New York 2006

Chapter 205 The Humble Investor

After listening to the explanation from the Chinese expert in the automotive field, Luo Ji thought for a moment and said, "So Tesla does have technology, right?"

"Yes."

A Chinese expert in the automotive field said: "Tesla's technology in the field of electric vehicles is indeed among the first in the world."

"Thank you for your explanation."

"Then I'll take my leave. If you have any questions you don't understand, you can contact me at any time."

The Chinese expert turned off the video and disappeared. Only Luo Ji and Eileen Li remained in the video conference.

This elite Chinese woman in her 30s seems to be really busy these days and looks much more haggard than the last time we met.Work should be more serious.

Luo Ji pretended to care about his subordinates: "It's been a hard time, hasn't it?"

"It's not hard."

"Okay, tell me about Tesla's specific situation."

Eileen Lee looked at the documents on the table and said: "Tesla had actually completed the D round of financing before 2008. At that time, it was valued at 4.5 million US dollars, and the situation was very good. If everything goes well, their next steps will be The goal is to go public.”

"Yeah. Go ahead."

"The next thing you know, there's something wrong with the Tesla Roadster."

Of course Luo Ji knew this. At the beginning of 2008, the Tesla sports car that Luo Ji had ordered was suddenly told that it would not be delivered on time and that the price would be increased temporarily.

The reason is that there was a problem with the design of the electric sports car, and the cost was much higher than expected.

The temporary price increase and delayed delivery angered consumers. Tesla's reputation plummeted, and many consumers also refunded their money.

As chairman, Musk fired Tesla's founding team headed by Eber Harder out of anger and took over the company himself.

Eileen Lee said: "The biggest problem Tesla is facing now is lack of funds. He has burned through the 1 million U.S. dollars from several financings and another [-] million U.S. dollars in bank loans. Even consumers The $[-] million down payment for the electric sports car is almost gone. Now it’s $[-] million."

"But of the hundreds of electric sports cars that have been booked now, only a few have been delivered. Now no bank is willing to lend money to Tesla. Without the injection of external funds, Tesla will be bankrupt and liquidated at best by the end of the year."

Luo Ji nodded to show that he was listening.

Eileen Lee said seriously: "Logic, I strongly do not recommend that you acquire Tesla. This is a bottomless pit. Tesla's current valuation is at least 4 million US dollars, waiting for you to acquire it. Don't say anything but say it to me." Tesla will continue to inject $1 million in capital so that it can complete the electric sports car that consumers have ordered. During this period, you will not be able to recover any cash flow, let alone $[-] million in bank debt."

"The operating pressure of the entire company is extremely high, which will completely sink you. If the capital chain is slightly broken, the company will go bankrupt."

Of course Luo Ji knew this, but his intuition and apocalypse had never deceived him.Luo Ji felt that given his current wealth, he could make a reasonable bet on becoming the world's leading company in new energy vehicles in the future.

When will he reach the status of Penny Pritzker when he slowly accumulates wealth like this?Only by believing in the apocalypse, daring to invest, and seizing emerging industries that are just starting out can we achieve explosive growth in wealth.

Luo Ji looked at Eileen Li seriously: "You don't have to persuade me. What I need you to do now is to tell me how to completely acquire Tesla."

Eileen Li also had a good idea of ​​the new boss's temper. When she saw Luo Ji's expression, she immediately stopped trying to persuade him.

"Okay, okay, after my investigation during this period, if you really want to completely acquire Tesla, or become the largest shareholder of Tesla and take control of the company, there is only one way. , and get Musk to agree."

"How to say?"

"This company has raised US$7000 million so far, of which US$45 million was invested by Musk himself. He is the company's largest shareholder, holding more than [-]% of the shares. At the same time, he has also set up a very complex equity increase. The company’s absolute majority voting rule firmly controls the entire company.”

Luo Ji said, "So you mean to give him a satisfactory offer."

"Yes."

"Then you take action. You and Jamie's law firm will be responsible for this acquisition. Take action immediately. What I want is efficiency."

"Ok."

Luo Ji thought for a moment and added: "By the way, you can quietly contact the founders of Tesla who were kicked out to see if they are willing to sell their shares."

Eileen Li said: "Their shares are not large, only about 20%."

