Chapter 194 Huge Transactions and Funding

After signing the contract, the five of them had a meal together in the hotel.

Liu Zhou could see that Chen Tianqiao must still be feeling a little uncomfortable, as he forced him to drink several glasses of wine.

This time Liu Zhou did not refuse and drank with him to his heart's content.

Fortunately, Liu Zhou has improved his alcohol tolerance a little bit, otherwise he would have collapsed again.

When they parted, Chen Tianqiao picked up another glass of wine and came to Liu Zhou, saying:
"Mr. Liu, this last cup of wine is for you to take over Sina as soon as possible!"

Looking at Chen Tianqiao, whose face was also flushed, Liu Zhou filled his own glass, clinked glasses with him and drank it all in one gulp.

However, after drinking it, Liu Zhou suddenly felt his stomach churning. He knew he was about to vomit, so he immediately covered his mouth and ran to the toilet.

When Chen Tianqiao saw Liu Zhou like this, a smile appeared on his face.

This smile carried a hint of relief and a hint of ease.

Chen Tianqiao also drank the wine in the glass, and then said to Zhong Lifang:
"Mr. Liu must be drunk. Please take good care of him. We are leaving first."

After saying that, Chen Tianqiao stood up and left, and Luo Qianqian and Tang Jun followed immediately.

Liu Zhou felt much better after vomiting. When he came out and saw that Chen Tianqiao was gone, he couldn't help but ask:

"Mr. Chen and the others have left?"

"Yes, he said you were drunk and asked you to rest early."

"In that case, let's go."

"Mr. Liu, can you do it yourself?"

"Of course, I'm not unconscious, and the room is in this hotel."

However, seeing that Liu Zhou seemed a little shaky, Zhong Lifang was still worried, so she sent him to his room before returning to her own room.

The next day, Liu Zhou slept until almost noon.

He went back to his room and fell asleep last night, so now he feels sticky all over.

After taking a shower, Liu Zhou felt a little better.

Thinking of the formal signing of the acquisition agreement of Sina shares with Shanda yesterday, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile.

Now I have taken the most crucial step towards taking control of Sina. All that remains is to convince Sina's other shareholders.

Even if they reject me this time, they cannot use the poison pill plan to deal with Chen Tianqiao as they did before.

Liu Zhou did not directly purchase Sina shares from the secondary market, so the poison pill plan was useless to him.

What's more, after acquiring Shanda's 19.5% stake, plus the 10.6% in his own hands.

Liu Zhou owns 30.1% of Sina 100's shares, making him the absolute majority shareholder.

The combined shares of the other shareholders may be equivalent to Liu Zhou's.

When Sina went public, it did not implement AB shares, and everyone had the same voting rights.

As long as he can win over some shareholders, Liu Zhou can smoothly become the chairman of Sina's board of directors, and then slowly, like Sohu and NetEase, he can make Sina's portal website named Liu.

Although it feels great to be in charge of Sina, the largest Chinese portal, Liu Zhou still has a headache when thinking about the huge acquisition price.

Liu Zhou's acquisition of Sina shares from Shanda was completed at a 110% premium to the current stock price.

When I was negotiating with Chen Tianqiao a few years ago, Sina had just released its financial report, its stock price had risen to US$15.6, and its total market value had reached US$ billion.

I don’t know if it’s because Sina’s financial report last year was better, but in just less than a month, Sina’s stock price has been rising.

Sina’s current market value has risen to US$15.8 billion, a direct increase of US$ million.

A market value premium of 33.18% is US$6.47 billion, and 55% is US$ million, which is equivalent to about RMB billion.

To raise such a huge amount of funds, Liu Zhou might have to sell all of his shares in Tencent, Amazon and NetEase, and it might not even be enough.

This transaction should be the largest capital transaction between private enterprises in China so far, right? !
But no matter what, it's worth it.

He bought those stocks at the bottom just to make money, and he never even thought that he would have ambitions for Sina.

In 01, Liu Zhou came to Hong Kong with million US dollars. Up to now, this million US dollars has increased more than times, which can be said to be a huge profit.

However, no matter how much money you have, it is just a number. If it cannot be converted into influence, the role of money will be greatly weakened and may even bring disaster.

So although it's a bit of a shame to sell Amazon and NetEase stock now, it's all worth it.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhou made a phone call and asked Zhong Lifang to come over.

Zhong Lifang came over after a while. Liu Zhou saw that she still had some dark circles under her eyes and couldn't help but say:
"Did I disturb your rest?"

"No, I got up very early, but I was too happy last night and went to bed late." Zhong Lifang replied with a smile.

"Haha, it seems that you should have drunk a few more glasses last night like me, so you can fall asleep more easily."

Zhong Lifang smiled and said nothing.

If your boss is drunk, how can I get drunk myself?

