Chapter 995： Sudden temptation

"Of course not, you are simply embarrassed. According to the routines of Hong Kong Island movies, I am going to sue you." Eric made a joke and casually shifted the subject. "You are here, this year's Wei Mi. Daxiu should have already started preparations?"

"Well, I have already started to choose the theme," Emily did not entangle the previous thing. "We just opened the Wei Mi store to Europe in the first half of the year, and this year's big show is going to be in London."

Eric has rarely paid attention to the specific operation of the Vimy show. He only said that Giselle had bowed to his side and said: "Remember to give Giselle an opening."

Emily nodded: "Of course, there are wings, and this year, except for Cindy, only Giselle can get the theme opening."

Although Emily had a good relationship with Joanna and Virginia, she also took Joanna’s sister, Eva, as an assistant. However, for Eric's act, Emily has become accustomed to it. Out of the thoughts of some women who are suffering from women, she did not have any prejudice against Cindy, Giselle and others because of her relationship with Joanna, but she would habitually swear by Eric.

This year is the fifth year of Vimy's big show, when Cindy Crawford, Linda Ivangolinsta, Kristen Durrington, Diane Kruger and Tara Bank The term of the endorsement contract signed by the five people and Wei Mi is five years.

After this year, both Cindy and Linda will retire from the Victorian spokesperson and concentrate on the TV show in their hands. Christine Durrington is married and will choose to quit as a housewife. The original five-person group was only left by Diane Kruger and Tyra Banks.

This year, Giselle simply participated in the Vimy show, and will officially sign an endorsement contract with Wei Mi next year.

I was chatting. Tonight, the host of the party, John Mark, came over again and said hello. John Mark told Eric: "Eric, can you talk alone?"

Eric had some doubts but did not refuse, saying: "Of course."

John Mark made a gesture of asking, and the two men walked through the crowd in the hall and walked along the spiral staircase of the duplex apartment to a reception room on the second floor.

Signaling that Eric sat down on the sofa, John Mark walked to the wine cabinet by the wall, took a bottle of wine from the cupboard and poured two glasses, and took two ice cubes from the small freezer and put it in. The cup came over and handed Eric a cup and said: "Try my collection of johnnie-walker, although the whisky is not the longer the year, the better the taste, but the 50-year-old johnnie-walker, there are few in the world. Bottle."

Eric picked up the cup and just sent it to his mouth. He smelled a strong scent of wine. He also took a sip of some of the scotch whisky and sipped a little bit and nodded. "Great, though, I don't understand this too much."

John Mark sat on the single sofa opposite Eric, with a gentle smile on his face, saying: "It seems that you don't drink often, but this is actually a good habit."

"I just prefer to stay awake," Eric said, shaking the glass in his hand and looking at John Mark, waiting for the other party to make his own intentions.

John Mark sneered a few cups of whiskey and then said: "Eric, have you thought about speeding up Yahoo's ipo process?"

"This kind of thing is usually responsible for Chris."

Eric quietly responded, while at the same time pondering the intention of John Mark to suddenly mention the matter. Chris didn't mention this to him. He wanted to come. It should be a sudden attack by John Mark. Compared with the more professional Chris, the other party may feel that it is an easier breakthrough.

Thinking of what Chris said, the original Morgan executives failed in the power struggle of the new company after Morgan Stanley and Dean Witt merged. Perhaps, John Mark and others want to bring it with Yahoo! The performance highlights saved the trend.

Yahoo’s ipo strategy has been adjusting. Initially, Eric hopes that Yahoo will maintain a fairly high level of Nasdaq at the end of this year or early next year, and issue a stock equivalent to about 30% of the total share capital. This will allow you to get development funding that will support Yahoo's next five to ten years.

However, with the deepening of the understanding of corporate ipo related information, Eric also realized that this is not realistic.

