Chapter 1517
Exchange
Mr. Cao from Sequoia Capital showed great interest in his proposal.
"Ah."
"exchange."
"I can consider it."
This kind of equity exchange is not as simple as bartering; the behind-the-scenes operations are very complex.
Equity swaps typically occur in mergers and acquisitions, and these are the most common types of transactions.
However, one can also deliberately open a company with an overseas account and then conduct targeted mergers and acquisitions to achieve the transaction objective.
For such large investment companies, there are plenty of ways to manipulate things.
However, the biggest challenge in such transactions is that the share prices of the two companies are mostly different.
That's the key to the deal: negotiating a suitable exchange ratio.
Bai Bing, who was standing to the side, recalled Zhang Yuan's words of advice before he came.
Listen more and talk less.
Although I was curious, I didn't ask any more questions.
After dinner, the two left and agreed to talk again. On the way home, Ms. Bai asked a question.
They're quite tolerant.
"I think I've heard of group buying, which you're talking about."
Zhang Yuan glanced at her.
Logically speaking, an average girl of this age should not only have heard of it, but also know how to use it.
But she's not an ordinary girl.
Celebrities don't use group buying.
These are just ordinary people eating at small restaurants, trying to capitalize on the benefits of the group-buying war.
This is similar to the bike-sharing war and the food delivery war.
Consumers only benefit when capital fights and attacks each other in the competitive market.
Once they've divided up the territory and made peace, the next step will be to turn their guns on the consumers and start reaping the profits!
The Cold War followed the same logic. Western countries all miss the era when the US needed to engage in ideological competition and therefore still had some dignity, with both sides providing "billions in subsidies."
This has led to a path dependency in thinking, with the belief that our lives will improve as long as the two strong contenders compete.
As for the two sides at the time, even the top leaders of the US and the Soviet Union were unsure whether they could win the Cold War.
Therefore, the accurate outcome of the Cold War was that the Russians died suddenly, while the Americans survived.
But the Americans saw themselves as the victors and began to revel in the "fruits of victory" in a triumphant manner.
The same thing happened in the "Hundred Regiments Offensive"—in the end, there were no victors, only survivors.
At this point, none of the company executives or the investors behind them were certain that they would win.
They were also afraid.
Anyone would panic when faced with a chaotic battle involving hundreds of billions of dollars.
Don't overestimate those so-called "successful people"; that's just how people are.
He gets drunk easily, is easily infatuated with women, and is also afraid of being beaten and his whole body aches.
"Yes, it's the popular online coupon model where everyone buys together and the merchant offers a discount."
"If a table of food costs 100, and 1000 tables are booked at the same time, shouldn't we offer a 8% or even 6% discount?"
"It's about bringing together strangers to book tables through an internet platform."
It's similar in concept to the later "Pinhaofan" (拼好饭), except that the market is becoming increasingly focused on lower-tier cities.
"You can try it out and experience it," Zhang Yuan recommended.
"Does this company you mentioned have any stocks available for purchase?" Bai Bing asked.
So that's what it was about... He did go to a proper university, so he has some brains.
"It's not listed yet, maybe later."
"You can buy it once it goes public. The market is vast, and it should have good long-term value preservation capabilities."
“However, at this stage, it’s more suitable for you to buy a house in Beijing, especially in the city center,” Zhang Yuan recommended.
"Thank you." Miss Bai nodded jokingly, then spoke.
"However, I have already bought a house in Beijing, but I don't know if it will keep up with the market appreciation."
"I see you interact with so many people, you must be quite knowledgeable in this field."
"How about... coming to my house?"
Could what they're looking at really be a house...? Zhang Yuan knew the answer; the other party had already extended an invitation.
That evening, I toured every room in her house, and almost went into the room prepared for the child.
The other person got up happily the next morning to make breakfast.
However, out of politeness, he ate a few bites and then left.
It was really poorly done.
"I have some things to take care of. See you later."
"Are you always this busy?" Miss Bai asked calmly.
"Pretty much, there are even busier times."
