2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 739 Director Ma, you must live up to expectations! (Seeking monthly votes)
After all that arguing, all the pressure they put on was just a ploy to get more benefits.

The world is bustling with activity, all for profit.

Since Herbert indicated that he was ready to sign a contract with Daimler at any time, Tan Jincheng did not hold back at all and immediately discussed with Musk the possibility of suspending negotiations with Tesla.

The sooner we sign the contract, the sooner we can have peace of mind. Who knows if there will be any unexpected problems after we've already reached an agreement with Tesla?

"So soon? Tan, you're very bullish on our company's stock?"

Herbert was somewhat surprised by Tan Jincheng's eagerness. Was it a bit too early to sell?

"Wall Street has already given its answer, whether it's good or bad. I'm just speaking from our company's strategy. We need Tesla's patented technology, and we can also help Tesla better enter the Chinese market. It's a win-win situation."

"Oh, by the way, I'm very bullish on Apple's stock price. You'll all find out when we sign the contract later. Please allow me to keep it a secret for now."

Jinqing Investment has invested a total of 40 billion yuan in Apple, and its current market value is just over 77 billion yuan, which is about 11.5 billion US dollars, accounting for 0.575% of Apple's total share capital.

Cheng Linfeng said the boss was playing all-in, and it was true; Jinqing Investment's funds were basically all invested in Apple.

Tan Jincheng wasn't bragging. With his current strength, he could indeed come up with the funds to acquire Tesla, and at least gaining a controlling stake wouldn't be a problem.

It's simply that there's no need for it.

That said, the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Chinese yuan has dropped again. Last year, one US dollar could be exchanged for an average of 6.83 yuan, but now it can only be exchanged for 6.77 yuan.

"Oh, okay then, let's prepare the contract."

Herbert was somewhat puzzled, but he didn't ask any further questions. The company had already made its decision, and there was no need for him to cause any more trouble. Herbert was American and not part of the Stuttgart headquarters. Besides working at Daimler, he had his own affairs.

Or rather, he is more of an investor. He facilitated the partnership between Tesla and Daimler, which brought him considerable benefits. In addition, he also owns some shares in Tesla.

Curiosity is simply an investor's instinct.

Shen Nanpeng knew a little bit, but he didn't say anything. He was there to act as an intermediary, and he would naturally reap many benefits. Jinqing Investment, which held 0.575% of Apple's shares, was also one of the major shareholders.

Both sides have legal counsel. Tan Jincheng's legal counsel was brought by Shen Nanpeng. As the middleman, Shen Nanpeng received benefits and was certainly obligated to resolve all issues in the cooperation for Tan Jincheng.

Herbert deliberately omitted Tan Jincheng's initial $2 million, 10% stake, blurring it out to represent Daimler's current 8.57% stake. Tan Jincheng also pretended not to know this.

Neither party had any objections to the transaction. It was just an equity transaction, nothing too complicated. After both parties drafted the contract and agreed to no objections, they quickly signed it.

"Jinqing Investment is actually an investment company under President Tan. No wonder."

Upon seeing the transfer company on the contract, Herbert suddenly realized that since the beginning of the year, a mysterious shareholder had appeared in Apple's stock, purchasing 0.5% of Apple's shares on the secondary market in one go.

Judging from the registered location in Hong Kong, it is highly likely that the capital comes from the East. There have been many speculations, but apart from Shen Nanpeng, no one has guessed that it is Tan Jincheng.

From this perspective, it seems that Tan's acquisition of Tesla shares was indeed for the purpose of cooperation, rather than because he was optimistic about Tesla's stock.

Boss Tan's disguise has been exposed, but it's a done deal.

So be it. The mobile internet era has arrived, and this disguise won't last long anyway. At worst, we can just create a new one.

"Haha, I made a little money, nothing to mention."

"Tan, don't be modest. It seems that what you said about being able to acquire Tesla outright was not a joke."

Musk was also learning for the first time that Jinqing Investment was owned by Tan Jincheng. Apple's market value of around 10 billion was more than enough to acquire Tesla; they could even take it private.

"That was just a joke. Tesla can only truly grow and become strong under your leadership, Elon. If I can't, then no one else can."

The atmosphere was a bit tense just now. Director Ma has a very strong desire for power, and Tan Jincheng was really afraid of leaving a thorn in his heart that might affect future cooperation.

"Alright, the contract is fine. We'll complete the equity and cash transfer within five business days, is that alright?"

After confirming that the contract was correct, Tan Jincheng signed it and looked at Herbert.

"Absolutely no problem. We'd be happy to get the US dollars as soon as possible."

