The $5 million + $5 million that Li Mu gave to Louis Martin quickly came into play.
Although Louis Martin was in Beijing, he used his personal connections and obtained first-hand information from Apple in an unprofessional way.
Ever since Tim Cook took over the position of CEO of Apple, there had been several intense debates within Apple about the direction of the company. At this time, Apple's senior executives were mainly divided into two camps. One was the loss-prevention group, and the other was the counterattack group.
The loss-prevention group's attitude was very simple. They wanted to immediately break up Apple and sell it to prevent Apple's stock price from falling below its net worth in the future. This group was mainly made up of investors and capital. They saw the money they invested in Apple disappear at the speed of light. Their capital instincts drove them to end this failed investment as soon as possible, and then quickly find profits from other projects to make up for the hole.
For many private equity funds, the amount of money invested at the same time could exceed billions of dollars. Losing tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars on a single project was not the end of the world. As long as other projects could make up for this part of the money, they would be able to report normally. Therefore, it was very important for them to stop losing money in time. They didn't know how big this hole would spread. If you wanted to make up for a hole, you first had to stop the hole from expanding, and then according to the actual size of the hole, you had to find a way to make up for it.
As for the counterattack group, most of them were the founders and senior executives of Apple who had been fighting side by side for so many years. For example, Tim Cook joined the company five years ago with unparalleled trust in the future of Apple. Although he didn't make much money, he put his passion and faith in the company. Now that they were asked to surrender, they couldn't accept it.
The counterattack group's point of view was that Apple was different from most internet companies. Apple was a company with hardware as its core, supported by patented technology and software technology. Pure internet companies could lose 95% of their market value when they encountered a bubble. That was because they were like a huge rubber balloon that was blown up. After the bubble burst, they would basically be left with a pile of rubber skin.
However, Apple was a polar bear that weighed more than a thousand pounds. Even if it ran out of food in the cold winter, it could still rely on its own fat for quite a long time. Even if it was all skin and bones from hunger, it still had strong combat power. The same was true for Apple. At this critical moment, Apple should calm down and think of countermeasures, and find a breakthrough to counterattack.
These two groups had their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, although the stop-loss group didn't have enough people, they controlled a high proportion of shares. Although the counterattack group had a lot of people, most of them were employees and professional managers. They didn't have enough actual control of the company.
From a legal point of view, the stop-loss group had absolute power to make a decision and execute it. However, they were also afraid that the counterattack group had the majority of people. Once they completely lost confidence in the company, they were very likely to leave at any time. If more than half of the core team was lost when Apple was sold, the company's market value would inevitably suffer a greater blow. This was an outcome that the stop-loss group didn't want to see in any case.
When Apple's stock price fell below the $4 mark on the third trading day, the stop-loss group and the counterattack group still hadn't reached a consensus.
According to Louis Martin, the stop-loss group was constantly persuading the counterattack group to accept the company's capital plan. This way, at least they could ensure that everyone had a chance to keep their jobs. Even if they couldn't keep their jobs, at least they could get the compensation they deserved.
The counterattack group was also persuading the stop-loss group to have more confidence in the company. They felt that with Apple's current technology accumulation, Apple's team would definitely be able to find an opportunity to turn the situation around.
Li Mu was very concerned about the counterattack group led by Tim Cook within Apple. Did they have any clear counterattack strategy? The iPod business had been ravaged by the unlisted Mango-ME2. If Apple still wanted to recover from Mango-ME2, it might really trigger the counterattack group's nerves, forcing them to upgrade the iPod by half a generation or even a generation.
However, from the information Louis Martin obtained, the counterattack group hadn't found a very clear entry point.
Louis Martin also provided Li Mu with another piece of valuable information. Microsoft was using one of its funds to indirectly control offshore companies to make an acquisition offer to Apple. However, Microsoft was not going to acquire the entire Apple business. They only wanted to acquire Apple's operating system and Mac PC business line. As for the iPod and iTunes, which were considered trash in the eyes of investors, Microsoft was not interested.
