Chapter 242 Board of Directors (1)

Whitaker coughed lightly and said, "So, everyone is here?" ”

The clerk nodded, "Yes." As he spoke, he gestured to Dian Wei's existence with his eyes. The latter obviously should not sit on such an important board.

Whitaker looked at Huang Xuan, and Xiao Huang pretended not to see it.

Dian Wei squinted at Aiken, who wanted to speak. Mr. Mather immediately discouraged his desire to speak.

It's a momentum.

The momentum is not untraceable, invisible, inaudible.

An imposing person will use his eyes, postures, or words to make the people next to him and the people near him feel the pressure until they are silent, and these people will indirectly affect more people.

It's like being at a dance party, someone's anger can easily affect the people around them, which is a kind of momentum under special conditions, and also in the office, the cold-faced boss will make the surrounding temperature lower.

Momentum needs a carrier, not too much, but never less, force and coercion are the most effective, and power can play the same role, sometimes very subtle, but not always. Just like the value of futures, 99% of people in the London Metal Exchange will not ask for and are not eligible for spot delivery, but if there is no spot delivery, futures are gambling.

Undoubtedly, Dian Wei is a very imposing person - Cao Cao's evaluation of "the evil of the ancients" is a kind of vicious momentum, more precisely, he is a person who makes people fear.

Aiken was afraid.

No doubt.

Whitaker rubbed the corners of his mouth with his olive palm that had added black pigment, and said with a smile again, "Close the door and let's get started." ”

Huang Xuan leaned his weight on the back of the chair, and Stephenson, who was sitting at the other end of the long table, was a little more relaxed. If the directors fight – in his decade-long experience as a chief operating officer, he has not received a similar education.

No one spoke, and Whitaker gestured to the secretary behind him, saying, "This document will determine the fate of the SBC for a long time to come, and I hope that all directors will seriously consider it and make a decision." ”

Whitaker owns only 18 percent, and he needs to win over at least half of the people in the room to get the document passed.

Gently opened the cover, the word M&A (M&A) appeared in the first line of the first paragraph, Huang Xuan smiled slightly, and then flipped down, as expected, the object of the merger and acquisition was AT&T, the famous representative of American Telecom, and the blood father of Little Bell.

Immediately, some directors let out a faint exclamation, although AT&T's performance declined, but it is still an enterprise-level telecom provider. On top of that, AT&T's name is too loud.

The U.S. "government" monopolized the market for half a century before it was divided into eight parts, and even now, AT&T still holds the two killer features of long-distance telecommunications and enterprise-class telecommunications services.

The introduction document was not long, and Whitaker noticed that most people had already read the whole content, and said, "Hmm", "Everyone, the acquisition of AT&T is a plan that the company's management has been studying for half a year, and now, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." ”

Whitaker's voice was calm and steady: "Just two weeks ago, AT&T released their business expectations for the second half of this year, due to the impact from Internet calls, in the second half of this year, their revenue on long-distance calls may be reduced by 50%, and at the same time affected by many aspects, such as doubts about the economic downturn in the United States, competition from overseas companies, etc., the operating income of enterprises, especially traditional multinational enterprises, has plummeted, and may only reach 70% of the same period last year, in other words, this year's AT&T company, It is possible to incur a loss of more than $5 billion. Goldman Sachs reported $15.7 billion. ”

The crowd was in an uproar. Only shareholders such as Huang Xuan, who have known about this from different channels, can sit there calmly.

"Last year, AT&T's operating revenue was $65 billion, while expenses were $57 billion, and if its revenue fell by 40%, its profit would be only $39 billion and a loss of $18 billion, which its shareholders could not tolerate. Therefore, after active negotiations between us and AT&T, the other party basically agreed to the acquisition plan. Whitaker said, his face also smug, if the merger is successful, he will sit in the first place in the U.S. telecommunications industry.