Herbert happily signed the contract. He had facilitated the $5000 million investment, and now, in just over a year, he had achieved a fourfold return and had even found a buyer to take over the investment.

This was undoubtedly a good thing for the company. Tesla's market value surged on the 19th, briefly exceeding $20 billion, and trading volume soared that day. However, the good days only lasted for one day.

In the following trading days, its market value fell back to above $19 billion.

The unusual activity on the 19th was not a major positive development; it was likely that an institution was making large-scale purchases, but they couldn't obtain specific data on which institution or individual made the purchases.

I just don't know why it shut down after only one trading day.

After the two parties officially signed the contract, Daimler and Tesla will have no further relationship in principle, and Herbert will have stepped down from Tesla's board of directors. The only difference is that no official announcement has been made yet.

Herbert was quite straightforward; he signed the contract, packed his bags, and left, while staff from both sides went down to arrange the equity transfer.

According to the rules, the new shareholders need to appoint a director to replace Herbert, and Tan Jincheng naturally took over as director.

"Elon, should we sign a concerted action agreement now, or wait until the formal cooperation is completed before signing it?"

Tan Jincheng's position as a Tesla board member is merely for show; he has no interest in controlling Tesla, let alone in any actual operations.

As previously agreed, he will hand over all voting rights of his shares to Musk.

As for the deadline, it's until the day he clears out his inventory.

"Shall we sign it now?"

Factory Director Ma didn't stand on ceremony. Although he now had absolute control over Tesla, he also needed an absolute leader in the board of directors. He agreed to help Tan Jincheng because Tan Jincheng promised to maintain the alliance with him as the leader.

"Okay, I should also mention that the rise in Tesla's stock price on the 19th was probably related to our acquisition of your company's stock. The ByteDance engine I control purchased a total of 93 shares in the secondary market, accounting for 1% of the shares."

"So, congratulations Elon, your control over Tesla has increased by another 1%."

跌跌不休的特斯拉在当地时间19日的交易日里突然大涨6.15%，股价最高触及22.25美刀，创下了自7月6日以来的新高。

Speaking of which, Factory Manager Ma hasn't been having a good time lately. The stock price fell below its issue price on the fifth trading day after its listing, and the stock price is really too depressed.

It was listed at the end of June, and its share price fell below the issue price in early July. Although it recovered later, the daily trading volume was very low, and it had no activity level whatsoever that of a newly listed stock.

How could he not know about the unusual stock price movement on the 19th? "Was that your doing, Tan, on the 19th?"

"Yes, Elon, you don't mind, right?"

Musk scoffed. "What do I care? The secondary market is free to buy and sell. As long as you have the ability, I can't stop you from buying as much as you want."

"That's 9.57% of the shares, haha, thanks Tan."

Even 1% more control is good.

"Don't worry, I won't be acquiring any more shares in your company. 9.57% is the final figure. I have no intention of taking control of your company."

His actions were somewhat unethical and could easily lead to misunderstandings.

However, I don't buy stocks through the companies I control, but I can buy them through unrelated stock accounts. In short, listed companies have the freedom to buy and sell stocks, and you can't control me.

You think you can stop me from making this money?

However, now is not the time; there are too few shares in circulation.

Another contract. I was very efficient today, handling two things at the same time without taking much time. After signing the concerted action agreement with Musk, the next step is to negotiate with the Tesla board of directors.

"Tan, aren't you afraid that if the negotiations don't go smoothly, you'll have bought these shares for nothing, and you'll also be at a disadvantage by signing the agreement on concerted action?"

Musk greatly admires Tan Jincheng's decisiveness, but if the board of directors does not agree to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Weilai Motors, then all his current efforts will be in vain.

Furthermore, if Tan Jincheng fails to meet the conditions set by the board of directors, he will not stand on Tan Jincheng's side.

“It’s okay. Even if the cooperation doesn’t work out, I still believe in you, Elon. Investing in Tesla shares is investing in you as a person.”

Hehe, no matter how cunning you are, you can't possibly guess my true intentions.

Unless, you too are reborn.

"Haha, I like hearing you say that, Tan."

Musk laughed heartily. He already has no shortage of investors, but he still liked to hear these words.

The board members' attempts to make things difficult for Tan Jincheng were simply to extract more benefits from him, something he wouldn't stop.

"Let's eat first, and then continue the discussion this afternoon. Let's try to get it done today, as I have something urgent to do and need to get back to NY."

Shen Nanpeng stopped the two from exchanging compliments, as he now felt that the two had a lot in common.

"Haha, okay, I definitely won't delay President Shen."

