Hollywood Hunter

Arrived in Berlin on February 10, Simon did not leave for Finland until the afternoon of February 12.

In two and a half days, in addition to cheering for the opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival, Simon also negotiated with Deutsche Telekom about cooperation in the Internet industry, and included the tentative name film industry that produced a series of classic films in the original space. .

As for the contact with Constantine executives, the Covent family of BMW, and even the high level of the German government, the parties only initially established contacts and did not immediately start cooperation.

February 13th is Saturday.

Because of the originally planned adjustment, Nokia's management had to give up the weekend rest time to match Simon's schedule.

In 1992, relying on the global transformation of mobile communications from the analog signal era to the digital signal era, Nokia, which completed the second-generation digital communication technology layout ahead of schedule, achieved a leapfrog development.

According to the recent financial report, Nokia achieved sales of 9.3 billion Finnmark in 1992, which is equivalent to US$1.47 billion at an exchange rate of approximately 1:6.3 from Finnmark to US dollar in the past year. Compared with 1991, turnover has increased by 67%.

Of the total sales of 9.3 billion Finnmarks, Nokia mobile phones accounted for 56%, reaching 5.2 billion Finnmarks.

This part of sales represents 3.76 million mobile phones.

In comparison, Motorola, which temporarily ranked first in global mobile phone sales, had only 4.39 million sales in 1992.

In the original timeline, Nokia had been following Motorola in the first half of the 1990s. It was not until 1998 that it achieved the overtake of Motorola, and then completely left the veteran electronics giant far behind.

This time, because of Simon's advance layout, the gap between Nokia and Motorola in 1992 was very small.

With the opening of the North American market to Nokia at the end of last year and the Verizon Telecom sales channel owned by the Westeros system itself, Nokia will be able to break into the most difficult bone of the North American market this year and fight Motorola. In Europe, Nokia has a local advantage over Motorola.

Coupled with the accumulation of Nokia ahead of Motorola in GSM technology, it is no surprise that Nokia is enough to surpass Motorola in mobile phone sales this year.

Of course, it is only the mobile phone. Motorola now has a deep foundation in many fields such as computers and semiconductors. However, it is precisely because of this diversification that Motorola's rebound is not expected to be too intense for Nokia's overtaking in the field of mobile communications. Therefore, it is impossible for this company to know how big a market they missed.

You know, in 1992, global mobile phone sales were only 13 million units, but within five years, this number could exceed 100 million. In less than ten years, the sales of mobile phone equipment can exceed 100 million with Nokia alone.

Compared with the fast-growing receivables, Nokia’s loss for 1992 was 380 million Finnmarks (equivalent to 60 million U.S. dollars), but this was actually due to Simon’s expansion-oriented development strategy.

Simon bought Nokia at a price of US$200 million three years ago. In recent years, he has continuously injected more than US$300 million, a total investment of more than US$500 million, in exchange for Nokia's revenue of US$1.47 billion in 1992.

According to Nokia's 1.47 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and ultra-high annual growth rate, if it goes public, the company's market value is conservatively estimated to exceed 2 billion U.S. dollars.

Westeros owns 100% of Nokia's stock, with an investment of US$500 million, and a market value of US$2 billion in three years. This rate of return on investment is enough to make most investment funds envy.

Relying on blood transfusions from companies such as Daenerys Entertainment and Cersei Capital, the Westeros system has never been short of money. Even if Nokia still needed a large amount of additional funds in 1993, Westeros was completely affordable.

However, Nokia has now shown its ability to catch up with the veteran Motorola. Next, if the company wants to continue its rapid expansion, it needs to face more than pure commercial obstacles.

Whether it’s the European countries that are close to each other, or North America, which is already afraid of Europe on the other side of the ocean, realizing the rise of a giant in the communications industry that has little to do with itself, it is almost conceivable that Nokia may encounter instinctive suppression by various countries. .

The easiest way to minimize this assistance is for Nokia to conduct an IPO.

