Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 211 First, I'll guarantee you 50 in financing.

Meanwhile, at the New York branch of Paine Weber Securities on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side, Larry had already introduced George Eastman to Mr. Porter.

Mr. Porter extended his hand and said to him, "Saul Porter, it's a pleasure to meet you, a great inventor!"

George Eastman quickly stood up, shook hands with the other man, and said humbly,
"It is my honor to meet someone as experienced and professional as you."

“Please have a seat, Mr. Eastman.”

After Mr. Potter waited for the other person to sit down, he called a waiter, served him lemon tea, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, said to him...

“I heard from Mr. Livingston that you once approached Mr. Morgan, but he wasn’t interested in your project?”

Mr. Eastman blushed slightly and offered a somewhat hurried explanation,

"That's not entirely true. In fact, I've never met Mr. Morgan. I submitted our company's development plan and financing requirements to him through his senior partner. Moreover, I've always insisted on meeting Mr. Morgan in person..."

Mr. Potter, seeing his argumentative expression, smiled and nodded, then continued...
"Don't be confused by this. In fact, that's the truth. The people that Mr. Morgan values ​​are one in a million. The projects that interest him are often brought by important figures or are projects of those important figures themselves."

Eastman nodded and continued,

"Well, the result is the same anyway. The project prospectus that the partner brought back has one line written on it—'Internal recommendation and public listing project reports are not approved.'"

Mr. Porter nodded, then asked, "So you didn't turn to other investment banks?"

Mr. Eastman pursed his lips, as if the next words were particularly difficult to say, and after a while, he spoke.

“I’ve contacted several companies, and they all said my requirements were a bit demanding. But I just don’t want my invention and my equity to go to someone else.”

Mr. Potter smiled warmly and continued,

"It's alright, please speak. I'll be right here listening to your true feelings!"

After a few seconds, Eastman said, "I only want to give up 30% of the equity. Of course, it would be even better if I could just sell corporate bonds. But they said that if a new technology startup like ours wants to raise more money, we have to give up a large portion of the equity to the public or attract people with high interest rates."

Mr. Porter nodded and then said, “I may be being a bit blunt, but the advice you’ve heard is correct. That’s how public offerings work; they strictly follow the Matthew effect. The more famous your company is, the easier it is to raise money at low interest rates.”

“That’s why I went to see Mr. Morgan…” Eastman frowned and continued.
"I've heard that Mr. Morgan will support inventors' new inventions, and he won't ask for too much equity."

“That is indeed true in theory, but you must also know that Mr. Morgan is a banker and pays more attention to the return on assets of a project. Is your company profitable now?” Mr. Porter asked.

"The project was profitable, and it was growing at a rate of 25% every year—I'm referring to the net profit growth rate. But now the project has hit a bottleneck. Sending the camera with 100 photos back to Rochester isn't going well; cameras are frequently damaged on the mail route, but the post office doesn't cover the losses. So we have to compensate the customers, but then the photos they took are gone. This has caused us to lose many of our customers."

Mr. Eastman shrugged and explained.

Larry nodded, thinking to himself that Eastman Kodak probably had a good plan at the beginning: to sell cameras and make money from developing photos.

However, after running it for a while, it was discovered that some businesses can only continue if others can also make money; otherwise, they will all fail.

Furthermore, expecting postmen of this era to take good care of their packages was wishful thinking; even Larry in later generations dared not place his hopes on any other deliverymen besides SF Express.

After listening, Mr. Porter began to inquire carefully about how George Eastman founded the company and how he grew it step by step.

Mr. Porter asked very detailed questions, especially regarding finances, which were incredibly thorough.

However, Mr. Eastman's answer was more detailed, and it was clear that he was a very hands-on entrepreneur. He knew everything about the company, from accounting and personnel to where chemical materials were imported.

After listening, Mr. Potter nodded heavily, then looked at the other person and said solemnly,
“Mr. Eastman, I firmly believe that Kodak’s future will surpass even our wildest phenomena. I not only believe in it, but I am even willing to undertake the biggest fundraising effort of my career for it…”

Upon hearing this, Mr. Eastman hurriedly adjusted his light-colored glasses and straightened his posture anxiously.

But Mr. Potter's next sentence plunged him into an ice cave.

"...But I also have no way to convince the public to bear stock prices that they cannot understand, especially for companies that have just made a profit. Even if they agree, the price they give will not be satisfactory."

Mr. Eastman frowned and said, "So you agree with them? The other Wall Street people I've been in contact with."

Mr. Porter laughed and waved his hand, saying, “It’s not the same. They don’t have my connections. To be honest, the problem with your company’s fundraising isn’t that Wall Street people are irresponsible, but rather that your thinking is constrained by past cases.”

Mr. Eastman raised his eyebrows. "How so? You can just point it out."

“Your company, the one called Kodak,” Mr. Porter said with a smile.

"What it needs is not a group of retail shareholders chasing short-term fluctuations, but strategic partners who can sail with you and share your vision. The public market may appear to be a noisy frenzy, but building a great company requires capital that operates in the quiet and precise environment of a laboratory."

