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Chapter 1111: Chapter 971: Lion’s Big Ask
Since there was no press conference,
it was just a letter from the Company.
Thus,
only a handful of people knew about Tang Qing’s proposed acquisition of ARM,
and most of those in the know thought Tang Qing was overconfident, wanting to "bring glory to Huaxia," and didn’t take it seriously. Tang Qing’s stock market acquisition moves, however, piqued the interest of many.
They believed Tang Qing couldn’t possibly take over ARM
because it was a Huaxia enterprise.
Regardless of Western countries’ technology embargoes against Huaxia, the major semiconductor giants alone would never agree.
Should the acquisition fail,
or should Tang Qing think it impossible to succeed,
he would definitely sell off his stocks and exit the market. Therefore, this rising stock trend had no real support and was merely incidental. With that being the case, why not make a profit while one can?
This analysis result
was exactly what Tang Qing wanted.
After all, the less spent the better. With ARM’s stock price now inflated, the acquisition for ERV would be wasteful, and Tang Qing was to play the role of a passionate acquirer.
Thus,
with this general consensus,
institutional investors didn’t push further, and ARM’s stock price rally came to a halt. But that massive buy order was still hanging every day; the stock had risen fifteen percent that week, and the latest day’s price drop stimulated many.
Just like that,
in everyone’s almost joking trading,
Tang Qing’s company kept absorbing chips and repeatedly submitted acquisition proposals to ARM, with the offer climbing from two billion to now twenty-five billion dollars, which greatly irritated ARM.
They said they were not selling anymore.
Yet the offers kept coming.
Even if they were to sell,
they wouldn’t sell to a Huaxia company. However, despite the annoyance, it was a nice problem to have, as Tang Qing’s increasing offers also meant an increasing valuation for their company.
The stock price had risen by more than ten percent.
So,
it was a pleasant nuisance. From a different perspective, ARM found Tang Qing’s maneuvers beneficial to their company’s interests and didn’t hold as much resentment anymore.
But as for acquisition,
forget about it.
...
September 14th.
United States.
New York.
The strategic financing negotiations for ERV began.
Unlike Tang Qing’s low-key approach to acquiring ARM,
ERV made a high-profile announcement to the media about this strategic financing plan, which was reported by media from various countries.
"ERV announces the initiation of its first round of strategic financing, with participating internet companies and investment banks. Earlier, Sequoia Capital’s five-billion-dollar offer for fifty percent of ERV shares was rejected." ---Associated Press.
"Apple Inc. will participate in this round of ERV strategic financing, preparing to invest two billion dollars. ERV’s chairman expressed interest. Apple Inc.’s stock price rose by 1.7 percent at the opening, stimulated by this positive news." ---Reuters.
"Warren Buffett stated that if ERV goes public, he would commit one billion dollars to stock investment." ---The Times.
"ERV has opened the road to financing - will the next internet legend be born from this?" ---Xinhua News Agency.
"......."
Strategic financing.
Different from regular financing,
strategic financing takes place when a company is in no shortage of operating capital and seeks to develop by selling shares or engaging in share swaps to introduce new shareholders.
It’s financing aimed at achieving strategic collaboration.
To put it plainly,
it means "I don’t lack money,
but I think you as a shareholder could be beneficial to my company, so I’m willing to allow you to engage in certain stock transactions with me. Under the premise of mutual benefit, both parties can establish strategic cooperation."
With the news out,
all sorts of creatures emerged from the woodwork.
And the rumors were flying everywhere.
Some said ERV’s chairman was preparing to cash out eighty percent of his shares. Others suggested the introduction of strategic investors was a result of threats from major giants, culminating in a compromise.
There were even rumors that ERV had inflated its accounts, and its profits weren’t as high as claimed.
Whether these statements were true or false remained unknown.
But.
Everyone knew one thing.
That was that ERV had finally taken that step, possessing the powerful golden source of "Warfire," along with their pioneering live broadcast software business model, plus their own excellent Internet technology, they were bound to be a behemoth in the future.
Just like that.
ERV dominated the global financial news of the day.
Many journalists were waiting outside ERV’s doors for the latest news.
...
