The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 174 Merger of Google and Baidu

As the investment bank that led the Nasdaq IPO projects with the largest total amount in the past five years, Goldman Sachs has never been short of projects.Goldman Sachs' client relationship network is all over the world, bringing them a steady stream of investment opportunities.

They only lack good projects, good projects that can be promoted as well-known cases for a long time.

The companies founded by Zhou Xin all have similar potentials, and Matrix, as a hardware brand, is even more unusual among the companies Zhou Xin founded.

Goldman Sachs' business intelligence system has always been the top in the industry, and they have accumulated a lot of intelligence on Matrix.

Zhou Xin has successively invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the matrix project, which is the company he founded with the highest initial investment amount.

However, matrix only generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue, which was clearly a failure for Zhou Xin.

The only thing worthy of praise is the matrix product itself. Once the matrix keyboard was launched, it subverted the keyboard field. Manufacturers who were originally making membrane keyboards began to explore mechanical keyboards.

The mechanical keyboard has been rejuvenated many years in advance. Matrix has a high degree of recognition in the key circle due to its high price and pioneer status.

As for Matrix making mobile phones, Goldman Sachs also knows that Matrix has recruited a small number of Nokia executives, but even with Zhou Xin behind them, they are not so optimistic about Matrix making mobile phones.

Because it is difficult for manufacturers involved in the mobile phone field for the first time to quickly gain consumer recognition, and now looking at mobile phones is a field that takes time to accumulate.

Well-known manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola have decades of accumulation before they can be recognized by consumers.

There are thick barriers in the mobile phone industry and the Internet industry, and such barriers do not seem to be barriers that can be overcome by individual talent.

Therefore, the investment department of Goldman Sachs has a very low evaluation of the matrix project, which is completely different from NewPay, which has the highest evaluation. Goldman Sachs has a very high evaluation of NewPay internally, and has been trying to find opportunities to participate in NewPay's next round of investment.

Even out of optimism for NewPay, he invested in some other companies in the same field, that is, other electronic payment companies.

However, Zhou Xin's strong admiration for matrix still aroused Henry's interest. He was very curious about what kind of product could make Zhou Xin himself evaluate it as epoch-making.

The outside world has always compared quora to an epoch-making product, but Zhou Xin himself does not think so. Whether he is in public or privately chatting with others, he thinks quora is just an ordinary community product. There are some innovations.

So this is also the first time I heard from Zhou Xin that he has such a high evaluation of its products, which gave Henry the idea of ​​investing. Even if the matrix is ​​not satisfactory, it will not affect the further closer relationship with Zhou Xin through this project relation.

It's not that Goldman Sachs is good for making money from Zhou Xin all the time, and a proper loss is conducive to further closer relationship.

Zhou Xin said: "At present, the Matrix project is not short of money. The most important point is that the most important product of Matrix, that is, the Matrix mobile phone has not yet been launched on the market, so it is difficult for us to have a price for it.

In terms of revenue and profit, he may only be worth 5 million U.S. dollars, but in just over a year, the money I invested in it is almost 5 million U.S. dollars.

I had high expectations for it, and it's hard to get that kind of recognition from other people until it's a relatively big success.So let's talk about it after the product is released. "

After being rejected, stop this topic in time and move on to the next topic is the rule Henry believes in.

There is no need to pursue all goals at once, and the request for one thing can be made many times, and it can even be raised step by step.

Henry went on to say: "Okay, I'm also curious about what's different about Matrix's mobile phone, which can be rated so highly by you.

It just so happens that I also need to change my mobile phone, and I am looking forward to the launch of the matrix mobile phone. At that time, I will give each of Goldman Sachs executives a copy.

Next is the last purpose of coming here today. I don’t think you will agree to the aforementioned invitation to serve as Time Warner’s CEO.

You should seriously consider this last matter today, it will benefit both of us. "

Zhou Xin guessed what Henry was going to say next, which was his real reason for coming this time.

"We hope to promote the merger of Google and Baidu, and promote the listing of the newly established Internet company after the merger.

As the major shareholder behind Baidu, we need your permission before chatting with Robin. "

Without Baidu, Google would have a monopoly on search engines and maintain a very strong position during the IPO process.

Originally, Google sought Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse as the lead underwriters for the IPO listing, and more than 20 other investment banks served as other underwriters, and even directly kicked out Bank of Merrill Lynch on the eve of the listing.

Now that there is a strong competitor like Baidu, Google's performance in the IPO is far less than that of the original space-time.

Whether it is technology, operation, or means of capital operation, Baidu is no less than Google. Google and Baidu equally share the entire search engine market.

If Time Warner hadn't kicked Baidu out of Quora's built-in search engine, Baidu's market share would be larger than Google's.

