Chapter 402 The Real Rival (5350)
After hearing Wang Fujun's words, all the entrepreneurs couldn't wait to turn to page seven of the report.
Less than half a minute later, someone at the scene couldn't help but let out a low exclamation.
Isn’t this standard too high?
The requirement that the bidding companies' annual turnover must not be less than 15 billion Da Zhou coins or their market value must not be less than 80 billion Da Zhou coins alone eliminated more than half of the companies present.
In this case, wouldn’t only four or five companies be eligible to participate in the bidding?
Even the newly emerging ByteDance and group buying seem a bit stretched.
ByteDance and the group buying momentum are very fierce. The turnover should not be far from 15 billion. The current valuation exceeds 10 billion yuan, which is not far from 80 billion Da Zhou coins.
Almost everyone couldn't help but glance at those big bosses, feeling jealous.
Why do they get all the good things? Don't they give small businesses a chance to survive?
Although there are some complaints in their hearts, everyone knows that once the acquisition of key enterprises is involved, no matter which country it is, it needs to go through approval and pre-qualification. This is a routine operation.
There are countless cases where the buyer and seller have reached an agreement but ultimately failed to obtain approval from their country or Zhengzhi entity. This is not uncommon in both Miami and Europ.
For example, China vetoed Blockbuster's acquisition of Danone, Miami vetoed the acquisition of Dubai Port PO Company, Miami vetoed Zhou Haiyou's acquisition of Unocal, China vetoed BHP Billiton's acquisition of potash giant PotashCorp, and Italy vetoed the acquisition of West Bay Abertis Expressway...
Not only cross-border acquisitions may be rejected, but domestic acquisitions may also be rejected.
For example, Korea vetoed Samsang's acquisition of Korea Shipyard, Miami vetoed AT&T's acquisition of TMobile and Staples' acquisition of Office Depot, and the UK vetoed the merger of Asda and Sainsbury's...
In this regard, the Great Zhou Dynasty was criticized a lot.
But in fact, among the major countries, Da Zhou is the one that uses the least administrative orders to intervene in capital market acquisitions.
The largest number of such acquisitions came from the United States, followed by the Kingdom of Mai. As for Japan and Goryeo, they even directly enacted laws to prohibit foreign companies from acquiring many industries.
Japan does not only have legislation, but also has many civil groups and associations with similar regulations, making it impossible for foreigners to conduct independent business in the local area.
For example, in the action film industry, there is no explicit control over foreign investment, but if you want to enter, you can’t find actors or distributors, and you will be subject to various investigations.
Fang Daqiang has a friend whose son went to study in Japan. After graduation, he didn't want to go home to inherit the family business, but wanted to set up an action film production company in Japan.
After three years of hard work and spending several million dollars, I only took a few more classes from other teachers, but in the end I still didn't get the license.
Basically, not only large enterprises and high-tech enterprises, but also enterprises with international strategic positions and enterprises related to national economy and people's livelihood will face this problem when making acquisitions. This is a common sense issue for all bosses who come to the meeting, so no one is surprised by the above statement.
These things are basically common sense to all the big guys here, so no one is really dissatisfied with the above requirements.
Moreover, this time the higher authorities directly drew the line and set corresponding standards, which is much better than negotiating with the original shareholder representatives for more than half a year, investing tens of millions of dollars in total, and finally failing at the final approval stage.
It seems that this time, two horses will be in the same stable again.
Boring.
Zhang Chaoyang just casually flipped through the report and then fell asleep.
——
When Ma Yun saw the seventh page of the report, his eyes suddenly became excited and lit up.
Isn't this custom-made for Ahri?
Could it be that the higher-ups really want Ahri to take over Chihiro?
Page seven of this "Qianxun Company Market Risk Assessment and Relief Plan Research Report" is already the second part of the report.
First, it said something like "In order to ensure the continued stability of the Internet market in Da Zhou, protect data and information security, and regulate the market competition order, Yian Prefecture, Taifu Temple, Dongguan and Pingzhengsi jointly formulated the following acquisition approval standards, which are applicable to potential bidding companies that intend to acquire Qianxun Company, and serve as the basis for market access and bidding review..." This kind of nonsense was followed by seven very complicated but clear standards.
