Chapter 268: Billion Acquisition Order

On November 30, a press conference was held.

Zhao Dong attended the press conference accompanied by Oakley, Larry Johnson and others.

At the press conference, he met Michael Tyson for the first time.

Looking down at Tyson from a high position, he said unhappily: "Tyson, you'd better wear a helmet like an amateur when you go on stage, otherwise you'll have to lie down and be carried off the ring."

"What did you say?"

Tyson said angrily: "Don't think that because you have your wife's support, I'm afraid of you, you coward who eats soft food!"

"Kacha kacha..."

The two most famous sports superstars in New York began a war of words, and all media cameras suddenly flashed.

"Am I eating soft food?"

Zhao Dong was furious and kicked Tyson over with an extremely powerful kick.

"Fuck him!"

Amateur boxer Larry Johnson did not show weakness when facing the professional heavyweight world champion with the most terrifying offensive firepower, but was eager to try.

However, he was immediately controlled by several security guards and could not move forward.

Tyson was so angry that he screamed. He got up and was about to punch, but was restrained by a group of security guards.

"Oh, great! Come on, Tyson! Come on, Flying Dragon!"

A reporter roared excitedly and clicked the shutter excitedly.

"I will beat him into a pig's head. He will definitely fall under my punch. I swear I will KO him with a heavy punch!" Tyson roared at the media.

"Prepare emergency doctors and ambulances. We want the best. It's best to arrange our boxing match in the ICU. That way he can be put on the operating table immediately after I blow his head off. I don't want him to die on my side." Under the punch."

Facing the media, Zhao Dong said angrily.

The press conference ended unhappy, but the gimmick was quite profitable and attracted the attention of the world.

The boxing match here is extremely hyped, but the NBA negotiations over there are still extremely difficult, and the conclusion of a labor agreement is still far away.

"Stern threatened to cancel the 98/99 season and all players will lose their income for the entire season." TNT TV station reported.

"NBA labor negotiations have broken down again, and the new season is likely to be cancelled." New York Times.

"If the season is cancelled, the NBA's status among the four major sports leagues is likely to drop to fourth place, and it will lose most of its fans." New York Sports News.

"The long lockout has caused many NBA players who have been training crazy during the offseason to lose their persistence and confidence. Many of them have given up training, but Kobe is the only one who continues." Los Angeles Times.

"These bastards don't know what they are talking about?"

Chicago, Jordan flipped through the newspapers very irritably and suddenly threw them out.

The new season has not started yet, and after more than four months of extra training, he can no longer hold on. After all, he is 35 years old. Like Zhao Dong, he wants to find a new project to play, such as playing golf?

In Philadelphia, Iverson stopped practicing a month ago. He couldn't hold on any longer. During this time, he spent time with his brothers again, partying one after another.

In Los Angeles, Kobe is still sweating like rain. There is no shortage of strength training, shooting training, defensive training, breakthrough training, and even low-post singles training.

This offseason was too long, but he still gritted his teeth and persevered. He could see what Los Angeles looked like at four o'clock in the morning every day.

He believes that the new season will definitely come, and then he will surprise the entire league. He will tell everyone that he is not a dispensable person among the 1996 rookies. He will stand in front of the flying dragon in New York and tell him, His name is Kobe Bryant, not rookie.

Time entered December, and on the 10th, Zhao Dong and his boxing team set off for London, England.

Lindsay stayed in New York temporarily. She was ten times busier than Zhao Dong.

Storm Fund has achieved ultra-high returns for more than a year, especially its rapid expansion in recent months, which has transformed it from a rising star investor on Wall Street into a real capital tycoon, attracting a large amount of investment funds. , every investment she makes can attract a large amount of capital to follow up.

In fact, the size of the fund she now controls is far larger than what Frank Warren described to Tyson.

The 20 billion mentioned by Warren is only the scale of Storm Fund's venture capital fund, while the larger investment fund in her hands is a stable investment fund.

The scale of this fund has expanded to 50 billion US dollars. Attracted by the extremely high investment returns of the Storm Fund, the scale is still expanding at a high speed.

Moreover, this scale is still controlled. Not all funds have the opportunity to enter her funds. She mainly accepts non-U.S. funds.

Behind her, there are funds from several European consortiums, including Dolisa and his wife, who also come here because of their fame.

In addition, at Feilong Sports, she also began to perform the duties of president and slowly began to lead its development.

What happened last time that Chen Jian was ignored by those executives must never happen again.

But she still had to go before the boxing match started.

London in December is cold and gray. It is difficult to see the sun during the day and the average temperature is only a few degrees.

Zhao Dong didn't care, because Beijing was almost the same now. It was also gray and the temperature was a little lower than the foggy city. It was just not as cold as London. Beijing was dry and cold.

When we came out of the airport, it was snowing lightly in the sky, mixed with icy rain. The road was very slippery and the car was not going fast.

Zhao Dong noticed that there were many large-scale promotional photos of him and Tyson on some busy streets. It seemed that Frank Warren and Arum were doing a good job in their promotion work.

