"From my personal point of view, the biggest problem with Makino Technology's acquisition of Apple is not Apple itself, but the acquisition offer that Makino Technology can give to Apple."
Louis Martin told Li Mu: "No matter how low Apple's market value is, US$3 billion will basically hit the bottom this round. After all, Apple still has its own operating system and computer host business, and this wave of bad news is too fierce. , so Apple’s stock price will be oversold to a certain extent. When the bad news is almost digested, there will definitely be an appropriate bottoming out. Let’s take 3.5 billion US dollars as an example. If Makino Technology wants the acquisition to go smoothly, the quotation must be at least 50 More than 100 million, and after several rounds of back-and-forth negotiations between the two parties, it is estimated that the actual operating price should be around 5.5-6 billion US dollars."
"5.5-6 billion?" Li Mu smiled slightly and was noncommittal about Louis Martin's words.
In fact, according to his psychological price, even buying Apple for US$7 billion is not too expensive. If it can be bought for US$5.5-6 billion, it will be as cheap as grandma's house.
However, simply looking at the amount of US$5.5-6 billion, although it is cheap, it is also a huge amount of money for Makino Technology. With the current amount of funds of Makino Technology, it is far from suppressing the desire to swallow such a camel. It's stock price so easily.
Louis Martin asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, assuming Apple accepts a privatization acquisition at a valuation of US$6 billion, how is Makino Technology prepared to pay this huge amount of money? Makino Technology's last round of financing only raised US$3.3 billion. If If I remember correctly, US$300 million of it was used to cash out shareholders, and only US$3 billion was actually injected into operating funds. Moreover, Makino Technology has invested in and built a large number of data processing centers around the world, so this amount of money should also be used. Are you overspent?"
Li Mu nodded and said: "Makino Technology will definitely not be able to get $6 billion in cash, but it can choose other solutions."
Louis Martin asked: "Do you want to use part of the cash, supplemented by part of the shares of Makino Technology, to acquire the company?"
Li Mu asked with a smile: "Am I crazy? I use the shares of Makino Technology to acquire Apple? Let Apple's shareholders change from holding shares in Apple to holding shares in Makino Technology? Isn't this a blessing in disguise for them?"
Louis Martin nodded and asked in surprise: "Then how are you going to raise this fund?"
Li Mu said: "We can first negotiate with Apple to negotiate a desired price, and then communicate with Apple shareholders. We can pay part of the cash first, and then pay the rest after Makino Technology goes public. We can also pay them a considerable interest. What do you think? Is it possible?"
Louis Martin said: "I personally think that Apple's shareholders may not agree. They are all masters of capital. If they are no longer optimistic about a project, they will choose to stop losses and cash out as soon as possible, and then use the money to make other investments. These The last thing people care about is the interest rate. On the contrary, they are people who like to give other people interest rates and invest other people’s money.”
Having said this, Louis Martin looked at Li Mu and said expectantly: "Mr. Li, actually the best way is for Makino Technology to conduct another round of financing and use the raised money to acquire Apple. Roughly estimated, Makino Technology The current valuation can reach more than 70 billion US dollars. If we raise another round and dilute 10% of the shares, the funds to acquire Apple will be available, and the remaining money can be used for other arrangements."
Li Mu smiled slightly and said: "I am not planning to raise any more money before the IPO."
Makino Technology's current user base, product strength, team strength, and support strength are all very strong. The gap between it and other competing products has also widened by a huge amount, and YY's value-added service revenue is very considerable. Town", "Plants vs. Zombies Online" and YY Game Hall are also very profitable. There are also money-attracting behemoths like Muying Ticketing System. The overall profit is very considerable, and there is no need to burn money in all business lines. This At this time, Li Mu no longer needs a large amount of funds to seize the market, so diluting his shares further will be completely worth the loss.
However, for Louis Martin and Sequoia, because they are extremely optimistic about the future of Makino Technology, they also hope to obtain more shares of Makino Technology before Makino Technology goes public. The market value of Makino Technology is rising rapidly. , beyond imagination, the sooner you get shares of Makino Technology, the sooner you can lock in huge profits.
Although Li Mu is not preparing to raise funds, money is indeed the biggest problem when he wants to acquire Apple. Li Mu does not have that much cash, and the most valuable thing in his hand is the shares of Makino Technology. However, exchanging shares for Apple at this time is really not worthwhile.
However, having said that, now is the best window period to acquire Apple. Both Apple's stock price and the confidence of Apple managers will completely bottom out in the recent period. If we can win Apple before it bottoms out and rebounds, we will be able to win from Apple. To avoid future troubles now, if we wait to get Apple after hitting bottom, the cost will be much higher.