The first article stipulates the nature of the enterprise, requiring that the acquirer should be a Dazhou Internet company, and foreign-controlled Internet companies and institutions are not allowed to bid for the target company.
Due to the special nature of Dazhou Internet Company, the statement also specifically mentioned that companies with multiple equity structures such as BIV should be based on the actual operating entity.
If the following sentence is not added, no Internet company will be able to participate in the bidding.
There is nothing much to say about this. It was already expected by everyone. If foreign capital is accepted as controlling shareholder, it will be a big event.
The second provision on enterprise size is quite interesting. This provision requires that the bidding enterprise must have a turnover of no less than 15 billion Da Zhou coins for three consecutive years or the enterprise valuation must be no less than 80 billion Da Zhou coins before July 31, 3062.
Isn’t this just throwing out second- and third-tier Internet companies like Sohu, Xinglang, and Momo?
He actually had no confidence as to whether he could capture Qianxun and get his hands on this piece of meat.
For similar matters, many of the results have actually been decided long before such a briefing is held. It is simply a matter of going through the procedures.
The problem was that the Qianxun incident broke out too quickly, leaving him no time to operate. The information he received from other people was similar, and he didn't hear any inside information.
Moreover, he did not have the determination to take down Chihiro. After all, both Ali and Tengxun had caused a lot of controversy because their slabs were too big.
If he acquired Qianxun at this time, he would feel it was unacceptable not to be subject to antitrust investigation.
As long as it is not Penguin or the Penguin-affiliated group JD.com that acquires Qianxun in the end, he can accept it.
But now judging from this first requirement, it seems that the higher-ups are more eager to solve Chihiro's problem and are not ruling out Ali or Tengxun taking over Chihiro?
After all, the scale of the company alone has already excluded second- and third-tier Internet companies such as Xinglang, Sohu, and Momo.
The earliest generation of internet giants, companies like Xinglang and Sohu, have been left far behind by the market.
The portal websites that were once extremely prosperous have now long since become third-tier enterprises. Last year, the turnover of these two companies was less than 10 billion, not to mention 30 billion Da Zhou coins, and the market value of the companies was only more than 10 billion.
They cannot reach any of the lines set out in this report.
At present, the only ones that can be confirmed to meet this standard in Da Zhou are the Big Three, JD.com, and the two platforms, ByteDance, which have been gaining momentum in the past two years.
Oh, yes, and fantasy.
However, Yang Yuanqing, who had just asked Fantasy, didn't seem to be that interested in Qianxun. Fantasy didn't even have the technical reserves for basic search engines and cloud computing.
Thinking of this, Ma Yun's mind couldn't help but become active.
There is no need to consider buying a group for the time being. They are now engaged in O2O in full swing and it is impossible to divide their forces. If Wang Xing dares to divide his forces to snatch Qianxun, then Ah Li will dare to let "Have you eaten?" steal his home!
When the time comes, Wang Xing will be in big trouble.
Two birds in the forest are not as good as one bird in hand. If Wang Xing doesn't know what's good for him, I don't mind letting him not catch any bird!
Thinking of this, Ma Yun glanced at Wang Xing and snorted in his heart.
Some time ago, Wang Xing accepted investment from Penguin and completely eliminated Ahri's forces from the group buying, which tricked him. He was very unhappy about it.
Without having to consider Maituan and JD.com, the only competitors left are Penguin and ByteDance.
Ali and Penguin’s biggest rivals in the Qianxun acquisition are ByteDance!
Ma Yun made a quick judgment in his mind.
Qianxun is not only one of the three pillars of the Da Zhou Internet, but also the entrance to almost all data and the most important link in Da Zhou's data security. If there is a problem with Qianxun, it is not just Qianxun's own problem.
Therefore, the bidders for Qianxun will inevitably have qualification requirements, and they must select an acquirer who is most capable of taking over Qianxun and ensuring that the situation is resolved.
Two Ma, one Dong and a ByteDance may be the best choice.
Maituan and JD.com barely qualify, but it is obvious that their business has nothing to do with search, and it is impossible for the higher-ups to let Wang Xing and Daqiangzi win the bid.
It is hard to say whether the older generation of Ma or the new generation of ByteDance will win the bid in the end.
It depends on whether the higher-ups tend to favor short-term stability or take the long term into consideration.
