Chapter 267

Chapter 267 Arrest of PayPal

Abel still feels like Ikana and Paris have been inseparable for the past few months.

The two often work together and Paris Hilton was hired by YKM as design director.

Even the YKM flagship store in San Francisco was accidentally involved in a zero-dollar murder case.

It was also Paris who accompanied Ikana to solve the problem.

When it comes to this murder case, YKM is a bit naive. The cause of the incident was a black woman who was shopping for clothes at the YKM store.

It was directly destroyed by a black gunman.

The shooter ran away after collapsing.

Even though the people at the YKM flagship store were scared, they immediately chose to call the police.

Security in the San Francisco Bay Area wasn't bad during this time, and the flagship store's location was in a busy area, so police were quick to show up. The police arrived and began checking identities. Soon after, it was confirmed that the black woman who was shot was a gang member.

The murder was also classified as a high probability gang revenge incident.

Bay Area Police have identified the issue and the YKM flagship store is not liable.

But after the police left, the black woman's gang shut down. Upon arrival, they vandalized and looted, destroying decorations and a batch of merchandise from the YKM flagship store here.

Everything is very urgent.

Ikana had to come from New York to take care of it.

After discovering this was a gang incident, Ikana contacted local police and members of Congress to contact authorities.

At the same time, he asked Abel for help. After Abel consulted one of his own Four King Kongs, Lincoln, who was very good in this aspect.

He simply asked Lincoln to contact the gang involved.

The other party only promised to compensate 5,000 USD and was not responsible for anything else.

Ikana chose to calm down and accept the other party's compensation and apology.

In fact, according to Abel's intention, he wanted to pursue him fiercely. People with souls born in China hate the color black and medicine the most.

But Ikana politely refused. She believes that if that is the case, YKM may not gain a foothold in the Bay Area in the future.

Even on the West Coast it can be affected.

Unless Abel can capture all of these elements and destroy this gang directly. But it's obviously difficult, let alone the small stuff.

Abel saw her determined attitude. He thought it was just a small matter so he didn't think about it anymore.

Afterwards, Ikana began cleaning up the aftermath in the Bay Area, while continuing to check out the market and so far has not left.

Paris Hilton also stayed with her until Abel arrived.

"Have you had breakfast?" Paris Hilton asked a nervous Abel. "I asked the kitchen to prepare food for you."

Abel laughed loudly.

In New York, they had breakfast together many times, and then some.

Paris Hilton already knows Abel's food preferences and how much he eats.

"Okay, let's eat later. What are you? Oh, that looks like a design for a costume. Do I wake up early to go to work? »

"I need to catch up on the draft," Paris Hilton replied. I want to complete these design drawings. After the final draft, I will send it to Huaxia Foundry. Once the sample is produced, I will decide whether to produce it or not. »

"I remember YKM is following the fast fashion path, right? If we do it this way, will the speed of new product releases keep up?" » Abel asked curiously.

ZARA, the founder of the fast fashion concept, is interested in fast food products.

The clothing giant's strategy is not to lead fashion trends but to follow them.

To put it bluntly, this is plagiarism. She takes inspiration from the streets, movies and other famous fashion shows (i.e. direct copying) to update her own products.

In Spain, ZARA's 200 buyers handle the company's men's, women's and children's clothing lines.

ZARA's shipping center has to process 2.6 million garments per week, and each ZARA store has to purchase twice a week.

It is said that a new set of Zara clothes usually only takes half a month from design to release.

Hearing what Abel said, Paris gently smiled: "It's true. But our fasting is different from ZARA. Ikana and I think that YKM cannot completely imitate ZARA. ZARA created them. This model is coming to an end."

"YKM's journey will be somewhat similar to Zara's, but we need to set a higher price point, which requires our clothes to contain more fashion elements of our own design."

Seeing that Abel was not listening seriously, Paris also knew that the YKM story was just a small matter for him to please Ikana.

Thinking of this, Paris felt jealous of Ikana's luck. "Simply put, we can't go the Zara way. If we go their way, we'll just be stuck. So we're taking a more upscale route," she said. like this and our new products will not be launched so quickly."

Abel nodded, perhaps understanding what Paris meant.

Fast fashion, which thrives on plagiarism, is essentially monopolized by ZARA and a few other brands.

Other rising stars want to follow a similar path as ZARA. This will only be beaten by ZARA, with its first mover advantage and cost and price war.

In this case, you can study ZARA's concepts and learning methods.

but never exactly the same.

Like YKM, follow the same path as ZARA, but a bit more upscale.

Outrank your direct competitors and carve your own place in the ultra-luxury fast fashion segment, above fast fashion. This is a good choice for YKM.

