Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2240 Double Happiness
Zhou Buqi really couldn't understand that John Richtillo had made EA into such a situation, yet he hadn't stepped down and passed the test of the shareholders' meeting.

This company is really bad enough.

Market sentiment was also negative.

After the general meeting of shareholders, EA's share price has fallen for three consecutive days.

John Riccitillo, on the other hand, was a little more spirited, and he also participated in a technology forum hosted by Stanford University.Stanford University has a lot more face than the Wall Street Journal.

For the things hosted by the "Wall Street Journal", everyone participates in order to save face and not want to offend; the technology forum hosted by Stanford University is a real IT forum.

In this forum, John Riccitillo looked forward to the future of EA in a high-profile manner, and he was full of confidence in the next development of the game industry.He also said that the market currently has some misunderstandings about EA, which is normal, and time will prove everything.

As a result, halfway through the event, he received a call and was stunned on the spot.

FIFA has just officially announced that it has reached a ten-year cooperation plan with Changyou from 2013 to 2022. The scope of cooperation includes but is not limited to the use of the "FIFA" trademark, sponsorship of the World Cup, promotion of the football industry, youth training The construction of the campus, the dissemination of football culture and so on.

Coincidentally, Zhou Buqi received an invitation from Yang Zhiyuan and was also pulled over to participate in this forum.

He also got the news immediately.

Looking back, he happened to meet John Richtillo's dumbfounded gaze.

Zhou Buqi smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

John Riccitillo was ashen.

Regardless of the venue etiquette, he got up, turned around and left.

Yang Zhiyuan, who was sitting next to him, looked at him curiously, "What's the matter, so happy?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Evil can never prevail against good."

Yang Zhiyuan's mind was full of Yahoo, and he immediately thought of the most "evil" person, Carl Icahn, "Did you really handle that Wall Street hound?"

Zhou Buqi was very relaxed, and said with a half-smile: "Old Yang, dealing with capitalists on Wall Street is much easier than dealing with entrepreneurs like you."

Yang Zhiyuan glanced at him, "Does he want money?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, many people will ask for money."

"How much does that cost?"

Yang Zhiyuan felt that such a plan was a bit exaggerated.

Yahoo's current market capitalization is 228 billion US dollars, and its shares are extremely dispersed. It is in the hands of countless small shareholders, and no individual or capital institution holds more than 5% of the shares.

There is one more important point.

Ziweixing International is not a listed company, which increases the difficulty of the transaction, which will inevitably lead to many shareholders wanting to get cash instead of replacing them with Ziweixing International's shares.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I heard from Lao Ma that the final date of the agreement between Yahoo and Ali is at the end of May?"

"Ah."

Yang Zhiyuan nodded without hiding anything.

By the end of May at the latest, Ali will buy back 5% of the shares from Yahoo, and there is still one month left.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "If the transaction is completed, won't you have money?"

Yang Zhiyuan was speechless.

Let Yahoo pay for itself, this kind of operation is too capitalized!

However, he couldn't say anything about it.

The agreement between Yahoo and Ali was originally finalized by Yang Zhiyuan. He pondered and said: "Even so, the money may not be enough. According to my rough estimate, if you want to complete the privatization and delisting of Yahoo, you must at least prepare $100 billion in funding."

Zhou Buqi asked someone to do the math, "Well, it's just too much."

Yang Zhiyuan said: "Don't forget, you promised me that you would not downgrade Yahoo, and set aside a large sum of money to develop Yahoo's own business."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Isn't it just money? I have a solution! Facebook is going to be listed soon, and this wave of cashouts will cost billions of dollars at least."

This amount of money alone may not be enough.

But it doesn't matter, he already wanted it.

To push Ziweixing International to complete the acquisition of Yahoo, it needs the support of Masayoshi Son.If you want to gain his support, you have to promise him enough benefits just like you have done with an old horse.

……

Zhou Buqi has been a bit busy recently, running back and forth between Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and New York.

Even if you want to watch Manchester United's Champions League semi-final live.

It is very difficult to go back to China to see my wife and children.

