“The deal of the century, Time Warner acquired 90% of Newman’s Quora shares for $74 billion.
Breaking news in Silicon Valley just now, Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin and Quora founder Newman Zhou held a press conference in Palo Alto, California. At the press conference, the two signed an agreement, Time Warner will use US$74 billion to Acquired 90% of Quora shares at a price of
After the transaction is completed, Quora will be merged into Time Warner as a whole.
Gerald Levin said the deal could turn Time Warner into a media empire that spans the old and new eras.
He said: Time Warner is the largest media group in the world and the best media group in America and the world, and Quora is the best Internet content provider in the world. Time Warner has the best channels and Quora has the best content. The combination of the two will create an empire.
Newman said: He is very happy to see this deal happen, and he is confident that Time Warner will lead Quora from one peak to another.
At the same time, Newman said: I have brought everything I can to Quora. My inspiration, my creativity, and all my passion have been contributed to Quora. When I realized I had no better ideas for the trivia community, I knew it was time to hand it over to a better team. Yes, Time Warner is a better team. They have more experience than me and can lead the future development of Quora.
After the transaction is completed, Newman will surpass Buffett and become the second richest man in the world. Time Warner will suspend trading for one day starting tomorrow, and the Nasdaq Committee will review the acquisition. "
Almost everyone who saw the deal had only one thought in their mind: Time Warner was crazy.
Other Internet giants or traditional media giants in Silicon Valley are willing to value Quora between US$25 billion and US$40 billion. This is a valuation that everyone agrees with.
Time Warner's sudden attack was equivalent to a direct premium of 100%, giving Quora a valuation of more than 80 billion US dollars, while Zhou Xin could get about 74 billion US dollars.
The question of how much Time Warner's valuation will soar after the deal is announced is a question raised in almost every corner of new and old media.
And what kind of power does the Internet have to make Time Warner so crazy?
In fact, the logic behind it is very simple. Due to the arrival of Zhou Xin, the Nasdaq bubble inflated faster than before.
To maintain a bubble or even inflate it even bigger, a landmark event is needed to stimulate all investors and make them realize that the stocks they hold are valuable.
AOL, which was originally far less well-known in time and space than Time Warner, acquired Time Warner for US$147 billion, which was the landmark event of this time.
For investment banks like Goldman Sachs, they need a landmark event to attract everyone's attention and continue to promote the entire bubble.
He can gradually clear out some of the companies in his hands that have been overhyped during the bubble process.
More importantly, Quora itself has good cash flow, high-quality users, and its own unique business model that cannot be copied by other companies.
Taken together, Quora is currently the best Internet company in Silicon Valley. Even from a traditional investment perspective, Quora is considered to have investment value.
Therefore, even after the bubble bursts, Quora will definitely be the first company to recover.
Due to the accumulation of various factors, Goldman Sachs took the lead in this lightning-speed Shetunxiang.
This is why Zhou Xin is unwilling to accept the equity swap and only wants cash. If Zhou Xin accepts the equity swap, Goldman Sachs' price will be even higher.
The other 74 billion is not a one-time payment. Time Warner currently has 2.4 billion in liquidity on its books. They will give 2 billion first, and the remaining 72 billion will be given gradually after the fund-raising is completed.
In other words, the entire transaction will not be completed until the end of 1999.
Without Quora, AOL would have acquired Time Warner, which includes CNN, HBO, Warner Bros., Time Warner Online and other media outlets. The same capital was behind all this.
Time Warner later acquired AOL for US$164 billion, and finally spun AOL off in 2009, and then sold it to Verizon for US$4.4 billion in 2015.
These are crazy times, and this deal is the madness of the times.
After the news came back to China, the Chinese official media first questioned it and then believed it.
In a sense, the whole thing is beyond China's imagination. A Chinese man relied on his own efforts to rise from a poor student to the second richest man in the world in one year.
At that time, China had not yet joined the WTO, and its total annual trade exports were 206.8 billion U.S. dollars. At that time, the balance of foreign exchange reserves was 202.67 billion U.S. dollars, and 74 billion U.S. dollars was one-third of these two figures.
"I am Chinese and this will not change. Don't worry, I will return to China at the end of this year.
Recently, because I suddenly have so much cash, I may have higher requirements for my personal safety. Cash and business equity valuations are still different.
I need to trouble the country on this point. The country should give me some suggestions on which security company can provide better security methods. "
The first thing Zhou Xin did after reaching the agreement was to go to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco to seek help.
To be honest, if he had to find a security company by himself, he would not be able to judge which security company was reliable in Amerikan in 1999.
It is better to let Hua Guo recommend it.
As for the second generation of Hua Guo who may be jealous of this money, there is no chance for them to touch it.
