Li Mu firmly believes that life is like mountain climbing. Many people have the potential to reach the top, but the road to the top requires many factors such as time, location, people and people.
On the long road to the top, as long as you miss the mark, you may be shattered to pieces. No matter how powerful a person is, as long as the height is high enough, he will not survive. And some guys who are lucky enough to save a life may be I no longer have the mentality and courage to reach the top.
Many people's success is achieved in one go, like jumping from stone to stone across a turbulent river, such as Bill Gates, Ma Huateng, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs. Although these people all I successfully ran to the other side in one go, but every step along the way was extremely dangerous. If I missed something, I would be doomed.
Among these people, Steve Jobs had the most bumpy road to the top. He failed several times and had to retreat to the bottom of the mountain to find another way. It was not easy for him to gain a firm foothold on iPod and iTunes. From then on, he finally found his way to the top. A way to go all out in one go, and then to join forces and kill all sides.
However, it is not just the iPod that supports Apple to become the world's most valuable company. For example, King Zhu Di of Yan led his army south to usurp the throne. The success of the iPod can only support a vassal and a fiefdom, but cannot support a huge empire. If you want to conquer the world, We must attack southward step by step until we capture Jinling City.
Every step before conquering Jinling is actually extremely dangerous. If you are not careful, you will die without a burial place. Jobs succeeded in his previous life. He was like Zhu Di, who miraculously succeeded, but in this life, he is not so lucky. Li Mu took away the stone of iPod, causing Apple, led by Jobs, to fall into the turbulent river.
After knowing that Jobs had completely compromised, Li Mu concluded that Jobs was no longer the same Jobs in his previous life. He was like Zhu Di in another parallel world. As soon as he led his army out of Yanjing, the main force was wiped out. , the failure caused him to lose his fiefdom, and more importantly, his original bestiality and confidence.
Li Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had Andy Rubin in his hands, and he was about to get Apple. By then, the two parties would be completely independent, allowing Andy Rubin to develop Linux based on his own ideas. On the basis of the previous life, we will develop Android, which is now MOS, and at the same time let Tim Cook lead Apple's R&D personnel to develop IOS on the basis of MacOS.
If all goes well, in 2005 or 2006 at the latest, Makino Technology will be able to come up with two sets of real smartphone operating systems. By then, it will not only kill everyone, but also destroy the world.
In Li Mu's vision, iOS must be completely closed-source and only used by his own mobile phones and other mobile hardware; as for MOS with Android as the core, it can be licensed to other mobile phone manufacturers through paid licensing.
Paid authorization, but it is by no means a completely open paid authorization. It is not that anyone who wants to buy can buy it, but whoever you want to sell to can buy it.
By the time I have two sets of mobile operating systems in hand, all other competitors in this industry have become ants.
Subsequently, Lin Qingya, on behalf of Li Mu, began further acquisition negotiations with Apple.
On behalf of Li Mu, Lin Qingya made Li Mu’s final offer to Apple: using the price of $4.15 that day as the standard price, and 90% of the standard price as the actual transaction price, to acquire all the shares in the hands of Apple shareholders. After signing and confirming , using 4.15 yuan as the standard price and 150% of the standard price as the purchase price of circulating stocks, proposed forced privatization to Nasdaq.
50% of the acquisition funds paid to Apple shareholders will be paid at signature, and the remaining 50% will be paid within three months. The funds used to acquire circulating stocks will be paid immediately when the privatization is launched.
As for the purchase price of circulating stocks, Li Mu can actually lower the price. After all, Apple's stock price has performed too badly, and if news of his own acquisition comes out, and then abandons the acquisition because the cost of privatization is too high, then Apple's stock price There will be another round of oversoldness. By that time, the stock price will reach a new low, and it will be difficult to think about it again. So as long as a 20-30% premium is given, whether it is Nasdaq or retail investors and investors All investors will accept it, and forced delisting can be achieved.
However, for the sake of Makino Technology's corporate image, Li Mu personally made the decision and set the standard for privatization at a 150% premium. This was considered as using Makino Technology's own pockets to replace Apple and give some compensation to retail investors and other investors who had already suffered heavy losses.
After all, Makino Technology must be listed on Nasdaq in the future. Li Mu doesn’t want to leave a shady impression on Nasdaq investors now. He wants to spend more money to buy a good reputation and sell Nasdaq at the same time. If you save face, it will naturally be much more convenient when it goes public in the future.
