Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2098 Proxy Competition

In the morning, Zhou Buqi got up as usual, washed up, and then went to the restaurant to have breakfast.

I found that Gu Zanli was grinning.

"What's wrong? So happy?"

"I got my driver's license."

"Ah?" Zhou Buqi didn't know about it, "Driver's license?"

Gu Zanli pursed her lips and said, "Well, I passed the driver's license test in one go. Just now, Maizi called me to tell me and congratulated me."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "What congratulations do you have for getting a driver's license?"

Gu Zanli was a little embarrassed, "She likes to joke the most. She congratulated me with a pun, and said that she will call her sister in the future. I am 90 years old, and she is 91 years old. I am older than her." .”

Zhou Buqi waved his hand, "Just arrange them by age. It's not an ancient feudal family. Who should come first?"

"OK."

Gu Zanli was very happy, she would not call Mai Feixue a sister who is one year younger than her.

Zhou Buqi asked, "Which of you has taken the driver's license test?"

"I have passed the exam."

"Have you passed the exam?"

"Well, but I haven't had a few of them, but I have passed with Guan Nanqing, Mai Feixue, and Zhao Li Muge."

Gu Zanli was a little bit proud, she knew very well in her heart that if she passed the driver's license test, the boss should give herself a car, after all, the relationship is already in place.

Zhou Buqi nodded, "There are too many cars in the capital, and you really can't drive if your level is low. If you want to drive, you should find a place to practice after you return to China."

Gu Zanli said shyly, "Well, I'm saving money now, and I'll buy a Chery when I'm done practicing..."

Zhou Buqi couldn't help laughing, stretched out his hand and pinched her face a few times, the delicate skin seemed to be able to pinch water, "Playing tricks with me?"

"No……"

Gu Zanli took a long tone and acted coquettishly.

Zhou Buqi said: "Okay, when you finish practicing, I will take you to pick up the car."

For a while, Wu Yu loved buying cars.

In the underground garage of my home in the capital, there are more than 30 cars, more than 20 of which are women's models.Now Wu Yu is stationed in Europe all the year round, and he keeps letting it go.

"Wow! Thank you boss!" Gu Zanli jumped up excitedly, ran over and kissed the big boss on the face enthusiastically, "Good boss, you are so kind!"

Zhou Buqi ate his breakfast with his head down, and waved his hands, "Okay, you can go upstairs to see Yao Yao, if she can get up. If she is uncomfortable, I won't take her out today, you can go shopping with her. "

Gu Zanli leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Boss, you are too fierce."

"Do you still need to say?" Zhou Buqi reached out and patted her behind, "Hurry up!"

This time, after all, Zhou Buqi did not bring Gu Zanli and Yao Yao with him. He was accompanied by Sun Guanran and Ning Lu, and went to the same old place to meet Boss Ma at the Japanese teahouse.

Boss Ma even put on a suit, which is very rare.

After asking, I found out that he was going to meet Yang Zhiyuan at noon.

"What's the matter?" Zhou Buqi saw that his expression was unfriendly, "Let me tell you, I went to New York a few days ago, but I didn't meet Sun Zhengyi and Yang Zhiyuan in private behind your back."

Boss Ma sighed, "Yahoo's proxy dispute is really getting bigger and bigger. The news may come out in a few days, and Yang Zhiyuan was sued by shareholders."

"Fight for power."

Zhou Buqi didn't find it strange.

In the struggle for power, there has never been any morality or sympathy to speak of. Intrigues and conspiracies are all too common, and serious ones may even be life-threatening.

The situation of father and son against each other, brothers against each other, and husband and wife against each other also abounds.

Boss Ma said with emotion: "The American capital market is really ruthless. The reason why Yang Zhiyuan was sued is because he has too much affection for Yahoo."

Zhou Buqi didn't take it seriously, "How do I hear that he only cares about his influence in Yahoo, not the return of shareholders? In the final analysis, this person is not good enough. He is indecisive and has made too many strategic mistakes."

Yahoo was the world's largest Internet giant back then.

Google asked for a door-to-door acquisition, but Yahoo refused; there was an opportunity to acquire Facebook, Yang Zhiyuan temporarily decided to lower the price to bully Zuckerberg, a college student, but Zuckerberg was furious and refused to sell.

The most criticized thing is that he rejected Microsoft's acquisition offer in 08, which made him completely turn against the management.

This is not over yet.

Last year, Yang Zhiyuan contacted several private equity companies in private, secretly bought Yahoo's stock, and wanted to privatize Yahoo.As long as it is privatized, Yang Zhiyuan can eliminate the interference of the management.

This time, the conflict between the two sides became completely public, and Yahoo's infighting began to be made public without any concealment.

This "proxy battle" is even more unprecedented.

The management directly contacted several shareholders, sued Yang Zhiyuan, and planned to go to court.

However, Zhou Buqi had to admit one thing.

