On this trading day, Apple’s stock price is still falling.
The opening price was US$5.47, and it fell below the US$5 mark within an hour of the opening. In the afternoon of local time in the United States, a technology media officially broke the news that Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO. Once this news was announced, it once again caused panic in the market, and the stock price fell sharply in a short period of time. The stock price fell to a terrifying intraday low of $4.23.
In order to restore its decline, Apple issued an emergency announcement in which it appointed Tim Cook, Apple's sales manager, to take over Steve Jobs's position and become Apple's new CEO. He has worked for many years and joined Apple for five years. He has strong personal abilities and quality, and he knows Apple well. He will lead Apple out of the haze.
Jobs recognized Tim Cook very much. It was Jobs who actively invited Tim Cook to join Apple five years ago. In recent years, Jobs has been cultivating Tim Cook as his future successor. At this time, Apple asked @ came to the rescue, no one familiar with Apple will be surprised.
However, consumers did not have high expectations for Tim Cook, and Apple's stock price only rose slightly, finally closing at $4.53.
Another day of slaughter.
The stock price and market value fell by 17% in one day, which sent chills down the spine.
After the end of this trading day, Apple's market value is only $4 billion. Although all the actual bad news has been released, if Apple can't find a real way to save the decline in its business line, as the Investors' confidence continues to lose, and Apple's stock price will continue to fall for some time to come.
This kind of decline is like cutting flesh with a dull knife. It must be a long and endless pain and nightmare.
…
The first thing Louis Martin did after arriving at the hotel was to immediately hold a conference call with Sequoia headquarters. Sequoia was very concerned about Li Mu’s every move at this time, especially they felt that Li Mu might have plans to start a multi-billion dollar project. level of commercial acquisition, so I was even more eager to know what Li Mu was thinking.
Louis Martin reported in detail the entire process of today's meeting with Li Mu to the Sequoia board of directors on the other end of the phone. Finally, he concluded: "Although I don't understand the value of Apple to Makino Technology, Li Mu wants to eat it. Apple's determination is really strong, and every time he talks about taking Apple private, I can feel his excitement."
One of Sequoia's top executives who was the most proficient in capital operations said in surprise: "What does Li Mu see in Apple? All of Apple's truly profitable product lines have been killed by him. Now Apple is in a mess. All its business lines have been destroyed." Just compare it with Makino Technology, and you will find that Makino Technology does not need Apple at all;
Apple's unique business lines do not bring any help to Makino Technology's existing industry, and its own profitability is very weak, and the cost of ongoing research and development is very high; and the overlapping parts of Apple and Makino Technology will have a negative impact on Makino Technology in the future. It is definitely a burden. Even if Apple is now priced at US$5 billion for a privatization acquisition, at least a billion US dollars of valuation is calculated on the two industrial chains of iPod and iTunes. Li Mu bought these two industrial chains. What's the point of going back? "
All Sequoia executives fell silent.
No one can figure this out.
Why did Li Mu buy apples
With Li Mu's shrewdness, it is impossible not to see the pitfalls in this. To buy Apple is to buy back a huge, unprofitable mess. If Li Mu buys back Apple, it is impossible to keep iTunes and iPod, otherwise he will be fighting with himself. , but there is nothing for him to digest in iTunes and iPod. He can only buy them and put them aside. This is a complete waste of money.
As for Apple's other business lines, it really doesn't make sense.
When the chairman of Sequoia was puzzled, he suddenly asked: "Is it possible that Li Mu's acquisition of Apple is for some kind of strategic layout? Or is it to clear obstacles for the future of Makino Technology? We can't stop at our Judging from Li Mu's perspective, this guy generally has a very far-reaching layout. The acquisition of Apple may not be of much use to him at the moment, but it will be of great use in the future."
"It's unlikely." Louis Martin said: "I have carefully studied Apple's current business lines. Apart from iPod and iTunes, the rest is the MAC computer business. The sales volume of iMac-G4 is not very good. , the market share of the MacOS operating system is also pitifully low. Now that Microsoft is here to add insult to injury, the Mac business will inevitably be affected even more in the future. Even if Apple returns to Li Mu, it will be difficult for Li Mu to develop the Mac business line. "
After speaking, Louis Martin added: "As a reminder, Li Mu has actually invested in a computer manufacturer in China called Shenzhou, and pushed the government to introduce a policy to benefit the people with the Internet at home. This policy is intended to accelerate Increasing the number of Internet users in China and the number of terminals connected to the Internet is equivalent to Li Mu helping Chinese consumers to overdraw their home computer budgets in advance. Even if he gets MacOS at this time, it will be difficult to promote MacOS to the Chinese market."
Li Mu's will to win Apple was extremely strong. Even if Apple knew about it, let alone Sequoia, they wouldn't be able to guess what Li Mu meant.
In Li Mu's view, Apple is now a uranium mine where atomic energy has not yet been discovered. People only see the value of its land, but not the wealth contained underground, so its valuation is also based on the price of the land. To measure it, however, once atomic energy is discovered, the price of this piece of land will skyrocket.
