Chapter 425 Wei Yang and Suning's Head-On Confrontation, I'm Cheating

In March, a big event occurred in the financial and film and television circles.

Blue Whale, a well-known film and television company in the entertainment industry, and Blue Crab Ventures, a well-known investment company in the industry, jointly established Blue Qinghai Investment Company.

This investment company with a strong Weiyang flavor sold out RMB 1.05 billion.

Directly acquired 24% of the shares from PPTV’s small and medium-sized shareholders SoftBank, German investment institutions, founder teams and others, becoming the third largest shareholder of PPTV.

On the same day, Lan Qinghai officially issued an acquisition notice for PPTV and directly contacted Hony Capital, the second shareholder of PPTV.

This news was directly listed as the top trending topic on Weibo, and relevant people in the financial circle were crazy about it.

Some inside stories were slowly unearthed.

It is said that from the time Wei Yang and his team decided to make the acquisition, to the implementation of the specific steps, and finally the completion of the acquisition, it only took more than 20 days. Their decisiveness and quickness of action can be regarded as a small business model, and they also successfully stunned Suning.

With so many equity changes and frequent actions, it is certain that Suning, the major shareholder, cannot be hidden.

The latter learned about the news shortly after Wei Yang started the acquisition, but they did not expect it to be so fast. Even before they had discussed the specific results, they had already settled it and announced that they were in contact with Hony.

The reason why Wei Yang is so fast is very simple.

Throw money!

The current valuation of PPTV is around 3 billion. Previously, Suning and Hony spent US$420 million to acquire a total of 76% of the shares, which is about 2.5 billion+ when converted into RMB. In other words, the valuation of PPTV at that time Probably 3.3 billion+.

Of course, this kind of acquisition must have a lot of premium, and it is definitely not worth it normally. The current valuation of 3 billion is also due to Suning's control.

If you think about it this way, it's actually quite simple.

The remaining 24% of the shares combined by the small shareholders were worth just over 700 million based on a valuation of 3 billion. Wei Yang bought it at a premium of 1.05 billion, showing full sincerity.

Moreover, PPTV has been jointly taken over by Suning and Hony. Everyone knows that the next step will be to focus on cleaning up small and medium-sized shareholders.

Rather than being forced to leave the market by various means, if someone takes over at a high price, who will refuse?

And Wei Yang naturally knew that the money spent was more or less "taken advantage of".

But there is no other way. If you want to enter the game and accumulate enough capital to compete with Suning, you have to be willing to spend money and get out of the game as soon as possible.

This money is just an appetizer. In the next step, Lan Qinghai will directly invest 1.5 billion to win the shares of Hony Capital.

When Hony Capital and Suning Group joined forces, Suning was the majority leader and Hony Capital was not short of money. It held 32% of the shares and spent nearly 1.05 billion yuan at that time.

Blue Whale asked for 1.5 billion, which means that as long as Hony nods, it will earn 400 to 500 million in a few months.

ally?

Wei Yang didn't believe that Suning, an ally, was worth this price in Hongyi's heart, and he would add more if it couldn't be done.

"Wei Yang is crazy!?"

This was the reaction of the outside world after learning that Wei Yang had offered Hongyi a price.

PPTV has a total valuation of 3 billion. Wei Yang spent more than 2.5 billion on just over half of the equity. This is not how you spend money.

Only those who understand Wei Yang or consider the overall situation can see Wei Yang's true purpose.

"This is a war of attrition with Suning."

The acquisition of PPTV is very difficult for Wei Yang, because Suning has entered the game and has become a major shareholder, and it is also a well-known domestic group. Trying to take PPTV from them is tantamount to snatching food from the mouth of a tiger.

So if you want to win this battle, you have to win by surprise.

For Wei Yang, it was too stupid to compete with Suning for funds, and he couldn't compete with him, so he had to change his approach and draw Suning to a battlefield where he was good and powerful.

Therefore, Wei Yang decided to make a dangerous move.

Simply give up on Suning and not attack the entire PPTV. Instead, concentrate your superior funds to acquire the shares of Hony and small and medium shareholders.

If everything goes well, Wei Yang can get 56% of the shares, making him a well-deserved major shareholder of PPTV, and he can legitimately get control of PPTV.

In this way, Wei Yang can use PPTV as a battlefield and continuously invest funds.

If Suning doesn't bite the bullet and follow suit, it will form a war of attrition with Wei Yang. If it doesn't invest, it will be forced to lose its shares bit by bit.

For Wei Yang, PPTV is the biggest strategy for Blue Whale and related companies to focus on the future. They had originally decided to invest heavily. As long as the website can be developed, there is no way to spend too much money.

Therefore, Wei Yang is willing to burn this money if he dares to, and with the Blue Whale and the Red Shark that has begun to rise behind him, he is confident enough to burn money.

But that’s not necessarily true for Suning!

They are very rich, but they also have large stores, including e-commerce, home appliances, physical stores, sports and other industries, all of which are burning money.