Yahoo's valuation at the beginning of this year has reached 15 billion US dollars. According to the average increase of technology stocks in the past six months, Yahoo's current valuation should increase to about 25 billion US dollars, as long as the Nasdaq index does not collapse in advance, the valuation at the end of the year It may even be close to $50 billion.

Therefore, Yahoo will issue 30% of the shares at a time, and the theoretical financing scale will reach 15 billion US dollars. This figure has broken through the record of the size of all corporate IPOs in the history of US stocks before 1998. Prior to this, the largest ipo object in the US stock market, Deutsche Telekom, only raised $13 billion when it went public in 1996.

Deutsche Telekom's position in Germany is comparable to that of the US at-t. Neither the net asset size nor the annual turnover is comparable to Yahoo. Eric is full of confidence in Yahoo's future, but it does not mean that everyone is like this. The capital bubble brought by the new technology wave has been paid more and more attention.

Yahoo’s performance growth in recent years is very rapid, but last year’s revenue was only more than 600 million US dollars. Even if this year’s annual turnover can exceed 1 billion US dollars, it is definitely not enough to support the market value of 50 billion US dollars. .

The high Nasdaq index is a well-known fact. If the ipo process, Yahoo's appetite is too big, coupled with investors' fear of the stock market bubble burst, it will only lead to the failure of Yahoo!

Therefore, this time Yahoo's ipo, Eric only intends to issue 10% to 15% of the stock, he did not have too high expectations for Yahoo's valuation, according to the issue price at the time, as long as Yahoo's valuation exceeds $30 billion will be fine.

In this way, Yahoo can still raise 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars of funds at a time, enough to support Yahoo's expansion in the next three to five years, and successfully survive the 'winter period' of the development of Internet companies after the bursting of the stock market bubble.

The scale of financing of 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars, even if it can not be compared with Deutsche Telekom two years ago, is definitely a very big ipo in recent years. Once successful, Morgan Stanley, who is responsible for underwriting, can not only get rich The commission can further enhance its influence on Wall Street and attract more companies in the online market in recent years to cooperate with it.

The original Morgan team, which operates the Yahoo! ipo, can naturally gain more voice in the new company.

I heard Eric mention Chris, John Mark said: "Eric, you are the owner of the firefly investment, so I think this is more suitable for you to discuss with you first."

Some of the provocative lies in John Mark’s discourse made Eric somewhat unhappy, but he just smiled and said: “I always like to give professional things to professional people. This is also the fact that fireflies can be developed to the present scale. the reason."

John Mark deliberately mentions that Eric is the 'owner' of the firefly investment, that is, he wants to provoke his desire to control, and therefore makes a decision that suits his intentions.

Seeing this trick is useless to Eric, John Mark immediately changed his mind and said: "This is the case, Eric, now many investment institutions on Wall Street believe that the Nasdaq already has a very serious bubble, just take the United States. Online, the company was valued at $5 billion when it went public in 1995, but until now, in just two and a half years, its market capitalization has exceeded $40 billion, or 800%. And Microsoft, Compared with 1995, Microsoft's market value has more than six times. Other technology companies such as Cisco, Oracle, Intel, etc., the stock price increase has reached a level of exaggeration. So, in recent months, it should be Yahoo listed The final is also the best time. Our preparations are already very full. As long as we start, we will be able to successfully complete the ipo plan before September. If we wait until the end of the plan or early next year, even if the Nasdaq bubble does not break, the major investment institutions will Very cautious about buying tech stocks, which is very unfavorable for Yahoo's ipo."

John Mark’s words are undoubtedly very convincing. If it is not Eric’s perception of the Nasdaq’s trend that is beyond ordinary people, he feels that he is likely to agree with the other’s point of view. .

However, patiently listening to John Mark, Eric just shook his head and smiled: "John, I understand your mind, but I also have my own plan. Yahoo's current valuation has not yet reached my ideals. State, so the plan for listing at the end of the year will not change. Moreover, although I hope that Yahoo can successfully implement ipo, in fact, I am not afraid that Yahoo's ipo will fail. Even if Yahoo cannot be successfully listed, the firefly system can Provide sufficient development funding for this company."

