Makino Technology is too strong in the Internet field, and sometimes others underestimate its strength in other fields.
Most people always have a thinking that if someone does well in this aspect, then he must be much inferior to this aspect in other aspects.
Bill Ford Jr. felt that Li Mu could build Makino Technology, but he would never be able to build cars.
However, he was too lazy to care about whether Li Mu had the ability. He only cared about the price Li Mu was willing to pay for his three brands.
He used to think that for people like Li Mu who were not short of money, he should find a way to exchange these three brands for some shares of Makino Technology, but now it seems that Li Mu's car-making mentality is just for fun, just to spend some money and listen. Hibiki's mentality, in this case, it may not be that easy to get his shares.
But it never hurts to give it a try.
He smiled and said: "Mr. Li, we have actually discussed your acquisition intention many times, but overall we are more inclined to be acquired by Makino Technology. What do you think?"
"Merger and acquisition?" Li Mu smiled slightly: "Mr. Ford, before the IPO, Makino Technology will not sell its shares to any group, company or individual. After the IPO, anyone who wants to acquire the shares of Makino Technology will The direct way is to buy it in the market, so I can reply to you directly about mergers and acquisitions, which is impossible."
For Li Mu, he can basically tell at a glance what are good assets and what are bad assets.
Ford's assets are no different from cars. They depreciate quickly and have little room for appreciation. If you want to make profits from these three brands, if you don't have the advantage of being a reborn brand, you will have to wait at least five years;
However, Makino Technology's assets are like land in the city center when housing prices are about to take off, with huge room for growth.
This is like exchanging a Mercedes-Benz S worth more than one million yuan for a three-bedroom apartment in Yanjing in 2008. Even if it is an equal exchange, the latter will lose money, so Li Mu will never do this kind of loss-making business.
Little Bill Ford didn't expect that Li Mu would reject him so simply, without even thinking about it at all, as if he had told a big joke.
This made his self-esteem somewhat frustrated. He was originally hoping for a glimmer of hope, but when he said it eagerly, Li Mu refused directly.
Bill Ford Jr. couldn't help but became tough and said: "Since Mr. Li does not consider mergers and acquisitions, it is not impossible for us to discuss cash acquisitions. Our offer has actually been given to Mr. Musk. Three brands The full package price is US$7 billion."
Li Mu smiled slightly and said: "Seven billion is impossible, Mr. Ford. You know in your heart that these brands are not high-quality assets for Ford. On the contrary, they are all blood-sucking leeches. I will give you fifty today." Don’t think I’m taking advantage of you. In five years, your three brands together may not be able to sell for US$5 billion. And in the past five years, with the inflation level of US$5 billion, I believe As an industrial entrepreneur, you should know better than me."
Bill Ford Jr. naturally knew what Li Mu meant. Once the real industry went downhill, it was indeed a hot potato. Many times, he couldn't even find anyone willing to take over, so he could only fall into his own hands.
However, since today is a negotiation with Li Mu, I naturally have to show my attitude. If I make the right bet and Li Mu really wants these three brands, I might be able to get a certain amount from him in exchange. If it's not possible to buy shares, you can still get a good sale price.
So he coughed and said: "Mr. Li, it is not an exaggeration to say that the actual value of the three Ford brands exceeds tens of billions. If we sell it to the outside world, the transaction price of these three brands will be 7 billion U.S. dollars." As mentioned above, many companies in the industry are interested in these three brands.”
Li Mu smiled slightly: "I don't believe what you said at all. In the four years from this year to 2008, I believe that the financial situation is by no means optimistic, especially the automobile manufacturing industry. As far as I know, all automobile brands are optimizing their assets. , are desperately trying to reduce their burdens to cope with the coming cold winter. They still have a lot of low-quality assets to sell off, so how can they come to buy the garbage from Ford?"
After saying that, Li Mu said apologetically: "Sorry, I am so straightforward."
Li Mu has always had a strong character. This kind of character was developed because the Internet industry never needs to look at the faces of any upstream and downstream companies, especially platforms. Users and traffic are in their own hands. No one has to be afraid. Ford Originally, he and Musk had already discussed a price of over 6 billion, but Bill Ford Jr. suddenly asked him directly for 7 billion. This move was a bit of a challenge to him.
Little Bill Ford looked a little ugly.
After all, they are three world-famous car brands, but they are called rubbish by Li Mu. This is really a bit too arrogant.
