Ma Yun had a dark face and issued an eviction order.
Today he was caught in the middle of both sides and suffered a lot of cowardice.
But a man has always been able to bend and stretch. As long as it is beneficial to the company and himself, he will promote it with all his heart. Personal honor or disgrace does not matter.
Lin Fan didn't stay long, so he patted his butt and left.
As soon as he left, Son started talking.
"Jack, did you see that this person's ambition is not small? I hope what you brought in is not a hungry wolf."
Ma Yun naturally understood that this was Sun Zhengyi's eye medicine, smiled and did not answer.
Son Masayoshi said a few more words. Seeing that Ma Yun was still determined and unmoved, he also knew that the other party was determined to let Lin Capital check and balance Yahoo and SoftBank.
Without saying any more words, he stood up and said goodbye and left.
As soon as the old man left, Ma Yun took out his mobile phone and dialed Lin Fan: "Mr. Lin, I want to talk to you again!"
Lin Fan was in the parking lot downstairs. He sat in the car and never left, waiting for Ma Yun's call.
After hanging up the phone, he went upstairs again.
Sitting in the previous office, Lin Fan crossed his arms and asked, "Where is Joseph?"
"He's over with Jerry."
Ma Yun whispered, his face full of exhaustion. In order to balance the interests of all parties, he was exhausted physically and mentally.
Lin Fan had just given Ma Yun a look, and now that he was alone, he naturally had to give him a sweet date.
"Jack, I have no objection to the general direction of your proposed plan, but some details need to be adjusted."
Ma Yun thought that the other party was dissatisfied with the division of equity, so he spread his hands helplessly, "You have also seen that Masayoshi Son is very determined, and he can influence Yang Zhiyuan's opinions."
Lin Fan shook his head slightly and pointed out two fingers, "I have two opinions. First, Yahoo China's valuation needs to be re-evaluated.
The purchase price of 700 million U.S. dollars for Ahri is very detrimental to Ahri’s management and Lin Capital.
Of course, Yahoo is the direct beneficiary, and SoftBank’s indirect stake in Yahoo is the indirect beneficiary, and the two of them are happy to see this."
Ma Yun nodded, this is true, but he is not very satisfied with this valuation.
Yahoo China is currently just an empty shelf, and there are not many places where it can be used by Ahri. It is better to build it than to buy it.
Lin Fan observed the situation and saw that Ma Yun was moving, so he said again: "Secondly, the shareholding structure needs to be adjusted. The best thing is that each of the three of us holds 23%."
This was the plan originally proposed by Jack Ma. He did not expect that Lin Fan would agree. He said with a smile: "But you just heard that Masayoshi Son disagrees life and death."
"Then force him to agree!"
Ma Yun was confused, "How to force me?"
"Make an appointment with Yang Zhiyuan!"
Ma Yun was confused for a moment, then nodded heavily, "You can give it a try!"
…………
…………
Ma Yun made an appointment with Yang Zhiyuan to the hotel where he was staying.
As soon as Yang Zhiyuan entered the room, he saw a familiar figure from behind.
Lin Fan turned around, walked forward with a smile, pointed at the empty chair in the room and said, "Jerry, find a place to sit."
Yang Zhiyuan didn't know why Lin Fan was here, so he turned to look at Ma Yun who asked him over.
Ma Yun smiled "hehe" and said, "Now the investment agreement has basically been negotiated. Let the unpleasantness of the past go away!"
Yang Zhiyuan thought that he had really reached an agreement, and his heart suddenly felt light, so he pulled up a chair and sat down.
Ma Yun tidied up his words and said slowly: "That's it. I'm here to see you and mainly talk about some financing details."
Jack Ma looked at Yang Zhiyuan and said in a deep voice: "Yahoo China's valuation needs to be adjusted."
"Didn't we agree on it? Seventy million US dollars, which is not high!"
Yang Zhiyuan is soft-spoken, but when it comes to his own interests, he still behaves very strongly, staring straight at Jack Ma.
Lin Fan interjected: "Yahoo China has not invested much money in the past few years since it was founded. It mainly spent some money on the acquisition of 3721 the year before last. It didn't cost much, just 120 million US dollars.