Eastman agreed, but he still frowned and asked, "But if I give it to a big shot, I'll have to give up more stock. They won't help me like it's charity; they'll have to control the shares, right? I've heard that Wall Street bigwigs often do this... they take a stake first, and then kick out the inventor or the company's founders, but the company still has the original name!"

Mr. Porter wanted to refute, but after thinking about Edison, who was supposedly about to be kicked out of General Electric, he suddenly became speechless.

Larry wanted to refute, but after thinking about the Buick, Boeing, Apple, Compaq, Tesla, Lululemon, and other companies he knew from his past and present lives, he was momentarily speechless. Eastman, observing their reactions, became even more convinced that what he had heard was true!
Mr. Porter pondered for a moment and said, “We can carefully select a small number of investors who understand long-termism and trust your personal vision. You can guarantee absolute control and continue to lead Kodak on the right track without sacrificing the future for next quarter’s financial report!”

Eastman's eyes sharpened again, and he spoke earnestly to Mr. Potter.

"That's exactly what I'm most afraid of, because those who understand long-termism, and even those who understand the meaning I've created, are more interested in taking away my fruits of victory and keeping them for themselves, aren't they?"

At this moment, Mr. Potter fully demonstrated the side effect of his excellent interpersonal skills: he was bad at lying...

He couldn't possibly pat his chest and say without any psychological barrier, "Absolutely not! Every capitalist is noble and pure, the kind that can go straight to heaven with just a feather duster stuck in their back!"

Mr. Potter couldn’t say that, because he knew that Eastman’s concerns were quite plausible!

Larry glanced at Mr. Potter, then at Eastman's increasingly suspicious face, and silently shook his head inwardly.

He thought to himself that if it were Mr. Wallace, he would have already rushed up to vouch for Eastman.

Mr. Porter, you can't be too honest! Honest people don't make money from IPOs...

Mr. Potter nodded silently and said, "Your considerations are also very reasonable..."

Mr. Eastman's face showed an expression that said, "See what I just said? That's just how things are..."

The atmosphere of the negotiation suddenly became tense, and before they knew it, the initiative in the conversation had shifted from Mr. Porter to Eastman.

Larry didn't actually want to step forward, but Mr. Porter at this point truly didn't fully grasp the correct way to utilize his vast and trustworthy network of contacts...

In reality, Larry couldn't possibly know.

But... who can blame him for having insights and knowledge that surpass those of the two of them by more than a hundred years?

Larry coughed lightly, then turned to Mr. Eastman and said,

"If it's convenient, could you please first tell me about your ideal financing plan?"

Mr. Eastman turned to look at Larry, and then explained his plan in detail.

The plan is actually not complicated. Eastman intends to officially change the current "Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company" to "Eastman Kodak Company", which will transform the company from a wholly-owned subsidiary into a joint-stock company.

The new company has a total share capital of 30,000 shares, with George Eastman retaining 51% of the shares, or 15,300 shares.

Eastman plans to issue the remaining 14,700 shares to the public at $100 each, raising at least $147 million.

This will allow us to raise all the funds needed for the company's next stage of development.

Larry and Mr. Porter exchanged a glance, both seeing approval of the plan in each other's eyes.

Based on what the other party just said about the company's profitability, I feel that they are not actually asking for an exorbitant price.

Larry immediately realized that Kodak was not a shell company like Ford Motor Company, which was only able to maintain sample production through capital injections. Kodak already had core patents, invented and was now producing the world's dry plate film, and the company had already achieved stable profits.

For equity investments in such companies, it's absolutely impossible to exert as much pressure as Ford Motor Company.
.
Mr. Potter looked eager, but his eyes betrayed his hesitation; he was unsure how to answer the other man's concerns.

Raising enough money while allowing Eastman to retain a 51% stake is practically an impossible task on Wall Street today.

Because when bigwigs entered Eastman Kodak, they couldn't just let Eastman retain a 51% stake. Even if Eastman met with Morgan, Morgan would still want a majority stake, especially for a startup like Eastman.

However, if the stock were to be publicly offered, Mr. Porter would be unable to convince the public at that time that they would truly accept new technologies that they knew nothing about.

Mr. Porter even thought that if Eastman Kodak were really a fraudulent company, it might have been able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from the market, but it just so happened that it was a company that was genuinely trying to do real business.

The market is very wary of such companies now, so Kodak is unlikely to actually receive nearly $150 million.

Mr. Potter is really having a headache right now...

Just then, Mr. Potter suddenly felt that someone was watching him. He quickly turned his head and saw Larry looking at him with deep eyes, as if he had something to say.

Mr. Potter immediately understood, cleared his throat, and said, "Well then... Mr. Livingston, why don't you tell Mr. Eastman what your initial plan was?"

Larry nodded, then turned to Mr. Eastman and said crisply,
"No matter what! I guarantee you at least 50 in funding. For the remaining 97, we'll need to mobilize our own channels, which will take some time, but I think there shouldn't be any problem. It's just that you'll have to cooperate with us on the roadshow."

“50? At least?” Eastman was taken aback.

Mr. Potter also gave Larry a meaningful look.

　I'll make up for the extra chapter today, and it won't end here, without a beginning or an end. But don't wait, everyone, sleep in this weekend and read it tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)