Zhou Xin has never changed his nationality, but the fact that he got a green card makes the Chinese side very satisfied.
Nowadays, many people are sent abroad on national scholarships. The first thing they do after going abroad is to think about breaking the contract and then stay abroad.
Zhou Xin went abroad on a scholarship from Berkeley, and even though Amerikan tried to persuade him to immigrate, he did not move.
The comparison between this, including Zhou Xin's commitment at the San Francisco Consulate, made the Chinese side very satisfied with his statement.
At least at this time, the domestic public opinion is that we have genius, why let the genius be lost? When Zhou Xin returns to China, the public opinion will be reversed.
Naturally, China agreed quickly to Zhou Xin's request.
Zhou Xin is China’s best business card in Silicon Valley and America, as well as China’s best internal example of promoting national self-esteem:
Chinese people are not worse than people from any other country. We have just fallen behind due to various historical problems in the process of modernization. This is caused by the times, not by the Chinese people.
After the news came back to China, Wu Shiqiang slapped himself twice, and then called his colleagues in San Francisco to confirm the matter.
“It’s true, the news has spread throughout Silicon Valley. In the past few days, all traditional media, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, as well as Red Herring Magazine, are talking about the deal of the century between Time Warner and Quora.
Yes, this deal was called the deal of the century by the media. "
We are already halfway through 1999, and we are about to enter the 21st century. This transaction is considered by more and more media and people to be the deal of the century not only because of its huge amount, but also because of its clever timing.
“That’s right, Time Warner is like crazy, and Time Warner’s stock price is also like crazy. After announcing the acquisition of Quora, it has skyrocketed 70% today.
And it looks like Time Warner's valuation will rise. "
The three experts that Hu Zhengming was contacting still had doubts about the association he was contacting. This doubt was not about Hu Zhengming and Zhou Xin, but about whether they, as science and engineering scholars, needed to establish an association.
After the deal of the century, such doubts disappeared without a trace. With Zhou Xin's support, it was still necessary to establish an association.
At the same time, Hu Zhengming also explained to them that because Zhou Xin has been busy negotiating with Goldman Sachs, dealing with audits, and accepting inquiries from Nasdaq, he has no time at all.
They need to wait until the deal is signed and concluded before they can be free. Qiu Chengtong and others expressed their understanding.
The first thing Zhou Xin did was to find the Chinese consulate to hire security personnel. This was an external force.
The first thing he can do is to take care of his lower body. There are too many cases in America where people have sex and become pregnant, and are forced to pay for living expenses.
This kind of case is common in the NBA, but it does not mean that it does not exist in other fields.
With such a high net worth, being so young and unmarried, he was the perfect prey. Not to mention marrying Zhou Xin, even if you are involved, it is a long-term meal ticket.
If she is pregnant, she will ask for child support; if she is not pregnant, she will falsely accuse the other party of being a prostitute and force the other party to pay settlement fees in court.
Zhou Xin had seen similar Chinese people being tortured to death by this method in Silicon Valley before. You must know that the Chinese only made small gains in entrepreneurship.
After the transaction was completed and Zhou Xin had done all he could do, he felt empty. Money had come too easily.
He knew that around the turn of the millennium the Nasdaq bubble was most inflated, but only those who had experienced it knew how exaggerated the bubble was.
Any Internet company can be listed on the market, with a valuation of several hundred million, billions or even tens of billions.
For companies with annual revenue of less than RMB 100 million, this is revenue rather than profit, and their market value can exceed RMB 10 billion.
China.com was established in May and listed on Nasdaq in September. It only took four months to raise nearly US$200 million.
There are countless similar things, but when it happened to Zhou Xin himself, he felt a magical feeling.
74 billion. Even if taxes are required, the tax amount will be more than 40 billion US dollars, which is directly double Zhou Xin’s expectation.
He originally thought it would be good to have 20 billion. With 20 billion, there would be about 15 billion left after tax deductions. This was Zhou Xin's expectation.
Zhou Xin now wants to withdraw the listing of Riot Games, which is no longer important.
However, the importance of Riot Games in his mind is limited. If it goes on the market, it will go on the market, and there may be some scammers willing to take over.
After getting far more money than expected, Zhou Xin knew that he had to overturn all his original plans.
Many things can be done in advance.
At the same time, financing was sold to Goldman Sachs and Morgan for 10% of NewPay shares. Zhou Xin bought back the 10% shares when he wanted to avoid alerting the snake.
I’ll post one chapter first, it may not be available at night. I’m going out of town tonight, so I can only say that I’ll try to add another chapter.
Diligent Crow has updated at least 6,000 words every day since it was put on the shelves!
(End of chapter)
