Chapter 2103 Targeting PayPal

Zhou Buqi turned his attention from Yahoo to PayPal. According to the suggestion of Senior Sister Zhen Yu, he had made an appointment with Carl Icahn and planned to meet.

However, Carl Icahn is in New York and Zhou Buqi is in Silicon Valley.

Who goes to see whom?

Zhou Buqi was not willing to go to New York to meet such a notorious figure in the industry. If the news spread, it would affect his own image. Fortunately, the other party quickly sent back an email, saying that Mr. Icahn happened to be handling some matters in Silicon Valley recently.

And we made four appointments: 9:30 to 10:00 tomorrow morning, after 9:00 the day after tomorrow, 1:15 to 3:00 pm three days later, and 11:30 to 12:30 noon four days later.

Carl Icahn has time at these four time points, please ask Mr. Zhou Buqi to arrange his own time. If it's inconvenient, you can contact us again and they can further coordinate Carl Icahn's time.

This is very troublesome.

The main reason is that the two parties are not familiar with each other and it is the first time they meet, so the interview should be relatively formal.

It would be much easier for Zhou Buqi to make appointments with old friends from Silicon Valley such as Bill Gates, Larry Page, and Elon Musk, regardless of whether you are working or living, or whether you are in the company. I was still at home, so I made a phone call and left immediately.

Zhou Buqi had a lot of time, but he wanted to know about PayPal first, so he made an appointment to meet at a coffee shop on Sand Hill Road in the afternoon three days later.

Alex Jones, the chief investment officer of Ziweixing International, has made great contributions to the recent sale of EA shares, and he is somewhat proud of it.

As soon as he saw Boss Zhou, he laughed and said, "EA has been having a hard time these days. The stock price has dropped by 27%."

Zhou Buqi nodded, relatively calmly, "The trough of the gaming industry may last for a long time. What's the reaction from EA? Has it contacted you?"

Jones shook his head, "No, I just heard that the CEO is going to be replaced. Carl Icahn has a lot of short positions in EA, and the board of directors is under a lot of pressure."

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide, "It's Carl Icahn again?"

Jones smiled and said: "Yes, he is indispensable everywhere. Many big capitals on Wall Street have poor returns this year, which is related to the general environment. But Carl Icahn's hedge fund should be able to achieve an annualized return of 25%."

"Well……"

Zhou Buqi was stunned.

I go!

Amazing!

You know, the foresight of Boss Zhou, the two private equity funds Pluto Capital and Neptune Capital, have failed to meet the return rate this year. The former is now 14.6%, and the latter is 18.3%.

In fact, Senior Sister Zhen Yu also said that through accounting, Neptune Capital's annualized return should reach 20%, so as to receive year-end dividends. From 18.3% to 20%, it is not too difficult to eat and transfer profits.

Zhou Buqi rejected the proposal, it was unnecessary.

It’s so obvious that even investors can see it.

Another point is that Pluto Capital and Neptune Capital operate on a closed basis for 10 years and look at the average rate of return. The average annual growth is more than 20%. In the end, just calculate the general ledger and make up for the excess.

If you take it every year, if you take too much in the final calculation, you will have to return it to the investors; if you don't take it occasionally for a few years, and you find that you take less in the final calculation, you can also compensate that part back.

When setting up these two private equity funds, Zhou Buqi had already considered what to do if there was a bad year and the profits were not good. If you calculate the average annualized income under the general ledger, it will be much easier and risk-free. The stocks he picked all had very bright growth prospects.

However, it is amazing that Carl Icahn achieved an annualized return of more than 25% in such a weak year without any foresight.

He is indeed the Wolf of Wall Street, his methods are so sharp!

Alex Jones said with a serious face: "If you want to cooperate with Carl Icahn, you must be careful. This man is too cunning. Although he has always said that his investment philosophy is radical investment, in fact he is worthy of his name. 'Corporate sniper', 'corporate predator'. Through judgment, he looks for companies that have not been given a fair price by the market and snipers. He is taking the completely opposite route to Buffett."

Then, he briefly explained the difference.

Buffett's investment philosophy is typically buy low and sell high. He looks for companies that are undervalued by the market, then buys them and holds them for the long term as a value investment.

Carl Icahn is the complete opposite.

It could be selling high and buying low.

For example, the short position against EA this time is to borrow stocks and sell them at a high point. When EA's stock price drops sharply later, the stocks will be bought back and repaid.

There is another type, which is Yahoo and PayPal.

Yahoo's current market capitalization is only $20 billion.

It is obviously severely underestimated by the market.

At this time, Carl Icahn was thinking about entering the market and taking control of Yahoo through vicious acquisitions, agency fights and other means. However, he will not make money slowly like Buffett, he will make quick money.

Once he wins Yahoo, he will have a supermarket sale and sell 40% of Alibaba's assets, which can be sold for at least 15 billion US dollars; he can sell 35% of Yahoo Japan's shares, which can be sold for at least 8 billion US dollars. ; If the main business assets of Yahoo headquarters are sold, at least 9 billion US dollars can be sold.

