"David Koch?" Tang Miaomiao subconsciously covered her mouth in surprise.

The Koch brothers are the quintessential wealthy family that foreigners rarely know about, but are household names in the United States. Tang Miaomiao also learned that there was such a number one person after arriving in the United States.

"How could you deal with Brother Koch?" Tang Miaomiao frowned in disgust.

Tang Miaomiao has lived in California for a long time, and the atmosphere and political leanings in California are completely opposite to those advocated by the Koch brothers. Among the Black Koch brothers' media, Hollywood and other California media played the role of pioneers.

The image of the Koch brothers is also the most demonized in California.

Under the influence of the mass media, it is natural for Tang Miaomiao to be disgusted with the Koch brothers.

Zhang Chen smiled: "They wanted to invest in Matrix through Sequoia, and for this reason, Sequoia set up a No. 8 fund and put $350 million from the Koch brothers into it. ”

Tang Miaomiao said strangely: "Koch Group wants to invest in Matrix? Matrix and their business do not overlap at all." You're not really going to ask for their money, are you?"

The corners of Zhang Chen's mouth slightly mentioned: "It's not the Koch Group that invests in Matrix, but the Koch brothers, and this money is the Koch brothers' own money." ”

Tang Miaomiao interrupted Zhang Chen: "Is there any difference between the two?x Even if you need financing, there is no need to ask for their money, they have done so many bad things, and they are involved, is it really good for the future development of Matrix?"

Zhang Chen shook his head: "It's not so scary, the Koch brothers are typical representatives of being demonized by the media." If Americans really hate the Koch brothers so much, how can the Koch Group become the largest private enterprise in the United States? The main reason why the Koch brothers are feared by the people is that the Koch Group is not a listed company and is not transparent to the public. And the political ideas of the Koch brothers are not tolerated by the US government, and under the secret promotion of the government, they naturally become conspirators who want to rule the world. ”

The Koch brothers' political philosophy was extreme, supporting the abolition of all taxes and government regulation, bordering on anarchism. Although they are Republicans, the Republican Party is insensitive to the two brothers, and many political stars in the Republican Party have scolded the Koch brothers more fiercely than the Democrats.

But scolding and scolding, there is no ambiguity at all when collecting donations. Over the years, the Koch brothers have been one of the big donors of the Republican Party, and have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republican Party through various channels over the years.

Tang Miaomiao was stunned: "Really?"

Zhang Chen stretched: "It's not that important whether it's true or not, don't worry, I know it in my heart." First of all, the money came from a clean way and there were no legal problems. Second, at least on the surface, it was Sequoia that invested in Matrix. As for where Sequoia's money comes from, I don't care. ”

That is to say, Zhang Chen has great plans for the future of Matrix, and he does not want to leave hidden dangers in the future, so he cherishes his feathers. For any start-up company, if it can encounter such a good thing, it will have to swallow this piece of fat desperately, where can it care about whether it will raise cholesterol?

Tang Miaomiao said worriedly: "I still think this matter is too strange, could there be some conspiracy? Have you met the Koch brothers? What do they say?"

Zhang Chen looked at the vast Atlantic Ocean and couldn't help but recall his meeting with David Koch in Los Angeles a week ago, with a slight smile on his face.

——————————————————————

"Koch Group is not an ideal partner for Matrix, Matrix is not short of money, and industry complementarity is the most important investment condition for us. Zhang Chen looked at David Koch, who was full of sickness, and said with a relaxed expression.

David Koch took out a cigar and gestured to Zhang Chen, who shook his head: "I don't smoke." ”

The personal bodyguard on the side took the cigar and lit the fire, David Koch took it in his hand, and spit out a smoke ring with satisfaction, "Five hundred million US dollars, ten percent of common stock, under the requirements of Koch Industries, Matrix will become the only IT supplier of Koch Industries." And," David Koch paused, "Matrix doesn't need to give Koch Industries any board seats, and Sequoia Eight will transfer voting rights to you." Of course, you can negotiate whether or not to bring Sequoia into the board. ”

Common stock? interesting.

In most cases, VCs have three treasures: preferred stock, equity protection for founders, key team members, covenant clauses, and supermajority clauses. Among them, preferred shares are the most important weapon to protect the interests of investors.

For example, if Zhang Chen invests in a start-up company and invests $2 million in the start-up, accounting for 20% of the start-up company's shares, he gets common shares.

After a year and a half of operation, the startup's business has been tepid. The founders were reluctant to quit because a company wanted to buy the company for $8 million.

The founder felt that he would not lose money anyway, and it was good to exchange an idea for more than $6 million in a year, so he sold the company for $8 million.

The founder got $6.4 million in his hand and went home happy. But Zhang Chen's $2 million turned into $1.6 million, a loss of 400,000.

As an investment company, this result is obviously unacceptable. Therefore, most equity financing will be in the form of preferred shares + common shares to protect the interests of investors.

Taking the example just now, in practice, Tinder will indicate in the agreement that two million dollars of shares are preferred shares with preferential repayment. At the same time, Tinder also owns 20 percent of the voting ordinary shares.

In this way, if the founders want to sell the company for $8 million, the first thing to pay off is $2 million from Tinder, and the remaining $6 million will be distributed to each shareholder according to the proportion of equity. Tinder Source made a net profit of $1.2 million.

Of course, this is just a simple example. In practice, the specific terms and agreements and types of shares will be more complex, and the preferred shares will be subdivided into various types of preferred shares, and their repayment order will also be different.

The investment agreements signed between Tinder and most startups will also restrict the founders with preferred shares and covenant clauses and supermajority clauses.

Of course, preferred shares do not have the right to vote or nominate. If an investment company wants to maintain a certain say in the operation of the investee company, it must also hold a significant portion of its common stock.

But now, David Koch has proposed that only common shares and no voting rights are required, which is too rare in equity financing.

This may only happen unless the investor and the investee themselves have a very special relationship and the relationship of mutual trust between the two parties is unbreakable. For example, if a father's company invests in his son's company, of course, it doesn't need any voting preference shares.

Even judging from his appearance, Zhang Chen can't have any blood relationship with the Koch brothers. The other party threw out such tempting conditions, saying that there were no other schemes, and Zhang Chen himself didn't believe it.

Zhang Chen showed a hint of a smile, rested his elbows on the armrest of the chair, and touched his chin: "Very tempting conditions, so tempting that it makes me feel that this seems to be a condition prescribed by the devil." Mr. Koch, I am very timid, and if I don't have a reasonable explanation, I have to thank you for your kindness. ”

David Koch smiled: "Young man, your suspicion is too serious. $500 million is not a huge amount for Charles and me. Moreover, we and Sequoia have not waived the terms of the contract. Even if we don't succeed in acquiring Apple, with the current development of Matrix, we won't have much risk of losing money on this investment. ”

That's true, but it still doesn't explain why the Koch brothers invested in Matrix.

"Because of you. In response to Zhang Chen's question, David Koch replied bluntly.

The next correction code

(End of chapter)