Chapter 433 Deal

300 million in 2 years...

Frankly speaking, Kevin Plank was really surprised when he heard Lin Dong's final conditions.

After two years of communication, he originally thought that this guy from the Dragon Kingdom was only in love with basketball, that he was indifferent to money and fame, and could easily handle it with just a little friendship, but he didn't expect that in the end he would be like this. One hand.

But this surprise only lasted for a moment. Plank thought of Lin Dong's mother Yang Dong, the new generation of female spokesperson and Supersonic boss who has become popular in the United States.

That was a true doer who came across the ocean and built a business worth billions of dollars from scratch in just a dozen years. After Yang Dong became famous on the court, she had been involved in lawsuits with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and fought repeatedly. The story of her repeated defeats but repeated defeats was also dug up by reporters, allowing people to see her shrewdness and strength in addition to her recklessness on the court.

With such a mother, will her son suffer? Would she not understand the commercial value of her son? Would she not know how much money her son should get?

Thinking of this, Plank was relieved. It was not that he had misjudged the Asian boy, but that he had just targeted the wrong target...

To renew Lin Dong's contract, Plank's biggest reliance was Lin Dong's 15% stake in Under Armor. He was certain that Lin Dong would not let it depreciate.

But if the opponent is Yang Dong, and after Nike has set out conditions to acquire Lin Dong's 15% equity at any time, this advantage will no longer exist.

Once the cause of the problem is found, all that's left is to solve the problem.

Plank calculated it carefully.

Lin Dong's asking price of 300 million in the past two years is really tough. Even if Under Armor completes its expansion, this amount of money will almost take away more than 50% of Under Armor's profit in two years.

Before Lin Dong, no player dared to ask for such conditions. This cooperation was no longer a cooperation, but a direct effort to let the company work for the players.

But he seemed to have no choice.

By agreeing to this condition, the loss is nothing more than profits, but the company can continue to develop rapidly. At the company's current expansion rate, after one or two years of completing this rapid expansion, Under Armor's size should no longer matter. Several hundred million.

And if he doesn't agree, Lin Dong turns around and signs with Nike and sells 15% of his shares. Not only will it mean that Under Armour's stock, sales, etc. will experience a plummet, but delisting may not be enough. But at the very least, the market value plummeted by half.

Then it will no longer be a question of hundreds of millions...

Of course, a two-year short-term contract also seems to mean a lot of variables, but Lin Dong's attitude on the length of time seems to be very determined, and he obviously intends to use this wave to put pressure on Nike and get more chips.

Thinking of this, Plank quickly made up his mind.

Say yes, and do it quickly!

This kind of thing naturally requires the unanimous consent of the board of directors. Although it has only been listed for a few months, some of the procedures for listed companies have been perfected in Under Armor.

Of course, almost all board members are family members, so this is just a process that can be completed in an afternoon.

But accidents often occur in this kind of link that you think is the easiest.

There are currently 21 people on the board of directors, 8 of whom are company veterans who hold 10% of the shares and are also his confidants. In addition, he and Lin Dong hold 36%... This is the contract that Lin Dong wants, and of course he does not Probably cast his own no vote.

Therefore, 46% of the say can determine everything. The remaining 11 small shareholders who purchased the company's shares sporadically after the listing only have about 15%, and basically have no voting rights.

"...That's it, let's vote with a show of hands." Plank announced the two-year, RMB 500 million contract to the board of directors, following the general process to indicate that everyone could vote.

But when he raised his hand for the first time, the huge conference room was quiet, and only his son Plank, who held 1.2% of the shares, raised his hand.

Several brothers who had started from scratch with him were all silent at this time, and the remaining small shareholders just sat quietly, with no intention of expressing their opinions.

Plank frowned secretly.

What do you mean?

He looked at the old brothers doubtfully, but all he saw were evasive looks.

Although the total equity of the few of them plus those small shareholders is only 23.5%, and they can't influence anything at all, a bad feeling has already arisen in Plank's heart, and then...

Bang bang bang.

There was a gentle knock on the door in the conference room.

Plank turned around and saw that it was Chu Bufan who came in.

This shocked Plank. Was he being plotted by this guy?

It shouldn't be... Before buying and selling the equity, Chu Bufan had already expressed his absolute neutrality. Coupled with SoftBank's own background and reputation, this was the reason why Plank dared to sell the stock to him with confidence.

There is no way that guy can participate in the company's decision-making! Although there are no legal restrictions on this, I did record the verbal agreement. As long as the recording is released, it will directly destroy SoftBank's reputation and credibility.