Ding Jian settled the accounts for Li Mu.
Currently, Apple’s market capitalization is around US$3 billion, and its circulating shares account for almost 25%, with a market value of US$750 million. In other words, the funds used to acquire circulating shares are 1.5 times the US$750 million, which is 1.125 billion;
The remaining US$2.25 billion will be paid to Apple shareholders at a 10% discount, for a total price of US$2.025 billion.
Do the math and that's $3.15 billion.
Leaving a certain amount of cash flow for Makino Technology, a maximum of US$700 million in cash can be withdrawn, which means that Li Mu's funding gap is about US$2.5 billion.
Seeing that Apple was impatiently waiting to be acquired, Ding Jian took Li Mu and Lin Qingya to have a private meeting, specifically reminding Li Mu that the biggest issue in acquiring Apple now is not whether Apple will agree, but whether Makino Technology will take it. That's a lot of money.
2.5 billion US dollars in cash. No other Internet company in the world can spend so much money.
Everyone's market value is accumulated by high turnover, high gross profit, storytelling, and speculating on concepts. Most companies have very low net profit margins. They don't even have enough money on hand to spend, and they have to raise money everywhere. How can they have 2.5 billion US dollars? On the account.
This reminded Li Mu of a joke.
A naked woman took a taxi, and the driver stared at her. She asked herself, had she never seen a beautiful woman without clothes? The driver said I was just curious where the hell you would pay for it later.
Lin Qingya was also worried.
Li Mu kept telling her to move forward, never mind the money issue, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain. The premise is to drive the car to the foot of the mountain first, but seeing that the car is about to reach the foot of the mountain, she hasn't seen the specific road yet. She was really afraid that this matter would slip away in the end.
However, Li Mu did not have this worry.
Li Mu said to Lin Qingya and Ding Jian: "You don't have to worry about money. I have roughly figured out an operation mode mentally."
"What mode?" Both of them were surprised.
Without financing or loans, where can we get US$2.5 billion
If Makino Technology wants to get a loan from a bank now, the bank will definitely not accept a net asset pledge. They will definitely require an equity pledge, and will keep the valuation of the equity very low. This means that if it wants an equity pledge loan of US$2.5 billion, , Makino Technology is likely to pledge more than 5 points of shares.
Speaking of pledges, it’s not a big problem. You can redeem them with money after the listing. But Wall Street is not a herd of sheep. They are all fucking wolves. If the shares of Makino Technology are really pledged in the hands of these people, they don’t know. What kind of evil moths will be created for the sake of profit? Such examples are common in the capital market of US imperialism.
Pledge domestically? Domestic banks will definitely sell Li Mu to save face, but the US$2.5 billion cannot be equivalent in RMB. It must be real foreign exchange. Otherwise, it would be strange for Apple shareholders to be willing to give RMB to buy their shares. .
Neither Ding Jian nor Lin Qingya knew how Li Mu could obtain US$2.5 billion in foreign exchange, but Li Mu was confident. He called Chen Ze in front of them.
In Li Mu's view, Chen Ze is not only an interesting friend, but also one of the shareholders of Makino Technology. He has made so much money by riding, so naturally he cannot be taken advantage of when it is time to contribute.
When the call was connected, Chen Ze first asked Li Mu how he was doing in the United States. Li Mu chatted with him for a moment, and then said to him: "Old Chen, I have an idea in my mind. I'm not sure if it will work. Tell me and help me." Give me some advice.”
Chen Ze smiled and said: "Is there anything else that you can't figure out? Tell me quickly and let me hear about it."
Li Mu said: "That's right, I want to set up a private equity fund in the CSC club first. It will be short-term, about half a year, and the annualized return will not be less than 8%."
"Not less than 8%? That's high enough." Chen Ze smacked his lips, feeling something was wrong, and asked him: "How much money do you want to get for such a high rate of return..."
Li Mu laughed and said, "You still understand me."
After a pause, Li Mu said: "The money is not much, just over 20 billion."
"My day..." Chen Ze blurted out: "More than 20 billion. The scale of such a private placement is too large. It will be difficult to go through with normal procedures in the short term. I am afraid the country will not approve it."
