Seeing Larry Page's extremely bitter expression, Li Mu actually felt a little bit of compassion at a certain moment.
To be honest, you really shouldn't bully honest people to death.
I want 10%, but this time I came here and gave me 10%. Isn’t this just a hit and everyone is happy
But when I saw that others were honest and knew that they were cowardly, I was prepared to increase the price temporarily. I asked for 15% and raised the price on the ground. This was indeed a bit cruel.
However, this thought completely disappeared after only a moment.
In the capital market, is there any truth to be said
When it comes to the capital market, even the laws are not so easy to use, otherwise there would be no need for so many regulatory departments and institutions.
And having said that, not all those who are bullied are honest people, and not all technical geeks are honest people, and those who look harmless are not honest people.
In the early years, Jobs was bullied by the board of directors because he had equal shares and equal rights. Is he an honest person
Both Robin and Mr. Ma can be regarded as the earliest technology geeks. Are they honest people
Mark Zuckerberg looks like a poor guy who could be bullied by anyone in school. Is he an honest person
In other words, where do honest people come from in the capital market? Looking for honest people here is the same as looking for wild giant pandas in the United States. These things are not produced here at all!
After being relieved of his short-term moral burden, Li Mu looked at Larry Page who was grieving as if his wife had been robbed. He smiled slightly and said, "Larry, Makino Technology's investment in Google will immediately bring you three huge profits." The good news:
First, search traffic surged, and Google’s core business immediately experienced exponential growth;
Second, the capital market will have more confidence in Google’s prospects, because the industry giants that are most likely to threaten you will soon become your allies;
Third, Google’s industry advantage in the search engine field will be more stable. Be it Yahoo or Microsoft, as long as Google has me, neither of them will threaten Google’s development. "
After Li Mu said this, he saw that Larry Page's depressed expression had relaxed a little, and he knew that what he said had hit his heart. Then Li Mu sat up straight, tilted slightly in the direction of Larry Page, and said as a friend He said in a sincere tone: "Larry, think about it, what do these three points mean to Google? It means that Google will become Makino Technology in search engines, it means that Google's valuation will increase rapidly, it means Your listing plan next year will achieve a better capital market valuation. You are now transferring 15% of your shares to me at a low price. It seems that you have lost some profits in the short term, but think about it, with me here, your IPO next year will The market value is at least 50% higher than expected. I make money and you make more money. This is the meaning of win-win cooperation."
Larry Page was silent for a long time and nodded slightly.
Although he felt angry at being blackmailed, Larry Page also knew in his heart that what Li Mu said was absolutely correct. Accepting his conditions would mean a better, faster, and safer future for Google. There is room for development. In the long run, this is a very cost-effective deal. If you accept it, Google can ensure that its number one position in the industry will not be affected in the next five years. Yahoo wants to do its own search, and Microsoft also wants to do its own search. For Google Said, these are huge potential threats, but if Li Mu stands behind Google, what do Yahoo and Microsoft mean
Yahoo's traffic is far inferior to that of Makino Technology. Although Microsoft has a huge user base in the underlying software, the underlying software is too far away from the normal needs of users. Compared with YY in terms of user stickiness and user conversion, Microsoft is simply Damn it, if Google can get traffic support from Makino Technology, then these two major rivals will have nothing to fear in the future.
Thinking of this, Larry Page said: "Mr. Li, I can't make the decision at 15% by myself. Please give me some time. I need to go back and discuss it with Google's board of directors."
Li Mu nodded and smiled: "There is no problem in discussing, but the speed must be faster. I don't have much time to spend here waiting for Google's decision, so please give me a clear answer within 24 hours."
"24 hours?" Larry Page was a little unsure.
For himself, he has already admitted defeat. He is willing to accept Li Mu's robber-like demands in exchange for a better future for Google, but he is not sure whether other directors and shareholders on the board of directors will agree. After all, everyone wants to dilute 15% of the shares were given to Li Mu, and at a price far lower than the market price. This is equivalent to everyone cutting meat and feeding it to Li Mu.
For Google's founding team, the feeling of being cut off is not very painful, but for shareholders who have just joined Google, it is very painful.
For example, Google's current valuation is around US$10 billion. Suppose a shareholder bought 10% of Google's shares at a valuation of US$8 billion a few months ago. This 10% share cost a total of US$800 million. Now, before he has made any money, he must sell 15% of his 10% shares to Li Mu at a valuation of US$6 billion. This means that he must give 1.5 percentage points in exchange for 90 million US dollars in cash, but he just spent 120 million US dollars to buy this 1.5 percentage point.
