Vol 4 Chapter 367: Lift weight lightly

Silicon Valley, nextdoor headquarters.

The secretary knocked on the door, "Cummins, Mr. Douglas from Goldman Sachs is here,"

"Please come in," Cummins said without looking up.

"Hello Cummins," a middle-aged man with his hair combed twenty-eight, and a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and red tie walked in quickly.

"Sit down on Douglas," Cummins stood up and shook his hand. "Please wait a moment, I have to process this document."

Douglas graciously made a sign of your invitation. The old **** was sitting across from Cummins, looking at the layout of his office.

It's not practical to look at. First, he has been to this office more than once, and secondly, this office is really lacking in decoration and lacklustre.

Except for a few photos of Cummins's family, there is only a pair of lines drawn in various colors, and the meaningless picture is a bit attractive.

This Cummins document must be more important, because he has aired Douglas at the table for nearly five minutes.

Douglas looked like he couldn't sit still, and changed his position in the seat with a great range of motion. Everyone's time is precious, OK?

Finally, Cummins stopped writing, "Sorry Douglas," he smiled and walked to sit down next to Douglas, "I really envy the days when I was working in investment banking, I can only be responsible for one project like you, although the same pressure. Big, but simple. After the plan is finalized, just follow the plan. It's like me now."

He complained to his former colleagues, "You have just finished one thing about this company, and another thing about another company is already waiting for you there. The two are completely unrelated."

"The last moment, you were still thinking about website design, the next moment, you have to consider the development plan for solar power generation they reported."

"Tired," he shook his head, "and there are always emergencies. My schedule has to change frequently."

"Come on Cummins," Douglas said, "Don't think I can't tell you that this is showing off, being responsible for a project, and being fully responsible, can it bring the same sense of accomplishment?"

Cummins smiled, "Haha, that's just a bit of satisfaction, so, is the work going well?"

Financial consultants for M&A projects are the main team hired outside the company's mergers and acquisitions. Their scope of work covers a wide range. They will participate in the entire process from the preliminary preparation to the final takeover and integration stage.

From assisting in formulating M&A strategies, to analyzing the possibility of successful M&A, to assisting in designing M&A plans and transaction structures, formulating overall M&A plans and timetables, recommending other intermediaries such as law firms, assisting in financing, tax planning... After the completion of the merger and acquisition, the company's development will be provided with consulting opinions.

It can be said to be a full-featured crutches. As long as you pay, they can really help you accomplish many things.

At the current stage of the acquisition of Netflix, their main task is to prepare and submit documents for approval, obtain approval from the approval agency, and prepare for the next step, such as payment according to the agreement, and related work of takeover and integration.

"It's very smooth. From what we have learned, there will be no setbacks in the approval of sec. Of course, this is also related to Mr. Feng's outstanding performance in the previous period," Douglas said.

The five members of sec are nominated by the president, and the chairman of sec is directly appointed by the president. Therefore, in the actual work process, the president's opinions will definitely be taken into consideration.

And Bush Jr. is very clear about this record-setting merger and Feng Yiping's personal support.

"Then I look forward to hearing such good news officially," Cummins said.

He knew what Douglas was here to discuss with himself, so he didn't take the initiative to bring it up.

After a few rounds of greetings, Douglas still brought up the topic, "Cummins, what is your opinion on the equity of the Chinese company we intend to sell?"

"We understand very well, because Feng is in China at this time, so you need time to make a decision. I mention it again, mainly because after knowing this news, there are already several institutions that intend to take over, and they have all entered the quotation stage. So, Cummins, I want to know your opinion now. Are you interested in the equity in this company we sold?"

"Oh, that's what you said," Cummins said pretendingly.

In fact, it is not pretending not to care, but the possible transaction they Dagras said, and the merger with them as financial advisers, is too far apart, and it is indeed possible to care less.

"You know, Feng has always had a good relationship with your Goldman Sachs. He and Mr. Paulson have been acquainted for several years. In recent years, Goldman Sachs and Mr. Paulson have also provided him with a lot of convenience. Therefore, although this company At least from the current point of view, there are many difficulties and even the business model is not clear, but as long as the price is right, Feng authorizes me to buy the shares you sell. This is a trivial matter," he said.

"But Douglas, how long do you think it will take for sec to pass our approval for the acquisition of Netflix, and will it be approved within this month?"

He always acted as if he didn't care about it.

There is even a faint that Goldman Sachs deliberately brought these two things together to discuss, as if you do not agree to acquire these shares, we may not work **** approval.

"The passage time of sec, we really can't guarantee this. Maybe next week, maybe next month," Douglas said. "But Cummins, there is one thing I can assure you, whether you are interested in acquiring shares in Alibaba. If you are interested, we will still go all out to do a good job as a consultant this time."

"Of course I didn't mean it, I know that we are all very professional teams," Cummins said you really misunderstood me, how could you misunderstand me like this.

"I really look forward to sec's approval next week," he said.

You said that again, so you didn't get me wrong?

"I look forward to it as much as you do,"

"Then Douglas, what is your hope for the transfer price of Alibaba's shares?" Cummins picked up the coffee cup and asked seemingly casually.

