American History 1988
Chapter 224 - 218: Unicorn

Chapter 224: Chapter 218: Unicorn

million US Dollars for a 7% equity release, that values Byte Company at 1.428 billion US Dollars.

Honestly, Valentine and his team were somewhat tempted, because it was infinitely close to the 1.5 billion US Dollars they hadn’t even dared to fantasize about at the start.

Arthur Locke kept giving Dean meaningful glances, his heart blossoming with joy at this moment, as it far exceeded his expectations.

This time, his original investment had swelled to 3.5 times its size, not just the 2.5 times it was previously.

1.428 billion US Dollars, this was more than 200 million dollars above Morgan Stanley’s last offer.

In theory, as a young entrepreneur starting his first business, Dean should have been satisfied with this figure.

But he still felt Morgan Stanley had undervalued Byte Company’s potential, and he was confident in leading Byte Company onto greater heights this year.

Seemingly noticing his expression, Richard couldn’t help but speak up to remind him.

"Dean, I know the IP telephony business has achieved good results, and Byte Company’s financial reports are impeccable.

But our goal is to sell stocks to potential clients, and their recognition is the key.

Byte Company only holds less than 35% of the shares in World Link; this accomplishment has certainly been discounted.

Additionally, in many people’s eyes, although Byte Company’s technology performs well, MCI’s resources have played a key role.

Valuation and pricing have never been about convincing Morgan Stanley, but the market!" Richard had to emphasize this point again.

Look at Oracle now, Wall Street’s forecast for its annual financial report anticipates sales exceeding 1 billion US Dollars.

The market acknowledges this, but Oracle’s current market value still hasn’t broken 4 billion US Dollars.

Even including the IP telephony business and growth in overseas markets, can Byte Company’s sales reach 500 million US Dollars this year?

No one can guarantee it, neither can Byte Company, nor Wall Street.

This needs to be calculated from the company’s financial statements over the years, not just bragged about without proof.

"OK, I understand the role the underwriter plays in the IPO process, and I recognize our partnership.

But before the official pricing is determined, how about I show you something?"

Dean knew that to get Morgan Stanley to fully cooperate in raising Byte Company’s valuation, he had to present something persuasive.

"What?" Richard was taken aback; he didn’t anticipate this move.

"Just give me a moment," Dean said as he picked up a Motorola phone and dialed a number, then started giving instructions.

Five minutes later, two programmers wearing plaid shirts walked in holding computers.

"Boss," they looked around warily at the strangers in the conference room; this was Byte Company’s most core secret.

"Show our guests Byte Company’s latest achievements," Dean tilted his head, signaling them to demonstrate their expertise.

To someone like Morgan Stanley, who was unfamiliar with the field, Dean didn’t mind showing off his ingenuity.

Having received Dean’s command, the two programmers, albeit reluctantly, started up the computer and opened a rather special software.

"What is this?" Richard was captivated by the software interface he had never seen before.

"Worktitle, a collaborative project management software Byte Company is developing."

"The Vision Project?" Richard’s mind raced, having recently delved into reports about Byte Company in this area.

"Correct," Dean nodded proudly, "we’re nearly done with the first step.

What you see before you is the interactive interface of this software, where all the project workflows are laid out clearly like fishbones.

Creating tasks, assigning tasks, advancing tasks; everyone involved in the project can update their progress here.

Besides, Worktitle also supports building various applications, such as scheduling daily reports, fund allocation, meeting arrangements, information announcements, electronic publications, fault repairs, and so on.

In terms of feature integration, we have also included an email application module, developed by Byte Company itself.

With it, corporate users won’t need to subscribe to additional commercial email services; it’s free."

As Dean demonstrated, Richard and his assistant’s eyes grew wider, stunned by the array of intelligent features.

"Of course, as part of Byte Company’s office suite, Worktitle also incorporates the Teams software.

This means that the collaborative project management software also supports instant messaging and file transfer features.

However, all this presupposes that the enterprise has subscribed to both Worktitle and Teams software services.

What you’re seeing now is only the very initial version; we will be adding functions like calendar, fax, and web browsing in the future."

"Does that mean, all office applications can be found within Worktitle?"

Richard asked somewhat naively, staring blankly at the dazzling features on the screen.

"Theoretically, yes." Dean smiled at Richard, "Trust me, when it launches, Morgan Stanley will be one of our clients too."

Worktitle might seem to have a plethora of features, but all of these are based on a template.

Users can thoroughly customize and build relevant function modules according to their own needs.

Of course, Worktitle will still come in standard and deluxe editions, with a different number of active functions between them.

It can even be bundled with Teams to sell as a package; purchasing both together would come with a discount.

"My God, this is unbelievable." Richard had only seen a brief demo, but he already knew how to utilize it in his work.

For a company like Morgan Stanley, which deals extensively with data, the timing of Worktitle couldn’t be better.

"When can they be released to the market?" That was the crux of the matter and also the point upon which Richard would reassess Byte Company.

