My Age of Investment

"Hehe, you can't let go of your wariness towards me and Facebook." Xia Jingxing chuckled twice, then turned his gaze to Murdoch, "What do you mean, Your Excellency?"

Murdoch and Xia Jingxing looked at each other for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "Daren, don't be nervous, I invite you to the family dinner today, I don't mean any malice to you."

Xia Jingxing didn't answer.

Murdoch said to himself again: "I was young too, and at that time I felt that the whole world was mine, and the whole earth revolved around me.

Later, as I got older, I thoroughly understood the essence of how this society works. "

"Essence?" Xia Jingxing was puzzled.

Murdoch nodded slightly, "Yes, it is the essence. Let me give a simple example. In 1952, my father died of illness. At the age of 21, I returned to Australia from Oxford University in the United Kingdom and took over the two small newspapers left by my father... ..."

Xia Jingxing did not speak, and quietly listened to Murdoch's story of his own rise.

In fact, Murdoch is not self-made, he is considered a rich second generation. His father left him a farm and two newspapers.

However, Murdoch is also a ruthless person. It took him decades to take these small businesses to a whole new level. The industrial influence and wealth are far more than a hundred times or a thousand times that of his father when he was alive. .

"When liquidating my father's estate, I found several newspapers at a loss, and managed to keep the Mail on Sunday and the News, which were still hopeful, and lower the others to a lower level. The price is off.

Facing the main competitor "Advertiser", I decisively chose to merge with them.

These few asset disposals seemed stupid at the time. Many people called me a prodigal son, and they didn't cherish the family business my father worked so hard to break up.

But what they don't know is that it is precisely because I sacrificed short-term profits in exchange for abundant cash flow and development time, which laid a solid foundation for future career growth. "

Xia Jingxing nodded. Murdoch was only 21 years old at that time, and he had not yet graduated from university. He had already shown extraordinary business talent and the quality necessary for a successful person - decisiveness.

Murdoch looked at Xia Jingxing with a smile and said, "Daren, let me tell you the secret of my success, that is, every time I develop to a place, I will definitely get an admission ticket through mergers and acquisitions."

"Admission ticket?"

"Yes, you don't naively think that wherever my newspapers and TV stations want to develop, they will open their doors to welcome me, right?"

Xia Jingxing shook his head, of course he would not be so naive, he introduced dst as a shareholder at that time to break into the Russian market.

"In exchange for Star TV to land in mainland China, News Corporation, through its own TV network, let China Central Television's English-language international channel land in the UK and France.

Now you understand what the essence of social operation is, right? "

Xia Jingxing nodded, the old Murdoch's words were implying the exchange of benefits.

So what can Murdoch exchange with himself, Juyou.com?

He despised a Juyou.com that was coming to an end.

At this moment, the servants brought a variety of delicious Chinese food to the table, and the aroma filled the whole room, making people unable to help but twitch their index fingers.

Deng Wendi and Yang Niu were also arm in arm, walking back talking and laughing.

"Mr. Murdoch, you have found a good wife. Ms. Wendi just showed me her art collection, which completely opened my eyes."

Murdoch smiled, it was just for fun, or to decorate the room, and occasionally show the guests who came to the door, pretending to be a wave of invisible, it seems to have cultural background, not a nouveau riche family.

But if you try to be more serious, you will lose. The real rich and powerful families don't need these things to decorate their appearance at all, just show their surnames.

The Murdochs invited Xia Jingxing to sit down, and they had a meal while talking quietly.

"There will be a dance in Beverly the day after tomorrow, Christina, do you want to come to it? It's very interesting, many celebrities will come to it, I can introduce you to them.

"

Yang Niu smiled at Wendi Deng, "Thank you, I'm too busy these days, I don't think I have free time to attend."

"That's okay, I'll talk about it when you're free. Hey, did you get your hair done in San Francisco? Next time I'm in San Francisco, I'll ask you to do my hair together."

The foreign girl smiled brightly, "Okay!"

The two women chatted about various topics in a low voice, nothing more than prom, opera, cosmetics and the like.

Foreign girls don't want to be celebrities for a long time, but aspire to be a female business elite.

Don't look at Wendi Deng, who was blown up by the media as a godsend. She is a strong woman and an independent woman. She has no career at all, but is just a weed that grows by climbing a big tree.