"35 million dollars,"

"How much? Cough cough," Cummins' performance was absolutely above the standard, almost spitting out a sip of coffee, he stroked his chest and coughed a few times, "You should be aware of its current situation, according to what we have learned, since the founding So far, they have not realized profitability, and their new business has not yet started. Very few customers choose to sell and buy on their website. Unfortunately, it has been targeted by a shopping website under eBay. , The future is extremely pessimistic, you actually want to price as much as 35 million US dollars?"

He almost said that you were joking.

"Without Cummins, what you have learned is not comprehensive enough. We admit that Alibaba's profitability in the past few years is indeed not optimistic. However, they have already developed a large number of enterprise users before, and they can receive a large amount of revenue each year. A fixed management fee, and the enterprise users who choose them are still growing rapidly."

"Secondly, their new business, Taobao.com, is a transition from b2b to c2c. Although it has just started, it must be in the right direction. Otherwise, why did eBay react so much?"

"Ebay's targeting in this way just illustrates the threat Taobao poses to it. Coupled with China's large population base, our offer is based on the company's good relationship with Feng."

"No, what eBay did. It can only be said that they are eliminating all possible hidden dangers. It does not prove that Taobao will pose a fatal threat to it. Our analysis is that China’s current completely blank credit construction is such an e-commerce , The development prospects will not be too optimistic,"

This is the reason Feng Yiping asked him to say, but it was really what Cummins had in mind.

When you don't know the credit of the other party in the transaction, at least he will not worry about shopping on the website.

"So, why is Feng still interested in such an investment?" Douglas asked one of his most powerful questions.

"It's very simple. The good relationship with Goldman Sachs is a factor," Cummins said.

Although they all know, this is definitely an excuse.

"The main thing, Feng is thinking, if the cost of this investment is not high, then he doesn't mind trying it, but it will prove to be a failed attempt by then. That's okay. We can accept their technical staff,"

"As you may know, we currently have a very complete network of convenience stores in China. Feng Youyi relies on convenience stores to build an online shopping mall and needs technical personnel who have built a shopping website. Such a technical personnel who has experienced a failure is a Good choice,"

This is what Feng Yiping told him seriously.

In order for the people at Goldman Sachs to believe his own statement, Feng Yiping had to make Cummins believe first.

"That is Feng is also optimistic about the development of this model in China, so our offer is completely reasonable,"

"No, Feng is optimistic. It is based on the fact that we have so many physical convenience stores, and it is also a more reassuring b2c model."

"As far as Ali's current valuation is concerned, our offer is reasonable,"

"No, your quotation is totally unreasonable. You invested 3.3 million in 1999, and now you have reported 35 million, which is nearly 11 times the return. As far as I know, many of your successful projects are at this level."

"No, the return after a successful ipo is at least 10 times the price it sold to you,"

Douglas must feel that he said too much at this time, in fact, he really said too little.

"However, based on the good cooperation between us and Feng Yixiang, we can make some concessions, 33 million."

"33 million? My personal authority is that I can approve investments within 20 million, more than 20 million, I am not interested at all,"

"I will give another step, 32 million...,"

These two people are testing each other’s bottom line. The see-saw bargaining between you and me, although every concession seems to have a very good reason, in the final analysis, in addition to the larger amount, in essence, When we buy clothes in wholesale markets, we bargain with the vendor owner the same.

When Douglas gave in to 25 million, Cummins, who had always insisted on his bid, felt that ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ this seemed to be really close to the reserve price of Goldman Sachs.

"I will make the biggest concession, 22 million yuan," Cummins said. "I have to find a way to explain this offer to Feng."

Douglas looked at him for a while, "I will also make the final concession, 23 million."

"23 million, 23 million," Cummins murmured a few words and stretched out his hand. "Our time is precious. I hope that the approval of sec will be passed as soon as possible. Well, then 23 million."

He said with a painful expression on his face, but he was smiling in his heart.

Feng Yiping's original instruction was that on the basis of Goldman Sachs' quotation, a symbolic cut of 10% was enough.

But Cummins, who is familiar with this industry, knows that when venture capital chooses to exit through the current secondary acquisition method, there is a lot of room for bargaining, so he finally obtained full authorization from Feng Yiping.

"I hope that the agreement can be signed as soon as possible. I think that after completing this agreement as soon as possible, can sec approve the acquisition of Netflix faster? I don't expect it to be next week, but can it be later than next month?" He would still link this matter to mergers and acquisitions.

"The relevant legal documents will be sent to Silicon Valley tomorrow." In addition, the deal was finalized with a good bid in less than an hour. Douglas was actually quite satisfied. "Cummins, I repeat, we did not This transaction is the premise to promote the approval process."

"Come on Douglas, my time on Wall Street is not shorter than yours. I still don't understand what this means? I hope that you can push for approval in the future," Cummins said.

Seeing Douglas walking away, Cummins didn't care that Feng Yiping would be there at two in the morning, and couldn't wait to call him to announce the good news, "Feng, haha, good news!"