Wind Rises 2005

Chapter 599 The final word

It wasn't until Mark Pincus showed his trump card that everyone truly understood the depth of Ma Liang's plan.

If you still can’t wake up by this time, you might as well stop being in the venture capital circle.

At this time, the four Twitter giants both admired and feared Ma Liang. After all, people always behave like this towards strong people.

Especially as the founders of Twitter, they know the specific process better than anyone else.

How did Ma Liang invest in the angel round and single-handedly support Twitter? How did he help Twitter successfully raise funds and rise strongly, until Facebook was wiped out.

If it were just like this, it wouldn't make Big Ivan and the others fearful.

I never expected that while Ma Liang was doing this, he would also make arrangements for a stock exchange merger and acquisition plan for Twitter and Zynga early on.

Was this all planned from the beginning?

If this is really the case, then Ma Liang is too outrageous. What kind of brain can he have to become such a terrifying monster?

I also think of how Ma Liang had previously roped in the big guys from the five major leagues and the four major record companies to buy shares, and then recently went to Apple and Google to negotiate financing in advance. Everything seemed to be carefully arranged.

Not only are they interconnected, they are even seamlessly connected.

Everyone couldn't help but wonder if Ma Liang had any follow-up plans waiting for Twitter after it acquired Zynga.

If that really happens, it's simply unimaginable how you can be so convincing.

The Big Four of Twitter had mixed feelings, but the investment tycoons present were overjoyed. No one could have imagined that today's board meeting would be like this.

With such an amazing and talented person making the game, they still have to worry about der, and they can just follow up without any brains and be done with it.

At this time, many capital tycoons remembered Ma Liang’s previous boast, saying that Twitter could easily reach a valuation of US$300 billion or even US$500 billion.

Just now, everyone thought that this young investor was bragging, but now they believe it inexplicably.

If that's the case, wouldn't it be possible to double the valuation several times in a short time if we start with a valuation of US$150 billion in Series B financing?

Now even the most conservative investors can't help but feel excited.

For a moment, the conference room became silent, and everyone had their own thoughts, thinking about how to get the maximum benefit from it.

……

"Everyone, since everyone has reached a consensus on Twitter's acquisition of Zynga, let's not waste any more time." At this time, Ma Liang finally spoke,

"There are two sets of plans before us now, and I hope everyone can seriously consider them.

One is to complete the acquisition entirely in the form of stock exchange, and the other is to complete the acquisition in the form of cash plus exchange.

I don’t need to explain too much about the pros and cons of the two methods. Now I’ll give you a few minutes to think about it, and we’ll start voting directly later.

For the sake of fairness, we [Gale Capital] abstained from voting in this round.

Which plan to choose is up to you! "

Ma Liang's words were equivalent to finalizing the matter.

But for some reason, no one in the audience stood up to object. Even the four giants of Twitter remained silent, not daring to show any dissatisfaction.

When things have reached this point, there is no point in opposing.

After all, people's plan to promote Twitter's acquisition of Zynga is not entirely selfish, and ultimately everyone here will benefit.

On this basis alone any objection would be untenable.

What's more, Marlon's structure and realm are so clear that he has directly announced that he will abstain from voting in this round. What else do you want?

But even if Ma Liang abstains, the Big Four of Twitter still don't have the slightest confidence, and they always feel that the final result will still develop in the direction they least expect.

If all were acquired through equity swaps, the interest sacrifice would be the biggest for Ivan Williams, who holds the largest number of shares.

On the contrary, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone had relatively little impact.

But no matter how small the impact is, there is still a loss. As founders, the four of them should stick together at this moment.

While everyone was thinking secretly, Jennifer stood up and presided over the voting session: "Everyone, it's almost time, let's get started.

First, we will agree on the first set of plans and vote on the acquisition method of cash plus stock exchange. If you agree, please raise your hands! "

Companies run by their own default rules of the game, regardless of size.

Anyone with a right mind will abide by the rules of the game agreed in advance, otherwise sooner or later there will be discord and the team will break up.

For large companies, board meetings are basically audio and video-recorded.

Moreover, the secretary of the board of directors takes meeting minutes at the same time, records every issue, and records every voting result.

So there is no need to worry that a show of hands vote will have no legal effect. Anyone who dares to cheat will be kicked out of the board of directors by others.