Even though Yang Zhiyuan's vision, perspective and business judgment are not very good, his means of playing power is really top-notch.Under such great pressure, his shares are only 3.9%, and Yahoo has a structure of the same share and same right. He was able to firmly control Yahoo's board of directors through a combination of vertical and horizontal methods.

Even if he is dismissed from the position of chairman, the new chairman is just a decoration, useless at all.

Boss Ma is obviously also very optimistic about Yang Zhiyuan's level of power struggle, "I think it's not a big problem for Yang Zhiyuan to win the proxy battle! It was so dangerous in 08, didn't he survive it?"

"What happened in '08?"

"You do not know?"

"Damn!" Zhou Buqi said angrily, "Why should I pay attention to him when I have nothing to do?"

Boss Ma said: "Then you really should study it. It's really a textbook case of power struggle in the board of directors. Study hard."

Zhou Buqi was very curious, "Really? Tell me?"

Boss Ma said: "In 08, Yahoo launched a proxy fight. The promoter at that time was much more powerful than the current Thirdpoint hedge fund. It was Carl Icahn!"

"I go!"

Of course, Zhou Buqi knows that Carl Icahn is the number one wolf of Wall Street. He is best at using capital operations to snatch some companies that are in crisis or on the verge of bankruptcy through proxy disputes.

There are no fewer than a dozen companies in his hands. Carl Icahn's dismemberment of Trans World Airlines is a must-learn case in MBA courses.

Unexpectedly, Yang Zhiyuan had fought against such a ruthless person.

Boss Ma said: "It's not just Carl Icahn, he has also recruited a group of people, such as Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, Frank, the former CEO of Yakang, Adam Dell, a venture capitalist, and the director of New Line Films. The founder Saya, I can’t remember a few more, including university professors, advertising media bosses, and economists.”

Zhou Buqi really didn't expect that Yahoo's infighting would be so vigorous back then, "So many people have never fought against Yang Zhiyuan?"

Boss Ma said: "In fact, Bill Gates and Microsoft should also be added. At that time, Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo at a high price, and the premium was huge. Many big capitals participated, and they bought a lot of Yahoo stocks at low prices. , Carl Icahn is the representative. He was surprised by nearly 4% of the stock in one breath, and the holdings are more than Yang Zhiyuan. They joined forces to promote the sale of Yahoo to Microsoft and make a lot of money from it.”

Zhou Buqi twitched the corner of his mouth, "No wonder the management hates Yang Zhiyuan so much!"

Those capital institutions bought a lot of Yahoo's stock in order to sell Yahoo to Microsoft at a high price, and then make a lot of money by "buying low and selling high".

However, Yang Zhiyuan rejected the deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft.

This is too miserable for the capital.

The stocks are all in the hands.

It’s okay to say that the stocks that come and go are less, and the capital institutions have bought so many stocks, how to sell them?It was originally a stock market, and after speculation, this group of people became shareholders.

Including Thirdpoint Fund, the current largest shareholder, also has a backlog of stocks that have not been sold.

If Yahoo is doing well and its stock price is rising, that's all.

However, the development of Yahoo is very bad, and the current stock price is only 15 US dollars, which is lower than the average price of the stocks they bought three years ago.Can the management not be angry?Can you not play your life with Yang Zhiyuan?

Softbank, Alibaba, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital have cooperated to acquire Yahoo at a price of $20 per share... Although the price is not high, the management can get rid of it.

Why not?
From the looks of it, things are really complicated here.

Zhou Buqi is an outsider who doesn't know much about the situation, so it's really not easy to get in.Yahoo is a swamp, and it's easy to sink into it.

Boss Ma said: "Compared to the one in 08, this time the proxy fight is less dangerous. I think Yang Zhiyuan can handle it."

"It's all sued."

"Then let's file a lawsuit. The case won't be closed within a few years. Yang Zhiyuan can survive, but the shareholders can't either. The so-called shareholders' lawsuit is a tool to use the media to influence public opinion, and it is a deterrent to Yang Zhiyuan."

"If you want me to say, it's better to get a really big one!"

Zhou Buqi was quite proud.

Boss Ma glanced at him, "How did you get so big? Where did you get so much money? What about Softbank, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital? Yahoo's current situation is so complicated, let alone outsiders like us, even Yahoo! The boardroom is a mess. Are you so sure you can make something out of it?"

Zhou Buqi was silent for a while, then frowned and said, "Isn't the layout a little smaller?"

Boss Ma shook his head, "It's not that the structure is small or small, it's to seize the rigid needs. My rigid needs are that I want to take back Ali's shares, at least 20% of the voting rights. What about you? Your biggest motivation is to want to get The 35% stake in Yahoo Japan in the hands of Yahoo.”

"Ah."

"There are too many variables here. Yahoo is short of money, that's for sure. Either sell the company or sell Asian assets. If you want to sell Asian assets to get money back, which part will you sell? What if it's not Ali's stock? If Yahoo chooses to sell that 35% stake in Yahoo Japan to SoftBank, then we're done!"

(End of this chapter)