Rebirth in 1985

Chapter 808: Targeting Yahoo

Lu Shaohua brought together Liu Mingzhang and other three giants of Phoenix Financial, not just to acquire a share of Google. If the purpose was to acquire a share of Google, then Lu Shaohua could have just asked Li Zongen to talk to him and let him go to the United States to handle it.

Yes, when Lu Shaohua started to build his own Internet empire, he had already thought about acquiring a company that would become world-renowned in the future. If it was possible to acquire it in full, he would do so. If not, then he would just acquire some shares.

And this plan started at this time. Google was very lucky as it was the first company that Lu Shaohua targeted. Which company would be the next one?

Undoubtedly, when Lu Shaohua is looking for a target, he always looks for a relatively powerful company. Take Google for example, it is the world's second largest Internet company, and the first is Microsoft. Lu Shaohua already has shares in Microsoft, so there is no need to acquire it, but it is different for others, such as Yahoo, the world's third largest company, which Lu Shaohua has been jealous of for a long time.

What makes Lu Shaohua helpless is that Yahoo was founded as early as 1994. Five years have passed since then, and it has gradually grown stronger. It is extremely difficult to acquire its shares.

But even so, Lu Shaohua still hopes to give it a try. After all, Yahoo is now a listed company for three years. If there is no room for negotiation in private, Lu Shaohua can launch a hostile takeover and eventually hold shares.

Of course, it is impossible to have absolute control because Yahoo founder Jerry Yang and another American have absolute control. Although neither of them has 51%, if the two of them join forces, they will exceed 51%.

Lu Shaohua still remembers that in 2008, Microsoft wanted to acquire Yahoo, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement because the price offered by Microsoft was too low, only US$32 per share.

Yang Zhiyuan's idea was to sell the shares at $37, which would bring him more than $500 billion in wealth. However, no agreement was reached in the end, and Microsoft announced that it would take a hostile takeover.

Obviously, launching a hostile takeover is just a smokescreen released by Microsoft, because Microsoft has no ability to launch a hostile takeover, and the financial resources are not enough. If you think about it carefully, Microsoft will pay 32 billion US dollars to acquire Yahoo at a price of 446 US dollars per share. If it is a hostile takeover, Microsoft will have to spend at least one-third more funds to complete it.

This is just a preliminary estimate. If Yahoo shareholders put up a desperate fight, Microsoft's hostile takeover could end up costing much more money, so this is simply impossible.

However, does Lu Shaohua have the ability to acquire Yahoo? If Lu Shaohua is determined to maliciously acquire Yahoo, then Yahoo can only wait for a big share. Even if it was developed to 2008, when the entire Yahoo company had a market value of tens of billions of dollars, Lu Shaohua would still be able to acquire it, not to mention now, when the current value of Yahoo is just over billion US dollars.

With Lu Shaohua's wealth, launching a hostile takeover would only require a flick of the finger. However, considering that Jerry Yang is considered Chinese, although he was born in Taiwan, his ancestral home is in Fujian after all, Lu Shaohua hopes that he can agree to Phoenix Group's acquisition of some of the shares, so he does not intend to launch a direct hostile takeover.

"Yahoo. You should be familiar with this name, right?" Lu Shaohua asked lightly.

Needless to say, Liu Mingzhang and the other two are always keeping an eye on technology stocks. How could they not know about the company that has been listed for three years? Well, not just know about it, they know it very well, because one of the founders of their company is Chinese!

"Jerry Yang." Liu Mingzhang directly said the name of the founder of Yahoo, which fully demonstrated that he had a great understanding of Yahoo.

Li Yunqing and Li Zongen were no exception. As soon as Liu Mingzhang finished speaking, they nodded, indicating that they also understood Yahoo.

"My second target is this. Yahoo is most famous for its email, and Phoenix is ​​already developing email. It won't be long before it's available. However, so far, I have only ordered the development of a Chinese version, not a multi-language version." After saying this, Lu Shaohua paused for a few seconds and continued, "There are two options. One is that we acquire 51% of the shares and have absolute control. Then the email developed by Phoenix Group will only be a Chinese version, and Yahoo will take the lead and sweep the world. If they don't agree to our acquisition of 51% of the shares, then we will launch a hostile takeover and become the largest shareholder besides the two founders. Then Phoenix Group's email will develop multi-language versions to compete with them."

It is obvious that Lu Shaohua adopted the strategy of using courtesy first and force later. He would talk to them first. If they agreed to sell 51% of the shares, then Lu Shaohua would use this soft approach to complete the acquisition. If they disagreed, Lu Shaohua would show his ferocious fangs and maliciously acquire Yahoo's shares on the IPO, as well as privately purchase shares from their small shareholders.

