Chapter 2110: Waxing

When Googlers all over the world started moving because of Feng Yiping's phone call, Robin was sitting on a chartered plane flying back to New York from Chicago.

He is very tired now.

Because yesterday in Chicago, from before breakfast to after dinner, he attended a total of twelve investor meetings.

And this is not an isolated case. He has spent more than ten days like this since he launched his first road show in Hong Kong.

He felt that his throat was dry now, he would cough after speaking a few words, and he would have a headache after coughing a few times.

During the silent period, they hold back very much and feel that there are many things they want to say to the outside world, but cannot.

After the road show started, they finally had a chance to speak. Of course, they still couldn't accept interviews from reporters or make various statements. However, you had to answer all investors' questions.

Many investors in the United States do not understand China or speak Chinese, and are very suspicious of them. Naturally, the questions they ask will be a bit tricky.

The process of answering these questions was naturally not easy, and it made them miss the period of silence. It was really good not to speak.

However, as the road show came to an end, I gained more than just headaches.

At the first stop of the road show, that is, before the Hong Kong road show, they had a difficult negotiation with the underwriter. The main topic of the negotiation was pricing.

Prior to this, the price given by underwriters was US$17-19.

Why set such a price? The underwriters gave many reasons, including a thick pile of materials that would dazzle even professionals.

However, no matter how they explained it, what cases they cited, or what formulas they cited, Robin and the others were not satisfied.

The reason for their dissatisfaction is simply that the price is too low compared to their expectations.

Who wants to be a multi-millionaire when there is a chance, the possibility of becoming a billionaire?

They repeatedly went back and forth with the underwriters, repeatedly emphasizing that based on their understanding of the company, the price was too low.

The main reason is that the Chinese market is huge, and they dominate the Chinese market.

Finally, before the road show began, the underwriters finally agreed to raise the price.

However, it only increased by $2, which is $19-21.

However, investors still showed great enthusiasm, with more than 100 people attending the meeting, and many of them complained that the subscription quota for new shares allocated to Asia was too small.

The quota they allocate to Asia is indeed not much, only 10% of the entire issuance scale.

You should know that they were reluctant to sell this IPO, and the new shares they issued accounted for only 11% of the total share capital.

——Perhaps this is why investors have such great enthusiasm. Because there are so few new stocks, it is relatively easy to raise the price.

Because they got off to a good start in Hong Kong, they were naturally welcomed in London, England. Many investors with bad tempers even interrupted their summer vacations and rushed back to London to participate in their road show.

Coupled with the first road show in the United States, which was also quite popular, they followed the trend and raised the price for the second time, to 21-23 US dollars.

Robin now hopes that this last road show can continue the excitement of the previous one, so that he can raise the price for the third time. But this time, he is not willing to raise the price by another two yuan. He wants to raise the price by two yuan. piece.

He glanced back slightly. The underwriters probably didn't have a big problem, but the other group of people, who still didn't show any joy on their faces even now, might still have problems.

That old guy Schmidt has a very vicious hand.

Google's 2.6% is still hanging on and has no intention of selling it through this IPO. This undoubtedly gives other investors a clear signal that Google still wants to acquire it.

This is where Robin's biggest headache lies.

First of all, they have to do the work of underwriters. You see, your pricing is indeed too low and cannot reflect the value of our company at all.

After trying their best to persuade the underwriters to raise the price, they tried their best to tell the fund managers of all sizes who participated in the road show, "Subscribe. Subscribing to our stocks will definitely bring you good returns in the future." .

In the end, they have to work for investors including DFJ over and over again. Let’s not think about selling the company, and don’t veto this IPO. Relying on China’s huge market, based on our current share , our achievements in the future will definitely exceed your imagination...

Robin now also feels that some of what Schmidt said back then was indeed right.

This IPO is indeed a headache-inducing process, a process where you don’t know the outcome until the last minute.

While he was half asleep with a headache, they arrived in New York again.

…………

Before the last road show, Robin held another investor meeting, "Everyone, I know that everyone has the right to decide whether we can go public in a few days."

