Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 172 Losing temper

“Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck—”

"Why am I being targeted by the Rockefeller family——"

“They want to invest in Apple?”

"And then he offered 10 million for 20% of the shares?"

"What's the difference between this and robbery?"

It was night, at home.

Ethan was jumping around like a shrimp on a hot pot.

He paced back and forth, waving his hands, venting his dissatisfaction, and his speaking speed, which was like the chanting of Namo Gatling Bodhisattva, showed his inner anxiety.

The clattering sound of footsteps caused Evelin on the sofa to grin.

"Open robbery?"

"Oh my stupid brother - that's not the right word you used."

"It's not robbery because they paid."

"What the hell? It's not robbery if you give money? Forced buying and selling is also against - well, okay, this is indeed not against the law." As soon as he said this, Ethan felt something was wrong and made a 180-degree turn, almost biting his tongue.

Because as he was speaking he remembered that forced buying and selling was illegal in his country in his previous life, but it was very normal in the land he was standing on now.

After all, it’s the Angsa tradition.

Not to mention the distant ones, he could list several nearby ones -

For example, in the Alstom case, America split Alstom and forced it to sell its power business to General Electric.

Another example is Tik Tok, where a New York real estate developer forced its parent company to sell it;
Of course, the most shameless ones are not these two cases. The real fun guy is John Bull. Before Ethan traveled through time, he heard the news that John Bull ordered Anshi Semiconductor to divest NWF.

The whole incident occurred in 2021, when Nexperia acquired John Bull's largest wafer manufacturer NWF. At the time of the acquisition, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, so John Bull approved the acquisition in order to solve the employment problem caused by the company's bankruptcy. But shortly after the acquisition was completed, when Nexperia injected funds into the company to revitalize it, John Bull jumped out and said that the acquisition posed a threat to their national security, forcing Nexperia to sell NWF's shares, and the designated buyer was John Bull's domestic enterprise.

Although this kind of thing is very common among Indians who buy things without paying, but when even John Bull starts to be shameless, it can only be said that Dai Ying's orthodoxy is in India.

When such forced sales were common, Ethan was very wary of the open robbery of capitalism. Otherwise, he would not have tried so hard to cling to the strong thigh of President Frederick Terman. There was no other way. Even in the business field, most of the time, only those with similar backgrounds could sit down and talk. When others could knock you down with one punch, did you still want to protect your own interests?

Do not make jokes.

David Geffen was beaten to tears by Steve Ross!

Bought all the copyrights of those famous singers for only five million dollars?

Wow--

This is truly the generosity of capitalists!

Ethan rolled his eyes at the thought.

He stopped pacing and threw himself onto the sofa, sulking.

That puffed-up look made Evelin turn sideways and lie diagonally on the soft sofa.

With his elbows on the armrests and his fists against his cheeks, he smiled and said, "Oh, Ethan, why do I feel like you're discouraged this time? Before, no matter what happened, such as Milova's lawsuit, Atari's new machine, Nintendo's betrayal, you would think about fighting back while being angry, but now... why do I feel like you're just complaining? Huh?"

"WTF?"

This question ignited the powder keg.

Ethan, who was curled up on the sofa, almost jumped up!
"Oh Evelyn—what pig talk are you talking about?" he was shocked.

"Fight back? Oh my god - is the situation the same as before? The one targeting Apple is Rockefeller! Rockefeller! Rockefeller! Making an enemy of such a guy? I, Ethan, am confident, but not arrogant, and certainly not crazy! That's Rockefeller! Rockefeller who dared to kill people in public! Attica, do you remember Attica? It's what you told me when we were watching "Dog Day Afternoon" before. In order to maintain the stability of New York State, Rockefeller directly mobilized the National Guard to suppress Attica by force, regardless of the camp! Just shoot! No one will be spared!"

When Ethan took the business card handed over by Wenlock's people and found out that their boss was actually a Rockefeller, his mind immediately popped up the scene when he and Evelyn watched "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino. At that time, Evelyn despised him because he didn't even know about the Rockefeller suppression case that took place in 1917.

In order to maintain his rule, Nelson of the Rockefeller family killed all the rebels without leaving a single survivor, even if the federal hostages stood in his way.

