2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 887 Uncle Ma when there's trouble, President Ma when there's no trouble!
Tan Jincheng could completely understand and accept Huang Zhang's anger. Anyone would be extremely unhappy to be so bluntly approached and asked to buy their company.

Moreover, Huang Zhang is such an arrogant person.

However, no matter how Huang Zhang behaves, Tan Jincheng's heart will not be stirred at all. Over the years, he has experienced far too many scenes like this.

Throughout his more than ten years of entrepreneurial career, whether it was Flash, Orange, or Weilai, he has experienced countless investments and acquisitions.

He has encountered people like Zhao Wu, the founder of Dexian Electronics, who happily sold his company, keeping only a small share as a memento, and went off to enjoy life.

I've also encountered founders like Wang Qinghua of Bafang Electric, who, for the sake of the company's development, proactively embraced and relinquished control while retaining a large number of shares, seeking to make the company bigger and stronger, demonstrating a certain ambition.

There are also those like Cheng Wu, the founder of AutoNavi, who stayed with the company after it was acquired and continued to work there, completely switching their role to that of a professional manager.

Similarly, some people will refuse to even talk to you.

The fact that Huang Zhang didn't lose his temper on the spot and "invite" him out means that there's still room for discussion, which is a good sign.

Seeing that Huang Zhang didn't say much else, Tan Jincheng seized the opportunity to begin explaining the acquisition plan.

"There are two options. One is like when Flash Group acquired Bafang Electric, Mr. Huang could retain a large number of shares while giving up control, and the company could continue to be run by you. Apart from the business related to the automotive ecosystem, Meizu will continue as usual."

"Another option is for me to acquire Meizu in its entirety, just like with Gaode Maps. In the same way, Mr. Huang and your family can retain a portion of the shares. If Mr. Huang is willing, he can also stay and continue to run Meizu like Mr. Cheng did, and together we can make Meizu bigger and stronger."

Huang Zhang nodded without saying or doing anything else.

As someone who has always regarded Xiaomi as a direct competitor, he naturally has some understanding of Tan Jincheng, an important business partner of Lei Jun.

Despite his young age, he is very skilled in capital operations and is accustomed to rapidly expanding his industrial empire through capital means such as acquisitions and investments.

Whether it was the on-again, off-again relationship with his good friend in the early days of Flashpoint, or other investments and acquisitions, he had three directly controlled listed companies, as well as a holding company like Orange Live, where he was a major shareholder but did not actually operate the business.

What's most frightening is the sheer size of the cash flow he has at his disposal. Huang Zhang's only consolation right now is that Meizu isn't a listed company and he still has firm control over the company.

However, to be fair, according to the information Huang Zhang has gathered, ByteDance, under the control of Tan Jincheng, is quite generous in the capital market, providing good assistance to both invested and acquired companies.

If he is willing to relinquish control, then Tan Jincheng is indeed capable of doing the two things mentioned above.

It has to be said that it's really hard for entrepreneurs who have their eyes on such a wealthy and generous investor to refuse.

"Now that I've explained the two options, let me tell you what kind of help I can provide to Meizu. First of all, Mr. Huang, you don't need to worry about the valuation. The two options correspond to two different valuation methods, but I can guarantee that it will definitely not be low."

"Secondly, in terms of resources, although we are not as powerful as Ali in the Internet field, the resources we have are no less than those provided by Ali. In addition, we can have in-depth cooperation in offline channels."

By selling Meizu phones in Weilai's experience stores and selling Weilai cars in Meizu's phone stores, the offline channels of the two companies can complement each other.

In addition to its technological accumulation, Meizu also has 2300 offline stores, most of which can be converted into Meizu Experience Stores, which is a very good supplement to Meizu's offline channels.

Although Meizu was declining in 2016, it was still a well-known mobile phone brand with sales of 2000 million units. Users had not completely lost confidence in Meizu, and everything was still within a controllable range.

If it had been two years later, all those offline stores and online user resources would have been gone, and by then, there wouldn't have been many left besides the technology team.

Furthermore, Tan Jincheng wasn't exaggerating. Although Ahri is very powerful, her help to Meizu is actually quite limited.

