Hearing Hastings's words, everyone's eyes focused on Zhang Ran, if it was really a concerted actor, and Zhang Ran did not publicize it, it would be a violation and would be discredited. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhang Ran faced Hastings's accusation, still with a faint smile on his face, and said calmly: Mr. Hastings, I always thought you were a smart person, but you disappointed me!" Zhang Ran shook his head lightly and said: "Since I have the confidence to appear here and dare to deny your additional issuance plan, do you think I will make such a mistake?"

Hastings said coldly: "Because you have no other choice, as long as Microsoft takes a stake, you will lose, so you can only drag on time in this way." ”

Zhang Ran spread his hands and said, "If you don't believe it, then go to the court to sue us, but I can tell you that you will definitely lose this lawsuit, and you won't even have a chance of one percent." ”

Seeing that Zhang Ran was so determined, Kar Icahn next to him moved in his heart, thought of a possibility, and asked, "Stock income swap plan?"

Zhang Ran was stunned for a moment, and then said with admiration: "Mr. Icahn is really powerful, and he can see the key at once." He turned his head to look at Hastings and smiled: "Let me tell you what's going on, just in August this year, a lawsuit ended in the United States, the listed company CSX sued TCI, claiming that TCI violated the 5% disclosure obligation, and actually held nearly 13% of the stock but did not disclose it, asking the court to deprive TCI of its voting rights." But TCI argued that it did not own the shares and that they were all held by others. It turns out that TCI has entered into stock income swap programs with several financial institutions, so it is true that the nominal security holders are not TCI, but these financial institutions. The lawsuit went all the way to the court of second instance, and in the end, the judge still determined that these stock income swap plans could not be identified as concerted actors and did not need to be publicized. At the time of the lawsuit, the SEC also issued an amicus curiae opinion, arguing that this situation should not be found to be a breach of the duty of publicity. ”

In July, when preparing for the acquisition, Zhang Ran realized that if they couldn't get 34% of the shares, it would be difficult to stop Microsoft, the white knight, but how to get 34% of the shares without violating the rules is a huge problem. The entire acquisition team racked their brains, but never found a solution, until the second-instance verdict of CSX's lawsuit against TCI came out in August, which finally gave the entire acquisition team the dawn of victory.

With the solution, the rest is simple.

"I signed a share income swap program with five financial institutions in Europe, so we will not be considered acting in concert, we are acting in accordance with the law, and there are no violations. Zhang Ran looked at Hastings and said pityingly, "Mr. Hastings, you lost!"

Hastings' heart sank to the bottom at this moment, and after a few seconds, he laughed loudly: "Zhang Ran, don't think that you will win if you don't cancel our additional issuance plan, don't forget that the white knight I invited this time is Microsoft, and Microsoft can launch a tender offer to acquire 30% of the shares at a price of $50." What are you going to do then, can you still offer $55?"

Zhang Ran knew that this was Hastings' last reliance, and said with a faint smile: "Of course I won't give out $55, I'm not so stupid, I'll only give $51!"

Hastings was taken aback and exclaimed, "No way, you can't have such money!"

"Mr. Hastings, you forgot about the stock income swap plan, and several financial institutions I worked with held 20% of the shares, and they paid for it, and I didn't contribute it, which saved hundreds of millions of dollars, so I can afford the price of $51. Zhang Ran decided to completely shatter Hastings' confidence, turned his head to look at Carl Icahn, and said with a smile, "Mr. Icahn, you should know some information that others don't know, please tell Mr. Hastings!"

Carl Icahn looked at Zhang Ran, then at Hastings, and said, "Zhang Ran invested in two John Paulson funds last year, estimated to be around a billion dollars, and now these two funds have risen by 600%, and by the end of the year he can get billions in dividends." Now the money can't be withdrawn, but he can use this part of the proceeds as collateral to get a loan from the bank. If he insists on buying Netflix, he has enough money to complete the deal. ”

Everyone present trembled, and they all looked at Zhang Ran incredulously, just like they were looking at a monster.

The fund invested in has risen by 600%, this increase is too terrifying, what kind of fund is this?

Hastings' hand clenched suddenly, almost pulling the armrest down, and his eyes were fixed on Zhang Ran, staring at this terrifying opponent who was difficult to fathom.

After a long time, Hastings paused, as if he were ten years old.

Not everyone on Microsoft's side supports a stake in Netflix, and the opposition is strong, with many people believing that DVD rental has no future, and it is difficult to say what the future of streaming media is, and many streaming media, including YouTube, are in a state of loss. Microsoft has a platform advantage, and if streaming is really promising, and only needs to bundle streaming on the windos system, then Microsoft will be able to easily outperform its opponents.

$50, many people at Microsoft are already unhappy, feeling that the offer is too high, even if Microsoft raises the price, it will increase by two or three dollars at most, and Zhang Ran is determined to buy, and Hastings can't stop it at all.

In this battle, he was powerless and lost completely!