Leave some profit margin for Yahoo and let it be valued at US$300 million."
Cutting it off by more than half at once is supposed to leave some profit margin for Yahoo.
Yang Zhiyuan quit on the spot, stood up and said: "If you call me here today to talk about this, then I think there is no need to continue the discussion."
He looked at Jack Ma again and said, "Jack, Mr. Sun has agreed with you that Yahoo China's valuation is US$700 million, which is one of the core conditions for this round of financing."
"The conditions are negotiated slowly. How can we achieve it in one step?"
Lin Fan waved his hand, signaling Yang Zhiyuan to calm down, and continued: "Yahoo China's such a high valuation and the goodwill formed by the merger and acquisition have to be borne by our four shareholders.
You Yahoo and SoftBank are the sellers of the transaction and can offset the losses.
We and Ahri’s management were unable to offset the losses and had to endure the losses.”
"Mr. Lin, you can't say it like that. You think you're at a disadvantage, but Jack doesn't think so."
Yang Zhiyuan glanced at Ma Yun and asked with a smile: "Really?"
Ma Yun went against the usual "good old guy" attitude and shook his head, "We also feel that we are at a disadvantage!
Of course, the one who suffered the most was Lin Capital, which spent real money."
Lin Fan sang along and said, "Aren't you thinking that we are being taken advantage of?"
"Jack, you mean we and SoftBank are no longer needed?"
Jerry Yang also didn’t understand why Jack Ma straightened his back all of a sudden and was not afraid of the threats from him and SoftBank. Could it be that Lam Capital had promised something?
Full of doubts, Jerry Yang forcefully said: "If the transaction cannot be carried out at a valuation of US$700 million, then we will cancel this transaction."
After receiving Lin Fan's instructions, Jack Ma immediately went all out and continued to speak harshly: "If Softbank liquidates Ahri and Taobao's shares, Lin Capital will take over all of them. If other shareholders' shares are sold, Lin Capital will also take over half of them." .
For the other half, we pledged the equity of Ali’s management to make a syndicated loan.”
"Then Lin Capital has become Ahri's largest shareholder!"
Jerry Yang didn't quite believe what Ma Yun said and thought it was putting pressure on himself. He knew very well that what Ma Yun feared most was that shareholders threatened the management's corporate control.
“We give up half of the voting rights of our shares!”
Lin Fan said calmly that he actually proposed this plan to Jack Ma. They would acquire more than half of Ahri's shares and give up part of their voting rights, indicating that they would not threaten the management's right to speak.
However, Jack Ma, who was too suspicious, was not at ease, and he also wanted Ahri's shareholders to be more diversified and to attract more capital circles, so he rejected Lin Fan's proposal.
The two are now playing a double act together, and their real purpose is to force Yang Zhiyuan to make concessions.
Yang Zhiyuan looked at the solemn expressions of the two people and was dubious. This plan was highly feasible and not difficult to implement, but Jack Ma's team needed to stake all their wealth.
He didn't know whether the two had really reached a consensus or were threatening him. For a moment, he was a little undecided.
"SoftBank holds 30% of Ali, while Yahoo only holds 19% or 19.5%. Are you really willing to do this?"
Lin Fan did not mention Yahoo China and jumped to the topic of shareholding structure.
"Mr. Lin, what do you mean? To sow discord between us?"
Jerry Yang shook his head and laughed, "We have had nearly ten years of cooperation and friendship with Mr. Masayoshi Son. SoftBank is not only a shareholder of Yahoo, but we and SoftBank also jointly own Yahoo Japan!"
Lin Fan understood what Yang Zhiyuan said.
Yahoo was founded in March 1995, and received a US$2 million Series A investment from Sequoia Capital one month after its establishment.
In the fall of that year, all the financing was spent, so Moritz introduced Masayoshi Son to take over.
In November 1995, Son first invested US$2 million in Yahoo, which had only a few employees at the time.
In March of the following year, he invested an additional US$100 million and acquired 35% of Yahoo's shares in one fell swoop.
