"Okay, Lao Ma, I will go to the Magic City soon, and we will talk about it in detail then."
After Barron heard the news about Liu Chiping, he called Boss Ma to inquire about the matter.
However, Boss Ma did not say much on the phone, and asked Barron to go to Shanghai to meet him before discussing the details.
The information that Mr. Ma gave in the recent call is that, on the one hand, the development of Alibaba, including Taobao, requires more funds; on the other hand, Mr. Ma hopes to obtain more technical talents through Yahoo China.
But there is one thing that Boss Ma did not say, but Barron also guessed it.
That is, in the original time and space, Alibaba accepted Yahoo's investment, which may have been due to these reasons, but in this time and space, last year, Rich23 Capital had provided Alibaba with $100 million in the last round of financing, and also invested $50 million in Taobao...
It can be said that compared to the previous life, Alibaba's lack of funds is not that serious at this time...
The most important thing is that the cooperation between Alibaba and Yahoo in the previous life was facilitated by SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son…
At that time, on the one hand, Alibaba needed funds, but on the other hand, it did not want SoftBank Group to continue to hold too many of its shares - this would put Mr. Ma's control over Alibaba in jeopardy.
Therefore, with the introduction of Sun Zhengyi, a new investor, Yahoo, was found for Boss Ma.
As for the relationship between Sun Zhengyi and Yahoo, it can be said that it is relatively close. After all, Yahoo Japan is operated by Sun Zhengyi's SoftBank Group...
So, now that Alibaba is not facing such a tight financial situation, it has still found Yahoo to discuss cooperation. If it says that Sun Zhengyi is not behind this matter... I am afraid that Baron himself would not believe it.
Because of Barron's intervention, in this time and space, DS Holdings seized the opportunity to raise doubts about Alibaba's operations after the Internet bubble. In addition, Rich23 Capital subsequently participated in the D round of financing. As a result, now, except for Boss Ma's entrepreneurial team, Alibaba's largest shareholder is not SoftBank, but Barron behind DS Holdings and Rich23 Capital. Relying on these two investment companies, Barron holds a total of 36% of Alibaba's shares.
SoftBank Group's stake in Alibaba has been diluted to 24%...
And unlike the original time and space, SoftBank Group invested in Taobao alone and held 50% of its shares, but now Rich23 Capital holds 50% of Taobao's shares.
Now that China's Internet is beginning to recover and Alibaba's performance is gradually improving, I'm afraid Sun Zhengyi will not be willing to accept this.
But in the final analysis, what SoftBank Group can give, Barron can also give. So at this time, it is very likely that Sun Zhengyi will bring Yahoo into the game and change the situation.
As for Mr. Ma, although before this, both DS Capital and Rich23 Capital had handed over their voting rights to Mr. Ma, after all, the shares of Alibaba held by these two investment companies were already similar to the shares held by his entrepreneurial team. In this case, in the upcoming new round of financing, introducing new investors to make the shareholding ratio of each investor more balanced is probably what he is happy to see...
Naturally, these thoughts would not be expressed in this call with Barron, but with a little analysis, Barron could see a little bit.
It seems that after he goes to Shanghai, he still needs to have a good talk with Boss Ma...
…
"How was your day, babe?"
"It's great. I didn't expect the Forbidden City to be so big. It's so grand. But there are too many people. Oh my god, I've never seen so many people crowded in one place at the same time..."
Arriving in Yanjing, the Hester sisters naturally took the opportunity to visit here, but Barron had already visited attractions such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Summer Palace in his previous life. The last time he came to Yanjing, he also accompanied Ivanta to play together...
He didn't want to accompany other women to visit these places every time he came here, so he asked his personal assistant Wang Wanting to accompany the Hearst sisters to visit these attractions while he had official business to deal with.
As a Chinese-American born in China, she can also serve as a translator...
"When are we going to the Magic City?"
Understanding Lydia Hearst's question, Barron smiled and said:
"The day after tomorrow, you can spend another day here tomorrow. There are many attractions in Yanjing that are worth visiting."
"Aren't you coming with us?"
"Sorry, babe, I have some important stuff to take care of tomorrow."
…
While Barron was still in China, in mid-March, British Telecom announced its list of priority suppliers for the "21st Century Network Project".
Huawei, a telecom equipment manufacturer from China, was successfully shortlisted, while Marconi, the largest telecom equipment supplier in the UK, did not appear on the list...
After this news was announced, Marconi's stock price fell rapidly, with the drop in stock price on that day reaching as high as 40%!
By the next day, its stock price had fallen by 17% in the morning alone!
For a time, Marconi Company was in trouble.
"Your Highness, with the drop in share prices over the past two days, Marconi's market value has fallen to less than 400 million pounds, and we are taking the opportunity to acquire shares in the company. Soon our shareholding ratio will be able to increase to more than 30%..."
Since last year, Rich23 Capital has been quietly acquiring Marconi's shares. Prior to this, they held nearly 20% of Marconi's shares.
However, because the shares were held through multiple companies, they were very careful not to touch the 5% shareholding line, so this behavior was not discovered by them.
As Marconi failed to be selected for British Telecom's "21st Century Network Plan" with a total investment of 10 billion pounds, Marconi fell into a desperate predicament. After all, Marconi had previously relied on the domestic market in the UK to survive, and the company has always been a partner of British Telecom. As a result, now even this most "stable" source of revenue is about to be cut off, which is simply a disaster for Marconi.
There are also many rumors in the market. For example, China's Huawei and Ericsson are rumored to be interested in acquiring the troubled Marconi.
Without anyone noticing, Rich23 Capital is about to hold more than 30% of Marconi's total shares. As the company's major shareholder, it will at least have a greater say in the company's sale.
However, this time, Barron's goal is to completely acquire Marconi. Relatively speaking, the cost they pay for the acquisition at this time will be lower.
He knew that Huawei and Ericsson were both on the priority supplier list of British Telecom's "21st Century Network Plan". They wanted to acquire Marconi because Marconi had extensive cooperation with British Telecom and was more familiar with British Telecom's network construction. This was very important for the two companies in order to win more projects from British Telecom.
But Barron also has his own "bait", which is O2 Telecom's next network plan order...