While Tom Anderson, the vice president of eBay, was having an interview with Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, Meg Whitman was dealing with the anger of the board of directors.
When there was bad news in the market, it was difficult to save the falling share price. Meg Whitman caused all the shareholders' shares to shrink by 7% in one day. However, this was just the beginning. Once PayPal signed a contract with Makino Technology, and Makino Technology officially controlled PayPal, eBay's share price would fall again.
Twice in a row, the share price would fall by at least 10%.
Meg Whitman had been anxiously waiting for Tom Anderson to give her feedback. If Tom Anderson's efforts failed this time, she was afraid that this matter would really be unsalvageable.
Just as Meg Whitman was getting impatient, Tom Anderson called. The first thing he said was excitedly, "PayPal and Makino Technology have given us a perfect offer!"
Meg Whitman immediately asked, "What offer?"
Tom Anderson's voice was trembling as he said, "Peter Thiel just talked to Elon Musk and Li Mu, who are far away in Hua Xia. They have a new idea. Both of them are willing to let us control PayPal, but we can only hold 51% of the shares. Li Mu's Makino Technology wants to hold 29% of PayPal's shares, and the original team will hold the remaining 20%!"
Meg Whitman's heart instantly relaxed. 51% was already not bad! Absolute control was enough. Right now, she only dared to hope for so much. However, when she thought that Makino Technology also wanted to be a shareholder, she frowned. "That Li Mu also wants to join? Then, won't we become partners with him in the future? "
Meg Whitman did not have a good impression of Li Mu. A 20-year-old Hua Xia brat had brought her so much trouble and crisis. She did not want to become partners with Li Mu in the future.
However, Tom Anderson said, "What Li Mu means is that he hopes that Muye Technology and eBay will work together to import resources to PayPal. At the same time, he is willing to use YY to cooperate with us to promote eBay's business in all countries outside of China. In return, we will also be tied to his YY to enter the overseas market. In other words, the two sides can reach a strategic alliance in the future."
Meg Whitman was a little stunned.
Not only did Li Mu want to invest in PayPal, but he also wanted to cooperate with eBay. What's more, he wanted to put PayPal aside and directly cooperate with eBay. This was really a bit out of her expectation. However, after carefully thinking about the pros and cons, Meg Whitman suddenly became excited.
She could not help but be excited! No matter what she thought of Hua Xia's Internet company and Li Mu, she could not deny that YY's current momentum was too strong. Unlike eBay, which needed to invest a lot of cash and resources to enter any market, YY was different. It did not need to spend a single cent to quickly capture the elite class of the market. This kind of contagious, self-propagating ability was what eBay dreamed of.
If she cooperated with Li Mu, eBay and YY would definitely be mutually beneficial in the future. They would each take what they needed and grow together.
This was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that if eBay successfully controlled PayPal, she would be able to survive her biggest crisis. Moreover, if eBay and Makino Technology established a partnership, it would be great news for eBay. When that time came, eBay's stock price would definitely soar.
Thinking of this, Meg Whitman had already made a decision in her heart. Whether it was for public or private reasons, she had to immediately agree to this offer and make it happen as soon as possible. Otherwise, the pressure on her would be too great to bear.
At this time, Tom Andreessen said on the phone, "However, PayPal and Makino Technology have a relatively strict requirement."
Meg Whitman blurted out, "What requirement?"
Tom Andreessen said, "Although PayPal is willing to let us and Makino Technology invest in them at a valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars, the problem is that they want us to first pay for Makino Technology's 29% shares. When the time comes, we will sign the contract in the form of an interest-free loan to Makino Technology, and Makino Technology will repay the money to us after the Series C financing."
Meg Whitman almost vomited blood when she heard this.
It was not that she was angry, but that she had finally seen Li Mu's way of playing.
She knew that Makino Technology was preparing for the Series C financing, but there had been no clear news. This was understandable. Makino Technology's valuation changed every day. Without negotiating a suitable price, Li Mu would definitely not let the capital in easily.
He wanted to raise funds, but he had not, which meant that Li Mu did not have a lot of cash on hand. With a valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars, Li Mu would need to pay 435 million in cash for a 29% share. It was obvious that he definitely did not have that much money. Otherwise, why would he raise funds with so much money?
