Eric has seldom paid attention to the specific operation of the Victoria's Secret show. Hearing that, he just hugged Giselle towards him and said, "Just remember to give Giselle an opening."
Emily nodded and said: "Of course, there are wings, and besides Cindy and the others this year, only Giselle can get the theme opening."
Although Emily has a good relationship with Joanna and Virginia, she also brings Joanna's sister Eva by her side as an assistant. However, Emily has become accustomed to Eric's playful behavior. Out of some women's thoughts about why they should make things difficult for women, she didn't have any prejudice against Cindy, Giselle and others because of her relationship with Joanna's two daughters, but she would habitually tease Eric a few words.
This year will be the fifth year of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, when Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Kristen Turlington, Diane Kruger and Tyra Bank The endorsement contract signed between these five people and Victoria's Secret is five years.
After this year, both Cindy and Linda will withdraw from the ranks of Victoria's Secret spokespersons to concentrate on the TV programs in their hands. Christine Turlington is married and will also choose to quit being a housewife. Only Diane Kruger and Tyra Banks remained from the original five.
Gisele just participated in the Victoria's Secret catwalk this year, and will officially sign an endorsement contract with Victoria's Secret next year.
While chatting, John Mark, the host of tonight's party, came over again and said hello. John Mark said to Eric, "Eric, can we talk alone?"
Eric was a little puzzled, but he didn't refuse, saying, "Of course."
John Mark made a gesture of invitation, and the two walked through the crowd in the hall together, and walked along the spiral staircase of the duplex apartment to a reception room on the second floor.
Signaling Eric to sit down on the sofa casually, John Mark walked to the wine cabinet by the wall, took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet and poured two glasses, then took two ice cubes from the small freezer and put them in. The cup came over, handed it to Eric, and said, "Try the Johnnie-Walker in my collection. Although whiskey doesn't taste better with age, there are few in the world with this 50-year-old Johnnie-Walker. bottle."
As soon as Eric picked up the cup and put it to his mouth, he smelled a strong aroma of wine, with some peaty smell unique to Scotch whiskey. He took a sip and nodded: "It's great, but, I don't quite understand these things."
John Mark sat on the single sofa opposite Eric, with a gentle smile on his face, and said, "It seems that you don't drink often, but it's actually a good habit."
"I just prefer to stay awake," Eric said, shaking the glass in his hand slightly, looking at John Mark, waiting for the other party to offer his intentions.
John Mark took a few sips of whiskey in his glass before saying, "Eric, have you thought about speeding up Yahoo's IPO process?"
"This kind of thing is usually responsible for Chris."
Eric responded calmly, while thinking about John Mark's intention to suddenly mention this matter. Chris didn't mention this matter to him. Thinking about it, it should be John Mark's surprise attack now. Compared with the more professional Chris, the other party may think that he is an easier breakthrough point.
Thinking of what Chris said just now, the former Morgan executives failed in the power struggle of the new company after the merger of Morgan Stanley and Dean Witt. Perhaps, John Mark and others want to rely on the Yahoo IPO to bring Performance Highlights Recovered from the company's power struggle.
Yahoo’s IPO strategy has been adjusted. Initially, Eric hoped that Yahoo would be able to issue shares equivalent to about 30% of the total share capital at one time at the end of this year or the beginning of next year when the Nasdaq index remained at a relatively high level. In this way, one-time access to enough development funds to support Yahoo for the next five to ten years.
However, with the deepening of understanding of the company's IPO-related information, Eric also realized that this is not realistic at all.
Yahoo’s valuation at the beginning of this year has reached 15 billion US dollars. According to the average increase of technology stocks in the past six months, Yahoo’s current valuation should increase to about 25 billion US dollars. As long as the Nasdaq index does not collapse early, the valuation at the end of the year will It might even be closer to $50 billion.
