Sunset and sunrise are just ordinary days for most people, but for Apple and its investors, it's another brutal day of trading.

From yesterday's close to today's pre-market, Apple did not make any further announcements, nor did it give shareholders an explanation about the stock price crash, and the media seized on this point to make a big fuss, saying that Apple has completely given up resistance today.

In fact, whether Apple responds or not, the result is the same, it doesn't respond, the media says they have given up resistance, it responds, and the media will say that they are mantis arms and powerless.

In the pre-market news, a TV station's financial program said that, according to the grapevine, Jobs has submitted his resignation to the board of directors, and Apple is now discussing the election of a new CEO, but no one seems to be interested in the position.

Before the market opened, some financial experts predicted that Apple's stock price would fall by at least 5% or even more today.

If there is any major negative news today, it is estimated that Apple's stock price will fall by more than 10%.

When the U.S. stock market was about to open, Louis Martin, senior VP of Sequoia Capital, got off the plane, hurriedly passed the customs, and took the special car sent by Sequoia Huaxia Branch, and went straight to Makino Technology to meet Li Mu.

Although Louis Martin flew all the way, fortunately it was a private jet, so for him, the more than ten hours of flying was not tired at all, but gave him an excellent rest and relaxation experience, so he was on the way to Makino Technology at the moment, and the whole person was full of energy.

Originally, Louis Martin was embarrassed to talk to Li Mu about things after landing at night, but Li Mu insisted on letting him meet with Muye Technology as soon as possible, so he could only go non-stop and rush to meet Li Mu in the night.

Li Mu met Louis Martin from the United States in his office, and the two had crossed paths in the last round of financing of Makino Technology, but that was mainly for the financing business of Makino Technology.

Louis Martin is not only a senior VP of Sequoia, but also has a wealth of experience, in the early years of the securities industry, as well as in the field of IPO, so he has a very in-depth understanding of the U.S. stock market.

It can be said that Louis Martin is the one who understands the U.S. stock market the most in the entire Sequoia system, Li Mu said that Sequoia sent such a trump card to Yanjing thousands of miles away, which can also be seen that Sequoia attaches great importance to Makino Technology.

As soon as Louis Martin saw Li Mu, he immediately stepped forward to shake Li Mu's hand and said to Li Mu in Chinese, who was still fluent: "Hello Mr. Li, we meet again!"

Li Mu smiled slightly, shook hands with him, and said, "Thank you Luis, I haven't been able to rest for a moment after flying so far." ”

Louis Martin said with a smile: "Mr. Li, I came to take our chairman's private jet this time, to be honest, it is much more comfortable than a five-star hotel." ”

"That's good. Li Mu nodded, compared his palm to Li Ziwei, and said, "This is my personal assistant Li Ziwei, you can leave each other's contact information, and it will also facilitate the exchange of information in the future." ”

Louis Martin hurriedly shook hands with Li Ziwei and said, "Hello Miss Li, I'm very happy to meet you." ”

Li Ziwei also hurriedly shook hands with him to say hello, and then the two exchanged business cards.

Li Mu said to Louis Martin: "Louis, let's sit down and talk, what do you want to drink, let Ziwei order someone to prepare it for you." ”

Louis Martin said to Li Ziwei: "Miss Li, just ask someone to give me a cup of coffee." ”

"Okay. Li Ziwei nodded, and asked Li Mu again: "Mr. Li, what about you?"

Li Mu said: "Come to a bottle of Coke and add some sugar, I'm too tired these days." ”

After taking a seat in the reception area, Li Mu said to Louis Martin and said: "Luis, I came to you from so far away, in fact, I mainly want to ask a question, how can I buy a majority of Apple's shares, and then let Apple delist from the NASDAQ and realize privatization?"

Louis Martin guessed that this was the purpose of Li Mu's search for himself, he hesitated for a moment, and said: "Mr. Li, I want to take the liberty of asking, do you want to buy Apple as a wholly-owned company?"

Li Mu nodded: "That's right, I want every equity of Apple, every one of their product lines and related patents, and even their team." ”

Louis Martin said: "Mr. Li, judging from Apple's current plummeting trend, it is not impossible for the market value to fall below $3 billion. Holding capital will go crazy, even if these investors only buy 100 shares of Apple shares, it is to make money, but the plummeting stock price and market value will make them lose all their money, and even if they want to stop the loss, it is very difficult, in this case, you only need to send Apple a written offer document, set a market value for Apple, and then let Apple's management and board of directors consider it. ”

"It's as simple as that?"

Louis Martin laughed: "This is the first level, because equity does not represent voting rights, if you want to buy a majority of Apple's shares, you must first make sure that the majority of Apple's voting rights are inclined to agree to your acquisition, if these voting rights holders agree, then it makes no sense for the shareholders behind them to disagree." ”

Li Mu asked again: "What about the outstanding stocks in the market?"

