America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 267 Capture PayPal
Abel always feels that Ikana and Paris have been inseparable from each other in recent months.

The two often work together, and Paris Hilton has been hired by YKM as the design director.

Even this time, the YKM San Francisco flagship store was accidentally involved in the zero-dollar purchase incident.

It was also Paris who accompanied Ikana to solve the problem.

Speaking of this homicide case, YKM is a bit innocent.

The cause of the incident was when a black woman was shopping for clothes in the YKM store.

It was directly collapsed by a black gunman.

The gunman ran away after he was killed.

Although the people in the YKM flagship store were frightened, they immediately chose to call the police.

The police in the San Francisco Bay Area during this period were not bad, and the location of the flagship store was in a prosperous area, so the police came very quickly.

The police came and started an identity check.Soon after, it was confirmed that the black woman who was shot was a gang member.

The homicide was also characterized as a gang vendetta with a high probability.

The police in the Bay Area characterized this incident, and the YKM flagship store has no responsibility.

But after the police left, the gang the black woman belonged to closed the door.

As soon as they came up, they smashed and looted, destroying the decoration and a batch of goods of the YKM flagship store here.

Things are urgent.

Ikana had no choice but to come here from New York to deal with it.

After she found out that it was a gang incident, Ikana contacted the local police and congressmen to get in touch with the official power.

At the same time, he asked Abel for help.

After Abel consulted one of his own Four King Kong, Lincoln who is very good at this aspect.

He simply asked Lincoln to contact the gang involved.

The other party only promised to pay [-] U.S. dollars in compensation, and was not responsible for the rest.

Ikana chose to calm down the incident and accepted the other party's compensation and apology.

In fact, according to Abel's intention, he wanted to chase after him fiercely.

His soul was born in China, what he hates the most is black and medicine.

But Ikana politely refused.She believes that if that is the case, YKM may not be able to gain a foothold in the Bay Area in the future.

Even on the West Coast, it could be affected.

Unless Abel can catch all these elements and eradicate this gang directly.

But it's obviously difficult, not to mention it's just a small thing.

Seeing her firm attitude, Abel also thought it was just a trivial matter, so he stopped thinking.

Afterwards, Ikana began to clean up the aftermath in the Bay Area, and at the same time continued to inspect the market, and has not left until now.

Paris Hilton also stayed with her until Abel came.

"Have you had breakfast?" Paris Hilton asked Abel concerned.

"I have asked the kitchen to prepare your amount of food for you."

Abel laughed.

In New York, the two of us had breakfast together many times, after more times.

Paris Hilton already knew about Abel's food preferences, and how much he ate.

"Okay. Let's eat later. What are you? Oh, it looks like a design for a costume. Up so early for work?"

Paris Hilton replied: "I need to catch up with the draft. I want to finalize these design drawings. After the final draft, I have to send it to Huaxia's foundry. After the samples are produced, I will decide whether to produce them or not."

"I remember that YKM is taking the fast fashion route, right? If it is done like this, can the rhythm of new products keep up?" Abel asked curiously.

ZARA, the founder of the concept of fast fashion, pays attention to a fast product.

The clothing giant's strategy is not to lead fashion trends, but to follow them.

To put it bluntly, it is plagiarism.

It draws inspiration (that is, directly copies) from the street, movies, and other famous fashion shows to update its products.

In Spain, 200 ZARA buyers are in charge of the company's men's, women's and children's clothing lines.

ZARA's transportation center handles 260 million pieces of clothing every week, and each ZARA store needs to buy goods twice a week.

It is said that a set of ZARA's new clothing usually only takes half a month from the design drawing to the store shelf.

Hearing what Abel said, Paris smiled softly, "That's true. But our fast is different from ZARA's fast. Ikana and I feel that YKM can't completely imitate ZARA. ZARA has made them That model is coming to an end."

"YKM's route will be somewhat similar to ZARA, but we have to set a higher price than it. This requires our clothing to have more fashion elements of our own design."

Seeing that Abel was not listening very seriously, Paris also knew that the YKM business was just a small business for him to make Ikana happy.

Thinking of this, Paris envied Ikana's good luck in her heart.

She said: "Simply put, we can't follow ZARA's road. If we take its road, we will only be blocked. So we take a higher-end road, and our new products will not be released so fast."

Abel nodded, probably understanding what Paris meant.

Fast fashion, which lives by plagiarism, has basically been monopolized by ZARA and several other brands.

Other rising stars want to take the same route as ZARA.

That will only be beaten to death by ZARA with its first-mover advantage and cost and price wars.

In this case, you can study the concept and method of learning ZARA.

But never quite the same.

Like YKM, take a similar route to ZARA, but a little more high-end.

