Chapter 188 About the Acquisition of iCQ

The speculation about America Online looking down on Su Yehao was likely the truth.

After asking Adrian for help again to inquire about information, the intel he got was that America Online had already determined that once iCQ was acquired by Su Yehao, the threat to them would be reduced.

So some executive directors proposed abandoning the acquisition plan and using the funds to invest in the online music and online game markets.

Su Yehao asked Adrian how he knew what had been said at America Online's board meeting. Adrian didn't explain, but just shrugged and said that the news was true, that he had connections to find out information, and that he owed someone a favor for it.

As a large company with a market value dozens of times higher than iCQ's valuation, America Online did have the confidence to look down on Su Yehao.

Previously, they thought that with iCQ's growth rate, it was very likely to get involved in the paid chat room field and compress America Online's living space, so they wanted to spend money to buy peace and nip iCQ in the bud.

However, if the shareholders chose to sell iCQ to Su Yehao, it seemed that he would be unthreatening without connections or funds, so it was no wonder America Online would relax.

After learning this news, although Su Yehao was quite annoyed, on closer thought, America Online choosing not to increase the price was a good thing for him after all. It allowed him to take the initiative during negotiations with iCQ, since no third party was willing to get involved, and he should be able to save a lot of money.

As he had expected, Adrian cooperated in staging a show of "switching to invest in Amazon," and the shareholders of iCQ really loosened their grip, asking for $340 million US dollars, with the shareholders collectively withdrawing and no longer demanding to retain shares.

The $340 million US dollars had to be fully paid within a month, and a penalty of 1% of the outstanding payment would be calculated daily for any breach of contract.

As for the iCQ union, they demanded a continuous salary increase of no less than 8% per year for three years, and a commitment not to lay off employees within two years, with a penalty of fifteen months' salary to be paid for any layoffs.

In addition, regarding equity incentives, the iCQ union representatives hoped to allocate 3% of the total share capital to them before the listing, which was currently worth about $10 million US dollars.

Doing business in America inevitably involved dealing with unions, but these demands weren't too excessive and were still within an acceptable range.

Su Yehao made the decision and reduced the equity incentive to 2%.

In total, they talked for more than two hours and quickly reached an agreement, and began to arrange for lawyers to draft a memorandum.

It was estimated that the several shareholders of iCQ had also noticed America Online's declining enthusiasm, so they accelerated the pace of the transaction, trying to get rid of the increasingly loss-making burden before Su Yehao changed his mind.

If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't make a profit and had never met the requirements of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, these people would have taken the company public long ago. Now, most shareholders just wanted to secure their profits, as they were really scared by the speed at which money was being burned.

…

Nangong Tian had gone to San Francisco twice in the past few days according to her own preferences, purchasing a batch of furniture to bring back.

Today she was browsing art galleries again, buying several oil paintings.

When Su Yehao returned home, she was personally cooking steak and smiled, "You're back. Quickly find the camera in my bag and take a picture of me. Aren't I very virtuous?"

"Virtuous, but I was originally planning to celebrate and take you out for a good meal. Since you're personally cooking, then we'll eat at home?"

Just after Su Yehao finished asking, he saw the little girl blink and silently turn off the fire.

She said, "Let's still go out to eat. I feel like it's not cooked enough, and it seems like it's overcooked, the kind that even a dog couldn't chew, suitable for drying and using as beef jerky."

"..."

Before Su Yehao could speak, the little girl untied her apron and then asked, "What are we celebrating? Is it our dating anniversary, and you want to give me a romantic surprise? Oh my. I'm also wondering whether to calculate it according to the Hong Kong date or the California date. Or we could take some time to go shopping on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, and I'll take you to buy a gift..."

Su Yehao understood.

When he wasn't home, she seemed to be very bored, her little mouth chattering away, never stopping.

Raising his hand to interrupt Nangong Tian, Su Yehao couldn't wait to tell her:

"We'll talk about those things later. iCQ has agreed to my acquisition offer. I just signed a memorandum, and I'll sign the formal contract in a few days. I feel like I'm going to make a fortune again this time. Tell me directly what you want to buy, and I guarantee I won't even blink."

"...They really sold it to you? Weren't they very difficult to talk to before? How much money are you going to spend?"

"The total cost will be about $350 to $360 million US dollars. They wouldn't be dissatisfied with selling the company at a price higher than the institutional valuation. Valuation is valuation, and cash is cash. Once America Online relaxed, these shareholders couldn't hold on."

Su Yehao hugged the little girl and forcibly took her out, laughing during the journey: "Before eating, I'll take you to see the empire that We have conquered for you."

Nangong Tian smelled herself.

Fortunately, there was only a faint smell of steak, so she decisively changed her shoes and accompanied him on the trip.

The transaction hadn't been fully completed yet, so going to iCQ headquarters now would have been a bit of a show of force. In the end, he just parked the car at the entrance and looked at it from the roadside.

"There are a total of 377 formal employees, the office is rented, and there is $11 million US dollars left in the account. After I acquire it, I have to invest at least $20 million US dollars in servers, and there are a lot of other miscellaneous expenses. Including financing costs, it's almost $400 million US dollars, more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars. I'm just asking you, isn't that awesome?"

Su Yehao was very optimistic about the future prospects of the merger between iCQ and tvt. At this time, the pressure wasn't great, but rather a kind of heroism.

It was probably a feeling of the sky is the limit.

While the little girl was happy for him, she was also a little worried, mainly afraid that the business wouldn't go smoothly and that Su Yehao would be affected by it.

Actually doing business and playing stocks and investments were two different things.

She took Su Yehao's arm and asked curiously, "So what are you going to do next? Are you prepared?"

"Not yet. Who knew that they would suddenly loosen their grip today when I tried to contact them. After the formal contract is signed, I'll first let McKinsey help sort it out, and let the programmers from the two companies hold a meeting to finalize the merger plan as soon as possible. Keep the ones that can be used, and if they can't be used, then redevelop them. It's best to slowly divert users to tvt, so as not to have too many people at once and it collapses directly. Wouldn't that become a joke?"

Su Yehao enjoyed a moment of glory, not intending to go in, and took her to find a place for lunch first.

This transaction seemed to be relatively smooth, but it was actually bought with money. He suddenly had more than $300 million US dollars in debt, so there was some pressure, more or less.

Previously, he was just making small troubles in Silicon Valley.

Besides successfully investing in Yahoo, he had no other achievements that he could show off to the outside world.

Now that he was about to acquire iCQ, it would inevitably attract attention from many parties. Su Yehao felt that it was necessary to personally keep an eye on it in Silicon Valley, which would also make it easier to speculate in stocks.

Therefore.

After lunch, he took the little girl to buy a car again.

There were many wealthy people in Silicon Valley, and he originally wanted to buy a Rolls-Royce or Ferrari to get around, but he unexpectedly encountered a Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR supercar with only twenty-five units worldwide. The total mileage was only 300 miles, which was equivalent to a brand new car. It had just been cleaned and was about to be sent into the showroom.

The car dealer quoted $1.6 million US dollars, and Su Yehao bought it directly without saying a word.

After he bought it, he realized that he didn't have a driver's license. Driving in the United States without a license was illegal, so he first arranged for a truck to pull the car to his yard...