Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3086: Slave Bullies His Master

Alibaba went public.

After a record ten rounds of inquiries, the issue price was set at US$68.

This is a sky-high price.

The price-to-earnings ratio exceeds 100 times.

But even so, it still received a lot of enthusiasm from the market, and the stock price has been rising sharply since the opening.

Boss Ma was overjoyed.

  The issuance went very smoothly. This IPO issued 1.49 additional shares, which can bring $101 billion in funds to Alibaba! Boss Ma will also cash out 1200 million shares in this IPO, with a total value of $8.2 million!

Of course there is also a hidden boss - Zhou Buqi.

He personally did not cash out.

The number of shares issued in the IPO was limited, so it was not his turn to cash out. SoftBank did not cash out, nor did it get any shares. Zhou Buqi and Masayoshi Son were both optimistic about Alibaba's future. Although the IPO was a very good opportunity to cash out on a large scale, the price was too low and could only be calculated based on the issue price of $68.

With Alibaba’s current development momentum and the domestic e-commerce environment, maybe in two or three years, Alibaba’s stock price will exceed US$200!

  If you are not in a hurry to use the money, you can cash it out later!

The 3 million shares issued to the secondary market this time were mainly from Alibaba and Yahoo. Alibaba issued 1.49 million additional shares and obtained $101 billion in funds. Ziweixing International put 1.18 million shares into the market to activate the stock market and increase circulation, with a total value of $80 billion.

Because Ziweixing International still holds nearly 10% of Alibaba’s shares, which is equivalent to Alibaba’s affiliated shares.

Therefore, due to the good news of Alibaba's listing, Ziweixing International's stock price also rose by 3.2% on the same day, and its market value reached 2746 billion US dollars! It surpassed Microsoft's 2713 billion US dollars and became the world's third largest technology giant in terms of market value after Apple and Google!

Ziweixing holds approximately 25% of Ziweixing International’s shares and also has a correlation effect, with its share price also surging by 2%, bringing its market value to US$2524 billion, ranking fifth in the world.

Alibaba also performed quite well, with its stock price surging 38% that day and closing at US$93.89.

  The market value reached 2314 billion US dollars!

It ranks sixth in the world, second only to Ziweixing.

Ahead of Facebook at $2023 billion and Amazon at $1530 billion.

As for eBay, the original target of Taobao's copycat, it has long been left behind by Alibaba and has a market value of only US$630 billion.

Among the traditional BAT Big Three, Penguin's market value is 1500 billion US dollars, Baidu's market value is 700 billion US dollars, and Alibaba's market value is equivalent to the sum of Penguin and Baidu.

Although Alibaba failed to surpass Ziweixing to become the number one in China, Alibaba's listing can be regarded as a great miracle.

It felt like there was a visible change in Boss Ma.

His whole temperament seemed to have become much more majestic.

It would be disrespectful to refuse the flattery of a beautiful woman.

There was also a grand banquet in the evening.

Zhou Buqi did not try to steal his limelight. He was invited by Carl Icahn to have dinner at his house.

Carl Icahn wanted to ask him for help. "You know about Coca-Cola, right?"

"what's up?"

Zhou Buqi likes to drink Coke, but he pays little attention to Coca-Cola as a company.

Carl Icahn asked curiously: "Aren't you a shareholder of Coca-Cola?"

"Ah?" Zhou Buqi was slightly startled, "Am I?"

Carl Icahn said speechlessly: "Fangfei Capital, not you?"

"Yes."

“Fangfei Capital holds 0.52% of Coca-Cola’s shares, which is only 20 basis points less than mine.”

"That's it..."

Only then did Zhou Buqi know.

He vaguely remembered that he once told Senior Sister Zhen Yu that if they wanted to make some longer-term value investments, they could buy some stocks such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

That’s just 0.5%, and the total value is only a few hundred million dollars.

Not worth mentioning.

Senior Sister Zhen Yu never said that.

Carl Icahn said: "Coca-Cola is going to issue new shares worth $240 billion at a discount. Guess why? It is not to expand the production line to increase production, but to raise huge funds to reward the executive team with equity. This will not only dilute the company's stock value, but also seriously damage the interests of small and medium shareholders!"

"That's it..."

Zhou Buqi remained calm.

It's really hard to make a casual judgment on this kind of thing.

Issuing new shares to management will indeed dilute the company's stock value and harm the interests of small and medium-sized shareholders... because all the company's money belongs to the shareholders, but now it has taken out shares with a total value of US$240 billion and issued them to management.

It is equivalent to the "steward" kidnapping the "master" and then putting the master's money into his own pocket.

If this were put in ancient times, a housekeeper who betrayed his master or a servant who bullied his master would be punished by death. But this is no longer the business logic of modern civilization.

