The acquisition of Apple was the biggest deal that Li Mu had planned since his rebirth. Li Mu looked calm on the surface, but he was very excited in his heart.
However, it was a big problem for Li Mu to get billions of US dollars.
Li Mu didn't want to dilute his shares to pay back the money at this time, but whether he found a way to get a loan from China or through private placement, he could only get RMB. In order to prevent the impact of the western economy on China and to ensure the exchange rate of RMB, the country had strict control over foreign exchange. It was not difficult to get tens of billions of RMB, but it was extremely difficult to get billions of US dollars.
However, this problem didn't cause too much trouble for Li Mu. For him, the most important thing at the moment was to first discuss the acquisition with Apple. As long as the shareholders of Apple were willing to help, he would think about how to solve the problem of money.
A few hours after Apple's share price plummeted to 4.53 US dollars, at nine o 'clock in the morning in Beijing, Li Mu asked Li Ziwei to inform the core management of Makino Technology, as well as Taobao Technology's Lei Jun and Liu Xiaodong, to have a meeting at Makino Technology at ten o' clock. They were going to formally set up a temporary division specifically for the acquisition of Apple.
At ten past nine, Louis Martin came to Li Mu's office and enthusiastically said to Li Mu, "Li Zong, I have already talked to the headquarters. From today until you leave for the US, I will stay in Hua Xia and work for you."
Li Mu nodded, "Thank you, Louis. I will hold a high-level meeting at ten o 'clock to announce the acquisition plan and the establishment of the division. You can come with me, and I will introduce you to everyone."
Louis Martin quickly said, "That's great."
Li Mu said, "Louis, the acquisition of Apple is very important to me. Although you are not a member of Makino Technology, I still hope that you can give us more advice on this matter and try to help us facilitate this acquisition."
Louis Martin said with a resolute expression, "Don't worry, Li Zong. I will definitely do my best."
After that, Louis Martin said, "By the way, Li Zong, our chairman asked me to tell you yesterday that Sequoia is willing to lend Makino Technology 3.6 billion US dollars interest-free to help Makino Technology complete the capital operation to acquire Apple. Also, you don't have to repay this money in a hurry. You can repay it after Makino Technology's successful IPO."
Li Mu smiled and asked, "What are the conditions?"
Louis Martin said with a smile, "Li Zong, the conditions are actually very generous. We are not forcing Makino Technology to refinance. We just hope that we can buy another 3% of Makino Technology's shares at a valuation of 80 billion US dollars."
Speaking of this, Louis Martin was afraid that Li Mu would refuse immediately, so he hurriedly added, "Don't worry, if you don't want to dilute your shares, we won't force you. However, we hope to communicate privately with the other shareholders of Makino Technology. If any shareholder wants to cash out, we can make a private transaction with him. It won't affect your shares."
Li Mu said, "Take 3% of the 80 billion valuation and lend me 3.6 billion US dollars. That's a total of 6 billion. Is that a good idea?"
Louis Martin smiled and did not say anything.
Li Mu said, "All the shareholders of Makino Technology, except for Sequoia, have signed a concerted action agreement with me. Without my permission, none of them can resell their shares."
Louis Martin said, "We are very clear about this, so we hope that you can allow it."
Li Mu said, "If you buy 3% of the shares directly from the shareholders, then the 2.4 billion won't go into Makino Technology's pocket. I will have to find other funds to borrow 3.6 billion from you. Besides, Makino Technology is developing so well now. Do you think any shareholders will be willing to cash out at this time?"
"This …" Louis Martin smiled and asked, "Then can you consider diluting 3% of the shares on the basis of all the shareholders' existing shares? This ratio is actually very small … "
Li Mu looked at Louis Martin and did not say anything. After a while, he suddenly asked him, "Louis, you are a professional manager, right?"
Louis Martin nodded and asked in surprise, "What's wrong, Li Zong?"
Li Mu said, "The money you earn from Sequoia in a year may not be more than 10 million US dollars, right?"
Louis Martin shrugged and said, "It's about the same before tax, but it's much worse after tax."
Most professional managers were not actual shareholders of the company. Most of them received a very high salary, and then received a small number of options from the board of directors. Options were like a leash on a dog. Tim Cook had worked hard for Apple for so many years and created so many profits, but his net worth was only a few hundred million US dollars. He had worked so hard for so many years, and it was still the same for Louis Martin.
