Chapter 2373 A lengthy meeting

This board meeting was an informal meeting, and it would... make Zhou Buqi a little nervous.

It was driven for a total of 36 hours.

Yes, a conference call that lasted 36 hours.

There were a few moments when Zhou Buqi couldn't bear it any longer and thought it would be nice to just find an excuse to quit. There was no need to talk to them about all this nonsense.

eBay's board of directors has a total of 12 directors and 3 independent directors, that's 15 people.

Including the two invited guests Zhou Buqi and Carl Icahn, there are a total of 17 people.

This is too complicated.

Mr. Scott, the secretary of the board of directors, listed a total of 72 small cases for these two proposals, and then for each case, the directors had to speak one by one and express their opinions.

This was Zhou Buqi's first time participating in such a board of directors, and he was really shocked.

He was a young man in his twenties who had a nervous breakdown after sitting in meetings for 36 hours straight, and his eyelids looked like they were fighting. Like the directors of eBay, they are generally successful people in their fifties...

This is really physical work!

The only advantage is that this kind of conference call allows you to be lazy on your own side while others are chattering away and taking turns to express their opinions.

Zhou Buqi adopts such a strategy.

There are five secretaries, Ning Yaxian, Ning Lu, Sun Wanran, Gu Zanli and Zhang Zetian, who take turns taking charge. When one is tired, the next one will take over. Zhou Buqi no longer had to stare attentively. When the secretary gave the signal, he would speak again.

Because of this uninterrupted long board meeting, even the mandarin duck bath with Aunt Xue was delayed.

Aunt Xue sprayed on light jasmine perfume and put on elegant plain makeup. She took the initiative to invite her to the study room, but was rejected. She was surprised and said: "The meeting hasn't been finished yet?"

Zhou Buqi hooked his hand at him and said helplessly: "The efficiency is too poor! Or it's a disease of big companies. Some big companies just discuss and discuss trivial matters. It's really fucked!"

The bottom line is that eBay's shares are too dispersed.

So much so that there is a lack of a truly authoritative and vocal person who can make decisions decisively and act arbitrarily against all opinions. In other words, eBay's board of directors is too democratic. The directors are expressing their opinions to the maximum extent and expressing their opinions as much as possible through the concept of "unreasonable and unclear".

After several rounds of quarreling, debate and analysis, the final decision was made.

This would be too much of a delay.

Many times, if you argue about one thing for months without being able to decide it, the company's development will be delayed and the business transformation will be slowed down.

Ziweixing is different.

What a fuss?

With Boss Zhou here, all differences are put aside and just follow his wishes.

Zhou Buqi has such a say in Ziweixing. His large shareholding is only one aspect. The main reason is that he has such authority.

For example, Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997.

When he first came back, Jobs was just a consultant.

Then, as a consultant, he drove out the then CEO, and he became the interim CEO. After becoming the interim CEO, he carried out drastic reforms... The board of directors disagreed and felt that he was acting recklessly.

Jobs was furious and cursed all the dozen or so directors on the board of directors, saying that they had harmed Apple and were the main cause of Apple's decline in the past ten years, and told them all to get out!

Then, Apple's directors resigned in despair.

Jobs selected a group of new directors based on his own preferences and formed a new board of directors. Jobs completed his monopoly of power and took complete control of Apple.

At this time, Jobs only held 1 share in Apple, and his status was only Apple's interim CEO.

Since then, Apple has truly entered the Steve Jobs era, and he has become a dictator, talking about democratic discussions and expressing one's own opinions... bullshit, he will do whatever he wants!

What eBay did seems to be fair and just, but in fact it lacks courage.

The advantage of doing this is that it can prevent eBay from being unkind to others and handing over power to an incompetent but self-willed and arbitrary manager, causing the company to fall like a free fall; the disadvantage is that it greatly increases the complexity of administrative efficiency. This makes decision-making very slow.

This is also the reason why Zhou Buqi really dislikes Yahoo.

Yahoo and eBay are almost identical!

There is a lack of a strong and convincing person.

This is also the reason why Zhou Buqi has entrusted Zheng Xiaoli with important tasks and high hopes. He hopes that she will succeed in transforming Yahoo and establish her authority within Yahoo by relying on her performance and achievements.

Aunt Xue hesitated for a moment and glanced at Sun Wanran, a little hesitant.

Sun Wanran pursed her lips and smiled, "You guys go to work first, I'll go to the bathroom."

Then, she turned on the speaker phone and walked out of the study. The voice of an eBay director came from inside, still discussing the strategy of spinning off PayPal.

After she left, Aunt Xue felt relieved. She came over and sat lightly on Zhou Buqi's lap. She didn't dare to say anything, pointed to the phone and mouthed: "Can you hear me?"

Zhou Buqi hugged him and said with a smile: "It's okay, I can't hear you. When I speak, I have to press the voice button to record the voice here."