Staggering its direct competition, gaining its own place in the fast fashion micro-luxury segment above fast fashion.

It's a good pick for YKM.

So far, it's doing pretty well.

With the support of Abel's capital injection, YKM is much better than last year when it was dying.

This year, the number of branches has grown to more than 60.

It has already begun to maintain a positive cycle of development, and no longer needs to rely on a large amount of external financing to survive.

Of course, relying on this kind of self-profit to open branches and develop slowly.

It also means that its scale and reputation are no longer as big as before.

Ikana, the famous "other people's child" in the media before.

Gradually, it also became bleak under the cover of the glory of the new super traffic king "Smith".

Chatted with Paris again, Abel no longer bothered her work.

He went to the restaurant to eat and relax, and left 349 Walsh Road quickly.

He plans to return to New York on the 20th, and he won't be staying on the West Coast for long.

So the work here, of course, is better to be completed earlier.

two hours later.

He showed up in San Jose, California.

San Jose, also known as San Jose, is a city in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest city in California.

It is located in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) south of the San Francisco Bay. It is the capital of Santa Clara County, adjacent to the Coyote River, and 65 kilometers northwest of San Francisco. It is the 10th largest city in the United States and is known as the "Heart of Silicon Valley". .

Because of his arrival, PayPal, an online payment service provider in San Jose, was a little excited.

PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Lavchin were fidgeting in their offices early on.

Elon Musk, another co-founder who only joined PayPal last year to bring X.com's business and technology, looks at the pair.

The young pony smiled and said:
"Peter, Max, calm down, calm down. It's just one of our investors, one of our shareholders coming."

"Just?"

One of the founders of Confinity, the inventor of the name "paypal", Peter Thiel couldn't help but say:

"Elon, how can you be so calm? This is Abel Smith. If he really thinks about us and is willing to support us strongly, then our PayPal will have a smooth road ahead."

Another high-level executive, Max Lavchen, was also a little excited:
"I think this will be a great opportunity for us to unify the online payment transfer system industry!"

"Abel Smith owns 33% of the shares of Google, as well as the shares of many Internet companies. It is said that he even bought shares of Microsoft."

"If only we could get his back. Let him sell PayPal for us. Elon, we'll be out of the woods and be the biggest players in the industry."

Elon Musk actually understands what the two partners said.

Since Abel became the majority shareholder of Google.

His influence in Silicon Valley has grown as Google has grown.

Now there are more rumors in Silicon Valley that this super tycoon who is not only a Wall Street tycoon, but also a media tycoon and a banker.

His Pacific Bank of Commerce is said to be seeking to buy Silicon Valley Bank, which is on the verge of bankruptcy amid the Nasdaq bubble.

If Abel really bought Silicon Valley Bank.

Then this tycoon will really become one of the most influential figures in Silicon Valley.

If you can get the support of this character.

After the merger of Confinity and X.com, PayPal really hopes to become bigger in the industry.

Elon Musk sighed: "Okay. I'm really excited, too."

"But." The pony said:

"Who said that Smith will definitely support us? It is said that his investment in Silicon Valley has already reached more than one billion US dollars. Maybe we are just one of his careless investments."

"Always have to fight for it." Max Lavchen said:

"Isn't it? If you fight for it, you might have it. If you don't fight for it, you'll have nothing."

Peter Thiel also said: "And this is what you are best at. Elon, it will be up to you in a moment. We hope you can coax this gentleman to be happy and make him willing to invest. In this case , you are the biggest contributor to PayPal."

Elon Musk had to say, "I'll do my best."

At this time, the company's administrative secretary came in and announced the arrival of the company's shareholder, Abel Smith.

The three co-founders quickly stood up and ran outside to greet them.

Abel also met Elon Musk, who was still very young, but had begun to bald.

This surprised Abel a little.

Elon Musk in Abel's memory is also an image of a greasy middle-aged man.

But the hair is still quite thick.

But Abel didn't know that it was after Elon Musk made his fortune.

In order to establish his personality and image, and give investors and leeks a good impression, Elon Musk has long-term hair transplant operations.

Looking at early photos of Elon Musk can be quite damaging.

Elon Musk, who was just 31 years old, is a semi-Mediterranean at this time, without a little "Silicon Valley Iron Man" temperament.

Abel's arrival was warmly welcomed by hundreds of PayPal employees.

With a smile on his face, he and the three co-founders walked around the company together, pretending to be.

Finally, I came to a small meeting room with the three co-founders.

When there were only three co-founders left in the conference room, Abel said directly: "I want to buy PayPal."

Abel's speech stunned the three co-founders who originally wanted to get sponsorship, or just wanted him to help promote PayPal payment.

Max Lavchin swallowed and looked at his two companions.

