Chapter 159: Arrival in Washington
The first phase of peace talks between the two sides of the Colombian civil war led to two important breakthroughs, one of which was the conclusion of a one-year ceasefire. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe two sides have achieved a ceasefire on the spot, and the management of the people and the issuance of policies are all managed according to their respective models within the scope of their respective controls.
The second was Marulanda's announcement that, at the request of Zhou You, the partisans would release Ingrid Betancourt, who had been imprisoned for more than two years.
On the same day, Zhou traveled to Pengcheng, which was still in the mainland, but his private plane picked up the released Betancourt, and arranged directly for a comprehensive examination in the hospital in Bogotá, and when she recovered a little, he would send her to Paris, France.
This move was highly praised by the world media, especially in France and Europe, and even called Zhou You an angel, even in the United States, which highly praised Zhou You's move.
However, in this way, it also indirectly confirms the role played by Zhou You in this peace talks. The better and higher the media's evaluation, the more annoyed the American side becomes.
Zhou You knew very well that this time he was completely driven to the shelves. Even if his plane did not pick up Bettencourt, it would not change his impression in the eyes of Americans.
Fortunately, now the U.S. government is also angry, and the business practices of acquiring AMC Cinemas and Tencent's listing have also loosened.
Zhou You did not know that this was an illusion given by the American side, and thought that the lobbying team he appointed had played a role. At this time, he must go to the United States, because if Tengxun can be successfully listed now, then he will not lose much this time, after all, the time is not long.
But it won't be allowed to go public until next year, and all the work done now will have to be repeated. Because after half a year, all the financial statistics will have to be recalculated, and the checkpoints of listing will have to be reopened.
On October 23, he returned from Paris on his private jet and flew non-stop to the United States with Tencent's IPO public relations team.
The plane made a short stop in Los Angeles, filled up with fuel, and took nearly five hours to reach Washington, the capital of the United States. Here, people from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital have gathered and are waiting for the arrival of the tour.
The headquarters of the NASDAQ National Market is in New York, but the management headquarters is in Washington, D.C. Moreover, there is also the headquarters of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and if Tencent wants to go public, it must be approved by them.
According to the NASDAQ system, if a company wants to be listed on the NASDAQ, it must have more than 300 shareholders, and this has long been satisfied, because in the past six years of development, although there are not many external shareholders accepted, there are several, and there are more than 500 internal employees holding shares.
In addition, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are now entrusted as market makers, that is, underwriters, and they will also retain a part of 1 Tencent shares in their hands.
For the other provisions, shareholders' equity (net assets of the company) is not less than US$150,000, and pre-tax operating income is not less than US$1 million in at least one of the last three years. Shareholders' equity (net assets of the company) is not less than US$30 million. A business record of not less than two years. Or the market value of the shares circulating on the NASDAQ is not less than $75 million, or the company's total assets, the total revenue of the year is not less than $75 million, these are all satisfied, or even far exceeded.
As an Internet company that has not yet been listed, but its profits have been squeezed into the top ten in the world, the listing of Tencent has long attracted the attention of major institutions on Wall Street.
Because of Zhou You's personal reasons, Tencent's listing was blocked, and Zhou You received a lot of criticism, and even within Tencent, there were also voices of accusation. However, Brother Xiao Ma and they knew very well the significance of Zhou You to Teng Xun, and Zhou You took the initiative to bear the loss in his personal name, so this trend was fleeting.
In addition to listing in the United States, Zhou You did not think about going back to Hong Kong to be listed, after all, even in Hong Kong in his previous life, Tencent's market value exceeded $200 billion.
But Morgan and Goldman Sachs have done so much work in the early stage in the United States, and they have turned back to Hong Kong to go public, although they can save money on financial audits, but they want to offend them, so they finally dismissed this idea.
The policy of the US Government is controlled by the capital consortium, and the Morgan consortium represented by Morgan is the backstage of the Democratic Party, and the Rockefeller consortium represented by Goldman Sachs is the backstage of the Republican Party.
Moreover, with the support of these two families, plus the mediation of the Walton family, the Hilton family, including the Adelson and Philtitta brothers, Zhou You also believes that the US government will not always be entangled in the matter of its own tandem peace talks.
But he didn't know that whether it was in Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, D.C., there were people arranged by law enforcement agencies who had already laid a net, waiting for Zhou You's arrest.