"In addition to specific business cooperation, there is also the issue of Meizu's listing, which is of great concern to Mr. Huang. We can also provide assistance in this regard, as we have extensive experience in listing both domestically and internationally."

"If Meizu operates normally, I think it will be able to go public in a few years."

"Besides these, there is another pressing issue for Meizu that we can help with."

Tan Jincheng paused at this point.

Tan Jincheng spoke at a leisurely pace, but Huang Zhang didn't make any move during the conversation, only occasionally taking a sip of tea to adjust his state.

"Oh? The most pressing issue?"

"Qualcomm, isn't Qualcomm Meizu's most pressing issue the company? I can help you, Mr. Huang, sort it out; you know I have some connections in the US."

Huang Zhang's eyelids twitched, and a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment appeared on his face.

Although I don't want to admit it, breaking with Qualcomm was indeed a major mistake in his decision-making. It can be said that Meizu's entire high-end series was ruined by this decision this year.

Currently, the high-end chip market for mobile phones in China is almost entirely dominated by Qualcomm. Although Samsung also produces high-end chips, Samsung has been too restrictive in its control over the industry, and Xiaomi has suffered greatly from this.

With MediaTek for low-end products and Qualcomm for high-end ones, Meizu, having fallen out with Qualcomm, had no choice but to go all in on MediaTek, with whom it had always had a good relationship. However, this time, it was MediaTek that dealt it a severe blow.

The MediaTek chip that Meizu uses in its high-end flagship models has appeared in Redmi's budget phone series. This is a really ruthless move.

On the surface, it seems like Lei Jun stabbed him in the back, but in reality, MediaTek was playing both sides. It wanted to go high-end but couldn't resist the temptation of the Redmi series' massive sales volume, which directly led to Meizu being completely sold off.

"To put it simply, I can directly contact Wall Street capital and have them mediate, which is not a big deal for Qualcomm."

Besides the relationship with Sequoia Capital, both ByteDance and Qualcomm are shareholders of Xiaomi, and the two sides have had many exchanges. Otherwise, how could a model like the Weilai phone, which is not even a niche product, use Qualcomm's advanced chip?

Meizu could certainly handle Qualcomm on its own, but it would obviously be less costly and easier to have Tan Jincheng or Wall Street capital act as intermediaries.

However, Huang Zhang also sees this as an indication that the other party has close ties with Wall Street capital and Qualcomm, and can both help and cause harm.

As he pondered the matter, Huang Zhang's expression became somewhat conflicted again.

It has to be said that when Huang Zhang first met this young man who was nearly 10 years younger than him, he felt unprecedented pressure. At this moment, he regretted meeting him directly. He should have let his team make contact first.

We still don't know enough.

Tan Jincheng was unaware of Huang Zhang's thoughts. If he had known, he would have criticized him for being petty. Huang Zhang had considered using capital means to secretly acquire Meizu's shares, but he wouldn't stoop to such a drastic measure as cutting off someone's future.

The key point is that this matter does him no good at all.

"Could you talk about Mr. Tan's valuation of Meizu?"

Huang Zhang was somewhat wary and didn't want to continue discussing this issue. However, he found the valuation of Meizu quite good, given that this expert in capital operations had invested in the company in October, pushing Meizu's valuation to over 300 billion yuan.

However, that was only an investment of 2 million RMB, which was not convincing in terms of valuation. Although Tianyin Holdings had been established for a long time, it was not a big company in the investment world, and their valuation system was not recognized by real capital.

To put it bluntly, in front of real capital tycoons, Tianyin Holdings is almost like a "retail investor".

"Mr. Huang wants to ask about the valuation of Tianyin Holdings' investment in October, right? If it is valuable, then you got a good deal, but it's only 2 million yuan, which is not a big deal."

Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "Based on the valuation of 124 billion yuan when Ali invested last year, this is actually quite reasonable."

Huang Zhang nodded, signaling Tan Jincheng to continue.

"However, since I said I would give you a reasonable price for the valuation, it is natural that I will not acquire it based on the valuation of Ali last year."