Seeing Hastings' reaction, Zhang Ran knew that he had been defeated by himself, looked at everyone present, and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, can you give me and Mr. Hastings a little time, I want to talk to him!" He looked at Hastings and said, "Go to your office and talk!"

Hastings answered, and then walked into the conference room with Zhang Ran.

Hastings' office was large and futuristic, and Zhang Ran entered and sat down on the couch next to him.

In fact, it is not difficult for enterprises to merge and acquisition, what is really difficult is the integration after mergers and acquisitions, especially for those companies that have formed their own corporate culture, it is even more difficult to integrate, so Jack Welch before each acquisition, the first thing to consider is whether the culture of the two companies can be integrated.

Because of cultural differences, it is difficult to integrate in the end, and there are countless examples of only breaking up. Mercedes-Benz's acquisition of Chrysler in 1998 was considered a match made in heaven at the time. However, due to the different cultures, there are huge differences between the two sides in terms of business philosophy and way of thinking, and the sales of Chrysler after the merger in the market are very unsatisfactory and the losses are serious. By 2007, Mercedes-Benz could only sell 80.10% of Chrysler's shares to Thurberry Capital Management for $7.4 billion.

After the acquisition of Netflix, Century Summit will face multiple integrations, not only to integrate Netflix and Blockbuster, but also to integrate with Century Peak, which is very difficult; in this case, there must be a smart enough and strong enough leader to stand up to complete the integration, and Hastings is undoubtedly the best candidate.

Zhang Ran looked at Hastings and said sincerely: "Mr. Hastings, many people don't see the prospect of streaming media now, but we all believe that the future of movies is on the Internet, and the future of streaming is bright, why don't we work together? You and your team are very good, if possible, I hope you can all stay." ”

Hastings couldn't believe his ears, if he was himself, he would definitely wash the board of directors in blood and make a big purge of the management of the entire company, but he didn't expect Zhang Ran to want to stay by himself, this is really a strange young man. He said in surprise: "We are enemies, aren't you afraid that I will mess around in the company and make a mess of the company?"

There is a real possibility, such as Microsoft taking down Nokia through the Trojan Elope. However, Zhang Ran is very confident in Hastings, Hastings is a proud person, and a proud person like him disdains to do such a thing, and smiled: "I know you are not such a person, besides, you also have Netflix stocks in your hand, what good will it do you to bring down Netflix?"

Hastings was stunned for a moment, and then shook his head slightly: "You seem to know me very well, but in fact, you don't know who I am at all!" He raised his head, looking confident and proud: "Who am I, I am Reed Hastings, the chairman and CEO of Netflix, Netflix was founded by me, and I brought it up, it was I who made Netflix the king of the online rental business, how could I surrender to you!"

Zhang Ran thought to himself, of course I knew what kind of person you were, I knew you would say this, I just think that talents are rare, and he persuaded very sincerely: "Why do you surrender to me, I just want to cooperate with you." The six major film companies have monopolized the world film market for many years, like gods on high, no one can beat them. There have been countless efforts by countless people, but in the end they all ended in fiasco. Now it's our turn to play, and we're not without a chance of winning, Netflix and streaming have the potential to subvert this model, shatter Hollywood's window, and face the audience more quickly. Hastings, this will be a revolution, it will be to shatter an old world and build a new world, and the rules of this new world will be made by us!"

Hastings didn't answer, but asked: "Inspirational speech, very tempting, if I were thirty years old, I would definitely say, let's do it together! But fifty years old, I want to ask you, if you were from my point of view, would you agree?" He didn't wait for Zhang Ran to answer and continued: "I know you won't, and I won't, because we are the same people." People like us can't be kings, and we definitely won't live in a nest!"

Zhang Ran wanted to explain, but Hastings didn't give him a chance: "No need to say more." Zhang Ran, I have met many geniuses, but you are the most special one, and this time I lost convincingly. After a while, I will resign as chairman of the board and CEO. Netflix is my 10-year effort, and now it's up to you, and I hope you can make it bigger and stronger!"

Seeing Hastings say this, Zhang Ran knew that it was useless to persuade him, so he sighed and said, "That's a pity, if we joined forces, we could have changed the world." I don't know what you're going to do next?"

Hastings raised his head, his eyes fell on Zhang Ran's face, and chuckled: "I won't give up streaming, so we will meet again, but next time you will face not me, but the whole of Microsoft, so it's not you who make the rules, it will be me!"

Zhang Ran was slightly stunned, the previous Hastings was once hailed as Ballmer's successor, but later he withdrew from the Microsoft board of directors for the development of Netflix. Now it seems that he is ready to take advantage of Microsoft to start another streaming stove, and it is easy to do streaming based on Microsoft's platform, which will be an extremely strong opponent.

However, Zhang Ran was not afraid at all, and was even aroused to fight, and said proudly: "Even if I face Microsoft, I will not lose in the streaming media, and I look forward to meeting you again!"

After speaking, Zhang Ran got up directly and walked out of the office.