Top of the big era

When I arrived in Miami, I met several presidents of the Miami Real Estate Brokers Association, accompanied by five or six top agents, who came to serve Boss Zhou.

The last time such a grand event was when Bill Gates came to Miami to buy real estate last year.

Bill Gates' daughter is good at horse racing, and the richest man wanted to train her well. Originally, he wanted to buy a horse racing club in the UK, but after going to the UK for a while, his daughter really couldn't adapt to the British environment and couldn't even speak the language.

There was no other way, so Bill Gates came to Palm Island in Miami, which is the mecca of polo. Then he bought a horse racing club here and purchased luxury properties.

That was just 4 months ago.

Zhou Buqi was still holding his eldest daughter Nian Nian in his arms this time, so he didn't want to be so showy. After having a meal and accepting the other party's kindness and enthusiasm, he expressed that he wanted to see it in private.

The other party understood and left an excellent female agent named Lauren Mars in her 30s to serve Big Boss Zhou throughout the process. All resources can be used at will, including all properties for sale...even properties that have been sold and do not want to be sold. Resources can also be coordinated!

For Boss Zhou, one of the top five richest men on the Forbes list, there is no consideration of whether he can buy it or not as long as he likes it or not.

"The Miami Association of Realtors is the largest real estate brokers association in the United States. We have the most resources in the United States, including economic and political resources. Mr. Zhou, look..." Lauren, a black-haired Jewish woman, pointed Referring to a state-owned Italian-style property in front of it that has now become a tourist attraction, "If you like it, we can help you smoothen the relationship and turn this public property into your private domain."

"No, my biggest request is the protection of privacy. I don't want to attract the attention of anyone or the media."

Zhou Buqi immediately declined the other party's kindness.

He knew that the other party was very powerful.

The first batch of top wealthy people in Miami were all Jews, and they were the richest people in the early United States. These people gathered in Miami are intertwined and have connections that can reach the sky. There is nothing they can't do except what they can't imagine.

When Zhou Buqi was running Neptune Capital before, he came here to look for investors and saw their elegance.

Lauren said with a smile: "Since last year, wealthy people from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile have begun to buy houses in Miami, setting off a rush to buy real estate, causing real estate prices here to increase significantly."

Zhou Buqi was curious, "Oh? Why?"

Lauren Mars is an elite, far beyond ordinary real estate sales. She chuckled and said: "It is related to the subprime mortgage crisis. In order to solve domestic conflicts, the United States can only find ways to move abroad."

Zhou Buqi asked, "What's the specifics?"

Lauren said: "It is mainly financial means, using the dominant position of the US dollar to harvest overseas wealth to save the domestic economy. The first to suffer are these weak developing countries in South America. The rise in the exchange rate of the US dollar against the currencies of South American countries has made Investors in these countries have less purchasing power."

Zhou Buqu nodded, "Well, real estate is a good choice."

The mischief caused by the United States has caused the value of the currencies held by the South American rich to shrink. In order to protect their property from being harvested by the invisible hand of the Federal Reserve, the South American rich can only convert their assets into U.S. dollars.

It's useless to have so much money in your hands.

If you keep it in your hands, it will only depreciate.

Then it can only be investment.

Either invest in the stock market or invest in the real estate market. The Nasdaq rose sharply last year, and the real estate market in Miami was also subject to a rush to buy by wealthy South Americans. This is all related to the backflow caused by the appreciation of the US dollar.

However, the subprime mortgage crisis is too serious.

It is still early for the U.S. economy to recover. Now only the technology industry is picking up, while other industries are still depressed. It is not enough to harvest the South American market alone. The remaining developing countries...Africa has no chance, so it can only be China, India and Eastern Europe.

Such an analysis will make it clear that many major international situations are unclear.

Now the United States is mainly targeting South America, so South American rich people come to the United States to continuously invest and start buying and selling... In a few years, domestic large companies and rich people will inevitably start the same process.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

In recent years, wealthy South Americans have been coming to Miami to buy houses. In a few years, there will be a huge number of wealthy people in the country, and the momentum can be called thunderous and the autumn wind sweeps away the fallen leaves.