Even after losing such an important partner as Quora, Baidu still won't lose out in the competition with Google.

Baidu's advertising distribution system was launched earlier than Google's.

Baidu has gone through 3 rounds of financing from its establishment to now. After the 3 rounds of financing, Zhou Xin holds 30% of Baidu's shares, second only to Robin's 35% of Baidu's individual shareholders.

After Goldman Sachs captured the information, they thought their opportunity had come.

The merger of Google and Baidu can make a fortune, and after the merger of Baidu and Google, it can make another fortune by going public.

Goldman Sachs, who is used to eating more than one fish, will not miss this opportunity.

In the arrangement of Goldman Sachs, not only one fish eats two, but one fish eats three.

That is to make the merger and listing of Google and Baidu into a landmark event of Nasdaq's recovery.

Since the Nasdaq bubble burst, no Internet company has been able to list on Nasdaq.

Huaguo Internet companies like NetEase, Sohu, and Sina, which originally planned to land on the U.S. stock market in the millennium, failed to get the opportunity to be listed on Nasdaq.

They want to settle for the next best thing, listing on the Hong Kong stock market, and investors in the Hong Kong stock market have little interest.

Fortunately, the stock price of Riot Games has soared, and the new term Newman concept stock has been newly coined, which is recognized by investors in Hong Kong stocks.As for Netease and Sohu, as quasi-Newman concept stocks with Zhou Xin holding shares behind them, their listing seems to usher in a turning point.

As for Sina, Newman concept stocks are bad for them, because Zhou Xin is the only one who has not taken a fancy to Sina.

Zhou Xin asked: "You should ask Robin for advice on this kind of commercial capital operation. I mainly invest in Baidu, and I rarely get involved in Baidu's daily operations."

Zhou Xin knew that Robin would definitely not want to. Robin is a person who has a strong desire to control Baidu.

If it hadn't been for him never showing interest in Baidu, Robin would not have allowed Zhou Xin to maintain such a high shareholding ratio during the three rounds of financing.

People with such a strong desire for control obviously don't want their companies to be acquired.It is said to be a merger, but it is actually Google's acquisition of Baidu. In the Google-Baidu consortium, Robin will inevitably be marginalized.

"Other investors in Baidu are willing to merge with Google, as long as you are willing, then the approval vote on this matter exceeds 50%.

So your opinion matters.

Robin is skeptical about the merger of Baidu and Google, and he doesn't want Baidu and Google to merge. said Henry.

Judging from Zhou Xin's agreement to sell Quora to Time Warner, Henry believes that Zhou Xin's acceptance of this kind of capital operation is very high, and it is easier to negotiate with Robin.

Baidu did not adopt a structure of different rights for the same shares. Zhou Xin's 30% of the shares, together with the 35% of the shares of other investment institutions, are enough to directly promote the merger of Baidu and Google.

Zhou Xin said: "I hold shares in both Baidu and Google, but I hold more shares in Baidu and less shares in Google.

From my personal point of view, Baidu and Google merged and then went public, and I can get a lot of benefits.

This is of great benefit to me personally, and I would like to facilitate it.

But I hope to have a good chat with Robin, and then promote this matter, instead of forcibly excluding the founders in this way. "

It didn't matter to Goldman, it did to him.

After doing such a thing, it is Goldman Sachs who eat more than one fish, and Zhou Xin can only enjoy the one-time bonus of going public, which will damage his reputation.

As long as he is a founder, he will not like investors who interfere too much with him, let alone investors who sold him privately.

Google and Baidu merged. If Zhou Xin chooses to cooperate with Goldman Sachs and directly kicks Robin out, the two parties will settle the matter.

After this incident gets out in the future, it will be very difficult for Zhou Xin to invest in other Internet companies.

No one will trust an investor who can kick a founder out of the game without authorization.

Goldman Sachs has done a lot of this kind of thing, and they don't have too much psychological burden. Their operation is so deep that they don't worry about the impact of this kind of thing.

Besides, Goldman Sachs is only an IPO underwriter, not an investor, and being able to do this shows that they have great powers.

Henry said: "It's also a huge benefit for Robin.

With Baidu and Google merging and then going public, he can quickly make a fortune. "

Zhou Xin said: "I believe you have already talked to Robin, and then he rejected you.

For entrepreneurs with ideals, money is really only second, and the most important thing is to meet personal spiritual needs.

The price you are offering now cannot convince Robin. If you can leave the position of Google-Baidu CEO to Robin, I believe he will agree. "

Henry smiled wryly, so Robin would agree, but the problem is that the founder of Google would not agree.

Larry Page is no less controlling than Robin.

(End of this chapter)