As the investment bank that has led the largest total amount of Nasdaq IPO projects in the past five years, Goldman Sachs has never been short of projects. Goldman Sachs' client relationship network spans the world, bringing them a steady stream of investment opportunities.
They only lack good projects that can be promoted as well-known cases over a long period of time.
The companies founded by Zhou Xin all have similar potentials, and Matrix, as a hardware brand, is unique among the companies founded by Zhou Xin.
Goldman Sachs' business intelligence system has always been top-notch in the industry, and they have accumulated a large amount of matrix intelligence.
Zhou Xin has successively invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the matrix project, making it the company with the highest initial investment amount among the companies he founded.
Matrix only generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue, which was obviously a huge failure for Zhou Xin.
The only thing worthy of praise is the matrix product itself. Once the matrix keyboard was launched, it subverted the keyboard field. Manufacturers who were originally making membrane keyboards began to explore mechanical keyboards.
Mechanical keyboards have been revitalized many years in advance. Matrix has a high degree of recognition in the key circle due to its high pricing and status as a pioneer.
As for Matrix making mobile phones, Goldman Sachs also knew that Matrix had recruited a small number of Nokia executives, but even with Zhou Xin behind them, they were not that optimistic about Matrix making mobile phones.
Because it is difficult for manufacturers that are involved in the mobile phone field for the first time to gain consumer recognition quickly. Now it seems that mobile phones are an area that requires time to accumulate.
Well-known manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola have decades of experience to gain recognition from consumers.
There are thick barriers in the mobile phone industry and the Internet industry. These barriers do not seem to be barriers that can be overcome by individual talent.
Therefore, the investment department of Goldman Sachs has a very low evaluation of the matrix project, and has a completely different treatment from the highest-rated NewPay. Goldman Sachs has a very high evaluation of NewPay internally, and has been trying to find opportunities to participate in NewPay's next round of investment.
I even invested in some other companies in the same field, that is, other electronic payment companies, because I was optimistic about NewPay.
However, Zhou Xin's strong praise of matrix still piqued Henry's interest. He was curious about what kind of product Zhou Xin himself rated as epoch-making.
The outside world has always compared Quora to an epoch-making product, but Zhou Xin himself does not think so. Whether in public or when chatting with people in private, he believes that Quora is just an ordinary community product that only brings There are just some innovations.
Therefore, this was also the first time that he heard from Zhou Xin that he had such a high evaluation of his products. This gave Henry the idea of investing. Even if the matrix was not satisfactory, it would not affect his further relationship with Zhou Xin through this project. relation.
It is not beneficial for Goldman Sachs to keep making money from Zhou Xin. An appropriate loss is conducive to further narrowing the relationship.
Zhou Xin said: "At present, the Matrix project is not short of money. A very important point is that Matrix's most important product, which is the Matrix mobile phone, has not yet been launched on the market. It is difficult for us to set a price for it.
In terms of revenue and profit, it may only be worth US$500 million, but in just over a year, I have invested less than US$500 million in it.
I have high expectations for it, and it will be difficult to gain recognition from others before achieving greater success. So let’s wait until the product is launched before we talk. "
After being rejected, stop the topic immediately and move on to the next topic. This is the rule that Henry believes in.
There is no need to pursue all goals at once. Requests for one thing can be made many times, or even made step by step.
Henry continued: "Okay, I'm also curious about what's different about Matrix's mobile phones that can be praised so highly by you.
It just so happens that I also need to change my mobile phone. I am looking forward to the launch of matrix mobile phone. When the time comes, I will give one to each of the executives of Goldman Sachs.
Next is the last purpose of today. I don’t think you will agree to the invitation I mentioned earlier to serve as the CEO of Time Warner.
You should seriously consider this last matter today. It will be beneficial to both of us. "
Zhou Xin guessed that what Henry was going to say next was his true purpose this time.
“We hope to promote the merger of Google and Baidu and promote the listing of the newly established Internet company after the merger.
As the major shareholder behind Baidu, we need to get your permission before we talk to Robin. "
Without Baidu, Google would have a monopoly on search engines and maintain a very strong position during the IPO listing process.
Originally, Google was looking for Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse as the lead underwriters for the IPO. There were more than 20 investment banks as other underwriters. On the eve of the listing, Google even directly kicked out Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Now that there are strong competitors like Baidu, Google's IPO performance is far less strong than that of the original time and space.
Baidu is no less than Google in terms of technology, operations, or capital operation methods. Google and Baidu equally share the entire search engine market.
If Time Warner hadn't kicked Baidu out of Quora's built-in search engine, Baidu's market share would be larger than Google's.
