At the beginning of January, the EUR/USD exchange rate had dropped below 1.35...
Earlier in early September, DS Capital obtained more than US$600 million in funds from the Mars Fund. After increasing its investment, it went long on EUR/USD at an average price below 1.20.
Since then, DS Capital has invested a total of $1 billion in long positions on the euro against the dollar!
At the end of last year, after the EUR/USD exchange rate exceeded 1.36, they closed these long futures positions one after another.
In the end, the $1 billion in funds turned into $2.5 billion.
Of the $2.5 billion, $1.5 billion was transferred through various channels, with $1 billion going to IC Capital, a company managed by Ivanta, for the acquisition of DoubleClick. Another $500 million went to Zeuss Investments, which together with Goldman Sachs increased the total assets of the investment company to $2.5 billion! The
remaining $1 billion was used to short the euro at a price above 1.36.
Because in 2005, the EUE/USD exchange rate will fall from a high of 1.36 to a low of 1.16 in November, a drop of nearly 15%!
…
Even after arriving in America, Bonnie was not idle while Barron was working.
She summoned the filming team of "Sparkling Life" from London to the United States, and took advantage of this time to go to Sacramento, California...
Contrary to what many people think, the capitals of many American states are not the more developed large cities or the more well-known cities in those states.
Just like California, its capital is not Los Angeles or San Francisco, but Sacramento, a less well-known city.
The guest invited to "Shining Life" this time is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California who has just been in office for a year.
Because he was once a well-known Hollywood movie star and could be said to be the representative of Hollywood's "tough guy", Schwarzenegger is also extremely well-known in Britain.
Now that he has entered politics and become the governor of California, unlike his previous identities as "rich men" like Barron and Prince Waleed, Schwarzenegger's daily life now is probably what the audience would also like to know.
Of course, the reason why Schwarzenegger was invited as a guest on "Sparkling Life" was not only for the other party's own publicity needs, but more importantly, it was due to Barron's friendship with him - after all, "Sparkling Life" is still only broadcast in the UK and has not yet been introduced to the United States.
But it is only a matter of time. The Sinclair Group is also very interested in the program "Shining Life" and is negotiating with Summit Media to introduce it. If all goes well, this program may appear on American TV programs within this year.
Barron also came to California, but he went to Silicon Valley.
In the end, between Microsoft and Google, Barron chose Google.
In Woaw Technology's Series C financing, Google will invest US$353 million and hold a 10% stake in Woaw Technology; Goldman Sachs will invest US$176.5 million and hold a 5% stake in Woaw Technology.
Finally, after coordination, in order to obtain as many shares as possible, Google decided that Sequoia Capital and Blackstone Fund did not participate in Woaw Technology's Series C financing.
In this way, Woaw Technology completed this round of C financing with a pre-investment valuation of US$3 billion and a post-investment valuation of approximately US$3.53 billion, raising US$530 million.
After the C round of financing, the original shareholder, Blackstone Fund's shareholding ratio was diluted to less than 7.1%; Sequoia Capital's shareholding ratio was diluted to less than 11.2%; DS Capital's shareholding ratio was reduced to 66.725%, still controlling the majority of Woaw Technology's shares.
After receiving the financing of up to US$530 million, Woaw Technology will not only increase its investment in hardware and R&D centers, but will also begin to try to acquire some complementary start-ups to strengthen itself.
"Your Highness, the investment amount we received is still a little too little..."
At the celebration party after the successful financing, Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, walked up to Barron with a glass of wine and said to him.
"There is nothing we can do about it, Mr. Blankfein. After all, we still need Google to direct traffic to our search portal."
Barron said to Lloyd with a rather regretful expression.
What he said was true, which is why, even though he knew that Google would launch Google+ and compete fiercely with Facebook in his previous life, he still chose Google to join Woaw Technology's Series C financing.
However, in order to prevent Google's Google+ from posing a threat to Woaw in the future, Baron insisted that both parties sign an additional agreement for Google's financing this time. That is, if Google's future business competes with Woaw Technology, then Google must either divest the relevant business from its parent company or withdraw from the ranks of Woaw Technology's shareholders, and Woaw Technology will repurchase its shares.
"I can understand that, but I think with Woaw's current development, it will probably be ready for an IPO soon. By then... our Goldman Sachs Group will be very strong in terms of IPOs."
Lloyd Blankfein's implication was obvious: he had his eyes on the brokerage business for Woaw Technology's future IPO.
"This will definitely give priority to you..."
Now, Barron would definitely not make any promises in advance, at most he would just give the other party this sentence.
"So do you have any plans for Woaw's listing? Your Highness..."
Hearing Lloyd mention this, Barron just smiled faintly:
"When the time is right, we will definitely move forward, but it's too early to say now. After all, Woaw Technology still has a long way to go to reach the financial scale of Google's IPO last year..."
Although technology companies like Woaw Technology do not necessarily have to generate profits when they go public, it is certainly more beneficial to the overall valuation if they can make profits.
Therefore, Woaw still needs to continue to strengthen its advertising revenue.
Barron continued to Lloyd:
"But it won't be too far away. I personally hope that Woaw Technology can be listed within two to three years..."
What he said was indeed what he really thought.
Because three years later, in 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis will break out, and its impact on the global economy will be profound.
If Woaw Technology had waited until after the subprime mortgage crisis to go public, it would probably still be in the recovery period even two years after the crisis, and the effect of the listing would definitely not be much better.
Therefore, the best outcome would be to be able to go public within two years, before the subprime mortgage crisis. By then, due to the extremely expansive economic situation, Woaw's market value performance would also be satisfactory.
Just like Facebook in the original time and space, its market value was as high as 15 billion US dollars in the financing before the subprime mortgage crisis, but after the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, it encountered a "sucker" like DST Capital and was only given a valuation of 10 billion US dollars. Even so, it was still considered to be far overvalued...