1.1111998 billion, this number is not made up randomly, founders such as Lu Huateng and Zeng Liqing can understand at a glance——
November 11, 1998.
Penguin's founding time!
Although it looks very casual, American Internet companies are actually more casual. Google raised US$2.718281828 billion when it went public, which was taken from the top ten of the irrational number e.
Quite punk!
Lu Fei's proposal, as expected, was unanimously approved by the partners. Once announced, Wall Street was in an uproar, especially Goldman Sachs, which acted as the sponsor.
"Lu, you can't do this when the road show is about to begin. Investors will re-examine Penguin, which may severely damage the IPO at the time of listing!"
David Solomon didn't bother to settle the account of betting on gold futures, and his solemn face was extremely gloomy, because he had harmed his interests.
"We have a saying in China, 'When in town, do as the Romans do.' We just blended into the punk culture of Silicon Valley."
Lu Fei smiled.
"You have to think clearly. If the IPO is raised at 1.1111998 trillion U.S. dollars, the IPO will not be the original $58."
David Solomon is alarmist and brings out a bunch of past records of Chinese concept stocks. The American capital market is quite unfavorable. Penguin may break out and dive as soon as it goes public.
"Ah, when you said that, I remembered it again."
Lu Fei snapped his fingers, "Since you have integrated into Silicon Valley culture, you must integrate to the end. Like Google, Penguin's pricing also abandons investment bank inquiries and engages in Dutch auctions."
"Oh!"
David Solomon's expression changed. Pricing power is the ultimate trick used by investment banks to take advantage of listed companies. The cheaper the price, the greater the profit margin of the underwritten stocks. At that time, you can make a huge profit by selling.
As for the Dutch auction method, for example, Google issued 100 shares, and then A quoted a price of $90 and asked to buy 80 shares. B quoted a price of $80 and also asked to buy 80 shares. In the end, A will buy 80 shares first. B got the remaining 20 shares.
The final settlement price is the price at which all the stocks are sold, which is $88.
"Any more questions? It's no use having questions. The news has been published in the New York Times."
Lu Fei smiled and stirred the coffee.
Farke!
David Solomon suppressed his anger: "Lu, Goldman Sachs is your sponsor. We must have full right to know. I hope this is the first and last time. Don't you know, Penguin is very embarrassed in its positioning." , I spent a lot of effort to convince my client to accept the issue price of US$58.”
"Google's offering price is $85."
Lu Fei took a shallow sip of coffee.
“But Baidu is $27!”
David Solomon frowned, "The reason why Penguin is priced at $58 is because everyone is very optimistic about the search business model. It is very likely that the stock will reach $58 in a year."
"I think Goldman Sachs is too cautious. Maybe the number will be adjusted, maybe $85."
Lu Fei pursed his lips, becoming more and more dissatisfied with this condescending tone and cold attitude, and said angrily.
"85 US dollars? Lu, do you want us to make a bet?"
The office fell silent instantly, and David Solomon smiled coldly, Impossible, absolutely impossible!
"What kind of bet is this? What's the bet?"
Lu Fei looked at him with interest.
"Just bet on pricing power."
David Solomon is straightforward. Anyway, once a listed company insists on taking back its pricing power, the sponsors will have nothing to do. At most, they will make some "small moves" and link up with several investment banks to suppress it.
Rounding up, it’s not a loss at all!
"Okay, the answer will be revealed tomorrow anyway."
Lu Fei stood up and said with confidence: "But we have to establish a written document!"
"Haha, of course."
David Solomon grinned and simply drafted two agreements. After both parties confirmed that they were correct, they signed their names.
Watching Lu Fei's back disappear, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, what is the concept of 85 US dollars. The increase was a full 400%. He couldn't think of any reason why it could increase so high. He wouldn't think it was him, would he?
China’s Buffett is only China, not genuine.
If I could really do it, I would eat my computer on the spot!
…………
The next day, August 8th.
In the early days of listing, Penguin's road shows had many meetings every day. There was a meeting before breakfast, a meeting at breakfast, 3 meetings in the morning, a lunch meeting at noon, 3 meetings in the afternoon, and a dinner meeting in the evening, 10 meetings a day.
Moreover, these meetings are not about sitting in a conference room with investors coming one after another, but going to the offices of investors one by one to tell them that Penguin is a good company and don’t regret if you don’t buy Penguin’s stock.
Lu Huateng, Zeng Liqing and others each worked in separate directions. Lu Fei stayed in Nasdaq's small war room and saw Li Yanhong fidgeting and pacing back and forth, showing his suppressed nervousness.
"Don't be nervous, would you like to have one?"
Lu Fei took the cigar cutters, cut off both ends of the cigar, and divided the ends equally among the Baidu Seven Musketeers present.