Even if it loses an important partner like quora, Baidu still does not fall behind in the competition with Google.
Baidu's ad distribution system was launched earlier than Google.
Baidu has gone through three rounds of financing since its establishment. After the three rounds of financing, Zhou Xin holds 30% of Baidu's shares, which is second only to Robin's 35% of Baidu's individual shareholders.
After Goldman Sachs captured the information, they thought their opportunity had come.
You can make a fortune by operating Google and Baidu's merger, and you can make another fortune by operating Baidu and Google's merger and going public.
Goldman Sachs, who is accustomed to eating more than his share of fish, will not miss this opportunity.
In the arrangement of Goldman Sachs, it is not just one fish and two fish, but one fish and three fish.
That is to turn the merger and listing of Google and Baidu into a landmark event for the recovery of Nasdaq.
Since the Nasdaq bubble burst, no Internet company has been able to list on Nasdaq.
Chinese Internet companies like NetEase, Sohu, and Sina that were originally going to be listed on the U.S. stock market in the new millennium have not been able to get the opportunity to be listed on Nasdaq.
They wanted to do the next best thing and list on the Hong Kong stock market, but investors in Hong Kong stocks showed little interest.
Fortunately, the surge in Riot Games’ share price has led to the emergence of the new term Newman Concept Stock, which has been recognized by investors in Hong Kong stocks. As for NetEase and Sohu, as quasi-Newman concept stocks with Zhou Xin holding shares behind them, their listings seem to be turning around.
As for Sina, Newman concept stocks are bad for them because Zhou Xin is not interested in Sina.
Zhou Xin asked: "You should ask Robin for his opinion on this kind of commercial capital operation. I mainly invest in Baidu, and I rarely get involved in Baidu's daily operations."
Zhou Xin knew that Robin would definitely not be willing. Robin is a person who has a strong desire to control Baidu.
If he had never shown interest in Baidu, Robin would not have allowed Zhou Xin to maintain such a high proportion of shares during the three rounds of financing.
A person with such a strong desire to control obviously does not want his company to be acquired. It is said to be a merger, but it is actually Google's acquisition of Baidu. In the Google-Baidu combination, Robin is bound to be marginalized.
"Other investors in Baidu are willing to merge with Google. As long as you are willing, the votes in favor of this matter will exceed 50%.
So your opinion matters.
Robin is skeptical about the merger of Baidu and Google. He doesn't want Baidu to merge with Google. "Henry said.
Judging from Zhou Xin's agreement to sell Quora to Time Warner, Henry believes that Zhou Xin is very receptive to this kind of capital operation and is easier to negotiate than Robin.
Baidu does not adopt a structure of different rights for the same shares. Zhou Xinxin’s 30% stake, plus the 35% stakes of other investment institutions, are enough to directly promote the merger of Baidu and Google.
Zhou Xin said: “I hold shares in both Baidu and Google, but I hold more shares in Baidu and less shares in Google.
From my personal perspective, I can gain a lot of benefits from the merger of Baidu and Google and then going public.
This is of great benefit to me personally and I am willing to facilitate this.
But I hope to have a good chat with Robin and then promote this matter, rather than forcibly excluding the founders in this way. "
It doesn't matter to Goldman Sachs, it matters to him.
By doing something like this, Goldman Sachs got more than one fish out of his mouth. Zhou Xin could only get a one-time bonus from going public, and his credibility was wasted.
As long as he is a founder, he will not like investors who interfere too much with him, let alone investors who sell him privately.
Google and Baidu merge. If Zhou Xin chooses to cooperate with Goldman Sachs and directly kick Robin out, both parties will have settled the matter.
After this incident gets out in the future, it will be very difficult for Zhou Xin to invest in other Internet companies.
No one would trust an investor who could kick the founder out without permission.
Goldman Sachs has done this kind of thing a lot, and there is not much psychological burden. Their business is deep, so they don't worry about the impact of this kind of thing.
Besides, Goldman Sachs is just the underwriter of the IPO, not an investor. The fact that they were able to pull this off shows that they have great powers.
Henry said: “It’s also a huge benefit to Robin.
If Baidu and Google merge and then go public, he can quickly gain a large fortune. "
Zhou Xin said: “I believe you have already talked to Robin and was rejected by him.
For entrepreneurs with ideals, money is really only second, the most important thing is to meet personal spiritual needs.
The price you are offering now cannot convince Robin. If you can leave the position of CEO of Google-Baidu to Robin, I believe he will agree. "
Henry smiled bitterly, Robin would agree, but the problem is that the founder of Google would not agree.
Larry Page's desire to control is no less powerful than Robin's.
(End of chapter)