Of course, most of the luxury properties here are beyond the reach of ordinary people. The average property price is as high as 2.3 million U.S. dollars, and the transaction volume in 10 months exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars.

When it comes to real estate investment in the world, it is definitely the most cost-effective to buy a house in Miami now. The price increase is much higher than that in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Judging from Zhou Buqi's strength, he does not need to rely on real estate to invest. Buying a house is mainly a way of life, so that he can enjoy life better.

Zhou Buqi held Nian Nian in his arms and walked along the coast of Miami with Wen Zhixia, Zhen Yu and Ning Yaxian.

The average housing price in Miami is not as good as that of Los Angeles and New York, but the price of luxury homes on the beach or on the Palm Island has almost skyrocketed, even more exaggerated than New York and Los Angeles.

Soon, they arrived at the newly built luxury apartment that Zhen Yu was interested in.

Go upstairs and visit.

Quite disappointed.

Many of the top luxury homes in New York and Los Angeles are divided by floors. There is only one or two households on the first floor, so that the area is large enough and a private swimming pool can be designed.

This "reflective machine" apartment, which is like an architectural work of art, is not so good. There are seven or eight houses on the first floor.

Lauren explained this, saying that the price of one floor is tens of millions of dollars, and even many rich people cannot afford it. It would be better to cut them up and sell them separately. Each house only costs a few million dollars, which many Hollywood stars can afford.

Zhou Buqi was slightly startled, "Hollywood star?"

Lauren looked a little embarrassed, "Yes, several Hollywood stars have purchased properties here. Hollywood stars are not welcome in the estates on the Palm Beach side. If they want to buy properties here, they are usually apartments or townhouses. "

Zhou Buqi was not very satisfied.

This is not good!

He doesn't want to live in an apartment with Hollywood stars. It's not that he looks down on them, but Hollywood stars are too eye-catching and attract the attention of the media and others.

Moreover, it is difficult for luxury apartments in this subdivision to have independent private swimming pools.

You can't go to the public swimming pool downstairs, right?

He didn't want to reveal too much privacy.

Lauren quickly said: "The top 4 floors are not cut off. They also have a private swimming pool and an independent elevator, which can protect the privacy to the maximum extent, but the price... is a little higher."

Then, she briefly introduced that the area of ​​a single floor is about 5,000 square meters, and different floors have different areas and different prices. Because it is a sea-view room, the higher the top floor, the more expensive it is. The top floor is priced at as high as 180 million US dollars. If we talk about it, we can also give you a good discount price.

Money is not an issue, but this messy living environment is really unpleasant.

It's not like an apartment in New York.

Zhou Buqi's apartment in New York only covers an area of ​​1,500 square meters on two floors and has a total of 6 bedrooms. It is a temporary resting place. In the past, there were usually fewer people living there, that is, Senior Sister Zhen Yu lived there.

Miami is different here. This is the tropics, a place where the whole family comes to vacation and live in the winter.

Moreover, it is close to the Atlantic Ocean, and across the sea is the UK, which is also convenient for luxury yachts to travel to and from.

It wouldn't be appropriate to get an apartment here.

Zhou Buqi gave up on Senior Sister Zhen Yu's idea and said that he should go to Palm Beach to choose a large manor near the sea, like the famous Mar-a-Lago.

The top wealthy families buy real estate on Palm Island instead of joining the fun in Miami Beach.

…

Wen Zhixia and Zhen Yu were still in Miami, while Zhou Buqi and Ning Yaxian went to New York to meet Zhang Chaoyang.

Changyou’s launch date is Monday, March 14th.

In three weeks, it will be listed on Nasdaq.

However, there is still one thing that has not been done right now, that is, part of the financing has not been resolved.

Changyou's current share capital is 1.55 billion, and it plans to issue 230 million new shares. The tentative issue price is set at US$11.5.

If dealer investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley follow this plan, Changyou's market value will reach US$20 billion, and it is expected to raise US$2.65 billion.

Changyou's net profit last year was US$500 million. Such an IPO plan is equivalent to a PE of 40 times, which is not too high.

But it is more in line with the current market situation.

The current online game market is not very popular and is in a cooling period. The market value of many online game companies is shrinking, and the capital market is not optimistic about the online game market.