"Thank you, Mr. Lu."
Li Yanhong took one, put it in her mouth and took it out again, "It's better to wait until the bidding ends before smoking."
"Hoo~"
Lu Fei struck a match, lit cigars for himself and David Solomon, and glanced at the computer screen out of the corner of his eye.
"Lu, our bet can be withdrawn before the market opens."
David Solomon was confident. No matter whether he lost or won, Goldman Sachs always won, and he felt no burden at all.
"What bet?"
Li Yanhong looked left and right, and learned that Mr. Lu had concluded that the stock price could exceed 85 US dollars. Before David Solomon could deny it, he shook his head in denial without confidence.
"I would be very satisfied if I could see a 20% to 30% increase at the opening and another 20% or 30% increase every year."
Lu Fei saw David Solomon exhaling cigarettes easily, with provocation hidden in his eyes, and rolled his eyes: "If history teaches us anything, it is that anything is possible."
"Weird talk and weird theories, making up mysteries!"
David Solomon whispered to the person next to him in German.
"David, what are you talking about?"
Lu Fei raised his eyebrows amid the smoke.
"Oh, I said Lu, you are so kind."
David and Solomon couldn't help but feel happy.
"Out!"
At this moment, Li Yanhong heard someone shouting and rushed to the front in excitement. The first purchase order appeared on the display screen——
$27.
"Oooh!"
Li Yanhong suddenly let out an abnormal exclamation, "It's thirty dollars, why haven't you sold the order yet? Thirty-one, thirty-two..."
Most people buzzed and leaned over to take a look.
"Damn it, it seems the issue price has been set low!"
From time to time, Baidu’s top management erupted in scoldings. They couldn’t believe that it was possible to double the price, and it had already exceeded $45.
"Fifty, already fifty-three dollars!"
Baidu has two sponsor investment banks, one is Goldman Sachs and the other is a Swedish company. In the latter, people have been counting the numbers constantly. When the number reached fifty-five dollars, everyone turned around at the same time and glanced at Lu Fei.
He grinned and gestured upward with the hand holding his cigar, implying that the IPO would still go up, and at the same time raised his eyes at David Solomon.
There is no reason, this is wrong!
David Solomon was still very calm, whispering to his men in low voices, with more or less doubts on their faces, obviously touching on his own knowledge blind spots.
"Fifty-nine, sixty!"
In just a few minutes, the stock price reached an unimaginable high. Baidu's senior executives stared with their hearts beating in their throats, "No selling yet! Zero trading volume! Everyone in this room will become millions of people." Millionaire!"
"If the stock price is 80, then my current personal assets..."
Li Yanhong, who owns 22% of the shares, was doing mental arithmetic in her heart, her hands were trembling, and she sat down on the chair. Eighty-nine billion, and it was a beautiful knife!
"Mr. Li, are you okay?"
Lu Fei held his cigar in his mouth and squinted his eyes.
"Hoo, ho, I'm fine, Mr. Lu, I'm fine."
Li Yanhong kept taking deep breaths, "It just doesn't feel real. It's completely beyond my understanding. It's too dreamy." Not only did he look unhappy, but he felt panicked in his heart, "Mr. Lu, can you give me some help? Thank you."
"Wow~"
Lu Fei lit the fire for him with his own hands.
After all, as soon as Baidu went public, his net worth on the books soared by at least 400 million U.S. dollars. No matter how low-key he was, no matter how much he hid it, he could not wear the hat of the richest man, just like a firefly in the dark night.
"Ouch, ouch!"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh!"
Suddenly, an overwhelming cheer and cheer erupted from behind. Everyone roared at the top of their lungs like wild beasts, waving pieces of paper, cups, and everything they could grab.
"Mr. Li, Mr. Li, we succeeded!"
Baidu executives rushed to Li Yanhong and Lu Fei, excitedly hugging each other, "$66! This is our exclusive moment at Baidu! Exclusive moment!"
"It shouldn't be such a high price! It shouldn't be!"
David Solomon's expression of joy disappeared, his eyes widened, not staring at the screen, but staring at Lu Fei.
Lost again? Why do you say "again"?
The exciting moment ended when the selling order showed "71 US dollars". The ten-minute collective bidding was short but also long. Under the tug-of-war between buyers and sellers, the opening price was finally fixed at 69 US dollars.
At this moment, the increase has exceeded 150%!
"It's time to go out and ring the bell."
Lu Fei crushed the cigar in the ashtray, deliberately walked past David Solomon, and winked with his right eye playfully.
…………
At the close of the afternoon, the news of Baidu's listing had caused a sensation on Wall Street. The stock price soared 354% from US$27 to a high of US$95.58.