Under such circumstances, facing PPTV, which is not a particularly important part of their grand strategy, is it worth Suning's fight with Wei Yang?

One side goes all out, no matter the cost.

The other side has various constraints and worries.

Once it enters a war of attrition, Suning will retreat sooner or later. Even if it persists and becomes a shareholder of PPTV, it is not necessarily a bad thing for Wei Yang.

As long as the control of PPTV can be guaranteed, Suning's investment will also be of great benefit to the website. Even reaching cooperation with it on TV channels and offline can further improve the PPTV industry chain.

At this point, Boss Wei is not obsessed with eating alone, and he even has plans to introduce capital such as Toutiao to cooperate in the future.

Of course, this is premised on successfully acquiring all the shares of Hony Capital.

If it is not acquired, or only a part of it is acquired, and it is impossible to control PPTV, then even if Wei Yang can still fight a war of attrition, he will be more passive in many aspects.

So Wei Yang would not hesitate to offer a premium that makes the outside world think he is crazy, and take all the shares of Hony in a package, which is the most critical part of the acquisition plan.

"Tell them again that they must package everything and do not accept partial sales. This is the bottom line, otherwise we would rather fail the acquisition."

"I can afford to lose 1 billion, and we still have shares in our hands, so we can still get a tooth from Suning."

"As long as we convince Hony to sell in a package, then if Suning wants to disrupt the acquisition, it will have to buy Hony's shares as well and compete with us for funds."

"With such a high premium, I don't believe they are willing to buy. Even if they are willing, do they have enough money?"

"If Suning could easily spend this money, it would not have to drag Hony to acquire it together. They are big and powerful, and they are arguing."

"In a word, barefoot is not afraid of those wearing shoes. They are reluctant to go head-to-head with us."

"..."

Wei Yang gave his team a loud encouragement, and Suning, with a market value of hundreds of billions, seemed to be ignored by him.

In this acquisition battle, Wei Yang also has an invisible but extremely sharp advantage, that is, he has the final say, and he can call on funds and team resources at will.

But Suning is different. It is difficult to turn around because of its large size.

The various factions, shareholders, and executives of the major companies, and many of them are listed companies, are all affected by one move. Boss Zhang does not have the same high degree of freedom as Boss Wei.

This can be felt from the fact that Suning has not yet finished the meeting when facing Wei Yang's short-term acquisition of small and medium shareholders' shares.

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Liying next to him looked at Wei Yang with some admiration, and the affection in her eyebrows could be drawn.

As mentioned earlier, what impressed Xiao Zhao the most about Wei Yang was not his appearance and personality, but his seriousness and decisiveness in work and his confidence in strategizing. The so-called domineering CEO style especially killed her. Every time at this time, Xiao Zhao would turn into a little fan girl.

"Brother, you were so handsome just now."

Wei Yang rubbed her head. He also felt that he was a little handsome just now, and at the same time, he felt that his level of deception was getting higher and higher.

"Will Suning really not make a move?"

"I don't know."

Wei Yang spread his hands. What he said just now was also half true and half false. He had a certain degree of confidence, but he was not sure it would go smoothly.

Hony Capital is now more ambiguous. Although it is somewhat tempted by Wei Yang's high price, it has not surrendered, and has flirted with Suning.

For them, it is even better to sell a high price to Wei Yang and sell a small portion of shares to Suning at the same time to ensure the latter's control, so as not to offend.

Suning also thinks so, to control PPTV at the lowest cost to deal with Wei Yang's impact.

But Wei Yang is obviously on guard against this, and he insists that the price can be negotiated, but he must buy all the shares, and it is clear that he wants to become the largest shareholder in one fell swoop.

So the three parties are now in a stalemate, and Wei Yang is actually betting that Suning will not compete with Wei Yang and spend money.

Although Suning is more complicated internally, it is not that there are no wise people. They have invested more than one billion in the PPTV project and will not give up easily. It is not so easy to deal with a large group worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

"So we still have to be quick. We can't delay this. The longer we delay, the easier it will be for Suning to reach a decision. Now is the time to cut the Gordian knot while they are still discussing it internally."

Wei Yang knew what was going on. While urging the team to speed up the negotiation process, he continued to contact for funds.

Once Suning really got out of the game, Wei Yang's solution would be to continue to raise the price until Hongyi was tempted and Suning felt bad.

In addition, Wei Yang also began to exert his strength as a half-media boss, frantically creating smoke bombs, and all kinds of gossip were flying around, involving himself and Suning.

Continuously creating pressure on Suning's shareholders and the stock market, and creating obstacles within Suning.

Wei Yang even sent people to spread rumors, saying that Alibaba, Hunan TV, and LeTV were also interested in participating, muddying the waters.

For Wei Yang's side, who had the same goal, it didn't matter how chaotic the situation was. Their goal was to take over the shares, but for Suning, this was all trouble.

…

"Young people are formidable."

Wei Yang's tricks could deceive most people. Business tycoons like Boss Zhang could still see some of the situation.

