Chapter 291 Baidu Refinancing

The next day, when Barron woke up, he discovered that in his arms, there were two beautiful blondes lying on each side, full of warm fragrance...

At this time, his mind gradually recalled the madness last night.

Well, it can indeed be called crazy...

He gently pulled his arm away and escaped from the surroundings of the beauties.

I don't know if it was because they were too tired. During this process, the two blonde beauties just turned over and continued to be immersed in the dream without waking up.

When Barron stood up and stood beside the bed, looking at the scene on it, he couldn't help but sigh...

Xiao Tiantian, who has beautiful songs and sweet songs, can also have a hoarse voice at certain moments...

Avril, who looks cold and gives off the impression of an iceberg beauty, can also be passionate or even crazy sometimes...

…

This time Barron was invited to Saudi Arabia and deliberately established a good relationship with Prince Walid. Naturally, he had his own purpose.

Of course, at last night's welcome banquet, Barron didn't just find two bed partners - that was just a bonus.

In addition to meeting Salman again at yesterday's banquet and deepening his relationship with the future crown prince, Barron also met more tycoons in the Middle East...

"Your Highness the Duke, Mr. Sheehan has arrived in Yanjing and met Boss Li of Baidu Company..."

After Barron had breakfast, Alya reported to him.

Regarding business matters, Barron's personal assistant Wang Wanting was originally in charge. However, Saudi Arabia still has many rules for women. Even foreign women entering the country need to wear robes and headscarves when going out.

Therefore, when he came here this time, among the women accompanying him, Barron only brought Aaliyah, who was more familiar with the customs here. The rest of the female entourage would meet at the next stop - Yanjing.

Therefore, at this time, in addition to her duties as a life assistant, Aaliya also had to take on some additional tasks that were originally responsible for Wang Wanting.

In fact, much earlier, Amber Sheehan, CEO of DS Holdings, had already gone to China to negotiate with Penguin Company about its IPO in Hong Kong.

In addition to the choice of Hong Kong as the location for Penguin's IPO listing, which was decided jointly by DS Holdings, Penguin's largest shareholder, and Pony, Standard Chartered Bank, as the sponsor and underwriter of Penguin's listing, also mainly Proposed by Barron.

Saudi time is now seven o'clock in the morning, and Yanjing time is five hours ahead of here, so it is already noon in Yanjing.

Barron directly picked up the phone and dialed Amber's number.

"Your Highness the Duke, I am with Hock now. Yes, regarding Baidu's financing, we have reached an agreement with Robin and won the largest share..."

On the phone, Amber Sheehan told Barron that he. He has come to Yanjing with Chen Fuyang, the head of Rich23 Capital, and has reached an agreement with Robin Li, the founder of Baidu, on their third round of financing.

In Baidu's previous B round of financing, DS Holdings purchased 5 million preferred shares of Baidu at a price of US$3 per share - these preferred shares will be exchanged for ordinary shares at a ratio of 1:1 when Baidu goes public. share.

By early June 2004, Baidu announced that it had become the world's largest Chinese search engine with more than 300 million Chinese web page links and more than 60 million daily traffic.

Eventually it established its leading position in the industry in China.

Then at this time, Baidu began to prepare for its third round of financing, which will also be their last round of financing before going public.

Because Robin Li has decided to lead Baidu to go public in the United States next year.

According to the intentions they reached, Baidu will still raise US$15 million this time and sell a total of approximately 2.25 million Series C convertible preferred shares (convertible shares of Series C financing) to 8 investors at a price of US$6.67 per share. conversion of preferred stock).

Among them, Google will invest US$5 million to subscribe for approximately 745,000 shares; Rich23 Capital will also invest US$5 million to subscribe for approximately 745,000 shares.

The remaining shares will be divided among early investors including Integrity Partners, Peninsula Fund and new shareholders.

In Baidu's financing, the most eye-catching thing is that Google, which is also committed to the Internet search field, participated in their financing.

In addition, DS Holdings did not participate in the financing, but secured one-third of Baidu’s Series C financing for Rich23 Capital, Barron’s offshore investment company.

In fact, up to now, Baidu has no shortage of funds - their search business has made stable profits.

The reason for this Series C financing, which is the last round of financing before they go public, is mainly for their subsequent development and their listing in the United States next year.

It is worth mentioning that Google’s participation in Baidu’s financing was the result of DS Holdings’ intermediary contact.

The two major competitors "joined forces" not so much because Google wanted to strengthen its competitiveness in the Chinese market, but rather because Baidu wanted to increase its visibility in the international market and be more conducive to listing.

You must know that Google, as the world's most famous search engine, has already started the IPO listing process and is expected to land on Nasdaq in the second half of the year.

If the current Chinese Internet company wants to obtain a satisfactory valuation when it goes public in the United States, it first needs to have a "model company" with similar business in Silicon Valley for comparison, so that it can gain the trust of American investors. Attention and trust.

So Google, which is about to land on the Nasdaq market, is Baidu's model on Nasdaq. Now with Coogle's investment, Baidu's chances of winning the listing will be even better.

As DS Holdings holds shares in both Baidu and Google at this time, it is very suitable to serve as an intermediary liaison between these two "enemies" who compete with each other in the Chinese search market.

As DS Holdings holds shares in many Internet companies, Baidu naturally attaches great importance to it.

The reason why this time it was not DS Holdings but Rich23 Capital that came forward to participate in Baidu's financing. It was also because after releasing various rich lists at the beginning of this year, Barron hoped to speed up the process of hiding the wealth in his name. , otherwise when the companies he invested in are listed one after another, I am afraid he will become the world's richest man on the rich list...

Next year, after Baidu goes public, the 5 million shares of Baidu convertible preferred shares held by DS Capital will be converted into ordinary shares, which will earn more than 40 times the income.

Therefore, he arranged for Rich23 Capital to participate in Baidu's financing. After all, the price of Baidu's preferred shares in this financing was US$6.67, which was an increase of more than 18 times from the closing price of US$122.54 that Baidu finally reached on the day of listing. , which is quite impressive.

In addition to Baidu's financing and Penguin's IPO, Rich23 Capital will also participate in the subscription of its public offering and continue to buy their shares after its listing.

The remaining shares of Penguin held by the South African MIH Group will not be sold.

After Penguin is listed, their stock price will experience a short-term decline, which is also an excellent opportunity to buy Penguin shares that are considered "cheap" at this time.