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Zhou Buqi's joking look made Boss Ma laugh. "Actually, there is no secret. Everyone knows that it has been reported by many media. It has something to do with control."

Zhou Buqi asked: "USD 1 billion in financing that year?"

Boss Ma said: "Yes."

Then, he briefly talked about what was going on.

In 2005, Yahoo found that they could no longer compete in the domestic market. 3721, which they had spent huge sums of money to acquire in the early years, had been far behind Baidu, and the portal network had been squeezed out by Sohu, Sina and NetEase. living space.

Then, Yahoo made a change. In terms of its strategy towards the Chinese market, they wanted to change from direct participation to an indirect investment model.

Then, with 1 billion US dollars in banknotes and the temptation of Yahoo China's business, it entered the market in a hurry.

At first, he was interested in Shanda, which was in full swing. The talks were originally very good, but Chen Tianqiao was worried about losing control of Shanda, so he gave up.

Then, it was Boss Ma's turn.

Alibaba successfully obtained US$1 billion from Yahoo. However, the price of this US$1 billion is high. In addition to paying 40% of Alibaba's shares, the agreement also stipulates that Yahoo's voting rights will also be 40%.

There is also a 5-year agreement.

Boss Ma will not be fired by the board of directors within 5 years.

But after 5 years, the "not to be fired" clause becomes invalid. At the same time, Yahoo will add a new director to Alibaba's board of directors.

This means that Boss Ma’s management’s voting rights in Alibaba have dropped to 30%, while SoftBank’s 30% voting rights remain unchanged… In other words, Yahoo has become Alibaba’s largest shareholder in name only, and Boss Ma’s existence Theoretically the risk of being cleared out. As soon as Yahoo and SoftBank reach unity, he will step down.

It was precisely because of such harsh conditions that Shanda did not accept the US$1 billion.

The risk is too great.

Boss Ma was very fierce and accepted it.

This is the embodiment of the entrepreneur's confidence, courage and vision, and is the best display of Boss Ma's personal charm. He has confidence in himself and in Ali. He firmly believes that Ali can get better and better under his leadership.

As long as Alibaba's performance is prospering and getting better and better, then he can always get the support of Son Zhengyi. By then, his and SoftBank's combined voting rights will be 60%, and he will not be afraid of Yahoo's troubles.

Shanda doesn't accept it, mainly because Chen Tianqiao is afraid and has no confidence in his own level. What if Shanda fails in a few years? Once Shanda's performance declines and management fails, he, the founder, may be kicked out by the major shareholders.

Although Alibaba's stock price continues to fall and is scolded by Hong Kong investors every day, the overall operation of Alibaba is still very good. Boss Ma's position is very stable and he has received great support from Masayoshi Son.

However, the existence of Yahoo, the largest shareholder, and their voting rights are always a hidden danger.

Boss Ma's move this time has nothing to do with making money, nor does it have anything to do with recovering the stock in Yahoo's hands. The fundamental purpose is to recover the power in Yahoo's hands.

He wants the combined voting power of Yahoo and SoftBank to be unable to sway management.

He can then firmly control Ali.

Zhou Buqi has dealt with Boss Ma too much and knows this person very well. In particular, he had foresight, so he instantly guessed Boss Ma's thoughts and layout.

snort!

It was indeed a big game of chess!

However, there were some things that were not convenient for him to say in front of Masayoshi Son, so Zhou Buqi started to laugh and argue, analyzing the current situation of Yahoo and the various forces in the industry that were eyeing Yahoo.

When Carol Bartz stepped down, Yahoo's market value was only $16 billion.

Now Yahoo doesn't even have a CEO, and people are panicking. However, due to the market hype, many capital institutions have launched acquisition invitations for Yahoo, making the stock hot all of a sudden.

Now Yahoo's stock price has reached US$15.7, and its market value has risen to US$20.5 billion.

Zhou Buqi said with emotion: "Three years ago, Microsoft offered $44.6 billion to acquire Yahoo. They thought the offer was too low and did not agree. The current market value is only $20 billion. Have you met Yang Zhiyuan? He Don’t you regret it later?”

