My Age of Investment

Chapter 1618 Get off safely

 “Mr. Egg, long time no see!”

In another secluded villa in Palo Alto, Xia Jingxing met Robert Egger.

The energetic head of Disney had just finished his meeting with Murdoch and his son, and flew from New York on the east coast to the San Francisco Bay Area on the west coast, preparing to exchange further opinions with Xia Jingxing on the acquisition of part of News Corporation's business.

After a moment of greetings, Robert Iger got straight to the point and said, "Dylan, your proposed acquisition of the entire News Corporation is basically a no-brainer."

Seeing that Xia Jingxing had no reaction, Robert Egger, who was unsure of Xia Jingxing's psychology, specifically explained: "Although the reputation of the Murdoch family has been hit by a series of events, News Corporation has not reached the point of being at the end of its rope. For You should also be aware of this.”

 After a pause, Robert Iger continued: “Therefore, they will not sell the entire News Corporation, which is the foundation on which their family relies for survival.

Without News Corporation, the Murdoch family would be just an ordinary wealthy family with no political influence in English-speaking countries.

With News Corporation in hand, even if it is just the news, broadcasting, and sports businesses, they can continue to maintain greater political and business influence.

 I believe you should understand the difference between the two! "

Xia Jingxing remained silent and maintained a calm expression.

 In fact, he had already begun to calculate the gains and losses in his mind.

 Not to mention in European and American countries, even in China, there is a huge difference between a financial tycoon with assets of tens of billions and an industrial tycoon of the same worth.

Furthermore, the Murdoch family is different from ordinary wealthy businessmen. They are players who control public opinion and are deeply involved in the British and American political games. In addition to the normal operating profits of the company, they have too many hidden benefits.

This invisibility advantage is sometimes also a weapon against the enemies of the Murdoch family.

The reason why he encouraged Disney to acquire News Corporation was naturally to remove the sharpest claws of the Murdoch family. Otherwise, let alone knocking down this old family, he had to be careful to guard against retaliation from the other party.

"After removing the news, sports and broadcasting businesses, the Murdoch family agreed to sell Fox film production business, Fox Television Network, 73% of the "National Geographic" channel shares, 39% of European Sky TV shares, Star India Media Group, India Fox’s core assets including Tata Sky TV.”

As if worried that Xia Jingxing would have objections to this, Robert Iger added: "Of course, after the acquisition is completed, Disney will immediately transfer "X-Men", "Fantastic Four", "Deadpool" and other original properties to The Marvel IP was sold to Marvel Studios at the right price.”

Hearing this, Xia Jingxing finally spoke.

“Mr. Iger, is there really no way to acquire the entire News Corporation? This is very important to me and is the basic condition for our cooperation.”

 Robert Iger spread his hands helplessly, "I'm sorry, I've already worn out my words, but Murdoch never let go."

"All right!"

Xia Jingxing had actually expected this outcome, but he still pretended to sigh, and then stopped talking.

This performance was completely different in the eyes of Robert Egger. He thought that Xia Jingxing was still dissatisfied with the result, so he asked tentatively: "Darren, do you want our cooperation to continue?"

This is what Xia Jingxing was waiting for. He nodded with a smile and said, "Of course, but how are you going to compensate me?"

Hearing this, Robert Iger felt confident and grinned: "How about a lifetime free trip to Disneyland? You can take your children to enjoy the most distinguished treatment in Disneyland."

 What kind of compensation is this? How much money do I need for tickets?

 Xia Jingxing, who was dissatisfied, also joined in the fight, "Children definitely like Disneyland, but I prefer toys for older children."

This time it was Robert Egger's turn to remain silent. He didn't know what conditions Xia Jingxing would offer, so he simply pretended to be mute.

“Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you. How about opening a Disneyland in my hometown of Chengdu? There is a great need for a Disneyland there!”

