"What are you thinking about?"
Ivanta asked as he hugged Barron from behind and rested his head on his broad back.
"You're up? Even looking down from here, the world seems to be getting smaller."
Pennsylvania is right next to New York, so Ivanta, who studies in Philadelphia, can easily come to New York to meet Barron.
Last night, the girl was so excited that she told Barron about her investment in MySpace on behalf of IC Capital.
Although his current actions seem a little immature, it can be seen that Ivanta is indeed very talented in these aspects.
Of course, in order to reward her for this achievement, Barron studied very hard with her last night...
"What are we going to do next?"
Barron knew that what Ivanta was talking about was the matter of IC Capital.
"Don't do anything for now, just wait."
"wait?"
"Yes, given the current prospects for the development of social networks, it won't be long before a giant company becomes interested in this field. Woaw Technology, which is currently a representative example, is definitely unlikely to be acquired, so MySpace has become their most suitable target."
"However, the gap between MySpace and Woaw is still too big. Although they have exceeded 3 million users through recent marketing after receiving funding, the number is still too small compared to Woaw's users."
In response to Ivanta's question, Barron patiently explained to her the different positioning of Woaw and MySpace, and finally said:
"Woaw will not easily change its simple interface style, so most of the young people who pay more attention to individuality will choose MySpace as a platform. In addition, after Woaw has ignited the demand for social networks, the development of MySpace will also enter the fast lane. With the recovery of the entire Internet industry, many traditional media giants will begin to focus on this, so MySpace has great opportunities."
…
The location of Zeuss Investment Company is no more than 100 meters away from the New York Stock Exchange in a straight line.
In order to increase the speed of high-frequency trading, they specially pulled a high-speed optical fiber to connect to the New York Stock Exchange.
Being able to do all this is also a reflection of the power of Goldman Sachs, another shareholder of the company. It must be said that before the subprime mortgage crisis, Goldman Sachs was still very powerful.
By February, the Zeuss Fund had officially started high-frequency trading. Their initial capital was US$1 billion. According to the shareholding ratio, DS Investment Company injected US$600 million into it.
The current operating results are still good. During this initial period, the technical team of Zeuss Fund has been paying close attention to the operation of high-frequency trading programs and is always ready to deal with problems as soon as they arise.
"Congratulations, Mr. Blankfein, Goldman Sachs made the right choice."
"Thank you, Your Highness. I believe that our cooperation will become closer and closer."
After going to Zeuss Investment Company, Baron met the new CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, who became the new leader of Goldman Sachs after the former CEO of Goldman Sachs retired in December last year.
The last time I saw him was at a cocktail party hosted by Goldman Sachs. At that time, Lloyd did not have an advantage in the competition for the successor to Goldman Sachs.
Thanks to Barron's initiative, his relationship with Lloyd has always been good. Although they seldom meet, they often talk on the phone.
After Lloyd Blankfein took over as CEO of Goldman Sachs, Barron was the first to call him to congratulate him.
So far, Baron has become one of the most important partners of Goldman Sachs Group, so no one in the CEO position, including Lloyd Blankfein, will ignore him.
Of course, both of them can be said to be very busy, so this meeting would not be just a casual chat.
"What I want to know is, Your Highness, do you want to simply invest in Standard Chartered Bank, or do you plan to control the bank?"
"If possible, I would certainly like to have a controlling stake, but at least I have to have enough shares. After all, I am very patient with this bank."
The Standard Chartered Bank they are referring to is the one that is often referred to as Standard Chartered Bank in China. It is one of the three major note-issuing banks in Hong Kong and is headquartered in London.
Overseas, it is generally known as Standard Chartered Bank because it was formed in 1969 by the merger of two British overseas banks, namely Standard Bank of South Africa and Standard Chartered Bank of India, New South Wales and China.
Today, Standard Chartered Bank is one of the world's top commercial banks with strong presence in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
It has 30,000 employees and more than 500 branches in more than 50 countries and regions. Its main business operations are in emerging markets such as Asia Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. On the contrary, it does not have many customers in the UK.
In addition, Standard Chartered Bank has the right to issue banknotes in Hong Kong, South Africa, Malaysia and other places.
Since 1999, Standard Chartered Bank has successively completed the acquisition of equity in Thailand's Nakornthorn Bank and Grindlays Bank.
Standard Chartered Bank's most recent acquisition was an agreement reached on January 10 this year with American investment group Newbridge Holdings Private Limited to acquire all shares of South Korea First Bank.
"If that's the case, then now is a very good opportunity, Your Highness, but there are also many competitors."
"So I need your help, Mr. Blankfein."
"As old friends, we will do our best to help you acquire Mr. Qiu's shares. After all, we don't want them to fall into the hands of our competitors."
Lloyd raised his glass, clinked glasses with Barron, and said with a smile.
The Mr. Qiu they are referring to is Qiu Debu, the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank and the richest man in Lijiaopo.
In 2003, Khoo Teck Puat was named the richest man in Leekathmandu by Forbes magazine, with an estimated fortune of US$2.6 billion.
As early as 1986, Lloyds Bank of England launched a hostile takeover of Standard Chartered Bank. Lijiaopo businessman Qiu Debao, Hong Kong's "shipping king" Pao Yue-kong and Australian businessman Robert Holmes became the "white knights" of Standard Chartered Bank. They defeated Lloyds Bank with a bid of 1.3 billion pounds at the time, acquired a total of 37% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares, and successfully prevented Lloyds Bank from acquiring Standard Chartered Bank.
As a result, Qiu Dehua became the largest shareholder, and was awarded the title of Knight by the British government for his outstanding performance in protecting the company.
To this day, Khoo Teck Puat still holds 13.5% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares, making him the bank's largest individual shareholder.
Due to health reasons, Kuo Teck Puat has been in seclusion for several years, but he continues to receive offers for his shares in Standard Chartered Bank.
In the eyes of many consortiums that want to acquire Standard Chartered Bank, Khoo Teck Puat is "the biggest obstacle to acquiring the bank."
However, recently, there have been reports that Khoo Teck Puat is in poor health, which has made many acquirers eager to make a move.
This is also why Lloyd said now is the "best opportunity" and that "there are quite a few competitors."
Because according to current public reports, the list of companies interested in Standard Chartered Bank shares held by Khoo Teck Puat includes Barclays Bank, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, DBS Bank, etc.
For this reason, Barron bypassed Barclays Bank this time and directly prepared to acquire Standard Chartered Bank's shares with Goldman Sachs Group.
The consortiums that want to acquire shares of Standard Chartered Bank all value its business in emerging regions such as Asia, Africa and South America. Acquiring Standard Chartered Bank can complement their own business.
As for Goldman Sachs, many of Standard Chartered Bank's businesses overlap with theirs, so there is no need for Goldman Sachs to acquire Standard Chartered Bank.
This is also the reason why Barron cooperated with Goldman Sachs to help him make acquisitions.
At the same time, Goldman Sachs is also happy to do so. In addition to earning commissions in the process, they are also happy to prevent Standard Chartered Bank from falling into the hands of competitors including Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.