John Mark’s mind paused. He didn’t know what Eric said, 'I understand your mind’. Does it mean that I want to take advantage of Yahoo!’s IPO in the company, or does it seem to be Yahoo! Success concerns.

However, John Mark did not show any difference on his face, saying: "Eric, then, Microsoft's 30% equity subscription rights, once Yahoo ipo fails, in the unlisted state, with Microsoft's equity transaction Yahoo! will be very disadvantageous. Just like now, Microsoft’s market value is almost ten times that of Yahoo’s valuation. Microsoft can only exchange 30% of Yahoo’s shares with 3% of stocks. I think you definitely don’t want to see this. This happens. I think if Yahoo is on the market, the market value will at least reach the level of AOL."

Eric’s expression is still relaxed. “John, Microsoft can exercise the right to subscribe for shares in July next year. According to your point of view, if the Nasdaq bubble bursts at the end of the year, Yahoo can’t succeed ipo, but again, Microsoft will definitely It’s impossible to maintain the current high stock price. Moreover, even if Microsoft and Yahoo are trading now, I will feel very depressed, but if I sell 3% of the shares paid by Microsoft, Yahoo will still be able to get $6.7 billion in funds. Firefly investment still retains absolute control over Yahoo."

When Eric first reached a deal with the big classmates, the idea was that when the two parties fulfilled the equity subscription agreement, even if Microsoft's market value could reach the peak of 600 billion US dollars, if Yahoo went public, the market value should be close to 200 billion.

By that time, Yahoo's 30% equity value will reach 60 billion US dollars, Microsoft will definitely not get this huge amount of cash. If the other party still wants 30% of Yahoo's equity, it can only take the form of share swap. However, if the stock is changed, Microsoft also needs to pay about 10% of the shares, so the firefly investment may directly become a big deal for Microsoft. Shareholders. In this case, Microsoft is likely to automatically give up this subscription right.

However, if the situation described by John Mark really happens, as long as it can sell Microsoft stocks, Firefly Investment will not lose anything. The only regret is that it cannot become a major shareholder of Microsoft.

Because of the frequent contact with Chris Hansen, John Mark also knows that he has a very clear idea of ​​Yahoo! Ipo, it is very difficult to make the other party change the decision, so I hope to find a breakthrough point from Eric here tonight.

However, seeing Eric’s attitude is more determined, and John Mark quickly gave up his thoughts.

He invited Eric Ben tonight to have the idea of ​​having a good relationship with the other party. Naturally, he would not stiffen the scene.

Abandoning the idea of ​​lobbying Eric, John Mark took the initiative to change the topic. The two chatted for a while and left the reception room together.

Eric did not go back to the downstairs hall with John Mark, and under the guidance of the other side, went to the bathroom at the end of the corridor. Come out again and see the stairs leading to the rooftop of the apartment upstairs. After thinking about it, Eric walked up, intending to see through the wind, and getting along with smart people like John Mark, it was very troublesome.

Pushing open the iron gate of the rooftop, Eric just stepped out and saw a sly figure standing beside the fence at the northwest corner of the rooftop. It seemed to be looking at the dark Central Park in the west of the night.

Hearing the sound behind him, the figure turned and turned, but it was Stephanie Seymour.

Stephanie Seymour’s expression was obviously a little unexpected, with some ridicule in her tone, saying: “Eric, you are not going to follow it?”

Although the interrogative sentence is used, from the slightly smiling smile on the woman's face, the other party seems to have determined this fact.

"I said that you certainly won't believe it," Eric shrugged indifferently, walked over to Stephanie Seymour, squatting on the fence and looking at the lights on Fifth Avenue, not far from next door, and more. Far away from the Central Park, feel free to say: "What are you looking at?"

Stephanie Seymour shook his head and put his hands on the fence. He said casually: "Nothing, it's just through the wind, it's too stuffy."