Whittaker coughed slightly and said, "So, everyone is here?"
The clerk nodded and said, "Yes." As he spoke, he indicated Dian Wei's presence with his eyes. The latter obviously should not be sitting on such an important board of directors.
Whittaker looked at Huang Xuan, while Xiao Huang pretended not to see it.
Dian Wei squinted his eyes and glanced at Aiken who wanted to speak. Mr. Mather immediately gave up his desire to speak.
This is a kind of momentum.
Momentum is not invisible, invisible, or inaudible.
An imposing person will use his eyes, gestures or words to make the people next to him feel pressure until they become silent, and these people will indirectly affect more people.
Just like in a dance party, one person's anger can easily affect the people around him. This is a manifestation of momentum under special conditions. Similarly, in an office, a cold-faced boss will lower the surrounding temperature.
Momentum needs a carrier, not too much, but never less. Force and coercion are the most effective, and power can also play the same role, sometimes very subtly, but not always. Just like the value of futures, 99% of people on the London Metal Exchange will not ask for, nor are they qualified to ask for, spot delivery. However, if there is no spot delivery, futures are just gambling.
There is no doubt that Dian Wei is a very imposing person - Cao Cao's evaluation is "the evil one from ancient times". This is a ferocious imposing manner. To be more precise, he is a person who is feared.
Aiken cringed.
no doubt.
Whittaker rubbed the corners of his mouth with his olive palms that had been enhanced with melanin, and said with a smile again: "Close the door, and let's get started."
Huang Xuan leaned his weight on the back of the chair, while Stephenson, who was sitting at the other end of the long table, relaxed a little. If the directors got into a fight—he had not received a similar education in his decade-long tenure as chief operating officer.
No one spoke, and Whitaker gestured to the secretary behind him and said: "This document will determine the fate of SBC for a long time to come. I hope all directors will seriously consider it and make a decision."
Whitaker's equity is only 18%, and he needs to win over at least half of the people here to pass this document.
Gently opening the cover, the word M&A appeared in the first line of the first paragraph. Huang Xuan smiled slightly and scrolled down. As expected, the target of the merger was AT&T, a well-known American telecommunications representative. The biological father of the little Bells.
Immediately some directors let out a weak exclamation. Although AT&T's performance has declined, it is still a giant in enterprise-level telecommunications. Most importantly, AT&T's name was too loud.
Before the U.S. government divided it into eight parts, it had monopolized the market for half a century. Even now, AT&T still has two major advantages: long-distance calls and enterprise-class telecommunications services.
The introductory document was not long. After noticing that most people had read the entire content, Whittaker said "Hmm" and said: "Everyone, the acquisition of AT&T is a plan that the company's management has been studying for half a year, and now, it is A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Whitaker's voice was calm and steady: "Just two weeks ago, AT&T released their business forecast for the second half of this year. Due to the impact from Internet calls, their long-distance revenue may drop by 50% in the second half of this year. , affected by many aspects at the same time, such as suspicion of the U.S. economic downturn, competition from overseas companies, etc., the operating income of enterprises, especially traditional multinational enterprises, has dropped sharply, and may only reach 70% of the same period last year. In other words , AT&T may suffer losses of more than 5 billion US dollars this year, according to a report by Goldman Sachs, which is 15.7 billion US dollars.”
Everyone was in an uproar. Only shareholders such as Huang Xuan, who had learned about this from different channels, could sit there calmly.
"AT&T's operating income last year was 65 billion, while expenses were 57 billion. If its revenue fell by 40%, its profits would be only 9 billion US dollars and its losses would be 18 billion US dollars. This is unbearable for its shareholders. Therefore, in After we actively negotiated with AT&T, the other party basically agreed to the acquisition plan," Whitaker said with pride on his face. If the merger is successful, he will take the top spot in the U.S. telecommunications industry.
