Chapter six hundred and seventy seventh turning waste into treasure
Ah San is really annoying, and she's making trouble again!
India's Ministry of Information Technology once again challenged Musical.ly and proposed a list of 24 questions, such as how the platform collects user data, raises awareness of safe use, etc.
International firefighter Ma Jun has been transferred to the group's vice president, and this job has been handed over to Mayer, a former Disney executive who officially took office not long ago.
After Mayer arrived in India, she and Nikhil, the India director, met with the Indian Ministry of Information Technology.
After understanding the intentions of the Ministry of Information Technology, Mayer immediately started a video call with Zhang Yida.
"Boss, officials from the Ministry of Information Technology have been trying to figure out the identity of our Chinese company.
In order to ensure data security, we are required to establish a data center in India to store the data of local users in India."
Mayer sat in front of the camera with great energy and reported the work to Zhang Yida. She entered the role quickly and seemed to be very adaptable and like the job.
Zhang Yida pinched his eyebrows. Going to sea was far from being as simple as imagined.
In particular, the more successful a product is, the greater the constraints will be.
Musical.ly has more than 200 million registered users in India, with 120 million monthly active users. It is not an exaggeration to say it is a national application.
The low-barrier entry conditions are very popular among the middle and lower classes in India. Many people gain fans by creating short videos, and then help brands advertise, earning a handsome income that is far higher than their salary.
Seeing that Zhang Yida remained silent, Mayer added, "The Modi government has been pushing global technology giants to store the data of Indian domestic users in India.
The rationale was the need to protect citizens' information and make it more accessible to Indian law enforcement.
Companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as the U.S. government, have criticized the Indian government's proposed regulations, saying they will make it harder for foreign companies to do business and harm India's digital economy and innovation.
But the Modi government still goes its own way, and we can't do anything about them.
Under pressure, many multinational technology giants have compromised.
Many Internet giants around the world, including Microsoft, Amazon, Ali's strategically invested Indian payment company Paytm, and Rice, have agreed to migrate existing Indian user data to local servers in India.
Boss, the company is about to go public, so we should try our best to avoid any problems in the Indian market.
I roughly calculated that it would cost about US$100 million to build a data center, which is not particularly expensive."
Zhang Yida nodded, "Okay, I agree to build the data center.
You go and draw a pie for the Ministry of Information Technology and say that we will invest US$1 billion in India in the next three years and create 10,000 direct jobs."
Mayer nodded and smiled. The multinational giant may seem to have unlimited glory, but in fact it is the face of a country.
If you want to do business on someone else's territory, you have to take some good measures, and hard steel will definitely not do.
"Okay, I'll make an appointment with the officials from the Ministry of Information Technology."
After saying that, Mayer stood up and planned to take action.
"etc."
Zhang Yida stopped Mayer and asked about the Helo short video and the person in charge, Kumar.
"Kumar is very smart. As soon as Helo was launched, he held high the national flag - India's own short video APP.
The effect was very good, and many nationalists rushed to tell each other that some Indian elites had returned to the country to build India.
Kumar also often appears at various universities to talk about entrepreneurship.
At present, Helo has completed a round of Series A financing of US$50 million, led by local Indian venture capital, and its development momentum is very good."
Mayer smiled and said that she still admired Kumar very much. After all, he was also a middle-level manager in Silicon Valley.
Helo is a secret matter, and Zhang Yida did not hide it from Mayer.
After all, Musical.ly is still developing in India, so it would be bad if Helo was killed as a rival.
Zhang Yida narrowed his eyes slightly. He was also aware of Helo's introduction of local venture capital in India. The purpose was to deepen its roots in India.
Although Kumar has dual nationality of the United States and India, his Indian citizenship was only regained not long ago and was specially given by the Indian government to attract international students to return to the country.
Strictly examining Helo's ownership structure, Kumar, the founder, is more like a spokesman for an interest group.
Therefore, in order to make the drama more realistic, allowing Indian local venture capital to invest 10% of the shares can also offset part of the negative public opinion caused by Kumar's small shareholding.
…
Li Hengbo led the team to China and started formal negotiations with Zhang Yida on the transfer of shares in AC Milan.