"Don't worry, small shareholders and retail investors don't have a say in the privatization of large companies, as long as the offer is voted on by Apple's management, then privatization is easy," said Louis Martin. ”

Speaking of this, Louis Martin added: "However, since it is privatization, then basically the vast majority of them have to give a certain premium, some are 40-50%, some are higher, with Apple's current situation, how much premium to give them, we can't immediately pat our heads and make a number, we have to go through in-depth investigation and evaluation, on the one hand, to understand their business conditions and the possibility of future recovery, on the other hand, we also have to understand the current psychological state of their shareholders;

If most shareholders are eager to jump out of this fire pit, then the privatization acquisition will be much easier, as long as they are given a certain premium, they will get rid of Apple's shares like a hot potato, but if they are still optimistic about Apple's future when Apple's stock price has plummeted, then the privatization acquisition is relatively not so easy, maybe even if a 100% premium is given, it may not be successful. ”

Li Mu nodded lightly and said, "It just so happens that the U.S. stock market is opening, let's see what Apple's opening price is today." ”

As soon as Li Mu's words fell, Li Ziwei walked over with a laptop, and after pulling up the U.S. stock trading software on it, she put the computer in front of Li Mu.

Louis Martin couldn't see the computer screen, and said: "I watched some pre-market news on the way here, and overall, today's capital market is very unoptimistic about Apple's future, and I think today's stock price will fall by at least 8 points." ”

Li Mu looked at the data on the screen and said in surprise: "It seems that your estimate is not wrong, Apple fell by 7 points at the opening, from $5.47 to $5.08, and it should be a sure thing to fall below 5 yuan today." ”

Louis Martin nodded and said: "Apple's pre-market news today has a new negative news, a large number of returned iPods will force Apple to spit out the profits that have been eaten in the mouth, and there are a large number of users protesting, asking Apple to give a return or subsidy policy, when the time comes, just the return of iPod and inventory backlog, will make Apple's entire supply chain collapse, plus those users who continue to protest, Apple is really difficult to bear this time." ”

Li Mu asked Louis Martin: "Do you know much about Apple, do you know what their iPod3 inventory is at the moment?"

Louis Martin said: "Normally, the inventory digestion cycle of highly competitive electronic products is at least 5-60 days, if a mobile phone brand has annual sales of 10 million units and monthly sales of 830,000 units, then their inventory under normal circumstances should be around 1.5 million to 1.6 million units." ”

Speaking of this, Louis Martin said: "However, Apple's iPod sales were still very good before, so their inventory digestion cycle should be very short, I estimate that it will be 30 days at most, taking five million units a year as an example, the inventory should be about a month's sales, about 400,000 units, plus recent user returns, it is estimated that it can reach 500,000 units." ”

Li Mu nodded and said: "If Apple's iPod inventory is 500,000 units, and the current sales are greatly discounted, Apple will definitely not continue to maintain the previous production, it is very likely to reduce most of the production capacity, and then consume the inventory through promotion and price reduction." ”

"Almost. Louis Martin shrugged and said: " At present, iPod3 has no other way to go except for a large price reduction, but if Apple cuts prices sharply, the iPod business line will have no money to make, so once Apple is ready to cut prices sharply and clear inventory, it basically indicates that iPod will soon be discontinued, because they cannot continue to let the foundry lose money in production, and the foundry must also have enough orders to survive, if Apple reduces or stops production, the iPod production line may be stopped, and at that time, the iPod will be completely dead. ”

Li Mu said with a smile: "If the inventory of 500,000 units is liquidated at a large price reduction, Apple may not be able to recover a dime of profits, and even have to be upside down to dealers and OEMs, right?"

"That's right. Louis Martin nodded and said: "But Apple was very strong with dealers and OEMs before, dealers pay for the goods first and then pick up the goods, and the OEMs deliver the goods first and then settle the payment according to the cycle, so if Apple is a scoundrel, you can first default on the unsettled payment of the dealer, and then clear the inventory through its own Apple-Store, intercept the cash exchanged for the inventory, and continue to default to the OEM, in this way, how can the inventory of hundreds of thousands of units be exchanged for hundreds of millions of dollars of cash flow for Apple." ”

After a pause, Louis Martin added: "But this will also bring hundreds of millions of dollars of debt to Apple, if Apple has any way to break the situation, it can use this money to save the emergency, but if not, it doesn't make much sense for them to intercept this money, it depends on whether Apple has any secret weapons at hand." ”

Li Mu was a little shocked in his heart.

In contrast, he is too far behind a professional like Louis Martin, and he only thinks that Apple's stock price has plummeted, its market value has plummeted, its profits have plummeted, and all its businesses have been hit hard, but he didn't expect that Apple could also use inventory to start and combine, although it was to tear down the wall of dealers and OEMs to make up for himself, but he could also tear out more than 100 million dollars in cash, which is the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse......

Apple must still have a lot of cash flow in its hands at the moment, after all, it is the stock price and current and future profits that are impacted, Li Mu can not reduce the liquid cash on Apple's account, plus the inventory may be converted into more than 100 million dollars of cash, which adds up to a lot of money, if Apple takes so much money, and suddenly has a flash of inspiration to come up with something new, then it can still make it break through in adversity, if that's the case, it's really fucked up!

Immediately, Li Mu asked Louis Martin: "If I want to buy Apple as soon as possible, what is the best way?"