Then one month later, Yahoo was successfully listed on Nasdaq, with a market value of nearly US$1 billion and only 49 employees.
From establishment to listing, it only took 13 months in total!
In April 1996, Masayoshi Son's SoftBank invested US$72 million to establish Yahoo Japan together with Yahoo Global, which was only two years old. SoftBank held 51% of the shares and Yahoo Global held 35%.
In 2004, Yahoo Japan's market value reached an unprecedented US$50 billion, while Yahoo's global market value was only US$33 billion during the same period.
Therefore, the relationship between Yahoo and SoftBank cannot be understood as a simple shareholder relationship. They are the closest partners and a community of interests.
It is not easy for Lin Fan to break up this good pair of friends, and he must come up with a sufficiently attractive bait.
"SoftBank is a shareholder of Yahoo, and Yahoo is not a shareholder of SoftBank. You have to understand this!
SoftBank benefits, and Yahoo will not get any of the benefits."
Lin Fan warned loudly, and then softened his tone a little: "My idea is that Yahoo holds 26% of the shares, Lam Capital holds 23% of the shares, and SoftBank holds 20%.
If you agree, we will make certain concessions on Yahoo China's valuation.
Yahoo is the biggest beneficiary of this transaction!"
Jack Ma also came out and added: "We are all descendants of Yan and Huang. If we have to choose the largest institutional shareholder between Masayoshi Son and you, we hope it will be you, not Masayoshi Son."
Lin Fan couldn't hold back his laughter. What a stupid reason!
However, Jerry Yang has always valued emotions and tends to fall into this trap.
Of course, the benefits are also clear, increasing the shareholding ratio and raising the valuation of Yahoo China.
Yang Zhiyuan fell into silence for a while.
Ma Yun secretly gave Lin Fan a wink, there is a way!
Compared with the cunning Son Zhengyi, Yang Zhiyuan is undoubtedly much easier to deal with.
So the two set their breakthrough point on the founder of Yahoo.
To this end, the two made many plots.
"Mr. Son Zhengyi is a very independent person, and what he decides cannot be changed."
Yang Zhiyuan was silent for a long time, holding back this sentence.
Lin Fan and Ma Yun looked at each other and both knew that the other was attracted.
For Ari's D-round financing, management, Yahoo, SoftBank, and Lam Capital have actually reached a certain consensus.
What is currently being fought for is just a few shares.
It sounds like they are as stingy and fussy as the uncles and aunts at the vegetable market.
But given Ahri’s current valuation of US$30 to US$4 billion, a single share of equity is worth US$30 to 40 million.
Moreover, several investors are not stupid. They have all seen China’s vast e-commerce market and its exaggerated growth rate.
Once Ahri is completed, a small amount of equity may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the future.
One point is worth billions of dollars, which I don’t even dare to think about yet.
In short, the three investment institutions all want to divide a few more shares of Ali.
Yang Zhiyuan has a soft-tempered temperament, and he comes from a technical background, so he is relatively less playful.
But he is definitely not stupid. The current plan is beneficial to Yahoo. He is very tempted, but he is worried that he will not be able to convince Son.
So Lin Fan and Ma Yun began to make suggestions for him.
Jack Ma wants to push forward the implementation of the financing plan as soon as possible, get the money as soon as possible, and completely end the war on domestic c2c e-commerce platforms. At the same time, he also wants to avoid Yahoo and SoftBank from holding too much equity, so as not to lose the future.
And Lin Fan just wants to hold a few more shares in Ali. In the next few years, there should be no better investment than this.
Now that SoftBank doesn't want to share it, it will enlist Yahoo to fight for it.
When it comes to interests, Yahoo and SoftBank are not monolithic. Especially when Lam Capital is willing to let Yahoo be the largest institutional shareholder, Jerry Yang is still willing to cooperate with Lam Capital under certain conditions.
As for the personal grievances between him and Lin Fan, we can put them aside for the time being. They are both adults and know how to put profit first.
In fact, he and Lin Fan don't have much grudges. Facebook rejected Yahoo's acquisition, Facebook defeated Yahoo in social networking, and Lin Capital intervened in Ahri's financing...