"Where's the amount?" It was Carlyle's Walsh who was questioned. The Carlyle Group is a miracle of the U.S. capital markets, a low-key but nuclear bomb yield investment group, and their investment ideas are: to unite global politicians, mainly to invest in enterprises and industries founded by various "governments" with certain policy advantages, such as defense product contractors; Or those companies that are heavily influenced by the 'government', such as telecommunications companies. Then they hired the "government" officials related to it, and at the same time got involved in the financial industry and the aviation industry. Among the key members of the "government" they united were: George H.W. Bush, who was still the governor of Texas, who visited South Korea on behalf of the Carlyle Group and made a $1 billion investment after leaving office; Hiring George W. Bush, who has not yet entered politics – and taking stakes in major arms groups when he takes office; The appointment of former British Prime Minister John Major and the ...... of Mr. Prime Minister and Soros, who single-handedly defeated the pound, are also many characters that are not well known to Chinese: former Vice President Al-Johannes. Al Gore and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Al Gore. Juliani, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair William. Kennard.

Huang Xuan is extremely sure that this Walsh must have known about SBC's investment plan. Because about two years ago, the "chairman", that is, William. Kennard approved SBC's long-distance telephone business in several U.S. states, and at that time, the Carlyle Group was SBC's second-largest shareholder, and countless people thought that three months later, Mr. Kennard joined the Carlyle Group, but he would obviously have an impact.

The first step for Southwest Bell to acquire AT&T was to obtain consent.

A standard American version of collusion between government and business, unlike China, is not guilty of lobbying.

Whitaker was very cooperative: "$16 billion." ”

"Wow." Someone shouted again.

Whitaker smiled: "The price of AT&T has reached the bottom, and if we buy it, I can guarantee that we will pay for it in up to four years, and according to our estimates, the merger with AT&T will not only allow us to stay ahead of our competitors in long-distance telephony and enterprise services, but also save us $2 billion a year in terms of our inherent business." ”

"Sounds good." Aiken finally spoke, "What do you think, China Huang? ”

"If you call me Mr. Huang, I will appreciate it even more." Huang Xuan grinned and said, "Sounds good." ”

The two men said two sentences, as if to express the intention of abstaining, and Walsh immediately stood up and said: "We think the acquisition of AT&T is definitely a wise move, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." ”

Stephenson knew that Aiken and Huang Xuan would definitely not abstain, but neither of them was willing to say it first. But the former is the representative of the Cleveland consortium, and the latter also has the background of the Huang Fund, and in terms of the total amount of funds, it is more than the 30 billion US dollars of the Carlyle Group.

Whitaker, who had already understood the cause and effect, obviously had the same concern, and he did not ask the opinions of the third and fourth shareholders first, but began to ask the other directors one by one what they thought, and he still wanted to hold the majority of the people, and then what the two young people had in mind, it didn't matter when it came to mergers and acquisitions.

Surprisingly, Whitaker received only 40 percent support, nearly 20 percent of the outstanding shares, and most of the shareholders present agreed to Whitaker's merger plan, but the problem was that it was not enough.

Aiken looked at Huang Xuan with a smile. Dian Wei was already standing behind Huang Xuan, and the distance was safe.

Judging from the information he obtained from FBI friends, Huang Xuan obviously has a strong demand for SBC, because this Chinese has used almost all of his assets to buy SBC shares, but Aiken gave up a wonderful night to look through the materials, and failed to find out what Huang Xuan wanted.

Both SBC and AT&T have hundreds of millions of patents, talents, and access to them, and Mr. Mather's experience is not enough to discover the connection between MPGE's patents and BD.

However, Aiken had already made up his mind to make a mess.

Whitaker began a second round of descriptions, trying to get more shareholders to agree to the merger plan. Because it is clear that unless Huang Xuan and Aiken join forces, the agreement will not be reached in any case.

Huang Xuan also quickly understood this.

It's a mess.

As long as Aiken votes against, the eight achievements of this merger will fail, and even if Huang Xuan votes against, the 48% vote to induce Aiken to vote in favor is still not enough.

The good news is that there may be shareholders who switch sides and join the side in favor. And Aiken doesn't really understand whether the merger is good or bad — even Whitaker can't guarantee it, and SBC's stock will definitely rise after the merger. In the same way, he can't understand what Huang Xuan wants, or does he want the merger to succeed or fail?