Silicon Valley, NEXTDOOR headquarters.

The secretary knocked on the door, "Cummins, Mr. Douglas of Goldman Sachs has arrived,"

"Please come in," Cummins said without raising his head.

"Hello Cummins," a middle-aged man with a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt and a red tie walked in quickly.

"Please sit Douglas," Cummins stood up and shook his hand. "Please wait, I have to process this document,"

Douglas made a gesture of asking for help with a very graceful gesture. The old god was sitting opposite Cummins and looked at the arrangement of his office.

In fact, there is no need to look at it. First, he has been here more than once. Second, this office is really not well-designed and has no good intentions.

Apart from a few photos of Cummins' family, there is only the one that is painted from various colors of lines and has an unknown meaning.

Cummins's document must be more important because he had hanged Douglas on the table for nearly five minutes.

Douglas seemed to be unable to sit still, and he changed his posture in his seat with a large range of movement. Everyone's time was precious, okay?

Finally, Cummins stopped writing, "Sorry Douglas," he smiled and walked to Douglas to sit down, "I really envy my days when I worked in an investment bank. I was like you, and I was only responsible for one project for a while. Although it was also stressful, I was simple. After the plan was set, I just walked according to the plan, but it was not like me now."

He complained to his former colleagues, "You just finished dealing with one thing about this company, and another thing about another company is waiting for you, and the two have no connection at all."

"Last moment, you were still thinking about website design, and the next moment, you had to consider the solar power development plan they reported,"

"Tired," he shook his head, "and there will always be emergencies, and my schedule has to change often,"

"Come on Cummins," Douglas said, "Don't think I can't hear you're showing off. Will the sense of accomplishment bring about the same kind of responsibility as taking charge of a project?"

Cummins smiled, "Haha, that's all that satisfaction. So, is the work going smoothly?"

The financial consultant of the merger and acquisition project is the main team hired by the company during the merger and acquisition. Their work scope covers a wide range and will participate in the entire process from the preliminary preparation to the final takeover and integration stage.

From assisting in formulating a merger and acquisition strategy, to analyzing the possibility of success of a merger and acquisition, to assisting in designing a merger and acquisition plan and transaction structure, formulating an overall merger and acquisition plan and timetable, recommending other intermediary institutions such as law firms, assisting in financing, tax planning, etc., and providing consulting opinions on the company's development after the merger and acquisition is completed.

It can be said to be a pair of crutches with very comprehensive functions. As long as you pay, they can really help you accomplish a lot.

At the moment of acquiring Netflix, their main task is to prepare and submit approval materials, obtain approval from the approval agency, and prepare for the next steps, such as payment according to the agreement, as well as related work of taking over and integrating.

"It went very smoothly. Judging from what we learned, there will be no twists and turns in the approval of the SEC. Of course, this is also related to Mr. Feng's outstanding performance a while ago," Douglas said.

The five members of the SEC are nominated by the president, and the chairman of the SEC is directly appointed by the president. Therefore, in the actual work process, the president's opinions will definitely be taken into account.

And Bush Jr. is very clear about this record-breaking merger and acquisition case and Feng Yiping's personal support.

"Then I'm very much looking forward to officially hearing such good news," Cummins said.

He knew what topic Douglas was coming here, so he didn't take the initiative to mention it.

After a few rounds of greetings, Douglas raised the topic, "Cummins, what do you think about the equity of the Chinese company we intend to sell?"

"We understand very well, because Feng is in China at this time, so it takes time for you to make a decision. I mentioned it again, mainly because after learning about this news, there are already several institutions that are interested in taking over, and they have entered the quotation stage. So, Cummins, I think I will know your opinions now. Are you interested in the equity of the company we sell?"

"Oh, so you're talking about this," Cummins said indifferently.

In fact, it’s not that they pretended not to care, but that the possible deal they mentioned by Daglas was much different from the merger and acquisition they were financial consultants, so they really didn’t care much.

"You know, Feng has always had a good relationship with you Goldman Sachs. He has known Mr. Paulson for several years. In recent years, Goldman Sachs and Mr. Paulson have also provided him with a lot of convenience. Therefore, although this company is at least at present, it is difficult and not even clear in its business model, as long as the price is right, Feng authorized me to acquire the shares you sell. This is a trivial matter," he said.

"But Douglas, how long do you think the SEC will need to pass our approval of the acquisition of Netflix, and will it be approved within this month?"

He always acted as if he was disregarded by that matter.

There is even a vague one that Goldman Sachs deliberately brought these two things together to discuss, as if you don’t agree to the acquisition of these shares, and we may not work so hard on the approval matter.

"We really can't guarantee the time of the SEC, maybe next week, maybe next month," Douglas said. "But Cummins, there is one thing I can guarantee you, regardless of whether you are interested in acquiring Alibaba shares, we will still do our best to do our advisory work this time," he said.

"Of course I don't mean that. I know we are all very professional teams," Cummins looked like you really misunderstood me. How could you misunderstand me like this?

"I'm really looking forward to the SEC passing the approval next week," he said.

