Elon Musk was confused by Li Mu’s words.
Before coming, Elon Musk deduced countless times how Li Mu would respond if he proposed the idea of selling Paypal to Li Mu.
In his opinion, for a person like Li Mu who has such a net worth at the age of twenty, he is 90% unlikely to consider acquiring Paypal, because in his current form, Paypal means more to him. It's useless, and YY's development space must be much larger than that of Paypal, so using YY's shares to acquire Paypal at this time will also suffer a big loss, and Li Mu is unlikely to agree.
Therefore, in Elon Musk's view, Li Mu's greatest possibility is to reject himself in various ways.
For example, he may ask himself: "How significant do you think Paypal is to YY or Makino Technology?"
Or Li Mu would say: "I don't think YY needs a product like Paypal right now."
In short, Elon Musk concluded that Li Mu would 90% decline his promotional intentions.
However, he didn't really want to sell Paypal to Li Mu. He just wanted to use Li Mu to put some pressure on eBay and make a breakthrough on the price stalemate between the two parties.
However, he did not expect that Li Mu would not play according to his expected routine, and said as soon as he came up: "I have just this idea!"
This moment made Elon Musk dumbfounded. He calculated countless possibilities, but failed to calculate that Li Mu would say such a thing directly.
Taking a step back, even if Li Mu is really interested in Paypal, according to the normal logic of the mall, he takes the initiative to promote it. Li Mu has the absolute initiative, so he definitely should not directly say that he has the idea of acquisition, because once his own information is exposed, intention, his initiative is lost.
Normally, even if Li Mu really had this idea, he would have pretended not to be very interested, and then waited for further sales before reluctantly asking for the price.
Therefore, Li Mu had 10,000 possible answers, but he chose the most unlikely one, which was also the one that Elon Musk had never expected.
For a moment, Elon Musk felt a little confused, but fortunately he immediately adjusted himself after a moment, and then said to Li Mu: "It would be great if Mr. Li is interested! We can have an in-depth chat on this topic." Let’s talk.”
Li Mu nodded and said: "Then you can just make an offer. I know you are probably talking to eBay about the acquisition right now. You can give me a price first and I will consider it."
Elon Musk thought to himself that eBay is now willing to give a price of 1.5 billion US dollars. He is here to increase the price. It doesn't matter if the Chinese really want to buy it. As long as the price meets expectations, no matter who buys it, he will Partners and investors behind the scenes will all agree to take action.
So, Elon Musk said to Li Mu: "Mr. Li, our current offer is: an overall package acquisition of US$2 billion."
"Two billion?" Li Mu smiled slightly and said: "I will say two points. First, the price is too expensive; second, I can't afford it. Makino Technology does not have so much cash, even if it raises Series C, it is impossible I have so much cash, so even if I am interested in acquiring it, it can only be a cash + share merger, I will accept Paypal, and you will become a shareholder of Makino Technology."
Elon Musk immediately said: "There is room for adjustment in the quotation. As for the cash + share merger and acquisition you mentioned, I have no objection to this method. It mainly depends on how much cash and how many shares you are willing to give."
When Elon Musk said this, he had already relaxed a lot. Although he did not expect that Li Mu would answer like he just did, but thinking about it carefully, Li Mu was interested in Paypal, which was helpful to him. A great thing that benefits everything and does no harm.
If Li Mu is interested in Paypal, even if the negotiation fails in the end, his attitude will bring great pressure to eBay, eventually forcing eBay to increase its acquisition offer;
If the M&A conditions given by Li Mu are more favorable than eBay, then just sell Paypal to him directly, and everyone will get part of the cash, and then part of the shares of Makino Technology. In this case, in the near future, the shares alone may be a A huge amount of money.
Li Mu smiled and said at this time: "Mr. Musk, I want to ask you a personal question."
Elon Musk hurriedly said: "Mr. Li, please speak."
Li Mu looked at him and asked with a smile: "Do you hope to get rid of Paypal completely and cash out to go into other fields, or do you hope to continue working at Paypal for a while and gain a greater future?"
Elon Musk was stunned. He didn't expect that Li Mu would ask him such a question. Of course, he was inclined to get rid of it completely. From the beginning of this project to now, he has taken the wrong route several times because of his immaturity. It's like a painter's debut work. Although it is enough to be a blockbuster, the artist himself knows in his heart that there are many parts, brushwork, coloring and presentation methods that can be better handled, but the work is already done and cannot be undone.
So in this case, Elon Musk hopes to get rid of Paypal completely, and then use the report obtained from this debut work to invest in new works. The new works will start from scratch, and he will have the previous experience. With the experience and lessons learned, you can use better ways to achieve your goals.
