Why did Elon Musk attach so much importance to Li Mu? He was on the other side of the ocean, yet he still took the initiative to do him a favor. Not only did he do him a favor, but he also couldn't wait to come to Hua Xia to talk to Li Mu face-to-face. What was he planning?
Not only Li Mu couldn't figure it out, but the others also couldn't figure it out.
There seemed to be a lot of possibilities when they thought about it, but when they thought about it carefully, the hypotheses were basically unreliable.
Just when everyone was a little confused, Liu Shixiong said, "I don't know much about Elon Musk, but I have heard of Paypal for a long time. They are developing rapidly overseas. Could it be that he wants to use Makino Technology to enter the domestic market?"
Li Mu said, "If Elon Musk doesn't know that I have Taobao and Alipay, or doesn't know about these two products, it might be possible. But a person like Elon Musk should have done his homework in advance. He must know that I not only have Makino Technology, but also Alipay. In this case, why would I let his Paypal in? If he really wanted to come in, he should have looked for anyone but me."
Liu Shixiong nodded. "That's true. This kind of person should have done his homework before carrying out the plan."
At this time, Lin Ching-ah asked Li Mu, "Li Zong, this Elon Musk's current net worth should be much lower than yours, right?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "His Paypal should be worth more than a billion US dollars, but his share shouldn't be more than 20%."
Lin Ching-ah smiled and said, "That's far worse than yours, so I think he must have something to ask of you. That's why he is so proactive."
Li Mu asked her, "What do you think he needs from me?"
Lin Ching-ah said, "Nonsense, it must be related to money. To be sure of this, he can only have a few motives."
With that said, Lin Ching-ah continued, "They either want to invest with you, borrow money from you, or do business with you. There are only a few possibilities."
Li Mu frowned. He seemed to have grasped a key point from Lin Ching-ah's words.
At this moment, Lei Jianguo came to a sudden realization and blurted out, "I think I understand now!"
Li Mu quickly asked, "Mr. Lei, what do you think?"
Lei Jianguo said, "If I remember correctly, PayPal started negotiations with eBay some time ago, right?"
Li Mu did not pay much attention to PayPal before YY became popular among the overseas elites. However, he remembered that eBay would officially acquire PayPal this year. Maybe in the next one or two months? They should be at a critical juncture in the negotiations.
At this time, Lei Jianguo said, "I think Elon Musk is looking for you because he wants to sell you PayPal!"
Li Mu was taken aback.
"Sell me PayPal? How can I afford it? That's more than 10 billion RMB. "
Lei Jianguo smiled and said, "All the big names in the US are half capitalists. Their entrepreneurs know more about capital management than our entrepreneurs. There are a few reasons for my consideration.
"First, Elon Musk is a big shot and a businessman. Since he and the other founders want to sell PayPal, they must want to maximize the profits.
"Second, PayPal doesn't have many potential buyers. They're just eBay and Amazon. However, eBay is obviously more enthusiastic than Amazon. That's why PayPal has been talking about acquisition with eBay.
"Third, YY is extremely popular in the US now. It has created such a huge response in the US market and has such a high daily top-up revenue. Its valuation must be skyrocketing. Moreover, Elon Musk must know that Makino Technology is planning to raise a Series C financing. Therefore, he knows that even if you don't have enough money to buy PayPal now, once you raise the funds, I believe you will be able to buy PayPal.
"Fourth, and most importantly, I think Elon Musk values YY and the future of Makino Technology. Therefore, if Makino Technology is interested in buying PayPal, he definitely doesn't want Makino Technology to buy PayPal in cash. The best scenario would be to be acquired by Makino Technology in the form of shares and cash. Then, Makino Technology will take off like a rocket;
"Fifth, to Elon Musk, the cost of going to Hua Xia is very low, but it will put a lot of pressure on eBay. Once eBay thinks that Makino Technology might be able to cooperate with PayPal, they will definitely force them to raise the price to buy PayPal. After all, not only does eBay have to worry about PayPal slipping through their fingers, but they also have to worry about the Taobao in your hands. They are worried that you will use PayPal to bring Taobao overseas! Therefore, to Elon Musk, as long as he goes to Hua Xia, no matter what the outcome is, he will definitely win. If he can reach an agreement with you, his profits will be maximized. If he can't reach an agreement with you, eBay will definitely pay a premium to ensure the success of PayPal's acquisition. "
Lei Jianguo's comprehensive analysis made everyone think quietly. Li Mu also thought about Lei Jianguo's judgment in his heart. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Lei Jianguo's words made sense.
