Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 889 Best Buy Goes Public
“Mr. Yang, I’m sorry, I cannot agree to this.” Stan Lee shook his head and refused immediately after hearing this: “If that happens, wouldn’t Marvel be half controlled by foreign capital?”

Yang Wendong said, "That's not how it works. Although my shareholding is higher, we've completely delisted. As long as we're no longer listed and you don't sell your shares, even if I'm rich, I can't take over Marvel."

Besides, Marvel can only succeed under your leadership. You can check my past investment record to see that, including Walmart, Apple, Intel, and so on. I've always been a pure investor; I've never thought about vying for any management control.

Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise. Even though he has a comic book company in Hong Kong, Asian comics and American comics are completely different things. It's safest for Marvel to remain under Stan Lee's management.

Unless he voluntarily gives up his shares and agrees to work for me, but that's unlikely.

Most importantly, Marvel heroes represent American culture and values. If the acquisition is not a bona fide purchase, it could trigger public opinion in the US, or even government intervention, which would ultimately be a losing proposition.

Stan Lee laughed and said, "Mr. Yang really thinks highly of me. Wall Street has a lot of doubts about my abilities. The stock of the Cardans Group has been falling for the past few years."

"That's just a matter of management. What I value more is the content your team can create," Yang Wendong said nonchalantly. "As long as you have good content, even if the management is poor, it's just a short-term problem."

Moreover, Wall Street or ordinary shareholders only value short-term gains, forcing companies to abandon long-term considerations and only guarantee short-term profits, which is also a flaw of listed companies.

In a typical industry, this wouldn't be a problem, but animation is a business that lasts for decades, and the biggest taboo is pursuing short-term profits. Therefore, delisting would be better for Marvel.

This will allow your team to focus on their creative work without worry. As for funding, with my investment, you don't need to worry. Even if the investment isn't enough, I can guarantee your returns through other financial means.

“You’re absolutely right. Over the years, I have indeed been pressured by those people on Wall Street and forced to make some unsuitable strategies.” Stan Lee nodded frankly, then added, “This matter is of great importance, and I need to consider it for a few days.”

"And even if I agree to delist, giving you 49% of the shares is still too much."

"That's no problem. The shareholding percentage is negotiable." Yang Wendong had only made a high demand upfront to leave room for negotiation later.
In any case, this kind of benevolent investment model is much better than normal stock market acquisitions, at least you can easily acquire enough shares.

Another point is that he doesn't want the future of Marvel to be affected by the capital market, so that he can focus on creating. Those people on Wall Street, no matter how elite they are, have always been short-sighted, only thinking about making money as early as possible.

This is also one of the reasons why many of his companies in Hong Kong are not listed or accept investment.

“Alright, if I agree, then we can discuss the shareholding issue.” Stan Lee continued, “However, this matter also requires the consent of other shareholders. For a company to be delisted, it needs the consent of 66.7% of the shareholders.”

Yang Wendong said, "Leave this to me. I will offer a reasonable price and get them to agree."

If it were a large corporation, Yang Wendong wouldn't dare to be so confident, but Marvel's holding company is only worth tens of millions of dollars, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to the potential profits.
Stan Lee nodded and said, "Alright, I will let you know if I make a decision. How long does Mr. Yang plan to stay in the United States?"

“I estimate it will take another week or two,” Yang Wendong said after thinking for a moment. “If you still haven’t made a decision, you can contact Mr. Wu later.”

The amount of money involved in this matter is not much for Yang Wendong, but for Stan Lee, it is his life's work, so he naturally needs to be extremely cautious. It is estimated that he will be investigated again later.
He was not afraid, because his investments in the United States and Hong Kong in previous years, apart from strategic acquisitions, were basically never interfered with the management of the invested companies unless major problems arose.

In this way, he will have a very good reputation in future acquisitions.

After saying that, Wu Zhiyuan handed over his business card. Stan Lee took it and said, "Okay, I'll be troubling you for a while, Mr. Wu."