Li Mu said, "How about this, Louis. For this period of time, you can wholeheartedly help me acquire Apple. Give full play to your intelligence, as well as your understanding of Apple and the US capital market. If the acquisition is successful, after Makino Technology goes public, I will help you secure 5 million US dollars of after-tax income outside of the US. Don't worry, I will definitely handle this money very neatly. If you can play a very important role in this acquisition, I will give you an additional 5 million. As for persuading me to dilute part of the shares and exchange them for money from Sequoia, you don't have to say it in the future. If Sequoia asks, just tell them directly that no matter how hard you try, I will not accept it."
Louis Martin's expression changed slightly. After a moment, he hurriedly said, "Li Zong, you don't have to be so polite. As an investor and business partner of Sequoia, I have an absolute obligation to help Makino Technology. So don't worry, I will definitely do my best to help."
Li Mu smiled indifferently and said, "You don't have to worry about my integrity, and you don't have to worry about my spirit of the contract. What I told you just now is only between you and me. So if you don't really want to refuse, then you don't have to say anything. After it's done, everything I said will naturally be fulfilled as promised."
Louis Martin hesitated for a moment, then nodded gently and said to Li Mu, "Rest assured, Li Zong, I will do my best."
For Louis Martin, he had already understood that Li Mu would not allow Sequoia to take more shares of Makino Technology at this time. No matter what his attitude towards Sequoia was, in order to maintain the cooperative relationship with him, he had to stay and help Li Mu complete the acquisition. Instead of this, why not agree to Li Mu's offer? If it was an ordinary person who made such a promise, he would probably worry that the person would leak this kind of grey transaction in the future. But the other party was Li Mu. With his identity, status, and style of doing things, he did not have to worry about such a risk at all.
It was a good thing for sure, so why not?
…
At ten o 'clock, in the conference room of Makino Technology, all the core members had arrived.
Lei Jianguo and Liu Shixiong also specially came to attend the meeting. Although they did not know what Li Mu was going to do, every time Li Mu called the core members of the two companies together for a meeting, there must be a major event to announce.
Louis Martin also followed Li Mu to the conference room. In the conference room, Li Mu introduced Louis Martin to everyone. When they heard that he was the VP of Sequoia's headquarters, everyone was surprised. Was Li Mu going to make a new capital operation?
After introducing Louis Martin, Li Mu's first sentence to everyone was straight to the point.
"Comrades, today I solemnly announce a decision: Makino Technology plans to carry out the acquisition of Apple in the United States. After the acquisition, Apple will be privatized and delisted from the NASDAQ, and finally, Apple will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Makino Technology!"
Everyone was instantly dumbfounded.
Li Mu observed everyone's expressions. Two of them were particularly excited, while the others were basically at a loss and puzzled.
The ones who were excited were Fang Xudong and Lei Jun.
Li Mu asked Fang Xudong, "Xudong, tell everyone why you're so excited?"
Fang Xudong said excitedly, "Apple's technical reserves are very strong. Now that the stock price has collapsed and the market value has plummeted, if the company can take over Apple, I believe it will definitely be a very good deal."
Li Mu asked Lei Jun, "Mr. Lei, what do you think?"
Cult Master Lei smiled and said, "Apple's strength in operating systems, software, and hardware is still very strong. Although our Mango-ME2 is much stronger than the iPod 3, this is the result of our surprise attack. If Apple's financial resources are strong enough, they can directly develop a product that is half a generation or even a generation higher to suppress the Mango-ME2. It will be very difficult for us to catch up."
Fang Xudong seemed to have found a confidant and nodded repeatedly. "Mr. Lei, you're right! Our Mango-ME2 is like a propeller era plane that won by enhancing its performance and lowering its cost. It caught Apple off guard, but as long as Apple can stand firm, with their technical reserves, they can directly start the jet plane project and surpass us. In that case, there will be a generation gap, and it will be very difficult for us to catch up to this generation gap. "
Business Director Ding Jian asked, "Mr. Fang, I don't know much about technology. There's something I don't quite understand."
Fang Xudong hurriedly said, "Please speak, Mr. Ding."
Ding Jian said, "What I don't understand is, if the iPod and the Mango-ME2 are both propeller era planes, and we have caught up to Apple's pace, why can Apple start the jet plane project, but we can't?"
Fang Xudong said, "Let's put it this way. Be it the iPod or the Mango-ME2, when you dismantle it, it's just these few things: the memory module, the digital signal processing chip, the microprocessor, the signal controller, and the LCD screen. There's no technical content, just like the propeller era planes. Basically, it's just the engine, the propeller, the landing gear, and the hydraulic control system. The technical content is not high. If Apple can build it, so can we.