Elon Musk was a smart man. He took the initiative to give YY the highest rating and priority. He also took the initiative to help promote YY in the United States. It did not cost him much, but he did earn a lot of favors from Li Mu. Therefore, when he said he wanted to go to Hua Xia to see Li Mu, Li Mu almost agreed without hesitation.
In addition, it did not matter if Elon Musk did not get a positive response from Li Mu. PayPal, as an intermediary payment channel, was endorsing YY in the United States. This in itself was releasing an atmosphere of love in the United States, especially for companies like eBay. When they saw the love between PayPal and Makino Technology, they would definitely feel anxious. If Elon Musk came to Hua Xia to see Li Mu, it would only make eBay more anxious.
After thinking about it for a while, Li Mu's heart was clear. He looked at Lei Jianguo and said with admiration, "Mr. Lei's analysis is very in-depth. I think your speculation is 90% likely."
The others also agreed with Lei Jianguo's speculation. No matter how they looked at it, his speculation was the most reasonable.
Lei Jianguo smiled and said, "Thanks to Mr. Lin's reminder, I was able to understand the key point."
Lin Ching-ah said a little embarrassedly, "Mr. Lei, you're too kind. I was just throwing a brick to attract jade …"
Liu Shixiong laughed and said, "Don't be modest, you two. Now is not the time to be modest. Let's think about it carefully. If Elon Musk really wants to sell PayPal to Makino Technology, then is it necessary for Makino Technology to acquire it?"
PayPal was the world's largest and most mature payment channel. There was no doubt about that. If they could acquire such a behemoth in the payment industry, then Makino Technology would indeed benefit greatly. But the most important thing was that PayPal's valuation was too high. If Makino Technology could hold on a little longer, and at the same time, at the same time, at the same time, it was estimated that it could stand at the level of 40 to 50 billion RMB. Of course, there was also the possibility that the capital market would be extremely optimistic about it and pay a very high premium.
However, 40 to 50 billion RMB corresponded to about 6 billion USD. Li Mu and the other shareholders would not accept too much dilution, so 10% was the best choice. But 10% could only raise 600 million USD. Acquiring PayPal would require more than a billion USD, and the hole was still very big.
What if the hole was big? If they had no money, they could only use shares to make up for it. Elon Musk believed that this was also what he was thinking. He wanted to exchange some cash and then merge PayPal into Makino Technology's system. In the future, when Makino Technology soars, PayPal would also soar. It was much better than selling it to eBay and having nothing to do with each other from then on. However, if Li Mu used half of the cash and half of the shares to acquire PayPal, it meant that other than diluting 10% of the shares to the capital, he also had to dilute the PayPal team by another 10%.
This ratio was too high!
Although PayPal was awesome, Li Mu was not confident because PayPal was useless to him now.
In other words, in the next few years, PayPal would be useless to Mu Ye Technology, and if he gave PayPal to him now, it wouldn't take long for PayPal to die in his hands. The reason was very simple, he didn't have a strong platform to support him.
To maintain the market share of the payment channel, it must rely on e-commerce platforms. In Feng Yu's previous life, PayPal survived and grew because it could rely on Taobao and Alibaba. Just the online transaction volume of these two platforms was enough to make Alipay a world-class payment channel. The reason why PayPal could shine in the future was inseparable from the global development of eBay in the early years.
If Alipay did not have the support of Taobao and Alibaba, this payment channel would slowly decline because other e-commerce platforms would definitely build their own payment channels and would not be controlled by others. At that time, the value of Alipay itself would become lower and lower. When users realized that Alipay could not be used on many platforms, they would naturally gradually give up on it and choose other channels.
