In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 155 Financing of Apple
After the funds arrived, Lin Haoran directly converted US$1 million into Hong Kong dollars, and then transferred the money to the HSBC bank account linked to the stock trading. The funds of over million Hong Kong dollars allowed Universal Investment Company to make large acquisitions of Hong Kong Electric Group shares.

Afterwards, he called Su Zhixue and said, "Zhixue, the company's account has sufficient funds. You can speed up the absorption of shares, but try not to raise the stock price too high!"

Although Lin Haoran was wealthy at this time, he did not intend to make the cost of acquiring the Hong Kong Electric Group too high unless it was necessary.

"Okay, boss. I know what to do. By the way, how many shares do we want to acquire?" Su Zhixue asked.

"Anything before 49.9% is fine. You can play around with this, just don't exceed 50%!" Lin Haoran said directly.

With 49.9% of the shares, he basically doesn't have to worry about anyone snatching the Hong Kong Electric Group away from him.

At the beginning of the month, the bank account used specifically to absorb shares was already out of money.

However, the shares of Hong Kong Electric Group held by Lin Haoran also rose to around 24.5%.

Therefore, the plan to absorb Hong Kong Electric Group was temporarily put on hold.

Now that we have sufficient funds, it is natural to start the acquisition of Hong Kong Electric Group.

From the time he set his sights on the Hong Kong Electric Group to now, Lin Haoran has spent approximately HK$4.3 million on the Hong Kong Electric Group, and eventually acquired 24.5% of the Hong Kong Electric Group's shares.

At the beginning, the share price of Hong Kong Electric Group was only around HK$2.4 per share, but now, after such a long period of growth, it has risen to HK$3.2, and it has only been 7 months.

The increase is very fast, but there is nothing that can be done about it, because most of the stocks in Hong Kong are rising now, not just the Hong Kong Electric Group.

Even if Universal Investments does not absorb HK Electric's shares, the share price of HK Electric will continue to rise.

Even so, the Hong Kong Electric Group is still very cost-effective today.

Although the market value has soared to HK$20 billion, it is still very low compared to its true value.

However, since there is sufficient funding now and it is no longer an obstacle, Lin Haoran naturally plans to settle the matter of the Hong Kong Electric Group as soon as possible. This matter must be settled as soon as possible while other giants have not yet set their sights on the Hong Kong Electric Group.

Only 24.5% of the shares were not enough to make him completely reassured.

After explaining everything to Su Zhixue, Lin Haoran felt relieved.

Now that the money has arrived, he can go back to Hong Kong at any time.

However, before going back, he still had one thing to do.

Lin Haoran is going to Silicon Valley.

During this period, he went to the Citibank headquarters building almost every day and got a piece of news during the conversation.

Computer maker Apple is currently seeking financing.

Apple's Apple III series of products is about to be successfully developed.

However, Apple also spent a lot of money to develop this new product.

Today, the company is clearly short of funds.

Therefore, Apple took out a portion of its shares in the hope of raising funds to prepare for the continued development of this new product and its subsequent promotion.

Citibank is the investment company they hope to raise funds from.

This matter was revealed to him by John Reed because Citibank was not very interested in financing Apple.

However, Citibank was not very interested, but Lin Haoran was very interested in it.

Because he knows how great the future of Apple is.

Nowadays, you don’t need to invest too much in financing, and you will get rich returns in the future.

According to what he knew about Apple in his previous life, Apple will go public in December this year.

Obviously, Apple III was a product that was fully prepared for market launch, and its importance to Apple is self-evident.

Lin Haoran also knew that Apple III was actually a failed product.

The Apple III no longer included a built-in clock/calendar function, and the computer had no internal fan, which made the Apple III a failure. Eventually, a replacement product, the Apple III Plus, had to be developed.

However, these have too much to do with Lin Haoran.

He also had no intention of commenting on Apple's products, because he knew that if he said too much, Apple might go on a different trajectory, and no one knew what the future would be like.