Are you challenging a family that kills people openly and doesn't care about federal laws at all?

Wow, these guys might show him what a true old-school capitalist is!
"So—you're scared?" Ethan's roar almost made Evelyn laugh out loud.

"What else?" Ethan's voice gradually stabilized after she interrupted him. "You can't ask me to slap that guy named Lawrence, can you?"

"Don't even mention me. Even the principal wouldn't dare to do this!"

Ethan shrugged. He thought his sister was talking bullshit.

At the same time, he was also very annoyed. "No, why don't you comfort me! Oh Evelyn! I'm about to be robbed! Can't you just go along with me and scold Rockefeller?"

Ethan felt very wronged.

He had only been in this world for three years, and had only been engaged in serious business for two and a half years. In such a short period of time, he had been targeted by a behemoth like Rockefeller?

This is too hellishly difficult, isn't it?

Although during the two and a half years of his entrepreneurship, he also confronted Philips, beat up Warner, and kicked Nintendo, uh... but that doesn't mean he can compete with Rockefeller, right?

Now he just felt that he had just made a little progress in the Novice Village, and then the Soul Clan leader, Emperor Hun Tian, ​​came here? Director! This script is obviously wrong!

"Oh Ethan - wasn't I trying to comfort you?" Evelyn changed her posture, hugged her legs, and said with a smile: "Since the gap between us and Rockefeller is so huge, so huge that it cannot be made up by relationships and time, then why do you have to be angry?"

"If opponents of the same level attack each other and someone uses some dirty tricks, then it's normal for you to get angry or retaliate, right?"

"But now, when 99 percent of people in America, or even the whole world, are suppressed by Rockefeller when they see him...what are you angry about?"

"If I remember correctly, Nelson scolded Richard before?"

"When the president of our country can't even hold his head up in front of the Rockefeller family name, they want to invest in your company? Isn't this a good thing?"

"They are willing to be your company's umbrella, and you still want to scold them?"

"Of course, their tone may be a little inhumane, but how many kings who are high and mighty can really sympathize with the people? It is normal to have a bad tone. If the tone is good..."

“It might be fake.”

"Right?"

The girl winked at Ethan playfully.

Her question stumped Ethan.

'That's right! Since most people in this world can't stand up to Rockefeller head-on, why should I panic? Since most people in this world will be crushed by the name Rockefeller, then if everyone is embarrassed, then no one is embarrassed, right? '

“Eh——”

"When you think about it, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with their investment, right?"

'The Rockefeller name itself is worth a fortune!'

Ethan, who was possessed by Ah Q, thought that what his sister said was correct.

But just as he was about to nod in agreement, he felt something was wrong.

“Evelyn—”

"Ok?"

"If I remember correctly, the principal told us before that someone wanted to invest in our game company and wanted to list it on the stock market. You were very angry at that time, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

“What’s wrong?” Ethan was confused by Evelin, “You were angry when you faced this kind of forced buying and selling, and today you asked me to think more positively?”

“Yeah.” Evelyn nodded and said with a smile, “Because I didn’t invest in Apple—it’s not like my money was robbed, so of course I can advise you to be magnanimous—that’s fine, right?”

'...'

'Grass! '

Ethan got even angrier!
A double standard woman!
He jumped off the sofa and walked out.

"Where are you going?" Evelyn was a little confused.

"I'm going back to my place!" Ethan shouted loudly.

"Why?" Evelyn blinked.

Looking at Ethan's back, he said, "You don't seem to have finished your story yet? You just said that Rockefeller's Wenlock wanted to invest in Apple, and they were also one of the people who wanted to invest in the game of fate before. You didn't say anything else!"

"No more!" Ethan replied unhappily.

“Huh?” A question mark appeared on Evelin’s forehead.

"Since you don't understand me, I'll go back and be angry alone!"

"Bang!" Ethan slammed the door shut.

'……' The deafening sound made the girl on the sofa stunned for a second. "Hahahaha——" The next second she burst into laughter.

What Evelin said was actually correct. When the gap between the two sides was too great, any anger was actually unnecessary. Because no matter how angry the parties were, or how hard they racked their brains, the gap that had arisen at the time of reincarnation could not be made up in a short period of time.

