Chapter 144: Jump off the Building and Bleeding Big Sale
While the two were strolling around and talking about future plans, Bai Shuo's phone rang. "Haha, the first sale is here." Bai Shuo waved the phone in front of Liang Ying's eyes, and it was Steve calling.
Come.
"Hi, dear Bai, I don't think you can keep the 1 billion yuan." Steve said on the phone.
Bai Shuo smiled and said: "Dear Steve, 1 billion (meter yuan) has been prepared for you and can be available at any time."
Steve was obviously very surprised. At this moment when funds are drying up everywhere, Bai Shuo seemed so indifferent to the 1 billion yuan of funds. He said slightly apologetically: "It's just...according to the current stock price of our company, your investment
It might be a bit of a disadvantage.”
Bai Shuo burst out laughing: "Don't say that Steve, I'm optimistic about your long-term development. I believe your stock price will rise soon. Don't think I'm making too much money then."
"Yo." Bai Shuo really thinks so. The current stock price of Apple is a little more than 6 yuan. It seems that Bai Shuo will suffer a loss by injecting capital at a price of 7 yuan/share, but Bai Shuo knows that this price is comparable to the future price.
The ratio is so low. And with such a high-growth stock in hand, Bai Shuo is equivalent to owning a money-making machine. The dividends of the stock and the increase in market value are enough for him to make a lot of money. The most important thing is,
When financing is needed, these stocks will be the best collateral. Therefore, in addition to injecting 1 billion in the name of iph, Bai Shuo will also use his personal funds to take the opportunity to buy a large number of Apple stocks, which is a story later.
After Bai Shuo and Steve briefly discussed on the phone, the next things will proceed according to the procedures. Bai Shuo no longer needs to worry about these. The black young man Mark finally accepted the first important decision from his new boss.
Mission. Many years later, he finally understood the economic significance of the mission he completed at that time.
In the midst of the global economic crisis, Bai Shuo soon found his first prey - Nortel Networks. This is a well-known telecommunications equipment supplier in Canada. It is engaged in optical networks, gsm/umts, cdma, wimax, and ims.
, the world's leading supplier of enterprise communication platforms and other fields. What Bai Shuo values most is the very in-depth cooperative relationship between Nortel Networks and China. It has entered the Chinese market since 1972 and is committed to becoming the Chinese communications network.
As a leader in China's business, Nortel Networks has also made full preparations for the construction of China's 3G network. In addition to providing China with gsm network construction and expansion equipment, Nortel Networks is also a new member of Lianxun.
The main supplier of cdma network. It has very in-depth cooperation with major telecom operators in China.
Since 2000, the bursting of the Internet bubble has dealt a major blow to Nortel. However, the main reasons for Nortel's decline are still due to errors in the selection of technical routes, overly aggressive market forecasts, and lack of effective internal management. This is exactly what happened.
It is a risk that all technology companies may face. Errors in technical routes and errors in market forecasts may drag a top technology company into the abyss. Currently, Nortel Networks’ revenue in the third quarter has dropped sharply by 14%.
The loss has reached 3.4 billion yuan, and the accumulated debt has reached 6.3 billion yuan. In the next year, it will need 1 billion to 1.5 billion yuan to ensure normal operations. The sudden financial crisis has made it difficult to raise operating funds.
There is little buffer space and it is close to bankruptcy.
After some analysis, Bai Shuo believes that Nortel ultimately needs to solve two core problems, lack of direction and lack of money. However, these two problems are not problems at all for Bai Shuo, and they happen to be Bai Shuo's most beneficial resources.
As long as Nortel's foundation remains, with Bai Shuo's financial support and correct direction guidance, Nortel will soon stand up again. If it can win this company, it will become an important part of Bai Shuo Telecom's strategic layout.
position.
The negotiation started soon. The boss of Nortel Networks, "Lao Lai", had a surprisingly tough attitude and seemed to regard Bai Shuo as a novice who didn't understand anything, even though Weilun was sitting next to Bai Shuo.
"You know, you have spent 600 million yuan from the beginning of the year to now, and you are rapidly spending the little cash you have left. Bankruptcy is not completely impossible for Nortel. You will need at least 1.5 billion yuan next year.