These law enforcement agencies are not the White House, they are not Capitol Hill, they are not politicians, they are not compromised, they need deterrence, they need dignity.
"Boss, you have an hour to get to the hotel. The first thing to do is to meet with former Senator Dole of Broad Law Firm, an old friend of Mr. Barron Hilton and a key member of the lobbying team on our behalf. Later, I met with Assistant Cummond, who is the face of Senator Yorkson, who chairs the Business Investigations Committee, which has oversight functions over the SEC, which also means that it has a decisive impact on our listing. Dinner will be held at the Hilton Hotel's Western Restaurant, where the four major underwriters have met with no less than five senators and prominent members of the guild, as well as representatives of more than 20 private contractors. ”
Zhou You shook his head and said, "It's a busy night, isn't it?" When you get to the hotel, I need you to get all the names for the evening banquet as soon as possible. ”
At this time, his phone rang. Zhou You looked at the number, and it was Paris calling. The chick had just negotiated a brand license with a chain of nightclubs in Miami, which meant that she would have to increase her income by at least four million a year.
Zhou You answered the phone and said, "I've arrived in Washington, D.C., and the plane should arrive in Miami around eight o'clock, and we can't make it to dinner, but we can have a good night." ”
Paris said, "I'm sorry, my dear, but I can't make it to Washington tonight." Just on the way to the airport, we had a small car accident and Barron appeared to have some sprained neck and needed to be observed in the hospital overnight. ”
Zhou You's heart tightened, and he asked, "Except for Barron, are you injured?" ”
"The biggest thing I lost was the lipstick that was rubbed against the back of the front seat, which you should have kissed off that night." She laughed out loud.
Knowing that she was okay over there, Zhou You's heart was also relaxed. "Okay, it's already in the city. I need to concentrate now, so I won't talk to you more and take care of the Central Plains. ”
Since the establishment of the city of Washington, D.C., it has been stipulated by law that all buildings cannot exceed the height of the monument, so in Washington, there are no high-rise buildings at all. In addition, the city has not suffered any wars since its founding, so many old buildings have been preserved, making the whole city a museum of historical buildings.
But this restriction has also caused the whole city to be homogeneous, and the hotels here are restricted, and they are not as high-end and luxurious as other city hotels.
In Washington, D.C., there are very few hotels that have presidential suites, and even five-star hotels don't look good on the outside, and most of the rooms look cramped.
Hilton has a total of 10 hotels in Washington, D.C., including the Embassy Suites on 10th Street. Located in Washington's business district, surrounded by brand stores and banks, it's not far from the White House, Capitol Hill and the Securities and Futures Commission on 10th Street.
Zhou You's stay seemed uneventful, because the car drove directly into the underground parking lot, and Zhou You took the elevator directly and stayed in the luxury suite on the twelfth floor of the top floor.
Rodriguez, who had already checked in in advance, waited for Zhou You to move in, and then took Zhou You's passport and went to the hotel front desk to check in.
Zhou You washed his face in the bathroom, then sat on the sofa in the living room, picked up the cup of tea that Sanchez had just made, and said, "You can let Senator Dole come up." ”
In the United States, there is a saying: no lobbying, no politics.
Lobbyist - English means lobbyist, originally meant people who walked around the halls of parliament, and later extended to those who went in and out of parliament and the offices of parliamentarians.
In the American political system, politicians and lobbyists are closely linked and share a common fate. The latter knows the former, and moves it with emotion. Affection is the great truth - national interests, people's well-being; And this benefit is often not money, but votes. The ballot represents power, and the loss of the vote is the loss of power.
Moreover, lobbying is protected by the U.S. Constitution, which gives citizens the right to petition the government. The question then is, since every citizen has the right to make a case to the government, why don't we see hordes of Americans gathered in the halls of Congress?
The fact is that the various branches of government operate in a complex manner, and there are about 200 committees in Parliament alone that are responsible for different matters. It is difficult for ordinary people to figure out which topic to go to which committee, and who is the most eloquent in which committee. Most of the professional lobbyists have served in the government and are familiar with the operating system of the parliament. Others are people who are very enthusiastic about a certain topic, and they tend to organize and petition the government together; Another is the people who have grown into professional lobbyists in lobbying firms, and have accumulated enough contacts for them over the years to mingle in Washington, and connections are the most important asset of lobbyists.
Dole is such an old politician, he has served as a lawyer, a congressman, a senator, and because he is old enough, whether in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, he has gathered a large number of allies with common interests.