Age of Dreams

Just like in a disaster, life still has to continue.U.S. companies have had a hard time in recent months, but they are not without bright spots.

For example, air board and lodging-the company, is the most shining star in the past month!

The website that officially started business in early March has quickly won the hearts and minds of countless people with the latest and unique "person-to-person" short-term rental travel market concept from the beginning.

After all, most Europeans and Americans actually don't have much money. Their burden is not lighter than that of the Chinese. It's just that the welfare measures in most of their countries are very good, so that they have no worries, so they dare to spend all their salaries. Even loan consumption is the most normal thing.

For example, foreigners are keen to use credit card loans for travel. If you switch to China, even the youngest and most fashionable people are absolutely impossible to accept such things. It can even be exaggerated to say that it is basically ten thousand people. It is possible for one in four people to do so.

Although it is very common in foreign countries to use credit cards and play things again, but when they go out to play, they can save a little, then they will try to save as much as possible.

After all, borrowing money to consume in advance is one thing, but borrowing money is always to be repaid.

In this case, this kind of intermediary service that provides short-term rental of personal housing and accommodation has naturally received a lot of praise.

Everyone knows that those hotels have to pay business taxes, hire personnel, advertise, etc., these are a lot of value-added expenses.

Personal houses do not have this trouble at all, the price is relatively easy to negotiate, and the location of the scenic spot you want to go can be more convenient, if the negotiation is good, you can eat authentic local delicacies at the owner's home. Have a good chat, and the host’s family can invite you to dinner.

Moreover, Western developed countries are generally of good quality, and security issues are guaranteed. After Xiao Qi combined some of the problems that occurred in the previous life, there is a very complete system for credit screening and qualification verification. This has caused the opening of the business. Time delays. But once I tried it, I felt that the effect was very good, and it was easy to be accepted by everyone.

In this comparison, the price is at least half the price. The convenience brought is even more immeasurable, and the safety is also guaranteed. Many young people defected at the first time.

In this life and this world, the two electronics companies with the best user experience are Apple and the Fairy Company, and they are no longer the only one of Apple in the previous life.

Xiao Qi has transplanted his most important user experience to his other companies, of course.

In addition to its very enjoyable effect, the experience of all users on the website is also very good: the website login and browsing is very fast, the page is very friendly, the amount of information is large and not complicated, the interactive information is very fast and accurate, and the payment The system is very convenient, and the time for customer service to deal with problems is very fast...Wait, it is completely comparable to the service of the world's super-class hotels.

Coupled with the various publicity that Xiao Qi started half a month in advance, the popularity after preparing hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising costs has become very high.

Of course, such a large-scale propaganda, various preparations, etc., all cost a lot of money, and the 1 billion US dollars that Xiao Qi invested back and forth has already used up more than half.

Because of this, it has a high degree of attention and popularity since the beginning of the business.

In more than a month, the number of registered users has exceeded 4 million, personal housing rental information has exceeded 800,000, and the successful record has exceeded 300,000 times.Considering that the region is currently only limited to North America and Western Europe, then this The number is quite amazing.

Merrill Lynch Securities of Wall Street has given a valuation of 100 million U.S. dollars, and believes that if it continues to develop at this speed, it will build the world's largest online personal short-term rental network, and in the future will surpass the Hilton Hotel Chain Group and become the largest giant in the hotel industry. maybe.

Although Merrill Lynch has had a hard time recently due to many subordinated debt issues, their professional standards are still trustworthy in the entire industry.

It's not just Merrill Lynch that is exaggerating, there are also many investment banks and funds, hoping to get a share of it, but due to Xiao Qi's \"Oriental stinginess\" and his reputation, none of them Come forward, just come in contact through other channels to see if there is a chance.

To say that Xiao Qi is stingy does not actually mean that he is in the world, but because Wall Street believes that Xiao Qi has no interest in sharing wealth and doing big companies together.

Almost all of Xiao Qi's companies are absolutely controlled by him, and he has never thought of going public at all, so naturally people on Wall Street can't make a lot of money in the listing circle.