Through the listing, Nokia's stocks are sold to investors in Europe and North America, and they have interests. If someone wants to suppress Nokia, they need to consider whether they are hitting the interests of their own investors.

For Simon, letting Nokia go public in North America is naturally the best choice.

However, as a company headquartered in Finland, most of its current business is in Europe. Nokia's most important issue now is to stabilize its base in Europe.

In this way, listing in Europe is the best choice.

Simon came to Finland to discuss listing issues with Nokia's management team in person.

No matter whether it is development speed or financial data, Nokia is the best IPO target for all major capital markets, and it is not a big problem to seek a listing.

The key is the valuation at the time of the IPO and the issue of how much equity to sell.

For Simon, it is natural to give up the less equity the better. However, if the number of shares to be issued is too small, the true purpose of this IPO may not be achieved. If there are too many shares to be issued, it will inevitably be distressed.

After all, the current Nokia IPO valuation is probably only about 2 billion US dollars.

Such a valuation seems to many people to be very impressive, but Simon knows that in the memory of the peak of the new technology wave around 2000, Nokia's market value was once close to 200 billion US dollars.

2 billion, to 200 billion, now giving up 100 million US dollars, may mean a book loss of 10 billion US dollars in a few years.

What's more, because the Westeros system has sufficient capital reserves, Nokia does not need to raise too much external funds.

After a whole day of consideration on Saturday, Simon finally decided to set the proportion of new shares to be issued at 20%.

With Nokia’s current valuation of about US$2 billion, issuing 20% ​​of new shares can raise US$400 million. However, if Nokia’s peak market value of US$200 billion in Simon’s memory is calculated, this equity means US$40 billion. .

Of course, things can't be calculated like that.

If Nokia continues to be fully privatized without tying the company’s interests with the capital of European and American countries, then, under the pressure of all parties, Nokia may not be able to reach its peak.

Therefore, this 20% share is actually just the beginning.

Simon plans to gradually reduce Nokia's shares in the next few years, and it is enough to only pursue an absolute holding of 51%.

Because of the differences in relevant laws in European countries, this time Nokia, Simon does not intend to use multiple equity structures like AOL and Cisco.

In fact, it may be that the crash of Nokia in memory left a deep impression on Simon, and he did not have the idea of ​​permanently controlling the company.

Or, Simon has no idea of ​​permanently controlling any company in the Westeros system.

Rise and fall, this is a historical inevitability. Any company, even if it once was glorious, cannot escape this fate.

Therefore, for companies in the Westeros system, whether it is Microsoft, Cisco, AOL or Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood, as long as a company is found to be declining, Simon will exit as early as possible and invest capital in new ones. field.

On the other hand, despite the decision to list on the London Stock Exchange this time, during discussions with the Nokia management team, Simon also prepared a North American roadshow plan, intending to invite North American capital to enter London to participate in the purchase of the 20% new shares.

After staying in Finland for a day on Saturday and agreed on the general plan of Nokia IPO, Simon flew to Florence, Italy that night.

The main framework is determined, and the follow-up will be followed up by the team of James Rebold and Westeros. From the initial IPO application to the final listing, it is expected to last half a year, and it is expected in the second half of August. Officially completed.

Florence.

The time is early Sunday morning.

Sophia Faisy woke up first, gently released the man’s embrace, entered the bathroom, and saw the strawberries between her neck in the mirror. She was a little helpless and resentful, but her heart was full of men’s obsession with her body. Some satisfaction.

Prepared breakfast personally, and the man also completed his routine morning exercises and sat down at the dining table together.

At the end of February 1993, the four major fashion weeks will begin one after another. Gucci has been preparing for the upcoming spring show.

After breakfast, the two rushed to the Gucci company headquarters in the city.

While admiring the fashions that Gucci will launch in the next fashion week, Sophia introduced to Simon the business situation of Melisandre in the past year.