"Let's acquire part of it first and then talk about it."

…………

Time passed by in a hurry, and ten days passed before I knew it.Early in the morning, Luo Ji came to Jamie's law firm humming a tune, while the employees inside were busy.

Luo Ji casually greeted them and came to Jamie's office.

"How is the situation now?"

"We have now only acquired 5% of the shares from the founders who were kicked out of Tesla and some small investors."

Luo Ji was a little dissatisfied: "Why are there so few?"

Lawyer Jamie said distressedly: "You are a genius investor with a good reputation. When they heard that you were going to enter the market, they were not willing to sell more! We still bought so much at a high premium."

Luo Ji suddenly looked embarrassed. He never thought that one day he would be burdened by his fame.

"What about the other shareholders?"

Jamie said: “Apart from Musk, Tesla’s other shares are concentrated in the hands of technology tycoons and well-known venture capital institutions, such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Larry Page, former eBay President Jeff Skoll. These guys are not short of money. So, you know."

Luo Ji said leisurely: "It seems that acquiring Tesla's shares is much more difficult than we thought."

"Yes, there is no shortage of smart people in the world. The topic of global warming has become more and more widely discussed in the media in recent years. Although Tesla is under great operating pressure now, if it succeeds, the prospects are very bright. Those rich people Everyone is willing to bet on the future."

"Okay, then there are only open-label acquisitions. By the way, are the acquisition documents ready?"

"Of course, it's already ready."

At this moment, an employee from the law firm suddenly ran in in a panic: "Logic, Jamie, watch CNBC's financial news."

When Luo Ji saw his expression, he immediately thought of Braun's expression when he asked him to watch the news, and he immediately had a bad feeling.

Jamie immediately opened the CNBC page on his computer, and Luo Ji joined in. The headline on the front page was clearly about Luo Ji.

"Logic plans to use $5 million to acquire the troubled electric vehicle company Tesla."

"This newspaper recently received news that Erin Li from Logic Investment Company has frequently contacted Tesla shareholders in the past few days..." Luo Ji's face darkened when he saw the news.This group of media is so pervasive that they can break any kind of news.

Luo Ji looked at Jamie fiercely: "Fxxk, which link leaked the secret?"

Jamie hurriedly said: "I don't know, there are too many places where secrets can be leaked. From me, to Eileen Lee, or to the Tesla shareholders who have been in contact before, it is unrealistic for you to expect complete confidentiality. The important thing is to figure out how to make up for it.”

Luo Ji calmed down: "Then we can only show off our cards to Musk in advance."

Luo Ji quickly picked up his cell phone and prepared to call Musk.But they found that Musk had already called.He took a deep breath, organized the language in his brain a little, and then picked up the phone.

He smiled and said, "Hi, Elon, I was just about to call you, and you called me."

Musk, however, did not have a good face and said bluntly: "Are the things mentioned in the news true?"

Luo Ji smiled and said, "I originally planned to send you an acquisition invitation today, but I didn't expect it to be exposed by the media."

Musk said coldly: "Logic, what do you mean? I want to make you rich, but you want to annex my company."

"This is a normal business acquisition, how can you think so? I was planning to tell you today."

Musk said: "If you have this idea, you should tell me as soon as possible, instead of contacting the garbage I kicked out behind your back and doing some sneaky things."

"you……"

Musk interrupted directly: "You don't need to say more, I can see you clearly. You have no good intentions from the beginning! You want to annex my company, but we had such a happy cooperation in SolarCity before."

Luo Ji said unhappily: "You are simply unreasonable. This is just normal business behavior! As for you losing such a big temper? Musk, don't forget, I saved your SpaceX before. Without my 2600 million Mi Dao, can your company survive?"

Musk replied: "There are people who invest in my company without you."

"Then why didn't you agree to invest in other companies, but agreed to invest in me? It's not because I was willing to support your dream and gave the company a high valuation."

Musk said angrily: "Then you should never, absolutely should not, and should not even think about annexing my company without telling me. I will not let the PayPal thing happen again, and I don't want to watch Another PayPal slipped out of my hands. Logic, I know what your plan is, just wait and see the news."

Luo Ji counterattacked: "Isn't your company not allowed to propose acquisitions? My record company, film company and game company, almost every month companies come to see if they can make acquisitions. Is it possible that those who proposed acquisitions have become My enemy. What is wrong with you..."

Before Luo Ji could finish speaking, a beeping sound came from the other end of the phone.

Luo Ji put down the phone, loosened the tie around his chest, and breathed heavily: "Fxxk, this is simply inexplicable and unreasonable."

Jamie asked worriedly: "What's going on with Musk? Isn't it just a business acquisition intention? Why is his reaction so loud? I can hear the roar coming from the other end of his phone."

Luo Ji said angrily: "How do I know why he is crazy?"

"What did he mean by PayPal?"

"PayPal was worth 15 billion U.S. dollars when it was originally sold. Now it is worth at least 100 billion U.S. dollars. Maybe he regrets it."

In the afternoon, Xu Youyu from the company Luo Ji invested in called to the TV.Musk on TV is wearing a suit and leather shoes, talking to the camera.

"Logic never said hello to me. I just saw the news on TV. He wanted to acquire enough Tesla shares to launch a surprise attack on me on the board of directors. What I wanted to tell him was that it was impossible. There is no place for him on the board.”

“Tesla’s valuation of $[-] million is not high at all, I think it’s still low.”

"Logic has indeed said in the media that it supports my space dream. I have not denied Logic's help to SpaceX, but one thing is the same thing, so don't confuse them."

"Logic wants to acquire my Tesla company. He is dreaming. I will not sell the company I founded."

"I am the founder of Tesla. Those rubbish from Martin Eberhard are useless. They made the company so bad. It was me who turned the tide and put the company back on track step by step."

Luo Ji was actually in a good mood after reading the news.Even if the acquisition is not possible, we can still raise funds. At least we can ride on this new energy trend.

Erin Li called at this time: "Boss, Tesla has just officially rejected our acquisition invitation."

"It's okay. Since Musk is unwilling to sell, forget it. You can just focus on financing."

Eileen Lee stammered: "He also excluded us from Tesla's Series E financing."

Luo Ji was immediately furious: "M-Fxxk, what kind of arrogance does Musk have? Go and find all Tesla's competitors in the market."

Eileen Lee immediately agreed: "Okay, boss."

After hanging up the phone, Luo Ji walked aside and sulked.

Xu Youyu hurriedly came up to comfort him: "It's not worth it, it's not worth it. Don't be impulsive. You still have 5% of Tesla's shares in your hands. How can you think of investing in your competitor! You Aren’t you beating yourself up?”

Luo Ji ignored him and lost his temper alone.In fact, he wasn't very impulsive, he was mainly heartbroken.It took him a long time to calm down.

"What should I do now? My film company and music company have a lot of cash. How can I not invest it?"

Xu Youyu suggested: "How about investing in the financial market? During this period, shorting the banking industry and buying gold will make good profits."

"It's better not to. Our own funds, plus the funds from private equity funds, have already invested so much in the market. Do we still need to invest more? The risk is too great."

"Then there is only the stock market. During this period, Netflix, which you are optimistic about, has pulled back a lot, so you can increase your position appropriately."

…………

Three days later, Luo Ji increased his stake in Netflix from 5% to 10%.So the company's employees were asked to notify Netflix and the Nasdaq exchange.

Not long after the document was sent out, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings called and asked directly.

"Logic, what do you mean? The acquisition of Tesla failed, and now you are trying to get Netflix?"

Luo Ji hurriedly said, "How can you think that? I have never had such an idea! I just want to invest in Netflix."

"Are you still pretending to be stupid with me? Everything you did at Tesla has already been spread?"

Luo Ji shouted directly: "The current market value of Netflix is ​​close to 20 billion US dollars. Even if I want to acquire it, where will I get so much money? Do you have delusions of being persecuted?"

Reed Hastings refused to believe Luo Ji: "Don't let me see that you hold more than 20% of the shares, and don't think about joining the board of directors and trying to sideline me, otherwise I will launch a poison pill plan."

Luo Ji shouted, "Fxxk you, Reid. I helped you promote the company in the media, and you did this to me."

Luo Ji responded with the beeping sound of the phone hanging up.

(End of this chapter)