Therefore, Yahoo will issue 30% of the stock at one time, and the theoretical financing scale will reach 15 billion US dollars. This number has broken through the IPO scale record of all companies in the history of the US stock market before 1998. Before that, Deutsche Telekom, the largest IPO target in the US stock market, only raised US$13 billion when it went public in 1996.
Deutsche Telekom's status in Germany is comparable to that of AT-T in the United States. Neither the net asset size nor the annual turnover can be compared with the current Yahoo. Eric is full of absolute confidence in Yahoo's future, but it doesn't mean everyone is like that. The capital bubble brought about by the wave of new technology has been valued by more and more people.
Although Yahoo’s performance has grown very rapidly in recent years, last year’s annual revenue was only more than 600 million U.S. dollars. Even if this year’s annual turnover can exceed 1 billion U.S. dollars, it is definitely not enough to support a market value of 50 billion U.S. dollars .
It is a well-known fact that the Nasdaq index is high. If Yahoo shows too much appetite during the IPO process, coupled with investors’ fear of the stock market bubble bursting, it will only lead to the failure of Yahoo’s IPO.
Therefore, Eric only plans to issue about 10% to 15% of the shares of Yahoo’s IPO this time, and he does not have too high expectations for Yahoo’s valuation. $30 billion will do.
Of course, even so, Yahoo is still able to raise 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars at a time, which is enough to support Yahoo's expansion in the next three to five years, and successfully survive the "winter period" for the development of Internet companies after the stock market bubble burst.
The financing scale of 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars, even if it cannot be compared with Deutsche Telekom two years ago, is definitely a very large-scale IPO in recent years. It can also further enhance its influence on Wall Street and attract more companies that are expected to go public in recent years to cooperate with it.
And the former Morgan team that operated Yahoo's IPO can naturally gain more voice in the new company.
Hearing Eric mention Chris, John Mark said: "Eric, you are the owner of Firefly Investment, so I think it is more appropriate to discuss this matter with you first."
Some provocations hidden in John Mark's words made Eric a little unhappy, but he just smiled and said: "I always like to leave professional things to professional people, which is why Firefly can develop to its present scale reason."
John Mark deliberately mentioned that Eric was the 'owner' of the Firefly investment, just to provoke his desire for control and thus make a decision in line with his intentions.
Seeing that this trick was useless to Eric, John Mark immediately changed his mind and said: "Eric, many investment institutions on Wall Street now believe that the Nasdaq has a very serious bubble component. Take America Online as an example. When this company went public in 1995, it was valued at US$5 billion, but so far, in just two and a half years, its market value has exceeded US$40 billion, an increase of 800%. There is also Microsoft, compared to 1995 , Microsoft's market capitalization has more than six times. Other technology companies such as Cisco, Oracle, Intel, etc., the share price increase has also reached an exaggerated level. Therefore, in recent months, it should be the last and the last time for Yahoo to go public. Good timing. Our preparations are already very sufficient. As long as we start, we can successfully complete the IPO plan before September. If we wait until the end of the plan or early next year, even if the Nasdaq bubble does not burst, major investment institutions will buy technology The performance of the stock is very cautious, which is very unfavorable for Yahoo's IPO."
John Mark's words are undoubtedly very convincing. If it weren't for Eric's understanding of the trend of the Nasdaq index beyond ordinary people, out of caution, he felt that he would probably agree with the other party's point of view .
However, after listening to John Mark patiently, Eric just shook his head and said with a smile: "John, I understand your thoughts, but I also have my own plan. The current valuation of Yahoo has not yet reached the ideal in my heart. Therefore, the plan to go public at the end of the year will not change. Moreover, although I very much hope that Yahoo can successfully implement an IPO, in fact, I am not afraid that Yahoo’s IPO will fail. Even if Yahoo cannot be successfully listed, the Firefly system can also Give the company enough money to grow."
