Chapter 725: Unocal Corporation

Fund No. 5 under Hanhua, managed by Chen Shijun, holds 23% of Skype shares.

In addition, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers holds 12%.

Sequoia got on the bus last, with only 6%.

Xu Liang thought for a moment, "Do you have Skype information on hand?"

"have."

Lin Junrui was ready when he came.

After taking it, Xu Liang looked at it.

This Skype is an online mobile phone that can make calls and send text messages through the Internet; it is not an instant messaging software as he thought.

Of course, it is also very easy if you change it to instant messaging software.

But now that there is Microsoft's MSN on the market, and China has QQ, Skype is destined to be trapped in the field of online phone calls.

In this case, the imagination is too low.

And there is no way to bring much traffic to Facebook.

Before the advent of the mobile Internet era, there was not much room for development of online voice calls.

"Sell it, it's not suitable for Facebook."

Although Lin Junrui was a little surprised, he still chose to believe Xu Liang's judgment.

“How much money is eBay prepared to pay?”

"The current preliminary negotiation between the two parties is US$3 billion, but the specific amount will not be known until later discussions."

"$3 billion?!"

Xu Liang couldn't help being surprised.

In his opinion, Skype has no imagination at all, and its profit model is single. It is still losing money. Let alone three billion US dollars, 500 million is too much for him.

"Tsk tsk, eBay is rich and willful. By the way, how much can we make from this order?"

"In 2003, we invested US$10 million. If the two parties closed the deal for US$3 billion, we could earn US$690 million in pre-tax profits from this deal."

"With a return of 69 times, no wonder everyone wants to be a venture capital investor. It is indeed profitable." Xu Liang said with a smile.

“Although the returns from venture capital are high, the specific returns are not as good as those from hedge funds.”

Skype returned 69 times, earning nearly $700 million before tax.

Last year, the Pacific Fund made a return of nearly US$30 billion, although its annual return was only 10 times.

This gap is too big.

"Different funds have different returns. By the way, have you ever paid attention to Google's stock price?"

Lin Junrui nodded, "At present, Google's market value has exceeded 18 billion US dollars, and its growth rate is very fast."

"This is a good thing. Hongyan is also an investor in Google, holding 7.3% of the shares. If Google develops well, I can earn more." Xu Liang said with a smile.

"Mr. Xu, Google is Hongmeng Bing's competitor."

“I can’t remember who said it: The people who know you best are often your enemies. So no one understands the value of Google better than me.

Of course, there is no reason to extrapolate projects that can make money.

What's more, having a competitor is also a good thing for Hongmeng Bing's development.

Drawing the sword and feeling confused is the beginning of decline. "Xu Liang said with a smile.

In addition, from the time Google went public until now, he has been asking Hongyan to acquire its shares.

7.3% is not the end point.

Like Apple and Amazon, 15% is an appropriate number.

"Then I should call Chu Gang and ask him to buy some shares of Google."

"Haha, there's no need to call.

Lao Chu, despite being a polite person, is really a thief at heart.

The investment portfolio of the White Tiger US Fund he manages already has a 3.2% stake in Google. "

At this time, Lu Hui came over and interrupted the exchange between the two.

"Mr. Xu, your guests have arrived."

Lin Junrui also stood up knowingly.

"Mr. Xu, I'll go to work first."

Xu Liang nodded and patted his shoulder.

"From now on, you will be responsible for the work in the United States. The burden is very heavy, so don't slack off."

"Don't worry, I will do my best to live up to your expectations."

"Go ahead."

After Lin Junrui left.

Xu Liang adjusted his suit, turned around and walked downstairs.

When I arrived on the first floor, I happened to see Du Deheng and Henry Paulson getting out of the car.

After taking two steps forward, both parties also saw each other.

"Xu, congratulations."

Henry Paulson led the way.

Du Deheng is not far behind.

"Xu, congratulations on becoming a father. This is a great role."

"Thanks."

Henry Paulson continued with a smile: "I heard that Chinese tradition requires newborns to wear long-life locks. I consulted some people and specially customized three locks in Xiangjiang."

The secretary who came with him quickly took out a long wooden box from his briefcase and opened it. Inside was a three-sided silver lock.

The decoration is exquisite, and the edges are inlaid with diamonds, which makes it look more luxurious.

Xu Liang knew at first glance that it was produced by Chow Tai Fook.

Because this is not the first time he has bought it.

Du Deheng immediately took out his gift.

"We Westerners are used to wearing amber on babies and young children. I have prepared three necklaces, all made of the best Baltic amber. I hope the three little ones can grow up safely and live a long and healthy life."