So far, things are going quite well.

With the help of Abel's capital injection, YKM is doing much better than last year, when it was dying.

This year the number of branches increased to more than 60.

It was able to begin to sustain a cycle of positive growth and no longer needed to rely on significant amounts of external financing to survive. Of course, relying on this type of self-interest to open branches and expand slowly.

This means that its scale and reputation are no longer as great as before.

Ikana, the "child from another family" was famous in the media before.

Gradually, under the guise of the glory of the new super traffic king "Smith", the situation faded.

I talked to Paris again and Abel stopped interrupting his work. He went to the restaurant to have a full meal, after eating, he relaxed for a while and then quickly left 349 Walsh Street.

He plans to return to New York on the 20th and won't be on the West Coast long.

So of course it would be better to finish the work here sooner.

Two hours later.

He appeared in San Jose, California. San Jose, also known as San Jose, is a city located south of the San Francisco Bay Area and is the third largest city in California.

It is located in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley), south of San Francisco Bay. It is the seat of Santa Clara County, adjacent to the Coyote River and 65 km northwest of San Francisco. This is the 10th largest city in the United States and is known as the "heart of Silicon Valley". . Due to its appearance, PayPal, the San Jose-based online payment service provider, got a little excited.

PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Lavchin were mucking around the office early on.

Elon Musk, another co-founder who joined PayPal last year and brought business and technology to X.com, is interested in both.

The colt smiled and said:

"Peter, Max, calm down, calm down. It's just that one of our investors, one of our shareholders is coming."

"That is all?"

One of the founders of Confinity, the inventor of the name "paypal", Peter Thiel could not help but say:

"Elon, how can you be so calm? That's Abel Smith. If he really thinks of us and is willing to give us strong support, then our PayPal will have a smooth road ahead. »

Another senior executive, Max Lavchin, was also a bit excited:

"I think this will be a good opportunity for us to unify the online payment transfer system industry!"

"Abel Smith owns 33% of Google, as well as shares of many Internet companies. He is even said to have bought shares of Microsoft."

"If only we can get a lot of support from him. Let him help us sell PayPal. Elon, we can get out of this quagmire and become an industry giant."

Elon Musk also understood what the two partners said. Since Abel became a major shareholder of Google.

Its influence in Silicon Valley continues to grow as Google grows.

Today, in Silicon Valley, there are even more rumors that this super tycoon is not only a Wall Street tycoon but also a media tycoon and banker.

His Pacific Bank of Commerce would seek to acquire Silicon Valley Bank, which was on the brink of bankruptcy during the Nasdaq bubble.

If Abel really buys Silicon Valley Bank. This tycoon would then truly become one of the most influential figures in Silicon Valley.

If you can get support from this character.

After the merger of Confinity and X.com, PayPal really hopes to become bigger in the industry.

Elon Musk sighed: "Okay. I'm really excited too."

"But." Tieu Ma said:

"Who says Smith will definitely support us? It is said that his investment in Silicon Valley has reached more than 1 billion US dollars. Maybe we're just one of his careless investments. »

"Always fight for it. » Max Lavchen said:

"Right? If you fight for it, you can have it. If you don't fight for it, you won't achieve anything."

Peter Thiel also said: "And that's what you're best at. Elon, that's going to be up to you in a moment." We hope you can persuade this gentleman to have fun and encourage him to invest. In this case, you are the largest contributor to PayPal."

Elon Musk would have said: "I will do my best."

At that moment, the company's administrative secretary arrived and informed the company's shareholder, Abel Smith, of his arrival.

The three co-founders quickly stood up and ran out to greet them.

Abel also met Elon Musk, who was still very young but had started to go bald.

This surprised Abel a bit. Elon Musk in Abel's memory is also the image of a chubby middle-aged man.

But the hair is still quite thick.

Abel did not know that it was after Elon Musk became successful.

To build his personality and image, and make a good impression on investors and leek enthusiasts, Elon Musk has performed long-term hair transplant surgeries.

Looking at Elon Musk's first photos can be disastrous. Elon Musk, then only thirty-one years old, half-Mediterranean, did not have the "Iron Man of Silicon Valley" temperament.

Abel's arrival was warmly welcomed by hundreds of PayPal employees.

With a smile on his face, he and his three co-founders patrolled the company together and held a show.

Finally, I arrived in a small conference room with my three co-founders.

With only three co-founders left in the meeting room, Abel said bluntly: "I want to buy PayPal."

Abel's speech stunned the three co-founders who initially wanted funding or just wanted him to help promote PayPal payments. Max Lavchen swallowed hard and looked at his two companions.

