As eBay Vice President Tom Anderson met with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Meg Whitman was fighting the board's irritation.
When there is bad news in the market, it is difficult to save the stock price from falling through operations. Meg Whitman caused the stocks in the hands of all shareholders to shrink by 7% in one day. However, this is just the beginning. Once PayPal signs a contract with Makino Technology , Makino Technology officially controls PayPal, and eBay’s stock price will fall again.
Twice in a row, the stock price fell by at least ten percentage points.
Meg Whitman has been anxiously waiting for Tom Anderson to give her feedback. If Tom Anderson fails this time, then I am afraid that this matter will really not be saved.
Just when Meg Whitman was impatient, Tom Anderson called, and his first sentence was to say excitedly: "PayPal and Makino Technology have given us a perfect offer!"
Meg Whitman immediately asked: "What offer?"
Tom Anderson's voice was trembling as he said: "Peter Thiel just communicated with Elon Musk and Li Mu who are far away in China on the phone. They have a new idea. Both of them are willing to let us We control PayPal, but we can only hold 51% of the shares. Li Mu’s Makino Technology will hold 29% of PayPal’s shares, and the original team will hold the remaining 20%!”
Meg Whitman felt relieved instantly, 51% was already good! Absolute controlling stake is enough. She can only hope for so much at the moment. But when she thinks that Makino Technology will also take a share, she frowns: "That Li Mu will also come in? Then won't we become partners with him in the future?"
Meg Whitman didn't have a good impression of Li Mu in her heart. A twenty-year-old Chinese boy who was still young had brought so much trouble and crisis to herself. She had no hope of becoming a partner with Li Mu in the future.
Tom Anderson said: "What Li Mu means is that he hopes that Makino Technology and eBay will import resources to PayPal. At the same time, he is willing to use YY to cooperate with us to promote eBay's business in all countries outside China. In return, we also want Bundled with his YY to enter overseas markets, that is to say, the two parties can reach a strategic alliance in the future."
Meg Whitman was a little stunned.
Li Mu not only wanted to invest in PayPal, but also wanted to cooperate with eBay, and the two companies would cooperate directly, regardless of PayPal. This was really a bit beyond her expectation, but carefully thinking about the pros and cons, Meg Whitt Man's heart suddenly became excited.
There is no way not to be excited! Regardless of what colored glasses I have towards Chinese Internet companies and Li Mu, I cannot deny that YY’s current momentum is indeed too strong. Different from eBay, eBay needs to spend a lot of cash and resources to promote any market. YY But it's different. Without spending a penny, you can quickly capture the elite class in this market. This kind of plague-like self-propagation power is something eBay can only dream of.
If we cooperate with Li Mu, eBay and YY will definitely be able to benefit from each other, get what they need, and grow together in the future.
This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that if eBay successfully controls PayPal, it will be able to survive its biggest crisis. Moreover, if eBay and Makino Technology establish a cooperative relationship, it will be another huge step for eBay. The good news is that by then, eBay's stock price will definitely skyrocket.
Thinking of this, Meg Whitman has already made a decision in her heart. Publicly and privately, she must immediately agree to this offer and make it happen as soon as possible. Otherwise, she will be under too much pressure and will almost be unable to bear it.
At this time, Tom Anderson said on the phone: "But PayPal and Makino Technology have a relatively stringent requirement."
Meg Whitman blurted out to him: "What request?"
Tom Anderson said: “Although PayPal is willing to let us and Makino Technology invest in shares at a valuation of US$1.5 billion, the problem is that they ask us to first pay for Makino Technology’s 29% stake. Makino Technology signed the contract in the form of an interest-free loan, and Makino Technology will repay the money to us after the Series C financing."
Meg Whitman almost vomited blood after hearing this.
It wasn't that he was angry, but that he finally saw Li Mu's gameplay.
She knows that Makino Technology is preparing to raise Series C, but there has been no clear news. This is understandable. The valuation of Makino Technology changes every day. Without talking about a suitable price, Li Mu will never let capital in easily.
He wants to raise funds but has not yet done so, which means that Li Mu does not have a lot of cash flow on hand. With a valuation of US$1.5 billion and a 29% stake, Li Mu needs to pay 435 million in cash. You don’t need to think about it to know that he definitely doesn’t have that much money. , otherwise who would go for financing if there is so much money.