You need working capital. In the current financial crisis, there is a shortage of money everywhere in the market. I don’t think anyone can provide you with such a large financial support except us." A somewhat impatient Weilun stung his feet and mercilessly
Nortel's embarrassment was revealed.
"We have long planned to revive Nortel by cleaning up the balance sheet and reducing employees. Next year we will cut 1,300 jobs, and several executives, including the company's CTO, will leave the company. These moves will save at least 4
With a cost of 100 million yuan, as long as we transform our business and try our best to expand new businesses, we are confident that Nortel's funds will achieve breakeven." Lao Lai's answer seemed very confident.
Weilun wanted to say something else, but Bai Shuo spoke first: "Business transformation? You have been doing this for 8 years, have you transferred it? If my guess is correct, you still have expectations for the Canadian government, and hope that Canada can
It's a pity that the United States can rescue companies facing bankruptcy."
Lao Lai was obviously struck by what he said, so he quickly asked: "What's the pity?"
"It's a pity that you are not Fannie and Freddie, let alone an enterprise like AIG. Even Lehman is not as good as you. I don't think the Canadian government will take action for you. Why don't we make a bet."
"What to bet on?"
Bai Shuo smiled: "Your company's stock price is now close to 1 yuan. If it falls below 1 yuan and there is still no real improvement, I'm afraid it will be delisted soon. I will bet with you that your company's stock price will be higher this year."
It will fall below $1, and the Canadian government will still be indifferent."
Lao Lai was silent. Yes, he is currently actively coordinating with the Canadian government. Although he has not yet received a response, he feels that the Canadian government will not sit idly by. After all, he is an old telecommunications equipment company that was once extremely glorious.
company.
Bai Shuo felt that there was no need to continue the negotiation. The boss of Nortel was so similar to Mr. Lei of Lehman. It would be difficult for the negotiation to achieve the desired results without destroying the last bit of Lao Lai's self-confidence. So Bai Shuo was very polite.
After ending the conversation, he left with Weilun and Anna. The first negotiation broke down.
On the way back, Bai Shuo received a call from Liang Ying. He and Liu Shu had just negotiated a deal with a small investment bank that was on the verge of bankruptcy at a very small price. Liang Ying laughed loudly when he heard that Bai Shuo was frustrated.
He said: "It's okay. Good things take a long time, but I'm just too impatient. We only talked about it once and it was successful. Now that I think about it, I think it's too expensive."
Bai Shuo's teeth itched when he heard it, and he was actually laughed at by Liang Ying. "Congratulations, you finally learned your lesson. Don't let the Bank of Washington incident happen again."
Bai Shuo's counterattack was based on another failed acquisition plan by Liang Ying. As Lehman was gradually being broken up, Liang Ying keenly discovered that the Bank of Washington was also facing a bankruptcy crisis. This was a bank founded in 1889.
An established company, it is the fourth largest provider of residential mortgage services in the United States and is also a regional financial services company. Because customers were worried that it might be insolvent, the company withdrew 16 billion yuan in deposits in just 10 days.
Facing bankruptcy. At the end of September, Liang Ying held the first negotiation with the other party. However, facing the deteriorating situation, Liang Ying wanted to wait a little longer to put further pressure on the other party. At this time, the Bank of Washington was suddenly regulated by the regulatory authorities.
Seized, taken over, and then quickly sold to JPMorgan Chase for 1.9 billion yuan. This became the largest bank failure in the history of the United States, involving assets of 307 billion yuan. Through this purchase, JPMorgan Chase acquired the distribution of Bank of Washington
There are 5,400 branches in 23 states, with a total value of 130 billion yuan. This has also become another shadow in Liang Ying's heart.
There is some good news on Bai Shuo's side, that is, Mark has settled the Apple matter, and Bai Shuo can stop by to complete the formal signing when he returns. This can also avoid the embarrassment of returning empty-handed. However, Bai Shuo did not expect
What's amazing is that Mark not only helped him deal with the Apple matter, but also helped Bai Shuo decide on something that would play a very important role in a major game a few years later.
Bai Shuo spent two days at Apple headquarters. In fact, the real business time only took more than an hour, and the rest was private time for him and Steve. Steve was very happy to tell Bai Shuo about the latest generation of iPhone products.