Rather than taking such risks, it is better not to interfere in Apple’s affairs. Just holding shares is enough!
As long as he continues to hold Apple shares, the company's market value will exceed $100 billion in more than 20 years. In the next 30 or 40 years, the total market value will exceed $2 trillion.

Such a high-quality enterprise is still unlisted and is seeking financing. Naturally, he must seize such a good opportunity.

So, after learning about this matter, Citibank was not very interested in it, so he asked Citibank to help him contact Apple without hesitation.

It was just a matter of convenience for them. Now that Lin Haoran was an important client of Citibank, John Reed naturally agreed very readily.

In New York, he has nothing to do for the time being.

So, on January 1, Lin Haoran said goodbye to Citibank Chairman Walter Reston and Senior Vice President John Reed, and then took Li Weidong and Li Weiguo away from New York and flew from New York to San Francisco.

Apple's headquarters is located in Cupertino, in the Silicon Valley area south of San Francisco, not far from San Francisco International Airport.

Seven hours later, the plane landed safely at San Francisco International Airport.

After getting off the plane, it was already evening.

Lin Haoran is not in a hurry to go to Apple.

Citibank had already arranged a meeting time for him at 1 a.m. on January 24, so there was no rush.

After leaving San Francisco International Airport, Lin Haoran took a taxi with two bodyguards and stayed at a luxury hotel near Chinatown in San Francisco.

After putting our luggage away, we went to Chinatown in San Francisco and found an authentic Sichuan restaurant for dinner.

During the more than 20 days in New York, he ate Western food most of the time and only occasionally went to Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. He was already tired of Western food.

To Lin Haoran, Chinese food is still better, both rich and delicious, while Western food is too monotonous.

San Francisco's Chinatown is the largest in the western United States and can be compared to New York's Chinatown. It is centered at the intersection of Doban Street and California Street. Chinatown forms an area with Bush Street, Powell Street, Broadway Street, and Kearney Street as its scope.

There are about 100,000 overseas Chinese living here. What they write and hear are all in Chinese, and what they see are all very traditional Chinese styles. It is like a small China.

Therefore, when walking in these places, Lin Haoran always feels very familiar.

After strolling around San Francisco's Chinatown for more than an hour, Lin Haoran left Chinatown with his bodyguards and returned to the hotel to rest.

At eight o'clock the next morning, he went out again and took a taxi outside the hotel to Apple in Cupertino. In the morning in San Francisco, perhaps because of the rush hour, the road was a little congested, and it took them an hour and a half to arrive at Apple.

20863 (3) Stevens Creek Boulevard, Building C, Cupertino, California, is the headquarters of Apple.

The office building isn't very large, but compared to when they first started, they obviously have a lot more employees now.

The entire office building is filled with busy figures.

Apple’s current success is attributed to the success of Apple II, which was also the source of their confidence in going public.

The Apple III, which was under development, was their hope for increasing their market value.

Therefore, Apple III is very important to the entire Apple company, otherwise they would not have chosen to continue financing in order to develop a better Apple III.

After explaining his purpose, Lin Haoran was quickly taken to an office.

Here, he met the famous leader Steve Jobs.

Of course, the current Steve Jobs is still the younger version of Jobs, which is somewhat different from the Jobs in his impression.

When he saw Lin Haoran, Jobs was stunned at first, and couldn't help but say: "I didn't expect that the investor introduced by Citibank would be so young!"

"Mr. Jobs, aren't you young as well? Let me introduce myself first. My name is Lin Haoran. I'm from Hong Kong, and I'm a partner of Citibank!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Indeed, Steve Jobs is only 25 years old this year.

Lin Haoran is also 25 years old now, but after his birthday this year, he will be 26 years old.

So the two of them are actually about the same age.

Hearing Lin Haoran's words, Jobs also laughed.

We are all young people, so it is easier to get along with us.

In the past few years, Jobs has also suffered a lot of hardships as a young man. Many people do not trust him and his team because they are too young.

