Chapter 534

He arrived in Berlin on February 10, and Simon didn't leave for Finland until the afternoon of February 12.

In two and a half days, in addition to supporting the opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival, Simon also discussed with Deutsche Telekom about the intention of cooperation in the Internet industry, and pocketed the provisional famous film industry that produced a series of classic films in the original time and space.

As for the contacts with the senior management of Constantine, BMW's covant family and even the senior management of the German government, they only initially established contacts, and did not immediately cooperate.

February 13th is Saturday.

Because of the adjustment of the original plan, Nokia management had to give up the weekend break to match Simon's schedule.

Just in the past 1992, relying on the global transformation of mobile communication from analog signal era to digital signal era, Nokia completed the layout of the second generation of digital communication technology ahead of time and realized a leap forward development.

According to the recent financial report, Nokia has achieved a total sales of 9.3 billion Finnish marks in 1992, which is equivalent to 1.47 billion US dollars at the exchange rate of 1:6.3 Finnish marks to US dollars in the past year. Compared with 1991, the turnover has increased by 67%.

Nokia mobile phones account for 56% of the total sales of fm9.3 billion, reaching fm5.2 billion.

This part of sales represents 3.76 million mobile phones.

In contrast, Motorola, which temporarily ranked first in the global mobile phone sales, only sold 4.39 million units in 1992.

In the original time line, Nokia kept up with Motorola in the first half of the 1990s. It was not until 1998 that it realized the anti super of Motorola, and then it completely left the old electronics giant behind.

This time, because of Simon's early layout, the gap between Nokia and Motorola was very small in 1992.

With the opening of the North American market to Nokia at the end of last year and the sales channel of Verizon Telecom owned by westero system, Nokia will be able to enter the North American market this year, which is the most difficult bone to chew, and fight hand to hand with Motorola. At the same time, in Europe, Nokia has a local advantage over Motorola.

In addition, Nokia's GSM technology is ahead of Motorola's, so it is no surprise that Nokia will be able to surpass Motorola in mobile phone sales this year.

Of course, it's only mobile phones. Motorola now has a deep foundation in many fields, such as computers and semiconductors. However, it is precisely because of this diversification that Motorola's rebound is not expected to be too fierce for Nokia's anti super in the mobile communication field. Therefore, it is impossible for the company to know how large a market they have missed.

You know, in 1992, there were only 13 million mobile phones sold in the world, but in the next five years, the number will exceed 100 million. Within ten years, Nokia alone will be able to sell more than 100 million mobile phone devices.

Compared with the rapid growth of receivables, Nokia's annual loss in 1992 was 380 million Finnish marks (equivalent to 60 million US dollars), but this is actually due to Simon's expansion oriented development strategy.

Simon bought Nokia for $200 million three years ago. In recent years, he continuously injected more than $300 million, totaling more than $500 million, in exchange for Nokia's revenue of $1.47 billion in 1992.

According to Nokia's $1.47 billion revenue scale and ultra-high annual growth rate, if it goes public, the company's market value is conservatively estimated to exceed $2 billion.

Westero holds 100% of Nokia's shares, with an investment of US $500 million and a market value of US $2 billion in three years. This rate of return is enough to make most investment funds envious.

Relying on the blood transfusions of danielis entertainment, cersei capital and other companies, the westrow system has always been rich. Even if Nokia still needs a large amount of additional funds in 1993, westero can fully afford it.

However, Nokia has now shown the edge of catching up with the old Motorola Company. Next, if the company wants to continue its rapid expansion, it needs to face more than simple business obstacles.

Whether it's European countries that are close to each other, or North America, which is already afraid of Europe on the other side of the ocean, aware of the rise of a communications giant that has little to do with itself, it's almost conceivable that Nokia may encounter almost instinctive pressure from other countries.

If you want to resolve this problem to the greatest extent, the simplest way is for Nokia to conduct IPO operation.

Through listing, Nokia shares will be sold to investors in Europe and North America, which has interests. If someone wants to suppress Nokia, they need to consider whether they are attacking the interests of their own investors.

For Simon, it is the best choice for Nokia to go public in North America.

However, as a company headquartered in Finland, most of its current business is in Europe. The most important issue for Nokia now is to consolidate its base in Europe.In this way, listing in Europe is the best choice.

Simon came to Finland to discuss the listing issue with Nokia's management team in person.

No matter its development speed or financial data, Nokia is the best IPO target for all major capital markets, so it is not a big problem to seek listing.

The key is the valuation of IPO and how much equity to sell.

For Simon, naturally, the less equity the better. However, if the number of shares issued is too small, the real purpose of this IPO may not be achieved. If the number of shares issued is too large, it is hard to avoid heartache.

After all, the IPO value of Nokia is only about $2 billion.

This kind of valuation is already very considerable in the eyes of many people, but Simon knows that in his memory, at the peak of the new technology wave around 2000, Nokia's market value was once close to $200 billion.

2 billion vs. 200 billion, giving up $100 million now may mean a Book loss of $10 billion in a few years.

What's more, Nokia doesn't need to borrow too much money because of the sufficient capital reserves of westrow system.

After a full day's consideration on Saturday, Simon finally decided to set the proportion of new shares to be issued at 20%.

With Nokia's valuation of about $2 billion at this time, issuing 20% new shares can raise $400 million. However, according to Simon's memory of Nokia's peak market value of $200 billion, this equity means $40 billion.

Of course, it can't be that way.

If Nokia continues to be fully privatized and does not tie its interests with the capital of European and American countries, then, under the pressure of all parties, Nokia may not be able to reach its peak.

Therefore, this 20% share is just the beginning.