Hearing this, Robert Egger was slightly surprised, and then replied with a smile: "We will study it carefully. China is a commercial market full of potential. We just started construction of Disneyland in Magic City this year in cooperation with state-owned enterprises in Magic City. Perhaps this one paradise alone cannot meet the entertainment needs of 1.35 billion people.”

“Haha, you took it seriously, I was just kidding. Rather than just establishing cooperation in the park business, I am actually looking forward to achieving closer cooperation with Disney.”

Robert Egger became a little wary when he heard this. He was very aware of Xia Jingxing's virtues. He was a master who could urinate when he caught a toad. He didn't know what pit he had dug for him and Disney.

"Don't be nervous. What I mean is that there is still a lot of room for cooperation between my industries and Disney. For example, the Disney film and television rights authorized by YouTube, the Disney music authorized by Soundwave, as well as Fuxing Industrial Group, Overseas Holding Group and other companies We have extensive cooperation with Disney.”

Robert Iger understood and found that the conditions were not difficult, so he agreed: "No problem, as long as you become a shareholder of Disney, Darren, all cooperation will be no problem. Disney will establish cooperation with you and your industries." Strategic partnership."

Xia Jingxing nodded with satisfaction. This is what he meant. Spending so much money to support Disney's acquisition of Fox cannot be just to attack the Murdoch family. Under appropriate circumstances, he must also seek certain benefits for himself.

The companies under his umbrella do not seem to have much cooperation with Disney, but the total cooperation business is still very significant.

 After chatting for a while, Xia Jingxing sent Robert Egg away with satisfaction. The latter was actually quite satisfied, because the conditions offered by Xia Jingxing were not excessive, and he once again promised to support Disney's acquisition of Fox as always.

 …

 …

　　While Liang Mengsong’s lawsuit had not yet gone to trial, Xia Jingxing went to New York.

 The purpose of his flight was to attend the bell-ringing ceremony of Gaopeng.com and Xingjia.

Both companies submitted prospectuses a few months ago and will be listed on Nasdaq at the end of November and early December respectively. The time between the two bells is less than a week, so Xia Jingxing also made a special trip to join in the fun.

 It is also worth mentioning that this year is also a year of good returns for Envision Capital.

In the first half of the year, star companies from China and the United States, such as 360.com and LinkedIn, successively entered the capital market. In the second half of the year, unicorn companies such as Gaopeng and Xingjia were listed on the market. Basically, you can hear "Alipay" every month. The pleasant announcement of “hundreds of millions or billions of yuan has been received” really made many colleagues envious. When Xia Jingxing came to the Nasdaq bell ringing scene with great interest, Andrew Mason, the founder of Gaopeng.com, who was about to overthrow LinkedIn and create the third largest IPO of American Internet companies after Google and Facebook, did not give him any information. This important shareholder of the company has such a good face.

The reason is not complicated, because the development of Gaopeng’s Chinese business is difficult to describe, and Andrew Mason attributes all of this to Xia Jingxing’s unsupportive attitude.

After ringing the bell, Gaopeng delivered a perfect answer and became a genuine new “Internet giant” with a market value of nearly US$18 billion.

At the subsequent thank-you reception, the high-spirited Andrew Mason walked up to Xia Jingxing with a tall wine glass, not knowing whether it was to show off or for some other reason. He said confidently: "Darren, I plan to continue to pay more attention to China." market input.”

Like Andrew Mason, Xia Jingxing also dislikes the former. They both dislike each other forever.

So Xia Jingxing, who was talking to Yuri Milner, another shareholder of Gaopeng.com and the founder of DST, turned his head and responded lukewarmly: "Really? So will Penguin Holding Group follow this time?"

It’s okay not to mention Penguin, but when it comes to this **** company, Andrew Mason’s lungs are about to explode.

But it was not easy for Xia Jingxing and other shareholders to laugh at him, so he could only reply lightly, "Who knows," and then walked away with an indifferent expression.

Looking at Andrew Mason who was pretending to be calm, Xia Jingxing sneered and didn't take it seriously.