All added up, it can be sold for at least 32 billion US dollars!

In other words, if Carl Icahn obtained control of Yahoo for US$20 billion, and then dismembered and sold Yahoo, he would be able to sell it for US$32 billion and make a huge profit of US$12 billion!

This is what he does most in his life, to find those excellent assets that are buried in the stupid board of directors, and then sell them to make money.

The same goes for PayPal. He got a part of PayPal's shares in order to dismember eBay and separate PayPal from eBay to realize the true value of PayPal.

Zhou Buqi asked: "What is his average annualized return? Is it sustainable?"

Jones said in awe: "It's very high. I didn't pay attention to it before. When I got the information yesterday, I was shocked. Carl Icahn started investing in 1968. Counting from this year until today, Buffett’s average annualized return is 19.5%, and Carl Icahn’s average annualized return is 31%.”

Zhou Buqi nodded, "No wonder there are so many people scolding him."

Jones smiled and said, "Yes, just like Soros."

In fact, there are only a few ways to do business and investment. Whoever has higher quality or better looks is generally the same.

However, if you do the same thing, some people will be fine, while others will be criticized verbally and verbally.

The reason why he got scolded so much was not because he failed, but because he succeeded.

Just like this time, SoftBank cooperated with Alibaba, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group to acquire Yahoo. The overall idea is exactly the same as Carl Icahn’s investment philosophy.

After acquiring Yahoo, they also want to dismember Yahoo and divide its assets among three parties.

The difference is that it's really difficult to fight for a company's agency rights.

The founders and management have too much influence and prestige.

There is simply no way for outsiders to win the proxy fight to get control, not even capital giants like SoftBank and Blackstone.

But Carl Ikan can.

So he succeeded, so he became infamous.

Just like this time Asda bought the Motorola mobile phone business unit from Google, it also encountered huge controversy in the country, and was not optimistic both inside and outside the circle.

There is actually only one reason - I can, but you can't.

Only Asda has the ability to make this deal at this time.

If it were any other company, even if it invested US$10 billion, it would not be possible. Even if you have money to convince Google, it won’t pass the Federal Trade Commission’s review.

Zhou Buqi pondered: "Okay, I know what's going on with Carl Icahn. Where's PayPal? How about PayPal? Is there any chance to get involved?"

"have!"

Jones made a splash.

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi was very happy, "What should I say?"

Jones said: "There are two ways to get a part of PayPal's stock. One is to buy it from PayPal's small shareholders in the primary market. In the past two years, Carl Icahn wanted to operate PayPal from eBay's The spin-off and listing allowed many people to see the opportunity and were trying to find ways to get the original shares. Therefore, the stocks other than eBay were cut into pieces, and many people and investment institutions poured in. However, Carl. Icahn failed, he couldn't defeat eBay's board of directors and PayPal was not broken up."

Zhou Buqi said: "So those small shareholders who enthusiastically bought PayPal shares and waited for the IPO to make a lot of money are all trapped?"

Jones smiled and said: "Yes, we are all trapped. PayPal has been losing money for so many years, there is no profit at all, and it is impossible to pay dividends. The split and listing are far away, and the stocks in the hands of those small shareholders are now a piece of waste paper. If you are not in a hurry, it is okay and you can hold it for a long time. When PayPal is actually split and listed in the future, you can make a lot of money. I am afraid that PayPal's listing will be delayed for too long, and many small shareholders cannot afford to wait for such a long time. I’m trying to get the funds back.”

Zhou Buqi was thoughtful.

I go!

From this point of view, the civil strife at Yahoo is really a good thing!

Yahoo has had Carl Icahn on its back for several years, and he's eager to put the matter to rest. Therefore, I will no longer be able to operate PayPal cases in the near future.

When many small shareholders saw that Carl Icahn had backed down and paid attention to Yahoo's abandonment of PayPal, they felt that they had lost hope and were disheartened. The thought of getting rid of the burden of PayPal will be even heavier.

It will be easier for Ziweixing International to buy stocks from these small shareholders.

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, you can take action and contact the small shareholders of PayPal. What's second? What is the other way?"

Jones said: "PayPal's business is very expensive. PayPal is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay and cannot get money directly from eBay. And eBay does not have much money. In the past few years, eBay has promoted PayPal and carried out A round of financing valued PayPal at $8 billion."

Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up, "You mean PayPal will launch a new round of financing?"

Jones said: "It is very likely that PayPal is now working hard on the mobile terminal, and the investment will be huge. PayPal is short of money on its account. Unless eBay's board of directors can make up its mind, focus on supporting PayPal, and control PayPal as a major shareholder. Targeted financing. However, if Ziweixing International comes forward to invest in PayPal through strategic cooperation, it will be a better choice for eBay’s board of directors.”

"Okay!" Zhou Buqi thinks this idea works, "I'll go see Carl Icahn first. If there's no problem, let's take action here!"