Li Mu's interest in Apple shocked Apple's executives.
They even felt that it would be easier to sell Apple to Buffick, or even to the US government, than to Li Mu, because they could not think of any reason why Li Mu would be willing to buy Apple.
But Lin Ching-ah clearly conveyed Li Mu's interest in Apple in a phone call with Tim Cook, and Lin Ching-ah took the initiative to ask Tim Cook for a face-to-face meeting, so it was not a joke.
Although Lin Ching-ah was young and inexperienced, she was the top person in charge of Makino Technology in the US. In terms of influence, Jobs could not compare to her, because she had the strong support of the entire Makino Technology's resources. She was like a young general who could mobilize thousands of troops to fight on the battlefield. Compared to her, Jobs was like an experienced guerrilla leader with rich combat experience and unique tactics and strategies, but his fists were far from strong enough at the moment.
Soon after Li Mu arrived in the US, Lin Ching-ah immediately asked Tim Cook to meet. It seemed that Li Mu was really interested in Apple, and he let Lin Ching-ah, a core member of the management, handle this matter, which proved that he attached great importance to this matter.
Perhaps this was a sign of hope at the darkest hour of the night.
Apple summoned all the executives from their homes to the company to hold an emergency meeting immediately. At the meeting, Tim Cook briefed everyone on the situation, and then the management representatives were present to vote on a question.
The chairman of the board said, "Everyone, please raise your hand if you think we should reject Makino Technology's acquisition offer. If you represent more than 60% of the votes, Tim will directly reject Makino Technology's Lin Ching-ah tomorrow."
Three seconds later, no one raised their hand.
The chairman of the board was a little dumbfounded. He curiously asked everyone present, "Everyone, Li Mu is the culprit behind the collapse of Apple's market value and profits. Don't you think we should have more backbone on this issue?"
A member of the board of directors curled his lips and said, "Our country's navy, under the command of General Perry in 1853, used cannons to blast open the gates of Japan. During World War II, we even dropped two atomic bombs on Japan and almost bombed Tokyo to the ground. Do you think the Japanese hate us now? They even cast a statue of General Perry as a memorial! "
Then, the board member continued, "I'm a very realistic person. We're all businessmen. What we pursue is not who has hurt us, but who can bring benefits to us now and in the future. It's almost impossible for us to get out of this predicament on our own. Since that's the case, whoever offers the highest price will be my father."
Another board member laughed and said, "Johnson, you said what I wanted to say! We need to look forward and not backward. I don't hate Li Mu and Makino Technology at all. That's because their attacks on Apple are in the past, and we are indeed no match for them. It is not surprising that we were defeated. But I hate those guys in Microsoft. They are like robbers who take advantage of a burning house, vultures who eat people up without spitting out the bones! "
The chairman said with relief, "I am glad to see that everyone is so mature."
Then, he said seriously, "Since Li Mu wants to acquire Apple, then we will actively cooperate with him. Meeting, setting up a project, negotiating, and doing our due diligence. We will actively cooperate with all of Makino Technology's needs. As long as he can give us a satisfactory price, everything else doesn't matter. Selling the company at the highest price as soon as possible is our most important task now."
Someone asked, "How are we going to give Li Mu a price? No matter what he offers, we have to give a price and set our bottom line at the same time. "
"This is also the main reason why I asked everyone to come to this meeting." The chairman said, "Our stock price has not stopped falling yet. The news that Andy Rubin has joined Makino Technology to be in charge of the Mango product line has made the investors even more pessimistic about us. Our competitors have already crushed us, and they are still persistently improving themselves. Up until now, we have not announced any plans to the public. We have not even given the outside world any information that might be able to turn the situation around. This has made our investors even more unconfident. If this continues, our market value will fall below 3 billion USD."
Someone said, "Why don't we ask Li Mu for a merger? We will use the current market value as the benchmark, and Makino Technology will use the capital market's valuation as the benchmark. In this case, if Makino Technology sells for 90 billion USD and we buy Makino Technology for 3 billion USD, we will at least get 3.2% of Makino Technology's shares after the merger. We might as well try to fight for it tomorrow and see if we can get 3.5 to 4%. That way, after Makino Technology goes public, we can hold the shares for two years. It is very likely that we will make up for all the losses we lost on Apple, and we might even have a very objective profit."
As soon as this was said, everyone looked at him as if he was mentally retarded. The chairman asked him, "Tom, how old is your son this year?"
"Eight years old, why?"
"Are you interested in adopting a child? This child has a certain degree of disability. "
Tom shrugged and said, "Your analogy is not appropriate. Adopting a child is a pure sacrifice. Acquiring a company is to bring in profits in the future."