"EUR 1.5 billion is really too high and the investment risk is too high. How about 1.2 billion euros? If you agree, we can sign the contract now."
Seeing that Zhang Yida was unmoved, Li Hengbo smiled and persuaded, “You also want us to leave some room for valuation increases!
The most successful clubs, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester United, are valued at around 3 billion euros.
You know, Serie A is no longer good. No matter the competitive level, attention, club income, or profits, it is not as good as La Liga and the Premier League."
Zhang Yida admitted that what Li Hengbo said made sense, but if the valuation was only 1.2 billion euros, he would not sell his shares in the Milan club.
After investing so much real money, he just sold the club shares at a low price? This is not his investment style.
"Forget it, I'll just keep it and run it myself. Anyway, I don't need the 4 to 5 billion euros."
Zhang Yida really wasn't pretending to be a wolf when he said this. Li Hengbo also knew very well how abundant Zhang Yida's funds were.
The three companies of Huimin Travel, Green, and Yimin were sold before the listing and cashed out after the listing. These alone amounted to US$4 to 5 billion.
In addition, he also knew that Zhang Yida had pledged Ruixiang's shares for a loan of US$20 billion, and that he had been vigorously competing against short sellers in the US stock market some time ago.
Four to five billion euros is really not much for Zhang Yida, just a drizzle.
"How about 1.25 billion euros? 40.4% of the shares and 505 million euros will be paid to you in one lump sum."
Li Hengbo gritted his teeth and added another 50 million euros to the valuation.
Translated into transactions, this is equivalent to an increase in the purchase price of more than 20 million euros for 40.4% of the shares.
Zhang Yida didn't even raise his eyelids and said calmly, "1.45 billion euros, if you can accept it, let's continue talking."
Li Hengbo has a toothache.
Usually Zhang Yida is laughing and joking and is good with his brothers.
When it comes to business, he immediately turns his back on others.
Instead of rashly increasing the price, he talked to Zhang Yida about the truth.
"By transferring these 40.4% shares, your investment in Milan has basically been recovered.
But Temasek doesn't have that. Counting previous investments and this equity transfer, we have invested almost 600 million euros in total.
If something unexpected happens, we will be the ones who suffer the most?"
Zhang Yida didn't listen to this and retorted, "Any investment has risks! If there is no risk in investment, then it is a scam."
However, none of the investors I have worked with have lost money!”
"What about Gopher Asset Management, Bertelsmann Asia, Lightspeed China, and Northern Lights Venture Capital?"
The slap in the face came a bit suddenly, but Zhang Yida concealed his embarrassment very well and said with a smile, "This is because we encountered force majeure factors and caught up with the decline of P2P.
Besides, haven’t the stock prices of Yimin Wangjin and Yimin Dai gone back up recently?
Ruixin Group is also preparing to go public and prepare to log on to the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
If you follow me, you won't lose him."
Li Hengbo smiled and shook his head. Zhang Yida was also very good at deceiving people, so he had to be careful.
In the end, it was Zhang Yida who took the initiative to give in and lowered the valuation of the Milan club to 1.3 billion euros, which facilitated the deal.
After transferring 40.4% of its shares, Temasek’s shareholding reached 49%;
Zhang Yida still has 50.93% of the shares and is still the largest shareholder.
At the same time, it also received 525.2 million euros in equity transfer funds, recouping all its investment in Milan.
Even if Milan fails again in the future, he will not lose money.
Without the pressure of return on investment, he can also truly look at the development of the club.
The other 0.07% of the shares are in the hands of small shareholders. Former Italian Prime Minister Pele did not clean up the club when he acquired the club in the 1980s.
Zhang Yida also asked these people if they were willing to acquire these shares for 700,000 euros based on a valuation of 1 billion euros.
However, many of these small shareholders are loyal Milan fans and are unwilling to sell these shares. Besides, they can't be sold for much money, so they might as well keep them as souvenirs.
Anyway, it didn't affect the overall situation, so Zhang Yida just let it go.
Judging from the book return, the nearly 51% of the shares he still holds are all investment returns, worth 650 million euros.
Things that were used as waste in Brother Li's hands were successfully turned into treasure in his hands.