Chapter 365 Android Company

"What about the Android company?"

"That company? When we found them, Android Company was very happy to hear that we were interested in investing..."

Ivanta showed a smile on her face and said:

"Before this, they had taken the initiative to find many venture capital companies, but they were all rejected, including Google. Although the other party said they would support them, there were no substantial results. According to McFadden Said that he is one of the founders of the Android company, and they are even preparing to go to Asia to seek investment from hardware manufacturers such as Samsung and HTC. Yes, when I met with them, they had already booked flights for two days... …”

Android was established in October 2003. The early direction of developing this system was to build an operating system for digital cameras, but later it was converted to a mobile phone system.

By January this year, the Android company was in financial crisis and urgently needed funds to continue research and development of mobile phone systems. However, they looked for venture capital everywhere but ended up hitting a wall.

In 2004, global personal computer shipments were 178 million units, while mobile phone shipments during the same period were 675 million units, almost four times that of personal computers, but the processors and memory of mobile phones were only equivalent to those of personal computers in 1998.

So when they announced that they were developing a smart operating system for mobile phones, many companies thought it was a fantasy after seeing the size of their team.

After all, at Samsung, there were more than 300 people developing their own operating system, while the Android team only had a few people...

Prior to this, in order to seek investment, the Android team locked in several venture capital firms, most of which were located on the East Coast far away from Silicon Valley.

In the original time and space, a later book about Android Company once described this period of history——

"McFadden once walked up and down a main thoroughfare in western Silicon Valley when he pitched Android as a camera operating system to these investors, but was always rejected..."

After that, they targeted venture capital companies that they had not yet introduced to. While contacting these venture capital investors, the Android team also met with Google.

In early January 2005, Google co-founder Riley Page invited McFadden to meet at Google.

Page was a fan of McFadden's previous company, which produced the T-Mobile Sidekick phone, so he wanted to talk to McFadden about trends in the mobile industry.

It was a smaller meeting, just McFadden and Sears on the Android side, and Page, co-founder Sergey Boll and early Google employee George Halik on the Google side.

The meeting was casual, but Google was clearly interested in what McFadden and Android were doing.

At the end of the meeting, the Google founder said:

"We want to help you."

It has to be said that the meeting with Google was encouraging, but for the Android team, in fact, the meeting did not achieve anything substantial.

Therefore, they hope to find more potential investors, including mobile phone manufacturers Samsung and HTC.

But at this time, Ivanta and the IC Capital team found them.

At this time, because it completed the acquisition of the former Internet advertising giant DoubleClick for US$1.1 billion, IC Capital's popularity in Silicon Valley was increasing day by day.

Therefore, in the face of the goodwill released by IC Capital, this financing was quickly achieved and the process was very smooth.

IC Capital will invest US$20 million to acquire 45% of the shares of Android Company.

At the same time, they obtained an additional clause in the investment agreement signed with Android Company, that is, IC Capital has anti-dilution rights in proportion to its shareholding in subsequent financing, and has priority under the same conditions.

And when Android companies face acquisitions, they have veto power, provided that they acquire the remaining shares at the same price as the other party.

In the original time and space, Android was acquired by Google for US$50 million on July 11 this year after three meetings with Google.

However, before the second meeting between the founders of Android and Google in March, IC Capital entered the game in advance and completed its investment in Android.

Barron naturally understands the importance of the Android company in the future. As for why he didn't directly acquire the Android company completely like Google in the original time and space?

Because the Internet resources currently owned by Barron are far less than those of Google, he is not sure whether he will still succeed if he completely acquires this company - after all, the original time and space was when Google acquired the Android company. After that, after a period of development, the Android mobile system was launched.

And as far as the enthusiasm of the founding team is concerned, if Google completely acquires the Android company, it can be incentivized with Google shares.

But what about IC Capital? If the Android company is completely acquired and the founding team loses its shares, will the success of the original time and space be replicated in the subsequent development of the Android system?

No one can guarantee it.

In fact, Barron's positioning of IC Capital is to use this investment company, which is managed by Ivanta and has no connection with him on the surface, to invest in some projects that have greater potential or can be sold at a good price, but at this time Projects that conflict with some of his industries.

Just like the previous MySpace, it can be sold to News Corporation at a high price in the future, but it will compete with Woaw Technology...

YouTube will also compete with DailyVedio in the future...

The same is true for Android. DS Capital is the major shareholder of Apple. After DS Capital and Rich23 Capital collectively hold more than 30% of Apple’s shares, DS Capital’s private equity funds including Mars Fund have also been increasing their holdings. Apple stock.

As we all know, in the future, Apple and Android will be each other's biggest competitors in terms of smartphone operating systems.

Therefore, it is not convenient for companies related to DS Capital to directly invest heavily in and support the development of Android companies.

This could easily worsen the relationship between Apple and Apple in the future.

Therefore, Barron invested in Android through IC Capital and did not choose to completely acquire it like Google, leaving room for future investments in Google.

Yes, in this time and space, it is naturally impossible for Google to complete its acquisition of Android Company.

But if they want to invest in this company, IC Capital will still allow it, but the premise is that they will retain sufficient interests in the future Android company.

Whether it is investing in Android companies in advance or the additional terms required in the agreement, IC Capital has prepared for this.

The 45% shareholding ratio also allows IC Capital to advance, attack, retreat and defend in the future battlefield of Android companies.