"After all, time is money."
He waved goodbye.
He wasn't actually as busy as he claimed; he rested for a while after getting home.
I just didn't want to stay at her house any longer.
He felt a little scared by the other person's serious demeanor.
They feared they wouldn't be able to "pay" the corresponding "compensation".
He didn't have much free time; soon, he received a call from Neil Shen, the founder of Sequoia China.
The other person said they would be returning to China soon and invited him to dinner.
Before, it was impossible to make an appointment, but now, as soon as the topic of Meituan shares is mentioned, not only can an appointment be made, but the other party also takes the initiative to make an appointment.
This shows that they are very interested.
He went to keep the appointment a day or two later.
He was treated very warmly.
"Last time I heard from Xiao Cao that you brought a very beautiful girl with you."
Why haven't I seen him today?
"You young people's feelings change too quickly, we can't keep up."
They started by making some lighthearted jokes to build rapport.
They're all old hands at it.
He pretended that he was taken in by that act.
He knew in his heart that the other person was actually more anxious than him.
Because it's uncertain whether Meituan can win, and it's uncertain whether it can go public in the future.
Ourpalm's IPO is certain, and once the 12-month lock-up period is over, the shares can be sold and cashed out.
Meituan is all or nothing.
PalmFun is a more stable choice.
The other party naturally prefers a guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood.
Angel investors typically demand at least a 10x return on investment, which seems extremely greedy.
However, it can take anywhere from 4 to 6 years, or even more than 10 years, for a company to go from startup to listing and then be able to sell shares to recoup its investment.
This involves a significant amount of time cost.
Now that Zhang Yuan has provided a shortcut to recoup the losses, the other party is naturally happy to accept it.
They can get cash at least 3 to 5 years earlier, and the deal is approved without much thought.
But an old fox is still an old fox.
The other party agreed, but not completely.
They are only willing to offer 10% of their 18% stake in the transaction.
We still need to keep half of it, betting that Meituan can weather the storm.
It's also a risky gamble.
This kind of large capital will never lose; the only difference is whether it wins or wins more.
The two sides discussed the deal thoroughly during the meeting.
Sequoia Capital believes that Meituan, after multiple rounds of financing, now has assets exceeding US$3 million.
In addition, there are $3-4000 million in the account, which can be converted into a larger market share.
Based on the other party's complex formula derivation, it is believed that Meituan's current total valuation should be over 5 million US dollars.
Zhang Yuan listened with his arms crossed for a long time.
No wonder we started by clinking glasses and drinking heavily together.
They're trying to confuse me, then they're using complicated economic formulas to stir things up.
$5 million is impossible; it needs to be reduced by at least 8%, or even 7%.
Fortunately, I was smart. If I had approached Sequoia Capital after I had already raised funds for Wang Xing, they would have dared to include the money I had given them, and probably even put in a billion US dollars.
After much arguing, they finally agreed to a 1:2 exchange rate.
He offered 5% of his shares in Ourpalm in exchange for 10% of Meituan's shares held by the other party.
They will conduct overseas operations in the Cayman Islands.
At this stage, Zhang Yuan is clearly at a disadvantage.
The other party can easily earn more than 30%.
But in the long run, even if he still faces equity dilution, he still made a fortune!
After all, Meituan was a super giant that stood alongside Alibaba and Tencent as soon as it went public, and at its peak, it reached a market value of over 2 trillion yuan!
Even at its peak, Ourpalm was less than 1/100th the size of Meituan.
This was a deal that satisfied both parties.
Both Zhang Yuan and Mr. Shen felt they had made a huge profit.
The other party felt that the young man was just reckless and clearly had a tendency to go all in, while he himself was more mature.
I was secretly delighted.
So when Zhang Yuan made an additional small request, the other party readily agreed.
"I'd like to meet with Mr. Yu, the president of New Oriental," Zhang Yuan said, expressing his small wish. "I would appreciate it if you could help introduce us."
"You should also be familiar with the other two founders of New Oriental."