The main reason is that the scale of the industry has not grown as expected.

Why did Ninetowns abandon "World of Warcraft"?

Because the revenue did not meet expectations, players' enthusiasm for it dropped, and there was a misconception that "World of Warcraft" was no longer good and would be eliminated. In overseas markets, the number of players of "World of Warcraft" has decreased, and they all go to play "Aion".

This led Zhu Jun to give up "World of Warcraft" and then introduce "Aion" with great ambition.

Unexpectedly, "Aion" encountered acclimatization in China, and the gameplay was not good. It was just a flash in the pan, incomparable to "World of Warcraft".

All in all, in the current global game market, the PC Internet-based game market is relatively sluggish and has been looked down upon by capital. This resulted in Changyou being questioned by many large institutions during the road show even though it had a PE of 40 times.

I think the PE of 40 times is too high!

Almost 30 times!

The issue price must be further lowered!

Zhou Buqi will definitely not accept it. The development prospects of PC Internet games are indeed unclear, but Changyou's prospectus has clearly stated that the purpose of listing financing is to lay out the mobile Internet game industry.

He won't back down.

This creates difficulties for road shows.

The financing this time was 2.65 billion US dollars. Even Nasdaq couldn't bear such a large amount of money being poured into the secondary market. Changyou's stock price simply couldn't bear it.

For an IPO to be successful, investment banks and other large financial institutions must work together.

The three major investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup underwrote part of the deal, and other financial institutions took on the rest. According to the ratio, of the 230 million new shares issued, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will underwrite a total of 80 million shares. This part of the shares will flow directly into the secondary market; the remaining 150 million shares will not directly enter the secondary market, but Other financial institutions will take over.

However, there are currently not many institutions taking over the deal, and even the three major investment banks are unable to push it forward with their strength.

There are currently more than 70 million shares left for sale.

Large institutions are demanding lower issue prices.

Zhou Buqi came to Wall Street, met Lao Zhang and people from Goldman Sachs, and was dragged to visit Bain Capital to persuade them to accept Changyou's shares.

Zhou Buqi exploded when he heard this, "I'm going to meet them? Are you kidding me?!"

Zhang Chaoyang whispered: "Don't lose your temper. Although the underwriters have the responsibility to issue the stocks, we are also obliged to cooperate with their issuance work. This is all written in the contract."

Zhou Buqi glanced at him and said angrily: "How much money does Bain Capital have?"

Zhang Chaoyang frowned, "That's big capital!"

Zhou Buqi sent away the Goldman Sachs people, sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, and said disdainfully: "The Americans are deliberately lowering prices. The more anxious you are, the more they will bully you."

"No." Zhang Chaoyang was a little amused, "Don't engage in conspiracy theories. Sohu is already listed. I'm not more experienced than you?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Even if it's not a conspiracy, we can't let them get used to it. Changyou's stock is so good, they should take the initiative to come and beg to buy it, instead of us coming to sell it hard."

Zhang Chaoyang sighed and explained patiently: "If Changyou is listed, it will be the largest IPO of a domestic technology company listed in the United States. For many capital institutions, the risk is too great. Especially Changyou is still engaged in games. Yes, the main business is in China, and foreigners may not understand the situation. We have to go over and explain the situation clearly to them."

Zhou Buqi said nonchalantly: "I know Bain Capital, a person who is used to speculating, has no principles. Even if they really get it done, once Changyou's stock price becomes unstable, they will definitely throw all the stocks into the secondary market. It’s settled.”

"What should we do?"

Zhang Chaoyang can't see through this guy anymore. Now that he's on Wall Street, he just has to listen to others' orders. Does he still want to make the decision?

Zhou Buqi looked dull, "How many shares are there now?"

"More than 70 million shares, less than 71 million."

"About how much?"

"Based on the issue price, the total value is US$810 million."

Zhang Chaoyang's heart skipped a beat.

I vaguely guessed what this kid wanted to do. He was not a guy who played by common sense. He would always make surprising moves at critical moments!

Sure enough, the next moment of shock really happened. Zhou Buqi said calmly: "Okay, I will collect the remaining shares! I have established a family fund and will receive all the remaining shares!"