Because of this, Li Mu felt that he did not have the ability to support a huge payment channel like PayPal on a global scale. Makino Technology could only be one of the countless companies that had access to PayPal. It was far from enough to support PayPal. If he took over PayPal in this situation, global e-commerce companies such as eBay and Amazon would definitely immediately develop their own payment channels. No matter how difficult and laborious it was, they would not let the payment channels be controlled by other companies.
And Li Mu also knew that he could push YY overseas and use an extremely popular product to change the situation. However, he could not push Taobao overseas in a short period of time, or even in the next few years. The cost was too high. Without more than 10 billion USD to support it, it was basically a pipe dream to want to become a big e-commerce business in developed countries. Therefore, PayPal was even more meaningless to him. Why would he want it?
So overall, if Elon Musk wanted to sell PayPal to Li Mu, Li Mu would definitely refuse. However, Lei Jianguo was right. It was very likely that Elon Musk knew that Li Mu would refuse. However, it did not matter. This time, he came with a "friendly" mentality. Li Mu had already agreed to meet. Next, as long as the two of them met, Elon Musk would have the capital to go to eBay or force eBay to take the initiative to give up more benefits.
Li Mu thought of this and could not help but smack his lips. He shook his head and sighed, "Elon Musk is indeed not an ordinary person. No matter how I look at it, this time he has properly requisitioned me."
Then, Li Mu smiled helplessly and said, "But it doesn't matter. After all, he did me a favor first. It's reasonable for me to return it to him."
Lei Jianguo sighed and said, "It's a pity. It's a pity that we are not strong enough to handle a behemoth like PayPal."
Li Mu nodded and said, "No matter who PayPal is sold to, as long as it is sold to a strong and global online trading platform, it will definitely become big and strong. After incubating it for a few years, it will definitely be no problem to split it and go public in the future."
Liu Shixiong could not help but say, "If PayPal has a suitable mother to develop, it will at least be a product worth tens of billions of USD, right?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Thirty to fifty billion USD is not a problem."
Liu Shixiong looked regretful. "Sigh, it's like knowing that there's a girl who will grow up to be very beautiful in the future, but you can't touch her now … What a pity …"
Li Mu was shocked, and his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He blurted out, "F * ck, Liu Shixiong, your thinking is very dangerous! Don't ever have such thoughts! Be with Sister Xiaojing and stop thinking about those girls who are ten or twenty years younger than you. That's against the law, you know! "
Liu Shixiong was stunned and said, "F * ck, what are you thinking about? I was just making an example. Why would a person like me be interested in girls who are ten or twenty years younger than me … "
Li Mu looked at him warily and said, "Be careful not to bite your tongue when you talk big!"
Liu Shixiong felt very puzzled. He did not understand why Li Mu's example of him made Li Mu have such a big reaction.
Li Mu thought to himself that he really had to guide Liu Shixiong's view of the world in the future. In the future, he must not publicly marry a girl who was twenty years younger than him. He was such a big entrepreneur, and it was not a good thing to do.
After flipping through the article, Li Mu felt that Liu Shixiong's example was quite interesting. Now that he knew that he could not afford to keep PayPal, and it was useless even if he kept it, he still felt the pinch. PayPal would be worth at least fifty billion USD in the future, and it was worth 1.5 billion USD now. If he missed it just like that, he would probably feel the pinch when he thought about it in the future.
At this moment, Li Mu kept knocking on the table and seemed to be talking to himself. His voice was very loud as he said, "F * ck, I can't swallow it all, but I can at least bite off a piece of meat! I don't want to take it all, I just want a piece of meat! "
The others looked at Li Mu's anxious expression and could not help but laugh. To them, this boss was really obsessed with PayPal.
Li Mu frowned and thought for a long time. Suddenly, he had an idea. When everyone was very relaxed, he suddenly slammed the table and said, "Ah! I got it! "
The others all looked at him. "Li Zong, what did you think of?"
Li Mu said excitedly, "Think about it. Is there a possibility? When Elon Musk comes, once he mentions that he wants me to buy or acquire PayPal, I will first calm him down and ask him and his partners not to sell PayPal. Then, we will pull them in, or they will pull us in. Both parties will negotiate with eBay and stop eBay from thinking about buying PayPal. Instead, all three parties will work together and hold PayPal shares. Isn't that great?"
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and a look of surprise appeared on everyone's face.
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