It’s not that they are afraid of something happening after drinking, but the two of them are the top executives of the company. If they are both drunk, if something unexpected happens in the company, there will be no one to make decisions.

Zhong Lifang knew Liu Zhou's alcohol tolerance very well. Seeing him drinking one glass after another with Chen Tianqiao last night, she knew he was going to get drunk.

So she hardly drank any alcohol, and chatted and ate with the other two people in Shengda. Liu Zhou chatted for a while, put away his smile, and said seriously:

"Mr. Zhong, you may have to make another trip to Hong Kong to deal with the stocks of NetEase and Amazon."

"Mr. Liu, the stocks of these two companies are rising so well now. We can actually acquire Shanda's stocks through leveraged mortgage."

"Forget it, I don't want to take any risks, only when I have all the shares of Sina in my own hands can people feel at ease.

Moreover, if I could successfully take over Sina, Ding Lei of NetEase would definitely not allow me to hold so many shares in NetEase.”

"Given Mr. Ding's strong character, he certainly wouldn't feel comfortable with his competitors holding so many shares of NetEase."

“So, sell all these shares.”

"Mr. Liu, we hold more than 10% of NetEase's shares. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will definitely not allow us to cash out so many shares in a short period of time.

It would take a long time to cash out all of it.”

After hearing what Zhong Lifang said, Liu Zhou couldn't help but fall silent. This was indeed a problem.

Stock trading in the United States has been developed for two or three hundred years, and various systems have been established very well.

Major shareholders of listed companies must report their cashing out of shares to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it is also illegal to cash out too much at one time.

"Then I'll take care of Wangyi's shares, and you just need to take care of Amazon's shares."

There is not so much complexity in cashing out Amazon stock. The shares he holds are at most those of a retail investor with a larger number of shares.

"Okay Mr. Liu."

“If we sell all of our shares in NetEase and Amazon, how much money can we get?”

Regarding these situations, when Liu Zhou told her that he was going to acquire Sina, Zhong Lifang kept paying attention to the stock prices of NetEase, Amazon and Tencent.

“Although we cashed out 400 million Amazon shares last time, its stock price has continued to rise over the past year.

The Amazon stock we hold is currently worth more than $420 million!"

"So much? I remember when we cashed out last time, wasn't the total value only about 300 million US dollars?"

"Mr. Liu, Amazon's size is not comparable to Sina's. Its total market value is now more than 40 billion US dollars.

From last year to now, in less than a year, Amazon’s market value has increased by more than one billion US dollars.”

Damn, after hearing this, Liu Zhou felt a little reluctant to sell his Amazon stocks.

But then I thought of the temptation from Sina, so I gritted my teeth and resisted it.

But this is a great thing for Liu Zhou, as Amazon stock solved most of his funding problems.

"Where's Wang Yi?"

"Currently, the share price of NetEase is as high as US$21.4, with a total market value of US$ billion. We own % of NetEase's shares.

If calculated based on the current market value, we can cash out $2.65 million.”

"Is Wangyi's market value so high now?"

“Yes, in recent years, NetEase has been vigorously developing its gaming business.

In addition to the huge hits of "Fantasy Westward Journey" and "Westward Journey Online" developed by themselves, last year they became the agent for Blizzard's blockbuster game "World of Warcraft".

So their financial report last year was better than Sina’s, their stock price rose more sharply than Sina’s, and last year, NetEase’s market value had already surpassed Sina’s.”

"Then how can Sina have the nerve to keep calling itself the world's number one Chinese portal?"

"In terms of news and information, which is the main portal business, Sina is indeed the most powerful among the three major portals, so there is nothing wrong with what Sina said."

"Well, it seems that I am not thick-skinned enough."

This is good news for Liu Zhou.

If all goes well, after cashing out the shares of these two companies, the total amount will be US$6.85 million, which is enough to pay for the acquisition and even have some left over.

In this case, Liu Zhou would not need to sell Tencent shares.

Liu Zhou has already made preparations. If the funds are insufficient, he will even cash out some Tencent shares.

It’s better that it’s not needed now, otherwise Liu Zhou would also feel bad.

Liu Zhou took a deep breath and said:

"Boss Zhong, you should take a two-day break and go to Hong Kong as soon as possible. Although Boss Chen gave us three months to pay, the time is still tight for us."

"I understand, Mr. Liu. I plan to leave for Hong Kong this afternoon."

"There's no need to be so anxious. You've been very busy during this period. You should take a rest for two days."

"No need to rest. I'm not tired at all now. I'll rest after Mr. Liu officially takes over Sina."

"Okay, I will also leave the Magic City for the capital this afternoon and try to let you take a vacation early."

As a boss, Liu Zhou must feel gratified no matter how hard his employees work.

In the afternoon, Zhong Lifang packed up simply and flew south to Hong Kong.

Liu Zhou called Chen Tianqiao to say goodbye, then flew north to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)