While Li Mu was waiting for the plane to take off, Elon Musk was arguing with Bill Ford Jr.
Bill Ford Jr. was in a dilemma. He didn't want to agree to Li Mu's offer of five billion dollars, but he didn't want Elon Musk to leave.
In the end, Elon Musk was a little annoyed by him. He said to Bill Ford Jr., "If Mr. Ford refuses now, I'll go back to Silicon Valley immediately. If you don't refuse now, and you don't agree, I'll sit here and wait. When Mr. Ford decides to accept Li Zong's offer, we'll continue our discussion."
Then, he added, "It doesn't matter if you don't come out today. I can continue to wait in the hotel."
Bill Ford Jr. was a little indignant. What he couldn't accept the most was Li Mu's attitude. However, he really didn't have the courage to refuse his offer.
After struggling for so long, Bill Ford Jr. was completely annoyed. He suddenly stood up from his seat and blurted out, "Okay! I want to pay five billion dollars in one go! "
Elon Musk nodded and said, "Then I'll ask the boss and see what his attitude is."
Bill Ford Jr. said calmly, "Okay, I'll wait for your news."
Then, he took out a cigar, lit it, and slowly took a puff.
Now, he felt an indescribable sense of relief.
There was a saying that went, "If you can't resist, you might as well enjoy it."
Now, he felt like a huge stone had been lifted from his heart. Although it was painful, in his opinion, it was worth it.
Li Mu's words had given him a lot of inspiration. He felt that Ford had to think about how to make the Ford brand even bigger and stronger.
Why were the Santana and Jetta without airbags the best selling in Hua Xia? Why were Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo not bought in Hua Xia? Thinking about it carefully, it was the problem of not being clear enough about his position.
What if Ford introduced a real car in Hua Xia in the future? Is it possible to replace Santana's position in Hua Xia?
When Li Mu got the five billion US dollars, he would invest it all into Ford's own brand. As long as the Ford brand was made bigger and stronger, the Ford family would be able to prosper for a long time. From then on, they would no longer engage in the so-called multi-brand strategy as before.
Li Mu was waiting for the plane to take off when he suddenly received a call from Elon Musk. On the phone, Elon Musk's voice was trembling as he said, "Li Zong, Ford has agreed. Five billion USD!"
Elon Musk was extremely excited at this time, but he had to desperately control his emotions.
From Elon Musk's point of view, 5 billion USD for these three brands is a good deal.
Also, most importantly, Tesla finally has a platform that it can rely on.
Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo. Their platforms and chassis technologies can be used by Tesla in the future. This will greatly facilitate Tesla's research and production.
This also made Elon Musk admire Li Mu even more.
This boss was really godly. Even Rufford's scalp was cut by him. This summary operation was simply too amazing.
Li Mu finally heaved a sigh of relief.
He was not sure if the 5 billion USD would work. Now that Bill Ford Jr. finally agreed, it proved that his alarmist talk was effective.
In his excitement, Li Mu said to Elon Musk, "As for the rest of the matters, you can have a good talk with Bill Ford Jr. I want to complete the acquisition as soon as possible. At the same time, have him gather the people in charge of the three brands and four production lines as soon as possible. You can have a meeting with them first to stabilize the team."
“OK。” Elon Musk said, "Oh yeah, Li Zong, Bill Ford Jr. has a request. The 5 billion USD must be paid in one lump sum."
Li Mu could not help but think.
5 billion USD is not a small amount. Although Makino Technology has a lot of money in its account, and its cash flow is very healthy, it is still very difficult to take out 5 billion USD at one go.
For Google's IPO, Lu Zhou can reduce a portion of the original shares, but it will only be around 3%. Based on the market value of 50 billion, it will only be 1.5 billion USD. If Lu Zhou sells his shares after the IPO, he will be a fool. After all, Google's future is limitless.
After thinking about it, Li Mu decided to make a wave of equity pledge first. He would pledge part of the shares of Muye Technology to the investors, and then borrow a sum of money from the investors.
The Goldberg family itself is a banker and a venture capitalist. It is better to get a sum of money from them. At most, he will just have to pay some interest.
Thinking of this, Li Mu said to Elon Musk, "Tell Bill Ford Jr. that it is not a problem to pay in one lump sum."
"Okay." Elon Musk said, "Then I will tell him. I will hurry up with the acquisition plan in the next two days."