However, if we want to develop a jet plane, it requires the entire industrial system to be upgraded by at least one generation. First, the technical R&D capabilities must be strong enough, so that we can develop the series of components needed for the jet plane. Second, the basic materials must be strong enough, so that the jet engine can withstand high temperature, high speed, and high power output. Only then can the fuselage be able to withstand the higher flight speed of the plane. Third, the manufacturing requirements will also increase exponentially. We don't have these capabilities, but Apple does. "
Speaking up to this point, Fang Xudong sighed and said, "Mr. Lei, you're too insightful. Fortunately, Apple's financial resources are not strong enough, a bit like Germany at the end of World War II. Otherwise, if they were allowed to continue developing, it wouldn't take long for them to turn defeat into victory. The gap between us and their hardware will only grow."
Li Mu looked at Lei Jun and knew that he was a technical maniac, but he didn't expect him to have such foresight in this era. Fang Xudong, both of them were technical talents, so they naturally looked at such problems more deeply than the average person. However, Fang Xudong was 100% technical, while Lei Jun was 100% technical in the early stages, and gradually transitioned to product and marketing in the later stages. Therefore, if Fang Xudong could do a good job as the Chief Technology Officer of Makino Technology in the future, it would be his greatest value. As for Lei Jun, he was like Liu Xiaodong, a big shot who could take charge of an industry chain worth hundreds of billions of dollars by himself.
With Lei Jun, Liu Xiaodong, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, these four super big shots, Makino Technology and other products would have a market value of trillions of dollars in the future.
In his excitement, Li Mu tentatively asked Lei Jun, "Mr. Lei, in your opinion, assuming that Apple has enough financial support, what kind of direction will they take to develop a product that is half a generation ahead of us, or even a generation ahead of us?"
Lei Jun said, "In my personal opinion, if it's half a generation ahead, then they should at least implement a color screen display, and upgrade the entire firmware to add a WLAN module based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. If it's a higher generation, then they should build on this foundation and develop an operating system that is suitable for handheld devices like iPods, just like the Palm operating system used by commercial PDAs on the market."
After a pause, Lei Jun continued, "Once this kind of higher generation comes out, Apple will immediately pull apart the generation gap with us. Like Xudong said, we can outdo Apple in terms of piling up hard drives, decoding chips, microprocessors, Sennheiser headphones, and price wars. But if Apple directly makes iPods smarter, then we can only look at our backs."
Li Mu's eyes lit up when he heard this.
PDAs, which were mobile smart devices in their early stages, had actually begun to become popular among Western business elites as early as the 1990s. But in China, this kind of device, which was often more expensive than computers, had a very low penetration rate. In fact, until it finally disappeared, it didn't cause any real waves. It could be said that it was high-end when alive, but silent when it died.
Later, when PDAs revived, it was already the post-Android era. At that time, smartphones were everywhere, and smart PDAs became an indispensable mobile order processing tool for couriers like SF Express and JD. SF Express PDAs even added a thermal paper printing function, so couriers could directly use it to print delivery receipts.
From the death of PDAs to the resurgence of PDAs in the commercial field, PDAs missed the golden age of the entire smartphone boom. This kind of product was very close to the smartphone in terms of consciousness and form. Unfortunately, the manufacturers positioned it too high and did not think of introducing it to ordinary users. No one revolved around the operating system of PDAs to develop software that ordinary people might use. Otherwise, PDAs could directly lead the smartphone era.
Listening to Lei Jun talk about Wi-Fi, PDAs, and mobile operating systems, Li Mu was particularly impressed. It turned out that in this era, people who were proficient in technology and had a clear vision actually already had a very accurate foresight in their minds. Lei Jun could see that the next generation of iPods was a mobile product with a color screen, Wi-Fi capabilities, and an independent operating system. This meant that he could directly see from the iPod to the iTouch, and the iTouch and the iPhone were only separated by a thin layer of paper!
Thinking about this, Li Mu suddenly felt a chill in his heart. Lei Jun could see the development direction of the next generation of iPods, so could Apple.
In his previous life, Apple's routine of upgrading iPods was to constantly squeeze toothpaste. They never thought of making iPods more intelligent. It was not until 2007 that they launched the IOS system and the first generation of iPhones. Only then did they conveniently apply iOS to iPods and create the iTouch.
However, now that Apple had been violently destroyed by him, they might grit their teeth and decide to create a product like the iTouch in advance. If that was the case, it would be really bad. It would be very difficult for him to create something like the iTouch even if he tried his best …
Thinking that Apple might still have a lot of cash on hand, and the iPod business might still have a large number of distributors and OEM payments, Li Mu was even more worried that Apple would harden its heart to the end …
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