After making an appointment with Chen Wan, Li Mugang hung up her phone, and soon the phone rang again.
The caller this time was Elon Musk.
Li Mu hurriedly answered the phone and asked him immediately: "Elon, have you met with the people from Ford?"
"I've seen it." Elon Musk said: "I talked to them very late today. It is already late at night here in Michigan."
Li Mu hurriedly asked: "How is the situation?"
Elon Musk said: "Ford is quite sincere, and they know you quite well and know your style of doing things, so they can accept the installment payment method. As for the quotation they gave, the three brands combined, A total of $7 billion."
"$7 billion?"
Li Mu actually didn't know how much Tata paid for Jaguar Land Rover, nor how much Geely paid for Volvo, so he asked him: "What does your team think of this offer?"
"Inflated." Elon Musk said: "Currently, Jaguar Land Rover reports consolidated financial statements, and is currently losing money, so we think its actual price should be around US$3.3 billion. As for Volvo, No more than US$3 billion."
Li Mu hummed, thought for a moment, and said, "So, the reasonable price you think should be around US$6.3 billion."
"Yes." Elon Musk said: "This is the highest price we think. Given the declining economic situation, we believe there is still a lot of room for this price to drop."
Li Mu smacked his lips and said to himself that although he didn't remember how much Jili spent, it certainly couldn't be as much as 3 billion US dollars, and at most it was only 2 billion US dollars.
In this way, the price Ford gave itself was at least one billion dollars higher than the transaction price sold to Geely.
So damn dark!
However, Li Mu then thought about it, and Geely's acquisition of Volvo happened after the 2008 financial crisis. The 2008 financial crisis was a hurdle, and physical manufacturing companies around the world were greatly affected.
It's not yet the financial crisis, so it's acceptable for prices to be higher than after the financial crisis.
However, this also reminded Li Mu that 2008 is a good opportunity to buy the bottom of the world economy. If Makino Technology can make a good industrial layout from 2004 to 2008 and gather a large amount of cash in hand, it will almost double by 2008. Big buff.
Li Mu asked Elon Musk: "Do you think if we want to win a quick victory, how much money will it cost to win over all three brands?"
"This..." Elon Musk thought for a while and said: "I think if we want to finalize the acquisition within a few months, the actual investment should not be less than 4.8 billion US dollars. If we can have more time window to If we fight a tug-of-war with them, I think we might be able to close the deal at US$4.5 billion next year.”
When Li Mu heard this, he hurriedly said: "Forget it next year, we can only exchange money for time, not time for money. Let's talk about it at US$4.8 billion. The ideal transaction price will be around US$5 billion." 100 million."
Elon Musk said: "Well... then I will meet them again tomorrow."
With that said, Elon Musk added: "Mr. Li, if the acquisition price can be paid off within one year, the transaction price can be lowered. Ford currently has a great need for revitalizing funds."
Li Mu smiled and said: "You talk to them first, talk openly, you can talk about it in installments or to pay it off within a year. Anyway, Google has already started a road show and will have an IPO soon. When Google IPOs, our cash will be loose again." many."
Makino Technology’s current revenue scale is very high, but its investment scale is also very large. If it really uses billions of the company’s cash reserves to acquire the automotive industry, it will drain the cash reserves dry immediately, and after the acquisition of these three brands It's just the beginning, and a lot of money needs to be invested in reintegration. If the acquisition is completed for US$5 billion, at least US$300-500 million will be needed for reintegration.
Therefore, for Li Mu, the safest way is to pay in installments, get the three brands first, and start restructuring first.
Ford is not pouring billions of dollars in cash into new businesses in one fell swoop. As long as it gives them a stable cash flow for about three years, it is enough for them. For this, they can pay them an extra part of the premium. , as interest return on the installment payment.
If you are not in a hurry, you can postpone the acquisition until the end of this year. After the success of Google's IPO, Makino Technology will immediately conduct a road show. It is expected that the IPO will be successful in the second half of the year, and at least tens of billions of dollars will be realized in the stock market. In that case , the acquisition of the three Ford brands is naturally a piece of cake.
But Li Mu didn't want to wait any longer. Time was more valuable than money.
Elon Musk added: "Ford also said that if our side is under greater financial pressure, we can talk to them about Volvo or Jaguar Land Rover first. If we acquire one first, the financial pressure will be reduced by half, and the other We can wait until the second half of the year or next year to discuss it.”
