It was very rare in most industries for a company with a valuation of tens of billions of US dollars to take out 5% of the shares for the employee option pool. It was even rarer for a shareholder to take out so many shares alone.
For most large companies, the competition between various shareholders was very cruel. Everyone kept their own shares very tightly, and at the same time, they coveted the shares of others.
The option pool of most companies was diluted by the shareholders. It was just like financing. All the shareholders sat together and discussed a point, and then all the shareholders diluted it equally.
If they wanted to take out 5%, then this 5% would be taken out by the existing shareholders according to their current shareholding ratio. However, this was not easy because it was asking the shareholders to pay out of their pockets.
Li Mu had made Makino Technology to where it was today. Shares and money were not so important. He himself was a major shareholder, and after financing, he still had 65% of the shares. It was not a big problem for him to take out 5%, but it would be a great help and promotion for the future development of the entire company.
In the future, the valuation of Taobao Network would not be lower than Makino Technology. If Taobao Logistics was added, it would probably become an even bigger behemoth. For Li Mu, he had now earned enough money that he could not spend in a few lifetimes. Therefore, it was time for him to consider how to share the profits.
Taking advantage of the good news of Makino Technology's 33 billion US dollar financing, he could quickly formulate the option reward policy. This would be a huge boost to the morale of the entire team.
The option itself was closely linked to the market value of the company. The higher the market value of the company in the future, the more the employees who held the option could get in return.
Then, Li Mu said to Lin Ching-ah, "In the future, our options and shares will definitely continue to increase in value. However, because most of the employees have a more urgent need to cash out, our company has come up with a rule. Once an employee meets the right requirements and decides to cash out, then the company will pay to buy the options or shares in his hands at the market price, and then put them back into the option pool."
Lin Ching-ah said, "You mean to circulate our option pool?"
"Yes." Li Mu nodded. "We can't just withdraw from the option pool. If that's the case, after the five points are distributed, we'll have to dilute the shares again. In the future, cash will be the most insignificant thing for us. The more options and shares are distributed, the less we'll have. So, if our employees decide to exercise their rights, we'll use the company's funds to buy back the options."
Given that every employee's standard of living, income, and expenditure requirements were different, very few employees could continue to hold the company's options or shares for several years without considering cashing out. Most employees would exercise their options within a short period of time after they were allowed to exercise their options and get their hands on the cash first. Since that was the case, the company would pay to buy back the options. The employees who obtained the options would receive real money, and the company's option pool would be replenished again. For the new employees in the later stages, the total amount of the option pool would be sufficient.
The operation of the option pool would be circular. In the future, the option pool would not be driven by scarce shares, but by cash. This would be more beneficial to the company's long-term development in the future.
Although Li Mu was willing to share profits, there was a limit. If the shares in his hands were constantly diluted, he might eventually lose control of the company. This was unacceptable to him at this stage. If he reached a certain age and decided to retire, he could hand over the control of the company. At that time, he could also gradually cash out the shares in his hands and thoroughly enjoy his life. But before that, Li Mu still needed to ensure absolute control of his own company.
After setting the issue of options, Li Mu asked Lin Ching-ah to immediately formulate the rules for the allocation of options at this stage. Then, he arranged for someone to make relevant announcements and announce them to all the employees of Makino Technology. As for himself, he was ready to return to Hua Xia. The last thing before he left was to take down the person who proposed the concept of "centralization."
…
When he came to Makino Technology as promised, he was extremely nervous.
The reason for his nervousness was that he really admired Li Mu more than all his peers. He once conducted a very in-depth study of Li Mu's entire entrepreneurial history. The more in-depth the study, the more he admired Li Mu.
The most amazing thing was that Makino Technology did not make any mistakes in the process of high-speed advancement. It almost always took the best route at the fastest speed. This was really admirable.
After years of development, the Internet industry had gradually formed a number of relatively mature subdivisions. For each subdivision, it was an extremely huge and complicated maze. The feeling that Li Mu gave off was like a person with special abilities who could pass through walls. He quickly rushed into each field and could clear it at the fastest speed. Such a perverted existence only had Li Mu in his mind.