But again, a company with such a large scale and complex layout as Suning often does not act on personal will. Even if Boss Zhang knew Wei Yang's layout, he would not just counterattack.

That's why he praised Wei Yang, believing that he was not only decisive and ruthless, but also found Suning's weaknesses very accurately.

There was a thin young man next to him, who was a little indignant when he heard this: "It's just a gamble. If Suning decides to continue to invest in PPTV, what can he do to stop it."

This young man was Boss Zhang's son, the future Inter Milan chairman Zhang Wei-wei Zhang Da Shao.

At this time, Zhang Da Shao was still studying abroad. He came back from the annual leave and stayed for a few more days.

As a result, he saw Wei Yang's surprise acquisition and did not return to school. Boss Zhang also wanted to let him see it, so he analyzed Wei Yang's operation this time.

Even so, facing his father's praise for Wei Yang, Zhang Da Shao was not convinced.

Or, since Boss Wei started from scratch, he was too young and inevitably compared with the heirs of various families, and was often praised, so he naturally became a thorn in the eyes of many rich second-generations.

Young Master Zhang and Wei Yang are only a few years apart. One has not graduated from college, and the other has a net worth of 10 billion and is engaged in business wars with well-known domestic groups.

It is no exaggeration to say that if he succeeds in becoming a major shareholder of PPTV, Wei Yang's business reputation and influence will be further improved.

Not to mention the rich second generation, some older wealthy people are not enough to be compared with him.

Young Master Zhang may not know this, but he is young and energetic, and always feels that Wei Yang is nothing great. He always thinks that if he is in charge of Suning, he can easily beat him.

"Then let me ask you, if you are the CEO of PPTV now, and you don't have the identity of Suning's heir, can you deal with Wei Yang's offensive, and can you convince Suning's top management to strongly support you?"

Young Master Zhang wanted to pat his chest and promise, but looking at his father's serious eyes, he finally remained silent.

Boss Zhang asked again: "If you have Weiyang's assets and connections, do you have the courage to go against Suning? And do you have the ability to force Suning into a dilemma and quarrel internally?"

Young Master Zhang was silent for a longer time this time. Seeing this, Boss Zhang next to him smiled bitterly and said with a piercing tone.

"I know why Cao Cao sighed that he wanted to have a son like Sun Zhongmou."

Sure enough, no son would like to hear his father think that he is not as good as others, let alone the arrogant top second generation like Young Master Zhang, whose fingernails are pinched red.

Boss Zhang saw everything and stopped when he saw the good, and did not further stimulate his son.

He felt that his son was too arrogant, and his family was superior, so he was not very motivated to struggle. He hoped that he would work harder, so he gave his son a goal or opponent.

"Study hard and accumulate, and when you graduate and return to Suning, you will compete with him sooner or later."

Young Master Zhang is not stupid, he can guess his father's intention, but when he thinks of what he said just now, he still feels upset.

"Then you really let Wei Yang get what he wants."

"It's not that simple."

Boss Zhang sneered. He admired Wei Yang, but that didn't mean he was willing to watch him step on Suning to get to the top.

With his prestige in Suning, it would be troublesome, but if he really made up his mind, it would not be a problem to compete with Wei Yang for Hony's shares.

"Doesn't he want to fight a war of attrition? I'll give him a hand and drain his funds."

Young Master Zhang's eyes lit up, and he understood his father's intention. Suning also followed the bidding for Hony shares. If Wei Yang didn't want to give up, he had to bite his teeth and follow.

It would be best if Suning could successfully take over Hony shares. If it really exceeded expectations, Wei Yang would also pay a big price and become a major shareholder of PPTV at a high premium.

By then, Wei Yang's funds would be exhausted, and he would even owe a lot of debts. Even if he had control of PPTV, he would not be able to invest on a large scale.

On the contrary, even if Suning retained part of the original funds and used it for financing, it could also make Wei Yang stupid, regain control, and kick him out.

"He plays to our strengths and avoids our weaknesses, and we play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Suning's disadvantage is its huge size, but its advantage is that even if it can only use a part of its resources, this war of attrition is enough to drag down Wei Yang."

"That's right."

Young Master Zhang's eyes suddenly lit up: "Wei Yang is being clever. How can he possibly beat Suning in a war of attrition?"

"His main business is film and television. This industry is full of unexpected events. I don't believe that he can sell all his films. Once something unexpected happens and the capital chain is broken, we can just squeeze him."

Boss Zhang's move is really vicious!

Wei Yang was forced to spend more than 300 million yuan in the end and took over the shares of Hony Capital at a price of 1.82 billion yuan.

Not long after, Boss Wei officially took over PPTV and soon announced adjustments to the relevant structure and personnel.

Magic City, Zhangjiang

Wei Yang stood in the office of PPTV headquarters, feeling extremely distressed, and sneering at Suning's calculations.

These business tycoons are indeed difficult to deal with. If it were someone else, they might have been killed by them, but he is different.

I'm a cheater...

A serious acquisition case is very complicated, so for the sake of the viewing experience and rhythm, the novel keeps everything simple.