The acquisition of Apple is the single largest deal Li Mu has planned since his rebirth. Li Mu looks calm on the surface, but he is already very excited in his heart.
However, where to get the billions of dollars is really a big problem for Li Mu.
Li Mu doesn't want to dilute his shares and repay the money at this juncture, but whether he finds a way to borrow money from the country or engage in private equity, all he gets is RMB. In order to prevent the impact of the Western economy on the country and ensure the exchange rate of the RMB, the country has strict foreign exchange regulations. It is easy to obtain tens of billions of RMB for the control of government, but it is extremely difficult to obtain billions of dollars.
However, this issue did not cause much trouble to Li Mu. For him, the most important thing right now is to negotiate the acquisition-related matters with Apple first. As long as Apple's shareholders are willing to take action, he can then think about the money issue. solve.
A few hours after Apple's stock price plummeted to $4.53, at nine o'clock in the morning Beijing time, Li Mu asked Li Ziwei to inform the core management of Makino Technology, as well as Lei Jun and Liu Edong of Taobao Technology, to attend a meeting at Makino Technology at ten o'clock to prepare for the official announcement. Establish a temporary business unit dedicated to acquiring Apple.
At nine ten, Louis Martin came to Li Mu's office and expressed his attitude to Li Mu very enthusiastically: "Mr. Li, I have already said hello to the headquarters. From today on, until you leave for the United States, I will I will stay in China at your disposal."
Li Mu nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, Louis. At ten o'clock, I will hold a high-level meeting to announce the acquisition plan and the establishment of a business unit. You will attend together when the time comes, and I will introduce you to everyone."
Louis Martin said hurriedly: "That's great."
Li Mu said: "Louis, the acquisition of Apple is very important to me personally. Although you are not from Makino Technology, I still hope that you can make more suggestions on this matter and try your best to help us facilitate this acquisition."
Louis Martin said firmly: "Don't worry, Mr. Li, I will do my best."
After saying that, Louis Martin added: "By the way, Mr. Li, our chairman asked me to tell you yesterday that Sequoia is willing to lend Makino Technology $3.6 billion in interest-free loans to help Makino Technology complete the capital operation of acquiring Apple. And there is no rush to repay this money, you can wait until Makino Technology successfully IPOs before repaying it.”
Li Mu smiled slightly and asked him: "What are the conditions?"
Louis Martin smiled and said: "Mr. Li, the conditions are actually very generous. We are not forcing Makino Technology to refinance. We just hope to acquire another 3% of Makino Technology's shares at a valuation of US$80 billion."
At this point, Louis Martin was afraid that Li Mu would refuse immediately, so he hurriedly added: "Don't worry, if you don't want to dilute your shares, we won't force you, but we hope to communicate privately with other shareholders of Makino Technology. If there are any shareholders If you want to cash out, we can trade with him privately and it won’t have any impact on your shares.”
Li Mu said: "Take three points of the 80 billion valuation and lend me another 3.6 billion US dollars, a total of 6 billion. Are you doing the math right?"
Louis Martin smiled and said nothing.
Li Mu said: "All shareholders of Makino Technology, except you, Sequoia, have signed a concerted action agreement with me. Without my permission, no one of them is allowed to resell their shares."
Louis Martin said: "We know this very well, so we hope you can allow it."
Li Mu added: "If you buy three points directly from shareholders, then the 2.4 billion will not reach the pockets of Makino Technology. I will still have to find other funds to use your 3.6 billion loan. Besides, Makino Technology is currently developing momentum. It’s so good, do you think there will be shareholders willing to cash out at this time?”
"Well..." Louis Martin sneered and asked, "Then can you consider diluting 3% of the existing shares of all shareholders? This ratio is actually very small..."
Li Mu looked at Louis Martin without saying anything. After a moment, he suddenly asked him: "Louis, are you a professional manager?"
Louis Martin nodded and asked in surprise: "What's wrong, Mr. Li?"
Li Mu said: "The money you earn from Sequoia in a year may not be 10 million US dollars, right?"
Louis Martin shrugged and said, "It's almost the same before tax, but it's a lot worse after tax."
The vast majority of professional managers are not the actual shareholders of the company. Most of them receive a very high salary, and then receive a small number of options from the board of directors. Options are like chains that tie a dog. Yes, it’s gone when you pick it off. Tim Cook has worked hard for Apple for so many years and created such high profits, but his final net worth is only a few hundred million dollars. He has been working like this for so many years, let alone Louis Martin.