Arum took Zhao Dong to observe the venue of the boxing match, the Soford Indoor Stadium in London.

This stadium was built in 1991 and can accommodate 18,000 people. It is suitable for holding boxing matches in winter. It is also one of the venues with the most boxing matches in London.

The day after Zhao Dong came to London, Tyson also came here with his team.

Frank Warren came from a sports family in London and was a local figure here. As soon as Tyson arrived, he held a press conference for him and began to build momentum for Tyson.

Not to be outdone, Arum used a large number of contacts to start building momentum for Zhao Dong.

Feilong Sports Company, Huang Zhiwen once again seized this opportunity and built a flagship noodle store in London.

On December 23, another round of negotiations between the league's labor and management failed. Stern announced angrily that if the next round of negotiations failed again, the entire season would be cancelled.

This news has caused divisions within the players, because if the entire season is canceled, the biggest losses will be those players with high salaries, and there will be a split between them and ordinary players.

The media ridiculed this, and the New York Times described the labor negotiations as a battle between millionaires, except that one side presented itself as management, and the other side presented itself as labor.

On December 26, a piece of news dominated the front pages of many media, that is, Jordan and Nike reached an agreement. Nike will make Jordan's brand shoes independent as a subsidiary of Nike. Jordan will own the share price of the subsidiary and become a subsidiary of Nike. The boss of the company.

This contract makes Jordan the second NBA player to own a sneaker company after Zhao Dong, and his commercial value has skyrocketed.

Time has come to the end of December, 1998 is about to pass, and 1999 is about to come.

Starting from the 29th, a large number of NBA stars and Hollywood stars came to London.

Air Jordan and Postman Malone, these two guys who wanted to see Zhao Dong beaten to death by Tyson, were the most active and rushed to London on the 29th.

In the previous two days, Zhao Dong had reduced his training volume, but on the 30th, his training volume was increased to full capacity.

This is to use full-load training to stimulate his body and let his body reach the most excited state.

At five o'clock that afternoon, he picked up Lindsay from the airport.

"Husband, there was a snowstorm in New York yesterday."

"Oh, the homeless people on the street didn't freeze to death, did they? There are a lot of children there."

"I'm sorry to hear what you said. There are media reports that dozens of people have been found frozen to death in some parks, including five children."

"Let's do this, donate three thousand tents in our name."

"Okay, I'll notify someone to do it right away."

"If you donate in the United States, of course you can't forget it in China. But don't worry about this kind of thing, our government will not allow anyone to freeze to death. But I want to set up a real charity fund in China, not the kind used by Americans to avoid taxes. , specializes in donating and building Hope Primary Schools in China. Remote areas in the country are very poor and have a very poor educational foundation. What do you think?"

"Okay, then let's donate...$200 million first?"

"OK."

…

The next day, the last day of 1998, Oakley, Larry Johnson, Alan Houston, Ben, Barkley and others rushed to London.

Zhao Dong arranged food and accommodation for everyone, and held a party at the hotel in the evening.

"Boss, are all the new seasons really going to be cancelled?" Danny Fortson asked.

"Have you spent all your money?" Zhao Dong asked.

"Money is a bit tight." Fordson said awkwardly.

He is only in his second year. Half of the money he spent during his rookie season was used to improve his family's life, and a quarter was put into the Storm Fund. There was not much left, and it was all spent long ago.

Big Ben is in a similar situation, and his situation is even worse than Fordson. Fordson is a lottery pick, he is an undrafted player, and his contract is very small. He also complained: "If the league doesn't start work, boss, I will have to borrow money from you." .”

"It's okay, I don't have any living expenses anymore, just ask."

Zhao Dong comforted him and said: "Now the players' union and the league are under great pressure. If the new season is really canceled, I am afraid that the development of the league will be greatly affected, and there will be huge losses by then. So I think labor negotiations should There will be a breakthrough, everyone will make concessions, and the new season will not be completely cancelled."

"That's good," Oakley said.

He finally got his tens of millions of annual salary for the first time. This damn lockout directly caused his tens of millions of annual salary to disappear.

The party was very short, just a gathering, and Zhao Dong went to rest soon.

The next day, when I woke up, it was 1999.

At 7 p.m., the 18,000-seat Soft Indoor Stadium was already packed.

This match attracted a lot of attention. ESPN purchased the North American broadcast rights for the boxing match on a pay-per-view basis, charging $100 for a single game.

In the UK, the payment model is not as developed as in the United States. The London TV station purchased the broadcast rights and broadcast it for free.

The boxing match will start at 7:30, with three back-up matches, two of six rounds and one of nine rounds. The main match will start at 9:30.

The scene was star-studded, not only sports stars from the United States and Hollywood stars, but also many local stars, local sports stars and European sports stars.

Several superstar football superstars were sitting in the front row, including Beckham in his prime, Keane, Vieira, Tony Adams, Liverpool's Fowler, Manchester United's former king Cantona and so on.

Zhao Dong warmed up in his lounge, doing some exercise and resting alternately to prevent his body from cooling down.

