Top of the big era

With Boss Ma, Zhou Buqi chose to give in appropriately.

Yahoo's situation is a bit too complicated.

After thinking about it for a while, he felt that it was better to avoid the danger for the time being and not to take advantage of the situation at this critical time. Honestly, behind Boss Ma, I got 15% of Alibaba shares... It can be regarded as a small business with a potential value of tens of billions of dollars.

I went to Ziweixing International and heard some bad news.

Being poached!

The person who was poached is named Joe Nathan, who is the core backbone of the land vehicle team and the current vice president of product at Helo. In other words, at the product level, Joe Nathan is the first person in charge.

In the Helo Division, Joe Nathan is the real number three figure.

He's going to be poached!

"Who is it?" Zhou Buqi was a little incredulous, "What company can poach him?"

Lu Qi said: "PayPal."

"PayPal? Why?" Zhou Buqi frowned, "Even Microsoft and Google can't do it, right?"

Microsoft and Google are top technology giants, but they are both listed companies. Ziweixing has not yet been listed, and the options received are all original shares. Once it is listed, it will be a vigorous capital feast.

This is also the reason why Zhou Buqi has been unwilling to promote the listing of Ziweixing and Ziweixing International at this stage.

If the company is not listed, the original shares can be used internally to bind employees. The cohesion will be strong and it will be less likely to be poached by others. In the current stage of transformation towards the mobile Internet industry, every mobile talent Zhou Buqi has worked hard to cultivate is very valuable and no one can be left behind.

Even Microsoft, Google, and Oracle can't poach people. Why should PayPal come to MSI to poach people?

Lu Qi said: "It's eBay. John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, and Joe Nathan are classmates in junior high school, high school and college. They have a very good relationship. This time it was Donahoe who sent the invitation. He wanted Joe to Nathan goes to work at PayPal."

"What position?"

"President of PayPal."

"President?" Zhou Buqi was slightly startled, "PayPal is going to change its president?"

Lu Qi said: "It seems so."

Zhou Buqi was a little unbelievable, "No, I heard that PayPal's development momentum is quite good. It seems that the transaction volume on the PayPal platform this year will exceed 4 billion or 40 billion US dollars... Anyway, the data is very beautiful. Materials from SoftBank's board of directors I've also read it, and it says that PayPal wants to set up a joint venture with SoftBank to create a mobile payment company, specifically for the special Japanese market. This is a very good idea, and I'm going to push Ziweixing to participate. Can they adopt this method? The strategy is geared towards the Japanese market, which is enough to show that the current management level of PayPal is very high."

Lu Ji shook his head, "I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it's true that they want to change the president."

Zhou Buqi asked: "When did it happen?"

Lu Qi said: "Just now."

"Just now?"

"Yes, before you came, Jonathan just came to me and talked about this matter. He was also quite torn. He wanted to stay and work at PayPal. If he stayed with Ziweixing International, he was just a If the vice president of a business unit goes to PayPal, he can be promoted to president in one fell swoop.”

"You agreed?"

Zhou Buqi frowned and was a little irritable. He didn't like being poached, especially at this time. In another two or three years, there will be as many mobile talents as dogs. They can dig whoever they want, so they won't be troubled by this.

Lu Qi said: "I didn't respond to him, I just hope he can stay. Helo's current development momentum is so good. The number of global users has reached 140 million, making it the product with the largest number of mobile users. Among them, Qiao Nei Sen’s contribution is not small, I think we need to maintain the current team and not move lightly.”

Zhou Buqi asked: "Can I keep it?"

Lu Qi smiled and said: "Half and half, no one can say for sure about this kind of thing. But even if we can't retain him, we have a plan. We have enough people to take over this position."

Zhou Buqi shook his head, "Ziweixing can be a talent pool for domestic mobile Internet. I'm not interested in cultivating talents for American companies. If you can retain them, it's best to stay. Isn't PayPal a subsidiary of eBay? They are all listed on the market. , what’s the point of going there?”

Lu Qi said: "You can't say that."

"Um?"

"Hasn't Carl Icahn been pushing for PayPal to be spun off and listed independently?"

"Who?" Zhou Buqi was stunned for a moment, "Who? Carl Icahn?"

Lu Qi smiled, "Yes, that's the infamous Wolf of Wall Street."

"I go!"

Zhou Buqi had just finished drinking tea with Boss Ma and listened to him talk about Carl Icahn's glorious deeds in the Yahoo case. He didn't expect that this guy was even involved in PayPal.

Lu Qi saw that he seemed to be very interested in Carl Icahn, so he smiled and said: "In 2008, Carl Icahn participated in Yahoo's proxy fight, didn't he fight against Yang Zhiyuan, and was stuck for 20 years? 100 million US dollars, he was deceived by Yang Zhiyuan. Many people say that his approach is good for traditional industries, but it does not work for the technology giants in Silicon Valley. The technology companies in Silicon Valley are managed by some of the smartest people in the world. , not even Carl Icahn. Then, Carl Icahn was not convinced and attacked PayPal."

Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "How to attack PayPal? Isn't this a subsidiary of eBay?"

Lu Qidao: "It is a subsidiary, but not a wholly-owned subsidiary. eBay only has about 68% of PayPal's shares, and a lot of shares are still in the hands of the founders and capital institutions."

"That's it..."

Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up and he cheered up.

Is there such a good thing?

Tell me earlier!

This time, in order to help Boss Ma and not cause trouble for him, I missed the opportunity to buy Yahoo at the bottom. If you can buy PayPal at the bottom during this period, it will be a good opportunity!

It will also be very strategic!

Lu Qi said to himself: "Carl Icahn successively acquired about 2% of PayPal's shares, and then he did the same old thing, contacted many people, and launched an attack on eBay. eBay's shareholding in PayPal is nearly 70% is already an absolute controlling stake, so Carl Icahn cannot launch a proxy fight like he did with Yahoo, and he can only find another way."

Zhou Buqi was able to keep up with his thoughts and was also foresighted. He narrowed his eyes and said, "He wants to push eBay to spin off PayPal!"

Lu Qi nodded, "Yes, eBay's development has not been very good in the past few years. Even the meritorious CEO Meg Whitman resigned due to poor performance. This has caused PayPal to be dragged down by eBay. The actual value It is seriously underestimated. This will cause the interests of PayPal's small shareholders to be damaged."

Zhou Buqi said amusedly: "Does Carl Icahn want to dismember Yibei?"

"Yes, this is his usual routine." Lu Qi felt helpless towards this notorious Wall Street wolf, "However, he did not succeed. eBay's board of directors withstood the pressure and did not choose to split up."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Then what? Carl Icahn just sits back and ignores eBay?"

Lu Qi sighed and said: "No matter what, how could he ignore it? However, he has been thinking of a way, which is more difficult. But there has been a big movement on Yahoo recently, and his attention has shifted."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Well, I've also heard that Carl Icahn has a lot of shares locked up in Yahoo."

Lu Qi said: "Yes, Carl Icahn was also one of the employers who struggled with Yang Zhiyuan behind the scenes. It's just that in 2008, he was taught a very embarrassing lesson by Yang Zhiyuan. This time he did not stand on the front stage. He was still very active behind the scenes. Yes. It is estimated that when he is finished with Yahoo, he will go back to PayPal."

"Well, good thing!"

At this time, Zhou Buqi finally realized the social existence value of groups such as the "Wolves of Wall Street". They are the defenders of market fairness and the interests of small shareholders, and the defenders of the unknown victims behind every grand narrative.

For eBay, they are certainly unwilling to spin off PayPal.

eBay has been unable to beat Amazon. Now it relies on PayPal, the trump card payment channel, to form certain constraints on Amazon from the product ecology.

If PayPal were to be spun off, eBay would be completely helpless against Amazon and would be left far behind.

However, if PayPal is not split up, the interests of PayPal's small shareholders will be greatly damaged, and they will be victims of the giant's certain ideals, careers, and grand blueprints.

eBay wants to be a great company, which is of course a good thing. But Yibei has become famous in front of the stage. Who will defend the small shareholders whose interests have been harmed behind the scenes?

Including Yahoo.

Yahoo's share price that year was only $15, Microsoft's asking price was $31, and the total transaction volume reached $44.6 billion. For his own ideals, pursuits and ambition, Yang Zhiyuan rejected Microsoft's amazing offer.

Of course it doesn't matter to Yang Zhiyuan. He is a big entrepreneur and a rich man. He has more money than he can spend in his lifetime and there is no need to rely on Microsoft's money to make a living.

But what about those small shareholders of Yahoo?

Who speaks for them?

Many small shareholders just dream that this deal can be completed, and then take the opportunity to make a sum of money to pay off the mortgage, pay for medical insurance, and improve their lives.

The result is that the wealthy Yang Zhiyuan who control the board of directors, for the sake of a grand narrative, ignore the small shareholders who are eagerly looking forward to earning some living expenses.

The existence value of this "capital wolf" is a game of voice among all classes of society.

The truth becomes clearer with more debate.

The same goes for the capital market. The more the game is played, the fairer it becomes.

If these Wall Street wolves had not been involved in debunking the grand narratives of those entrepreneurs and big shots, ordinary small shareholders and ordinary people would be completely in the dark, and they would still be applauding those big shots even though their own interests have been harmed. .

Zhou Buqi thought this was an opportunity.

eBay controls PayPal.

If he enters the market, he can only be a minority shareholder of PayPal.

Standing at different angles, there are different positions. To buy a stake in PayPal, you really have to embrace Carl Icahn's thigh. Only a strong capital wolf like him can protect the interests of small shareholders and assemble a strong team like the "Avengers" to fight against it. Giant eBay, pushing for the spin-off of PayPal.