"I also want to meet them."
"You want to invest in education?" Shen Nanpeng pondered for a moment.
They felt that since New Oriental had already gone public, they had missed the golden period for investment.
"No." Zhang Yuan shook his head with a simple smile: "Recently, the higher-ups want to make a movie about Chinese people starting businesses."
"The subject matter is based on New Oriental, and they also contacted me to ask if I was interested in acting in the role." "I want to talk to the real-life person who inspired the character and do my research beforehand."
"He is indeed an outstanding young man, very serious about his work." After the other party gave his usual compliment, he said no problem.
They were people who often met at dinner parties, and Yu Minhong was also frequently seen at meetings.
He was more familiar with the other two, because Xu Xiaoping and Wang Qiang established ZhenFund, a startup venture capital firm, in cooperation with Sequoia Capital.
As I said before, it's difficult to get started.
Once you step through the threshold, the six-person rule will quickly take effect, making it easy to contact the target person through connections.
After achieving his goal, he returned home and breathed a sigh of relief.
He recalled an interesting story from around 05 that circulated online.
A Canadian deliveryman, through the then-popular internet barter system, started with a red paperclip and, after a year and 14 transactions, traded it for a year's lease on a two-story apartment in Phoenix, North America.
Netizens have dubbed it "trading a paperclip for a villa".
This person even appeared on a TV show and published a book because of this incident, making a lot of money.
After this story went viral, a girl named Ai Qingqing in China imitated it, using a safety pin and spending 100 days to buy a villa.
The difference is that the foreigners' work is genuine, while this domestic work is a marketing scheme orchestrated by a planning team to hype up relatively unknown celebrities.
This is a typical case of early online hype marketing in China.
The older generation played with such fancy things.
Zhang Yuan smiled as he thought to himself, "Wasn't I also exchanging a paperclip for a big villa?"
The underlying logic of transactions is exchange.
However, how to achieve an exchange that appears to be equivalent but is actually beneficial to oneself is a skill.
After dealing with this, I waited for Sequoia to reply.
At the same time, it will raise more funds to invest in Meituan.
We haven't received any letters from either of them yet.
He was quite surprised when someone called him.
Huayi's king personally called him and invited him to dinner for a private chat.
Zhang Yuan's first reaction was "a trap".
Surely they wouldn't be hiding behind the door with knives and axes, using smashing a cup as a signal?
Then chop it into dumpling filling for me.
Thinking that we live in a society governed by the rule of law, and that we are in the capital, it shouldn't be that serious.
Should we go or not?
He was a little troubled.
There's no one around to discuss things with.
That feeling of loneliness welled up in my heart again.
Even someone as highly educated as Bai Bing would struggle to make a decision in this situation.
The key is that I'm not that familiar with them and don't know many inside stories.
There was no other way but for him to motivate himself.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom, he took a deep breath, then straightened his chest and cleared his throat.
"Gan!"
"Little Zhang, we've all come from the ranks of swords and guns."
"Don't embarrass yourself!"
"If I don't dare to go, wouldn't that make me a coward?"
"If word gets out, how will I ever have the face to show my face again?" He slapped his cheeks a few times.
"Yes, go!"
Arrange a time with the other party and give Long Ge advance notice.
Bring more brothers and lie in ambush around the area.
You cross the river, and I cross the river too.
If you smash a cup, I'll smash a cup too.
He gave the order that everyone who heard the sound of a glass being smashed should rush inside.
If someone else tries to rush in, take them down first.
On the actual day, he didn't wear a suit, but changed into a sportswear outfit.
It's more convenient for fighting or running away.
One should be flexible and adaptable in life, and never put on airs or act pretentious.
You have to be quick when you apply oil to the soles of your feet.
Back when Confucius was in the State of Song, Sima Huan Tui, a male favorite of Duke Jing of Song, wanted to kill Confucius for personal gain.
Fortunately, Sima Huantui's younger brother, Sima Niu, was a student of Confucius and knew in advance, so he came to inform him.
