Li Mu's interest in Apple shocked Apple executives.
They even felt that it would be easier to sell Apple to Buffick or even to the US government than to Li Mu, because they could not think of any reason why Li Mu would be willing to buy Apple.
But Lin Qingya clearly conveyed Li Mu's interest in Apple during the phone call with Tim Cook, and Lin Qingya took the initiative to ask Tim Cook for an interview, so this was definitely not a joke.
Although Lin Qingya is young and has very little qualifications, she is the top person in charge of Makino Technology in the United States. If we really talk about influence, Steve Jobs cannot compare to her, because she has the strong support of the entire Makino Technology resources, just like Compared with her, a young general who could mobilize thousands of troops to fight on the battlefield, Jobs was like a seasoned guerrilla captain with rich combat experience and unique tactics and strategies, but his fists were far from strong enough at the moment.
Recall that soon after Li Mu arrived in the United States, Lin Qingya immediately asked Tim Cook to meet. It seems that Li Mu was really interested in Apple, and he asked top core management personnel like Lin Qingya to handle the matter. It proves that he takes this matter very seriously.
Maybe this is a sign of a bright future.
Apple summoned all its top executives from home to the company to hold an emergency meeting immediately. At the meeting, Tim Cook introduced the general situation to everyone, and then management representatives were on hand to quickly vote on an issue.
The chairman of the board of directors said: "Everyone who thinks that Makino Technology's acquisition offer should be rejected, please raise your hands. If the voting rights represented by the show of hands exceed 60%, Tim will directly reject Lin Qingya of Makino Technology tomorrow."
Three seconds later, no one raised their hand.
The chairman of the board of directors himself was a little dumbfounded. He curiously asked everyone present: "Everyone, Li Mu is the culprit of Apple's plummeting market value and plummeting profits. Don't any of you think we should have more backbone on this issue?"
A board member curled his lips and said: "As early as 1853, under the command of General Perry, our country's navy used cannons to blast through Japan's borders. During World War II, it also dropped two atomic bombs on Japan and almost destroyed Tokyo. Exploded to the ground, do you think the Japanese hate us now? They even cast a statue to commemorate General Perry!"
After that, the board member added: "I am a very realistic person. We are all businessmen. What we pursue is not who has hurt us in the past, but who can bring us benefits now and in the future. We are now It is almost impossible to get out of this predicament on your own. In this case, whoever pays the highest price will be my father."
Another board member laughed and said: "Jason, you said what I wanted to say! We have to look forward instead of looking back. I don't hate Li Mu and Makino Technology at all, that's because they treat Apple The blows of Microsoft are already a thing of the past, and we are indeed no match for each other, and being defeated is not unexpected. But what I hate is the guys at Microsoft. They are like robbers who take advantage of the situation, eating people without spitting out their bones. Vulture!”
The chairman of the board of directors said happily: "I am very happy to see that everyone is so mature."
After that, he said sternly: "Since Li Mu wants to acquire Apple, we will actively cooperate in meetings, project establishment, negotiations, and due diligence. We will actively cooperate with all the needs of Makino Technology. As long as he can give us a satisfactory quotation, the other It doesn’t matter what we do, selling the company as soon as possible and at the highest price is our most important task right now.”
Someone asked: "How do we give Li Mu a quote? No matter how he quotes, we always have to give a quote and set our bottom line price."
"This is also the main reason why I asked everyone to come to the meeting." The chairman of the board of directors said: "Our stock price has not stopped falling yet. The news that Andy Rubin joined Makino Technology to be responsible for the technology research and development of the Mango product line has made investors more interested in us. We are not optimistic about it. Our competitors have already crushed us, and at the same time they are still persisting in continuing to improve themselves. However, we have not announced any plans to the outside world, or even given any information to the outside world that may save the situation. This makes Our investors have even less confidence. If this continues, the market value will fall below three billion US dollars."
Someone said: "We might as well ask Li Mu for a merger. We will use the current market value as the benchmark, and Makino Technology will use the valuation of the capital market as the benchmark. In this case, if Makino Technology is 90 billion and we are 3 billion, the acquisition of Makino Technology will at least be To account for 3.2% of the shares of Makino Technology after the merger, we might as well fight for it tomorrow and see if we can achieve 3.5-4 percentage points. In this way, after Makino Technology is listed, if we hold this share for two years, we will probably lose our share. All losses incurred on Apple will be recouped, and there will even be substantial gains.”
As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him as if he was mentally retarded. The chairman of the board of directors asked him: "Tom, how old is your son this year?"
"Eight years old, what's wrong?"
"Are you interested in adopting a child? This child still has certain disabilities."
Tom shrugged and said, "Your metaphor is inappropriate. Adopting a child is pure sacrifice, and acquiring a company is to bring profits in the future."
"OK." The chairman of the board of directors nodded and asked him again: "If you adopt this disabled child, raise him as an adult, and send him to Harvard University, then all the money he earns in the future will be left after deducting his personal expenses. Everything is yours, are you willing?"