If not...

There is no such thing as "some people are born in Rome" in this world.

But even though Ethan understood this, he was still a little angry.

Because the people from Wenlock’s offer was too insincere!
And they even threatened to invest in others!
The point is that they look at people through their nostrils!

"Damn it! I really want to stick two green onions in there!"

"Let you pretend!"

Ethan, who stayed at home, felt indignant.

At this moment, the lock made a sound.

With a creak, Evelin, who seemed to have taken a shower and changed her clothes, came in.

When she saw Ethan's legs crossed on the table, his arms folded, leaning against the chair, his bossy demeanor made her smile. "Are you still angry?" she asked.

“Tsk——” Ethan rolled his eyes at her and didn’t bother to pay attention to her.

"Okay, I admit that I used the wrong way to comfort you...Okay?" The girl raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

Ethan turned his head away at the insincere words.

This action made Evelin frown slightly. She sat down on the sofa opposite the table. "Okay, then can you tell me, what would you do if the investor was not Rockefeller?"

"What do you mean?" Ethan didn't understand.

"It's very simple."

Evelyn said, “From what I see from your performance, it doesn’t seem like you can’t accept investors entering the market, right?”

"Yes—" Ethan admitted it very frankly.

Talking about this, he immediately became excited.

He sat up straight and said loudly: "Before I contacted Wenlock, I had already been convinced by the two Steves. I went to negotiate with sincerity, but they were the ones who were not sincere!"

"Oh, that's what I'm asking." Evelyn smiled and replied, "What if the investor is not Rockefeller? What would you do? Because I feel that what you want is actually the control of the company, right?"

"…" Ethan was silent.

Because Evelyn hit the nail on the head.

What really made him angry was not that Rockefeller was arrogant or that his conditions were harsh. Having lived two lives, he knew very well that the reason why the people from Wenlock introduced themselves was probably because that guy named Lawrence Rockefeller felt that he had been humiliated.

I want to invest in your game company, and you say you don’t want any money?

And it was Fred Terman who came out to refuse and give face?

I can give you face, but the second time I found a good company...

If I don’t invest, where will I put my face?

Am I, Rockefeller, shameless?
Ethan felt that this might be the reason why they brought up the previous incident. Since he could understand it, he would not be afraid. What really worried him was the issue of controlling Apple after Rockefeller entered the market. When this big Buddha asked for 20% of the shares, one-third of the board seats, and to appoint the CEO and CFO...

What else do they want in the future?

Ethan really didn't dare to think about it.

When he already saw Apple as a platform to touch the computer industry, he handed it over to Rockefeller?
That's really a bit unwilling.

As for my sister's question, how can I control the entire company when the investor is not Rockefeller?
This is simple, right?
Not to mention the secret shareholding operations, there are some open and aboveboard ones:

"The simplest one is equal shares with different voting rights," said Ethan.

“What do you mean?” Evelyn asked curiously, “You know, I didn’t study finance.”

"It means literally."

Ethan shrugged and said, “The simplest way is to issue two types of stocks, A and B, with different par values.”

A and B shares are too simple for Ethan. There are too many cases in his past life. For example, Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett and his good brother Charlie Munger and many big investors all own A shares, and all the shares circulating in the market are B shares. The par value of A shares is 30 times that of B shares, and the voting rights are 200 times that of B shares. At the same time, B shares can never be converted into A shares, but A shares can be converted into B shares at any time. This approach can ensure that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have absolute control over their own companies.

Google also did the same thing. All the stocks issued before 02 were B shares, each with 10 votes, and all the stocks issued after 02 were A shares, each with one vote. It was also agreed that B shares could not be circulated, and if they wanted to be sold, they could only be split into A shares, and A shares could never be converted into B shares. This ensured that no matter how much capital was used to buy Google shares on the market, as long as the founders owned % of the B shares, they would have an absolute majority of voting rights in the company.

Therefore, if you want to control Apple, you can just raise funds directly in the form of A and B shares. But this kind of thing is okay for ordinary investors, because they have money and want to get in. Ethan is very confident, but for Rockefeller...how many people in the world dare to say that Rockefeller is made of clay?