You said that again, but you still said that you didn’t misunderstand me?

"I look forward to it just as much as you,"

"So Douglas, what is the transfer price you want for Alibaba's shares?" Cummins picked up the coffee cup and asked casually.

“$35 million,”

"How much? Cummins' performance was definitely above the level, almost squirting out a sip of coffee. He stroked his chest and coughed a few times. "You should be clear about its current situation. According to what we have learned, they have not made any profits since their establishment. Moreover, their new business has not yet started. There are very few customers who choose to sell and buy on their website. Unfortunately, it has been targeted everywhere by a shopping website under eBay. The future is extremely unpromising. You are even asking for as much as $35 million?"

He almost said that you were joking.

"Not Cummins, what you know is not comprehensive enough. We admit that Alibaba has not had a positive profit in the past few years. However, they have developed a large number of corporate users before and can charge a large amount of fixed administrative expenses every year. The company users who choose them are still growing rapidly," he said.

"Secondly, their new business, Taobao, is a transformation from B2B to C2C. Although it is just starting out, it is definitely in the right direction. Otherwise, why is eBay so responsive?"

"EBay's targeting just shows how threats Taobao has to it. With China's large population base, our offer was made based on the good relationship between the company and Feng Yisheng,"

"No, eBay does that, it can only say that they are eliminating all possible hidden dangers, and it cannot prove that Taobao will pose a fatal threat to it. Our analysis is that with China's current completely blank credit construction, such e-commerce will not be too optimistic."

This is the reason Feng Yiping asked him to say, but it was really what Cummins thought.

If you have no idea what the other party in the transaction has credit, at least he will not be assured of shopping on the website.

"So, why is Feng still interested in investing like this?" Douglas asked the most powerful question he found.

"It's very simple, a good relationship with Goldman Sachs is a factor," Cummins said.

Although they all know, this is definitely an excuse.

"Mainly, Feng thought that if the investment was not expensive, then he wouldn't mind trying it. It would be proven to be a failed attempt, and that wouldn't matter, we can accept their technicians,"

"You may know that our network of convenience stores in China is very complete. Feng Youyi relies on convenience stores to build an online mall. He needs technical talents who have built shopping websites. This kind of technical personnel who have experienced failures is a good choice."

This is what Feng Yiping told him seriously.

In order to make Goldman Sachs believe what he said, Feng Yiping had to let Cummins believe it first.

"That is, Feng is optimistic about the development of this model in China, so our bid is completely reasonable,"

"No, Feng hopes that it is based on the fact that we have so many physical convenience stores, and it is also a more reassuring B2C model,"

"As far as Alibaba's current valuation is concerned, our offer is reasonable,"

"No, your quotation is completely unreasonable. In 1999, you invested 3.3 million and have so far raised 35 million, which is nearly 11 times the return. As far as I know, many of your successful projects are at this level,"

"No, the return after a successful IPO is at least 10 times the price sold to you,"

Douglas must have felt that he had said too much at this time, but in fact, he really said too little.

"However, given the good cooperation between us and Feng Yi, we can make some concessions, 33 million,"

"33 million? My personal authority is to approve investments of less than 20 million, and I am not interested at all,"

"I'll give in another step, 32 million..."

Both of these two people are testing each other's bottom line, and bargaining in a tug-of-war manner. Although every concession seems to have sufficient reasons, in fact, in the end, in addition to the larger amount, it is essentially the same as when we bargaining with the vendor boss when we buy clothes in the wholesale market.

After Douglas gave in to 25 million, Cummins, who had been insisting on his bid, felt that this seemed to be really close to Goldman Sachs' bottom price.

"I made the biggest concession, 22 million," Cummins said. "I have to find a way to explain this offer to Feng,"

Douglas looked at him for a while, "I'll make the final concession, 23 million,"

"23 million, 23 million," Cummins muttered a few times and reached out his hand. "Our time is precious. I hope the SEC approval will be approved soon. Well, that's 23 million,"

He said with a sarcastic look on his face, but in fact he was smiling in his heart.

Feng Yiping originally gave him the instructions that based on the Goldman Sachs quotation, it would be enough to cut 10% symbolically.

But Cummins, who is familiar with this industry, knew that when venture capital chose to withdraw through the current secondary acquisition method, there was a lot of room for bargaining, so he finally obtained Feng Yiping's full authorization.

"I hope to sign the agreement as soon as possible. I think after completing this agreement as soon as possible, can the SEC's approval of the merger and acquisition of Netflix be faster? It's not a luxury to expect it will be next week, but can it not be later than next month?" He will still link this matter with the merger and acquisition.

"The relevant legal documents will be delivered to Silicon Valley tomorrow," in less than an hour, and Douglas was actually quite satisfied. "Cummins, I repeat that we did not use this transaction as a prerequisite to promote the approval work,"

"Come on Douglas, I've been on Wall Street for no shorter time than you, and I can't understand what this means? I hope that next, you can do your best to promote the approval work," Cummins said.
Chapter completed!