After Li Mu heard this news, he was very excited.
The rest did not understand why Li Mu was so excited about Microsoft's intention to acquire Apple. After all, Microsoft was a giant in the IT industry. Even Makino Technology was weaker than Microsoft in terms of market value, cash flow, technology reserves, and profitability. If Microsoft also wanted to acquire Apple, Makino Technology would not be able to compete.
But Li Mu had his own views. He told everyone, "The US government will not allow Microsoft to acquire Apple. That's why Microsoft can only use this method to achieve their goals. That's why they used a company to control a fund, and the fund to control an offshore company. Their purpose is simple. They want to get their hands on Apple's operating system and turn it into a human swine. This way, Microsoft will not be a threat to Microsoft, and it will also prevent Microsoft from being sanctioned by the Anti-Monopoly Law."
Li Mu paused for a moment and continued, "First, I have no discrimination against the gay community. I am only using some of the scumbags in this community as an example. Microsoft is like a gay man who wants to marry a woman. He does not want to be in a relationship with a woman. He only wants to marry this woman. This way, no one will doubt his sexual orientation, and his parents will not pressure him."
Everyone nodded in agreement. It sounded like what Feng Yu said was true.
Li Mu continued, "To Apple, Microsoft should be the company they do not want to be acquired. Now, this company that they do not want to be acquired approached them. I believe the Apple team must be very unhappy. Under such circumstances, even if we are the ones who killed Apple, Apple will still treat us more warmly than Microsoft."
"Really?" Martin laughed. "If I am Apple, then you will be the person I hate the most."
Li Mu laughed and said, "People like you who play with capital only care about money, but you should know that geeks who play with technology not only care about money, but also dignity. You can defeat them, or even kill them on the battlefield, but you can't buy them as slaves at home and then throw their children into the cesspool."
Louis Martin said. "The people in Apple's internal department are the same as me. They only care about who is willing to pay more. If Microsoft offers them a higher price, they will sell Apple without hesitation. Those with a sense of honor do not have voting rights, and they cannot decide the company's future."
Li Mu said, "Martin, look at the details. Why is Microsoft only willing to buy Apple's operating system and PC business? To put it bluntly, they are not willing to spend a cent for Apple. They only want to use the least amount of money to achieve their goals. That's why they do not care about the iPod and iTunes business, and they do not care about the lives of Apple's employees in these two business lines.
Even if the people in Apple's group think of capital, they also need to consider one problem. The only chance to sell off the iPod and iTunes business is to sell off the whole of Apple. If not, no one will be interested in these assets. These assets will become bad debts, and the people in Apple's group will still have to pay for the employees' severance. Compared to Microsoft, I, who is willing to take over the whole business, am the savior that Apple is waiting for. "
Louis Martin shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile, "That makes sense."
Lei Jun said, "I think Li Zong's analysis is right. Even the people in Microsoft's group do not want to have useless assets in their hands. At the same time, they still have to use their limited funds to compensate their employees. Microsoft must feel that no one in the market is willing to take over Apple, and they might be the only buyer for Apple. That's why they are not willing to give Apple any extra offers. If Microsoft maintains this attitude, it will be a great help to us in acquiring Apple."
Ding Jian, who was in charge of capital operations, asked Li Mu. "Li Zong, since Microsoft had contacted Apple, should we also contact Apple?"
Li Mu said, "Not for the time being. If Microsoft knows that we are also eyeing Apple, they might increase their offer."
After that, Li Mu said to Martin. "Martin, get your men to keep an eye on Apple and Microsoft. I want to know what price Microsoft is offering to Apple, and what is Apple's internal reaction to Microsoft's offer."
Martin nodded. "Don't worry. I will keep an eye on it and report to you immediately."
Li Mu said, "Tell the top management of Sequoia to keep quiet. Don't let anyone know that Makino Technology is preparing to acquire Apple."
Martin quickly said, "Understood. I will communicate with them."
Li Mu smiled with satisfaction and said, "As for the rest, I'll talk to them in person when I arrive in the United States."
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