Don't give them the right to vote?
Then Ethan will just wait for the autopsy to show that he was shot six times in the back and committed suicide!

The old-school capitalists’ faces were about to be smashed by him!

The plan Ethan gave made Evelin narrow her eyes. The girl continued to look at Ethan with a smile and asked, "According to your psychological expectations, how should this financing be done?"

"How to do it?"

Speaking of this, Ethan became even more excited because this is also his specialty.

"I personally think that Apple is currently in the Growth Stage. If it wants to raise funds, it must do so according to the standards of this stage."

"Oh, you probably don't know what the development stage is? Let me tell you this, companies that can be invested in are generally in three stages. One is the Seed Stage, where the company only has a concept but no products, and the reason for investing is that they have good ideas. The second stage is the Early Stage, where the company generally has products but has not yet achieved commercial success, and the reason for investing is that they can make a profit. The third stage is the Development Stage, where they already have turnover and even profits, but they need more funds for development."

"Apple's annual revenue is now over 100 million, and it also has a lot of profits. They need to invest now because they want to become bigger, and the profits alone are not enough to support them."

"In my opinion, based on the pre-money valuation, the transaction value of this company is at least ten times or even twenty times the net profit, so the 100 million valuation given by Wenlock..."

"rare."

Ethan looked at his sister seriously.

When valuing a company, if the company generates profits, the common practice is to use the price-to-earnings ratio. For example, if the company's net profit is one million per year, the price-to-earnings ratio of a technology company is guaranteed to be ten times, and the market value of the company is generally ten million. In other words, after someone buys this company, it will take ten years to earn back the investment.

Although this method is very inaccurate, because there is no standard for investment, what matters is actually emotional mutual consent. When it comes to the negotiation table, everyone will show their magical powers. Investors will try to lower the price, and companies will continue to tell stories, but these are not important now. Ethan mainly wants to tell his sister that Apple is already very valuable now.

And as she spoke, a look of surprise flashed across Evelin’s eyes as she leaned on the sofa.

The girl stared at Ethan for a long while, then smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I think I understand what you mean. I think you can take this to talk."

“What do you mean?” Ethan didn’t understand what Evelin said.

Evelyn said, "It's very simple. Didn't you say you can accept external investors, but you just think the price offered by Rockefeller is too low? Then you can talk to them with your professional knowledge."

“You explain to them how valuable Apple is.”

“You convey to them that the valuation is inaccurate.”

“You have to beat them at their strengths.”

"You think Rockefeller was trying to rob?"

"Then you have to let the world know that they are robbing!"

"It might be a death throes for others, but not for us."

"It's true that the principal can't protect us forever."

"But as long as he's still here, it's impossible for anyone to take our things without restraint!"

"He may not be able to stop Rockefeller from investing in Apple, but he can definitely create a fair negotiation environment for us so that we can get the money and resources corresponding to that 20% stake!"

“And this process…”

"You need to fight for it yourself!"

Evelyn put away the smile on her face and looked at Ethan seriously.

And under her gaze...

Ethan was stunned for two seconds, then jumped up and picked up the phone on the table.

"Hey, Steve? Send me Apple's financial statements for this year."

"What? This year's annual report can't be published before the New Year?"

"Even if you can't do it, you have to do it for me!"

"Even if you have to work overtime! It's not a holiday! You still have to bring me the financial report!"

"This is the only way to protect our interests. Don't even think about shirking your duties!"

Note: ① Regarding Apple's valuation, I have adjusted the sales of Apple 2 upwards. In reality, it did not sell as much as I wrote in 1977. In reality, it really became popular with the emergence of the electronic spreadsheet VisiCalc. The upward adjustment in the book is based on the fact that the market for Atari and Magnova home consoles was blank in reality, and Apple 2 was sold with the support of games. As for whether this number is exaggerated or not, I can only say that in reality, Apple 2 had already earned 1979 million for Apple in mid-1978. ② Regarding Venrock's investment in Apple, I dug up their official website and it said that they officially invested in 1977, so I don't know where the other rumored year of came from. Their website is venrock plus com.

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(End of this chapter)