If one tends to be cautious in the short term and calm the situation quickly, then the two Ma's have a greater chance of winning. If one considers the long term, supporting a new competitor and allowing the Da Zhou Internet to return to a three-way competition may be a better arrangement.
ByteDance is a rising star in the domestic Internet. Since its establishment four years ago, it has developed rapidly in the past two years. Although it is still a private company, its Toutiao app has already accounted for 3% of the total domestic Internet advertising scale.
It may not sound like much, but you have to know that even the current traffic king, Penguin, only accounts for 9%.
The advertising revenue of Toutiao app alone is equivalent to one-third of Penguin, and it is still rising rapidly!
The current capital market valuation of ByteDance has far exceeded 10 billion US dollars. Last month, Hongshan led the investment in ByteDance's Series D financing, with a valuation of 12 billion US dollars, which is similar to the valuation of Youzi Technology. However, in terms of company size and turnover, ten current Youzi Technologies and Ysou combined are not enough to beat one Daily Headlines APP.
Oh, by the way, there is also Ysou. Will Ysou also participate?
No, they have been established for less than a year and are not qualified yet. Fortunately, judging from their momentum, they may exceed this line in another year.
If Youzi Technology is included, the valuation is sufficient, but its industry influence is still far behind that of the other companies.
After all, it has not even been a year since its establishment.
According to the consistent style mentioned above, from a risk perspective, Ysou and Youzi Technology should not be considered.
No matter how advanced they are in the field of large-scale artificial intelligence models, and no matter how fast Ysou is developing now, the lack of experience in solving problems cannot be made up for and can only be compensated by time.
Therefore, the competitor that we need to be most wary of is ByteDance!
This company has both the background and the technology. It is a global leader in the field of algorithms and has ample cash flow. It is entirely possible for it to acquire Qianxun!
After all, the secondary market selling valuation of Qianxun after the suspension did not exceed 6 billion Malaysian dollars, which was far lower than the 15 billion on the last trading day before the suspension.
Even if there is an acquisition premium, even if the premium reaches 10 billion, it is still 100% profitable!
For this kind of business, getting financing is not that easy! Various investment companies will rush to lend you money.
Before Qianxun's series of accidents this year, its market value exceeded 30 billion Malaysian dollars, equivalent to more than 200 billion Da Zhou coins.
In this way, the capital market generally believes that the capital market underestimated Qianxun's stock price because Qianxun relied too much on advertising from Putian medical institutions.
It’s not that the capital market is very conscientious, it’s mainly a risk issue.
After all, the Putian Group is obviously a chaotic product of a transition period. Once this period is over, the Putian Group will either be banned or will have to transform. Whether Qianxun can maintain such a profit margin at that time is a huge risk for the capital market.
Based on Qianxun's current turnover and profits as well as the industry it operates in, Qianxun's reasonable market value should be at least 80-100 billion yuan.
There are even many professional investment institutions that believe that if Qianxun is privatized from Maigu and listed back on the A-share market, it can easily obtain a trillion-yuan market value of Dazhou currency.
Penguin...Byte...
Ma Yun quickly calculated the pros and cons in his mind.
It now seems that if Ali wants to compete for the acquisition qualification, the possibility is quite high. The question is, will Ali participate in this bidding?
Must participate!
After just a few seconds of consideration, Ma Yun made up his mind that he must participate in this competition.
What if I don’t participate and the problem ends up falling on the penguin?
It’s also hard to accept that it falls on ByteDance.
Although the concept of traffic has only been around for less than two years, it still makes sense.
ByteDance is now at the top of the content distribution ladder. If it also controls the search engine, it can be said that it controls half of the Internet traffic.
It doesn’t matter if Ali has the other half.
But the other half is in the hands of the penguin!
If Qianxun falls into the hands of ByteDance or Penguin this time, then in a few years, Ali's traffic will have to depend on the attitudes of these two companies.
In fact, Taomao has invested a lot of promotional fees on Toutiao.
As for whether there will be suppression from above after the acquisition, that is a matter for the future. At that time, if it really doesn't work out, we can split it up. We will definitely make a profit and we can also distribute some of the profits.
Ma Yun flipped through the report for a few minutes, thinking quickly in his mind, and considering all the difficulties he might face.
Judging from the painful expression on the face of the guy next to me, he should be thinking the same thing as me. I guess they have to participate too.
