Chapter 428 The Killing Stick!

——The man who can make Michael Jordan lose two championship rings in one season! This is not human at all!

——Yes, this is an alien!

——Basketball alien, Lin Dong!

——What’s even worse is that this guy casually gave away what he won from the God of Basketball to others. Does this mean he doesn’t care? Still don’t like it?

——The alien wants to tell everyone that he doesn’t need other people’s things, championship rings, he can get them himself if he wants them!

——The biggest shame in Michael Jordan's life is that his championship ring was despised...

——The net worth skyrocketed! An auction house revealed that several wealthy people have shown great interest in this ring. If Payton is willing to publicly auction this ring, which was lost to Michael Jordan, its price is conservatively estimated at more than 2 million US dollars, which will definitely set an NBA record. Auction record for a championship ring!

Obviously, this ring has a very unique label.

It not only means a championship for the God of Basketball, but also means the defeat of the God of Basketball, the overlap of two eras, an eight-year grudge, and the inheritance of a throne... …

The overwhelming discussion made this matter a hot search on the Internet, and the nickname Lin Dong Alien was completely spread across the United States.

And Under Armor, which has just completed its 90th public offering day and successfully listed, its market value has increased five times in just over three months, and its stock price has stabilized at US$65, is also striking while the iron is hot, using the classic golden red of the previous generation of dragon shoes. model, paired with 'alien' sneakers with a sense of futuristic technology. When the concept model was just released on the official website, it was already sold out by crazy fans, so much so that the orders have already been scheduled for next year...

The stock market is booming, brand influence is increasing rapidly, and Kevin Plank has entered the Forbes rich list for the first time with 31% of Under Armour's equity and a net worth of US$3.6 billion.

For Kevin Plank, who only had one factory and a niche brand two years ago, to be able to achieve what he has achieved now in just two years, frankly speaking, this is more than just a business legend. Interpreted.

Judging from the current situation, Under Armor's development prospects are bright, but the scale of the factory has really failed to keep up with demand.

Even though he has expanded once in the past two years and built a more advanced factory in Maryland, he still cannot keep up with the production demand. He plans to make a big move.

Within one year, we will expand at least 5 more factories in Washington State, Texas and Illinois, and at the same time add at least 200 specialty stores across the United States, and add 10 flagship stores in several important states. Dema has been completely promoted from a niche brand to the first-line level.

However, increasing fixed assets, training new employees, purchasing land, government channels, etc.

Money is needed everywhere, and a new round of contract renewal with Lin Dong has been put on the agenda. Plank estimates that by the end of this year, when the contract renewal with Lin Dong is completed, if he wants to achieve all his plans, at least A huge sum of 4 billion US dollars is needed, and 3.5 billion is probably enough. However, continued investment in the future will probably run the risk of breaking the funds.

And Under Armor is currently relying on this wave of public offerings to add nearly 3 billion US dollars to its books. Even if some of its own personal assets and the company's own working capital are added, it is still far from enough.

Either reduce investment and slow down the pace of progress, or you need to dilute your equity and sell some shares.

If you choose the latter, you can easily lose control of the company.

How to choose?

Frankly speaking, most entrepreneurs become paralyzed when faced with sudden wealth, and this is the time when individuals relax their vigilance the most.

But Kevin Plank is not. The reason why he started from scratch is by no means reckless and impulsive. His vision of the market is quite ruthless and accurate.

He had carefully considered the matter of diluting his equity.

Lin Dong's greatest personal influence is estimated to be in the past two years. After all, not only has he reached the top, but there is no second Jordan in the NBA who can surpass him. At the same time, this is also the level of consumers' perception of him. A period of the freshest and hottest consumption impulse.

And if Under Armor misses these two years of prime development time and wants to expand like this in the future, then it may be slowed down by more than just one or two years.

Moreover, Nike and Adidas are now in the most fierce competition. Once either of the two wins, it will be a unification of the national sports market. By then, if Under Armor has not become a real brand, The front line will become vulnerable to the two major companies that have freed up their hands.