Then he waved to a waiter, put the wine glass in his hand gently on the tray, and prepared to pat his **** and leave.

 There was no point in him staying any longer, because it was indeed a bit embarrassing.

The reason why Andrew Mason agreed to introduce Vision Capital's investment was because of Xia Jingxing's personal reputation and the resources he had in the Chinese market.

But things are fickle. Gaopeng.com skyrocketed very quickly after its initial round of financing. It is difficult to define how much role Xia Jingxing’s personal fame has played in the company’s development. At least Andrew Mason did not fully recognize Xia Jingxing’s role in it. .

Especially when Gaopeng grew faster than Google and Facebook, expanding its business to 45 countries and regions in just a dozen months and becoming a well-known star startup in the United States, Andrew Mason became Got even more arrogant and arrogant.

At that time, a large number of investors waved their checks and wanted to invest in Gaopeng. At the end of last year, Google even offered a sky-high price of US$6 billion to acquire Gaopeng, but Andrew Mason rejected them all.

To some extent, the company’s explosive growth and soaring valuation blinded Andrew Mason and made him even more bloated.

When Yuri Milner saw Xia Jingxing preparing to leave, he immediately stopped him and asked about the inside story.

“Darren, why don’t you cooperate with Gaopeng in China? I think Andrew is very concerned about this.”

 Yuri has a good relationship with Xia Jingxing, and they have been cooperating, so Xia Jingxing only revealed a few words.

　　It’s not that he doesn’t keep his promise, it’s that Andrew Mason’s approach is too wild.

At the beginning of this year, when Gaopeng.com first entered the Chinese market, Andrew Mason flew to Beijing and approached Xia Jingxing, intending to let the latter use his local advantages to contribute to Gaopeng.com.

Xia Jingxing only had a few words with Andrew Mason before he knew that this matter would never happen, so he declined cooperation.

In anger, Andrew Mason simply found Penguin to cooperate, but unexpectedly, it was the beginning of a nightmare.

Due to the 50-50 split of the company's shares, Gaopeng's development in China was not smooth at the beginning. People in the United States were arguing with Penguin every day.

At the same time, the development strategy formulated by the people on the American side of Gaopeng.com is also very problematic, and it reveals a desire for quick success and instant benefits everywhere.

For example, Gaopeng used to steal employees from rival companies in Europe at double salaries, and then fired them en masse after winning the battle.

  For another example, after entering the Chinese market, we made a grand plan to recruit 1,000 employees within 2 months and reach 2,000 employees within 3 months.

These bad moves paved the way for Gaopeng’s failure in China.

However, after the failure of development in the Chinese market, Gaopeng's development in the European and American markets was relatively smooth, thus paving the way for its listing.

 After listening to Xia Jingxing’s explanation, Yuri frowned. If what Xia Jingxing said was true, then there were already many hidden dangers hidden behind the glamor of Gaopeng.com.

 He needs to seriously consider whether to hold Gaopeng shares for the long term.

“Dylan, thank you for the reminder! I will remember this favor. But you have offended Andrew, and the loss is not small, right?”

Xia Jingxing nodded. After severely offending Andrew Mason, he actually suffered retaliation from the other party. In the last round of US$950 million in large-scale financing completed by Gaopeng this year before its listing, Vision Capital was isolated. Outside the financing team.

 Xia Jingxing did not force it and allowed his shares to be diluted.

Anyway, he has already made up his mind to run away as soon as the stock ban is lifted, and does not plan to hold Gaopeng shares for a long time.

 “Have fun, let’s work together again next time!”

Xia Jingxing patted Yuri on the shoulder, smiled and left.

Looking at the other person's back as he left gracefully, Yuri felt envious in his heart.

This is a real investment tycoon who is completely unaccustomed to the bad habits of the founders of the companies he invests in.

 The company has already been listed anyway, and investment institutions can safely get off the bus at any time.

 (End of this chapter)