It's like an arms race, I don't have it and you don't have it, okay.
But you have it and I don’t, no!
I was forced to do this. Ma Yun couldn't help but sigh.
After taking a quick look at the following requirements, Ma Yun could basically confirm that these requirements were not a problem for Ahri.
Requiring companies to have search engine-related experience and an existing team is of course no problem. Ali acquired UC two years ago, and it already has a Shenma search under it, but its market share is relatively low.
This small team has been quite successful in recent years. Some time ago, they used the Chrome kernel to develop a Quark browser and Quark search with only a few million dollars. It is said that the technology is quite good and has some unique features in data compression.
The remaining requirements are even more irrelevant.
What about transparency in finance and funding sources? I have employed so many financial staff, and the company's CEO is from a financial background. How can I be stumped by this requirement?
There are also requests for corporate governance and stable operations plans. This should be to restore Qianxun's access as soon as possible. I need to discuss this with Huang Jian to see if it's difficult. But if Ali can't do it, other companies are even less likely to do it.
As for the requirement that companies must have the ability to fulfill their social responsibilities, the details mainly show that they should provide more employment opportunities and lay off fewer employees.
This is a bit difficult. Now is the AI era, and the application of large models can replace a large number of repetitive jobs.
At a meeting a few days ago, Zhang Yong reported that Ali has already started formulating a layoff plan for next year, with plans to reduce 12,000 jobs in batches within two years.
However, this kind of requirement is just for reference. The higher-ups will not really use it as a criterion, otherwise it would not be included in the last few standards.
"Everyone's almost done reading. Of course, I know it's impossible to make a decision on such a big matter in a short period of time, but Qianxun's matter is urgent. How about this? We'll give you one day to submit your application materials before 4:30 tomorrow afternoon."
Wang Fujun took a sip of tea, and seeing that everyone had finished looking, he spoke leisurely.
"Of course, if you have decided to participate now or have decided not to participate, you can also tell us now so that we can prepare in advance."
Ma Yun's eyes flashed, and just as he was about to raise his hand to sign up, he heard a weak voice coming from four or five seats away from him.
"Lord Wang, Byte will not participate in the bidding for Qianxun."
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ma Yun turned his head suddenly and saw a man with glasses who looked unremarkable in a crowd licking his lips nervously.
It’s really Zhang Yiming!
What did he just say? ByteDance is not participating in this bidding?
What does he think?
Retreat to advance?
Wang Fujun's eyes flickered, revealing no emotion. He just said with a half-smile, "Boss Zhang, are you sure?"
Zhang Yiming pushed his glasses up nervously. "The bidding for Qianxun is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but our own projects currently tie up a large amount of capital. We're not listed, so our financing channels are limited, and our cash flow is tight."
"Furthermore, Qianxunzi's matter is of great importance. The acquirer must fulfill their promise. Otherwise, it will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire of the current dire situation and deal an even heavier blow to the Great Zhou Internet."
"Therefore, adhering to a responsible attitude, Wang Fujun, Qiao Situ, Zhang Siqing, and Byte confirm that they will not participate in this bidding."
After saying that, Zhang Yiming lowered his head and remained silent like a socially anxious teenager.
Ma Yun thought about it carefully and immediately realized that Zhang Yiming seemed to be going all in on the short video platform.
It is no secret in the industry that ByteDance is developing a short video platform. Since the second half of last year, ByteDance has been recruiting algorithm talents and has also established an A.me project team internally. Relevant information has long been circulated in the industry.
Moreover, in the recent period, ByteDance has also taken the initiative to warm up the news of the upcoming launch of short videos in the media to build momentum for its future products.
It is said that the R&D expenses for this product alone exceeded one billion dollars. If future operating expenses are taken into account, it is not impossible that ByteDance will be short of cash flow.
ByteDance has voluntarily withdrawn!
So, my real competitor is still you, my old friend!
Ma Yun's gaze subconsciously turned to Ma Hua Teng beside him.
Coincidentally, Mahua Teng was also looking at him.
When their eyes met, sparks seemed to fly in the air.
"Lord Wang, Ysou, with Youzi Technology as the main body, is participating in this bidding."
Just as Ma Yun was getting more and more eager to fight, a lazy voice came from behind him.
Fang Yu! ?
(End of this chapter)
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