By then, even if Lin Dong's popularity remains, even if Under Armor can survive relying on this brand spokesperson, it will completely lose the opportunity to expand and seize the market. After all, you, Nike and Adidas are not competitors of the same size at all. .

He is fully aware of the dangers of diluting his equity, but how can he profit without taking risks?

The so-called snipe and clam compete for the fisherman's profit. Now is the best time and only opportunity for Under Armor to expand.

He knew that Nike had purchased some shares of Under Armor on a large scale, but judging from the fact that Under Armor had only issued 44% of the shares, it was expected that Nike would not hold more than 20%. After all, according to his understanding and some supervision, the transaction Most of the accounts are retail investors.

He owns 31% of the equity and Lin Dong owns 15%, which adds up to 46%.

Plank has considerable trust in Lin Dong. During the past two years of cooperation, he has frequently contacted Lin Dong for various exchanges.

An ambitious but trustworthy man from the Dragon Kingdom, who is not greedy about money and has never had a good impression of Nike, is unlikely to turn against him on this matter.

And those who control the other 10% are a few partners who worked hard with him to build a business from scratch, including some of his relatives, who are absolutely trustworthy.

Adding up to 56% of the shares, even if 10% is sold now, it still has 46% of the shares. No matter how much Nike absorbs the shares of retail investors, it is impossible to buy out all the shares of retail investors. It is impossible to exceed 40%. You can still continue to control the company.

Plank finally made his decision.

Reluctant to let go of his children, he couldn't trap this wolf. Opportunities are often hidden in dangers. As the saying goes, wealth can be found in danger, so he decided to take advantage of it!

Of course, even so, it's best to find a buyer you can trust.

It just so happened that he knew such a person.

Plank hesitated for a long time, and finally dialed a number.

"Hi, Chu!" he said with a smile.

Yes, Chu, an oriental surname.

The person in charge of SoftBank Group in the United States, a venture capital firm from Japan, is now the most famous venture capital firm in the United States and even the world.

And Chu is their person in charge in the United States, a businessman from the Dragon Kingdom like Lin.

As a fairly neutral venture capital company, their main investment target is the IT industry, and I only met Chu by chance.

Although they only met a few times, Plank admired him very much. He not only had business acumen, but also had feelings and ideals. His vision was very unique, and he had a very accurate grasp of various future business markets. He was a very rare person in the investment industry. A cross-track investor.

This guy understands Under Armor's potential and is definitely a qualified, neutral, long-term holder.

"Hi, long time no see." Chu's hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone, just like his sunny personality.

Without being too polite, Plank went straight to the point and asked with a smile: "I want to sell some Under Armour shares. Are you interested in chatting?"

…………

Portland, Nike headquarters.

Chu Bufan, who had just hung up the phone, spread his hands helplessly at Phil Knight: "What should I say? You even timed the call correctly, which made me feel like I was in the game. I still like it better. Be a chess player, not a chess piece.”

"This has no loss for you at all, right?" Phil Knight laughed and said: "You only need to hold 10% of the equity in your hands. Under Armor's stock price will not make you lose money, no matter what Whatever the stock price is, you can sell it to me at the current price plus a 10% increase at any time, and I will accept the order. Of course, if you make more, it will be yours. I will not destroy your neutrality, as long as you keep it. Just be truly neutral. How about that? Do you need to sign a contract?”

"You want to sideline Plank and control Under Armor's voice?" Chu Bufan did not immediately answer the other party's question about whether he needed to sign a contract, but asked with a smile: "I'm curious, do you control Under Armor now?" How many shares are there?”

Phil Knight smiled and held up three fingers.

"But this is far from enough." Chu Bufan said: "Even if Plank sells 10% to me, he still has 21% in hand, plus Lin Dong's 15% and his relatives and friends' 10%. According to As far as I know, Lin Dong is not the kind of person who backstabs his allies for money. I am neutral about your 30% stake. How else can you control his company? Do you have a way to take over Lin Dong? East?"

Phil Knight laughed.

He asked someone to do a character analysis on Lin Dong. The possibility that Lin Dong would agree to stab Under Armor in the back was indeed very small, but this did not mean that Plank's relatives and friends could also hold on to their stocks...