"Thank you both for your gift, I like it very much."

He welcomed the two of them into the office politely.

After the guests and hosts were seated.

Serve tea.

"Xu, we rushed here as soon as we received your call." Du Deheng said with a smile.

Henry Paulson echoed: "For this meeting, I postponed the President's State Council meeting."

Xu Liang certainly knew that they were exaggerating to pave the way for more favorable conditions later.

He smiled.

"I promise you two that you will never regret coming here today."

He put the prepared materials in front of the two.

"Please take a look."

The two looked at each other and quickly picked up the materials.

At the beginning, they could still remain calm, but the more they changed, the more they changed.

Shock, unbelievable, and then uncontrollable excitement.

Fortunately, both of them were used to big storms and could basically control their emotions.

"Xu, your plan is simply a genius idea." Henry Paulson said excitedly.

"Xu, Morgan Stanley is willing to cooperate with Hanhua with the highest sincerity."

Du Deheng also said quickly.

Unlike Reed Montes, as old hands who have been in the financial street for most of their lives, they know the tricks inside the rating agencies better than anyone else.

Therefore, in their opinion, Xu Liang's plan is almost 90% feasible.

Now they also understand why Reed Montes is so eager to acquire Oppenheimer.

With such lucrative benefits in front of them, no one can resist.

"I believe in your sincerity, but why should Hanhua cooperate with you? Citi, Morgan Chase, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns can also be our choices."

Paulson said quickly, holding the document tightly in his hand.

"Xu, don't beat around the bush. I believe that you called us here because you must want to cooperate with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, so put forward your conditions. As long as we can do it, we will do our best to help you."

Du Deheng nodded in agreement.

"OK, I like to cooperate with straightforward people the most."

Xu Liang waved his hand.

Lu Hui put the other two documents in front of the two.

Pick it up and take a look.

Du Deheng looked surprised.

"Are you going to acquire Unocal?"

"Yes."

Xu Liang nodded decisively.

Hanhua and Hongyan have accumulated nearly $40 billion in cash.

This money cannot always be kept in the account, it must be invested. Otherwise, the annual depreciation alone will make him sad.

At present, the domestic market of China has limited ability to absorb funds, and it needs approval. It is not that you can invest money just because you want to.

Then eliminate some companies with less appreciation potential.

After searching around, Xu Liang gradually focused on Unocal Oil Company.

This is a California oil giant with a history of more than 100 years.

In 1903, Unocal established the first oil plant in the West and built the world's first oil tanker.

The huge scale economy brought business opportunities, and the support of the oil industry enabled California to develop rapidly in the southern United States.

Similar to the gold rush of that year, large numbers of investors with dreams of getting rich came here, but this time they came for the oil economy created by Unocal.

For Americans in the 1930s, Unocal's "76" logo was, to some extent, a distinctive representation of the American spirit.

Until the mid-1990s, Unocal was the leading oil and gasoline producer in California, and it is currently ranked ninth among U.S. oil drilling and production companies.

Like many large companies that have reached their peak, management has made a series of stupid moves in pursuit of so-called high efficiency and high revenue.

While Texaco, Chevron and ExxonMobil were expanding through mergers and acquisitions to seize the market, Unocal formulated a development strategy to set aside its gasoline business and focus on oil exploration and production in other regions, especially overseas.

First, it sold 140 car and truck stations worth $180 million in 1993.

Then in 1996, it sold its three refineries in California, 1,350 natural gas stations on the West Coast, a sales system and some other resources to Texaco, and even sold its once proud "76" trademark, with a total value of $2 billion.

Unfortunately, the success rate of oil exploration is not high.

There are too many examples of losing billions and not getting a drop of oil.

Unocal does not have a father called "God", and the international oil price was low at the time. Under the pressure from both sides, Unocal almost lost money.

The debt was as high as 6.1 billion US dollars.

After selling a large number of assets, the debt was finally reduced to the current 2.9 billion US dollars.

The reason why Xu Liang took a fancy to it.

In addition to knowing that the price of oil and natural gas will soar in the future, investing in energy companies will be profitable.

There is another very important point.

About 70% of Unocal's proven oil and natural gas reserves are located in Asia and the Caspian Sea.

Its energy production bases in the United States are mainly in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, while its main overseas production bases include the North Sea, Indonesia, Thailand and other places, among which Southeast Asia is its more important base.

In other words, the United States will start a trade war in the future.

It will have a great impact on Unocal, but at least it can still retain its foundation.

This is very critical.

"Xu, although Unocal is facing difficulties now, it has huge oil and natural gas reserves. It is very difficult to acquire it smoothly." Du Deheng said.