Simon plans to gradually reduce his stake in Nokia in the next few years. It is enough to maintain an absolute 51% stake.

Because of the differences of relevant laws in European countries, Nokia and Simon do not intend to use the multiple ownership structure like AOL and Cisco.

In fact, Simon was probably impressed by the collapse of Nokia in his memory. He didn't want to control the company forever.

Or Simon has no idea of permanent control of any company in the westrow system.

This is a historical necessity. No enterprise, no matter how brilliant it was, can escape this fate.

Therefore, for the companies in the westrow system, whether they are Microsoft, Cisco, AOL or daenerys entertainment in Hollywood, as long as they find that a company begins to decline, Simon will withdraw as early as possible and invest his capital in new fields.

On the other hand, although he decided to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in the UK this time, during the discussion with Nokia's management team, Simon also prepared a North American roadshow plan and planned to invite North American capital to London to participate in the purchase of the 20% new shares.

On Saturday, after spending a day in Finland and agreeing on the general plan for Nokia's IPO, Simon flew to Florence, Italy that night.

The main framework determines that the follow-up work will be followed up by James Leibold and the team of Westeros. It is expected that it will take half a year from the initial IPO declaration to the final listing, and it is expected that it will be officially completed in August in the second half of the year.

Florence.

It's Sunday morning.

Sophia fishy is the first to wake up. She takes off the man's arms and goes into the bathroom. She sees strawberries around her neck in the mirror. She is helpless and resentful. She is satisfied with the man's obsession with her body.

Prepare breakfast in person, the man also completed the routine morning exercise, together to sit at the table.

At the end of February, the four major fashion weeks in 1993 will open one after another. Gucci has been busy preparing for the upcoming Spring Show recently.

After breakfast, they rushed to Gucci's headquarters in the city.

While appreciating Gucci's upcoming fashion week, Sophia introduces melisandro's business in the past year to Simon.

The official detailed financial report won't be released until next week. Simon just listened to a general idea, but he can confirm that melisandro's financial data is also very gratifying in the past year.

Because of the excellent financial data support, at lunch, Sophia talked about another acquisition plan that made Simon a little unexpected.

"Christie's? You mean, the auction house? "

Sitting in a historic Italian restaurant in downtown Florence, Simon was surprised to hear Sophia's name.

Sophia nodded and said, "yes, Christie's."

So, noticing that the man's face was a little queer, Sophia asked, "what's the problem?"

Simon quickly smiles and says, "nothing. It's just a little weird.""Well?"

"You see," Simon said with a bigger smile, "in the future, when my children grow up, they will have an advantage in comparing and showing off with their friends. Others may say that my mother just bought a Gucci handbag, and my father spent $10 million on a painting at Christie's, but my son can say that Gucci belongs to my family, and Christie's is also my family. "

Sophia imagined Simon's scene, but she couldn't help laughing and said, "your son just needs to say that my father is Simon westero."

Simon nodded sympathetically: "well, indeed."

Sophia gave Simon a white look and said, "so, do you agree?"

Simon waved his cutlery and said, "I don't know anything about Christie's or even the auction industry. What's more, why does such an old company choose to sell it and the approximate price?"

Sophia said: "if it is in the past, we really have no chance to buy this company. Christie's has a history of 200 years. However, you also know the economic situation in recent years. In 80s, the rise of Japan and the economy of North America continued to rise. The days of several big auction houses in the world were very moist. But in the wake of the stock market crash in North America in 1987, the rich people began to cut down their expenditure because of the continuous economic crisis. The Japanese stock market bubble burst, making the new potential market in Asia rapidly weak. The auction industry also has Matthew effect. In the past few years, Christie's has accounted for about 30% of the auction market, which is lower than Sotheby's 40%. However, there is a big gap in the performance of the two auction industries, which account for more than 70% of the auction market. "

Speaking of this, Sophia paused, sorted out the information in her mind, and continued: "in the past year, Sotheby's annual profit was 265 million US dollars, while Christie's had only 52 million US dollars. The market share gap between the two companies was less than 10%, but the profit difference was five times. The shrinking markets in North America, Europe and Asia have not stopped. We are worried that this situation will continue. Christie's just released the rumor of seeking to sell. "

The North American stock market began to recover after the Gulf War, but the overall economic situation is still not optimistic. Japan in Asia is now on the decline, and the Japanese rich who were bought all over the world have stopped. Last year's pound crisis led to the economic crisis of European countries. In this way, the world economy is at the bottom of the last decade.

Simon knows better that this is also the bottom of the next decade.

Christie's worry that the auction industry will continue to reshuffle, eventually resulting in the original situation of Christie's and Sotheby's two strong side by side into Sotheby's alone, this worry is not unreasonable.

With the weak market, the rich who still have the ability to buy expensive collectibles will obviously only tend to the more powerful one, which will only make Sotheby's more and more powerful. If Christie's wants to maintain its market share, it can only take measures such as reducing the commission or increasing the marketing expenses, which will further reduce its profit space, but it is not necessary to do so It may improve the operation of this auction house, but it will make the gap between him and Sotheby's bigger and bigger.

If Christie's wants to get rid of this dilemma, the most important thing is to make the auction market prosperous again.

It's just that the global market is in a downturn. Although we all know the economic cycle, no one knows whether Christie's can survive this downturn.

In this case, it's no surprise to choose to sell yourself.

For Simon, this is the best opportunity.

Because no one knows better than him that with the rise of new technology, the global economy will recover rapidly in the next few years. At the same time, although Japan's economy will fall into a long-term downturn, Asian countries will become the new upstarts in the collection industry in the next 20 years due to the rapid economic growth.

Now buy Christie's auction house, will definitely become a great bottom.