And Li Mu is shrewd. Li Mu knows very well that if he raises money first and then invests in PayPal, capital will inevitably take advantage. So if he wants to take advantage, he must first invest and then raise capital. But if he invests first and has no money, why? manage? You can only play the most shameless white wolf with empty gloves.
Now Meg Whitman has also understood that Li Mu actually joined forces with PayPal to defeat her and almost push her to a dead end. Now she has come up with such an attractive offer to seduce herself. If she agrees, , he had to pay the US$435 million for Li Mu. Although he was very unhappy in his heart to be the scapegoat, he had no choice but to do so due to the situation.
Once he agreed to the offer, Li Mu became a shareholder of PayPal without spending a penny. Although he owed himself 435 million on the book, the company's valuation increased by far more than this 435 million.
When thinking of this, Meg Whitman felt a million grievances in her heart, but she also realized very helplessly that once she felt this grievance in her heart, it meant that she had subconsciously decided to accept it. .
So she said to Tom Anderson: "Come back as soon as possible, and I will report it to the board of directors. When you come back, we will convene a board meeting together."
…
The morning of September 20th.
Before setting off for Makino Technology, Li Mu deliberately wore a very decent formal suit and dressed himself up to be particularly energetic.
There are two reasons for wearing formal attire: one is that I have already booked to go to school to attend the orientation party this evening, where I will give a speech to the newly admitted junior students;
The other one is the news that Makino Technology announced yesterday. A press conference will be held at Makino Technology this morning.
The reason for holding the conference is simple. eBay fully accepted its offer, including lending US$435 million to Makino Technology to acquire 29% of PayPal's shares.
This press conference was very large, not only inviting all domestic media, but also media reporters from all developed countries in Yanjing.
At this press conference, Li Mu will join Elon Musk and eBay representatives to officially announce to the outside world that eBay and Makino Technology will jointly invest in PayPal, and everyone will sign a contract at the press conference.
In addition, Li Mu will also announce that Makino Technology will reach a strategic partnership with eBay for overseas market development in the future. Once this news is announced, it will be a great benefit to eBay and Makino Technology. Stimulate.
At present, the media does not know that Makino Technology and PayPal have reached a cooperation agreement with eBay, so today's press conference will definitely become a blockbuster news in the international Internet industry and even the financial industry.
This time eBay was really neat and tidy. It accepted its offer right after the board meeting that day, and didn't even bother sending people over from the United States. Everyone signed the contract, and after the three-way legal team confirmed remotely that there were no problems with the contract, eBay directly entrusted their person in charge in China to sign contracts with Li Mu and Elon Musk on behalf of eBay.
In fact, the core terms of the three-party cooperation contract are very simple. The two parties will each acquire 51% and 29% of the shares based on the actual valuation of US$1.5 billion. Within fifteen working days after the contract is signed, the two parties will pay the funds into their accounts, and then it will be completed. The entire investment process.
According to the formal procedures, before a company takes shares or invests in another company, it must first conduct complete due diligence and audit work on the company, but Li Mu had a coincidence. Regarding all due diligence work and audit work of PayPal, eBay had already It has already been completed, and it was done by an extremely professional team. At that time, it was a due diligence and audit based on a valuation of US$1.5 billion. Now the valuation has not changed, so Li Mu gave up the due diligence and audit and directly approved this Valuation.
Before officially signing the contract at the press conference, Li Mu had to privately sign a loan agreement with eBay representatives, and eBay would lend $435 million to Makino Technology. The money would be paid to Makino Technology in the United States within three working days. on the branch's account.
This money is completely interest-free, and there is no clear repayment date. The repayment time is written as: repayment within thirty working days after Makino Technology completes the next round of financing and the financing amount is received.
In other words, if Li Mu still wants to refinance for a year and a half, eBay will not press for repayment, as long as he waits for his own financing before repaying them.
eBay is very wealthy and has already reserved 1.5 billion in cash from the stock market to acquire PayPal. At present, it has only used 80% of the money it lent to Li Mu, which is US$1.2 billion, so they do not have any financial pressure on this. For the board of directors behind eBay, they don't mind borrowing Li Mu's money. After all, once the three-party cooperation contract is signed, eBay will be able to promote this huge good news in the United States overnight.
Once the money arrives, it will be paid to PayPal by the U.S. branch of Makino Technology, officially completing the entire shareholding. What is left is the separate debt relationship between Makino Technology and eBay.
(End of chapter)