Aunt Xue breathed a sigh of relief, and then she found that his hand had reached into her skirt, so she gave him an angry look, "You are bullying women without delaying the meeting?"

"I'm too lazy to listen to a bunch of nonsense." Zhou Buqi sniffed his nose, "You wear perfume? It smells so good!"

Aunt Xue said softly, "Yeah", twisted her body, her starry eyes were filled with water, "What kind of meeting are you doing? You've been here all day..."

Zhou Buqi looked at the time and said with a wry smile: "It's not just one day, it's been 36 hours now!"

"Ah?" Aunt Xue's beautiful eyes widened, "So long? Didn't you sleep?"

Zhou Buqi sighed, "No, I'm so sleepy."

Aunt Xue was very dissatisfied, "Isn't this person finished? You can't risk your life when you work, right?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "How about you practice kung fu with me and combine work with rest."

Aunt Xue rolled her eyes at him, half-smiling but not smiling, "Are you trying to trick me again?"

Zhou Buqi said: "What's wrong with us? We are both innocent. There is nothing wrong with us."

Aunt Xue sat sideways in his arms, hooked his neck with one hand, and patted his shoulder gently with the other hand, "Bad guy, you bully me every day."

"I love you."

"You don't need to pamper me."

"I practice two-finger meditation..."

"No." Aunt Xue jumped away from him and pointed to the phone, "Hurry up to the meeting and work hard when you are working. Don't delay your business because of your beauty."

Zhou Buqi was helpless, "Don't delay."

Aunt Xue said solemnly: "That's not okay. You can't develop such a bad habit. You can play when you should play, and work seriously when you should work. This is the principle."

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "You have so many principles."

Aunt Xue pursed her lips and comforted her softly: "I'll touch you a few times and it'll be all right? After you finish the meeting, I'll take a mandarin duck bath with you. Why don't you just do whatever you want?"

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "Whatever you want...just do it?"

Aunt Xue bit her lip, "Anyway, anything else is fine except that."

Zhou Buqi patted his thigh and said, "It's a deal!"

Aunt Xue rolled her eyes at him angrily, "Just like a child, he just wants to play. Come to work seriously and listen to what they are saying. Don't be too late to answer the call when it's your turn."

Then, he walked behind the door to leave.

Zhou Buqi looked at her back and said suddenly: "By the way, Aunt Xue, you will go find Yaxian later."

Aunt Xue looked back at him, "What's the matter?"

Zhou Buqi winked and said, "She has enema equipment for you to use when the time comes."

"What a beautiful thought!"

Aunt Xue rolled her eyes, quite arrogantly.

When she walked out of the study, she saw Sun Wanran standing at the door, smiling sweetly and saying sweetly: "Aunt, have they finished talking?"

Aunt Xue's face turned slightly red, "Well, I just said a few words."

Sun Wanran pursed her lips and said, "Then I'll go back."

"Wan Wan..." Aunt Xue was about to leave, but she still called out to her. She was a little shy and said in a low voice, "Don't tell anyone about my affairs..."

Sun Wanran blinked a few times, "What's going on? Aunt Xue, I don't know anything."

Aunt Xue smiled and said: "Well, I know our Wan Wan is a good child. You...when are you going to have a child?"

Sun Wanran had an indifferent attitude, "I'm not prepared. It depends on the situation. Just give birth as soon as you get pregnant. I didn't think about making elaborate preparations or anything. Just let nature take its course."

Aunt Xue nodded gently, "It's good to let nature take its course."

Sun Wanran asked in a low voice: "Aunt Xue, do you want to have a baby? Have you considered it?"

"Me?" Aunt Xue was startled and quickly explained, "Have you misunderstood? We...we don't have that kind of relationship at all..."

"Oh, that's how it is……"

Sun Wanran's expression betrayed her, and she obviously didn't believe such a statement.

…

In the study room, it was time for Zhou Buqi to speak again.

This is the last small case.

eBay has seven or eight directors, and they all feel that it is okay to split PayPal, but not all of it. eBay should retain about 20%-25% of its shares.

If they were completely dismantled, eBay and PayPal would completely cut off their relationship. By retaining 20% ​​of the shares, you can also have in-depth strategic cooperation and exert influence.

Of course Zhou Buqi disagreed.

If it is a complete split, he will be PayPal's largest shareholder, and his influence can cover the entire PayPal board of directors. If eBay is allowed to retain 20% of its shares, then eBay will still be the largest shareholder, and it will be difficult for him to achieve the purpose of controlling PayPal.

Zhou Buqi's attitude was firm.

Totally disagree!

No negotiation!

Carl Icahn also made a strong statement that such a strategy is completely unfeasible. The market has lost confidence in eBay. If eBay were still the largest shareholder of PayPal, even if PayPal were to be spun off and listed separately, the stock price would not be too high, which would seriously damage the interests of PayPal's many small shareholders.

To be split.

And it’s completely dismantled!