America's Road to Wealth

Abel always felt that Ikana and Paris had been inseparable in recent months.

The two often work together, and Paris Hilton has been hired as the design director by YKM.

Even this time, the YKM San Francisco flagship store was accidentally involved in a murderous zero-dollar shopping incident.

Paris also came with Ikana to solve the problem.

Speaking of this murderous zero-yuan purchase incident, YKM is a bit innocent.

The incident started when a black woman was shopping for clothing in the YKM store.

When a black gunman came in, it collapsed.

The gunman ran away after killing someone.

Although people at the YKM flagship store were frightened, they immediately chose to call the police.

The police in the San Francisco Bay Area at this time were pretty good, and the flagship store was located in a bustling area, so the police arrived quickly.

The police arrived and began an identity check. Soon after, it was confirmed that the black woman who was shot was a gang member.

The murder was also characterized as a gang vendetta with a high probability.

The Bay Area police concluded that the YKM flagship store had no responsibility.

But after the police left, the gang to which the black woman belonged came to visit her.

They started smashing, smashing and looting as soon as they arrived, destroying the decoration of the YKM flagship store here and a batch of goods.

It's an emergency.

Ikana had to rush over from New York to deal with it.

After she found out that it was a gang incident, Ikana contacted the local police and congressmen to get in touch with official power.

At the same time, he asked Abel for help.

After Abel consulted one of his four King Kongs, Lincoln, who was very good at this aspect.

He simply asked Lincoln to contact the gang involved.

The other party only promised to pay compensation of US$5,000 and was not responsible for anything else.

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

In fact, according to Abel's intention, he wanted to pursue and fight fiercely.

Born in China, what he hates most is black and medicine.

But Ikana politely refused. She believes that if that happens, YKM may not be able to gain a foothold in the Bay Area in the future.

Even on the West Coast, it could be affected.

Unless Abel can catch all these elements and eradicate this gang directly.

But this is obviously difficult, not to mention it is just a small thing.

Abel saw her firm attitude, and he also felt that this was just a trivial matter, so he stopped his thoughts.

After the incident, Ikana began to deal with the aftermath in the Bay Area, and at the same time continued to inspect the market, and has not left until now.

Paris Hilton also stayed with her until Abel arrived.

"Have you had breakfast?" Paris Hilton asked Abel with concern.

"I've asked the kitchen to prepare your amount of food for you."

Abel laughed.

In New York, the two of us had breakfast together many times.

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

"Okay. Let's go eat later. What are these? Oh, it looks like a design drawing for a costume. You got up to work so early?"

Paris Hilton replied: "I have to rush the draft. I need to finalize these designs. After finalization, they will be sent to the foundry in China. After the samples are produced, we will decide whether to produce them."

"I remember that YKM is following the fast fashion route, right? If you do it this way, can you keep up with the pace of new product releases?" Abel asked curiously.

ZARA, the founder of the fast fashion concept, what they pay attention to when producing products is fast.

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

To put it bluntly, it is plagiarism.

It draws inspiration (that is, directly copies) from the streets, movies, and other designer fashion shows to update its products.

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

ZARA's transportation center handles 2.6 million pieces of clothing every week, and each ZARA store receives goods twice a week.

It is said that it usually only takes half a month for a new set of ZARA clothing to go from design drawings to being put on store shelves.

Hearing what Abel said, Paris smiled softly, "That's true. But our speed is different from ZARA's. Ikana and I both feel that YKM cannot completely imitate ZARA. ZARA has already put them That model has come to an end."

"YKM's route will be somewhat similar to ZARA, but we have to set the price a little higher than it. This requires our clothing to have more of our own design and fashion elements."

Seeing that Abel wasn't listening very seriously, Paris also knew that to him, YKM's business was just a small business to make Ikana happy.

Thinking of this, Paris was envious of Ikana's good luck in her heart.

She said: "To put it simply, we can't take the path of ZARA. If we follow its path, we will only be blocked. So we take a higher-end path than it, and our new products will not be released so fast."

Abel nodded, probably understanding what Paris meant.

Fast fashion, which relies on plagiarism to make a living, has basically been monopolized by ZARA and several other brands.

Other rising stars want to take the exact same route as ZARA.

That will only be beaten to death by ZARA using its first-mover advantage and cost and price war.

In this case, you can study the philosophy and methods of learning ZARA.

But never exactly the same as it.

Like YKM, it takes a similar route to ZARA, but is more high-end.