She stays in Beverly Hills all year round, and the things she plays and the topics she talks about are completely different styles from Silicon Valley.

The foreign girl doesn't catch a cold at all, but in someone's house, she can only chat awkwardly with the hostess.

Murdoch chatted with Xia Jingxing about the Internet in a low voice.

"I heard that Facebook has broken 300 million users?"

"right."

Murdoch sighed, "It's too fast. It has been established for less than four years. It took News Corporation decades to reach hundreds of millions of readers."

Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "The times have changed, and the channels of communication have also changed."

Murdoch raised his eyebrows. Xia Jingxing had the humility of an oriental person, and he was rarely as rebellious as a western youth.

The words just now don't seem to come from him.

Murdoch suppressed the surprise in his heart, followed Xia Jingxing's words and said: "Yes, the times have changed, and now the Internet spreads too fast, enough to subvert the existing media structure.

News Corporation began to actively deploy the Internet at the end of the last century, but unfortunately caught up with the Internet bubble, and the timing was very unfortunate.

If we invest in a few years later, maybe we can still meet Facebook, Darren, don’t you think so? "

Xia Jingxing smiled, the fox's tail was finally exposed, the old Murdoch really held his breath, he laid the groundwork for him so much before slowly revealing his purpose.

"Yes, anything is possible. This is the nature of how society works, as Mr. Murdoch just told me."

Old Murdoch burst out laughing, thinking that the young man was very upright, and his earnest words were not in vain.

After testing out Xia Jingxing's attitude, Murdoch started to talk about Juyou.com.

"...for this website, we at News Corporation have placed high expectations, but after a year, its development has not been satisfactory."

Xia Jingxing didn't answer, just looked at Murdoch with a smile, and the latter said slowly: "We have analyzed the reasons, and on the one hand, we haven't paid enough attention to it. The equity purchase price plus the follow-up capital injection, the total is less than two dollars. One hundred million dollars is really too little.

On the other hand, we have to admit that we still don't know much about the Internet, at least not as much as Darren. "

Xia Jingxing maintained a smile on his face, but he was quickly thinking about the deep meaning of the old man's words.

First of all, he emphasized that he did not pay enough attention to Juyou.com and invested too little. Is this threatening himself?

Then the old man praised him again, which meant to show his goodwill.

Is this to accept their investment or acquire Juyou.com? Otherwise, just do it to yourself?

"Mr. Murdoch, let me tell you the truth, you shouldn't have acquired Juyou.com last year. The website was already in decline."

The old Murdoch spread his hands with a smile, and said in a helpless tone, "What can we do? You refused to accept our investment at that time, so we can only find alternative targets."

This old man was so bad that Xia Jingxing didn't believe his nonsense. At that time, he didn't want to invest in Facebook, but wanted to buy Facebook as a whole.

This touched Xia Jingxing's bottom line, he would never sell a large amount of his shares before Facebook grows into a giant, that would be cutting his own flesh.

Selling a small amount can also be considered, because the money can be exchanged for domestic assets, such as shares of Ali, Penguin, and Baidu, making the asset portfolio more reasonable and more risk-resistant.

Xia Jingxing smiled and didn't answer Murdoch's words. Even if he wanted to talk about investment, he had to wait for Murdoch to take the initiative to speak. He couldn't be too proactive, lest he would be passive in the next negotiation.

Murdoch asked a few more questions, Xia Jingxing deliberately changed the topic by pretending to be stupid.

The old man was helpless, knowing that he couldn't play a trick on this kid, so he took the initiative to bring up Juyou.com's solution.

"Daren, how about I sell Juyou.com to you, and invest in you again?"

As soon as Murdoch said this, Yang Niu and Wendi Deng who were chatting aside also stopped talking, and all three of them looked at Xia Jingxing.

"Mr. Murdoch, this is what you told me: it is very important, and it is related to the future development prospects of Facebook."

Murdoch spread his hands, "Isn't this important? Our two companies have reached a cooperation to resolve all previous grievances, and News Corporation will use its resources to escort the development of Facebook."

Xia Jingxing nodded, "Mr. Murdoch is so sincere, I agree to cooperate in principle, but I want to hear the detailed cooperation framework."