Tom said: "It depends on how much potential this child has. If Makino Technology wants to acquire us, it will definitely make an in-depth consideration of our future potential."
The chairman of the board of directors said: "You have overlooked an issue. You only consider the future potential of this child, but you have not thought about how much it will cost to raise him into an adult. You have also ignored the fact that this child is disabled. This means that you must cure his disease and provide him with food, clothing, and education before he can help you make money."
Tom spread his hands: "Li Mu has a lot of money, and what he may be pursuing is..."
The chairman of the board of directors interrupted him and said: "I haven't finished yet. Originally you just adopted this child and spent money to raise him and treat him. But now he needs an organ from your son to save his life." , but don’t worry, what he needs is not an indispensable organ, but an organ whose loss will not affect his life too much, such as a cornea, a kidney, or a liver.”
"That's enough!" Tom said with an ugly expression: "I just want to help everyone strive for the best interests, but you use my son as a metaphor and say such harsh words, is it too much?"
The chairman of the board of directors sneered and said: "I'm just comparing your son to you. You can't stand it, but you want Li Mu to take some of his organs from his son and give them to you? Has your brain been kicked by a donkey? What do you think? Based on Li Mu's style of acting, if Tim really asks Lin Qingya for 4% of Apple shares tomorrow, what kind of reaction will Li Mu make? I guess he will give up the acquisition immediately and put another bullet in our hearts. !”
Tom felt a little embarrassed all of a sudden. His anger had long since dissipated, and all that was left was fear.
The greedy person feels that he is the smartest person in the world, and everyone else is a fool who lacks the ability to think. In the end, those who are beaten by chickens and eggs are also such people.
The other board members thoroughly understood Apple's current situation through a series of metaphors just made by the chairman of the board of directors. When taken individually, each of them was the best among others, but when they were put together, they were incompetent. This metaphor made them think for the first time. See the whole situation from the perspective of a bystander.
Apple is the disabled child waiting to be adopted in the words of the chairman of the board of directors. He is lucky enough to meet someone who is willing to adopt him. If he still expects the adopter to cut off his son's flesh and feed him, this is more wishful thinking than fantasy.
Therefore, this also means that I hope Makino Technology’s acquisition of Apple is best not to even think about it, because if you think too much, Li Mu may just say-goodbye.
Mergers and acquisitions are not possible, and the only possibility left is negotiation.
So, how to make a quotation with Li Mu? Are you asking for a certain premium based on the existing stock price? That is simply a dream-like idea, because with Apple's current situation, it is impossible for Apple to sell all its shares to cash out according to market value, let alone giving a certain premium to the current stock price.
The reason why this is impossible is because Apple is a listed company. Although most of its shares are in the hands of the board of directors, some shares are still circulating in the market. These shares are purchased by a large number of investors. In order to protect the interests of investors, the capital market As well as the stability of the entire securities market, the freedom of shareholders and executives of listed companies to cash out is strictly restricted.
In other words, if a certain capital company owns 10% of Apple shares, if they want to convert the 10% into cash, it is not as simple as selling the shares directly on the stock market. They must first make reductions in advance in accordance with market requirements. We must maintain disclosure and go through a large number of bloated and slow processes. Finally, after a long process, we can cash out the shares bit by bit like squeezing out toothpaste.
In this way, if Apple shareholders want to reduce their holdings, they must disclose it to the outside world before reducing their holdings. Once investors find out that Apple shareholders are trying to escape, panic will trigger an even greater wave of selling. Falling to the bottom.
This also means that Apple’s shareholders are now deeply locked-in investors, and even trying to cash out according to market value has become an impossible task.
Therefore, if Apple shareholders want to cash out now, not only will they not be able to get cash according to market value, but they will have to sacrifice part of their profits to get the opportunity to cash out. This is Li Mu's key bargaining chip to lower Apple's price.
If Apple has a market value of 3 billion and shareholders hold 70% of the shares, then this part of the market value is 2.1 billion U.S. dollars. If Li Mu controls the rhythm well, it is likely to force Apple shareholders to agree to transfer all their shares at a price of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. shares to him, making him Apple’s controlling shareholder.
However, if Li Mu wants Apple to delist from Nasdaq, he must give a premium to the market value of the circulating shares to ensure the smooth progress of the privatization. If Apple's circulating market value reaches US$900 million, then Li Mu will have to make up for it. If the premium is 40%, it will cost an additional US$360 million.
These costs seem to be the costs that Li Mu has to bear, but to Apple's board of directors, they know that Li Mu will definitely count these costs on them.
Based on this calculation, not only is it impossible for them to get money according to the stock price, but it will even be far lower than the stock price.
And given that no one else is interested in Apple now, Apple's executives are aware of a serious problem: if they want to stop losses and cash out in time, selling at a low price is Apple's only way out!
(End of chapter)