In fact, Lu Shaohua would rather Jerry Yang and his partners sell their shares. That way, Lu Shaohua would not have to use force against them and could still have absolute control. Even if it cost a little more money, Lu Shaohua would not mind.

There is no way, because Lu Shaohua only supports Tencent. The email was also developed by Ma Huateng, and there is no separation. Yahoo was a part of Lu Shaohua's plan long ago, because they appeared as early as five years ago and have occupied a large number of users around the world.

Acquire a ready-made one. This was Lu Shaohua’s decision at the time.

Now we are finally going to implement the decision we made back then, and prepare to execute it. The only thing we are afraid of is that Jerry Yang is unwilling to sell his shares.

"I guess Jerry Yang is unwilling to sell his shares." Li Yunqing guessed.

Li Yunqing's guess is also based on certain facts. In his opinion, Yahoo is like Jerry Yang's child. He created it and raised it, but after a few years, the child became someone else's. He only owns a little bit of the child, and he would not sell it as a human being.

"I also think he won't sell it." Li Zongen agreed with Li Yunqing's statement.

"I think so too." Liu Mingzhang did not disagree and agreed with Li Yunqing's guess.

Lu Shaohua also thought so, but he thought he should give it a try. "Everything depends on human effort. Let's try to convince him. Well, if necessary, I can fly to the United States myself."

At this point, Lu Shaohua glanced at the three of them, his expression serious, and said, "But you must be prepared for a hostile takeover. If the negotiations fail, just go for a hostile takeover. Oh, by the way, is there any problem with the funds?"

The current Phoenix Group is no longer what it was when the Asian financial crisis just ended. When the Asian financial crisis ended, the Phoenix Group had at least more than 600 billion to 700 billion US dollars in funds.

At that time, let alone acquiring Yahoo, it would be no problem to acquire Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Cisco, and Apple. However, the times are different. The money has been spent by Lu Shaohua. The current Phoenix Group is maintaining stable development and does not have too much funds.

"It's just a company with a value of just over 10 billion US dollars. Our group can easily withdraw some of its working capital to acquire them in full. What's more, we have just completed a gold futures transaction and have plenty of spare cash. There will be no problem in acquiring Yahoo." Liu Mingzhang said nonchalantly.

In Liu Mingzhang's view, acquiring a company worth just over 10 billion US dollars is as simple as eating and drinking soup. This is indeed the case. The working capital of the Hong Kong Phoenix Group alone is as high as more than 30 billion US dollars. It would be too easy to withdraw 100 US dollars.

However, working capital is working capital after all, and Lu Shaohua will not withdraw the money unless it is necessary, because once it is withdrawn and not replenished in time, Phoenix Group will be in a situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which Lu Shaohua does not want to see.

"That's good that there is no problem. Mingzhang, you can contact Jerry Yang about this matter and sound him out. If he is willing, I will fly to the United States myself." Lu Shaohua nodded and said to Liu Mingzhang.

"Okay, I'll contact him when I get back." Liu Mingzhang said seriously.

"Yeah." Lu Shaohua nodded, then changed the subject and said, "Well, the third target is also an American company, Time Warner. Time Warner is a media company, a group company. Well, I am not interested in Time Warner, but in one of its subsidiaries - America Online (absp; Online), referred to as AOL."

AOL is an Internet service provider. This company is very famous. After AOL and Time Warner announced their merger plan in 2000, the company's value skyrocketed, and it jumped to 2006rd place in the 500 Fortune 193 ranking. You can imagine how powerful it is.

"Let Yunqing be in charge of this company. Well, I don't require absolute control, I just require shareholding. Oh, by the way, use an offshore company to acquire the company." Lu Shaohua did not forget to designate the candidate and gave some additional instructions for precautions.

"I understand." Li Yunqing nodded heavily and responded.

Li Yunqing has always been like this. What's more, the company that Lu Shaohua mentioned is not ordinary. Time Warner is a well-known company in the United States. If you want to acquire shares of their subsidiary companies, you must be very careful, otherwise it may be very troublesome.

Lu Shaohua obviously knew Li Yunqing's character and knew that he was very serious about his work, so he didn't say anything else at the moment. He just nodded slightly and then changed the subject again. "The fourth target."

"Oh……"

"Oh……"

"Oh……"

It has to be said that Lu Shaohua has set too many goals. He has just mentioned the third goal and now he has mentioned the fourth goal. Liu Mingzhang and the other three don't know whether Lu Shaohua will mention the fifth and sixth goals next.

……