Reborn as a Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 372 Apple's Board of Directors

On May 1th.

Lin Baicheng came to Apple with his secretary Qin Lan and bodyguards to attend the board meeting held by Apple today.

Apple's board of directors is very simple, with only five people. In addition to Lin Baicheng and Jobs, there are also Steve Gary Wozniak, the founder of the company, and Mike Markkula, the earliest investor. The last one is the company's executives.

Apple was first founded by three people, and the other was Ronald Gerald Wayne, but Ronald quit Apple when Mike Markkula invested in Apple and took his holdings Some 10% shares were sold to Jobs.

It's not that Ronald couldn't accept Apple being invested. It's a good thing for the company to be invested by capital. What he couldn't accept was that the company had to borrow money from the bank. Fearing failure, he chose to withdraw.Of course, the reason for quitting will definitely not say that, saying that it is because I can't accept crazy work for the sake of my health.

Therefore, Lin Baicheng, the founder of the company, has never met Ronald, because when he joined Apple, this person had already quit Apple.

The politeness had already been done before the meeting started, so after the board meeting, the five people went directly to the topic.

Among the five people, only Lin Baicheng, the director, did not work in Apple. Although financial personnel were stationed there, the financial personnel did not intervene in the daily management of the company. Therefore, this time the board of directors was mainly explained to Lin Baicheng by Jobs and the others.

"Alan, the company has now decided to reject IBM's acquisition of the company and decided to raise funds."

"Recently, we have contacted a lot of investors, and many investors are optimistic about us, but the best terms offered are Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Elephant Capital."

"All three valued the company at $9000 million, which is not low given that IBM intends to enter the PC market."

"Today we are going to discuss which company to accept financing, or accept all three, and let them each contribute different proportions."

Of the three institutions Jobs mentioned, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are well-known in the United States, it is difficult for Lin Baicheng to know.He has never heard of Elephant Capital, but this is normal. After all, there are so many investment institutions in the United States, it is impossible for him to know all of them.

Lin Baicheng tapped the table lightly with his fingers, and said, "Don't you think the valuation of 9000 million US dollars is a bit low?"

Jobs explained: "Alan, this is their initial price, and the specific price can be negotiated later. But the most important thing for us now is to get financing funds early, and then use this funds to speed up development. Strengthen ourselves before entering the field, we don't have time to talk slowly."

"What you said is not unreasonable."

Lin Baicheng didn't object when he heard the words, and continued: "About the proportion of financing and how to raise it, what are your plans?"

Jobs said: "This time we decided to take out 20% of the shares for financing."

Lin Baicheng frowned slightly: "Didn't you say to raise 10% to 15% of the shares last time?"

"Alan, IBM is an industry giant. Without a lot of funds, it is impossible to defeat IBM. Therefore, we should grow ourselves as much as possible before IBM enters the market, and give up more shares to get more Only in this way can we try not to lose in the competition with IBM. If we can’t compete with IBM, there is no point in holding more shares now.”

This time it was Steve who explained aloud.

Jobs also said: "Yes, IBM is a big mountain, and we must go all out."

"Okay, let's raise 20% of the shares."

Lin Baicheng pondered for a while, but agreed.Because of his participation, IBM may enter the personal computer market earlier, and Lin Baicheng is not sure whether Apple can be as successful as it was before its rebirth.Therefore, although it hurts to be diluted with more shares, what Jobs said is not unreasonable. Survival and development are the most important things at present.

Jobs continued: "Mike will sell 5% of the shares, and Alan will reduce the corresponding 6% of your financing by 3% of the shares, and the remaining 3% of the shares will be supplemented with cash according to the market value of the financing. Except Mike In addition, Steve and I will not sell the stock, so the company can obtain 17% of the cash in this financing, which is used to develop the company.”

"Before the financing, the proportion of the company's shares is that I hold 32.725% of the shares, Steve holds 26.775% of the shares, Mike holds 10.5% of the shares, and Alan, you hold 30% of the company's shares."

"After the financing, I own 26.18% of the company's shares, Steve holds 21.42% of the company's shares, Mike holds 5.4% of the company's shares, Alan, you hold 27% of the company's shares, and the financing party holds 20% of the company's shares. "

"No matter how many financing parties there are this time, the company will add two new director seats. If there are no less than two institutions participating in the financing, and each company holds no less than 5% of the shares, then these two director seats belong to the Financing party. If there is only one financing institution, or if only one of the financing institutions holds more than 5% of the shares, then the remaining directorship will be replaced by the company’s management.”

Before the financing, the largest shareholder of Apple was Jobs. The reason why Jobs was still the largest shareholder of Apple after two dilutions was that when Ronald withdrew from Apple, 10% of his shares were acquired by Jobs. .

When Apple was first established, Jobs and Steve each held 45% of Apple's shares, and Ronald held 10% of the shares.After Mike Markkula invested 30% of the shares, Jobs and Steve's shareholdings became 38.5% and 31.5% respectively.

When Lin Baicheng invested in Apple, 15% of the shares were bought from Mike Markkula, and the remaining 15% of the shares were financed from Apple, so Mike Markkula had the least remaining shares.

This time it's the same. Not only will Mike Markkula have some shares diluted by financing, but he will also sell some of his shares, so naturally his remaining shares will not be many.

However, the first sale of 15% of the shares allowed Mike Markkula to recover all the principal invested in Apple, not to mention, and made a lot of money.Selling 5% of the shares this time will only earn more than the last time, because Apple's current market value is more than ten times that of the last time.

In this board of directors, Apple decided to raise 20% of the shares to obtain funds for development, and to increase the number of directors by two.As for the negotiations with investment institutions, it will be carried out by Jobs and others. Lin Baicheng only needs to send someone to supervise and guarantee his interests.

(End of this chapter)