America's Road to Fame

Chapter 358
Whether to convert Chen William's preferred shares into common shares is a dilemma for Musk, because the current stock market is not the best time for an IPO. He does not want to issue too many tradable shares, but hopes to With the listing of the Model S, the company's market value has increased, and then it will look for opportunities to issue additional shares.

In this case, I am afraid that this IPO will be able to raise more than 2 million U.S. dollars, which will not be too high. If 1.5 million U.S. dollars is used to return William Chen, then the remaining funds will not be enough to support Ma. SK's follow-up development plan for Tesla.

However, his decision must be completed before Tesla goes public, otherwise it will affect the final IPO issue price.

Originally, William Chen was not interested in Tesla's management rights. He invested in Tesla not only to be able to implant Siri in the future Tesla driving system, but also because he knew the company's development and could It is said that the proportion of financial investment accounts for half of it.

Therefore, after communicating with William Chen, Musk finally decided to support the conversion of his preferred shares into common shares. In this way, William Chen’s Meta Group’s shareholding in Tesla was increased to 41.5%.

After Tesla's IPO listing, Goldman Sachs Group will also be the lead underwriter. They will issue 1330 million Tesla shares, accounting for 10% of the total share capital after the issuance. The current scheduled issuance price range is 14-16 US dollars. At this price, Tesla's total market value after listing will exceed $20 billion.

The result of William Chen's discussion with Nielsen is that Meta Investment Company will participate in Tesla's stock subscription, and William Chen is optimistic about Tesla for a long time. It won’t be too good. At that time, Meta Investment Company will also timely absorb some of the circulating Tesla shares as a long-term financial investment.

These funds will be funded by the Caitlin Foundation.

……

In addition, with regard to Meta technology, Siri has officially launched the Siri smart speaker product.

Initially, Siri estimated that the cost of producing smart speaker products in the United States would be more than $150.

But at this time, there is a better choice, just like Apple's mobile phone, which is completed by an OEM company in Huaguo, which greatly reduces the cost.

After development, in this kind of electronics industry, Huaguo already has a complete industrial chain, especially in Guangdong Province, there are still a lot of foundries. If they are entrusted to produce, the cost can be reduced by at least 60 US dollars and controlled at 90 US dollars. Within US dollars, plus miscellaneous expenses such as shipping to the United States, the cost to reach the United States is less than 100 US dollars.

Therefore, Siri finally decided to set the price of this smart speaker at US$99, which is completely sold at the cost price and does not make any money at all. If the promotion costs are included, it may even lose some money.

It’s just that in order to occupy the market, they are all necessary. People who have used smart speaker products may know that many of the functions can be paid for. This method may be slightly more difficult to promote in China. However, in Europe and the United States, users have already developed the habit of paying for Internet products, so even if they do not make money on the hardware of smart speakers, they can still make very good profits through the advanced services.

Therefore, this kind of Siri smart speaker that completely subverts the usual living habits and is full of futuristic sense has been welcomed by users as soon as it is launched, and such a Siri smart speaker that has been carefully designed by the designers of Hermès Group can even become the highlight of home decoration. Speakers, at just $99, are a steal.

Therefore, after the launch of smart speakers, the Siri smart speakers sold on the Internet completely through Zoom were sold out within a few days, and the number of users who paid a deposit in advance to make an appointment has exceeded 1 people and is still increasing among.

Of course, this is also the reason why the first batch of smart speaker OEMs has just started with Huaguo, and the supply chain is not particularly perfect, so the output has not been fully released.

After the output is released later, and continue to look for OEM factories, under the premise of strict quality control management and ensuring the quality of speaker products, the supply of Siri smart speakers will not only meet the needs of the American market, but also continue to It has been supplied to the European market and some markets in Asia.

It is worth mentioning that during the sale of Siri smart speakers, Meta Group also tried the way of online live streaming for the first time.

Of course, their so-called "network live streaming" this time is not a way of selling directly on the Internet like William Chen's previous life, but as a promotion, they contacted some popular live broadcast anchors on the live broadcast platform, and then gave away Give them Siri smart speakers to experience, of course, the premise is that they need to demonstrate Siri smart speakers in the live broadcast.

So those fans of the anchors saw in the live broadcast that when the anchors were playing music live, they directly asked Siri to play the songs they thought of through the voice, and the Siri smart speakers were also connected to the Internet without any errors. Search for songs to play.

Or ask Siri some questions, such as weather, traffic conditions, etc., and then the smart speaker will answer directly with voice.

These demonstrations have also made more people interested in Siri smart speakers, ready to go to Zoom to buy this product.

People outside the United States can only complain when Siri smart speakers start to be sold in their country.

However, the function of this initial version of the Siri smart speaker is only basic. Siri has planned to increase the control of some home appliances in the next generation of smart speakers. They will add an infrared remote control module so that the Siri smart speaker can control Remote control of home appliances such as TV and air conditioner.

And Siri is also considering setting up a subsidiary of smart home appliances, launching their smart small home appliance products, and cooperating with some large home appliance companies to formulate unified standards for smart home appliances.

Of course, these things cannot be done in the short term.

However, these plans of Siri company have made Apple very interested.

Apple had the idea of ​​acquiring or investing in Siri before, but at that time Siri did not have any outstanding products, even if it accepted investment from the other party, the valuation would not be too high, so Meta Group has never Give an affirmative answer.

After the Siri smart speaker caused a sensation and trend, Apple's attitude has become more active, and it is clear that they have also become interested in this field. If they cannot invest in Siri, they are likely to find other companies on the same track. Acquisition, or even come to this track to develop by yourself.

Therefore, in this case, Meta Technology has also started negotiations with Apple for their shareholding in Siri.

After William Chen arrived in California, the negotiations this time have basically come to fruition. Apple is planning to acquire the part it holds by issuing an additional Apple stock worth 30 million US dollars to the Meta Group at a post-investment valuation of 9 billion US dollars. Shares are completed in the form of shares, holding 30% of the shares of Siri.

This acquisition agreement has an additional clause, that is, Apple is not allowed to acquire, invest in, or directly enter the smart assistant and smart speaker industry where Siri is located.

After this investment, Apple promised not only to give Siri APP more support in mobile phones, but also to support Siri to control the Apple system to a certain extent, and also to accept Siri smart speakers to enter Apple stores covering the world. Sales, of course, among them, part of the fee must be paid to the other party.

But this is also very worthwhile. It will solve the global sales channel problem of Siri smart speakers at once. Of course, they will not give up sales on the Internet, but it can only cover those countries with relatively well-developed e-commerce. and region.

Of course, Apple is not the only company that is willing to take a stake in Siri. Musk also made a similar request to William Chen. Therefore, at almost the same time, Meta Group also reached a cooperation agreement with Tesla.

After the IPO, Tesla will issue an additional US$3 million in shares to the Meta Group at the issue price to purchase its 10% stake in Siri.

In the future, Siri will provide artificial intelligence services for Tesla's subsequent intelligent driving system, bringing users a better driving experience.

After that, Siri's shareholding will become Meta Group holds 60% of the shares, Apple holds 30% of the shares, and Tesla holds 10% of the shares.

(End of this chapter)