Wu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Mr. Li, you're too kind. It's what I should do."

Yang Wendong said, "Mr. Li, regardless of whether we can reach a cooperation on investment, we can still continue our previous channel cooperation. I will also send someone from Hong Kong to discuss this with you."

"Haha, yes, these are two different collaborations. It would be best if they were unrelated," Stan Lee said with a laugh.

Previous channel collaborations have been beneficial to both companies.

Yang Wendong said, "Alright, let's leave it at that. I hope our business relationship will be even closer when we meet next time."

"Haha, okay," Stan Lee said with a smile.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Yang Wendong left Marvel's headquarters;

Back at the hotel, Yang Wendong said to Wu Zhiyuan, "We need to pay more attention to things with Marvel. I'm very optimistic about the company's future, especially their copyrights. If they ask for more funding or other resources, we can get more shares. So, we should prioritize the shares."

“Yes, Mr. Yang,” Wu Zhiyuan replied immediately.

Yang Wendong nodded and then asked, "Both Coca-Cola and General Electric have changed CEOs. How much stock do we hold in each of them now?"

In 1981, Coca-Cola and General Electric changed their CEOs, Robert Goizueta and Jack Welch respectively. Both of them were among the top 100 CEOs of the 20th century, like Lee Iacocca of Chrysler.
Historically, Coca-Cola and General Electric had market capitalizations of approximately $40 billion and $130 billion respectively in 1981. However, around 1997, their market capitalizations approached $2000 billion and over $4000 billion respectively. Yang Wendong remembers this because Coca-Cola was invested in by Buffett, and this history was included in Buffett's biography. General Electric, on the other hand, was the only traditional industry company in the late 90s that could compete with IT giants like Microsoft, and it was also included in American business history.
Therefore, after the gold profits came out, Yang Wendong ordered the acquisition of shares in several American giant companies. In terms of stock price increase, these companies' stocks may not be as high as those in the IT industry, but their market value is high and can accommodate enough funds.

Of these, Coca-Cola and General Electric were the ones that Yang Wendong valued most.

Wu Zhiyuan replied, "Currently, we hold approximately 3.8% of Coca-Cola's stock and about 4.2% of GE's stock, and we are continuing to acquire them slowly."

“Okay, then continue the acquisition, speed it up a bit, trigger the 5% warning line directly, and then announce it.” Yang Wendong said, “Best Buy will be listed in a couple of days, I’ll be busy for a while, and I’ll also need to meet with the senior management of these two companies later.”

One of the core purposes of this trip to the United States is the listing of Best Buy. This chain of electronics supermarkets, which he invested heavily in in the United States more than a decade ago, has finally reached the point where it can cash out.

Once listed, the returns on their previous investments will be fully financialized, and they will be able to obtain sufficient funds and resources for further expansion, striving to monopolize a portion of the US market as soon as possible, and even enter overseas markets.

As for General Electric and Coca-Cola, he naturally had no intention of acquiring them, but there were some collaborations to discuss with them, so he made the announcement. In any case, given his current reputation in the United States, there was no need to hide many businesses. Besides, Forbes was about to start monitoring individuals, and these stocks were worth a lot of money, so it might not be able to hide them from their investigations.

“Okay, Mr. Yang.” Wu Zhiyuan smiled and said, “Once Best Buy goes public, its IPO could surpass Apple’s back then. Mr. Yang, you’ll probably become one of the world’s top billionaires.”

Yang Wendong smiled faintly and said, "These kinds of things can have both good and bad outcomes, but they are unavoidable. We'll see how things go."

When a conglomerate has average or slightly above-average rules, it can use certain means to control the media and prevent outsiders from knowing about its activities.

However, when the scale becomes too large, it becomes impossible to conceal, especially for listed companies, whose market value is clear and transparent, and any shareholder can find out their basic information.