"If it's a complete acquisition, I can give you a valuation of 250 billion yuan, which is more than double that of last year, considering that your financial situation has improved a lot over the past year."

"As for a 51% controlling stake, I can offer 200 billion yuan."

As Shen Nanpeng said, Meizu's normal valuation is between 100 billion and 200 billion yuan, and 200 billion yuan is Meizu's highest valuation. Any more than that would not be worth it.

Of course, Tan Jincheng can offer a premium for the overall acquisition, which is one of the unspoken rules of the capital market. The valuation of 250 billion yuan is the premium that Tan Jincheng offered to Meizu.

As for following the 300 billion yuan valuation given by Tianyin Holdings, that would only be possible if Huang Zhang didn't leave any shares at all, and it's unlikely that he proposed it himself.

He's not short of money, but he wouldn't just throw it away like that.

Furthermore, even if the acquisition is successful, it will take a long time to integrate Meizu. It is undeniable that Meizu has very high value, but it also has many problems. The first problem is that Huang Zhang practiced nepotism.

All the important positions in the company are assigned based on surnames. Even employees with different surnames who have worked for him for many years and are highly capable will find it very difficult to get promoted to an important position.

In the early days, when the workplace was relatively peaceful, core team members like Li Nan and Bai Yongxiang were able to work with Huang Zhang with enthusiasm even without shares. However, after capital intervened, it became difficult for these core employees to maintain their composure.

After all, who would refuse higher income?
In fact, Tan Jincheng had already thought it through. If the acquisition failed this time, he would poach Li Nan, Bai Yongxiang and others to establish a smartphone department within Weilai in the early stages, waiting for Lao Ma to contact HTC.

Whether HTC succeeds or not, they can just play around with it on their own. In any case, there's still plenty of time. Currently, car infotainment systems still have a significant advantage.

When it comes to poaching talent, Boss Tan is an expert.

"It's a very reasonable valuation, and quite fair. How about this, let me think about it first, and then discuss it with the company's management, okay?"

Huang Zhang nodded and said that he knew Meizu's situation better than anyone else. To give an overall valuation of 250 billion yuan was definitely a sign of being both wealthy and generous, considering that there was still no prospect of a flagship model for next year.

To put it bluntly, Meizu is currently only being held together by Meilan. "Okay, I will stay in Zhushi for three days and look forward to Mr. Huang's reply."

"Does Mr. Tan have any other plans in Zhuhai?"

Huang Zhang relaxed and couldn't help but ask curiously. As far as he knew, Tan Jincheng had rushed over from the auto show in Guangzhou.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "Yes, there are some other schedules as well."

As a key city in the Pearl River Delta economic zone, Zhuhai boasts a highly developed industrial chain encompassing intelligent manufacturing, home appliances, biomedicine, printing consumables, and software technology.

The Zhuhai Airshow is always a very popular event.

Tan Jincheng's schedule is very tight, and he doesn't want anyone to know about the acquisition of Meizu for the time being, in order to avoid any unforeseen changes.

"Actually, it's nothing much. I'm just going to Kingsoft for a visit. As Mr. Huang knows, our Orange Technology is currently undergoing restructuring, and I want to see Kingsoft's game industry and learn from them."

Before coming, he contacted Lei Jun and made up an excuse to ask Lei Jun to help him contact his colleagues at Kingsoft so he could visit.

Actually, it was just to find a reason to stay in Zhuhai.

He also contacted Gree. The future Ms. Dong is rather abstract, but she is quite good now. Moreover, Ms. Dong helped Tan Jincheng when CCTV selected its Person of the Year.

In the 16 years since, Gree has also been developing photovoltaic, intelligent equipment (industrial robots) and other industries, and has also had some business cooperation with Tan Jincheng's industries.

"Okay, let's contact each other again later. I will give President Tan a definite answer no matter what."

Huang Zhang had no doubts. Currently, Orange Technology's restructuring and its secondary IPO plan on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange are generating a lot of buzz online. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has warmly welcomed Orange Technology's secondary listing as it transforms into an artificial intelligence company.