All the disciples urged their master to run away quickly, as the other party held immense power in the State of Song.
What did Confucius say?
Heaven has endowed me with virtue; what can Huan Tui do to me?
God gave me this kind of virtue, what can little Huan Tui do to me?
So cool!
Upon hearing this, all the disciples were convinced.
It has to be the Master; he speaks with such conviction.
Just as I was about to praise them, I turned around and found that Confucius and his companion had vanished.
Look again, they've already run two miles...
Moreover, he was disguised and slipped away in the middle of the night.
According to the US military, this is called a strategic shift, an offensive move to the rear.
This is called being stubborn without being slow; a truly headstrong idiot would have died long ago.
Therefore, one should never be arrogant and should trust the wisdom of one's ancestors.
"Oh my, long time no see, you've gotten even more handsome."
Upon entering the private room, the king warmly stood up and shook hands with him to greet him.
It's been a long time.
Last time we met, I was still your junior subordinate, but now I'm on equal footing with you.
Moreover, it's about being on equal footing in a physical sense, like a dinner party these days.
"Mr. Wang looks very energetic."
The king and the prince don't look alike.
To be honest, Xiao Wang is much better looking; he's considered handsome among the bosses of listed companies.
The king, on the other hand, was even more rigid and methodical, after all, he had served in the military.
These two brothers, the older one looks fierce, while the younger one looks kind.
Her usual on-camera image is also like this.
In private, however, the eldest brother is actually the calmer one. When something really happens, especially a problem that he can't solve, it's the king who steps in.
“I heard you like art, especially paintings,” Zhang Yuan said, taking the initiative to start the conversation.
"I'm interested, but I don't know much about it."
"That's simple. The key is to learn and accumulate knowledge."
It hit the nail on the head.
The king not only collected them, but also painted them himself.
They even thought their paintings were quite good, because a single piece could sell for hundreds of thousands.
But this is just like how the chief eunuch could sell a piece of calligraphy for a thousand taels of silver; what he was selling wasn't the calligraphy itself.
But he took it seriously.
After chatting for a long time, Zhang Yuan kept observing the other person's expression.
I noticed that there didn't seem to be much hostility about him.
He seemed quite relaxed in his speech.
Am I being overly cautious?
I don't want to play "Greedy Blue Moon" with you and do that "If you're a brother, come and fight me" kind of thing.
"If you have the chance, you should also cultivate some refined tastes and go to auctions to appreciate some artworks."
"I can introduce you to an art broker," the other person said enthusiastically.
Zhang Yuan thought to himself, "Forget about art; I'm only interested in trading."
I know I'm just an ordinary person, so I won't pretend to be sophisticated.
"Okay, thank you... for your hospitality today."
"I wonder what Mr. Wang intends to do?" He asked, holding the wine glass as he saw that the time was right.
I was prepared to smash the cup if anything seemed amiss.
"I invited you here today because I wanted to get together; after all, it's been a long time since we've seen each other."
"In addition, there has been a long-standing misunderstanding between us, and it's time to resolve it."
"Therefore, I want to start by addressing the issue through Chen Long's new film."
The other party said magnanimously.
"I think that our competition, which involves constantly increasing the stakes and giving Chenlong more revenue, is a vicious competition."
"It's bad for both of us and for the market."
"Many of our peers are already complaining, saying we're messing things up."
Zhang Yuan thought to himself, "I don't want to mess things up, I want to create chaos."
After all, if things don't get chaotic, I won't have a chance.
"Yes, yes, that's definitely not good." He didn't refute it, but went along with what the other person said.
"I think it's like this: how about you give us a chance in this movie?"
Zhang Yuan: ...
You called me here just for this?
You want me to give up a movie with just one meal?
Funny?
"Don't rush, let me finish." Seeing his eyes flicker slightly, the other person quickly replied.
"If you give way, we'll give way too."
"You made concessions on the Chenlong Films."
"Then we'll make concessions on our collaboration with Legendary Pictures!"
This person also wants to make a trade with him. (End of Chapter)