Li Mu was smart. Li Mu knew very well that if he raised funds first and then invested in PayPal, the capital would inevitably be at an advantage. Therefore, if he wanted to take advantage of himself, he had to invest first and then raise funds. But if he invested first, he would not have the money. What could he do? He could only play the most shameless trick.
Now, Meg Whitman also understood that Li Mu had actually teamed up with PayPal to force her into a corner. Now, he had come up with such a tempting offer to tempt her. If she agreed, she would have to pay the 435 million US dollars for Li Mu. Although she was very unwilling to be taken advantage of, she had no other choice.
Once she agreed to this offer, Li Mu would become a shareholder of PayPal without spending a penny. Although he owed her 435 million on paper, the company's valuation would increase by far more than this 435 million.
When she thought of this, Meg Whitman felt very aggrieved. But she also helplessly realized that once she felt aggrieved, it meant that she had subconsciously decided to accept the offer.
Therefore, she said to Tom Anderson, "Come back as soon as possible. I will report this to the board of directors. We will convene a board meeting when you come back."
…
On the morning of September 20th.
Before Li Mu set off for Makino Technology, he deliberately put on a very decent formal suit to make himself look particularly spirited.
There were two reasons for wearing a formal suit. One was that he had already booked a welcome party at school this evening, where he would give a speech to the new students.
The other reason was that Makino Technology had just announced to the public yesterday that there would be a press conference at Makino Technology this morning.
The reason for the press conference was very simple. eBay had accepted his offer, including the loan of 435 million US dollars to Makino Technology for Makino Technology to acquire 29% of PayPal's shares.
The scale of this press conference was very large. Not only were all the domestic media invited, but even the media reporters from all the developed countries in Yan Jing were also invited.
At this press conference, Li Mu, Elon Musk, and the representatives of eBay would officially announce to the public that eBay and Makino Technology would jointly invest in PayPal, and everyone would sign the contract at the press conference.
In addition, Li Mu would also announce that Makino Technology and eBay would form a strategic partnership in the future for the development of the overseas market. Once this news was announced, it would be a great stimulus for both eBay and Makino Technology.
At present, the media did not know that Makino Technology and PayPal had reached a cooperation agreement with eBay. Therefore, today's press conference would definitely become a blockbuster news in the international Internet industry, and even the financial industry.
This time, eBay was really decisive. After the board meeting on the same day, they accepted his offer, and they did not even bother to send people over from the US. Everyone signed the contract, and after the three parties' legal team confirmed that there were no problems with the contract, eBay directly entrusted their person in charge in Hua Xia to sign the contract with Li Mu and Elon Musk on behalf of eBay.
In fact, the core terms of the three-party cooperation contract were very simple. Both parties would each invest 51% and 29% of the shares based on the actual valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars. Within fifteen working days after the contract was signed, the two parties would pay the funds into their accounts, and the whole process of investment would be completed.
According to the standard procedure, before a company invested in another company, it first had to do a complete due diligence and audit of the company. However, Li Mu happened to be in time. All the due diligence and audit of PayPal had already been done by eBay, and it was done by an extremely professional team. At that time, the due diligence and audit were done based on the valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars. Now that the valuation had not changed, Li Mu gave up on the due diligence and audit and directly accepted the valuation.
Before signing the contract officially at the press conference, Li Mu had to sign a loan agreement with the representative of eBay in private. eBay would lend Makino Technology 435 million US dollars, and the money would be paid to the account of Makino Technology's branch in the US within three working days.
This money was completely interest-free, and there was no clear repayment date. The repayment date was written as: within thirty working days after Makino Technology completed the next round of financing and received the financing amount.
In other words, if Li Mu wanted to hold on for a year and a half before financing again, eBay would not urge him to repay the money. He just had to wait until Li Mu completed the financing, then he would repay them.
EBay was rich and overbearing. They had already reserved 1.5 billion US dollars from the stock market to buy PayPal. Currently, even with the money they had lent to Li Mu, they had only used 80% of it, which was 1.2 billion US dollars. Therefore, they did not have any financial pressure. For the board of directors behind eBay, they did not mind lending Li Mu this little bit of money. After all, once the three-party cooperation contract was signed, eBay would be able to promote this huge good news in the US overnight.
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