"Hahaha, this is a business secret and I refuse to disclose it. Anyway, no matter what I do, it won't affect your money, right?" Phil Knight said with a smile: "For the sake of being an old friend, I also For the sake of money..."

"It seems that we have a plan in mind, let's sign a contract." Chu Bufan said no more. As the head of a venture capital company, all he needs is to be responsible for money. Of course, he must also be moral as much as possible. : "I will remain absolutely neutral, but within three years, I can unconditionally sell these stocks to you at 110% of the current market price. The initiative is in my hands. Is there anything else I need to add?"

"Mr. Chu is so cheerful, hahaha, there's nothing to add, it's a pleasure to work with you!"

………………

While Under Armor received a large amount of funds and began to expand wildly, the NBA 03-04 regular season finally began.

As a former championship team, and as a new generation of destiny children with the reputation of defeating Michael Jordan, Lin Dong and the SuperSonics have obviously attracted the attention of almost all fans.

Whether it is in the Dragon Kingdom, Japan, or currently across the United States, it is absolutely well-deserved to say that Lin Dong is the hottest new star and the most popular player in the league today.

And everyone is also staring at the SuperSonics' first game of the regular season.

As last year's championship, the first opponent was the Charlotte Bobcats, who were last last year and had just completed a preseason game with the SuperSonics.

This... is a complete grudge match!

Frankly speaking, no one is optimistic about the Bobcats, but this involves a very interesting topic, that is, how many points will the Sonics beat the Bobcats?

Judging from the situation when the two teams met in the preseason, if the SuperSonics really let go, they will definitely have enough strength to beat the Bobcats by more than 50 points.

But the problem is that the Sonics had just humiliated the Bobcats with a big score in the preseason, and then it was revealed that this was because Bobcats owner Michael Jordan had defaulted on a championship ring.

Michael Jordan also wisely chose to fulfill his promise in this matter and gave his 1996 championship ring to Lin Dong.

It stands to reason that the God of Basketball has bowed his head. Is this enough respect?

The Bobcats were beaten twice in a row, so they should have had enough of their grievances, right?

A slap in the face is not a slap in the face, so whether it is out of humanitarianism or worldliness, the SuperSonics should give the Bobcats some slack in this opening game.

All parties predict that the Sonics will have a high probability of winning by about 10-20 points, and Lin Dong and Payton may not play more than 40 minutes combined.

So on October 22nd, the SuperSonics home court...

Although the Key Arena was still being renovated and expanded, and the Sonics were playing in an auxiliary arena with outdated facilities, the venue was still packed early.

As always, Yang Dong twisted her two LV bags and sat directly on the SuperSonics bench. After all, this is the home court. The boss has the final say where to sit. It is obviously closer to the stadium and the tiles are more intimidating!

The two teams also ushered in the first game of the new season with cheers from the audience.

"Hey, Brother Takato, how are we going to fight this time?" Sakuragi Hanamichi asked.

From Sakuragi's point of view, the Bobcat guy named Walburn cut off Rukawa Kaede's little finger. This was a deadly feud. When they met, there was no need to ask how to beat him. He could just beat him to death.

But after all, I have read a lot of reports in the past two days, and I have seen some predictions about the score, inferences about the sophistication of the two teams, etc.

To put it bluntly, the NBA is a business league with a performance nature. You have to understand the ways of the world, otherwise it will be difficult not only for individuals to survive, but also for the team to survive in the league.

When it comes to the interests of the team, even if there are some personal grievances, the overall situation must still be taken into consideration.

Unexpectedly, Lin Dong hadn't answered yet, but Yang Dong next to him had already said, "Isn't that Rukawa Kaede from our Storm team?"

"Yes." Sakuragi Hanamichi replied subconsciously.

"Then fight to the death." Yang Dong said domineeringly: "If you can win 100 points, you will definitely not win 99!"

"This..." McMillan said in a dumbfounded voice, "Isn't this a bad influence?"

"The influence of farts!" Yang Dong said with a smile: "Isn't this a member of our team? If you don't avenge him, anyone will dare to jump on our heads and shit on us in the future, then the influence will be bad! "

McMillan may understand football, but he really doesn't understand people as well as Yang Dong.