“OK。” The chairman nodded and asked him again, "If you adopt this disabled child, raise him up, and pay for him to go to Harvard University, then all the money he earns in the future after deducting his personal expenses, the rest will belong to you. Are you willing to do that?"
Tom said, "That depends on how much potential this child has. If Makino Technology wants to acquire us, they will certainly conduct a thorough consideration of our future potential."
The chairman said, "You have neglected a problem. You only consider the child's future potential, but you have not considered how much money it will cost to raise him up. You have also neglected the fact that this child is disabled. This means that you have to cure his illness, provide him with food, water, clothing, and education. Only then will he be able to help you make money."
Tom spread out his hands. "Li Mu has plenty of money. What he is after may be …"
The chairman interrupted him and said, "I haven't finished yet. Originally, you just wanted to adopt this child and spend money to raise him to cure his illness. But now he needs an organ from your son to save his life. But don't worry, he doesn't need an organ that is indispensable, but an organ that will not affect his life too much even if it is lost, such as a cornea, a kidney, or a piece of liver."
"Enough!" Tom said with an ugly expression, "I just want to help everyone get the most benefits, but you used my son as an example and said such unpleasant words. Isn't that too much?"
The chairman sneered and said, "I just used your son as an example, and you already can't stand it. But you want Li Mu to take a part of his son's organ for you? Did you get kicked in the head by a donkey? Based on Li Mu's style of doing things, if Tim really asks Lin Ching-ah for 4% of Apple's shares tomorrow, how do you think Li Mu will react? I guess he will immediately give up on the purchase and add another bullet to our hearts! "
Tom suddenly felt a little embarrassed. His anger had long dissipated, and what was left was only fear.
Blinded by greed, he thought that he was the smartest person in the world, and that everyone else was an idiot who lacked the ability to think. In the end, it was also this kind of person who lost everything.
The other board members completely understood the current situation of Apple through the series of examples the chairman had just used. Each of them was a dragon or phoenix among men, but when they were together, they were the ones who were closely involved in the situation. This example allowed them to see the whole picture of the situation from the perspective of a bystander for the first time.
Apple was the disabled child waiting to be adopted in the chairman's words. It was already his greatest fortune to be lucky enough to meet someone who was willing to adopt him. It was wishful thinking to expect the adopter to cut off his own son's flesh and feed him.
Therefore, this also meant that Makino Technology should not even think about the acquisition of Apple. Because if they thought too much and said too much, Li Mu might just say goodbye.
Mergers and acquisitions were out of the question, so the only possibility left was a negotiated sale.
Then, how should they quote a price to Li Mu? Ask for a certain premium on the basis of the current stock price? That was like a dream. Because of Apple's current situation, not to mention a certain premium on the current stock price, even if Apple wanted to sell all its shares according to the market value, it was impossible.
The reason why it was impossible was because Apple was a listed company. Although most of its shares were in the hands of the board of directors, there were still some shares circulating in the market. These shares were bought by a large number of investors. In order to protect the interests of investors and the stability of the entire securities market, the capital market strictly restricted the freedom of shareholders and executives of listed companies to sell out.
In other words, if a certain capital had 10% of Apple shares, if they wanted to cash out the 10%, it was not as simple as directly selling the shares in the stock market. First, they had to disclose the reduction in advance according to the requirements of the market, and go through a large number of cumbersome and slow processes. Finally, after a long process, they could cash out the shares bit by bit like squeezing toothpaste.
This way, if Apple's shareholders wanted to reduce their holdings, they had to disclose it to the public before doing so. Once investors found out that Apple's shareholders wanted to escape, panic would lead to a greater selling wave. At that time, before the shareholders had time to reduce their holdings, the stock price would fall to the bottom.
This also meant that Apple's shareholders were now deeply trapped investors, and it was impossible for them to cash out according to the market value.
Therefore, if Apple's shareholders wanted to cash out now, not only could they not get the cash according to the market value, but they also had to sacrifice part of their interests to obtain the opportunity to cash out. This was the key bargaining chip that Li Mu used to lower the price of Apple.
If Apple's market value was 3 billion USD, and the shareholders owned 70% of the shares, then the shares would be 2.1 billion USD. If Li Mu controlled the tempo well, it was very likely that he could force Apple's shareholders to agree to sell all their shares to him for 1.5 billion USD, making him the controlling shareholder of Apple.
However, if Li Mu wanted to delist Apple from Nasdaq, he had to give a premium to the market value of the outstanding shares to ensure that the privatization went smoothly. If Apple's outstanding market value reached 900 million USD, then Li Mu had to make up for the premium and buy back the shares from them. If the premium was 40%, it would cost him 360 million USD more.
This seemed to be the cost that Li Mu had to bear, but for the Apple board of directors, they knew that Li Mu would definitely put this cost on them.
Not only could they not get the money according to the stock price, but they might even get a lot less than the stock price.
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