Li Mu said: "No need to worry, just talk to them directly. If they can give you a lower price and are more forthcoming, it's not impossible for us to pay it all in one lump sum."
For Li Mu, it doesn't matter even if he can't get so much cash. He can directly negotiate with the bank or employer for a share pledge, and pledge five points of Makino Technology's shares at a valuation of 200 billion U.S. dollars, and he can exchange The US$10 billion in cash will be returned and the shares will be redeemed after the IPO, which is nothing more than paying some loan interest.
Li Mu thought that as long as he could take down these three brands as soon as possible, he would immediately reorganize the entire management team, merge the three brands together, merge the finance together, and merge the core leadership team together for further optimization. Then we immediately started launching new models.
You can first take out one or two of the excellent-looking models of later generations, launch new models and quickly increase sales, and at the same time start investing in building factories in China, and then step by step acquire at least half of the production lines of these three brands. Come from home.
At the same time, a new sales network must be built immediately. Not only must the previous dealer network be reintegrated and optimized, but the sales network must be further improved and upgraded, and an online sales network must also be established.
Online sales of cars is a very difficult thing for traditional car companies, but for people like Li Mu who come from the Internet, it can be said that they are very familiar with it.
Traditional car sales basically rely on 4S stores and secondary dealers. 4S stores occupy large areas and require large investments, and are difficult to exist in the city center. The same is true for secondary dealers, which are basically located in suburban areas.
However, online sales can decentralize many links.
For example, you only need to rent a showroom in the city center and put the car model there. If consumers want to see the car, they can go directly to the showroom in the city center. If they want to test drive, they can directly make an appointment online or in the showroom.
Then rent a relatively small venue in a slightly remote place, such as within five to ten kilometers from the city center, as a reception center for test drives. This kind of test drive center only needs a practical area of 200 square meters, which is enough. All are used for user reception. Customers can register for a test drive directly after arriving, and they don’t need to wait for long;
As for after-sales and warehouses, a separate after-sales maintenance center can be established in a more remote suburb, such as an area twenty kilometers or more from the city center.
In other words, completely dismantling the functions of traditional 4S stores, placing the display in the city center, placing the test drive in a slightly remote area, and placing the after-sales service in an even more remote area. It is much more reasonable to have to go to remote suburbs for maintenance and repairs.
As for sales issues, everything is put online. Even if consumers decide to buy in the showroom or at the test drive center, they are still allowed to place orders in the online mall. If consumers do not know how, on-site sales can help them online. Place an order on the mall.
There are many benefits to placing all orders online, such as better direct sales, unified and transparent prices, and order coordination across the entire network, which can more reasonably arrange vehicle production and distribution.
Once the consumer places an order, if the car is available, the warehouse will directly transport the car to the showroom in the city center for delivery to the consumer;
If the car is not available, the system will directly give him an estimated delivery date. The car will be shipped from the merchant to the local warehouse, and then local staff will transport it to the showroom and deliver it to the consumer.
In this way, it is much more convenient for the consumer. If he does not need a test drive, he can even complete the entire process of looking at the car, buying the car, and picking up the car in the city center, without the need to frequently travel to the suburbs;
If consumers need a test drive, they only need to go to a test drive center a few kilometers away from the city center, and there is no need to go to after-sales service.
In fact, in the traditional car sales method, consumers have to go to remote suburbs to view a car, test drive, order a car, pick up the car, and perform after-sales maintenance. However, in terms of the actual process, consumers view and order a car. After the merchant delivers a normal car to the consumer, it is not until the consumer needs the first maintenance that he or she really needs after-sales service.
Ordinary cars need maintenance every 5,000 kilometers to 10,000 kilometers. For most ordinary family cars, maintenance is often required only once every six months or even a year.
If Li Mu's new model is used, then he will go from looking at the car to test driving, buying the car, picking up the car, and only when the car reaches 5,000 or 10,000 kilometers does he really need to go to a remote after-sales service, which can greatly reduce the burden of traveling on the consumer. , time cost and physical cost.
Moreover, a company that can open a showroom in the city center will greatly improve its brand image, which is much better than 4S stores that are all located in suburban auto parts cities and car trading markets.
Tesla does this very well. Most of the time, they only have two main models, a Model S and a Model Just put a car on display and then sell it with two people, and then you can open the door for business. This saves much trouble, effort and money than traditional 4S stores, and the publicity effect is greater, which is beyond the reach of traditional car companies.
Thinking of this, Li Mu's mood even began to surge. He couldn't wait to get all three brands in his bag!
(End of chapter)