In the past few months, she has been studying the NBA whenever she has nothing to do, studying the history of the NBA, studying the development process of the NBA, studying the core of various hot topics in the NBA, etc., and also looking at the current evaluation and attitude of the SuperSonics. .

This allowed her to sum up a lot of things.

The Sonics are now in a state of decline, like a tiger being targeted by a pack of wolves.

Tigers are very strong, but no matter how strong they are, they can't defeat enough wolves.

The confrontation of head-on strength is okay. Even if we lose, we can still practice and improve ourselves, but we are afraid of injuries and the possibility that some bad guys in the NBA will do something to the Sonics.

So at times like this, we have to be tougher, even tougher than normal in the NBA.

When you meet an evil person, you have to be even more evil than him! Otherwise, everyone will want to step on you when the time comes, and not even a tiger can withstand the fearless attack of a pack of wolves.

The Sonics will definitely encounter a lot of trouble this season, but at least they have to eliminate the biggest threat at the beginning of the season.

And her two bags of bricks have been a little bit hard to scare people recently, because they have never been smashed since she made the harsh words, and people don't believe it!

Many people made fun of her on the Internet, or when they teased some bad guys in the NBA, those bad guys showed a dismissive attitude. Many people even responded to the provocation of fans. She was eager to touch her bricks, as if she didn't intend to cause trouble for Sonics, but wanted to touch them deliberately, 'I dare to hit Sonics, but I don't believe that woman really dares to hit her.' That feeling...

So today she came well prepared. Even the tiles were specially made. She had even investigated the background of the Bobcats guy named Walburn. That guy had no background before he entered the NBA. A street gangster, now that he has gained some fame and money, he was hit by a group of street gangsters in Charlotte. He is just a typical little character who bullies the weak and fears the strong.

He has no alliance background and no media resources, so he can get whatever he wants. He belongs to the type where if he loses it, he will lose it.

Then don't blame yourself for using you to sacrifice the flag... Today I am going to use the problem of Shanmao and Rukawa Kaede to cause trouble!

Of course, she actually knew Rukawa Kaede, and only met him once when he signed a contract with the Storm. Whether Rukawa Kaede was wronged or not was none of her business...

But this is to win people's hearts, and secondly, more importantly, Dragon Kingdom has had a killing power since ancient times. Today, it is just an excuse to give those bad guys in the NBA a killing blow.

While she was giving instructions to Sakuragi Hanamichi, she was searching for a target on the opposite Bobcats' bench, and quickly locked onto the big boss named Walburn.

"Sakuragi, lock him down and don't let him score! Even if you drag him directly to the ground!"

McMillan and Lin Dong both couldn't laugh or cry when they heard this, but Hanamichi Sakuragi's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly: "Okay! Okay, Mother Lin, I understand! I won't let that bad guy score!"

"What's so good, you understand? I haven't even finished my words! The score is not important. What's important is that you make more small moves and the intensity of the confrontation is greater. It's better to spray more trash talk. Why don't you listen to me? Scold, curse in your ears, the stadium is so noisy anyway, and the audio collection equipment in this arena is old, so you can’t take pictures... In short! Make him angry, make him violent, if you provoke him to attack you..."

"Haha, you have completed your task." Yang Dong chuckled: "As soon as he makes a move, you don't have to worry about the rest. Remember, you are responsible for teasing him. Don't do it yourself stupidly. I am behind you. thing!"

McMillan and Payton looked at each other at this moment, both shaking their heads in confusion, knowing that this boss who was very capable and energetic was going to cause trouble again.

Frankly speaking, this boss is really the only one in the NBA. All the other team bosses want to pretend to be bosses and sit in the VIP hall all the time. But this boss is better. He thinks about how to end the game and starts a fight every day...

But this doesn't seem to be a bad thing, and the boss is thick on the outside and delicate on the inside, and he is very measured in his hands. Instead of worrying about her, it is better to watch the show in peace.

Lin Dongquan pretended not to hear, and warmed up beside him, letting his mother perform.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes shone brightly: "Okay, Mother Lin! Leave it to me!"