Not only is it the highest percentage increase on the day of listing for any American listed company this century, it is also the highest percentage increase for a foreign company on the day of listing in the capital market in more than 200 years.
Accidentally, I made history!
The news quickly crossed the ocean and reached China. The media naturally wrote a lot about it. The headlines in the financial pages of newspapers and TV stations all rushed to praise it. But the people didn't care at all. What they cared about more was--
“Overnight, 200 millionaires were born!”
"The Internet: The biggest wealth creation movement in the 21st century."
"Baidu is listed! Lu Fei successfully surpassed Chen Tianqiao and topped the list of richest people in mainland China."
"
"..."
Liu Qing flipped through one newspaper after another and saw a series of reports praising Lu Fei and Li Yanhong, with a subtle expression on his face.
Behind the scenes, Liu Chuanzhi was sitting on the hospital bed and asked:
"Qingqing, what's the big news? It took you so long to read it?"
"Oh, Dad, it's nothing."
Liu Qing secretly pulled out all the newspapers involving Lu Fei, falsely claiming that they were nutritious celebrity gossip, folded them into a piece, and threw them aside with a guilty conscience.
Liu Chuanzhi put on his glasses and read carefully.
After many days of recuperation, his haggard and sickly complexion finally regained its energy. His eyes were bright. After looking at it for a while, his pupils suddenly dilated. He pressed his heart and took a deep breath.
"dad?"
Liu Qing couldn't help but panic when he saw the newspaper falling from his hand.
"Hoho, Qingqing, give Dad a glass of water."
Liu Chuanzhi's face was twisted into a ball, looking hideous and terrifying. He kept breathing and his chest was heaving up and down.
"Dad, how did you..."
Liu Qing couldn't help but feel depressed. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that there were photos of Li Yanhong ringing the bell on the newspaper page. Ribbons were flying in the air, full of joy, and every face was full of smiles. Among the crowd, Mr. Lu, who was in the C position, was particularly conspicuous, wearing a Hat is smiling and clapping.
What’s even more eye-catching is the title——
"Lu Fei has achieved hundreds of achievements, and the Chinese stock god is happy to add the title of "richest man""!
"Why is it always him!"
Lu Yun stared at the news on the web page, with envy and jealousy in his eyes. He couldn't help but feel sour in his heart. Finally, he couldn't bear the sourness anymore. He clicked the mouse to close it, out of sight and out of mind.
Yes, the poor will die of poverty, and the rich will bleed!
The money raised from SoftBank is no longer enough to support another Double Eleven, and new money must be found no matter what.
While I was thinking about it, I stared at my mailbox, and the email I sent to Yahoo President Jerry Yang disappeared. It stayed there for more than 6 months, and there was still no reply.
"Dong dong, dong dong."
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Just as he said "come in," Cai Chongxin pushed the door open and walked in in a hurry.
"What did Son say?"
Lu Yun stood up suddenly.
Cai Chongxin said: "Yahoo's senior management is indeed very dissatisfied with Zhou Hongyi, and Yang Zhiyuan also plans to change the coach. However, because of Yahoo China's successive failures, the internal team has given up on going it alone and wants to find a suitable person to act as the full agency."
"How to act as a proxy?!"
Lu Yun's heart was burning.
Cai Chongxin pursed his lips: "Masayoshi Son said that Jerry Yang would convert all of Yahoo China's assets into shares and invest US$650 million in the agency."
Lu Yun's eyes immediately lit up and he asked eagerly: "Did Son say who the candidates are?"
Cai Chongxin wondered: "This, this..."
"It's not him again, is it?"
Lu Yun's heart skipped a beat when a QQ pop-up window popped up in the lower right corner of the computer. Penguin News clearly said:
"Baidu, known as 'China Google' and 'Google Shadow', set a record on the first day of Nasdaq stock trading and continues to make rapid progress and is expected to break through the $100 mark.
Investment bank analyst Paul said, I support Li and Baidu very much. The price I gave them is the highest, but their price is too high. There may be only one reason -
Huaxia Lu invested in this company, and he achieved great success in the gold futures market, allowing countless investors to blindly follow suit..."
Similar reports also appeared in front of David Solomon. He tapped the table with the fingers of his left hand, holding the note of the bet with Lu Fei in his right hand, and fell silent for a moment.
"David, maybe it was luck once or twice, but every time, it's not that simple. The plan to short gold for the second time has been postponed for now, and Huaxia Land must be thoroughly investigated."
John Waldron said: "I learned a saying in China, 'Know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be in danger of a hundred battles'."
"you're right."
David Solomon touched his chin and pressed a series of numbers on the landline. The moment he dialed the number, he immediately opened his mouth and said:
"George, I need you..."
It’s sunny, it’s a group of people who feel uncomfortable!
(End of chapter)