So it’s understandable that Jennifer asked everyone to raise their hands to vote on the plan. But when the first set of plans was presented, none of the investment tycoons present raised their hands. Only the Big Four of Twitter voted in favor.

This scene was a bit embarrassing, and the four of them felt very embarrassed.

Jennifer did not tease them and announced the results on the spot: "Besides Marlon, were there any abstentions?

OK, if not, it would be 4 votes in favor, 6 votes against, and 1 option vote. "

In addition to Gale Capital, Twitter’s last round of financing originally had six investment institutions and individuals participating.

Among them is Dick Costolo, an angel investor.

The big bosses from the five major leagues and the four major record companies that Ma Liang attracted were packaged into another shell company to hold shares in Twitter.

This is also a basic operation in the venture capital circle, otherwise it would be too troublesome to manage.

It cannot be that no matter how many shares the individual holds, he or she is qualified to participate in the shareholders' meeting or the board of directors.

If that's really the case, wouldn't it be necessary to book a large theater for every board meeting in the future?

But to package it all together and hang it in a shell company and ask a professional to help take care of it, Ma Liangren has done his best.

If you really meet someone who is unkind, they won't even give you a seat on the board of directors.

As for the voting rights of this shell company, a senior lawyer was hired as an independent director to exercise it on its behalf.

At this time, as a representative of capital, the lawyer also voted against.

I have to say that those who are able to work outside usually have two brushes. Although the independent directors are not shareholders, they are still very good at getting things done.

Jennifer didn’t care about that much. After announcing the results of the last round of voting, she continued the process: “Then we will agree on the second plan.

Twitter will acquire Zynga via equity swap, please start voting! "

Things have reached this point, and the Big Four of Twitter have no illusions. The four of them looked at me, and I looked at you, with a wry smile on their faces.

They watched helplessly as a group of capital bosses raised their arms in unison as soon as Jennifer finished speaking.

There wasn't even a discussion process, the actions were quite uniform.

Originally, the Big Four of Twitter should all vote against it now, and their attitude must be made clear no matter what.

Who would have thought that Jack Dorsey and Dick Costolo would also raise their hands at this time.

This made Comrade Big Ivan furious. He couldn't understand why his two partners were so crazy at this time!

What he didn't know was that Jack Dorsey and Dick Costolo raised their hands for only one purpose, and they also wanted to express their attitude, but this attitude was not that attitude.

The reason I raised my hand earlier was to oppose the complete acquisition of Zynga through equity swap.

But at this moment, the overall situation has been decided, and no matter what they do, they can't change the outcome. Their minds suddenly turned back, and they immediately raised their hands to try to please Ma Liang, the trader.

Today's board meeting allowed the two to truly realize the influence of this young investor, and their mentality will inevitably be different.

Whether he serves as CEO or COO in the future, he will definitely be inseparable from Ma Liang’s support.

Otherwise, Twitter will become the world of Big Ivan, which is something they don’t want to see anyway.

After all, the revolution has succeeded, but comrades still need to work hard.

When Twitter really succeeds in proving the truth, they will be considered successful and famous, and then they can breathe a sigh of relief.

Before then, Twitter was their ashram, the home of their gilded bodies.

Not to mention that Dick Costolo himself was an investor in the previous round, but after becoming COO, Twitter also allocated an additional option plan for this technical talent in accordance with the rules.

But those are not important anymore. The most important thing is that the two of them felt that they needed to repair their relationship with Ma Liang, so they raised their hands to express support.

Jennifer was very happy when she saw this, and she asked proudly: "Are there any abstention votes?"

"I abstain!" It was Biz Stone who spoke. He was always a good guy and didn't want to offend anyone.

But the more this happened, the more angry Ivan Williams became.

As a result, Jennifer didn't even look at this guy, and directly made the final summary: "OK, the second plan, 8 votes passed, 1 voted against, and 2 abstained.

I now announce the final result of the vote. Twitter will acquire 100% of Zynga's shares through equity swaps.

Everyone here is also a shareholder member. If there are no other objections, it will be deemed that the shareholders' meeting has also passed the board of directors resolution. Everyone will be asked to sign the resolution document later.

......"

The meeting of the board of directors has basically made the final decision here, and the rest is just a formality.

All the investment tycoons present were delighted, but Ivan Williams kept a straight face.

However, he had no choice but to accept the result no matter how unhappy he was.

(End of this chapter)