This is also an inevitable trend in business development. Best Buy's goal is to become an industry giant, but to make money in the United States, it needs to attract capital from Wall Street. And they need the company to go public so that they can have a clear return.
Most companies in the world are publicly listed, and that's why;
For a company to develop, it cannot rely solely on itself; it needs to bring in capital and strategic resources from others. External capital will only be more eager for the company to go public, thus forming a closed loop of investment returns.

Only a very few companies do not rely on external factors, such as some family businesses in Europe. But if they really develop into top giants, they also have to go public, such as many German car and parts companies. Only Italian companies have managed to hold on.

On May 15, Yang Wendong arrived at the location of the New York Stock Exchange early in the morning and went to the top floor through a special VIP passage;
Quite a few people have already arrived here; they are all representatives from investment banks.

"Haha, Eric, congratulations! Best Buy's IPO today is bound to be a great success." Several men walked over.
Yang Wendong shook hands with each of them and said in a low voice, "Barney, Klaus, Best Buy's listing is not just my achievement. Everyone here is a shareholder, and we share in today's success together."

Best Buy's underwriters are Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Goldman Sachs had worked with Yang Wendong many times before, and Deutsche Bank had worked with him on Mercedes-Benz shares. Involving Deutsche Bank in the IPO was part of the deal.

Barney laughed and said, "Everything is ready. We just need to wait for the time to come, and then we'll go through the process in front of the media and shareholders. I remember you participated in Apple's bell-ringing ceremony. Although Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are a little different, they are roughly the same."

"No problem, I'll just do as you ask." Yang Wendong didn't seem to mind.

When Apple went public, he was just a shareholder, not a member of management, so it didn't matter whether he participated or not; but Best Buy was something he created from scratch, and according to convention, he was required to ring the bell himself, which was unavoidable.

Given her current global status and fame, she wouldn't mind having this opportunity to appear in public.

Barney said, "Alright, just follow my instructions from now on, it's very simple."

"Hmm," Yang Wendong nodded. There would be many more of these kinds of things in the future, and he would have to get used to it.
At 9 a.m., Best Buy's IPO began with the ringing of the bell. After the process of having reporters take photos and conduct interviews, Yang Wendong pressed a button in front of countless reporters, and the electronic bronze bell rang, marking the start of the IPO.

This is different from Nasdaq, where they still use physical tokens, while here they've long since switched to electronic ones, but the meaning is the same.

Best Buy's stock quickly appeared at the top of the exchange charts;
Best Buy's IPO involved dividing its shares into 1 million shares at $23.6 each, valuing the company at $23.6 billion before the IPO.
"Buy 100 lots of Best Buy."

"Buy 250 lots of Best Buy."

Various voices were heard at the exchange; or a large number of phones rang as many people outside bought stocks through agents.
Best Buy's roadshow was clearly a great success, and many people have been waiting for today since they learned about it.

Inside the VIP meeting room above the exchange, Barney, holding a glass of red wine, laughed and said, "Eric, we can celebrate in advance. This IPO is absolutely unprecedentedly successful."

"Haha, good." Yang Wendong also raised his glass;
After Best Buy went public, it not only obtained a large amount of funds, but also proved its value to the top American financial groups. As a result, its future business in the United States will surely be smooth sailing.
Another point is that many American conglomerates or large companies know Yang Wendong, but since his companies are not publicly listed, they don't know the actual size of his business. They can't just believe in the financial power of a foreigner based on rumors.

Once one of his companies goes public, its market value becomes clear: a multi-billion dollar giant company is enough to make any global giant reassess Yang Wendong's financial strength.

Of course, it's not just Best Buy; KFC and other companies will also go public in the US in the future, or he will publicly become a shareholder or even a director of many large companies, all for this purpose.

That afternoon, Best Buy's stock price finally closed at $28.2 per share, with a total market capitalization of $28.2 billion and $3.72 million raised, surpassing Apple to become the largest IPO in the United States in the last 30 years.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)