Peter Thiel is similar, both of them are technical, and they are not good at this kind of thing.

The company's marketing and management are generally in the charge of Elon Musk.

Both of them looked at Elon Musk, Xiao Ma looked at Abel, who was calm and a tycoon, and said bravely:

"Mr. Smith, what do you mean?"

"Literally." Abel said directly:

"I want to buy PayPal wholly. The price is [-] million U.S. dollars. If you agree, you will become billionaires in the United States immediately."

Three hundred million dollars?

Hearing this price, the three people and the founder all stared wide-eyed.

PayPal was once valued at $10 billion before the Nasdaq bubble burst.

But after that, at the end of last year was the worst time.

PayPal doesn't even have a $[-] million valuation.

After more than half a year this year, the shadow of the Internet bubble burst has gradually faded away.

Although the market's confidence in the Internet has collapsed, it is slowly being re-established.

The valuation of PayPal has also stabilized slightly, with a current market value of about [-] million US dollars.

At this time, Abel also spent 2000 million US dollars to get a 10% stake in PayPal.

Now he is paying [-] million US dollars to buy PayPal wholly.

Based on PayPal's current situation, this price can be said to be a premium acquisition.

The three co-founders were a little bit excited at this time, including Elon Musk.

But at the same time, the pony is still a little unwilling.

You must know that last year, PayPal was valued at one billion US dollars.

There are only [-] million left at once, who would be willing to replace it?

Elon Musk wanted more, and he opened his mouth to bargain.

It's just that the words haven't come out yet.

It has been blocked.

"I only offer [-] million US dollars. If you refuse." Abel said blankly:

"Then I will choose to withdraw the shares. Give me back my money, and I will give you back your shares."

Elon Musk, who wants to bargain, shut up now.

PayPal just raised $2000 million on Abel's side.

With the $2000 million, PayPal can last until the end of the year.

If Abel withdrew his shares at this time and lost the 2000 million US dollars.

PayPal would soon be in a tight spot.

At this time, if it is reported in the market that investors are not optimistic about PayPal and start withdrawing shares.

After PayPal, it is estimated that it will become very difficult to raise funds.

Things will suddenly get worse.

Looking at Abel's determination to win, the three co-founders have realized.

The Wall Street giant in front of him is definitely prepared.

Elon Musk even had it in his head, imagining what Abe did to PayPal.

Abel first used his fame and influence to easily buy shares in PayPal when it needed funds most.

When PayPal used part of the funds, it suddenly threatened PayPal with a withdrawal of shares.

Either get bought, or get into a dangerous situation.

In this difficult special time.

When Abel did this, the three co-founders were caught in a dilemma.

Elon Musk looked at Abel's handsome face, and Xiao Ma wanted to say that he would withdraw his shares in a big way at this moment.

The reality is that Xiao Ma dare not say it at all, because now PayPal can't afford the money at all.

Some people say that PayPal is not engaged in online payment?

It should still have the customer's money in its account.

That is China's Alipay and VX payment.

Most of the online fast payment companies in the United States were just channels in the early stage.

It is just the channel between the bank and the merchant.

When the scale is not up, there is no way for the store to bully customers.

A channel for the flow of funds, and the accumulation of funds from customers with farts.

Even in order to attract customers, this channel cannot be charged at all in the early stage, and some preferential policies must be given to attract customers.

At this time, the independent PayPal company did not have giants to rely on from the beginning like Alipay and VX Payment, which were later generations.

It is the most lonely and helpless time right now, especially when Abel wants to withdraw the capital maliciously.

The faces of the three co-founders are all ugly at the moment.

Abel's next words made the faces of the three of them even uglier.

"You can choose to refuse." Abel said:

"Then get out. After that, I'm going to try to buy Authorize, MoneyGram, ClickandBuy, etc. After that, PayPal just waits to go out of business."

The three companies mentioned by Abel are developers of online fast payment, just like PayPal.

These three companies, together with PayPal, account for half of the current online fast payment in the United States.

In fact, before being acquired by EBAY, paypal was just one of the princes in the industry, not the overlord.

After being acquired by EBAY, with the support of EBAY.

PayPal gradually became the dominant company and became the absolute overlord of global online payment.

In parallel time and space, if EBAY had acquired another company at that time.

It is absolutely impossible for paypal to reach the status of later generations.

The three co-founders in front of me don't even know that it will be a year and a half later.

The valuation of PayPal can float to 15 billion U.S. dollars, and then EBAY makes an acquisition, allowing the three to achieve financial freedom.

PayPal was targeted by Abel in advance, and it was destined that its route could no longer be the same as that of parallel time and space.

What Iron Man Musk.

Musk, who has no way of wealth and freedom, Abel would like to see how he creates a character.

(End of this chapter)