Peter Thiel is similar, both are technical and they are not good at it.

Marketing and company management are usually handled by Elon Musk.

Both of them looked at Elon Musk, and Xiao Ma looked at Abel, who was calm and tycoon, and bravely said:

"Mr. Smith, what do you mean?"

"Literally." Abel said frankly:

"I want to get sole ownership of PayPal. The price is 300 million US dollars. If you agree, you will immediately become a billionaire in America. »

Three hundred million dollars?

Hearing this price, the three people and the Founder all widened their eyes.

Before the Nasdaq bubble burst, PayPal's valuation reached $1 billion.

But then the worst happened late last year.

PayPal isn't even valued at $100 million. After more than half a year, the shadow of the Internet bubble bursting has gradually faded.

Although market confidence in the Internet has collapsed, it is gradually recovering.

PayPal's valuation has also stabilized somewhat, with a current market value of around $200 million.

Abel also spent $20 million at the time to acquire a 10% stake in PayPal.

He is currently paying $300 million to buy back all of PayPal. Based on PayPal's current situation, this price could be considered a premium acquisition.

The three co-founders were a bit excited at this time, including Elon Musk.

But at the same time as he was excited, the pony was still a little unwilling.

You should know that last year, PayPal was valued at one billion dollars.

At a moment's notice, there will only be 300 million left, who will be willing to replace him? Elon Musk wants more and he wants to negotiate.

It's just that the words haven't come out yet.

blocked.

"I only offer 300 million US dollars. If you refuse." Abel said in a neutral tone:

"Then I will choose to withdraw my shares. Give me my money back and I'll give you your shares back. »

Elon Musk, who wants to negotiate, shut up now.

PayPal just raised $20 million from Abel.

With $20 million, PayPal can survive until the end of this year.

If Abel withdraws his shares at that time and loses 20 million US dollars.

PayPal will soon be in trouble. Right now, if there is information in the market that investors are not optimistic about PayPal and are starting to sell shares.

After PayPal, it is estimated that raising capital will become very difficult.

The situation will suddenly get worse.

Seeing Abel's determination to win, the three co-founders understood.

The Wall Street giant in front of him is certainly prepared. Elon Musk even imagined what Abe did with PayPal in his head.

Abel first used his fame and influence to easily buy PayPal stock when he needed the money the most.

When PayPal used part of the money, they suddenly threatened PayPal to withdraw its shares.

Either you get bought out or you find yourself in a dangerous situation.

During this particularly difficult period. What Abel did put the three co-founders in a dilemma.

Elon Musk looked at Abel's handsome face. As soon as Tieu Ma spoke grandly, he wanted to withdraw and take action.

The truth is that Tieu Ma basically doesn't dare to speak up, because right now PayPal basically cannot afford to pay this amount.

Did anyone say that PayPal doesn't process online payments?

He must always have customer funds in his account. These are Alipay and VX payments from Huaxia.

Most online express payment companies in the United States are just channels in their early days.

It is simply a connection channel between the bank and the seller.

When the scale is not high, the store has no way to intimidate customers.

A channel for cash flow, there is the accumulation of pet customers' money. Even to attract customers, this channel initially did not charge any fees and a number of preferential policies were also offered to attract customers.

At that time, PayPal, an independent company, did not have giants to rely on from the beginning like Alipay and VX Payment, generations later.

It was the most lonely and helpless time right now, especially when Abel maliciously wanted to withdraw his capital.

The faces of the three co-founders were all ugly at this time.

Abel's next words made the three people's faces even more ugly. "You can choose to decline." Abel said:

"Then get out. Then I'll try to buy Authorize, MoneyGram, ClickandBuy, etc. After that, PayPal is just waiting to go bankrupt."

All three companies mentioned by Abel are developers of fast online payment services like PayPal.

These three companies, along with PayPal, account for half of today's instant online payments in the United States.

In fact, before being acquired by EBAY, Paypal was just one of the kings in the industry, not a tycoon. After being acquired by EBAY, we had EBAY's support.

PayPal has gradually become the dominant and absolute dominant company in global online payments.

Parallel time and space, if EBAY acquired another company at that time.

Paypal will then never achieve the status of future generations.

Three co-founders before me, let alone a year and a half later. PayPal's valuation could reach up to 1.5 billion US dollars, after which EBAY began to buy it back, allowing all three to realize the freedom of their assets.

Targeted by Abel before PayPal, he failed because his route could not be the same as the route of parallel time and space.

Iron Man, Musk.

Musk, who had no means of wealth and freedom, Abel wanted to see what kind of character he created.

(end of this chapter)