"In that case, just buy Android..."
Barron instructed Ivanta.
Because DS Capital and Rich23 Capital hold a large number of Apple shares, it is not suitable for them to invest too deeply in Android companies.
At present, it is most appropriate to acquire Android in the name of IC Capital.
When Android needs more development or mergers and acquisitions to enrich its content, other investment companies will join in the financing and provide more funds.
"By the way, the new friend you mentioned last time is Murdoch's wife...?"
"Yes, her name is Wendi. We met at a party in New York. I met her yesterday..."
As Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng quickly entered the socialite circle in New York. In Barron's previous life, she and Ivanta had always had a close relationship and could be called best friends.
Currently, News Corporation has also set its sights on the booming Internet economy, hoping to enter this field through acquisitions.
In the original time and space, they finally chose MySpace and announced in July 2005 that they would acquire it for US$580 million.
It's no surprise that News Corp. is now reaching out to MySpace.
Baron knew that although Murdoch's wife, Wendy Dempsey, did not hold a formal position in News Corporation, she served as Murdoch's advisor on matters including China and the Internet, and had some influence on him.
Just like when News Corporation acquired MySpace, Deng Wendi was also involved, especially the development of the original MySpace in China, Deng Wendi can be said to have participated in the whole process.
Ivanta told Barron that Deng Wendi, the manager of IC Capital, the largest shareholder of MySpace, had told her several times that he wanted to acquire MySpace.
Through two rounds of financing, IC Capital raised a total of US$30 million and acquired 49% of MySpace's shares, exceeding MySpace's previous parent company Intermix Media. Although they mainly made financial investments, they still had a decisive influence on matters related to the sale of MySpace.
Although Ivanta is very tempted by News Corporation's offer, she also has the idea of continuing to run MySpace.
When Barron first invested in MySpace, he told Ivanta that he would sell the company for profit at the right time. But now social networks have become a new outlet, especially driven by the development of Woaw Technology. As the largest competitor of Woaw.com in North America, MySpace has also seen a significant increase in users. Otherwise, how could Murdoch be willing to spend $650 million to acquire MySpace?
Yes, this time News Corporation's bid for MySpace.com is higher than the $580 million in the original space and time. The main reason is that due to the promotion of Woaw Technology, MySpace's performance is better than the original space and time in the same period, both in terms of the number of users and the degree of perfection.
After all, there is Woaw.com as a reference, and Woaw Technology's previous financing has also raised the valuation of websites in the field of social networking.
It's the same principle as when many Chinese Internet companies go public in the United States, they always need to benchmark against a similar Internet company in the United States to increase their own valuations.
But now IC Capital has invested in technology companies including MySpace in social networks, DoubleClick in Internet advertising, YouTube in video sharing sites, and Android in smartphone operating systems.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Ivanta could not help but think that if he did not sell MySpace when it was developing well, he could continue to develop it. Even if he could become a second-tier company, even if he could become a giant like Yahoo or Google, his profits would be higher than selling it for $650 million.
"You don't have to rush to reach an agreement with News Corporation. If you delay a little, MySpace's valuation will be higher. But it is still necessary to sell it, because if you reject News Corporation, they will definitely choose other inferior websites. In this way, if News Corporation is determined to enter the social networking industry, MySpace will have another strong competitor besides Woaw, and I am afraid that MySpace will lose users in the future."
Baron understood that MySpace's development was limited. In his previous life, after News Corporation acquired MySpace, it did have two years of glory and once posed a huge threat to Facebook.
But this does not mean that MySpace can really challenge Woaw's position now. He said that the purpose of delaying is to see whether the acquisition price of News Corporation can be further increased. However, it cannot really make News Corporation feel that the acquisition is hopeless or the price is too high, so that it chooses other websites. This would be bad.
In terms of business acumen, especially on the Internet, Ivanta still has great trust in Barron. After all, she herself understands that most of IC Capital's current success is the result of her executing Barron's decisions.