Murdoch was overjoyed, "First of all, Juyou.com merged into Facebook at a valuation of US$300 million, replacing 1% of the shares."

Before Xia Jingxing could speak, the foreign girl couldn't bear it anymore, "Juyou.com can't be worth 300 million US dollars, at most 150 million US dollars, assuming that News Corp. has recovered all its investment, there is no profit or loss in this transaction. "

Old Murdoch smiled without saying a word, his eyes moved to Xia Jingxing.

Xia Jingxing waved his hand, "Christina, listen to Mr. Murdoch first."

Murdoch glanced at Xia Jingxing appreciatively, and then said: "Second, we can invest 10 billion US dollars in Facebook, half of the funds will be injected into the company, and half of the funds will be purchased from Darren's equity."

Xia Jingxing was a little moved, "Ten billion US dollars?"

The foreign girl was also surprised. Although News Corporation has a great reputation, it is definitely not an easy task to spend 10 billion US dollars.

Xia Jingxing quickly calculated in his mind that if the financing was carried out according to Murdoch's plan, News Corporation would hold 32% of Facebook's shares and become the largest shareholder.

He first sold 16.67% of the shares to News Corporation, and then the remaining shares were diluted to less than 30%, and he retired as the second largest shareholder.

Murdoch looked at Xia Jingxing with a smile. The latter lowered his head and said nothing, as if he was in deep thought.

He knew that this young man must be calculating and weighing.

In fact, they asked professionals to calculate this plan. They first speculated on Xia Jingxing's shareholding in Facebook, and also considered Xia Jingxing's current career development, and finally came up with such a plan.

"Darren, you have created a great career in China, and it is your motherland, where you will not be subject to so many constraints in the United States.

Five billion US dollars, this figure is enough to make you the real richest man in China.

There are many opportunities in China, and News Corporation has always wanted to enter that market.

With so much money, you can definitely build a business kingdom in China that truly belongs to you and can be controlled by you. "

Xia Jingxing smiled, "Mr. Murdoch's suggestion sounds very good, but I am not short of money recently. A large number of pension funds, university endowment funds, and even sovereign wealth funds want to invest in me."

Murdoch shook his head and laughed, "You forgot what I just told you, the essence of the operation of this society is the exchange of interests.

You give me what you want, and I will give you what you want, and we can make money happily together. "

"But you didn't give me what I wanted."

Xia Jingxing's calm voice instantly turned the atmosphere of the scene cold, and it was no longer the harmony it had just been.

"Five billion dollars, still can't satisfy your appetite?"

Old Murdoch stared at Xia Jingxing with burning eyes, and his whole body exuded a powerful aura. If it weren't for the wrinkles on his face, he wouldn't look like a seventy-five-year-old man at all.

Xia Jingxing was not intimidated by Murdoch, and smiled easily, "Mr. Murdoch, you may not know me well. What I want is just a result of your speculation."

"You have 5 billion US dollars as a base, no matter what Facebook develops in the future, you will not lose money. And News Corp. has taken the biggest risk."

Murdoch's voice was a bit angry, just now he praised the young man's sense of flattery, but then he gave him this one.

Just as Yang Niu guessed, 10 billion US dollars is also a big number for News Corp. They cannot come up with such a large amount of cash themselves, and the transfer of a large amount of funds will affect the company's operations.

The plan proposed to him by the financial advisor was to cooperate with Wall Street and borrow to hold Facebook. When Facebook's equity was obtained, it would be mortgaged for a loan and return part of the cash.

After adding financial leverage, they estimate that they only need to spend 3 billion to 4 billion US dollars to control Facebook.

Xia Jingxing actually didn't think that the old Murdoch's plan was too much, the price was good, and he was willing to let him cash out such a large sum of money.

Their biggest difference lies in their different perceptions of the value of Facebook.

The old Murdoch may think that Facebook may be worth tens of billions of dollars in the future, hundreds of billions of dollars, just like Yahoo and Google in the past.

Xia Jingxing, on the other hand, believes that Facebook is worth trillions of dollars.

"Mr. Murdoch, I am very grateful for your appreciation of Facebook, but I really cannot accept your plan.

I can allow News Corporation to invest in us, holding no more than 5% of the shares. This is my greatest sincerity. "

Murdoch laughed out of breath, "Daren, I'm afraid you forgot the tubing."