"Mr. Lin, in order to give you a deeper understanding of our company, I will first take you to visit our various departments and tell you about the current situation of the company." Jobs said after shaking hands with Lin Haoran.

"Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Jobs." Lin Haoran nodded. He was also somewhat curious about Apple in this era.

Afterwards, Jobs spent more than half an hour taking Lin Haoran to visit various departments. During the visit, he continued to explain the honors they had received and some future plans.

The office building was not very big, so they actually spent more time staying in one place, with Jobs explaining and Lin Haoran listening.

"Mr. Lin, let's go to the conference room and talk." Jobs stood up and said with a smile.

"Of course." Lin Haoran nodded.

Soon, Jobs brought Lin Haoran to a meeting room that was only more than 20 square meters in size.

In addition to Steve Jobs, there were four other people, namely Steve Gary Wozniak, Michael Scott, Mike Markkula, and Rod Holt.

These five people basically cover the most important people in Apple today.

At the scene, Steve Jobs and Steve Gary Wozniak were both the original founders of Apple.

Mike Markkula was a previous investor in Apple. He invested $25 in Apple in the first year of its establishment, laying the foundation for Apple's rapid expansion.

Rod Holt was a very important engineer in the development of Apple II and also owned shares in Apple.

As for Michael Scott, he was the first CEO of Apple.

Because both Jobs and Wozniak lacked management experience, at the lobbying of Mike Markkula, Michael Scott jumped to Apple in 1977 and became the company's first CEO.

Inside the office, six people were sitting at the conference table, and the eyes of five important figures from Apple were all focused on Lin Haoran.

Citigroup had previously told him that Apple was seeking $10 million in financing by offering 1000% of its shares.

Lin Haoran had no problem with this at all, and he had no intention of bargaining.

As far as I can remember, at the end of this year, Apple's market value after its listing reached 18 billion US dollars. Overnight, Apple created four billionaires and more than 4 millionaires.

But now, you can get 1000% for 10 million US dollars, which is a great deal.

Of course, he also knew that the equity would be diluted to a certain extent after the IPO, and after subsequent dilutions, the equity would be even less, but Lin Haoran didn't care at all.

After dilution, just find a way to absorb it back.

If you maintain a 10% stake, then imagine that when Apple's market value exceeds 10 trillion US dollars, and you hold % of the shares, these shares alone will be worth more than billion US dollars!
Now that he has a huge amount of money in his hands, $1000 million has little impact on him.

The investment is not large and the return rate is considerable. This is his favorite thing to do.

He has not considered seeking a larger stake, which could easily change Apple's trajectory.

10% is neither too much nor too little, just right. It will not affect Apple nor lead to too many changes.

It is enough to be an investor who doesn't care about anything.

"Mr. Lin, after visiting our company, do you have any questions? Do you have any opinions about investing in our company?" Jobs spoke first.

Jobs holds the largest number of shares among these people, which means that he is the major shareholder of Apple.

In the second year of Apple's establishment, another founder, Ronald Gerald Wayne, chose to withdraw from Apple, and eventually Jobs bought Ronald Gerald Wayne's 800% stake for $10.

Later, the equity continued to change due to financing from other people and the subsequent joining of important employees.

Last year, in order to achieve technological breakthroughs, Apple raised funds and obtained 16 investors at once.

These 16 investors did not hold many shares, so the amount of funds raised was not much either. Within a few months, most of the funds were spent.

So now they have plans to raise funds again, and they will go for a big one, raising 10%, with a target of 1000 million US dollars!
To this day, Jobs is still the largest shareholder, while Mike Markkula is the second largest shareholder, and the third largest shareholder is Steve Gary Wozniak.

"Everyone, when I chose to come here, I had actually agreed to this financing, so I agreed to invest 1000 million US dollars in Apple!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jobs and others instantly showed excited smiles.

$1000 million, got it!

This $1000 million injection is very important to Apple.

(End of this chapter)