Avoid direct competition with it and gain your own place in the fast fashion micro-luxury segment above fast fashion.

This is a good choice for YKM.

So far, it's doing pretty well.

With Abel's capital injection, YKM is much better than last year, when it was struggling to survive.

This year, the number of branches has grown to more than 60.

It has begun to maintain a positive cycle of development and no longer needs to rely on large amounts of external financing to survive.

Of course, you can rely on your own profits to open branches and develop slowly.

This means that its scale and fame are no longer as big as before.

Ikana was previously known as “other people’s child” in the media.

Gradually, under the brilliance of the new super traffic king "Smith", it became dim.

After chatting with Paris again, Abel no longer disturbed her work.

He went to the restaurant to eat, relaxed for a while, and quickly left 349 Walsh Road.

He plans to return to New York on the 20th and will not stay on the West Coast for long.

So of course it is better to complete the work here earlier.

Two hours later.

He showed up in San Jose, California.

San Jose, also known as San Jose, is a city in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest city in California.

It is located in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) south of the San Francisco Bay. It is the capital of Santa Clara County, facing the Kaiote River, 65 kilometers northwest from San Francisco. It is the 10th largest city in the United States and is known as the "Heart of Silicon Valley" .

Due to his arrival, everyone at PayPal, the online payment service provider in San Jose, was a little excited.

PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Lavchin were restless in the office early on.

Elon Musk, another co-founder who only joined PayPal last year and brought business and technology to X.com, looked at the two of them.

The still young pony said with a smile:

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

"Just?"

Peter Thiel, one of the founders of Confinity and the inventor of the name “paypal” couldn’t help but say:

"Elon, how can you be so calm? This is Abel Smith. If he really thinks highly of us and is willing to strongly support us, then our PayPal will have a smooth road ahead."

Another senior executive, Max Lavchin, also said a little excitedly:

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

"Abel Smith owns 33% of Google's shares, as well as shares of many Internet companies. It is said that he even bought shares of Microsoft."

"As long as we can get his strong support. Let him help us sell PayPal. Elon, we will be able to break out of the quagmire and become a giant in the industry."

In fact, Elon Musk also understands what the two partners said.

Since Abel became the majority shareholder of Google.

His influence in Silicon Valley continues to increase as Google grows.

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

His American Pacific Commercial Bank is said to be seeking to acquire Silicon Valley Bank, which was on the verge of bankruptcy during the Nasdaq bubble.

What if Abel really acquired Silicon Valley Bank?

Then this tycoon will really become one of the most influential people in Silicon Valley.

If only I could get the support of this person.

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

Elon Musk sighed: "Okay. Actually, I'm very excited too."

"But." Xiao Ma said:

"Who says Smith will definitely support us? It is said that his investment in Silicon Valley has already amounted to more than one billion US dollars. Maybe we are just one of his careless investments."

"You have to fight for it." Max Lavchin said:

"Isn't it? If you fight for it, maybe there will be something. If you don't fight for it, there will be nothing."

Peter Thiel also said: "And this is what you are best at. Elon, it's up to you later. We hope you can make this gentleman happy and make him happy to invest. In this case , you are the biggest contributor to PayPal."

Elon Musk could only say: "I'll try my best."

At this time, the company's administrative secretary came in and informed the company's shareholders of the arrival of Abel Smith.

The three co-founders quickly stood up and ran outside to greet him.

Abel also met Elon Musk, who was still very young but already bald.

This surprised Abel.

The Elon Musk in Abel's memory is also an image of a greasy middle-aged man.

But the hair is still quite thick.

Abel didn't know that it was after Elon Musk became rich.

In order to establish his own personality and image and give investors and investors a good impression, Elon Musk has been undergoing hair transplantation for a long time.

It would be very damaging to look at early photos of Elon Musk.

Elon Musk, who has just turned thirty-one, is half-Mediterranean at this time, without any "Silicon Valley Iron Man" temperament.

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

With a smile on his face, he and the three co-founders walked around the company and showed off.

Finally, the three co-founders arrived at a small conference room.

When there were only three co-founders left in the conference room, Abel said directly: "I want to acquire PayPal."

Abel's speech stunned the three co-founders who originally just wanted to solicit sponsorship or just want him to help promote PayPal payments.

Max Lavchin swallowed and looked at his two companions.

Peter Thiel is similar. Both of them are technical people and are not good at this aspect.