However, Elon Musk was also wondering, why did Li Mu ask this? Does he hope that he can continue to work at Paypal? In other words, he hopes that after acquiring Paypal, he will still be the CEO
So, Elon Musk asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, what do you mean?"
Li Mu smiled slightly and avoided answering his question. Instead, he said: "Mr. Musk, if you can, please answer my question first."
Elon Musk nodded, thought for a moment, and said: "For me, I really prefer to package and sell Paypal, and then use the cash to invest in other areas."
Li Mu asked him: "Is it because you have no confidence in Paypal's future?"
Elon Musk thought to himself that Li Mu’s question was really sharp, how should he answer it? If you say that you really have no confidence in Paypal's future, it would be a slap in your face; if you say that you have confidence in Paypal, then what you just said is somewhat inconsistent, because if you are confident, how can you consider packaging and selling it?
After thinking about several things quickly, Elon Musk said with some confidence: "It's not because I don't have confidence, but I think Paypal is the blood vessel of e-commerce, and companies that are interested in Paypal will definitely be more interested in it." We tend to prefer a wholly-owned acquisition, because only a wholly-owned acquisition can give them more peace of mind. If we, as the original team, still retain a certain share, it will be a huge unstable factor for the buyers.”
Li Mu spread his hands and said with a serious face: "I don't think so. If your original team continues to hold a certain share, I personally can accept it, and I think this is better."
Elon Musk asked him in surprise: "Mr. Li, do you want to invest in Paypal or acquire it?"
Li Mu smiled and said: "Let's put it this way, I tend to invest in shares but not control. Moreover, I tend to invest in Paypal together with eBay."
Elon Musk was dumbfounded: “You want to invest in Paypal together with eBay?”
Li Mu nodded: "Yes, my idea is to let eBay control Paypal, and Makino Technology will take part in the shares. First, all the capital behind Paypal can be cashed out, and then part of your original team's shares can be cashed out. , keep a part and continue to hold it, we will cooperate with the three parties to make Paypal bigger, and at the same time, you are also the CEO of Paypal."
Elon Musk said awkwardly: "Mr. Li, eBay is very tough on the acquisition of Paypal. They have always insisted on a wholly-owned acquisition. We have now psychologically accepted eBay's wholly-owned acquisition proposal. Now the largest The problem is that the price has not been agreed upon, so I feel that eBay may not be willing to invest in Paypal with you."
Li Mu said with a smile: "After all, you and I are meeting here now. No matter how tough eBay's attitude was before, it should be worried now. As long as there are worries, there will definitely be relaxation."
Elon Musk's expression showed a bit of embarrassment. In his opinion, Li Mu said this in an understatement, but he had directly pointed out his true purpose. He came here this time just to meet with Li Mu. eBay's attitude has relaxed. Has Li Mu already seen through his motives
Thinking of this, Elon Musk tentatively asked: "Mr. Li, do you want to put pressure on eBay to give up its wholly-owned acquisition?"
Li Mu nodded and said with a smile: "There is an old saying in China that people with knowledge do not speak secret words. To tell you the truth, Paypal will not be of much use to me in the future, but I personally think Paypal is a very useful tool." Prospective payment products, so I hope to be involved to a certain extent, so this requires eBay to give up its plan to fully acquire Paypal, and consider jointly holding shares with Makino Technology and your original team, so that Paypal can always be a The identity of an independent company continues to develop, rather than directly becoming a payment channel in the hands of eBay."
Just after finishing speaking, Li Mu looked at Elon Musk with a playful smile on his face and said: "Actually, Mr. Musk, your purpose of coming to China this time is not to use Makino technology to put pressure on eBay? Since In this way, why don't we do each other a favor? You want to make more money, and I want to invest in Paypal. Let's cooperate with each other, set up a situation for eBay, and let it jump in at a higher valuation, so that we can achieve our goals. Their respective goals. As long as Makino Technology successfully acquires a stake in Paypal, if your original team really can’t wait to get rid of it completely and doesn’t want to have anything to do with Paypal in the future, then I won’t force it.”
Elon Musk is stunned! Unexpectedly, he wanted to use Li Mu to put pressure on eBay this time, but Li Mu suddenly came up with an obviously well-thought-out investment plan. It seemed that he had already seen through his fundamental motive for coming to China to see him this time...
Thinking of this, Elon Musk couldn't help but ask himself: "Have I been tricked by Li Mu? Did he want to use him to force eBay to raise prices, or did he want to use himself to force eBay to give up its wholly-owned acquisition?" So that he can also take part in it?"
Thank you to the new alliance leaders [獍明ING], [Mu Qingying], and [Lonely Langcao]!
(End of chapter)