"If all goes well, it can be sold in the second half of the year; internally, we’re certain we can launch within this year."

This was the guarantee provided by Dean, the Worktitle project had already secretly initiated at the end of last year.

Richard’s fingers gently tapped on the tabletop, frankly, the Worktitle laid out before him was indeed impressive.

Compared to various nebulous data forecasts, a product that actually existed was obviously more reassuring.

"Dean, Morgan Stanley will price the stock and promote it based on a 100 million US Dollars valuation and a 6% equity release."

"But all this is under the premise that there’s enough customer interest, otherwise Morgan Stanley cannot sign the underwriting contract."

"Praise be to you, Mr. Fisher." This time it was Dean’s turn to butter up Richard.

"I now need to fly back to New York, to reassess Byte Company’s IPO. After I have enough expressions of interest, I will contact you again."

Richard hastily packed up his notebook and left the conference room with his assistant without stopping for a break.

Watching their figures disappear from view, the conference room first fell silent for a moment, then "boom," erupted into cheers.

"1.66 billion US Dollars! Dean! 1.66 billion US Dollars!" Marcus, excited, jumped right onto the conference table, then in one bound leaped onto him.

"Damn! How heavy are you?" Dean caught him with his hands, otherwise Marcus would’ve had an intimate encounter with the marble floor.

"1.66 billion US Dollars! Mother F*cker, that’s about three Ciscos!" Valentine was both excited and a bit envious.

Glad because Sequoia Capital held a substantial amount of equity in both Byte and Cisco, even being the lead investors in them.

Envious because the shares held in Byte Company were almost 10% less compared to Cisco.

If only the two could be swapped, Valentine couldn’t help thinking.

Durell was also very satisfied with this figure, it even exceeded his own original wild guess.

Well, "Durell Quoting Method" was notorious, he was aware of that himself.

As for David Morgentaler, he maintained his pipe-holding smile as he looked at everyone’s jubilation.

For Morgan Tailer, this was an extraordinarily lucrative deal, and he had nothing to be dissatisfied with.

"Hey, guys. Morgan Stanley only agreed to start promoting like this, but nothing’s for sure yet."

Arthur Lock suppressed the joy in his heart, as he strove to maintain a manner of impartiality.

"That’s right," Dean embraced his shoulder intimately, "I heard Mr. Lock is on good terms with Richard?

"Hmm," Locke nodded reservedly, "don’t forget, I’m the one who invited him."

"Good," Dean raised an eyebrow, "since that’s the case, to ensure we get the 1.66 billion US Dollars valuation,

We need someone to act as a liaison to the major investment banks on the East Coast, especially with Morgan Stanley.

I think Mr. Lock is a great candidate for this, what do you think?"

"Yeah~!" Everyone agreed.

"So..." Dean looked at Arthur Lock with an encouraging expression, "whether we can all get rich, depends on you now."

"Is this role that important?" Arthur Lock hesitated somewhat.

"Of course, aside from your experience working with East Coast investment banks, the rest of us are from off the beaten track."

Dean’s words were half-true, half-false, but the important thing was that Arthur Lock was pleased.

"Then leave it to me, I will make sure Richard sticks to this price without backing down."

Arthur Lock did indeed miss the East Coast a bit, and he was also one of Byte Company’s shareholders.

Although as an investor, he wanted to cash out sooner rather than later,

if there was a chance to sell at a higher price, he didn’t mind drawing on a bit of his personal connections.

"Good, I wish you a smooth journey."

After sending off the white-haired Arthur Lock, Dean turned and shrugged, "He should be continuing to enjoy his retirement in Florida."

Everyone laughed, understanding what Dean meant.

The venture capital industry was not suitable for older people who had lost their edge, even if they were once legendary.

The once heroic Arthur Lock was far from the man who once spurred on "the traitorous eight" to establish Fairchild Semiconductor.

If not for knowing that he had the backing of some big shots from the East Coast, Byte Company wouldn’t have involved him at all.

Now sending him off was just as well, as it left everyone else in peace.

1.66 billion US Dollars, if nothing unexpected happened, Morgan Stanley could handle it.

Although Richard had not given a guarantee, Dean knew that if the other party wasn’t confident, they wouldn’t have left in such a hurry.

Richard needed to pitch Byte Company’s incredible innovations to Morgan Stanley’s clients.

The mutual relationship would complement each other; as long as they had the nods from potential clients, Morgan Stanley would sign the contract with Byte Company.

Beep beep beep...

As Dean was envisioning the future, his phone rang.

"Dean, it’s me."

"Mr. Kennedy?" Dean recognized the voice, they had spoken more than once recently.

"Is the underwriter for Byte Company’s IPO decided yet?"

Dean was taken aback, "We just talked with someone from Morgan Stanley."

"Can you arrange for us to jump the queue now? Or add one more name to the list?" Kennedy revealed his intention for the call.