This is similar to the mentality of domestic retail investors in stock trading. When stocks continue to fall below the limit, they want to sell the stocks in their hands but cannot. At this time, they dream of cutting off the meat quickly, but once the limit is opened, many people are reluctant to part with it. Sold because he felt that since the limit had been opened, it indicated that a rebound was not far away. He might as well make up for some losses before selling, and even hoped that the stock could rise to a new height again.
After much deliberation, Li Mu still felt that acquiring Apple would be the safest option in the near future, so he said to Louis Martin: "Louis, I will immediately set up a business department specifically responsible for acquiring Apple. I will be in charge of the business department personally, and you will be in charge of the business." Senior consultant of the ministry, you have worked hard these past two days to help sort out Makino Technology’s specific plan to acquire Apple, and also started to investigate the lowest price Apple may accept. After the World Health Organization lifts the warning about the epidemic in China in the past few days, I will go to one in person. Go to the United States and put this matter to bed."
Louis Martin nodded and said: "Now that I'm here, I will naturally do my best to help you and Makino Technology achieve their goals. But having said that, why do you have to wait for the WHO to lift the epidemic warning before going to the United States?"
Li Mu said: "To fulfill my responsibilities and obligations as a public figure, I stayed in Yanjing throughout the epidemic in the hope that I could set an example by myself and increase everyone's confidence in resisting SARS. I did not want to leave the epidemic area because of me. , and have an impact on some people.”
"I understand." Louis Martin said: "In this case, let's start making preparations in the past few days. We are not very anxious about time. After all, Apple will not be able to deal with this mess in a short time."
…
Today, the SARS epidemic in Yanjing and across the country has been very effectively controlled. According to first-hand information obtained by Makino Technology, there have been no new patients in Yanjing in the past few days, and patients in Xiaotangshan Hospital have also recovered one after another.
At this pace, it will take less than a month for the impact of SARS to be completely over, and by that time, people across the country will be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Li Mu speculated that the WHO should not be so strict. They cannot wait until all patients are discharged from the hospital before announcing that the threat has been lifted. Judging from the actual situation of domestic epidemic control, even if it is announced that the threat has been lifted now, it will not matter. question.
Once the WHO announces that the crisis of the epidemic in China has been lifted, Li Mu's mission during SARS will be completed. The first thing Li Mu will do is to fly to the United States and clear all the recent backlog in one go.
The most important issue is the acquisition of Apple, in addition to Makino Technology's other business development in the United States.
Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has also been launched online. In order not to interfere with his own ideas, and in order not to let Makino Technology block Facebook's development space, Li Mu adopted a large-scale operation mode for this project, laissez-faire Mark Zuckerberg is doing it himself, but even so, Li Mu still needs to understand the situation and see if there is any deviation in this young man's thinking mode compared to his previous life. If so, help him change it quickly. If not, , just continue to let him run forward by himself.
There is also Elon Musk. He has been waiting to further communicate with Li Mu about the electric vehicle and commercial launch vehicle projects. Both projects require a long time and money to develop slowly. Before getting the final answer from Li Mu, Elon Musk doesn’t dare to act rashly.
Li Mu plans to spend a month in the United States to get all these things done, and then have in-depth communication with people from Sequoia Capital about Makino Technology's listing in the United States. Now that the company's development is going smoothly, it is time to plan the IPO.
IPO is an opportunity to create miracles for companies like Makino Technology.
The capital market is relatively calm. How much is Makino Technology worth? The valuations given by capital are also relatively conservative. Although it depends on Louis Martin’s intention, Sequoia Capital is willing to give Makino Technology a latest valuation of more than US$70 billion. But Li Mu strongly disagrees with this valuation.
AOL only has a peak market value of nearly 200 billion U.S. dollars, while Makino Technology only offers YY. Which data does not far exceed AOL in terms of number of users, influence, and coverage? Not to mention the huge power when the entire ecosystem is integrated. Such an Internet giant is only valued at US$70 billion, which is really nonsense.
However, Li Mu also knows very well that based on the nature of capital, a valuation of 70 billion is not a pitfall, and at most 80 billion is sky-high, because they also have to reserve profit margins for themselves, and even they are waiting for it. ’s shares skyrocketed after listing, so it is impossible to value Makino Technology based on its post-listing market value.
For the circulation market, investors have great confidence in a healthy company that can tell a story. This can often bring a higher price-to-earnings ratio to the company. The final result is that the stock price and market value will soar even more.
Based on the current market situation of the entire Internet industry, if the acquisition of Apple is successful, Li Mu is confident that the market value of Makino Technology will quickly exceed 150 billion US dollars after the IPO, and even hit 200 billion US dollars after Mango-ME2 and YYtunes mature and Makino Technology successfully digests Apple. market capitalization mark.
By that time, Makino Technology’s financing amount will probably reach 20 billion U.S. dollars, and that will be the real realization!
(End of chapter)