This is also the case.According to the published data, the two major companies, Mingxiang Holdings and Qicai Investment, owned by Xiao Qi, each hold the shares, and the remaining 7 are owned by the management and founding team, and 3 are held by Hoffman. .

With such a disparate ratio, even if you want to acquire it, you can only find a way in Xiao Qi's hands.

Others are just thinking about whether to buy shares or how much to buy, but there is a giant, the president personally went to Rongcheng and asked to see Xiao Qi.

Stephen Swartzman, fat and fierce, is also the most trusted student, partner and friend of Peter Peterson, Chairman of the Blackstone Group.

.[,! Compared to his 82-year-old teacher Peterson, 61-year-old Swarzman is still very young and strong, so he usually does this kind of overseas travel.

But as long as it is Swarzman's personal involvement, it will not be easy.

It was after arriving in Chengdu that Swartzman passed his old friend Oracle's chairman Larry Ellison and asked Xiao Qi to meet.

Ellison is Xiao Qi’s friend, or the one who has a good relationship. He often calls and does not say where Ellison is going on vacation. There must be a gift to Xiao Qi—he is a friend who looks up to him. , Has always been generous and bold, and it is almost the same as Branson in the United Kingdom.

Therefore, Xiao Qi wanted to give Ellison this face.

When he arrived at the high-level meeting room of the Hilton Hotel on the opposite side of Old Bar Road, Swarzman shook hands with Xiao Qi and sat on both sides with a thick smile.

Rongcheng is Xiao Qi's home field, but the Hilton Hotel is Swarzman's home field.

In July last year, Blackstone Group invested 26 billion U.S. dollars to fully acquire the Hilton Hotel Group, and combined with its previous hotel industry to form a new hotel group, which has become the world's largest hotel group. The market value exceeds 40 billion U.S. dollars.

Xiao Qi thought that Swartzman was here for the acquisition, but he didn't expect that he would say something else.

\"Mr. Xiao, our Blackstone Group is willing to form a deep alliance with you.\" After a few words of greeting, Swartzman said,\" Do you think that you have invested 50 shares in our hotel group, and you have a total of 10 Pintan? How about this replacement ratio?\"

Xiao Qi pondered for a while, but did not speak.

Calculated on the basis of a market value of 100 billion US dollars, the stock price is estimated to be 8 billion U.S. dollars, which is 60% higher than the 5 billion U.S. dollars valued by Merrill Lynch!

Although it will continue to develop and the value will continue to rise in the future, the market value of others will continue to rise.

If there is a share swap, it will be a good investment for both parties, at least for now.

Xiao Qi's plan is almost between 10-15 billion U.S. dollars.If it goes public, it may be a little more, but the listing is not under Xiao Qi's consideration.

However, the valuation of 10-15 billion U.S. dollars requires two or three years to develop. Now that he has obtained 8 billion U.S. dollars, it must be Xiao Qi's advantage.

But then I think about it, although the Blackstone Group has paid 10 PintanNuo Tomb Sha? But they have become the real giant online and offline by integrating this largest online short-term rental personal accommodation platform now and in the future. Ba, will definitely be of great help to the development of the next 20 to 30 years.

In comparison, in the long run, the Blackstone Group is more worthwhile.

\"I don’t have much interest in the traditional hotel industry.\" After a while, Xiao Qi gave his own answer:\" Besides, I always have an idea, I want to see how far I can go. In the online and offline tourist hotel market, who will be more brilliant in the future. So if Mr. Swarzman wants to talk about share swaps, we might as well wait ten years for us to talk about it.\"

Swarzman sighed, recalling his previous failed acquisitions, Swarzman thought that Xiao Qi was really as stubborn as the legend has it.

However, from this, Swarzman also heard Xiao Qi's ambitions, and with a short-term rental website, he wanted to compete with the traditional hotel industry for hundreds of years.

Although Swarzman is very optimistic, he only regards it as a supplement to the traditional hotel industry, not the kind of partner that can be equal.

Then we just have to wait and see to see who of us has a better vision!

The president of the Blackstone Group, who has always been unprofitable, made a decision with a slight regret.