Paul Skinner has been chairman of the board of directors of Rio Tinto for several years, and it was during his tenure that Rio Tinto's rival BHP Billiton was completely integrated, and the combined BHP Billiton completely overtook Rio Tinto Group in one fell swoop and became the world's new mining giant. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Of course, the merger of the two super-mining giants was not something Skinner could decide, but during his tenure, Rio Tinto inevitably continued to decline, and in some non-critical areas, BHP Billiton was squeezed to the point of seeking to break away and focus on the copper, iron, gold, silver and aluminium industries, and with the completion of Rio Tinto's acquisition of Alcoa, they became the largest supplier of aluminium to the global market.

Affected by this good news, the market value of Rio Tinto's shares listed in Australia was as high as more than 60 Australian dollars, completing the local surpass of BHP Billiton's shares, but this is not the biggest positive news for Rio Tinto this year.

Through Citigroup, they sold a 1.9 billion ton iron ore field in Western Australia and a copper and iron ore area in Indonesia to China for more than $10 billion, and at the same time used an estimated $3.5 billion to buy a 5 percent stake in Orange Technology's US subsidiary.

However, what puzzled Skinner was that in the past few days, Orange Technology has suddenly expressed resistance to their proposals, and there have even been bad incidents of refusal to negotiate, which makes him feel very angry, you must know that now the global raw material supply market and commodity trading are shrinking, and only the emerging Chinese market has maintained a growth rate.

However, this temporary boom will also fall as the Chinese steel market gradually saturates, and it is almost certain that the commodity trading will change in the next five years, when Rio Tinto will have to face the same dilemma as it did in the 90s, such as operating contraction, declining profits, etc., and when it encounters challenges, they will have to face unfavorable factors such as a shortage of funds.

Once it acquires a stake in Orange Technology's U.S. branch, it will greatly increase Rio Tinto's ability to resist risks.

"Chairman, I think our strategy must be transformed, after all, according to our estimates, Orange Technology in the next two years, can become the nation's leading super technology group, and a large number of think tanks such as Citigroup believe that the North American market has an annual demand for new technology communication equipment of more than 30 million units, most of which are potential customers of Orange Technology, once they complete the market cultivation and occupation, it is estimated that the annual turnover will be as high as more than 120 billion US dollars, and its total profit will also be more than 30 billion US dollars。 "Rio Tinto is not a specialized technology company, but the charm of capital allowed Rio Tinto to set up a think tank group specializing in orange technology in an instant.

It was formerly known as Schneider Tate, a local Los Angeles-based analyst firm specializing in evaluating large and medium-sized technology companies, and Schneider Tate, the original principal analyst of that analyst firm, spoke at this time. If the company decides to formally complete the cooperation with Orange Technology, it is best before March 2008, because by then, the Federal Transaction Review Board and the Monopoly Commission will thoroughly review whether to approve the holding and sales restrictions of foreign technology companies in the United States. ”

Another senior economic analyst put it more bluntly, " With the intensification of the financial turmoil on Wall Street, an economic crisis that has swept the world is forming, and the federal economy will be hit hard first, so the funds need to seek a safe and profitable investment project, in this case, we believe that once Orange Technology completes the first finished product off the assembly line to sales, then its listing on the U.S. stock market will be on the agenda, and at that time, this company with a complete technology system, without any competitors, its stock price will soar, and we have even contacted some of our peers on Wall Street, and they have made several plans for Orange Technology to go public, the lowest of which also predicts that its stock price will skyrocket. ”

Paul Skinner didn't know this, he touched his head and said a little speechlessly, "But now Orange Technology may not show too much sincerity to our cooperation, and they are even a little perfunctory." ”

Just as he was about to continue talking, he suddenly heard his cell phone ringing, and Paul Skinner made an apologetic gesture to those present, stood up and walked outside the conference room to answer.

"Mr. Paul, I have to call you with regret, I am Sandywell, and now on behalf of Citigroup, I formally inform your company that the cooperation between us and Orange Technology is officially cancelled, and at the same time, Citigroup will reserve the right to pursue Rio Tinto's wrongdoing in this cooperation. "On the other end of the line was Sandywell, chairman of Citigroup.

Just because of a small attitude problem, it has provoked the siege of so many technology company helmsmen, and Sandywell is now quite anxious, and naturally has no good attitude towards the initiator Rio Tinto.

Paul Skinner asked, puzzled, "Why? Didn't we join forces to put pressure on their government to get Orange Tech to cooperate with us?"

Sandywell sneered, "But I have never hinted or asked you to make the slightest threat to Orange Technology on any occasion? No, your unauthorized and dangerous actions have brought this cooperation to a halt, this is your own problem, and now it has also involved Citigroup, I think in the past cooperation and friendship, I did not immediately hold you accountable, which is the greatest restraint." ”

"What threats? Could these be the reasons for the refusal to negotiate and the breakdown of cooperation?" Paul Skinner was annoyed when he saw that the flesh was flying, but he still had a glimmer of hope for redemption.

He hopes that the powerful Citigroup can come up with a way to bring Orange Technology back to the negotiating table, after all, he only needs to sell two raw mining areas that are destined to have no great future at the market price in exchange for a share of the technology group that is making money every day.