Equity incentives are the most effective compensation strategy for modern companies and the key to stimulating long-term stock price growth. There are still a large number of companies in the world that have not introduced the concept of equity incentives. They only pay salaries and bonuses to employees and executives, but not stocks. These companies are all traditional companies that lack growth potential and have no real talents.

Carl Icahn said: "Buffett is the largest shareholder of Coca-Cola, but he did not oppose this new share plan. He is doing nothing. He is a coward!"

“Will Buffett have some other considerations?”

Zhou Buqi does not think there is anything wrong with issuing options, because companies such as Ziweixing, Ziweixing International, Ziweixing Media, Changyou, PayPal, and Ziweixing Global have all adopted the option system.

Especially since he's heading back to Silicon Valley tomorrow.

The main purpose is to discuss Ziweixing International’s new option plan, which will include issuing at least a new share valued at up to US$400 billion as an option reward plan for the next five years to all management and employees.

This is much larger than Coca-Cola.

Moreover, the so-called US$240 billion and US$400 billion in new shares are actually just rhetoric.

This is an incentive mechanism, and you must meet the corresponding standards in order to get the corresponding option rewards.

Zhou Buqi didn't know the situation of Coca-Cola, but he had read the option reward plan of Ziweixing International, and the requirements for meeting the requirements were very strict.

Only if Ziweixing International's market value reaches $1 trillion in the next five years can employees and executives receive the full $400 billion in new stock options. If the market value doubles to $5000 billion, they can only receive the full $200 billion in new stock options in the next five years.

The same is probably true for Coca-Cola.

Issuing $240 billion in new shares to reward management and employees does sound scary. Maybe the conditions are very harsh! Otherwise, how could the shareholders agree so easily?

Carl Icahn is an old-school investor who likes to nitpick. "I have communicated with Buffett before, and he was unwilling to support such a compensation plan. He thought it was equivalent to giving 'lottery tickets' to executives, and if they won, they would get huge rewards. I didn't expect that he, as the largest shareholder, would back down. He was afraid to stand on the opposite side of the management!"

Zhou Buqi said he could understand, "After all, Buffett has a deep relationship with Coca-Cola. If he has a conflict with the management, it will definitely lead to a large fluctuation in Coca-Cola's stock price. In the end, it will still affect Berkshire's performance."

"What kind of excuse is that?" Carl Icahn opened his eyes wide, obviously not agreeing with such an argument. "This hurts the rights of small shareholders! This hurts our rights! Of course Buffett can make up for the diluted shares by just doing some private transactions with Coca-Cola. What should we do? What should small shareholders do?"

Zhou Buqi asked: "Has this been approved?"

"Well, it passed. Buffett did not vote against it."

"Then there's no way."

"No, there is a way!"

"what?"

Zhou Buqi felt something was wrong.

Carl Icahn said in a deep voice: "Let's work together and unite a group of small shareholders to sue the Coca-Cola board of directors. They have damaged the interests of small shareholders!"

"no no!"

Zhou Buqi was shocked. He didn't want to get involved in such things.

Carl Icahn looked at him and said, "If we join forces, there is a high probability that we can overturn the previous decision!"

Zhou Buqi said: "Doesn't that mean a break with Coca-Cola's management?"

"What's wrong with the breakup?" Carl Icahn didn't care. "We invested in Coca-Cola to make money, not to make friends with them!"

Zhou Buqi looked at him deeply and said, "Karl, I don't invest to make money. Some things are more important than making money."

"you!"

Carl Icahn was particularly disappointed.

I thought this guy was a close friend regardless of age difference, and at one point I even wanted to hand over the management of the Icahn Fund, my life's work, to him after I retired.

Now it seems that they are completely two different people!

Zhou Buqi said: "I strongly support this kind of compensation plan based on option rewards, which represents the mainstream of future business. All the companies I control are adopting this compensation strategy without exception. Stock incentives are far more effective than bonuses and dividends, and the cost is lower!"

Carl Icahn frowned, "You really won't participate?"

Zhou Buqi said: "If it were me, I would also vote in favor."

Carl Icahn said in a deep voice: "You are encouraging the parasites in the company and ignoring their erosion of shareholders' rights!"

"I don't think so." Zhou Buqi shook his head. "On the contrary, I am happy to see such a compensation plan. It shows that Coca-Cola has matured and has transformed from a traditional beverage company to a modern company. Not only will I not oppose it, on the contrary, I will support it."

"support?"

"Yes, I think this kind of compensation plan is a great encouragement for the future growth of Coca-Cola, and I plan to further increase my holdings of Coca-Cola shares. I see growth and a future in them."

"you!"

Carl Icahn was nearly pissed off.

Zhou Buqi said frankly, "Maybe you are right. Such a plan may harm the interests of small shareholders to a certain extent. But compared with the harm to those interests, I care more about them creating more wealth for the company."