Li Xuan's acquisition of RCA can be described as a swift move. It took Dongfang Electronics' negotiators only three days to reach an agreement with RCA. Before the outside world could react, the Eastern Group reached a definitive acquisition agreement with RCA.

The final offer for Oriental Group was $51.5 per share, and the total cost of the overall acquisition was $5.22 billion. This price is slightly higher than Li Xuan's previous preset psychological bottom line. But he still chose to cut through the mess quickly and didn't care about the price.

Li Xuan didn't want to jump out of a third party to join the competition during the acquisition process, which would inevitably disrupt his entire layout. And the takeover negotiations only lasted three days, and even if there were really other peepers ready to come out and stir up the situation, it would be too late to make a decision in such a short time.

After all, this is a super merger and acquisition involving up to forty or fifty dollars, and any company must go through detailed research and argumentation before making a decision. With the cooperation of Bradshaw and Charlison, the secrecy of the acquisition was done perfectly.

Even most of RCA's management learned about the plan a week before the acquisition officially began. At that time, Li Xuan had already communicated with a number of important shareholders of RCA under the guidance of Bradshaw.

Of course, the agreement between Dongfang Electronics and RCA does not mean that the acquisition has been successful. They still need to be approved by CFIUS before the dust really settles.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in China (CFIUS) is a federal government commission organized by President Ford in 1975 under Presidential Decree No. 11858. Its primary function is to review foreign investment transactions that may affect U.S. national security.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in China (CFIUS) consists of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. and 9 government agencies, with the Minister of Finance serving as the Chairman of the Committee.

It wasn't the first time Li Xuan had dealt with this agency. Previously, when Oriental Group acquired Fairchild Semiconductor, it was also subject to strict scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in China.

Li Xuan's last dealings with CFIUS were quite smooth. But this time, I didn't expect to be stuck. Undersecretary of State William Winton, who serves on the Executive Committee of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States Department of State, does not seem to be very interested in the acquisition of RCA by the Eastern Bloc.

The U.S. Department of State is also called the State Council, but unlike the Chinese State Council, the U.S. State Council is not the highest administrative body of government. The U.S. House of State is only the body in charge of foreign affairs and some domestic affairs, and its supreme head, the secretary of state, is more like a foreign minister.

In addition to the full secretary of state, the U.S. House of State has two deputy secretaries of state, six undersecretaries of state, and one senior secretary of state. William Winton is one of the six undersecretaries of state. According to Li Xuan's knowledge, this Mr. William Winton is 37 years old this year and is a Republican from Maryland.

Before being appointed Secretary of State by President Ronald Reagan in 1980. He has served as the comptroller of Maryland and the Maryland State House of Representatives, and is a new political star of the Republican Party in recent years.

In order to make the acquisition move smooth, Li Xuan specially flew to Washington to invite His Excellency President Reagan to lunch. In the past few years, Li Xuan has invested millions of dollars in government cash in Reagan. Next year is another presidential election year, and Li Xuan promised to donate another $5 million for Reagan's re-election campaign.

In the face of such a large amount of real money, Donald Reagan made a very happy phone call to the members of the CFIUS Executive Committee. Of course, he would never say a good word directly for Dongfang Electronics Company on the phone, which would be tantamount to giving a handle to his political enemies. But everyone who receives the phone call can naturally understand the deep meaning of the president's call.

And that is, on the premise that the president comes forward to say hello. The undersecretary of state still seems ready to continue to embarrass Dongfang Electronics. William Winton's tenure in the House of State, which is responsible for U.S. foreign affairs, would normally not have had anything to do with Oriental Electronics.

Li Xuan didn't believe this Mr. Winton at all, and he was ready to veto Dongfang Electronics' application to merge RCA purely out of consideration for safeguarding the national interests of the United States. That kind of nonsense can only deceive stupid voters. There is no love for no reason in this world, and there is no hate for no reason.

"I didn't expect it to be him! I thought it might be TBS or GE. But I really didn't guess that it would be this Australian Mr. Murdoch!" Han Peng shook his head and said to Li Xuan.

The most likely to thwart the merger plan is often the original enemy of the two acquiring companies. However, Dongfang Electronics acquired RCA this time. It was not very helpful to the original business, so it was unlikely that Dongfang Electronics' enemies would come to obstruct it. On the contrary, they wished that Li Xuan would focus on it. Put it on other industries other than computers and games.

The main business of RCA includes television and media. Among them, the TV business is considered a sunset industry in the United States, and other companies that are still producing TV sets such as GE and Westinghouse Electric are preparing to sell or close their own TV business. They don't care at all that RCA's TV business is bought by another company.

Therefore, the focus of Li Xuan's previous defense has always been on the competitors of RCA's media business. This business is not only sensitive, but also very profitable, which can easily attract the prying eyes of others.

For example, there was news that Mr. Ted Turner of TBS (Turner Broadcasting Company) was interested in buying CBS (CBS). TBS is one of the largest cable television networks in the United States, and CNN, which is now part of TBS.

And NBC's value is higher than CBS's, and Li Xuan is not sure if TBS will turn its attention to NBC. TBS founder and CEO Ted Turner is a well-known media mogul in the United States. His influence and connections in the United States are only higher than Li Xuan's. If he makes a move to set up obstacles to Dongfang Electronics' acquisition action, Li Xuan will definitely face a lot of trouble.

But what people didn't expect was that another character who was not in Li Xuan's plan at all jumped out. Rupert Murdoch. Li Xuan is no stranger to this famous media giant. In another time and space, whether it is his scheming Chinese wife. or the "News of the World" eavesdropping scandal that shocked the world, it is enough for Li Xuan to remember this person.