They are venture capital giants with a global market value of hundreds of billions. There is no need to tarnish their reputation in the global business community just for the sake of billions. Otherwise, who would dare to invest in them in the future?

But... what is he doing here now?

Chu Bufan motioned to the beautiful blond female secretary who was following him to stay outside the conference room. He walked in, found a place to sit down casually, and said with a smile: "Hey, Kevin, don't pay attention to me, I'm just here to see you." Just like our transaction, I remain absolutely neutral.”

Going to the theater? What show are you watching?

Before Plank could recover, another middle-aged man in his 50s had already walked in from behind, causing Plank's expression to change suddenly.

Phyllis!

CEO of Nike Inc. Investments!

When Phyllis came in, an Under Armor veteran brother who was originally sitting on Plank's left stood up. While avoiding Plank's eyes, he automatically made room for Phyllis.

Phyllis sat down and said at the same time: "The endorsement fee of 300 million for two years without such a short-term contract is a huge harm to all the directors of the company, so... I object."

He smiled and raised his hand.

This time, everyone else on the board raised their hands without hesitation.

Plank said coldly: "Why do you have this? This is Under Armour's board of directors, please get out."

Phyllis threw a stack of documents in front of Plank with a smile: "I have acquired 16.3 shares of Under Armor. I am the second largest shareholder of Under Armor today."

He looked around at the people who raised their hands: "Including theirs, the total number of shares held is 39.7, and you only hold 21%. Even if Mr. Plank Jr. and Lin Dong's shares are added, it is only 36.5%."

As he said that, he looked at Chu Bufan who was sitting on the side.

Chu Bufan smiled and said, "I remain neutral."

Phyllis then turned her head and opened her hands to Plank: "Now, do you understand your situation? Mr. Kevin?"

Plank felt as if he had been struck by lightning at this moment. He sat in his position blankly, looking around at the elder brothers who had worked hard together. They all lowered their heads in shame.

Frankly speaking, forget about those small shareholders. Plank can now guess with his toes that they are originally from Nike, so-called 'retail investors' used to distract him and confuse his judgment.

But Plank never thought that he would be betrayed by the company veterans just a few months after it was launched.

Maybe they were taken advantage of by Nike, or maybe they fell into the trap of some debt dispute, but that is no longer important.

The purpose of Nike's opposition to this contract is already obvious. It is to poach Lin Dong and squeeze out Under Armor as a potential competitor. They don't care about Under Armor's life or death at all, nor do they care about Under Armor's life or death. They don’t care whether the stocks in their hands will depreciate significantly because of this. After controlling Under Armor’s voice and successfully signing Lin Dong, Under Armor will no longer be valuable to them. They will rush to Under Armor. Before a rapid collapse, he sold his shares aggressively.

Even if the price when Nike purchased Under Armour's shares in the early stage was far from as high as it is now, the loss must have been huge, and the loss on a single share price would have been at least around 1 billion.

Normal people wouldn't do this, but unfortunately, Nike doesn't care. It has obviously been regarded by Nike as a normal investment to target Lin Dong and squeeze out potential competitors.

I thought they were in a fierce battle with Adidas and wouldn't be able to deal with me, but I didn't expect...

Taking into account the contract that Nike previously issued to Lin Dong, Nike has invested at least 4 billion US dollars in this matter, and it also includes a stable investment that will increase in the long term after signing the contract with Lin Dong.

Only then did Plank realize what a mistake he had made.

He knew that Lin Dong was valuable, but he really didn't expect that Nike would go to such a crazy point in order to get Lin Dong. It was almost crazy!

It's because he underestimated his opponent too much.

Plank's whole body suddenly went limp and he slumped down on the chair.

In business, with his acumen for the business market, understanding of sports products, etc., he is indeed very good.

But when it comes to capital markets, he is really just a beginner. Facing an opponent like Nike, he can't even last a year.

Just like capital is as deep as the sea...

Are you still thinking about expansion at this most dangerous time?

Plank knew Under Armor was finished.

………………

It was a few days later when Lin Dong learned about Under Armor.

Frankly speaking, I was a little surprised and a little emotional.

He has always had a good impression of Under Armour. Even though he had previously thought about not renewing the contract due to interests, he at least still hoped that Under Armour could continue to survive.

After all, in the future, even without him Lin Dong, Under Armor will still develop well. It has also signed many sports stars that Lin Dong likes very much, such as Curry, such as Zhang Weili of the UFC, etc., and for Dragon Kingdom consumers It has always maintained its original intention. Even in the most politically correct era in the United States, it has not been involved in various messy dragon-shaming incidents by European and American companies.