But Li Mu didn't care at all. Seeing his uncertain expression, he said: "For Ford, the meaning of this year's money and next year's money are completely different. It is not only the impact of inflation, but also the impact of inferior assets. The stop loss brought about by the sale, under the current economic situation, is willing to buy these three brands from you, and is also willing to give you five billion US dollars. Apart from me, you will definitely not find anyone in the world. Two, and I don’t have to buy the three brands of Ford. Why can’t I go to GM and buy their brands? Cadillac, they are in a miserable situation now. Just like you, they can’t compete with Japanese brands in the United States. When we get to Europe, we have no place to stand, and we are almost as miserable as you."
Bill Ford Jr. found that he could not suppress Li Mu's aura at all. Li Mu immediately said that his brand was garbage, but he did not know how to refute it.
Whether it is Jaguar, Land Rover or Volvo, sales have been very poor in the past two years. Ford itself is not a company that is good at asset restructuring, nor is it a company that is very proficient in quality control and cost control. But the less good it is at asset restructuring, the more As early as a few years ago, I had to continuously acquire other car brands. I always felt that in running a business, I wanted to play like a snake, eating one after another. If I kept eating, the little snake would turn into a big dragon.
However, after eating it, I was unable to digest it properly. As a result, the more I ate, the more it became more and more cumbersome, so that even my own body was greatly affected.
Li Mu then continued: "Apart from the cooperation we are talking about this time, let me analyze for you who in the world will buy these three brands from you."
"First of all, Japanese companies will never be interested in these three brands. The development ideas and concepts of these three brands are contrary to the concepts of Japanese companies. In the eyes of Japanese people, there are only Japanese cars and German cars in the world. , in their eyes, American cars are no match at all.”
"Secondly, it is impossible for European car companies to buy back these three brands. Although Volkswagen likes to make acquisitions everywhere, it is impossible for these three brands of yours to catch the attention of Volkswagen, because these three brands are sold to you from Europe. If Volkswagen is really optimistic about these three brands, it will not be Ford’s turn to acquire them."
"Finally, Chinese car companies will not acquire these three brands of yours, because the established car companies have already made a lot of money by producing joint venture cars. There is currently no private company worth more than 2 billion US dollars. They want to swallow the elephant." He doesn’t have the strength.”
In fact, China's automobile industry is indeed very inconspicuous at the moment, and the powerful private companies of later generations have not really risen yet. Even if the CEO of Geely is called over and asked if he is interested in buying Volvo, he himself will think that this is a A fantasy.
Speaking of this, Li Mu said seriously: "Mr. Ford, think carefully about the situation you are facing now. If you miss me, you will miss the only opportunity to sell these three brands in the next three or four years. Do you know why? "
Bill Ford Jr. asked: "I don't understand, please ask Mr. Li to explain."
Li Mu said: "Because I am the only one who has this spare money, and I don't care about it. I have loved cars since I was a child. At that time, I wanted to play with cars and buy a toy electric car. They were considered luxuries for my family." , but I am different now. Now that I have money, I still want to play with cars, so I can spend five billion dollars just to fulfill my childhood dream, even if the five billion dollars bought three After acquiring the brand, it will continue to lose money. I admit this, because I can afford to spend 5 billion US dollars to satisfy myself. Do you think other than me, who else would have such courage to spend so much just to play? How much? Bill Gates? Or Buffett?"
Bill Ford Jr. said: "Mr. Li, since you are not short of the money, why do you keep the purchase price so low? The price you are giving me now is no longer a price negotiated in good faith."
Li Mu smiled and said, "I'm not short of money, and I'm willing to spend money to do the things I like, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to spend money to satisfy you. In my opinion, five billion is a very reasonable price, and Ford can get rid of it right away." The troubles caused by the continuous losses of these three brands are to realize the inferior assets and then invest the money in their own high-quality industries. Therefore, if you really want to cooperate, don’t have the mentality of cheating each other and try to find someone you can. It’s a balance of being passable and me being passable.”
"If these three brands fall into your hands in a few years, you will definitely beat your chest for this huge loss, but what about me? I may be glad that I didn't waste this money in a hurry;"
"If these three brands fall into my hands after some difficulties, you will definitely be grateful for taking action today, and I will not regret spending this money, and I will not even frown. , because I have achieved self-satisfaction, which is enough for me. I have assets worth hundreds of billions, and if I use five billion to satisfy myself, it doesn’t matter even if I lose everything.”
(End of chapter)