The official detailed financial report will not be released until next week. Simon only listened to a rough idea, but he can confirm that Melisandre has just the past year and the financial data is also very gratifying.

Supported by excellent financial data, during lunch, Sophia talked about another acquisition plan that made Simon a little unexpected.

"Christie's? You mean, the auction house?"

Sitting in a historic Italian restaurant in the city of Florence, Simon was a little surprised when he heard Sofia's name.

Sophia nodded and said, "Yes, Christie's."

With that said, noting that the man's expression was a little weird, Sophia asked, "Is there any problem?"

Simon quickly smiled and said, "It's nothing, it just feels a little weird."

"Ok?"

"Look," Simon smiled more and said: "In the future, my children will grow up, and it will be advantageous to compare and show off with my friends. Others may say that my mother just bought a Gucci handbag, my father I spent 10 million dollars on a painting at Christie’s, but my son can say that Gucci belongs to my family and Christie’s also belongs to my family.”

Sophia imagined the scene depicted by Simon, and couldn't help but laugh, and said: "Your son only needs to say that my father is Simon Westeros."

Simon nodded in sympathy: "Well, indeed."

Sophia gave Simon a white look and said, "So, you agree?"

Simon waved the tableware and gestured lightly, and said, "I don't know anything about Christie's or even the auction industry. Also, why would such an established company choose to sell it, and the approximate price?"

Sophia said: "If it is the past, we really have no chance to buy this company. Christie's has a history of 200 years. However, you also know the economic situation in recent years. Japan has risen in the 1980s and the North American economy has continued. Rising, the days of the world’s major auction houses are very moist, but since the North American stock market crash in 1987, because of the continuing economic crisis, the rich have begun to reduce their spending. The bursting of the Japanese stock market bubble has made Asia, a new market with great potential, also Fast and weak. The auction industry also has a Matthew effect. Christie’s has probably occupied about 30% of the auction market in the past few years, which is lower than the 40% of Sotheby’s listed. However, these two have more than 70% of the auction market. The performance gap of auction houses is huge."

Having said this, Sophia paused, sorted out the information in his mind, and continued: "In the past year, Sotheby's annual profit was 265 million US dollars, but Christie's only 52 million US dollars. The market share gap between the two companies is not At 10%, the profit difference is five times. The market shrinkage in North America, Europe and Asia has not stopped. Worrying that this situation will continue, Christie’s released the news of seeking to sell."

The North American stock market began to recover after the Gulf War, but the overall economic situation is still not optimistic. Japan in Asia is now going downhill. The Japanese rich who bought it all over the world have also stopped. The pound crisis last year led European countries into an economic crisis. From this point of view, the world economy is at the bottom of the last decade.

Simon is more aware that this is also the bottom of the next decade.

Christie’s is worried that the auction industry will continue to reshuffle, which will eventually result in the fact that Christie’s and Sotheby’s are the top two, turning into Sotheby’s dominance. This worry is also reasonable.

As the market becomes weak, the rich who still have the ability to buy expensive collectibles will obviously only tend to be more powerful. This will only make Sotheby’s stronger and stronger. Christie’s wants to maintain its market share. Taking measures such as reducing commissions or increasing marketing expenses will further compress their profit margins, but doing so may not necessarily improve the operating conditions of this auction house, but will make the gap between him and Sotheby's more and more Big.

Christie's wants to get rid of this dilemma, the most important point is that the auction market can flourish again.

However, seeing the global market is in a downturn, although everyone knows the economic cycle, no one knows whether Christie’s can survive this downturn.

In this case, it is not surprising to choose to sell yourself.

For Simon, this is the best opportunity.

Because no one knows better than him that with the rise of the new technology wave, the global economy will recover rapidly in the next few years. At the same time, although the Japanese economy will fall into a long-term downturn, Asian countries will also suffer from this in the next two decades. The rapid economic growth has become an upstart in the collectibles industry.

Buying Christie's auction house now will definitely become an excellent bargain hunter.