The news that Makino Technology wanted to control PayPal was released by Li Mu and Elon Musk in Beijing. Although the people of Hua Xia did not know much about Elon Musk, the media, especially the online media, were quite familiar with Elon Musk. The fact that one of the founders of PayPal and the CEO came to China to pay respects to Li Mu was a big news in itself. Moreover, this was something that could raise the pride of the nation. Therefore, the media in Hua Xia were very enthusiastic about this.
Elon Musk did not want to express his intention to pay respects to PayPal so directly. Before he came, he only wanted to put on a show for eBay, pretending to discuss PayPal with Makino Technology. He did not expect to be dragged into the car by Li Mu the moment he arrived.
It could not be helped. Elon Musk could not reject Li Mu's offer. If he and the other teams of PayPal wanted to negotiate with eBay, it would not be very possible. He had to rope in a big company like Makino Technology, which had the ability and resources, to get eBay on board.
Therefore, after Elon Musk accepted Li Mu's offer, he decided to cooperate fully with Li Mu. Both parties would work together to trap eBay. As long as eBay became the controlling shareholder, everyone would benefit.
Once the news that Hua Xia was interested in controlling an American company spread, it set off a wave of public opinion in China. Recently, Li Mu had become a professional in the headlines of the domestic news. Every once in a while, he would do something that shocked the entire country. This time, it was even more so. Most of the people of Hua Xia did not know what PayPal was, let alone who Elon Musk was. However, when they heard that it was an American company with a market value of more than a billion US dollars, and that they had specially come to Hua Xia to pay respects to Li Mu, everyone immediately took the initiative to learn more about PayPal. They wanted to know what kind of company this was that was eager to hug onto Li Mu's thigh.
EBay was originally a multinational company, and it had a very sensitive information channel. In addition, eBay itself had a branch in Hua Xia, so they had a better understanding of the industry trends in Hua Xia. While Meg Whitman was working overtime with her core team for a meeting, the person in charge of eBay in Hua Xia had already sent an email to Meg Whitman's assistant.
PayPal was currently the biggest strategic asset of eBay. It was worth more than a billion US dollars, and it accounted for almost one-tenth of the entire market value of eBay. If they could acquire PayPal at a reasonable price, it would be very beneficial for eBay.
The biggest benefit of the business was that they had their own payment channel, and this payment channel had a considerable foundation in the developed countries around the world.
There was no need to mention the benefits from the capital aspect. eBay was a listed company, and its current market value was 16 billion US dollars. If they spent more than a billion US dollars to acquire PayPal, it would create big news in the stock market and the capital market. This was also very good news for eBay, and its share price would at least surge. As long as the market recognized PayPal, it would be easy for the market value to increase by 20%, and it would not be impossible for it to increase by 30-50%. In the end, the cost of the acquisition would basically be covered by the increase in the share price.
The capital market was extremely sensitive, whether it was in the US or in Hua Xia. In Hua Xia's stock market, if a listed company seized the opportunity to tell the whole nation a good story, it would be very easy for a good news to exchange for a few limits up. If Makino Technology was listed on the main board of Hua Xia, just the news of Elon Musk joining the company would bring a round of limit up to the stock price without waiting for Makino Technology to invest in PayPal.
However, the sensitivity of the capital market was also a double-edged sword. Positive news would increase the share price and market value, and negative news would also cause the share price and market value to fall.
Because of this, Meg Whitman absolutely did not want to see eBay lose PayPal.
In her opinion, eBay had to acquire PayPal. If the PayPal team did not agree to the price of 1.5 billion US dollars, then they would raise the price. In short, they must not let PayPal fall into the arms of a Hua Xia company.
The capital market now knew that eBay was acquiring PayPal, and they also knew that it was the most critical stage of the acquisition. To all the shareholders and investors of eBay, everyone was waiting for the champagne to be popped to celebrate eBay's successful acquisition of PayPal. If the acquisition ended up with nothing, once the capital market was disappointed, eBay's share price and market value would definitely be affected by this negative sentiment.
Because of this consideration, Meg Whitman said to the entire core team with a cold face, "Now is not the time to debate whether to acquire PayPal for 1.6 billion or 1.7 billion. The most important thing now is to figure out what the PayPal team is thinking."
After saying that, Meg Whitman said to a white man in his forties, "Tom, you've been following PayPal's acquisition all along. Do you have any explanation for why the PayPal team made such a big move?"