For such shareholders, a direct loss of 30 million US dollars is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that Google will be listed soon. At this time, all the shares are extremely precious original stocks, and it may take half a year to go public. After that, Google’s market value will exceed US$40 billion. By that time, 1.5 percentage points will be a market value of US$600 million.
On the one hand, they hold 1.5 points in their hands and have the opportunity to reach a market value of US$600 million after listing; on the other hand, they are forced to transfer 1.5 points to Li Mu at a floating loss of 30 million. It is really difficult for ordinary people to be convinced. Go choose the latter.
Li Mu also knew that it was not easy for Larry Page to convince all the shareholders of Google, so he said to Larry Page: "Larry, tell all your shareholders, don't think of me as someone who robbed and threatened me on the rugged mountain road. You are a robber who said you would not be allowed to pass unless you pay a sum of money to buy the road. Instead, you want to imagine me as a boss who owns a private highway. You could only move forward hard on the rugged mountain road, but now I I gave you a second choice. This choice is to pay me a certain fee, and I can let you move forward quickly on my highway. This choice is yours, so the only decision you have to make is to choose to continue. If you’re stumbling along a mountain road, it’s better to just hit my highway.”
Larry Page nodded with deep understanding. Li Mu’s metaphor is indeed appropriate. Google has never been forced to cooperate with Li Mu. Li Mu just gave Google an expensive price, and deep down in its heart, Google really A choice you don’t want to miss.
In this case, we can only go back and have a good communication with Google's board of directors.
However, the time window was only 24 hours, and Larry Page was a little worried. He didn't know whether the board of directors could accept Li Mu's asking price in such a short period of time.
So, Larry Page stood up in a hurry and said to Li Mu: "Mr. Li, time is running out, I have to leave first."
Li Mu nodded: "I'll wait for your news."
Larry Page said: "OK, I will give you a final answer in 24 hours."
…
After Larry Page left, Li Mu immediately began to make preparations.
If Google accepts the asking price, everyone will be happy, and you won’t have to devote your energy to a head-on battle with him;
If Google doesn't accept the asking price, and with its own temper, it will never settle for another 10%, then the worst it can do is just go against Google. In order to maintain its principle of being true to its word, and for the huge future dividends of the search engine market, it will We must fight against Google. Even if we can't kill him for a while, we still have to fight against him!
Therefore, Li Mu sorted out three plans for the second situation.
The first is to go to Robin directly and explicitly ask him to open all Baidu search engine patents and technologies to Makino Technology. In return, I will divide the territory with him. I can leave the Chinese market and even the Chinese search market to Baidu, and take the rest. After all, I am also a shareholder of Baidu, and I cannot push Baidu to a dead end. At the same time, he also wants to give Robin a certain dividend. After he opens up all patented technologies, he will set up a subsidiary of Makino Search to do the search business. All the funds will be spent by Makino Technology, but Baidu will be given 20% of its shares as compensation. , and then let Baidu share part of the operation and development work to relieve the technical pressure of Makino Technology.
In this way, Baidu has become a mercenary of Makino Technology, following its attack on Google, and then sharing the war dividends;
The second is to cooperate with Yahoo or Microsoft. Since both companies are interested in doing search, then Google is everyone’s common enemy. At that time, Makino Technology can cooperate with one of these two companies in the search engine business. Makino Technology provides Traffic support, the other party provides technical and hardware support;
This model is equivalent to Li Mu finding a strategic ally with sufficient weight. The two parties jointly send troops and coordinate operations to attack Google. The advantage is that it can greatly reduce the pressure of Makino Technology's multi-front operations. The disadvantage is that the profit space to be transferred is larger. It must reach at least 40%, or even 49%;
The third option is to simply set up a search engine alliance yourself. You can bring in Baidu, Microsoft, Yahoo and even other interested Internet companies. Let's set up a brand new company together, develop a search engine together, and promote it together. This search engine, this search engine’s first priority is to kill Google. After Google is killed, everyone can enjoy the benefits;
The alliance model can minimize Makino Technology's investment in search engines. The alliance of multiple companies can also speed up the development of search engines and enhance the core competitiveness of search engines. However, the shortcomings are also obvious. The more people participate, the more people participate. The more cake you give out, the less it will fall into your hands in the end. However, even if this is the case, it will definitely be much better than taking 10% of Google's shares.
(End of chapter)