Shen Nanpeng accompanied Tan Jincheng on the first day, but he naturally couldn't stay in Texas with Tan Jincheng and the others the whole time. This time, he flew in from New York again.

Lunch was KFC. KFC here in the US is a bit different from KFC in China; it's not exactly delicious, but the portions are huge. "I'd heard you liked to eat KFC during meetings, boss, and now it seems it's true."

Yu Liguo chuckled as he drank his cola, glancing at Tan Jincheng. Today was the first time he had accompanied his boss to participate in an important meeting and negotiation.

I had heard that the boss was very assertive at the negotiating table, and today I witnessed it firsthand.

Hu Zhengnan was the same. These days, when Chinese people negotiate with foreigners, regardless of whether they can gain an advantage or not, they tend to be somewhat inferior in attitude. However, he felt that his boss was more assertive.

In the boss's words, no matter who you are negotiating with, whether you can reach an agreement or not is another matter, but you absolutely cannot lose in terms of momentum.

Especially when negotiating with foreigners, it's actually better to be assertive. Their culture is based on the survival of the fittest and respect for the strong. If you're too humble, they'll think you're weak and easy to bully.

"The main thing is that this stuff is less likely to cause problems if you eat it. If you eat something else and your stomach gets upset and you get diarrhea, then the negotiations will have to be postponed."

Yu Liguo nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

"Alright, everyone, tell us your terms. The Weilai Auto team and I are here with sincerity to cooperate with Tesla, so let's stop with the nonsense. Everyone's time is very tight."

After a good rest in the afternoon, the negotiations continued, and Tan Jincheng was in a great mood.

He had already achieved his goal. The afternoon's negotiations were no longer relevant to him personally, but they were still useful to the company.

He doesn't care as long as the Tesla board's demands aren't too unreasonable.

"Oh, right, I should now be considered one of Tesla's directors. Please don't go too far with the terms since we're all on the same side."

Herbert is gone, and so is the Toyota representative.

After Herbert announced that Daimler had agreed to sell its shares, they felt it was no longer their business, so they left immediately after the meeting was adjourned.

They had originally planned to raise the price or cause some trouble for Tan Jincheng, but things went so smoothly.

"Haha, Tan, you are the most special Chinese person I have ever met."

It was still the same face that Tan Jincheng couldn't recall from the morning. As if he were at home, Musk would never ask for anything in return, and he was still smiling as he watched them from the main table.

"Okay, welcome Tan to our side. I'll be frank. From a long-term strategic perspective, it's good for Tesla, but there aren't many benefits in the short term."

"How about this, Tan, could you invest some money in Tesla? You know Tesla is planning to buy a factory and needs to spend money on many things."

Tan Jincheng nodded. "You need money? That's easy. Problems that can be solved with money aren't problems at all: 'Okay, then name your price.'"

"5000 million US dollars, don't worry, this money will all be used for Tesla."

Hey, that's quite a boast. Asking for $5000 million for nothing is like paying $5000 million for a ticket. Sure enough, those who follow Musk are all madmen.

Even though they are weaker than Weilai Automobile in terms of size and strength, their attitude in asking for money is much more arrogant than Tan Jincheng's.

“3000 million, that’s all. If possible, I’ll arrange for someone to transfer the money this afternoon, and then we can officially sign the strategic cooperation agreement.”

He gave an OK sign and said softly, but his tone left no room for refusal.

$3000 million is roughly 2 million RMB. Buying Tesla's existing technology for 2 million RMB is not expensive.

To be honest, $5000 million isn't expensive. With these readily available technologies, the R&D progress of Weilai Motors can be accelerated significantly.

However, it's definitely not possible to give you as much as you want.

"In addition, I will take out another 1000 million US dollars. This 1000 million US dollars will be used to optimize the salaries of everyone present and all Tesla employees in one go. Consider this my welcoming gift as a new shareholder."

I won't interfere with how you arrange things.

Tesla currently has fewer than 1,000 employees. If we calculate based on 1,000 employees, each person would receive an average of 10,000 US dollars, which is quite a lot.

Moreover, how could such a thing be distributed equally? Tan Jincheng was actually using the $1000 million bribe to buy off the board members. No one would refuse an unexpected and safe sum of money.

I wouldn't care if you guys split it all up.

"Alright, let's settle on that then. Let's sign the cooperation agreement first, and the remaining details can be negotiated by the team members of both sides."

Musk's voice came through, which was the final word.

Getting $3000 million to boost the company's cash flow for free, plus a $1000 million kickback, is good enough. If we keep talking, this kid might change his mind.