Lin Ching-ah brought him to Li Mu's office. He stood outside the door with his heart almost in his throat.
Although he didn't know why Li Mu would take the initiative to invite him over for a face-to-face chat, he was very clear that a busy person like Li Mu would invite him over for a chat. He must have read the article he wrote.
Just as he was speculating about the real purpose of Li Mu looking for him, Lin Ching-ah had already knocked on the door of Li Mu's office, then made a gesture to invite him in.
After a moment of hesitation, she still walked in nervously. At this moment, Li Mu was sitting at his desk. When he raised his head and saw the man, he could not help but be surprised. He never dreamed that the man was a burly and muscular man.
Li Mu thought that as the editor-in-chief of such a well-known IT magazine, he must also have an Internet background. Overall, he should look like Bill Gates, wearing glasses and looking very bookish, but usually, he would look a little dull.
In person, not only was he a strong, muscular man, but he also didn't wear glasses. There was a palm-sized tattoo of a little girl's head on his thick arm.
Lin Ching-ah walked in behind him and introduced him to Li Mu, "Li Zong, this is Mr. Clarkson."
After that, she said to Li Mu, "Mr. Clarkson, this is Li Zong, Li Mu."
He said very excitedly, "Hello, Li Zong. I have admired you for a long time. Today, I finally have the opportunity to meet you in person!"
Li Mu said politely, "Mr. Clarkson, I have also admired you for a long time. I have been reading all your recent articles and blogs. Your understanding of the Internet is the strongest I have ever seen."
He said modestly, "Mr. Li Mu, you flatter me. To use an idiom from Hua Xia, what I have is all talk on paper. Compared with an entrepreneur like you, I am far behind."
Li Mu smiled and said, "Armchair strategists have their uses. If armchair strategists are wrong, then they will have no value, but if they can find the real key point, then armchair strategists are equivalent to strategizing. In all large-scale battles, the real commanders are not at the frontlines, and some are even tens of thousands of miles away from the frontlines. However, it is precisely because of their understanding and grasp of the key points that they can understand the overall situation and fight a war that involves countless people well."
He nodded and said with a smile, "You are right."
Li Mu asked, "What did you do before you joined Silicon-Valley-Magazine?"
He said, "Before that, I was a product developer at Apple. After Steve Jobs left, I joined Cisco and was also a product developer."
Li Mu said in surprise, "How did a product developer become the editor-in-chief of a magazine? Isn't this a little too big of a jump? "
He smiled and said, "It sounds like it. In fact, when I was at Apple, I tried to write a column for some technology magazines. As I wrote, I found that I liked being an industry critic. So, when I was at Cisco, I found an opportunity to interview with the magazine. The other party was very satisfied with us, and the salary they offered was not bad, so I agreed."
Li Mu couldn't help but nod and said with a smile, "It seems that you have a lot of experience in the industry. Have you gotten bored of being an industry reviewer for the past few years? Did it give you the idea of returning to the frontline? "
He sighed softly and said, "I'll be honest. Purely from the bottom of my heart, I do have the idea of returning to the frontline. I have been a critic for too long, and I have seen too many successes and failures. I always feel that I have a lot of experience, and I can't wait to verify my current ability."
Speaking up to this point, he paused and said, "But from another perspective, I feel that I have been out of touch with the industry for too long, and my practical ability must be very weak. Most of the time, my mind is very clear, and I have ideas, but I'm afraid that there will be problems on the execution side. It's like an author. If Hemingway wrote the same story, it would be 'The Old Man and the Sea'. If the author's writing skills are not good enough, it might be a boring, lousy article."
Li Mu said, "I agree with what you said very much. Theories and ideas need to be realized by strong execution. Neither of them can be missing."
He smiled and said, "That's why I feel that I might not be suitable to return to the frontline of the Internet industry. What I can be sure of now is that I have some industry analysis ability, but the rest is still unknown."
Li Mu nodded and looked at him seriously. He said, "Have you ever thought that under the model of teamwork, your industry analysis ability can also be applied through the other side of the team?"
He asked curiously, "Li Zong, what do you mean?"
Li Mu said, "I invited you here today because I have two positions that I hope you will consider together."
He subconsciously asked, "Which two?"
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