"Okay." Li Mu said, "I will leave this matter to you. It is best to sign an agreement with him now, and then I will announce the news."
Li Mu clearly remembered how excited the people of Hua Xia were when Geely announced the acquisition of Volvo.
That piece of news was like a bomb to the people of Huaxia. It was unprecedented and would never be repeated again.
All the major media also reported this acquisition. A Hua Xia company acquired a well-known car brand in Sweden. This was really big news that could greatly enhance the national pride and sense of belonging.
From that moment on, Volvo was like a free national advertisement, making Volvo known to everyone in China.
When Volvo was really owned by Geely, the people of China immediately used practical actions to show their support, making Volvo's development soar.
Li Mu also wanted to seize this good opportunity to announce the news that he was going to acquire these three brands. This way, these three brands would be much more well-known in Hua Xia. In the future, once he reorganized these three brands and launched them into the market, the people of Hua Xia would definitely give him great help and impetus.
…
After hanging up the phone, Li Mu immediately called Davidson Gao Bai, the head of the Goldberg family.
As soon as the phone was connected, Davidson said very enthusiastically, "Mr. Li, why did you call me? Are you coming to the UK?"
"I can't go for the time being." Li Mu smiled and went straight to the point. "Davidson, I am calling to ask you for a loan."
Davidson said without hesitation, "Sir, just tell me the number, and I will help you prepare it."
For Davidson, Li Mu was his biggest financial backer. Li Mu agreed to let him be the lead underwriter for the IPO of Makino Technology, which was a huge opportunity for him.
Therefore, if Li Mu needed his help, he would try his best to help Li Mu solve it.
At this time, Li Mu said, "I want five billion dollars. I will repay the money after the listing. I can pledge six points of shares of Makino Technology to you, but you have to pay me at the lowest interest rate."
"Five billion?!" Davidson did not expect Li Mu to ask for such a large amount of money. He asked subconsciously, "Mr. Li, have you reached an agreement with the Ford Group to acquire it?"
In the beginning, it was Davidson who helped Ford, so he knew about Li Mu's intention to acquire it. When he suddenly heard that Li Mu wanted to pledge a loan of five billion dollars, he immediately thought of it.
Li Mu did not hide it from him. He said lightly, "Yes, I have already communicated with Ford. Makino Technology will invest to acquire Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo. The three brands will be bought for a total of five billion dollars."
"The price is really low!" Davidson sighed sincerely and then said, "But the future of the automobile industry is not very good now. Although the price of five billion dollars is cheap, I don't think any car manufacturer is willing to spend so much money to acquire it at this time. In the end, Mr. Li, you are more courageous!"
Davidson was not flattering Li Mu. Now the automobile industry as a whole was in a slump. Almost all car manufacturers maintained a very conservative attitude in brand expansion. At this time, it was very likely that they would fall off the cliff and be doomed forever.
Although the five billion dollars of Ford was a bit of a loss, considering the current industry background, Davidson could understand.
Li Mu smiled and said, "It's very difficult for me to come up with five billion US dollars in one go, so I asked you for help. You have a bank, a fund, and a lot of capital connections. The amount of money you can move is relatively large. Five billion US dollars shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"
For the Goldberg family, most of their industries were concentrated in the financial field.
Most of the financial field was the way of borrowing chickens to lay eggs. A family's assets may only be a few hundred million dollars, but the funds in their hands may be more than a billion or even more. These were the money entrusted to them by various investors to invest. Generally, they set up a fund, put the money in the fund, and the person in charge was responsible for the capital operation of the entire fund.
The Goldberg family's own assets were in the tens of billions of dollars, so the amount of funds in their hands was as huge as a hundred billion dollars. Some of this money was placed in the bank for relatively safe commercial loans, and some was placed in the fund for high-risk and high-return investments. Taking out five billion dollars to give to Li Mu, with the equity of Makino Technology as a pledge and the interest income, was very easy for Davidson.
So he said with a smile, "Mr. Li, rest assured that five billion dollars is not a big problem for us. When do you need it?"
Li Mu said, "It is best to start the process now. After the process is completed, first transfer the money to Makino Technology's account."
"No problem." Davidson immediately said, "I will talk to the person in charge of the loan at HSBC now and let him go through the process. Then, I will find Mr. Li to sign the contract. After the contract is signed, the money will be transferred to your account soon."
"That's settled then." Li Mu smiled and said, "I will wait for your good news."
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