It's not that Seryosha can't get the money for the acquisition of Monsanto, but he also knows that his team's energy is limited, and it is really a little difficult to get involved in too many fields.
Although it is said that this is the golden period for the development of the software industry, giants like Oracle and Microsoft have appeared, and the only opportunity to make money is financial investment, which is not very interesting for Seryosha.
Therefore, the sale of Lotus software this time can be regarded as a measure for Seryosha to temporarily withdraw from the fierce competition, the future Internet era is still far away, and Seryosha still hopes to be able to gain a firm foothold in the existing industry.
The matter of Lotus Software was handled very smoothly, and Microsoft has long coveted this office software company.
Although $5 billion is not a small amount, Seryosha did not ask the other party to pay cash, and in the end, everyone happily reached the deal in stock and cash, and Eva gained a greater voice in Microsoft's board of directors.
The due diligence on Monsanto was soon in full swing, and since the other party was not a listed company, there was no obligation to make public financial reports.
Therefore, the team of accountants hired by Seryosha must start estimating the overall value of Monsanto again, such as fixed assets, equipment depreciation rate, net assets, total liabilities and other details need to be checked little by little.
It was the first time Seryosha had experienced these things in their entirety.
Seryosha hired Deloitte, a veteran Big Four accounting firm, and they investigated in great detail, even the tin drums containing chemical raw materials in the warehouse had to be counted, and the cars in the field drove in front of them one after another to prevent counterfeiting quantities.
This kind of meticulous investigative attitude surprised Seryosha and at the same time felt very admirable.
Karim seems to be very familiar with all this, after all, he has already acquired companies more than once at a young age, and the mergers and acquisitions of large enterprises have given Karim a rare growth experience, which is not something that can be learned from books.
Seryosha and Karim did not reveal their identities to Monsanto, they came to Monsanto as Griffith's subordinates, and Seryosha got his wish to visit Monsanto's molecular biology laboratory.
Here, the staff explained to him in detail some basic information about their GMO project.
"Look, this plant is called petunia.
Our company's herbicide, Roundup, kills almost all annual broadleaf plants, but there are exceptions, Roundup has almost no effect on petunias.
That's where our idea of genetically modified crops comes from, and we hope to find the petunia resistance gene to Roundup and transplant this gene into our crops, and if we succeed in the end, we can spray Roundup into the fields as much as we want, and the genetically modified crops will not be affected in any way," the scientists from the Molecular Biology Laboratory explained.
Seryosha listened attentively, and although what he said was still in the theoretical stage, Seryosha knew that they would eventually succeed and completely change the existing landscape of the seed industry.
Seryosha now has the feeling of visiting Jurassic Park.
"Ladies and gentlemen, here is our soybean breeding team, we have two other teams working on corn and cotton, and what we're going to do now is to do all the genome sequencing of soybeans, corn, cotton, and petunias, and then arrange them to find the best plant, it's a huge project, and the amount of work and money required is astronomical.
We are optimistic that in four years' time, Roundup-resistant soybean seeds can be used in field experiments," said the head of the molecular laboratory, who seemed to hear some rumors, and while introducing his work, he also hoped that the new management would keep the place, after all, it had just been established and there were no achievements to support his claim.
In fact, there is a lot of water in his words, soybean research has already taken up most of the resources in the laboratory, and corn and cotton research has just begun, after all, this laboratory is not the most profitable department of Monsanto now, and Monsanto is unlikely to put too many resources in this area now.
"By the way, can you come up with a pest-resistant crop?"
Karim asked suddenly.
This made the reception staff in the laboratory notice her presence.
"That's what I thought, the biological factors that affect the yield are nothing more than pests and weeds, since you are working on Roundup resistant seeds, why don't you go one step further and resist both Roundup and insect pests," Karim asked curiously.
"This lady, your idea is very good, but our current conditions are not enough to carry out so much research work at the same time," the person in charge of the laboratory explained, in fact, the central meaning is that there is no money at all, but after all, there is still no money.
Karim listened to the other party's explanation and secretly wrote it down in his heart.
Seryosha had actually told her that the whole of Monsanto was most interested in this molecular biology department.
Karim was convinced of Seryosha's words, and he had already decided that he would strengthen the department after the deal was completed.
Seryosha was listening carefully, when suddenly his phone rang, and Seryosha hurried out to find a place to answer the phone.
On the other end of the line was Yuri, who hadn't been in touch for a long time.
"Seryosha heard that you came to Canada, why didn't you come to me," Yuri asked on the phone.
"I'm on a business trip now, and I've come to Canada to talk about the grain business, and I've gone to the casino to get found out by the KGB, and now it's an extraordinary time, and the country is very strict," Seryosha explained.
"Seryosha, I heard Hassan say that he made a football lottery business in Moscow and made a lot of money, how about this business, how is it very profitable?"
asked Yuri on his own initiative.
"I didn't even ask how much I made later, I don't know too much," Seryosha replied in a hurry.
He wanted to end the call and go back to the lab.
"Okay Seryosha, I'm not going to sell it, I want to buy a bookmaker, I want to ask your opinion," Yuri said bluntly.
"Don't you already have several casinos now, are they all starting to make a profit," Seryosha asked puzzled.
"It's not a casino, it's a bookmaker, and I'm interested in a British company that's mainly in the business of hotels and football lottery betting shops, and it's called William Hill," Yuri explained.
"What does this mean, isn't it a hotel, a casino," Seryosha asked curiously.
"No, the company's hotels are budget hotels, there are no casinos, but it has betting shops all over the UK," Yuri replied. t1706231537: