King of Capital

Chapter 58 Must Die
Xie Jingxing and Jim Goetz reached an agreement on Sand Hill Street and they became good friends temporarily.

The reason is simple. Sequoia needs more competitors to participate in the bidding, and is worried that Tencent will back down under the overwhelming storm of public opinion.

So Xie Jingxing was the first to know Koum's next plan - to launch a three-party bidding next week, as well as the contact information of WhatsApp's M&A consultant, the specific project manager of Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley.

"This is just not treating us as human beings. They think we are not competitive and are just a gimmick to raise the price."

After the communication ended and they returned to the hotel, Peng Zhijian commented with gritted teeth.

“Let the M&A team start coming to Silicon Valley.”

Xie Jingxing didn't care what he was regarded as, as long as he could participate in the bidding, he still had a chance: "You or Su He should send one person to New York, and wait for the M&A team to intervene next week. Public opinion will be completely uncontrollable. We need to talk about public relations with the US government."

"We need to re-evaluate the price of WhatsApp. It would be best if we could get quotes from Facebook and Google in advance. In terms of money... we are not competitive." Although he was angry, Peng Zhijian was still clear about his own strengths.

Su He focused on something different and asked, "What about you? What are you responsible for?"

"I'll go back to China and talk to Mr. Ma alone." Xie Jingxing smiled.

Su He frowned and hinted, "What do you want to talk about? This project has been brought to the interim board of directors."

"I'm taking leave and returning to China as a personal citizen."
Su He glanced at Peng Zhijian, whose face was stern and serious. Even at this moment, he was still full of evil thoughts. It was really not worthy of being served at the table.

"You guys chat, I'll call Mr. Liu." He said and walked out of the room.

Su He smiled awkwardly, and when the door was closed, she could no longer bear it and whispered, "Do you know what you are talking about? Have you really considered the problem from Juntai's perspective?"

Juntai is a state-owned enterprise. Now that such a big thing has happened, we have to listen to the leadership’s arrangements on what to do next. We cannot be unconscious and only focus on business operations.

So what is Xie Jingxing going to do now? If he wins, he will become famous, and if he loses, he will go home and live a stable life as a rich second generation. But what about the others? Does the fate and future of the entire M&A team, who have been "jailed" in Taihu Resort for more than half a month, depend on his performance alone?
Su He was so angry that he wanted to kill someone. He locked the door fiercely and said, "You are not allowed to go anywhere!"

"What do you think are our chances of a successful merger if we let things continue to develop?" Xie Jingxing asked calmly.

Su He pursed his pale lips and was speechless. A one in ten thousand chance might already be considered a failure. The next effort was just to give everyone something to do, to complete the process decently, and to quietly return to China after participating in the bidding next week.

It is conceivable that Mr. Liu in New York cannot suppress public opinion, and failing to suppress public opinion means that he will not be able to pass the review of the Committee on Overseas Investment in the United States. If Tencent had such great power in the United States, its market value would have exceeded one trillion long ago.

In Silicon Valley, as Peng Zhijian said, among the three bidding companies, how could Tencent offer more US dollars than Google and Facebook? Even novels dare not write about it this way.

"We have no chance. I just want to do my best and leave it to fate."

Xie Jingxing avoided Su He's gaze, turned his head, paused, and continued: "Ask Mr. Ma a question."

"you……"

Su He thought of something, and all the emotions in his heart disappeared unconsciously, and the words on the tip of his tongue could not be said.

Xie Jing Xing smiled: "So, I want to take a leave, or resign."

…………

[Shocked! The relationship between Tencent and the top-secret US 'Prism Surveillance Program' that must be explained! ]

[The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States said it had not received any M&A application from WhatsApp and Tencent. People familiar with the matter said that if the M&A news is confirmed to be true, it will be stopped immediately.]

[Facebook, the biggest enemy of Tencent's social empire, the battle of going overseas and defending! ]

July 7, Monday, Pengcheng.

When all kinds of rumors were flying around the country, Xie Jingxing saw Xiao Ma Ge lying on the hospital bed.

The two of them stared at the sun in silence for a long time. After more than half an hour, he finally asked, "Is the situation very bad?"

"Fortunately, it's just an old problem of back pain. I can just do a minor operation and it will be fine."

Xiao Ma Ge's smile was shy and reserved, just like when they first met at the airport. He slowly peeled an orange and said, "Come on, have some fruit."

"I'm a little confused."

The faint smell of disinfectant made Xie Jingxing feel a little uncomfortable. He took the orange without hesitation and stuffed it into his mouth, speaking vaguely.

"Some people are dissatisfied, saying that Tencent has the money to spend tens of billions of dollars on acquiring American companies, but has no money to contribute to national development? Tencent is doing such a big thing, but you don't discuss it with your comrades, and you don't even listen to orders."

Brother Xiao Ma adjusted his glasses and said, "They are just minor problems. I am a little tired after so many years. I will take this opportunity to rest for a few days."

"Kum and Larry Page will meet on Monday local time in Silicon Valley, and the three-party bid will be announced on Wednesday." Xie Jingxing was unable to comment and could only get to the point.

Brother Ma started peeling the grapefruit again: "Peng Zhijian has told me that time is a bit tight. My surgery is scheduled for Saturday. Let Lao Liu go."

"Actually, I think we can still give it a try." Xie Jingxing said seriously while wiping his hands with a tissue.

Pony Ma did not comment. Tencent has a lot to consider with such a big event, and the pressure does not only come from abroad.

Putting aside other things, it is unrealistic for Tencent to spend tens of billions of dollars in cash for mergers and acquisitions, which will inevitably involve equity. With the current equity structure, it is likely that the equity will be diluted by about 5%.

Is it worth it under such public pressure?
Moreover, Tencent can choose to play slowly. Snap and the overseas version of WeChat are not dead, so there is still hope.

"In fact, I always feel that your intention to acquire WhatsApp is not just to expand overseas." Xie Jingxing insisted and refused to give up. Xiao Ma shook his head and laughed: "Then why do you think it is?"

"Your target is Facebook." Xie Jingxing laughed.

Xiao Ma stopped what he was doing, looked up at him and said, "You are a little too ambitious."

Since entering the mobile Internet era, Facebook has lost its moat. The large-scale acquisition of Instagram and the development of its own instant messaging products are all for defense, which is why Zuckerberg is determined to acquire WhatsApp.

No one can imagine what Facebook would be like after losing its user traffic pool. Would it really become an advertising company? If so, it would not be worth its current market value.

Tencent, Google, and the invisible rivals that emerged from nowhere and exposed their mergers and acquisitions are not so eager to acquire WhatsApp. Their essence is to attack.

From this perspective, Facebook is the one being beaten up, and everyone is waiting for it to collapse so that they can eat its flesh and drink its blood.

"Can you kneel down?" Xie Jingxing asked the question he really wanted to ask when he returned home.

Xiao Ma Ge fell silent again: "You don't look like someone who can kneel down."

"You don't look like someone who wants to be a national entrepreneur." Xie Jingxing responded with a harsh remark.

Xiao Ma nodded slightly: "Who are you to say this?"

Xie Jingxing took out his cell phone and dialed a number. It rang for a long time before being picked up. He said simply and bluntly, "I want to see Bill Gates."

"Okay." A cool and pleasant female voice came from the other end of the phone.

“I also want to meet with Tim Cook.”

"it is good."

“And Jeff Bezos.”

"it is good."

After saying three "yes" in a row, Xie Jingxing hung up the phone, scratched his head and said with a bitter face: "This is my unmarried daughter-in-law. I'm putting my life event on the gambling table. What about you?"

"Can we still stand up?" Xiao Ma Ge asked the last question carefully.

Xie Jingxing squinted his eyes, looked up at the dazzling sunlight, and smiled gently.

…………

On July 7, the domestic version of WeChat launched the red envelope function one month ahead of schedule.

On the other side of the ocean, in New York, Tencent President Martin Lau accepted an exclusive interview with The New York Times and frankly stated that Tencent is interested in acquiring WhatsApp. The two parties are currently in the process of negotiating and this is a deal based on commercial considerations.

Tencent will use technology to change the world from a higher perspective. It has never been an enemy of the American people, and it will certainly not be in the future.

Domestic public opinion was in an uproar and the public was outraged, and Alibaba-affiliated media were the first to shout out a rare spineless slogan.

On the same day, Xie Jingxing talked with Bill Gates and Tim Koum at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond until late at night, and then took a private plane to Amazon's headquarters in Seattle to meet Jeff Bezos.

Later that day, the Wall Street Journal cited insiders as saying that Google, Facebook and Tencent will collectively submit their final acquisition offers to WhatsApp on Saturday.

On July 7, Alibaba Group President Jack Ma flew to New York to prepare for its listing on Nasdaq.

On July 7, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States proactively issued a merger and acquisition transaction review request to WhatsApp, and terminated all financial transactions of Tencent Group in the United States in the name of national security.

Tencent was kicked out before the bidding even started.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' routine press question-and-answer session that afternoon, the spokesperson responded with "no comment" in response to questions raised again by European and American reporters about the Tencent-WhatsApp merger case.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Commerce’s routine press conference gave a completely opposite attitude, denouncing that “national security” is a common tactic used by some people and expressing deep indignation about it.

This move excited the whole country. Some media wrote a ten-thousand-word article, quoting a line from a movie as the title - Stand up, don't kneel!

On July 7, the day of the WhatsApp acquisition bidding, Juntai Securities' New York office received an investigation warrant from the local New York prosecutor on the grounds that it was conducting national-level business operations in the United States. Chen Xin, director of Juntai Securities' investment banking department, flew to New York to put out the fire.

Tencent’s third-party M&A consultant was subsequently kicked out.

Alibaba, Facebook, Google, etc. are in dire straits both inside and outside the wall.

Everywhere you look, there are enemies. It seems that Tencent is doomed to fail.

But the restless monkey still wanted to jump a few more times. On July 7, Xie Jingxing resigned from Juntai Securities and walked into the WhatsApp headquarters alone with three temporary authorizations in hand.

"Hello, nice to meet you again. I'm Xie Jingxing, CEO of Grapefruit Capital." He handed over his freshly-made business card and introduced himself politely.

Kumu shook his head in confusion. "This joke is not funny. You only have 20 minutes. You'd better be direct about what you want to say."

"I want Facebook to die!" Xie Jingxing smiled friendly, revealing his white teeth.

(End of this chapter)