The research and development plan has matured, and after some adjustments, it is expected to be released on the market in half a year. Bai Shuo secretly thought for a moment that what was released this time should be the third-generation Apple mobile phone, but this generation of mobile phones has gone through
Inspections of later generations revealed that there were many shortcomings. In the memory of the previous life, the fourth-generation mobile phone that Bai Shuo used for the longest time, as for those after that, are a bit too advanced for today.
So when Steve was very confidently introducing the functions of the new product to Bai Shuo, he suddenly made a series of improvement suggestions to Steve. Bai Shuo's suggestions surprised Steve. After some
Thinking about it, Steve said hesitantly: "The current plan has basically been determined. It will not be easy to make major changes." Indeed, Bai Shuo is not a professional technical talent after all, and some of what he said
Ideas are often wild and unrealistic, and it is very difficult to put them into practice before breakthroughs are made at the technical level. According to Apple's current product plan, new products will be released in another six months. If the plan is readjusted, it may be too late. But history
Tiff still seriously considered Bai Shuo's opinion and prepared to organize professionals to demonstrate it.
In addition to discussing issues such as smartphones and the development of mobile Internet, Steve and Bai Shuo also took Bai Shuo to listen to rock music, eat food, and even walk barefoot on the cold stone slabs, which was very cold for Bai Shuo.
Although he knew that Steve was a vegetarian, Bai Shuo also gave Steve two bottles of Maotai and a signed music album by Chen Bing, and warmly invited Steve to eat hot pot in Shudu. He also jokingly said that hot pot with vegetarian dishes is also good.
s Choice.
When leaving, Bai Shuo saw that Mark had been hesitant to talk for the past two days, as if he had something to say and it was difficult to talk, so he took the initiative to ask him. Then Mark told Bai Shuo hesitantly that he had a friend from a family with great potential.
The financial director of a company. Recently, due to the financial crisis, the company's financial situation has encountered problems. His friend originally contacted Sequoia Capital for capital injection, but in the end the agreement was not reached. This time Mark came to take charge of Apple.
I happened to meet this friend and heard that Mark was in charge of investment matters, so the friend asked Mark to see if he could introduce the funder behind it and see if there was any chance of promoting cooperation.
Bai Shuo smiled and asked, "Mark, but you haven't told me the name of this company yet."
Mark was a little nervous and said with an awkward smile: "This company is called cymer."
Bai Shuo kept thinking about the name, but he didn't seem to have much of an impression.
Mark continued: "This company is mainly engaged in light source research. It is the world's leading provider of excimer laser sources and is very famous in the semiconductor field. At its peak, the company's stock price reached more than 4 billion yuan."
Bai Shuo's eyes lit up, light source, semiconductor.
Seeing that Bai Shuo had not spoken, Mark thought that he had not explained clearly, and then said: "This company has in-depth cooperation with Nikon, Canon and other companies. Recently, it has also had close contact with the ASML company in the Netherlands."
Bai Shuo was shocked: "Dutch ASML company?"
Mark was very excited when he saw Bai Shuo finally reacting: "Well, yes, the Dutch ASML company is also a company engaged in semiconductor technology research. Although it is not well-known, it just acquired Ruichu Technology Company in California last year.
The recent momentum has been quite strong.”
Bai Shuo smiled bitterly. ASML has just entered a period of rapid growth. It will soon surpass many of its peers and become the world's number one semiconductor equipment company. In the future, its photolithography machine products will have a global monopoly. However, Bai Shuo
It’s not that I’m not interested in this company, but after investigation and research, it’s impossible to break into this company at present. I can only watch it grow. However, the growth process of asml company does not rely entirely on its own research and development.
, but continued to absorb and merge many upstream and downstream technology companies, and finally became the semiconductor giant in the future. So is this cymer company also one of the important layouts of ASML company in the future? Bai Shuo is not sure about this
It's very clear, but the importance of light sources definitely plays a very important role in semiconductors. If this Cymer company does have great potential, then winning it may have some effects on the long-term layout in the future that are not yet visible.
"Mark, please lead the way to meet your friend." Hearing Bai Shuo say this, Mark felt very happy because he could finally explain something to his friend.
Then, Bai Shuo picked up the phone and called Liang Ying. At this time, Liang Ying was probably still waiting for Bai Shuo to go back and prepare for the celebration banquet. "Liang Ying, I may not be able to hold the celebration banquet today. I have to go to California.