"No problem, let the legal department prepare the contract."

Less than half an hour into the afternoon meeting, the strategic cooperation agreement was finalized, leaving Tesla's board of directors and the team members led by Yu Liguo in disbelief.

Is something this important really being handled so casually?

"It's that casual, don't be too surprised. Their boss and I both agreed, so what else is there to say?"

While preparing the contract, Tan Jincheng asked Yu Liguo for clarification.

That's how it is with private enterprises. As long as the boss agrees, anything is negotiable. Tesla has a board of directors, but the real decision-makers are Musk, just like Tan Jincheng, who often ignores the board.

This is true of all private business owners; they only need to be responsible for the decisions they make.

Unlike state-owned enterprises, where even the top leader has to balance the interests of all parties before making a decision, and also has to consider his own escape route, in case something goes wrong, he might end up working as a sewing machine operator.

The $4000 million came from the Weilai Group. Adding the $2.2 million for the share acquisition, Tan Jincheng spent $2.6 million on this trip to Texas, equivalent to RMB 17.6 billion.

However, the money was well spent, as it secured a 9.57% stake in Tesla, totaling 890 million shares.

Like Apple, Tesla has also had several stock splits, and as time goes by, Jinqing Investment's shareholding in Tesla will definitely gradually decrease, but the returns will be absolutely beyond imagination.

The proceeds from these 890 million shares after the stock split have consistently ensured the company's and the individual's cash flow; if funds are needed, a portion can be sold.

"The rest is up to you. During the negotiations, try to acquire as much existing technology as possible, as this will be of great help to us."

On his very first day at Tesla, upon meeting Elon Musk, Tan Jincheng ordered three sports cars from him. After completing the customs procedures, they were legally brought into China for his research.

If we thoroughly understand Tesla's sports car technology, then Weilai's intelligent driving capabilities will at least surpass all its domestic counterparts.

We must seize this first-mover advantage; there aren't many domestic competitors who have this awareness.

Perhaps, in a few years, the hype about the intelligent driving capabilities of new energy vehicles will come from Wei, haha.

"Understood. Anyway, we should ask for as much as possible, after all, you spent 4000 million US dollars, boss. By the way, how come your English is so good?"

Hu Zhengnan's English was decent; he could basically understand it. Yu Liguo, on the other hand, was a bit behind; they were learning Russian back then.

During the negotiations that day, both sides had interpreters, but except for some highly technical terms and formal occasions such as contracts, Tan Jincheng was generally able to communicate normally in English.

This was a huge shock to Yu Liguo, Hu Zhengnan, and others who were accompanying their boss on a trip abroad for the first time.

"I often have to deal with these foreigners and there are many opportunities to make investments, so it's impossible to do without learning some English."

Tan Jincheng jokingly pointed at Shen Nanpeng, which earned him a roll of his eyes: "Let's make this clear, I'm not some foreigner, I'm just like you, a proper Chinese."

"However, learning a foreign language is indeed useful now. Being able to have normal oral communication makes many things much easier to discuss."

"you do not say."

"Looking at your itinerary, you're going to Hawaii next. Is there something you need there?"

A few days ago, Tan Jincheng asked Shen Nanpeng's assistant to book some plane tickets to Hawaii for him. Only then did Shen Nanpeng learn that he was not in a hurry to return to China after the meeting.

"I do have something to do; I need to meet with a designer."

Then, Tan Jincheng quietly explained to Shen Nanpeng what had happened when they were working on a project with BMW, and also briefly introduced some of Chris Thomas's background.

Shen Nanpeng is a shareholder of Weilai Automobile, so there's nothing to hide from him.

"Damn, you're even poaching people from BMW now. I've heard of Chris, he's a big shot, he's even designed airplanes."

If they can secure the deal, it would be a huge boon for Weilai Auto to have its own design language, and Shen Nanpeng wholeheartedly supports this.

"Yes, I know that too, but it's not easy. These big shots are not short of money, so it's quite difficult to impress them."

Shen Nanpeng was well aware of this. It was not difficult to poach individuals from large companies, but it was not so easy to poach big shots. So far, no domestic brands had poached any big shots.

The probability of success is indeed not high.

However, she still comforted him, saying, "It's okay. Our domestic brands are in a different position now than they were a few years ago. Geely acquired Volvo, and other car companies have also developed. Maybe we can succeed."

"Hopefully, at least we can meet, which would be a gain in itself."

Hu Zhengnan will go with him to let them get to know each other, hoping to broaden his thinking. Hu Zhengnan, who is in his thirties, is currently still in the training stage at Weilai Auto.

(End of this chapter)