Son Zhengyi smiled and said: "It's always embarrassing."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Didn't there be several private equity quotes some time ago? Do you know how much the quotes were?"

Son Zhengyi said: "The pressure is relatively low, it should not exceed 20 billion US dollars."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "It's strange that this person can sell it!"

Masayoshi Son explained this, "Yahoo now is not the same as when Microsoft acquired it three years ago. Three years ago, Yahoo also encountered some troubles and fired the CEO and wanted to replace it with a new one. But Yahoo at that time The family has a strong financial position and has more than 2 billion US dollars in cash flow on its account. So they are confident and feel that Yahoo can rise again."

Zhou Buqi heard what he meant and was stunned, "After Carol Bartz became the CEO of Yahoo, he lost all the funds in his account?"

Son Zhengyi sighed, "She has made too many wrong decisions."

Boss Ma added next to him: "Now Yahoo is really in a mess, with no money in its accounts and no new business. After so many years, it can only rely on its main portal to earn advertising fees."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "So now is a better opportunity to buy bargains than three years ago. Let's take advantage of his illness and kill him."

Son Zhengyi smiled and said, "No, it's just cooperation."

Zhou Buqi then asked: "Have you quoted a price?"

"Not yet." Sun Zhengyi is leading this case. After all, this is the American market. He is more suitable to handle it than Boss Ma. "I will meet with people from Blackstone Group and Bain Capital later to come up with a comparison." A proper trial quotation plan.”

"I'm afraid that won't work."

Zhou Buqi disagrees with this idea.

Son Zhengyi was very surprised, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Buqi said calmly: "I don't think people like Blackstone, Bain, and Sequoia can understand Yahoo and give the fairest offer. In the Internet industry, the most important thing is courage. Either you live or you die. Death, there is no middle option."

Boss Ma smiled and said nothing.

Son Zhengyi smiled, "What is courage?"

Zhou Buqi said: "The level of courage is the amount of risk you bear."

Sun Zhengyi nodded, "It doesn't matter. Let's meet them first. Try to quote a price first and see the reaction of Yahoo's board of directors. It also shows an attitude to them. We are serious and we really want to acquire Yahoo." ."

Zhou Buqi was a little angry, so he roped in Boss Ma and told Sun Zhengyi that they would not meet with people from Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.

Anyway, each of these international capital giants is tougher than the other. They have their own set of investment rules and cannot bear excessive risks.

This is not angel investing.

Like angel investment, the risk is huge, but the scale of investment is relatively small, usually hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Investment institutions cast a wide net and invest more. As long as one investment is successful, they will make a profit.

Yahoo is a large-scale project worth tens of billions of dollars, and risk control will be very strict. But once risk control is strict, it will impose constraints on some bold and big actions.

Zhou Buqi was not optimistic about their approach at all.

Sun Zhengyi was a little embarrassed, "How about we go together?"

"No, we won't go." Zhou Buqi smiled half-heartedly, "Old Ma, what do you think?"

Boss Ma coughed and scolded this bastard three hundred and sixty times in his heart. He was really annoyed and helpless. This time he attacked Yahoo because he was worried about an accident and wanted to avoid this guy.

I didn't expect that this guy, like a dog-skin plaster, would come all the way here.

When it comes to deception, Boss Ma feels he is invincible, especially in overseas markets, where his grand vision is the easiest to succeed.

It's a little worse in the country.

Especially when facing the boy Zhou Buqi, he failed almost every time.

What he was most worried about was that this kid would get involved and wreak havoc inside. Unexpectedly, this guy still ran over.

I have no choice but to bite the bullet and deal with it.

Boss Ma smiled and told Sun Zhengyi, saying that just let Sun Zhengyi go to talk to the two major investment institutions alone, no matter what, he trusted him. Anyway, it’s a one-term quotation, and it will be a long-term deal in the future.

Boss Zhou canceled his vacation all the way and came over, always giving him a warm "hospitality". Boss Ma felt that he had to have a good talk with him and not let this bastard ruin his good deeds no matter what!