Li Mu said: "Let's do this Louis, you can help me collect Apple wholeheartedly during this period, and give full play to your ingenuity and your understanding of Apple and the American capital market. If I succeed in the acquisition, after Makino Technology is listed, I will help you realize the after-tax income of 5 million US dollars outside the United States, and you can rest assured that I will definitely handle this money very neatly. If you can play a very important role in this acquisition, I will I'll give you an extra five million. As for persuading me to dilute some of my shares in exchange for money from Sequoia, you don't need to say anything in the future. If Sequoia asks, just tell them directly that no matter how hard you try, I will. Not accepted."
Louis Martin's expression changed slightly, and after a moment he hurriedly said: "Mr. Li, you don't have to be so polite. As an investment target and partner of Sequoia, I have an absolute obligation to help Makino Technology, so don't worry, I will definitely Trying my best to help.”
Li Mu smiled calmly and said: "You don't have to worry about my integrity, let alone the spirit of my contract. What I told you just now is only known to you and I, so if you don't really want to refuse 100%, then there is nothing Needless to say, when things are done, everything I said will naturally be fulfilled as promised."
Louis Martin hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly and said to Li Mu: "Don't worry, Mr. Li, I will do my best."
For Louis Martin, he has understood that Li Mu cannot let Sequoia take more shares of Makino Technology at this time, and no matter what his attitude is towards Sequoia, in order to maintain the cooperative relationship with him, he must Instead of staying to help Li Mu complete the acquisition, why not agree to Li Mu's offer? If an ordinary person made such a promise, I would probably worry that he would leak such a gray transaction in the future, but the other party was Li Mu. With his identity, status and style of conduct, he did not have to worry about such risks at all.
It's a good thing to make a sure profit, why not do it
…
At ten o'clock, in the conference room of Makino Technology, all the core members were already present.
Leader Lei and Senior Brother Liu also came specially to attend the meeting. Although they didn't know what Li Mu was going to do, every time Li Mu called the core members of the two companies together for a meeting, there must be something major to announce.
Louis Martin also followed Li Mu to the conference room. In the conference room, Li Mu introduced Louis Martin to everyone. When they heard that he was the VP of Sequoia headquarters, everyone was surprised that a representative of capital would appear here. Could it be that Li Mu is going to make new capital operations
After introducing Louis Martin, Li Mu’s first sentence to everyone was straight to the point:
"Comrades, today I solemnly announce a decision to you: Makino Technology plans to acquire Apple in the United States, and will complete Apple's privatization and delisting on Nasdaq after the acquisition, eventually turning Apple into Makino A wholly-owned subsidiary of Technology!”
Everyone was stunned.
Li Mu observed everyone's expressions. Two people were particularly excited, while the others basically looked confused and confused.
The excited ones were Fang Xudong and Lei Jun.
Li Mu asked Fang Xudong: "Xudong, tell everyone why you are so excited?"
Fang Xudong said excitedly: "Apple's technical reserves are very strong, and now the stock price has collapsed and the market value has plummeted. If the company can eat Apple, I believe it will definitely be a very cost-effective deal."
Li Mu asked Lei Jun: "Mr. Lei, what do you think?"
Leader Lei said with a smile: "Apple is still very strong in terms of operating system, software and hardware. Although our Mango-ME2 is much better than iPod3, this is the result of our sudden attack. If Apple's financial resources are strong enough, If we directly develop products of the upper half generation or even the upper generation to suppress Mango-ME2, it will be difficult for us to catch up."
As if he had found a close friend, Fang Xudong nodded repeatedly and said: "Mr. Lei is so right! Our Mango-ME2 is like an aircraft that relied on performance enhancement and cost reduction in the propeller era. It caught Apple off guard, but As long as Apple can hold its own, with their technological reserves, they can directly launch the jet aircraft project and overtake us. In that case, there will be a generation gap, and it will be too difficult for us to catch up with this generation gap."
Commercial Director Ding Jian asked: "Mr. Fang, I'm not very technical. There's something I don't quite understand."
Fang Xudong said hurriedly: "Mr. Ding, please speak."
Ding Jiandao: "What I don't understand is that if the iPod and Mango-ME2 are both aircraft in the propeller era, and we have caught up with Apple, why can Apple start the jet aircraft project but we can't?"