Since Alibaba's delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, well-known mainland companies have become more accustomed to listing on the US stock market, and the shift in economic focus has made the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's position somewhat awkward.

Since the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, many mainland companies have been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but most of them are in the financial, real estate and consumer sectors.

The listing of Orange Technology on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, along with the upcoming listing of Xiaomi Technology, is a timely boost for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is driven by technology.

After leaving Huang Zhang's house, Tan Jincheng breathed a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Huang Zhang listened to what he had said. The deduction he had made with Shen Nanpeng was correct. Huang Zhang, who had tasted the sweetness of capital, was no longer the same Huang Zhang he used to be. Losing control was certainly hard to accept, but with a series of benefits, he would definitely not refuse so easily.

During the three days that Tan Jincheng appeared in public and on television, he took advantage of the time between auto shows to inspect Kingsoft and Gree, which are related to his companies. He also met with leaders of Zhuhai City and made a lot of polite remarks before facing the media.

It has become almost normal for Tan Jincheng to be received by his eldest and second eldest sons when he goes to a prefecture-level city, even in the economically developed Zhuhai, even though Tan Jincheng has not shown any intention to invest.

However, in private, Tan Jincheng still expressed his interest in investing in Meizu to the two bigwigs, and also hinted that Meizu would continue to stay in Zhuhai.

After Tan Jincheng privately expressed this intention, Meizu received an inspection from city leaders, whose implied meanings put some pressure on Huang Zhang.

"This is not easy. You can feel it too, right? President Tan from Weilai is putting on quite a show of force. If we refuse directly, we'll probably suffer for a while afterward."

Tan Jincheng only attended a banquet arranged by the city on the evening after visiting the Gree factory on the first day. The next day, as soon as they got to work, they received a notice that the leaders were coming to inspect the factory.

Huang Zhang is also a well-known entrepreneur, and he is always treated as an honored guest when he invests in a certain place. However, he is still very distressed in the face of the overwhelming pressure from Tan Jincheng.

He didn't want to lose control, nor did he want to have a falling out with the city, and most importantly, he wanted Tan Jincheng's investment.

It has to be said that he really wanted to take a bite of the pie in the sky that Tan Jincheng was painting for him.

"So what do we do? We definitely have to sell some shares, and a valuation of 250 billion yuan is not low, but how much should we sell?"

It was still at Huang Zhang's home, but this time Huang Zhang had gathered Meizu's management team, who were all his relatives.

"We also need to see Ah Li's attitude. They hold too many shares. If they transfer all their shares to Boss Tan, then can we just transfer a little less?"

Without external intervention, Ali's 28% stake and the signed non-interference agreement posed little threat to Meizu. However, the sudden appearance of Tan Jincheng made Ali's attitude crucial.

"Ali is not short of money, and I heard that Boss Tan and Ali's boss Ma don't get along well. They hardly communicate and only bicker with each other."

It has to be said that Tan Jincheng's attitude towards Ali has always been "unfriendly," which is quite puzzling at times. Huang Zhang and his family know that Ali's attitude is crucial, but they are unable to make the right judgment.

The two don't get along very well. Ahri is also a wealthy man, so turning $5.9 million into $12 billion isn't too much of a concern for them. What if the other party just wants to cause trouble for Boss Tan?
Of course, they also couldn't accurately judge Ahri's attitude.

"Why don't you ask Mr. Ma what he thinks?"

The speaker was Huang Zhang's younger brother, who worked in the company's purchasing department.

Huang Zhang frowned. Damn it, dealing with capital is indeed a headache. However, Meizu, which he had just assembled, was in dire straits. With capital now officially involved, they could no longer remain unscathed.

Huang Zhang could certainly refuse Tan Jincheng outright, or even try to buy back or dilute Ali's shares, but he would have to consider the consequences.

"I reckon Mr. Huang will call you. Uncle Ma, you'll have to play the bad guy then."

While Huang Zhang was making discussions, Tan Jincheng was also taking action. Over the past two days, the acquisition team he and Shen Nanpeng had assembled had conducted repeated deductions and felt that it was almost impossible to get Huang Zhang to hand over controlling shares directly.