A fairly pure sports brand.

Unexpectedly...

In Lin Dong's view, Plank's best choice now is to sell Under Armor while the stock price is still there or directly sell Under Armour to Nike and let Nike complete the acquisition.

Then Plank can escape unscathed and live a happy life with at least two to three billion US dollars in his hands.

But during the phone call with Plank, the self-made business legend seemed to have no intention of giving up.

Not only did he not intend to sell the remaining stocks in his hand, but he intended to reduce the size, firmly control the existing capital flow, wait for Lin Dong's contract to be terminated, and wait for Nike to get what they want and start selling. When the stock gave Under Armor the final blow, he used the funds in his hand to stabilize Under Armor's stock price, reacquired the stocks he sold, and regained control of Under Armor.

It is foreseeable that Under Armour's market value will inevitably plummet, and even the factories that were expanded last year may be closed due to overcapacity. It seems that it has returned to the scale of the small factory overnight. Two years of hard work will completely destroy all the factories. If all goes to waste, Plank will fall back from being a billionaire to the position of a small boss, and he may even be ordered to delist.

Between escaping and becoming a billionaire or keeping the Under Armor brand and getting back to where he was starting all over again, this guy chose the latter.

Frankly speaking, Lin Dong quite admired his determination, so when Plank proposed to acquire the stocks in Lin Dong's hands, Lin Dong readily agreed and sold it to him at a price of about 60% of the market value, equivalent to 900 million US dollars.

30% is a small tribute to Plank. Moreover, after Nike took control of Under Armor, Plank currently does not have much funds that he can freely mobilize. He will not have more funds for the time being. Can't take it out.

But more importantly, only Lin Dong himself knew that Nike's condition of agreeing to his 100% acquisition was impossible to implement.

Because I will not agree to a lifetime contract with Nike, if I seek a short-term contract, Nike will not be able to provide this condition. They will only use this condition as a bargaining chip to coerce themselves into agreeing to a lifetime contract.

And if you choose to put the stock in your own hands and sell it piecemeal, let alone 900 million. With Under Armor's market value plummeting, even if Plank continues to frantically rescue the market, he may end up with less than 500 million. You may not be able to get it.

Sure enough, Plank and Plank had just quietly handed over the equity. When Lin Dong proposed a short-term contract to Nike, there was an attitude that he could not understand and did not want to agree to it.

Nike really feels like it’s a lost cause.

If the last time Lin Dong was offered a long-term contract, the other party refused because it was too little money, then why is it this time? The lifetime contract offered by Nike is already a ceiling in the sports world. What else does he want?

Phil Knight made the decision directly and finally took out Nike's biggest bottom line, giving 4.5% of Nike's equity when other conditions remained unchanged.

But what I encountered was still rejection.

Only then did Nike realize that Lin Dong was serious, and it was probably not about money.

I can’t figure it out, I can’t understand it!

But Nike is also very aware of Lin Dong's current commercial value. Last time, he went to Under Armor because of his relationship with that kid.

Now that Under Armor has collapsed, other competitors who have smelled the fishy smell are beginning to be eager to give it a try. If I have a hard time with Lin Dong again, maybe let him go to Adidas...

You know, Adidas is not a small player like Under Armor. They are actually larger than Nike at this period. However, Adidas’ focus is mainly on football in Europe, so in the United States, Nike can still dominate. Adidas is on the other side, but if they get Lin Dong, the most popular sports star in the United States, at this juncture, then the challenge that Nike will face will not be the combination of 'Lin Dong + Under Armor', but will be Adidas' terrifying size and market combined with Lin Dong's powerful combination.

When the competition between these two companies was at its fiercest, Nike really lost everything.

You can no longer be completely hard, you have to be soft with a hint of hardness, and you have to take a detour with that kid.

"If he insists on a short-term contract, then tell him, 300 million in two years is fine!" Phil Knight was also really angry: "But the 25% dividend will be reduced to 20%, and there will be no equity in Nike. Give it to him! We won’t buy the 15% of Under Armour’s shares! Let this freak hold on to those stocks and wait for them to depreciate!”

I thought that this condition would teach Lin Dong a hard lesson. This is the difference between worth billions and hundreds of millions.

Phil Knight didn't believe that that guy couldn't even settle accounts, let alone that he wouldn't bow before money after doing the calculations!

Unexpectedly, as soon as Nike mentioned the conditions, Lin Dong responded immediately: "Deal!"