Chapter 2098 Competition for agency rights

In the morning, Zhou Buqi got up as usual, washed up, and then went to the restaurant to have breakfast.

Then I noticed that Gu Zanli was smiling.

"What's wrong? Are you so happy?"

"I passed my driver's license test."

"Ah?" Zhou Buqi didn't know anything about this, "Driver's license?"

Gu Zanli pursed her lips and said, "Well, I passed the driver's license test in one go. Maizi called me just now to tell me and congratulated me."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "I got a driver's license, what can I say to congratulate you?"

Guzanli was a little stunned, "She loves to joke the most. She congratulated me with puns and said she would let me call her sister from now on. I was born in 1990 and she was born in 1991. I am older than her." ."

Zhou Buqi waved his hand and said, "Just sort by age. It's not like an ancient feudal family. Who should be ranked first and who is last?"

"OK."

Gu Zanli was very happy. She would not call Mai Feixue, who was one year younger than her, sister.

Zhou Buqi asked: "Which of you has taken the driver's license test?"

"I passed the exam."

"Have you all taken the exam?"

"Yeah, but I haven't passed several. Only Guan Nanqing, Mai Feixue, Zhao Li Muge and I have passed."

Guzanli was somewhat proud. She knew very well that after passing her driver's license test, her boss would give her a car. After all, the relationship was already in place.

Zhou Buqi nodded, "There are too many cars in the capital, and it's really hard to drive if your level is low. If you want to drive, you should find a place to practice hard when you return to China."

Gu Zanli said a little shyly: "Well, I will save money now and buy a Chery when I finish practicing..."

Zhou Buqi couldn't help laughing. He stretched out his hand and pinched her face a few times. Her delicate skin seemed to be able to squeeze out water. "Are you trying to be clever with me?"

"No……"

Guzanli made a long note and acted coquettishly.

Zhou Buqi said: "Okay, when you finish practicing, I will take you to pick a car."

There was a time when Wu Yu loved buying cars.

There are more than 30 cars in the underground garage of the capital's home, more than 20 of which are women's models. Now Wu Yu is stationed in Europe all year round, and he can just let it go.

"Wow! Thank you, boss!" Guzanli jumped up with joy, ran over and kissed the big boss passionately on the face, "Good boss, you are so good!"

Zhou Buqi lowered his head to eat his breakfast and waved his hand, "Okay, go upstairs and see if Yao Yao can get up. If she feels uncomfortable, you won't take her with you when you go out today. You can go shopping with her." "

Guzanli leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Boss, you are too fierce."

"Do you still need to tell me?" Zhou Buqi reached out and patted her behind her, "Go quickly!"

This time, after all, Zhou Buqi did not bring Gu Zanli and Yao Yao, and was accompanied by Sun Wanran and Ning Lu. He went to the same place as usual, to meet Boss Ma in the Japanese teahouse.

Boss Ma actually wore a suit, which was very rare.

After asking, I found out that he was going to meet Yang Zhiyuan at noon.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Buqi saw his unkind expression, "Let me tell you, I went to New York a few days ago, but I didn't meet with Sun Zhengyi and Yang Zhiyuan in private behind your back."

Boss Ma sighed, "Yahoo's proxy fight is really getting bigger and bigger. News may come out in a few days, and Yang Zhiyuan will be sued by shareholders."

"Let's fight for power."

Zhou Buqi didn't find it strange.

In the struggle for power, there is never anything moral or humane to talk about. Intrigues and conspiracies are all too common, and in serious cases, life may even be in danger.

There are also many cases of antagonism between father and son, antagonism between brothers, and antagonism between husband and wife.

Boss Ma said with emotion: "The U.S. capital market is really ruthless. The reason Yang Zhiyuan was prosecuted was because he had too deep feelings for Yahoo."

Zhou Buqi disagreed, "How come I heard that he only focuses on his influence in Yahoo, rather than shareholder returns? In the final analysis, this person is still not good enough. He is indecisive and has made too many strategic mistakes."

Yahoo was the world's largest Internet giant back then.

Google begged to come to acquire it, but Yahoo refused; there was an opportunity to acquire Facebook, but Yang Zhiyuan temporarily decided to lower the price to bully Zuckerberg, a college student. As a result, Zuckerberg was furious and refused to sell.

The most criticized thing was that he rejected Microsoft's acquisition invitation in 2008, which completely caused him to fall out with the employer.

This is not over yet.

Last year, Yang Zhiyuan privately contacted several private equity investors and secretly bought Yahoo's shares in an attempt to privatize Yahoo. As long as it is privatized, Yang Zhiyuan can eliminate the interference of the capital.

At this time, the conflict between the two parties was completely open, and Yahoo's internal fighting began to be made public without concealment.

This "agency battle" is unprecedented.

The management directly contacted several shareholders, sued Yang Zhiyuan, and planned to go to court.

However, Zhou Buqi had to admit one thing.