That's all Ling Ling always has, and it's not a matter of deep hatred or sworn hatred.
The three people exchanged opinions with each other and quickly came up with a highly feasible plan.
Jerry Yang took this plan and was responsible for convincing Son.
The two of them stayed away to avoid Sun Zhengyi becoming repulsive.
Jerry Yang left with full harvest.
Ma Yun sent him out of the door, then returned to the room and said to Lin Fan: "Mr. Lin, are you satisfied now? Don't make any more trouble."
After experiencing this incident, Ma Yun also knew that the person sitting on the chair and smiling at him was definitely not someone to get along with.
The methods are extremely sophisticated, combining vertical and horizontal forces, pulling one group to fight another, and never standing still when it's time to stay down and be a child. It's so torturous!
Lin Fan didn't know that he had been recorded in Ma Yun's notebook, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, as soon as Son compromises, the contract will be signed immediately, and there will be no delay in payment.
Jack, you've worked hard these past two days! When this happens, I'll find a place and let's celebrate."
"There's no need to celebrate, I'm still worried about the domestic issues!"
Thinking that the two sides are still "plastic brothers", Jack Ma did not want to displease Lin Fan, so he added: "We will celebrate when Ahri is officially launched."
In his mind, Lin Fan sighed at Jack Ma's impeccable way of dealing with others, and smiled and said yes again and again.
"Mr. Lin, there is something that you must pay attention to!"
Lin Fan looked up at Ma Yun, somewhat puzzled.
"You have to find a way to use your funds as domestic capital!"
Ma Yun paused, "In this way, between the two of us, domestic capital will definitely control Ali, which will be beneficial to Ali's future development of some more sensitive businesses."
Lin Fan thought to himself that he had just finished praising Jack Ma for his impeccable work, and now the other party had shown his foresight again.
At present, the country is still vigorously promoting investment, and several Silicon Valley giants are rushing to flood into the Chinese market like vicious dogs.
The country has not taken action in this regard yet, but Jackma seems to have seen some signs.
So Lin Fan asked: "You are close to the big guys in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Have you heard any news?"
Ma Yun waved his hands repeatedly and kept silent about this matter.
Lin Fan didn't hold on, and the other party didn't want to talk, so he gave up.
After chatting with Jack Ma about traditional martial arts again, Lin Fan said goodbye and left.
…………
…………
Yang Zhiyuan persuaded Sun Zhengyi, and it turned out to be much more effective than Jack Ma and Lin Fan.
Although SoftBank is an important shareholder of Yahoo, Masayoshi Son also has to sell Yang Zhiyuan two cents.
At first, Son was resolute, getting angry and threatening in various ways.
But Yang Zhiyuan released Lin Fan, and Ma Yun prepared the first trick for him - flipping the table.
Jerry Yang said that if Yahoo is not allowed to take the lead, then Yahoo will withdraw from this financing operation.
Sure enough, Son Zhengyi was anxious.
How could Yahoo quit?
Once Yahoo withdraws, the intrinsic value of Ahri will be greatly reduced. Although he can also liquidate his shares in Ahri, it will obviously not make as much money as "bringing Yahoo into the market and helping Ahri win the e-commerce battle".
Therefore, Masayoshi Son had no choice but to compromise and decided to give a few shares to Yahoo.
But Jerry Yang didn't stop there and asked SoftBank to give a few more shares to Lam Capital.
This immediately pissed off Son Zhengyi.
This was what Lin Fan and Ma Yun expected, so Yang Zhiyuan opened the second tip the two gave him - Xu Yiyi.
After Yahoo went public, SoftBank reduced its stake in the company, but still holds a significant proportion of its shares.
Jerry Yang's meaning is very clear. Yahoo has taken the majority of Ali's shares, and SoftBank can also indirectly hold a part of the shares. Plus SoftBank's direct holdings, overall it will not be less.
In addition, Yahoo can acquire SoftBank's Taobao shares at a high price to help Son make a fortune first.
Furthermore, Jack Ma's team expressed that it can accept Yahoo China's injection at a higher valuation, and SoftBank can indirectly benefit from it.