His media empire includes the Times, The Sun, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other world-renowned newspapers. There is also Twentieth Century Fox Films, one of the eight largest film companies in Hollywood, as well as Fox News, the fourth largest public news network in the United States, and Sky TV, which has a global rating. Even the Dow Jones & Co. was in his pocket.

"Mr. Murdoch, in fact, we are still neighbors!" Li Xuan smiled and shook hands with the old man with a wide forehead, a big rosacea nose, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, but very sharp eyes, before continuing, "My address in New York is just a block away from your house!"

Murdoch is also the same as Li Xuan. Lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

"Hello Mr. Li, don't you know what you asked me out for today?" Murdoch asked with some puzzlement, pretending not to know Li Xuan's purpose.

"Mr. Murdoch, I have heard that you are good friends with Under Secretary of State William Winton in Washington. Mr. Winton has some misunderstandings about me, so I took the liberty of asking you to meet this time to see if you could come forward to help me make peace!" Li Xuan said with a smile.

Li Xuante specially invited Bush Sr. to come forward and invite William Winton to lunch. First, the president came forward to greet him, and then the vice president invited him to lunch. After Touhou Electronics fully showed its muscles. William Winton is finally starting to relent. He vaguely revealed that he was also acting on the behest of a friend, and that friend was Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation.

Murdoch began to move into the American media market in the 70s, and over the past decade, he has acquired more than a dozen newspapers and magazines across the United States. These include the influential New York Post, the Boston Herald, the Chicago Sun, and others.

And these newspapers owned by News Corporation. Recently, when reporting the news of Dongfang Electronics' acquisition of RCA, it has taken a very unfriendly position without exception. All kinds of sensational conspiracy theories are used to distort and smear the acquisition of the Eastern Bloc as much as possible.

"I wonder what misunderstanding Mr. Lee has with William?" Murdoch continued to pretend to be innocent.

"I thought Mr. Murdoch knew very well! He said he had been commissioned by a friend in Australia. I'm going to veto my Dongfang Electronics Group's acquisition of RCA!" Li Xuan was very tired of this somewhat bald old man, and simply threatened directly.

"You may not know that Dongfang Electronics has been preparing for this acquisition for more than a year. If it fails, it will cause hundreds of millions of dollars in losses! I'm a narrow-minded person with enough money, and I don't mind taking out a few hundred million dollars to retaliate at all! For example, the next time his company makes an acquisition, he will help him raise the price!"

The smile on Murdoch's face suddenly faded a little, and he stared at Li Xuan's eyes seriously. And Li Xuan did not show weakness, and looked directly at the other party with an expressionless face.

"Of course, if Mr. Murdoch is willing to act as a conciliator between me and Mr. Winton, I am also willing to give some satisfactory return!" Li Xuan smiled after the threat, and gave a sweet date.

"I want to hear it!" said Murdoch succinctly.

"You're a newspaper tycoon with a lot of newspapers in the United States, Europe, and Australia. I wonder if News Corp. is interested in entering the Asian market, such as buying a Hong Kong newspaper!" Li Xuan explained.

Murdoch's eyes brightened a little brighter for a moment: "I don't know which newspaper Mr. Li is willing to sell?"

"South China Morning Post!" Li Xuan said slowly, looking at Murdoch.

As far as he knows, News Corp also had a lot of interest in the South China Morning Post at one time. But unfortunately, before Murdoch could make a move, Li Xuan had already taken the "South China Morning Post" first.

Compared with Europe and North America, where the media market is relatively open, Asian countries have stricter controls on this field, and most countries do not welcome foreign capital into this field. Hong Kong, on the other hand, under British rule, is a relatively open region.

But the South China Morning Post is Hong Kong's only independent English-language newspaper with considerable influence, and Murdoch is unlikely to run a Chinese newspaper. So after losing the opportunity to buy the South China Morning Post, News Corp's layout in Asia has not made much progress.

In the past, Li Xuan bought the South China Morning Post to increase his influence in Hong Kong. But with his current status in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post doesn't mean much to him anymore.

"Listen to me, News Corp.'s next step into the television industry is that it has just acquired a satellite company in the United Kingdom! But the policy of the United States and the United Kingdom is different, and foreigners are not allowed to own newspapers and television stations at the same time. Mr. Murdoch, you seem to be an Australian citizen, and you can't buy a U.S. broadcaster until you become an American citizen!

What's more, News Corp. has been making a lot of moves recently, you have just acquired the Twentieth Century Fox Company, which is enough to digest it well for a while! There is an old Chinese saying that people are not strong enough to swallow elephants, and I am worried that Mr. Murdoch will choke to death if he eats too much at once!" Li Xuan said expressionlessly.

The current News Corp is far from being as big as in later generations, and Li Xuan is much less afraid of Murdoch, so he naturally has no pressure to threaten the other party! According to the analysis of the team behind Li Xuan, the News Corp. is not capable of launching another large-scale acquisition at all.

But there are some things, once you get past this village, there is no next shop. If RCA is acquired by Dongfang Electronics Group, it will be very difficult for others to snatch the fat of NBC TV from Li Xuan, the world's richest man.

And Murdoch is obviously an ambitious figure, otherwise he would not have formed a new Fox television network on his own two years later.

In fact, RCA's non-media business shields most greedy eyes from prying eyes on NBC. RCA's management is reluctant to sell NBC Broadcasters separately, and most potential acquirers have little interest in RCA's other businesses.

If RCA is willing to accept the dismemberment package, there are immediately countless teams willing to make a leveraged buyout of RCA. The so-called leveraged buyout is borrowing other people's money to empty the white wolf. After acquiring the target company, the purchaser usually dismantles and sells the company in order to repay the heavy acquisition loan, so as to recoup the funds. (To be continued......)