Chapter 3217 Wholly-owned Acquisition

When Steve returned to the banquet hall, his father Howard had not returned yet.

After he sat down, Howard came back with the pill in his pocket, feeling mixed joy and sadness.

Steve kept staring at his father's face, trying to see if he had become younger after meeting Helena in private. If so, it would prove that he must have obtained Ye Chen's elixir from Helena.

But the strange thing is that my father looked no different from ten minutes ago.

He couldn't help but think to himself: "Father is so devoted to Northern Europe this time, can't he get a pill from Ye Chen?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little happy. He felt that Ye Chen did not give his father the elixir, but met with him privately. Maybe he was planning to increase his leverage on him in the future?

He didn't know that half of the pill was being kept very carefully by his father.

Although Howard couldn't wait to take the pill, in order to take his eldest son's feelings into consideration, he decided to take the pill back to the United States and find a suitable opportunity to take the pill after Steve went to China.

At this time, Helena had not returned to the banquet hall. After Howard sat down, he whispered to Steve, "Let's go back early tomorrow morning. There are still many things waiting for me to deal with at home. Don't you also want to go back and prepare as soon as possible and leave for China as soon as possible?"

Steve nodded and said, "I'll follow my father's arrangements."

As he spoke, Steve remembered what Ye Chen had said, and said, “By the way, father, after returning to New York, I have to go to Houston. I want to acquire a remote sensing satellite company, and I hope you can approve it.”

Steve knew clearly that although the remote sensing satellite company that Ye Chen wanted was worth only three to four billion US dollars, he was not yet the patriarch of the family. This kind of acquisition must not be carried out without the authorization of the family, otherwise his father would easily think that he did not take him, the patriarch, seriously.

This is different from investing in China by myself. This time when I go to China, my father agreed to let me manage an investment fund of 50 billion. Since my father has given me the right to decide, I can invest the 50 billion in China at will. But if I spend the 50 billion investment in China elsewhere, my father will definitely be dissatisfied.

Therefore, he must first obtain his father's consent before he can acquire the company openly.

Howard was a little surprised for a moment. He asked Steve puzzledly: "Why do you suddenly want to acquire a remote sensing satellite company? This kind of company should not be of much help to our existing business, right?"

Steve explained seriously, "Father, I think that the satellite field will definitely be a huge market in the future. We are a little late to enter the market now and have missed Musk's business. So I want to acquire a related company first to practice and get familiar with satellite-related businesses and upstream and downstream industries, including satellite manufacturing and satellite launch businesses."

Howard said calmly: "It's too late to enter the satellite industry. No matter how profitable this industry is, it can't be as profitable as oil and finance, and it's not as stable as the latter."

Seeing that Howard didn't seem to be interested, Steve quickly said, "Father, the company I plan to acquire is estimated to be worth no more than 5 billion US dollars. I know this industry cannot be compared with energy and finance, but I still want to give it a try. I hope you can approve it."

When Howard heard that it was only 5 billion U.S. dollars, he thought for a moment and said, "Since you want to explore more, I, as your father, should give you more support. Just go ahead and do it. I will increase the budget for you. You can make your own decision within 10 billion U.S. dollars."

Howard was indeed gradually feeling more at ease with Steve. Sometimes he even felt that his son was too sensible, so he really wanted to be nicer to him. Since his son wanted to do something that interested him, giving him more help would be a way of compensating him.

This was the statement Steve was waiting for.

He knew very well in his heart that, given his current situation, as long as his demands were not outrageous and the funds he used did not make his father feel distressed, his father would definitely give him the green light.

With Howard's words, Steve planned to go back and discuss the acquisition with the remote sensing satellite company first. After the details of the acquisition were finalized, he would let his subordinates complete the follow-up matters, and he would go to China as soon as possible to report to Ye Chen.

……

After the father and son left the palace and returned to the hotel, Steve returned to his room and arranged for his confidant to immediately contact the remote sensing satellite company that Ye Chen wanted.

At times like these, we must cut the Gordian knot, get in touch, reach an agreement, and complete the task as soon as possible.

It just so happens that I can take this opportunity to show Ye Chen my ability to do things.

This remote sensing satellite company has not been doing very well over the years. Its main source of revenue comes from providing data licenses to companies around the world that need satellite maps, just like navigation companies sell their own map licenses. They make a set of maps at their own expense and then sell them to various companies that need map functions in their own software.

However, since they provide high-precision satellite images, the company has long been registered with the U.S. national security department. The National Security Agency has many requirements and constraints on them, which will greatly limit their revenue capabilities.

For example, any company that buys their satellite data can only buy the latest images from a few months ago. Although their satellites are constantly taking photos of the entire world, the Department of Homeland Security is worried that they will leak secrets of the military and other departments when updating the latest data, so they require that the fastest update time must be no later than six months.

To put it bluntly, the satellite images that can be opened to partners today are those taken six months ago, while the satellite images taken today will not be open to partners until six months later.

This results in satellite images being unattractive to a considerable number of users due to their lack of real-time performance.

If the database is updated fast enough, its practicality will increase exponentially. However, for the US government, if the database of such a company is updated too quickly, it will also be a threat to them. If the US president travels secretly, a day later, ordinary netizens will be able to capture the president's movements through the position changes of Air Force One. This is absolutely intolerable.

Moreover, the United States has military operations in many countries. Take Syria for example. The US military had just stolen Syria’s oil, and the next day satellite photos showed it clearly. This was unacceptable to the US military.

Therefore, in addition to the rigid regulations on timeliness, the national security department will have many other requirements. For example, satellite images within certain coordinate ranges must be valid for more than two years, while some coordinates do not allow their satellites to conduct any form of photography. Some coordinates must even be replaced with image materials provided by the national security department to conceal their identities. Perhaps there are already ten nuclear missile silos in this place, but on the satellite map, it is still an uninhabited desert with no birds shitting.

In addition, their database is directly connected to the security department, which checks their data at any time to prevent any possibility of confidentiality leaks.

Such numerous restrictions and fetters are like a tormenting curse to this company. Their founders and shareholders once hoped to sell the company and start a new business in an unconstrained field, but the national security department did not give them this opportunity. They stipulated that the controlling shareholder of this company must be a native American company, and the actual controller of the company must be an American of more than three generations. This restricted some potential buyers in the United States and all potential buyers outside the United States.

Not only are there requirements for controlling shareholders, but even before the company goes public, all shareholders must be companies from NATO member countries. Any current shareholders are not allowed to resell shares of the animal species to companies in other countries outside of NATO member countries.

This means that if Ye Chen uses normal channels, it would be a pipe dream to even acquire 1% of the company's shares.

Of course, so many restrictions also make it a pipe dream for the founder of this company to sell off and cash out, because no one would be interested in his company. After all, no one wants to buy a company that is constrained in every way.

Just when the company founder thought that he would never be able to cash out in his lifetime, he suddenly received a message that the famous Rothschild family was actually interested in his humble company! Even more, Rothschild wanted to acquire his company in full!