Li Mu said: "Don't worry about this for now. You can make an evaluation first and mobilize the entire CSC. Can you raise more than 20 billion in cash?"
Chen Ze said without hesitation: "In terms of the amount, it is definitely possible. Now the CSC club has over a thousand members across the country. I can tell you this, most of the children of the richest people in the country are in our club." , I made a rough calculation before, and the total net worth represented by the entire club members is already hundreds of billions. If hundreds of billions are used as leverage, the amount of funds they can leverage will be even greater. You give them 8% They don’t need to take the money themselves. They only need to use their connections to easily get funds with an annual interest rate of less than 5%. If they take the money and lend it to you, they will earn half of the interest. It’s easy to use money to make money, so let alone 20 billion, if national policies allow, 200 billion is not a problem.”
"Okay, this is why I give an annualized return of 8%, as long as it can ensure that enough funds are raised." Li Mu said: "Let me ask you another question, if I take more than 20 billion, go to the central bank Do you think it’s reliable to help exchange 2.5 billion US dollars in foreign exchange and get it to the U.S. market for capital operations?”
Chen Ze was stunned for a long time and asked Li Mu: "Brother, are you awake? Exchange 2.5 billion US dollars in foreign exchange? Do you know what such a large amount of foreign exchange means? The central bank has released so much foreign exchange. If it cannot be returned, the country will suffer losses. But it’s too big, and no one dares to take such a risk, unless you are a central enterprise with the endorsement of an agency above the ministry level.”
At this point, Chen Ze thought of something and added: "By the way, your raising more than 20 billion in cash has almost no possibility of success. Even if it succeeds, it will leave a clue. In the future, If someone wants to cause trouble for you, it is easy to make a big fuss out of it, let alone take more than 20 billion in cash and go to the central bank to exchange for 2.5 billion US dollars in foreign exchange... "
Li Mu smiled and said, "I want to acquire the Apple company in the United States. I don't have enough money."
With that said, Li Mu added: "Then let me ask you again, what if I promise to return the US$2.5 billion with interest after the IPO of Makino Technology is successful, and then invest an additional US$2.5 billion domestically? What if the US dollar capital arrives? Domestic investment must first be converted into RMB at the central bank.”
Chen Ze was stunned and said: "What you mean is that you first borrow 2.5 billion US dollars in foreign exchange from the central bank. When Makino Technology is listed in the United States, you return the 2.5 billion US dollars and then replenish the central bank with 2.5 billion US dollars..."
"Yes, and the minimum guarantee is 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, and it is very likely to be more." Li Mu said: "After the success of Makino Technology's IPO, all the money we raised from the U.S. stock market was U.S. dollars, and part of it was invested in China, right? Have you paid for foreign exchange?”
Chen Ze sighed after a while: "If you had said this earlier, I would not have talked to you about the legality of private placements just now. Please go directly to the central bank for this matter. The central bank will definitely be willing to help. I need to go through the approval process. I believe that with the strength of Makino Technology and your personal style of conduct, there will definitely be no problem. Even if you don't look at these, just looking at the US$2.5 billion in foreign exchange will help. In this way, you will even save the 8% annual interest rate of private equity. "
Li Mu said: "That's not possible. I directly asked the central bank to borrow U.S. dollars. This is a blatant violation of the national foreign exchange management regulations. Even if the central bank opens a back door for me and leaves a clue for others, there will be hidden dangers in the future. It is better to save the country through a curve. 8% The annualized interest rate is simply negligible compared to the cost of getting money from capital.”
Speaking of this, Li Mu added: "The most important thing is that the members of the CSC club have relatively strong family backgrounds. If this private placement is taken out by one or two hundred or even five or six hundred rich people from all over the country, what interests are behind this matter?" The group is quite large, and even if a serious person wants to make a fuss, he still has to weigh the energy behind it. I am spending 8% of the interest to get a group of people to carry it with me."
"I understand." Chen Ze said: "I will go and clear this matter up tomorrow. If the central bank nods, I will start the private equity business in China. I think it will be your 2.5 billion US dollars." The promise is very close to the truth."
"That's good." Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If it's OK, push forward as soon as possible and try to get the money in place this month to avoid long nights and dreams."
"Don't worry." Chen Ze smiled and said, "This is a good thing that gets the best of both worlds and benefits each other. I will push for implementation as soon as possible."
(End of chapter)