This is Yang Zhiyuan. Although his vision, perspective and business judgment are not very good, his power-playing methods are really top-notch. Under such great pressure, he only held 3.9% of the shares, and Yahoo has a structure of equal shares and equal rights. He was able to firmly control Yahoo's board of directors through mergers and acquisitions.

Even if he is removed from the position of chairman, the new chairman will be just a decoration and useless at all.

Boss Ma is obviously very optimistic about Yang Zhiyuan's ability to fight for power. "I think it's not a big problem for Yang Zhiyuan to win the agency battle! It was so dangerous in 2008, didn't he survive it?"

"What happened in 2008?"

"you do not know?"

"Damn!" Zhou Buqi said angrily, "Why should I pay attention to him when I have nothing to do?"

Boss Ma said: "Then you should really study it. It's really a textbook case of power struggle in the board of directors. Study hard."

Zhou Buqi was quite curious, "Really? Tell me about it?"

Boss Ma said: "In 2008, Yahoo launched a proxy fight. The sponsor at that time was much more powerful than the Thirdpoint hedge fund today. It was Carl Icahn!"

"I go!"

Of course Zhou Buqi knows that Carl Icahn is the biggest wolf of Wall Street. He is best at using capital operations to seize some companies that are in crisis or on the verge of bankruptcy through agency disputes.

No fewer than a dozen companies fell into his hands. One of the must-learn cases in MBA courses is Carl Icahn’s dismemberment of Trans World Airlines.

I really didn’t expect that Yang Zhiyuan would have fought with such a ruthless person.

Boss Ma said: “It’s not just Carl Icahn, he has also attracted a group of people, such as Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Frank, the former CEO of Yacom, venture capitalist Adam Dell, New Line Cinema’s The founder, Sha Ye, and I can’t remember a few others, including university professors, advertising and media bosses, economists and so on.”

Zhou Buqi really didn't expect that the internal fighting at Yahoo would be so vigorous. "There are so many people, but they haven't fought against Yang Zhiyuan?"

Boss Ma said: "In fact, we also need to add Bill Gates and Microsoft. At that time, Microsoft wanted to acquire Yahoo at a high price, and the premium was very high. Many big capitals participated and bought a large number of Yahoo's shares at bargain prices. , Carl Icahn is the representative. In one breath, nearly 4% of the stock was shocked, and the shareholding was more than Yang Zhiyuan. They joined forces to promote the sale of Yahoo to Microsoft, and then make a huge profit from it."

Zhou Buqi twitched his lips, "No wonder the management hates Yang Zhiyuan so much!"

Those capital institutions bought a large amount of Yahoo's stock in order to sell Yahoo to Microsoft at a high price and then make a fortune by "buying low and selling high."

However, Yang Zhiyuan rejected the deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft.

This is too miserable for the employer.

All the stocks were lost.

It's okay to say that stocks come and go less often. Capital institutions have bought so many stocks, how can they sell them? It was originally about stock trading, and after speculating, this group of people became shareholders.

Including the current largest shareholder, Thirdpoint Fund, there is also a backlog of stocks that have not been sold.

If Yahoo's development is good and its stock price keeps rising, that's it.

However, Yahoo's development is very poor. The current stock price is only $15, which is lower than the average price at which they bought the stock three years ago. Can the employer not be angry? Can you not risk your life with Yang Zhiyuan?

SoftBank, Alibaba, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital are collaborating to acquire Yahoo at a price of US$20 per share... Although the price is not high, the investors can get out of the deal.

Why not?

It seems that things here are really complicated.

Zhou Buqi is an outsider who doesn't know much about the situation, so it's really not easy to get in. Yahoo is a swamp, and it's easy to fall into it.

Boss Ma said: "Compared to the one in 2008, this agency battle is less dangerous. I think Yang Zhiyuan can handle it."

"They're all in lawsuits."

"Then let's file a lawsuit. The case won't be settled within a few years. If Yang Zhiyuan can survive, neither can the shareholders. The so-called shareholder lawsuit is a tool to use the media to influence public opinion, and it is a deterrent to Yang Zhiyuan."

"If you ask me, why not give it a big one!"

Zhou Buqi is quite heroic.

Boss Ma glanced at him, "How come it's so big? Where do you get so much money? What about SoftBank, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital? Yahoo's current situation is so complicated, let alone outsiders like us, even Yahoo The boardroom is a mess. Are you so sure you can pull something out of the fire?"

Zhou Buqi was silent for a while, frowned and said, "Isn't the layout a little small?"

Boss Ma shook his head, "It's not about whether the structure is small or small, but about seizing the rigid needs. My rigid needs are that I want to take back Alibaba's shares, and at least 20% of the voting rights. What about you? Your biggest motivation is to get The 35% stake in Yahoo Japan that went to Yahoo."

"Um."

"There are too many variables here. Yahoo is short of money now, that's for sure. Either sell the company or sell Asian assets. If you want to sell Asian assets to collect money, which part should be sold? What if it's not Alibaba's shares? If Yahoo chooses to sell the 35% of Yahoo Japan’s shares to SoftBank, then we are completely done!”