Sandywell was almost defeated by his shamelessness, and said angrily, "Paul, you should be sober, Orange Technology is not something we can handle at will, don't you know how many American tech giants are standing behind them? Now that these people are about to form a new consortium, if I were you, I would choose to immediately make the most sincere apology and compensation, otherwise you will probably suffer terrible retaliation." ”

"Retaliation? Is it up to those Orientals? You know, this is the United States, and we still have their raw lifeline, and if we are blocked by Rio Tinto, the whole Western world will be on our side. "Paul Skinner doesn't care at all, isn't it just an upstart tech company from the East, do they still have the ability to threaten Rio Tinto?

Sandywell didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he hung up the phone and left Paul to handle it himself.

"Damn!" Paul pinched the hung up phone, suddenly feeling that things seemed a little surprised, and quickly made another call, "Hey, is that Mr. Taylor?" Citigroup seems to be aware of the little moves behind our backs. ”

"It's okay to notice it, I've agreed with one of them that Citi will help us out. As the leader of the American industrial consortium behind Rio Tinto, Taylor is not worried.

But Paul didn't have the confidence of him, and said anxiously, "But the problem is that Citigroup has clearly expressed its position, and the threat we used to force Orange Technology to reach an agreement is regarded by them as the biggest reason for the breakdown of this cooperation negotiation, and they have clearly vetoed the possibility of continuing to work together." ”

These words seemed to be somewhat unexpected by Taylor, he suddenly stood up and put down the cigar cigarette, "What's the matter, you make it clear, we have joined forces to put pressure on Orange Technology in accordance with the agreement reached with Citigroup, although we have secretly used some necessary means, but these should not make Citigroup, which is eager to cooperate with Orange Technology, more recognized? Could it be that they have obtained some inside information that we don't know?"

Paul Skinner also felt a little strange, you must know that this set in private has been used in many negotiations with foreign companies, such as bribing the top executives or key people of the other company, taking the lead in grasping the bottom line of the other party, or simply threatening some of them to force the other party to compromise, and this time it is the same for Orange Technology.

Even if the other party has technical cooperation with many technology companies in the United States, in the eyes of Rio Tinto, these cooperation is not strong in the face of interests, Rio Tinto is after all a top global mining giant, not afraid of the pressure exerted by these technology companies, and there is Citigroup as an ally, they believe that there will be no problems on this issue.

But now it seems that it is precisely because of Orange Technology's cooperative allies in the United States that the negotiations have reached an impasse and will soon break down.

"Mr. Taylor, I think you should immediately negotiate with the consortium behind Citigroup, we have prepared too much in this matter, if the cooperation eventually goes bankrupt, we will lose tens of millions of dollars, but it will inevitably cause great hidden dangers to the company's future strategic development. Paul Skinner was also a little dissatisfied, knowing that he did not agree to this plan at first, because it would anger the sensitive Orientals.

However, Mr. Taylor seems to be playing this game very well, and he does not want to change his own methods to get involved in an industry that he is not familiar with, so this is why Rio Tinto has issued threats to some people in Orange Technology.

Taylor said a little impatiently, "Okay, I don't need you to teach me to do things, now you should immediately go and stabilize Orange Technology, and send someone to find out their country's reaction, whether the two original mining areas are still going to be left, and when the time is right, we must put our attitude out." ”

Paul Skinner could only nod in agreement, "Now that's the only way, if their government no longer accepts this condition, then our cooperation will only fail." ”

"BHP Billiton's side don't want to hide it, I will immediately apply for an insider investigation of this transaction, the Federal Antitrust and Foreign Business Licensing Commission will not allow them to trade the raw mining area so easily, I will try to mess up this cooperation." ”

"That's great, as long as BHP Billiton gets out of the deal, then our chips will be the only option. Paul Skinner sneered inwardly, but not on his lips.

After hanging up, he slammed the wall and vented, "If BHP Billiton was so easy to deal with, we wouldn't have been in their shadow for the past few years." ”

Just kidding, BHP's market capitalization and the capital standing behind him are even stronger than Rio Tinto, and he really can't think of any means Taylor will have to force the latter to withdraw from this competition, knowing that it involves billions of dollars in annual earnings, and it is impossible for any capitalist to give up such a big gain, especially if his competitor is another large company in the same industry.

BHP Billiton will certainly not give up this tripartite deal with Orange Technology and Huaguo, after all, after reaching an agreement with Yuntong, they have been actively promoting this cooperation, and now it has almost come to an end, as long as Huaguo confirms the reserves of the two major raw ore areas, the transaction can basically sign an agreement into the substantive stage.

"Hi ~ Brown, I need to meet with some of the consortiums on the West Coast, I think they will be interested in some of Rio Tinto's mines in Australia and South America, and tell them that if they are willing to withdraw from this competition, then many things can be discussed, even including the merger of Rio Tinto into BHP Billiton. Taylor certainly had the confidence to convince BHP.

His hole card is to package Rio Tinto as a whole, as long as the other party needs it, then even if it is all sold, it doesn't matter, after all, the entire commodity trading market is gradually weakening, no matter what new technology appears, they are unlikely to become a sunrise industry again.

Orange Technology is an emerging super technology company, and if it can smoothly take over their American branch and obtain a certain amount of equity, this old consortium that has been based on industry for more than 100 years may not be able to gain a firm foothold in the science and technology world.