The "atomic energy" that Li Mu is looking forward to is the mobile Internet and smartphones. Mobile Internet is the general trend, and smartphones are the key link for Apple to complete its transformation.
Until Li Mu's rebirth, no company in China had the ability to develop a truly valuable operating system, whether it was a computer or a mobile phone. However, Apple has this technical background and even has a ready-made MacOS system. This thing is the mother of IOS, but she is still a young girl today.
Li Mu firmly believes that as long as he gets Apple before the advent of the mobile Internet era, the MacOS system will naturally become his own. The only thing left is to give Apple engineers an overall salary increase and let them develop on the MacOS system. Exit IOS system.
By that time, I am afraid that Makino Technology’s business behavior of acquiring Apple will become one of the most successful acquisitions in the history of human companies.
Think about how an investment of several billion dollars can support a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars in the future. This is absolutely an unprecedented and unprecedented operation.
Chairman Sequoia couldn't understand Li Mu's thoughts. He smacked his lips and said, "Let's not study why Li Mu wants to acquire Apple for now. What I'm more concerned about now is how Li Mu plans to acquire Apple. He doesn't have that much money in his hands." With the cash at his disposal, there is still a huge funding gap. Does he have any plans to refinance?”
"No." Louis Martin poured cold water on the chairman and said: "Li Mu has made it clear that he will not plan to raise funds before the IPO. Financing at this time is equivalent to suffering a huge disguised loss."
The chairman of Sequoia said with a sneer: "It doesn't matter if we don't raise funds. The key to acquiring Apple is that we can't just talk about it, right?"
After that, he added: "It is basically impossible for Li Mu to get billions of dollars in cash now. Makino Technology has not been listed, and most of the valuations are virtual assets. The proportion of net assets is too low, which is not enough." It supports billions of dollars in loans, and when the company is not listed, even the shares cannot be pledged. Who will give him so much money? Taobao's redundant funds can only be converted into a few hundred million dollars at most. Moreover, China has foreign exchange controls. How can he convert this money into U.S. dollars and then get it to the U.S. market? If Li Mu wants to raise tens of billions of RMB domestically and then convert them into U.S. dollars, that is almost a pipe dream! Does Li Mu want to raise funds? When it comes to acquiring Apple, money is not the fundamental issue, foreign exchange is the biggest key!"
Louis Martin said: "I'm also wondering about this. What Li Mu means now is to first let me help his team prepare for the acquisition, and then go to negotiate with Apple. He didn't tell me how to pay after the negotiation is successful."
Chairman Sequoia said: "Let's see, it's not for nothing that you traveled thousands of miles to help. After you meet with Li Mu tomorrow, give him a cooperation plan. Sequoia is willing to lend US$3.6 billion to Makino Technology without interest. This amount The money can be repaid after Makino Technology successfully IPOs. If Li Mu does not want to IPO in the short term, the time can be extended to three years, but the condition is that Makino Technology will dilute three points of its shares to us at a valuation of US$80 billion. In this way If so, he only needs to sacrifice three points to get $6 billion in cash to acquire Apple."
According to the chairman of Sequoia, the reason why Li Mu is unwilling to raise another round of capital is simply because he does not want to dilute his shares. If Li Mu wants to raise US$6 billion now, the current shareholders of Makino Technology will have to collectively dilute at least 7-8 Point, if Li Mu is asked to dilute so many shares at this time, Li Mu may not be able to agree to it, but everything can be discussed. Since 7-8 points are too much for you, then I will ask for less, and you will dilute three points. Give me the shares, I will give you US$2.4 billion, and then lend you US$3.6 billion and you can use it slowly. This is always interesting, right
Sequoia has a large amount of hot money in its hands that has been looking for various investment projects. Most of this money comes from private equity funds. As long as Sequoia promises a rate of return, it can use the money to make venture capital around the world. Top companies like Sequoia The old capital, because of its strong capital operation capabilities and good hands and eyes, has as much money as it wants. Today it said it was ready to lend Li Mu US$3.6 billion, and in the evening, countless people came to the door with US$36 billion.
Sequoia also has to pay an interest rate for the US$3.6 billion, but the reason why it is willing to lend it to Makino Technology without interest is mainly because it can use US$2.4 billion to repurchase three shares of Makino Technology, three shares of Makino Technology, etc. Even if it is partially diluted after the IPO, it will be worth at least four to five billion US dollars. If it is held for a long time, the potential benefits are even greater, far greater than the interest that needs to be paid for lending the US$3.6 billion to Makino Technology for several years.
Louis Martin naturally understands the chairman's intention. Since he can't bite off a large piece of meat, it's okay to take a small bite and give him some other benefits, right
So he immediately promised: "Don't worry, Chairman, I will go to Makino Technology to have a detailed discussion with Li Mu early tomorrow morning!"
(End of chapter)