At this time, a group of people including Oakley and Buckley came in, and the lounge suddenly became lively.

"Charles, that guy Jordan won't miss this opportunity. Can you give him a message for me and ask him if he wants to bet against me?"

Zhao Dong suddenly said.

"How big is the bet?" Oakley said helplessly.

Feilong and Michael were both trouble-free, and they would mess with each other when they got the chance. He had a headache.

"I've already bet a million dollars. We all know that Tyson will win. The odds are not high. I made a small profit today." Michael Jordan shouted, surrounded by a bunch of NBA stars.

He is in a great mood, mainly because he has become the small boss of a sneaker company, and his fortune has greatly increased, and then he can see Zhao Dong being beaten again tonight, which is a double happiness.

Oakley and Barkley happened to come over with a group of people. After hearing Jordan's words, the former said helplessly: "Michael, Feilong estimates that you will make a bet. He asked me to give you a sentence. Do you want to make a bet?"

"Michael, please agree, you are going to make a lot of money." Buckley encouraged.

"How old?"

Jordan, who never shows weakness, asked immediately.

"Ten million dollars," Oakley said.

"Shet!"

Jordan choked and couldn't help but cursed: "That bastard relies on his money and his wife's money. He is just a freeloader..."

At this time, a group of people walked by. He took a look and was startled.

The people passing by were Lindsay and a dozen of her bodyguards, as well as several executives from the London branch of Storm Fund.

Behind her, followed a group of well-known investment brokers in London, all of whom held investment funds of varying sizes, and were surrounded by several bodyguards and assistants.

"Hello, Charles."

Lindsay glanced at Jordan lightly, walked up to Oakley and greeted him.

"Hello, Miss Lindsay."

Oakley and Larry Johnson quickly greeted.

To Zhao Dong, they could talk and laugh freely, as brothers, but to face Lindsay, they did not dare and respected him very much.

Lindsay stared at Jordan coldly and said: "Michael Jordan, for my husband, you are the greatest opponent. But I am a businessman, and to me, you are just a bargaining chip. Other than that, you are a bargaining chip." Of no value."

Having said this, she turned around and said to her subordinates:

"Nike's closing price in the afternoon was US$30, 366 million shares, and its market value is currently US$11 billion. I intend to raise US$10 billion and issue a takeover order for Nike. Do you think Nike has investment prospects? ?"

These words were soft and harmless, but Jordan's scalp couldn't help but tighten, and his eyes suddenly widened.

Oakley quickly winked at Jordan and asked him to apologize, but how could Jordan open his mouth?

"After acquiring Nike, I will dismantle Nike and merge it into Feilong Sports. This will destroy Nike and your personal brand."

Lindsay left a word and turned around with the others.

"..." Jordan was dumbfounded.

"She, she won't take it seriously, right?" He quickly asked Oakley after Lindsay walked away.

"Who knows? Michael, don't you read the New York Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal? In recent months, there has been Miss Lindsay's investment news almost every day. The Storm Fund is the most popular investment fund on Wall Street now. It acquired Nike It may not be difficult for her. In addition, I am also one of the investors of Storm Fund," Oakley said.

Buckley gloated: "Michael, money can make you handsome, but can you still be handsome without money?"

"damn it!"

Jordan gasped with rage.

In fact, in less than ten minutes, the news that Storm Fund was interested in acquiring Nike had spread throughout London's financial circles and then to Wall Street.

"Miss Lindsay wants to acquire Nike? What a great opportunity. Prepare one billion dollars immediately, and we will follow up."

"The latest trend of Storm Fund, Nike is Miss Lindsay's target, we must follow up immediately."

"The Storm Fund chaired by Miss Lindsay has never failed once. Come here, prepare two billion dollars for me."

After receiving this information, a large number of investment fund managers on Wall Street began to prepare immediately, including some capital giants.

What Lindsay said also reached the ears of Nike President Philip Knight.

"Storm Fund? Lindsay, Feilong, bad!"

When Knight heard that Storm Fund was pursuing Nike, he was so anxious that he called the financial director.

"President, the stock price is soaring! It rose eight points before I came here, and it's still going up." Finance Director Luo Shihua didn't know the news, and said with a happy face.

"What?"

Philip Knight was shocked.

At this time, the stock price soared, and there was only one result: his cost to repurchase the stock increased significantly.

But he only had this option, and immediately ordered: "Raise funds immediately, I want to buy back shares."

"What?"

The financial director was shocked. Is it crazy to buy back shares at this time? At this time, cashing out is almost done.

"I just received news from Wall Street that Storm Fund is going to spend 10 billion US dollars to acquire Nike. We must buy back enough shares immediately, otherwise we will likely be swallowed up by Feilong Sports. The president of Storm Fund is Feilong's wife, Miss Lindsay. ." Knight said anxiously.

"Ten billion?"

Luo Shihua almost bit off his tongue.

He doesn't need to own 10 billion to control Nike. He only needs to acquire 30% of the shares to become Nike's largest shareholder. He knows this very well.