Chapter 522 Selling YouTube

On February 25, 2007, Woaw Technology announced that it had reached an acquisition agreement with YouTube. They would complete the acquisition of the video sharing website for US$1.75 billion.

It can be said that with the financial support of IC Capital, YouTube has developed very rapidly - at the same time, after several rounds of financing from IC Capital, they already hold 70% of YouTube's shares.

By last year, 2uTube already had 50 million videos, watched by more than 7 million people every day...

YouTube has also become the number one in the video field in the United States, with a market share of 45% - which is nearly twice that of the second-placed MySpace at 23.5%, and more than the four major portals in the United States: Yahoo, Microsoft MSN, Google Video and America Online. The sum of AOL's video shares!

It can be said that the rise of YouTube has made many people see the prospects of the video industry. Starting from the second half of last year, companies such as SoftBank, Yahoo, News Corporation of America, and Google have respectively offered olive branches and prepared to acquire YouTube.

However, with the help of IC Capital - although IC Capital holds up to 70% of YouTube's shares, they have been able to maintain their investment in YouTube. A huge reason is that Ivanta respects YouTube's entrepreneurial team very much. The company's business model rarely interferes with their management - YouTube finally chose Woaw Technology and reached an agreement with them.

The acquisition price of US$1.75 billion can be said to be astonishing. It is also the second largest acquisition since the establishment of Woaw Technology - second only to the US$3.15 billion when they acquired DoubleClick.

This acquisition will be carried out in the form of cash and stock. Woaw Technology will pay US$500 million in cash and issue an additional 217.4 million Class B ordinary shares to YouTube shareholders to complete the acquisition.

Among them, IC Capital will receive US$350 million in cash and 152 million Woaw shares; the YouTube founding team will receive US$150 million in cash and aw technology shares.

Woaw itself provides users with video sharing and uploading functions, but those are just ancillary functions.

After completing this acquisition, YouTube will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Woaw Technology, and its videos can also be interconnected with Woaw.com. Users can directly share their YouTube videos to their Woaw personal pages, or they can Conveniently watch videos posted by their Woaw friends.

YouTube's founding team will continue to be responsible for the company's operations and receive more resource support from Woaw Technology.

At this point, the total share capital of Woaw Technology has increased to nearly 4.8 billion shares, of which DS Holdings (Cavendish Trust Fund) holds approximately 2 billion Woaw shares (originally 2.2 billion shares, which have been gradually reduced), accounting for 41.67 %, and its voting rights hold 57.6%.

IC Capital holds approximately 812 million Woaw shares (the 660 million shares obtained from the sale of DoubleClick were mortgaged), accounting for 16.92%, and the voting rights hold 12.3%.

At this time, Barron still holds nearly 70% of Woaw’s voting rights.

After announcing the completion of the acquisition of YouTube, Woaw's stock price rose slightly by 2.5% to $5.89. At this point, its market value exceeded $28 billion.

After acquiring YouTube, Woaw Technology announced that they will successively launch multi-language versions of YouTube services, and will launch a "Creator Incentive Program" of up to US$1 billion. YouTubers' original content can be based on the number of views and users they obtain. Like and vote data to get generous advertising revenue share.

The release of this "Creator Incentive Program" has made many YouTubers happy, and more young people have begun to try to produce video content on YouTube.

In addition, YouTube will also cooperate with Woaw Technology's R\u0026D center to continue to optimize their streaming technology.

In fact, the reason why IC Capital chose to sell YouTube to Woaw Technology instead of developing it on its own is because YouTube can develop collaboratively with Woaw.

In Barron's previous life, even nearly a decade after Google acquired YouTube, even though YouTube had become a cultural phenomenon with more than one billion users watching YouTube videos every month, YouTube was still not profitable.

For example, in 2014, YouTube’s revenue was approximately US$4 billion, which was higher than the US$3 billion in 2013. However, although YouTube contributed about US$4 billion to Google at that time, uTube made no achievements in terms of profitability.

YouTube pays fees to content creators and purchases network equipment. After deducting these fees, YouTube can basically only maintain balance.

With the financial strength of IC Capital, it is not impossible to "support" YouTube forever, but apart from making YouTube's valuation higher and higher, there is no obvious benefit - unless they eventually sell YouTube.

Woaw is different. Their combination with YouTube has a synergistic effect. Not only social + video can improve its business format and increase the width of its moat, but YouTube can also use Woaw's powerful advertising to increase its revenue.

In addition, IC Capital can also convert its investment in YouTube into Woaw stocks. After gradually reducing its holdings, the cash obtained can be used to buy lows after the subprime mortgage crisis.

…

"It's an honor to see you again, Your Highness."

"I really didn't expect to see you here, Miss Borromeo. By the way, it's during the holidays, right?"

In Italy, Barron met Beatrice Borromeo, the youngest daughter of the Borromeo family.

This was after the Gucci-Hermès Group had just acquired the famous Italian luxury shoe brand Bruno Magli. When Barron came here, he met Beatrice in the northern Italian city of Bologna.

Speaking of Bruno Magli, this is a long-standing brand founded in 1936. Bruno Magli has always believed that shoes are a kind of walking art. In terms of design, it also focuses on natural art, emphasizing comfort and comfort. Elegance coexists, each pair of shoes is made of high-end materials and handmade by professional craftsmen.

With its excellent design, elegant style, exquisite shoemaking technology, luxurious and comfortable texture, Bruno Magli has quickly become one of the main competitors in the Italian shoemaking industry and is deeply loved by European and American ladies and nobles.

The 1agli family has successfully promoted the brand to become a leading Italian luxury brand.

After long-term development, the Bruno Magli brand is now spread all over the world. It is unique among international high-end department store footwear brands such as Takashimaya, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord \u0026 Taylor, etc. Respected by the world as "the best shoes in the world".

Brummani has always been a typical Italian family business until December 2001, when Opera, a fund company specializing in investing in Italian lifestyle, signed a contract with the Magli family to officially take over the company.

Currently in Asia, Brummani also has a branch in Tokyo, Japan.

After the Gucci-Hermès Group acquired all shares of Brummani from the Opera Fund and the Magli family, some members of the Magli family will still stay in the company and continue the classic Italian handmade shoemaking standards in Brummani.

"Yes, I came here for fun. In fact, the University of Bologna here was also the school I hoped to study..."

"You...come here to play by yourself?"

After hearing Beatrice's answer, Barron asked strangely.

"Well, actually, I came here with a few friends. I just saw a nice snack bar and saw you as soon as I came out..."