But at ERV’s headquarters.
The first phase of negotiation had reached a ’deadlock.’
"This is impossible. If we calculate it your way, ERV’s valuation has already surpassed fifty billion dollars. Before this, Sequoia Capital’s valuation was also around twelve billion dollars."
After hearing the fighter’s financing plan, the person in charge at Sequoia Capital became instantly anxious.
At first.
When they heard the strategic financing scale of ten billion dollars.
Many people were all smiles.
Because it meant that ERV was willing to part with a significant portion of its shares for financing, a prospect they had long coveted. But the reality was far from what they had expected—the other party was only willing to part with twenty percent of the shares.
This meant.
ERV’s self-valuation had reached fifty billion dollars, a clear case of intense demand, and the amount was so staggering, it was completely unacceptable to them, especially since the dollar was very valuable at that moment.
"Sir, we come with sincere intentions for collaboration, but your asking price, we cannot see any sincerity in it," Samsung’s representative was the second to oppose.
"That’s right, this is outright extortion," SoftBank’s representative spoke third.
"If that’s the case, there’s no need to continue our negotiations," Apple fourth.
...
At the negotiation table, ’excessive language’ has always been a strategy or rather, a necessary ’lubricant.’ In such critical negotiations, it’s unlikely to just walk away after a few words.
Inside the conference room.
Everyone was verbally criticizing the fighter for his excessive appetite.
But they remained seated quite firmly.
The fighter, unfazed.
Playing the psychological game.
These so-called experienced folks were simply no match; a fifty-billion-dollar valuation clearly was wide of the mark, but it was not without foundation—in fact, it might just be a slight premium.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please hear me out."
The fighter pressed his hand down, his powerful presence and gaze instantly making the representatives of each company stop.
Especially the manager from IDG Group.
He had experienced this fighter’s negotiation skills firsthand.
Originally, IDG wanted to invest in ERV. In the end, though, they formed a joint technology company, which now has a modest reputation in the industry and carries out several confidential software projects for the U.S. military.
"Our valuation, which some of you may find exaggerated, I ask you to look at this document before commenting. These are some of ERV’s secrets, which we ask you not to disclose. We will make them public at the right time."
Having said that.
The fighter signaled to a deputy general manager with his eyes.
That fighter began distributing documents to the representatives of each company. Moments later, the conference room was filled with continuous exclamations as they caught sight of ERV’s asset summary.
That long list. n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
A catalog of thirty-five companies made them gasp. They were not surprised by the number of companies, as that had been investigated before and held no surprise.
What surprised them was.
After each company’s name in the catalogue, a high valuation was added, ranging from a billion or two to several tens of billions, with ERV’s game company ranked first.
That was the sole game they operated, "Warfire."
Valued at twenty billion dollars.
After seeing the third-quarter financial report in advance, they felt this was a fair price and not a case of excessive demands. If the profits for "Warfire" after taxes in ’06 were to exceed 1.8 billion dollars, as stated.
Such a profit margin.
For a company established just over a year.
Was nothing short of insane.
And ranked second was the live broadcasting software, which had been separated from the game company for independent operation. Though it had been launched shortly, its monthly profits had already broken twenty million dollars.
If everything went as planned, ERV estimated, the annual profits wouldn’t be less than five hundred million dollars. Therefore, the company was valued at eighty billion dollars, which seemed a bit inflated, but with good prospects, it wasn’t too much to ask.
As for the third-ranked U.S. United Technology Company, also in collaboration with IDG, was valued at seventy billion dollars. After reading the introduction, it seemed... not too outrageous.
Because ERV accounted for the Optimization Algorithm.
It was transferred to this company, after so long in cooperation, ERV authorized them to use this algorithm to optimize their games and programs, as well as other optimization projects, which could also generate a profit of a hundred million dollars a year.
Considering the value of the algorithm.
And taking into account the many highly profitable military projects they undertook, calculating this way... was simply damn outrageous.
They found their thoughts were following the text.
They came to push down the price, not to nod and hand over money. After swiftly finishing their reading, suppressing the shock in their hearts, they were ready to ’argue’ with the fighter, but alas, their momentum was shattered by the data and could not be restored.
