"Mr. Yang Yuanqing, our offer is 1.25 billion USD. We will not consider selling IBM laptops below this price."
"Mr. Ward, 1.25 billion USD is too high. Also, you want so much cash. I don't think many companies in the world can fork out so much cash. We can only offer 800 million USD at most."
"You want to buy IBM laptops for 800 million USD? If that's the case, you are giving it away for free."
"Mr. Ward, your IBM laptops are still 500 million USD in debt. If we buy it, we will have to bear the 500 million USD in debt. "
Three days later, Lenovo and IBM had another acquisition negotiation.
Before this negotiation, both parties had gone through more than a dozen rounds of negotiations.
The media's attention on the two parties had also changed from the original focus of attention to them to a lesser extent.
After all, no matter how many times they talked, they still couldn't reach an agreement. This more or less caused the media to lose interest.
Therefore, both parties wanted to use this negotiation to finalize the acquisition.
However, this time, Lenovo had become extremely tough in the negotiations.
IBM's Global Vice President Ward thought Lenovo would offer 1 billion USD and 18% of Lenovo's shares.
This is a cash and equity acquisition.
After all, IBM's PC business is very famous globally, and the business is developing well.
It will be difficult to acquire the IBM laptops in cash.
Of course, Lenovo's involvement in the equity acquisition is not because they want IBM to join their board of directors.
This is also part of Lenovo's acquisition strategy.
Although Lenovo is a good brand in China, it is not well-known globally.
Lenovo does not want to stop acquiring IBM's laptops. They still want to expand the global market with IBM. However, they have already sold the company, and it is not possible for them to cooperate. It is much safer to acquire the IBM laptops in cash and equity.
First, Lenovo does not need to fork out too much cash.
Secondly, IBM has Lenovo's shares, and they will not give up on the IBM laptops after the acquisition.
"Mr. Yang Yuanqing, I feel that Lenovo is not sincere this time."
Ward is angry and wants to force Lenovo. "You should know the value of IBM's laptops. Once we acquire them, it will be a huge boost for Lenovo."
"Even so, there is a huge risk involved. After Lenovo acquires the IBM laptops, it is unknown if the global users will still recognize our brand. "
"It seems that IBM can talk to other buyers."
"Mr. Ward, we have already shown our sincerity. If you still think we are not sincere, please go ahead. You can talk to Dell or HP. Of course, if Microsoft is interested, Microsoft. "
Under Sect Leader Liu's reminder, Yang Yuanqing took the initiative and retreated in order to advance.
Although he really wanted to acquire IBM's laptop business, he also knew that the more impatient he appeared, the more likely he was to lose the negotiation.
Also, both parties know each other's background.
One wants to sell, and the other wants to buy. This is a good acquisition plan.
But Lenovo is not giving in, and Ward is in a dilemma.
Ward wanted to end the negotiations, but he knew he couldn't.
IBM's laptops are well-known and are comparable to Apple's laptops.
But after 2000, IBM's laptops have been incurring losses.
Just like IBM's current debt. IBM has accumulated 500 million USD.
If it were any other company, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Although IBM's laptops are well-known globally, IBM's main business is not laptops. Their main business is servers and software. Laptops only account for 10% of their total business. Because of this, IBM's board of directors is inclined to sell IBM's laptops.
Although he wanted to sell it, it wasn't easy to find someone to buy it.
First, not everyone has the ability to acquire IBM's laptops.
Secondly, there are some capable people who are not interested in IBM's laptop business.
For example, Dell and HP … these two are global PC giants.
Although IBM's laptop business was world-famous, the two best-selling computer brands in the world didn't think their computers were worse than IBM's. Also, these two companies are competitors, and they want IBM to fail. Why would they pay such a high price to acquire IBM's laptops?
As for Microsoft … Microsoft does not even want IBM's laptops.
The reason is because Microsoft has strategic cooperation agreements with major PC brands.
After some consideration, IBM found a company that is interested in IBM.
This company is Lenovo.
Compared to Dell and HP, Lenovo is not well-known.
But Lenovo is backed by China's huge market. Although they do not have much technology, they are developing rapidly.
After several rounds of negotiations, IBM has figured out Lenovo's intentions.
Originally, they thought that Lenovo would buy their IBM laptop business at all costs. However, Yang Yuanqing's strength today made Ward feel like he had been fooled.
"I need to report this to the higher-ups."
Ward saw Yang Yuanqing's insistence, and he knew that there is no point in negotiating the price.
He is going to report this negotiation to the higher-ups.
As for whether the negotiation is successful or not, it is not up to him to decide.
"Boss, Lenovo is very aggressive today. They did not give us any chance to negotiate. Their price is much lower than what we want."
"I expected this. HP and Dell are preparing to launch their top PC brands. Lenovo must have received the news, which is why they are lowering the price."
"Then we …"
IBM's CEO was about to agree.
Suddenly, his assistant walked in and whispered into IBM's CEO's ear.
Then, IBM's CEO ordered, "Ward, don't negotiate with Lenovo."
This made Ward feel strange.
But this is an order from the headquarters, and Ward can only follow it.
"Mr. Ward, what do you think?"
"Mr. Yang Yuanqing, I'm sorry. Let's end our negotiation here."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing."
"Then …"
Yang Yuanqing opened his mouth. He wanted to ask why.
But he kept his mouth shut.
He knew that he must continue his act today.
Who knows if IBM is also pretending?
Yang Yuanqing left IBM's headquarters without looking back.
He does not want to drag things out and affect Lenovo's image in IBM's eyes.
"Yuanqing, where are you?"
"Chairman Liu, I am still in New York."
"What are you doing in New York?"
"IBM suddenly refused to negotiate. I feel that they want to see our true attitude. I believe that IBM will agree to our acquisition in three days. "
"Agree?"
Liu Chuanqing sneered. "I really don't know how you negotiated with IBM."
Bang! Liu Chuanzhi hung up the phone.
"This …"
Yang Yuanqing felt a chill down his spine. He did not know where he went wrong.
He carefully recalled today's negotiation.
There is no problem.
Yang Yuanqing felt that he did a good job in today's negotiation.
Just as Liu Chuanzhi had said, as the buyer, Yang Yuanqing seized the initiative this time.
Moreover, from the looks of the negotiations, Ward was obviously forced into a disadvantageous position by his own negotiations.
But this was not the main point.
The main point was that the sect leader was angry, and the consequences were severe.
"Old Liu, this is Yuanqing."
"Yuanqing, where are you now?"
"New York. Don't you know … Eh, why are you asking me where I am?"
Yang Yuanqing called his good friend, Liu Dajun, who was also Lenovo's Vice President.
He did not understand what Chairman Liu meant.
Liu Dajun was Chairman Liu's assistant and knew Chairman Liu the best.
"I thought you were back. Aren't you coming back?"
"We are still negotiating. Why would I come back?"
"Still negotiating?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Why?"
Yang Yuanqing's heart skipped a beat. He felt that bad news was coming.
"Yuanqing, you haven't seen the news, right?"
"What news?"
Yang Yuanqing was a little confused. He did not understand what Liu Dajun was talking about.
"Look at the news first. You will know when you see it."
Even though Yang Yuanqing did not understand what Liu Dajun was talking about, he logged onto Shin-Lang's website.
The first headline on the homepage was: [Breaking news, Huanyu Technologies contacted IBM. They intend to acquire IBM's laptop computer business.]
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