So now that he has made this decision, Ivanta has begun to consider how to further reflect the value of MySpace.
…
"Baby, you're hotter than the weather outside today."
Although the two of them exercised and studied again the next morning, when Ivanta changed her clothes and came downstairs, Barron couldn't help but praise her when he saw her beige dress that showed off her beautiful figure.
It seemed that Ivanta was in a good mood. After coming over and kissing Barron, the two sat down at the dining table. She looked at her lover with her beautiful eyes and asked,
"Do you have any plans later?"
"Yes, I'm going to meet the CEO of Goldman Sachs…"
Barron put down the newspaper in his hand with a smile on his face. It was a copy of the Wall Street Journal. The front page reported that China National Offshore Oil Corporation had once again made an offer to Unocal, intervening in the competition with Chevron.
Knowing that her lover would not discuss simple matters when meeting with the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Ivanta would not ask about these matters casually. She nodded and said:
"I'm going to work out with Wendi and maybe talk about MySpace a little bit more."
…
"Have you read today's newspaper, Your Highness?"
In the president's office of Goldman Sachs, Barron met Lloyd and asked with a serious expression.
"Yes, the whole of America is talking about this now, and I am sure I know about it."
"In fact, as early as the end of last year, Unocal had secretly contacted CNOOC, and the two sides had communicated. It was they who took the initiative to hope that CNOOC would join the acquisition, because Unocal's management knew too well about other American companies that might acquire them, and knew that if they wanted to get better conditions, they could only look for buyers outside of the United States..."
Lloyd told Barron some of the inside stories of the acquisition, some of which Barron already knew and some of which he heard for the first time.
After all, as the CEO of Goldman Sachs, he not only has some knowledge of American oil companies including Unocal, but also because Goldman Sachs Group participated in CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal, he also has more information about some of the situations on the CNOOC side.
In fact, CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal could be said to be a matter of mutual affection. If there had not been some setbacks in between, they might have completed the acquisition of Unocal by now.
In fact, CNOOC had already been preparing for cross-border mergers and acquisitions earlier.
Although CNOOC has achieved rapid growth in the past few years, it is difficult to achieve their medium- and long-term goals by relying solely on sustained internal growth, especially in achieving overseas production targets.
So in mid-2004, CNOOC studied the acquisitions of 12 Asian oil and gas companies in the past few years and found that relying on the acquisition of block assets to achieve sustained growth was not effective.
Generally speaking, more successful oil and gas asset acquisitions occur in the era of low oil prices. As we enter the era of high oil prices, the difficulty and cost of asset acquisitions will increase.
Since the Iraq War, international oil prices have begun a cycle of rising prices, gradually bringing the world into an era of high oil prices.
In response to this, CNOOC Chairman Fu Chengyu decided that they would shift from asset acquisition to company acquisition.
When screening acquisition targets, CNOOC finally locked in Unocal after three rounds of screening among dozens of companies in North America, West Africa and the Caspian Sea based on various indicators such as "asset value less than US$20 billion; potential for reserve and production growth; CNOOC's affordability, China's LNG business and availability".
Headquartered in California, USA, Unocal is a well-established oil company with a history of over 100 years and ranks ninth among American oil companies.
Its business has not been very prosperous in the past two years, and its market value is about 30% lower than that of similar companies, so the board of directors has been considering looking for a buyer.
CNOOC chose to acquire Unocal mainly because of Unocal's oil and gas resources in Asia.
Of Unocal's proven 1.75 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves, 70% are located outside the United States, including Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh in Asia, Azerbaijan in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region.
Unocal's asset distribution and CNOOC's accelerated implementation of its natural gas strategy in China's southeastern coast are a perfect match - Southeast Asia, where Unocal's gas assets are most widely distributed and geographically closest to China, is precisely the most ideal gas source for CNOOC's coastal natural gas market.