"What's the amount?" asked Warsh from Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group is a miracle in the U.S. capital market. It is a low-key investment group with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Their investment philosophy is to unite global politicians and invest mainly in companies and companies founded by governments of various countries that have certain policy advantages. industries, such as defense product contractors; or those companies that have significant government influence, such as telecommunications companies. Then hire relevant government officials and get involved in the financial industry and aviation industry. The key government figures they united include: George H.W. Bush, who was still the governor of Texas—after leaving office, he visited South Korea on behalf of the Carlyle Group and made an investment of US$1 billion; hired George W. Bush, who had not yet entered the political arena—and after he took office Invested in major arms groups; appointed former British Prime Minister Major, and made the Prime Minister a colleague of Soros, who single-handedly defeated the pound... In addition, there are many characters that are not familiar to the Chinese: former Vice President Al Gore (Al Gore) and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard.
Huang Xuan was extremely certain that Wash must know about SBC's investment plan. Because about two years ago, FCC Chairman, William Kennard, approved SBC’s long-distance phone business in several states in the United States. At that time, Carlyle Group was SBC’s second largest shareholder. What made countless people imagine, Three months later, Mr. Kennard joined Carlyle Group, but it was clear that he would influence the FCC.
If Southwestern Bell wants to merge with AT&T, the first step is to obtain the consent of the FCC.
A standard U.S. version of collusion between government and business. The difference from China is that lobbying is not guilty.
Whitaker said cooperatively: "$16 billion."
"Wow." Someone shouted again.
Whittaker smiled and said: "AT&T's price has reached rock bottom. If we acquire it, I can guarantee that we can recover our investment in up to four years. According to our estimates, the merger with AT&T will not only allow us to We are ahead of our competitors in terms of business services and enterprise services, and can also save billions of dollars in annual expenses in our own business.”
"Sounds good." Aiken finally spoke: "What do you think, China Yellow?"
"I would be more grateful if you called me Mr. Huang." Huang Xuan grinned and said, "Sounds good."
The two people's two sentences seemed to express the intention of giving up. Wash immediately stood up and said: "We believe that acquiring AT&T is definitely a wise move. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Stephenson knew that Aiken and Huang Xuan would definitely not abstain, but neither of them wanted to say it first. But the former is a representative of the Cleveland Consortium, and the latter also has a background from the Huang Foundation. In terms of total funds, it is more than the Carlyle Group's 0 billion US dollars. Even if it is really angry and messy, it is not impossible.
Whitaker, who already understood the cause and effect, obviously had the same worries. He did not ask the opinions of the third and fourth shareholders first, but started asking other directors one by one what they thought. What he meant was that he still wanted to win over most people, and then No matter what thoughts these two young people have, it doesn't matter when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.
But unexpectedly, Whittaker received only 40% support, excluding nearly 0% of the outstanding shares. Most of the shareholders present agreed to Whittaker's merger plan, but the problem is that this is not enough.
Aiken looked at Huang Xuan with a smile. Dian Wei was already standing behind Huang Xuan, and the distance made him safe.
Judging from the information he obtained from his FBI friends, Huang Xuan obviously has a strong appeal for SBC, because the Chinese has spent almost all of his assets on purchasing SBC stocks, but Aiken gave up his wonderful night. I looked through the information and couldn't find what Huang Xuan wanted.
Both SBC and AT&T have hundreds of millions of patents, talents and channels. To discover the connection between MPGE's patents and BD, Mr. Mather's experience is not enough.
But Aiken was determined to cause trouble.
Whitaker began a second round of descriptions, trying to win more shareholders to agree to the merger plan. Because it is obvious that unless Huang Xuan and Aiken join forces, the agreement cannot be reached anyway.
Huang Xuan also quickly understood this.
It's a complete mess.
As long as Aiken votes against it, the merger will probably fail. Even if Huang Xuan votes against it, the 48% votes needed to induce Aiken to vote in favor are still not enough.
The good news is that there may be shareholders who switch sides and join the favorable side. Moreover, Aiken doesn't really understand whether the merger is good or bad - even Whitaker can't guarantee that SBC's stock will rise after the merger. Similarly, he couldn't understand what Huang Xuan wanted, or whether he wanted the merger to succeed or fail? (To be continued)