When these venture capital investors decided to invest in Wolf Factory, it was clearly stated in the agreement that they had the right to vote to decide whether to go public or not.

"But I want to tell you that in a few days, I will not take a big check from any company and hand my company over,"

"I just hope that in a few days, I can be in Times Square and watch the stock price trend of our company,"

DFJ's representative glanced at the other investors and said, "Robin, you said it very well in the second sentence. This is 'our' company."

I don’t know whether intentionally or unintentionally, Robin said “my company” in the first sentence. In fact, in total, the management team, including him, holds no more than 40% of the shares, and investors hold more than 40% of the shares. 60 shares.

"We understand your sentiments about the company, but you are also aware of general business principles,"

This commercial principle, to put it bluntly, means that if the sale of Wolf Factory brings them greater returns, they will not be inclined to go public.

"You also know that search is a public product facing society. Handing it over to companies with more capabilities and experience will not only benefit you and me, but also benefit society,"

——These American clichés are not covered up.

They often resort to such grand levels as society and the world.

Robin picked up two apples from the fruit bowl on the table, "The green apple in my left hand is our present, and the red apple in my right hand is our future."

"So, do you want to harvest now, or do you want to save it for the future and taste the red apples?"

"What we have to consider is whether this fruit tree can grow," said a representative from DFJ. "Google's knife is very sharp, isn't it? Their recent success in China fully illustrates this point."

…………

Due to the popularity of subscriptions, the last road show was only open to fund managers.

The situation at the scene made Robin feel optimistic. The originally scheduled banquet hall could only accommodate 100 people, but fund managers arrived one after another. So far, there are more than 140 people on site.

Some later fund managers, even those managing multibillion-dollar funds, had to stand against the wall.

"If I remember correctly, China Life, which was 10 times larger than us, did not attract so many fund managers to participate?" He said to the underwriters and shareholders with a smile.

But the questions asked by fund managers are still the same as before. Wolf Factory’s revenue, Wolf Factory’s future market competitiveness... In fact, in the final analysis, there is only one question. In the competition with Google, will Wolf Factory be better in the future? A complete collapse, so that all the stocks they bought became waste paper?

These guys were so arrogant that Robin couldn't believe it. These guys had never heard their explanations from their peers.

However, relatively speaking, these fund managers are still easy to solve. "We all know that China is a huge market. How big is this market? This year, the total number of Internet users in China has exceeded 100 million,"

"Based on the trend in the past five years, China's Internet users have been growing at a rate of more than 20% every year!"

"I believe that through this set of data, everyone will have an intuitive understanding of the Chinese market, and our company is like China's Google. Our share of the Chinese search market exceeds 70%,"

In fact, with the recent increase in Google's share, they now only have more than 60%.

However, if you brag about it properly, it doesn't matter.

"We think about it this way, and say that in the future, even if our market value is only one-tenth of Google's, it will still be close to 8 billion U.S. dollars. Based on our issue price, our market value will only be between 80 and 1 billion U.S. dollars. between,"

"So, subscribing to our shares will definitely bring you high returns in the future,"

…………

After the conference, in a small conference room, representatives of Wolf Factory and some fund managers held a small-scale meeting.

One of the fund managers asked a question, "Robin, we noticed that Google still retains 2.6% of their shares, which undoubtedly indicates that they hope to acquire your company,"

"Doesn't this just illustrate the strength of our company?" Robin said with a smile.

"So, how much would Google offer you to consider selling your company?"

I won't sell it no matter how much the bid is, Robin said to himself, but there are so many people at the scene, including shareholders and representatives of venture capital. In this case, naturally I can only think about it. You can't stop those venture capital investors from making money. Not profitable.

"I have to think about this," he lowered his head and thought for a while, then said something he later regretted very much. "I think if Google offers $2 billion, I will agree."

The person who asked the question raised his index finger to signal everyone to be quiet, then picked up his cell phone and started making a call.

Robin was stunned, is this?

Immediately, the fund manager put down his phone, looked at Robin and the others and said, "Google only has one sentence, cash or stocks?"