Fortunately, Baoshan has finished confinement, so there is no need to keep her at home, and Shi Jinglin and Zhen Yu, who are pregnant and pregnant, have come to Silicon Valley together.

Baoshan gave birth once in China, and it was like a zoo, which was really frustrating.

Shi Jinglin and Zhen Yu should not give birth in China.

Be more comfortable paying less attention.

On May 2012, 5, Zhou Buqi flew to New York again, and finally finalized a big deal.After 1 rounds of negotiations, Changyou finally completed the acquisition of the well-known game company Take-Two at a total price of US$12 billion.

Because Changyou is a listed company, it is relatively easy to operate. The stock replacement is enough, and the real cash paid is only 4.5 million US dollars.

Don Mattrick was in high spirits.

As the CEO of Changyou before, he did not feel like a leader in the game industry.Although Changyou has a high market value and a strong ability to make money, its background is too poor, and it is a bit like an upstart.

This is also the reason why EA dares to clamor with Changyou.

But it's different now. After acquiring take-two, it really feels like a flying dragon is flying in the sky.

Zhou Buqi relied on his status and acted very flatly, "Where is EA? How is it?"

Don Mattrick sighed secretly, and said: "I've heard some, this time I might really not be able to survive."

Only then did Zhou Buqi smile, "Well, double happiness!"

On the morning of May 5, Changyou, take-two and Nasdaq made an official announcement at the same time, confirming the deal.

Take-two's stock was frozen.

Waiting for regulatory approval, take-two's delisting process will officially start.

It is expected to be in April-June.

This afternoon, EA also officially announced a big news.

John Riccitillo has resigned from the positions of executive chairman and CEO of EA. He will temporarily represent the company's business and complete the business handover until he leaves completely on May 5.

There is no doubt that the two big news of this day have become important events in the game industry!

On this day, the market value of Changyou increased by 12.2%, and the market value reached 355 billion US dollars!
EA is miserable.

John Riccitilo has been the CEO of EA since 2007. During his tenure, EA's stock price fell by more than 70%...

At the same time, EA's internal open letter also made it clear that John Riccitilo's resignation was because he was 100% responsible for the company's failure to meet its business goals...

Mattrick said: "When competing for the FIFA trademark, do you know how much EA quoted?"

Zhou Buqi said: "I didn't ask!"

Mattrick said: "Looks like $12 billion."

10 billion US dollars in 12 years, this is definitely a sky-high licensing fee!
You know, when Blizzard became bigger in 04, EA wanted to develop a game that could instantly kill "World of Warcraft" in order to counter Blizzard's "World of Warcraft".

This is a huge challenge.

How to do?
Then, EA set its sights on the No. [-] popular culture in the United States-"Star Wars".

To this end, EA spent $2 million to buy the trademark rights of "Star Wars" from Lucasfilm for a period of 10 years.

Compared with the trademark rights of "FIFA", it is nothing worth mentioning.

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "FIFA is not a profit-making organization. The meaning of FIFA is to promote football. What is the use of more money? In the final analysis, whoever is more helpful to football should seek cooperation."

This is definitely standing and talking without back pain.

If it weren't for his operation behind the scenes, those people in FIFA wouldn't care about those derivative terms. It must be mercenary.

Cooperate with whoever gives the most money.

If the bidding really started, it would be a big trouble.

Even if Changyou can snatch the "FIFA" trademark, it will have to offer a blood-spitting sky-high price.

Not anymore.

Changyou set out eight clauses for FIFA to promote the development of the football industry in a high-sounding manner... For FIFA, there is also a natural reason. Promoting the development of football is of course more important than making money.

As a result, Changyou signed a contract with FIFA at a price of 10 million US dollars in 8.5 years.

When they came to New York, Zhou Buqi came forward and signed the acquisition contract with Take-Two on behalf of Changyou.

Then it was time to meet Carl Icahn again.

This month of May is very lively.

EA fired its CEO, Changyou completed a major M&A, Facebook was about to go public, Apple's internal power struggle broke out, Microsoft officially sent a team to conduct due diligence on UC Group... The countdown to Yahoo's case has also entered.

(End of this chapter)