The most likely scenario is that Huang Zhang, through multi-party collaboration, made Tan Jincheng the largest shareholder, holding approximately 33% of the shares. Huang Zhang, with a slight disadvantage, became the second largest shareholder, while simultaneously controlling Meizu's board of directors.

Afterwards, the other party may gradually gain control of Meizu by joining forces with other shareholders, thus turning Tan Jincheng into a "financial investor" like Ali.

"You little brat, you got all the benefits, and I'll play the villain, huh? But I didn't expect you to show up so quickly. Are you trying to buy some time?"

Old Ma was abroad at the moment, and he was both amused and exasperated when he received Tan Jincheng's call.

According to Tan Jincheng, he would acquire at least 25% of Meizu's shares held by Ali at an overall valuation of 250 billion yuan. However, he hoped that Lao Ma would verbally interfere with Huang Zhang's judgment, making Huang Zhang mistakenly believe that Ali did not agree to Tan Jincheng's involvement.

Of course, he doesn't need to say it himself; he can just find someone who can make the decision to do it.

ruthless! Too cruel!
Old Ma had experienced the equity dispute with Yahoo back then, so how could he not understand how ruthless Tan Jincheng's move was? Needless to say, he must have also contacted other shareholders he could win over. Although his shareholding has not been high over the years, it is often the small shareholders who change the landscape.

Old Ma could immediately tell which companies were likely to sell. Haitong Kaiyuan and Shanghai Haitong, as financial investors, were the most likely to acquire them, and they might have already done so.

Their combined shareholding is 2.655%. Based on their transfer of 25%, this means that Tan Jincheng has acquired 27.655% of Meizu's shares.

Following this trend, if Tan Jincheng were to acquire another 11.16% of the shares from Huang Zhang, he would become the largest shareholder by a narrow margin.

Of course, based on Lao Ma's understanding of Tan Jincheng, Tan Jincheng would definitely not allow a slight advantage or potential hidden dangers. Either they would transfer more, or Huang Zhang would transfer more, or perhaps both.

It has to be said that this move really caught Huang Zhang off guard.

"That's why. Uncle, please help me this time. I will definitely repay you in the future."

Tan Jincheng did intend to create a time difference, catching Huang Zhang off guard. His meeting with Lao Ma was private and took place after the Wuzhen Internet Conference, thus avoiding being photographed by the media.

In between, he also went to the Guangzhou Auto Show and made some outrageous remarks to generate buzz. After arriving in Zhuhai, he made a high-profile visit to Jinshan and Gree, and also made some insinuations by contacting the locals.

Good heavens, the God of Wealth is investing, and the industry isn't even relocating. Which place wouldn't be happy? As for Huang Zhang's attitude, how could the city not know about Meizu's situation? They'll just see it as helping out.

All of this happened within four days. Tan Jincheng wanted to launch a blitzkrieg, using various information sources to disrupt the other party's judgment.

Like Huang Zhang, Tan Jincheng's series of actions also depended on Ah Li's attitude.

The transfer of Ali's shares is not a big problem, but the difficulty lies in whether Lao Ma is willing to cooperate with them.

"Damn it, who would dare acknowledge you as their nephew? I'm impressed. You're all the same to me. When you need my help, you're Uncle Ma; when you're done with me, you're Boss Ma."

Tan Jincheng readily admitted it, leaving Lao Ma at a loss for words.

"Alright, you may not be the most honest person, but you're still a man of your word. Getting a promise from you is worth it. I'll call down below and make the arrangements."

Meizu is dispensable to Ali; in Lao Ma's view, Tan Jincheng's promise is obviously much more important than Huang Zhang's.

Moreover, this can be seen as a way of getting revenge for what I did last year.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to Uncle Ma."

After hanging up the phone, Tan Jincheng breathed a long sigh of relief. Everything that needed to be prepared had been prepared, and now all that was left was to wait for the other party to make their move.

The so-called "courtesy before force" approach was that he had clearly expressed his desire for control to Huang Zhang. If the other party was conducting a normal transaction, then there would be nothing to say. However, if the other party had some other plans, then he was not a good person either.

(End of this chapter)