The marketing and management of the company are generally handled by Elon Musk.

Both of them looked at Elon Musk. Xiao Ma looked at Abel, who had a calm and tycoon temperament, and said bravely:

"Mr. Smith, what do you mean?"

"Literally." Abel said directly:

"I want to acquire 100% of the PayPal company. The price is 300 million US dollars. If you agree, you will be a billionaire in the United States immediately."

Three hundred million dollars?

When they heard the price, the three people and the founder’s eyes widened.

Before the Nasdaq bubble burst, PayPal was once valued at $1 billion.

But after that, it was the worst time at the end of last year.

PayPal is no longer even valued at $100 million.

More than half of this year has passed, and the shadow of the bursting of the Internet bubble has gradually faded away.

Although the market's confidence in the Internet has collapsed, it is slowly being re-established bit by bit.

PayPal's valuation has also stabilized slightly, with its current market value of approximately US$200 million.

It was also at this time that Abel spent $20 million to get 10% of PayPal's shares.

Now he is paying $300 million to fully acquire PayPal.

Based on PayPal's current situation, this price can be said to be a premium acquisition.

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

But at the same time, Xiao Ma was still a little unwilling.

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

Suddenly there are only 300 million left. Who would be willing to do it instead?

Elon Musk wanted more, and he opened his mouth to bargain.

The words haven't been spoken yet.

It's already blocked.

"I only offer 300 million US dollars. If you refuse." Abel said expressionlessly:

"Then I will choose to withdraw my shares. Give me my money back, and I will give you your stocks."

Elon Musk who wants to bargain, shut up now.

PayPal just raised $20 million in Abel.

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

If Abel withdraws his shares at this time, he will lose 20 million US dollars.

PayPal is about to be stretched thin.

At this time, if there are rumors in the market that investors are not optimistic about PayPal and start withdrawing their shares.

It is estimated that it will be very difficult for PayPal to raise funds in the future.

The situation will suddenly turn bad.

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

The Wall Street giant in front of him was definitely prepared.

Elon Musk even imagined what Abel did to PayPal in his mind.

Abel first used his fame and influence to easily buy shares in PayPal when it needed funds the most.

When PayPal used part of these funds, it suddenly threatened PayPal with capital and withdrew its shares.

Either get acquired or get into a dangerous situation.

In this difficult special moment.

Abel's doing this suddenly put the three co-founders into a dilemma.

Elon Musk looked at Abel's handsome face. At this moment, Xiao Ma wanted to say boldly that he would withdraw his shares and withdraw his shares.

The reality is that Xiao Ma doesn't dare to say anything because PayPal can't come up with the money now.

Some people say that PayPal is not engaged in online payments?

There should still be customer money in its account.

That is China’s Alipay and VX payment.

Most of the online fast payment companies in the United States were just channels in the early stage.

It's just the channel between banks and merchants.

When the scale is not established, there is no way to bully customers with a large store.

A channel for capital flow, there is a fart accumulation of customer funds.

Even in order to attract customers, there is no charge for this channel in the early stage, and some preferential policies are given to attract customers.

At this time, the independent PayPal company did not have giants to rely on from the beginning like its predecessors, PayPal and VX Payment.

It was the most lonely and helpless moment, especially when Abel wanted to withdraw capital maliciously.

The faces of the three co-founders looked ugly at this moment.

Abel's next words made the three of them look even more ugly.

"You can choose to refuse." Abel said:

"Then withdraw the shares. After withdrawing the shares, I will try to acquire Authorize, MoneyGram, ClickandBuy and other companies. After that, PayPal will be waiting to collapse."

The three companies mentioned by Abel are the same fast online payment developers as PayPal.

These three companies, together with PayPal, account for half of the current online fast payments in the United States.

In fact, before being acquired by EBAY, Paypal was just one of the princes in the industry, not the overlord.

After being acquired by EBAY, we have the support of EBAY.

PayPal has gradually become a dominant company and has become the absolute overlord of global online payments.

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

There is no way Paypal will reach that status in future generations.

The three co-founders in front of me, let alone a year and a half later.

The valuation of PayPal could reach US$1.5 billion, and then EBAY took over the acquisition, allowing the three people to achieve financial freedom.

Having been targeted by Abel in advance, PayPal has been destined that its route will no longer be the same as in parallel time and space.

What Iron Man Musk.

Abel wants to see how Musk creates a persona because he cannot have financial freedom.