The white man called Tom was the vice president in charge of acquisitions at eBay. Seeing that Meg Whitman was blaming him, he had no choice but to stand up and say, "In my opinion, the PayPal team is very likely to be bluffing this time. After all, Makino Technology only announced this plan, and they have not reached a real cooperation agreement yet."
Meg Whitman said, "If it was just Elon Musk going to Hua Xia to meet Li Mu, I would be willing to believe that they are bluffing and trying to raise the price. But now, he and Li Mu took the initiative to announce this news to the media. Could it still be a bluff? Li Mu and Elon Musk are not friends. Why would they help PayPal to bluff? "
Tom said, "The key is that I really can't think of any reason for Makino Technology to acquire PayPal or take control of it at this stage. They don't have a lot of capital, and they haven't been listed yet. At this time, they should be using their capital to promote their core business."
Speaking up to this point, Tom said, "Before Elon Musk went to Hua Xia, our negotiations were going according to plan. Although they were a little dissatisfied with our offer, in the entire internet industry, we are the only company that can offer 1.5 billion US dollars to acquire PayPal. According to our speculation, the PayPal team should have signed the contract with us within a month. However, we didn't expect PayPal to suddenly have a business relationship with YY. The two of them even had some interaction. Following that, Elon Musk suddenly went to Hua Xia. All of this happened very suddenly, and we didn't expect it."
Meg Whitman looked at him, frowned, and asked, "After saying so much, you're trying to tell me that you're not responsible for this, right?"
Tom hurriedly said, "Since I'm the one following up on this project, I will be responsible for any unforeseen mistakes in the project. I won't deny that."
Seeing that Meg Whitman's expression had softened a little, Tom continued, "I just want to say that we need to analyze PayPal and Makino Technology's motives more deeply. If they were purely using money to buy shares or buy over PayPal, the PayPal team wouldn't be able to find a comparable offer to eBay. If Makino Technology really wants to take control of PayPal, and PayPal is willing to give up the plan to sell their shares and let Makino Technology be the controlling shareholder, then they must have reached an agreement on some other level. But as to what level, and what kind of agreement, this is what we need to figure out as soon as possible."
Meg Whitman was enlightened by Tom's words.
Ever since she received the news, she had been a little anxious. When she suddenly heard that Makino Technology and Elon Musk had jointly announced their intention to take control of PayPal to Hua Xia's media, she had been a little flustered. She hadn't thought in this direction for a while. Tom's suggestion was very important. Right now, eBay had to figure out why PayPal was inclined to cooperate with Makino Technology. What did Makino Technology give them that eBay couldn't or didn't offer?
Therefore, Meg Whitman thought for a moment and made a decision. "Get in touch with the key people in PayPal as soon as possible. Since Elon Musk went to Hua Xia, you can look for Peter Thiel. At this time, we don't need to be reserved anymore. Just get straight to the point and ask them what they want!"
In the conference room, another vice president suddenly said, "Could it be that the PayPal team wants to talk to Makino Technology about taking control of PayPal because they don't want to completely sell PayPal? They want to continue participating in PayPal's projects after cashing out their shares?"
Meg Whitman asked him, "You mean to say that the PayPal team mainly wants to keep some shares for themselves?"
"Yes," the vice president said. The Vice CEO said, "Our previous request was to fully acquire eBay. Although PayPal's team is also negotiating with us about fully acquiring eBay, to them, if they continue to be optimistic about PayPal's future, they will definitely want to participate in PayPal to a certain extent and continue to enjoy PayPal's future. This way, they will have more room for imagination than selling all of PayPal."
Meg Whitman's eyebrows immediately furrowed.
This theory was very reasonable. The big capital behind PayPal definitely wanted to cash out and leave. Therefore, it didn't matter to them whether the profits were paid by eBay or Makino Technology. As long as they could get a satisfactory return, even if the money was paid by Ben Lambert, a group of profit-seeking capitalists like them would not reject it.
However, for the founders of PayPal, including Elon Musk, they definitely had deep feelings for PayPal, which they had created with their own hands. If they still wanted to continue holding part of PayPal's shares and continue to fight for a long-term future with PayPal, this mentality was understandable.
It was very likely that Elon Musk reached an agreement with Li Mu because of this mentality. Li Mu would pay for the majority of eBay's shares, and the team would hold a small portion of the shares. This way, both parties could achieve their goals. However, if they cooperated with eBay, they could only choose to sell all their shares. It seemed that Makino Technology was indeed more attractive to Elon Musk than eBay.
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