Chapter 357： Apple takes a stake

Whether or not to convert William Chen's preferred stock into common stock 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 outstanding shares, but hopes to With the listing of models, after the company's market value has increased, 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 200 million US dollars, which is not too high. If 150 million US dollars are used to return Chen William, then the remaining funds are somewhat insufficient to support Ma Ske's follow-up to Tesla's development plan.

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

Originally, William Chen was not interested in Tesla's management rights. He invested in Tesla, in addition to being able to implant siri in the future Tesla driving system, he also knew the development of this company 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 the preferred shares he held into common shares, so that William Chen's meta group's stake in Tesla was increased to 41.5%.

After Tesla's IPO is listed, Goldman Sachs Group will also be the lead underwriter. They will issue 13.3 million Tesla shares, accounting for 10% of the total share capital after the issuance. The current scheduled issue price range is 14-16 US dollars, At this price, Tesla's total market capitalization after going public would exceed $2 billion.

The result of William Chen's discussion with Nielsen is that Meta Investment Company will participate in the subscription of Tesla's shares, and William Chen is optimistic about Tesla for a long time. After Tesla's listing, I am afraid that the stock price will perform in a period of time It will not be very good. At that time, the meta investment company will also absorb a part of the circulating Tesla stock at a reasonable time as a long-term financial investment.

These funds will be funded by the Caitlin Foundation.

In addition to meta technology, siri company has officially launched siri smart speaker products. Initially, Siri estimated that if smart speaker products were produced in the United States, the cost would be more than $150.

However, at this time, there are better choices, just like Apple's mobile phones, which are completed by the foundry companies in Huaguo, which greatly reduces the cost.

After development, in this electronic industry, Huaguo already has a complete industrial chain. Especially in Guangdong Province, there are still many foundries. If they are handed over to produce, the cost can be reduced by at least 60 US dollars and controlled at 90 US dollars. Less than $100, plus shipping to the U.S. and other miscellaneous costs, the cost to reach the U.S. is less than $100.

Therefore, Siri finally decided to set the price of this smart speaker at 99 US dollars, which is completely sold at the cost price, and does not make any money at all. If you include the cost of promotion, you will even lose some money.

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

Therefore, this kind of siri smart speaker, which completely subverts the usual living habits and is full of futuristic sense, was welcomed by users as soon as it was launched, and such a siri smart speaker, which has been carefully designed by the designers of Hermes Group, can even become the highlight of home decoration. The speakers, at just $99, are a bargain.

Therefore, after the launch of the smart speaker, the siri smart speaker sold entirely on the Internet through the zoom company was sold out in a few days, and the number of users who made an appointment and queued for self-payment deposits has exceeded 10,000 people, and it is still continuing. increasing.

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

After the output is released later, and we continue to look for foundry factories, under the premise of tolerant quality control management and ensuring the quality of speaker products, the supply of siri smart speakers can not only meet the needs of Chen William's market, but also Continue to supply to the European market and some Asian markets.

It is worth mentioning that in this sale of siri smart speakers, the meta group also tried the method of online live broadcast for the first time.

Of course, their so-called "live online delivery" is not a way of selling directly on the Internet like Tesla's previous life, but as a promotion, they contacted some popular anchors in the live broadcast platform, and then Give them a siri smart speaker to experience, of course, the premise is that they need to demonstrate the siri smart speaker in the live broadcast.

So the fans of the anchors saw in the live broadcast that when the anchors were playing music on the live broadcast, they directly asked siri to play the songs they thought of through their voices, and the siri smart speakers also connected to the network without error, from spotify Search for a song to play.

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

These demonstrations also made more people interested in siri smart speakers and are ready to go to zoom to buy this product.

Those outside William Chen can only complain about when the Siri smart speakers will end to be sold in their country.

However, the functions of this initial version of the siri smart speaker are only basic. The siri company has planned to increase the control of some home appliances in the next-generation smart speaker. They will add an infrared remote control module, so that the siri smart speaker can Remote control of home appliances such as TVs and air conditioners.

And siri company 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 have made Apple interested.

Apple had the idea of ​​acquiring or taking a stake in siri company before, but at that time, siri company didn't have very bright products. Even if it accepted the investment from the other party, it would not give too high a valuation, so the meta group has never been able to. Answer in the affirmative.

After the sensation and trend of siri smart speakers, Apple's attitude has become more positive, and it is clear that they have also developed an interest in this field. If they cannot invest in siri, they are likely to look for other companies on the same track. Acquisitions, or even come to this track to develop on their own.

Therefore, in this case, meta technology has also negotiated with Apple for their stake in siri.

After Xie Hengsheng arrived in California, this negotiation basically came to a conclusion. Apple is preparing to acquire some of its shares by issuing additional Apple shares worth $900 million to Meta Group at a post-investment valuation of $3 billion. The way to complete the shareholding, holding 30% of the shares of siri company.

The acquisition agreement has an additional clause, that is, Apple will not later acquire, invest in or directly enter the smart assistant and smart speaker industries where Siri is located.

After this investment, Apple promised that it would not only provide more support for siriapp in mobile phones, but also support siri to control the Apple system to a certain extent, and also accept siri smart speakers into Apple stores covering the world for sale , of course, in this one, it is necessary to give the other party a part of the cost.

But this is also very worthwhile solves the global sales channel problem of siri smart speakers at once. Of course, they themselves will not give up sales on the Internet, but that can only cover those electric speakers. Countries and regions with relatively well-developed business development.

Of course, it is not only Apple that is willing to take a stake in Siri, Xie Hengsheng has also made similar requirements to Tesla, so at almost the same time, meta Group also reached a cooperation agreement with Xie Hengsheng.

After the IPO, Musk's company will issue an additional $300 million in stock to the meta group at the stock issue price to purchase its 10% share of siri's shares.

After that, Siri will provide artificial intelligence services for Musk's follow-up intelligent driving system to bring users a better driving experience.

After that, Siri's shareholding will become Meta Group holds 60%, Apple holds 30%, and Musk holds 10%.