John Mark paused for a moment. He didn't know if Eric's 'I understand your mind' meant that he wanted to gain the initiative in the company with the help of Yahoo's IPO, or whether it was possible for Yahoo's IPO to appear on the surface. Success concerns.
However, John Mark did not show any abnormality on his face, and said: "Eric, then, what about Microsoft's 30% equity subscription rights, once Yahoo's IPO fails, it will conduct equity transactions with Microsoft in an unlisted state." , Yahoo will suffer a lot. Just like now, Microsoft’s market value is almost ten times that of Yahoo’s valuation. Microsoft can exchange 30% of Yahoo’s shares for only 3% of its shares. I think you definitely don’t want to see this Let that happen. I think Yahoo would be at least as valuable as AOL if it were public."
Eric's expression was still relaxed, and he said: "John, the time when Microsoft can exercise its share subscription rights is July next year. According to what you mean, if the Nasdaq bubble bursts at the end of the year, Yahoo will not be able to IPO smoothly, but similarly, Microsoft will definitely not be able to IPO at that time. It is impossible to keep the stock price as high as it is now. And, even if Microsoft and Yahoo are trading now, although I will feel very depressed, but selling 3% of the shares paid by Microsoft, Yahoo can still get six or seven billion dollars in funds, and at the same time , Firefly Investment still retains the absolute holding of Yahoo.”
Eric’s initial assumption when he reached a deal with Damen was that even if Microsoft’s market capitalization could reach its peak of 600 billion U.S. dollars when the two parties fulfilled the equity subscription agreement, if Yahoo went public, the market capitalization should be close to 200 billion U.S. dollars.
At that time, the value of Yahoo's 30% equity will reach 60 billion US dollars, and Microsoft will definitely not be able to come up with this huge amount of cash. If the other party still wants the 30% stake in Yahoo, they can only buy it through a share exchange. However, if the share is exchanged, Microsoft will also need to pay about 10% of the equity. shareholder. In this case, Microsoft is likely to automatically give up the subscription rights.
However, if the situation described by John Mark really happens, as long as Microsoft shares can be sold in time, Firefly Investment will not lose anything. The only regret is that it cannot become a major shareholder of Microsoft.
Due to his frequent contacts with Chris Hansen, John Mark also knew that he had a very clear idea of Yahoo's IPO, and it would be very difficult for the other party to change his decision, so he only hoped to find a breakthrough point from Eric tonight.
However, seeing Eric's attitude became more determined, John Mark quickly gave up his thoughts.
He invited Eric tonight because he wanted to have a good relationship with the other party, so naturally he wouldn't make the scene deadlocked.
Giving up the idea of lobbying Eric, John Mark changed the subject on his own initiative, and the two chatted for a while before leaving the reception room together.
Eric did not return to the hall downstairs with John Mark, and under the direction of the other party, he went to the bathroom at the end of the corridor. When he came out again, he saw the stairs leading to the rooftop of the apartment building next to him. After thinking about it, Eric went up, intending to get some ventilation. It was still very troublesome to get along with a smart person like John Mark.
Pushing open the iron gate of the rooftop, Eric had just stepped out when he saw a slim figure standing by the fence at the northwest corner of the rooftop, as if he was looking at the dark Central Park in the west at night.
Hearing a voice behind him, the figure also turned around, but it was Stephanie Seymour.
Stephanie Seymour's expression was obviously a little surprised, and there was some teasing in her tone, and she said, "Eric, you didn't come here on purpose, did you?"
Although the question was used, judging from the slightly satisfied smile on the woman's face, the other party seemed to be sure of this fact.
"If I say it's not, you will definitely not believe it," Eric shrugged indifferently, walked to Stephanie Seymour, lay on the fence, and looked at the lights and trains on Fifth Avenue not far from the next door, and more Central Park, farther away, asked, "What are you looking at?"
Stephanie Seymour shook her head, put her hands on the fence, and said, "It's nothing, it's just the air, it's too stuffy down there."