Fang Xudong said: "Let's put it this way, whether it is an iPod or a Mango-ME2, when taken apart, there are only a few things: memory module, digital signal processing chip, microprocessor, signal controller and LCD screen. There is no technical content, just like an airplane in the propeller era, which basically consists of an engine, propeller, landing gear and hydraulic control system. The technical content is not very high. If Apple can build it, so can we;
However, if you want to develop a jet aircraft, it requires the entire industrial system to be upgraded by at least one generation. First, the technology research and development strength must be strong enough to develop a series of components required for the jet aircraft; secondly, the basic materials must be strong enough to create Only high-quality jet engines can withstand high temperatures, high speeds, and high power output, and only then can the fuselage be able to carry the aircraft at higher flight speeds; thirdly, the requirements for manufacturing processes will also increase exponentially. We do not have these capabilities, but Apple have. "
Speaking of this, Fang Xudong sighed: "Mr. Lei has seen it too clearly. Fortunately, Apple's financial resources are not strong enough. It is a bit like Germany at the end of World War II. Otherwise, if they continue to develop, it will not take long for them to turn defeat into victory. We and him The gap in hardware is only going to get bigger."
Li Mu looked at Lei Jun, knowing that he was a technical maniac, but he did not expect that he would have such a vision in this era, and Fang Xudong, both of whom are technical talents, would naturally look at this kind of problem much more deeply than the average person. , but Fang Xudong is 100% fully partial technology, Lei Jun is 100% technology in the early stage, and gradually transitions to products and marketing in the later stage, so Fang Xudong can do his job as the chief technology officer of Makino Technology in the future, which is the greatest value, and Lei Jun, He is a giant who can stand alone like Liu Edong and carry an industry chain worth hundreds of billions of dollars alone.
With four super giants including Lei Jun, Liu Edong, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, the market value of Makino Technology and other product ecosystems will reach trillions of dollars in the future.
While excited, Li Mu asked Lei Jun tentatively: "Mr. Lei, if Apple has enough financial support, what kind of product will they probably take if they want to develop a product that is half a generation or a generation ahead of us in the player?" direction?"
Lei Jun said: "In my personal opinion, if it is the upper half generation, then at least a color screen display must be implemented, and the overall firmware must be upgraded to add a WLAN module based on the IEEE802.11 standard; if it is the upper generation, then it must be On this basis, we should be intelligent and develop an operating system suitable for handheld devices such as iPod, just like the Palm operating system for commercial PDAs on the market."
After a pause, Lei Jun continued: "Once this kind of higher-generation stuff is released, Apple will immediately widen the generation gap with us. As Xudong said, we are stacking hard drives, decoding chips, and microprocessors. We can outperform Apple in terms of devices, stacking Sennheiser headphones, and engaging in price wars, but if Apple directly makes the iPod smart, we will only be able to lag behind.”
Li Mu's eyes lit up when he heard this.
PDA, a mobile smart device in its early stages, has actually become popular among Western business elites as early as the 1990s. However, in China, the popularity of such devices, which are often more expensive than computers, is still very low. Low, in fact, this thing never made any real waves until it finally disappeared. It can be said to be the high end of life and the silence of death.
Later, the resurgence of PDAs was already in the post-Android era. At that time, smartphones were everywhere, and smart PDAs became an indispensable mobile order processing tool for SF Express and JD.com couriers. SF Express's PDA even added a thermal paper printing function. , let the courier directly use it to print the express delivery receipt.
From the death of PDA to its subsequent resurgence in the commercial field, PDA missed the golden period of the booming development of smartphones. This kind of existence is very close to smartphones in terms of product ideology and form. It is a pity that manufacturers have positioned it It was too high-end, and no one thought about pushing it to ordinary users, and no one developed software around the PDA operating system that ordinary people might use. Otherwise, PDA could directly lead the era of smartphones.
Listening to Lei Jun talk about WLAN, PDAs, and mobile operating systems, Li Mu was particularly impressed. It turns out that people who are proficient in technology and have a thorough vision in this era actually have quite accurate visions in their minds. Lei Jun can see The next generation product of the iPod is a mobile product with a color screen, WLAN function, and an independent operating system. It means that he has directly seen the iTouch from the iPod, and there is only a layer of window paper between the iTouch and the iPhone!
Thinking of this, Li Mu suddenly became frightened. Lei Jun could see the development direction of the next-generation iPod, and so could Apple.
In the previous life, Apple’s upgrade routine for iPod was to constantly squeeze out toothpaste, and never thought about making the iPod smart. It was not until 2007 that the iOS system and the first-generation iPhone were launched, and iOS was used on the iPod. , got an iTouch;
However, now that Apple has been violently destroyed by itself for a while, it might as well grit its teeth at the critical moment and decide in advance to launch a product like iTouch. In that case, it would be really a loser. It is difficult for it to come up with something like iTouch even with all its efforts. …
When he thought that Apple might still have a lot of cash on hand, and that there might be a lot of money from distributors and OEMs in the iPod business, Li Mu became even more worried that Apple would be determined to carry it through to the end...
It seems that the actual pace of acquiring Apple must be faster than I expected, so as to avoid long nights and dreams...
(End of chapter)