Rebirth of the Financial Crisis Sweeping the World

Chapter 456 456 Partners with SpaceX and Tesla!

Musk looked and saw that the call was from his good friend Peter Thiel.

He answered the call immediately and said jokingly: "Hey, Peter, are you going to treat me to dinner tonight? Let's make an agreement first. All my money will be used to pay wages, so I won't treat you to guests for the time being."

He had been asking Peter Thiel and others to borrow money to live in the past, but now he lives in a factory. The rent is too high and he can't afford it. His food is very simple and he can't afford expensive food.

He also borrowed part of his employees' wages from them and then paid them wages.

"By the way, are any of the Middle Eastern customers you know interested in investing in my company?"

Peter Thiel owns a venture capital company, Founders Fund, which he founded in 2005. At that time, Peter Thiel invested US$50 million of his own capital and started doing venture capital. In a few years, it attracted a lot of funds from Middle Eastern clients.

When the financial crisis broke out last year, SpaceX's rocket launch failed and was about to be finished. The Founders Fund invested US$20 million in SpaceX to save SpaceX from the fire.

"There are no customers in the Middle East," Peter Thiel said: "People in the Middle East are not interested in investing in your new energy company."

Musk said regretfully: "Well, they don't know the goods."

When the financial crisis hit the bank in 2008, he was on the verge of bankruptcy and desperate. His wife also divorced. To this day, the media is still mocking him.

Tesla and SpaceX, which are on the verge of bankruptcy, have begun large-scale layoffs. However, increasing revenue and reducing expenditures and reducing costs still cannot solve the fundamental problem of the two companies: the need for huge R\u0026D funds.

Only the continuous infusion of venture capital can maintain the operation of the two companies that have not yet been commercialized.

Damn it, he was still very short of money.

"If I go bankrupt, it will definitely be a loss for the world. Peter, please help me think of a solution."

Peter Thiel said: "I have a friend who is a super rich man. After hearing about your deeds, he plans to provide you with financing."

Musk was stunned for a moment and almost dropped his phone on the ground. Is it such a good thing?

"real?"

"Where are you now? I'll be there right away!"

Peter Thiel spoke up: "We're at the Silicon Valley Bank Building."

"Okay, I'll be there right away!" Musk was excited.

It would be really comfortable to get hundreds of millions of dollars in financing this time.

Peter Till: “We’ll have dinner together at the Manor in Pacific Heights tonight.

Just come over after get off work and I'll send you the address."

"Okay!" After Musk explained some things, he immediately started to change clothes, but he found that his high-end suit had been sold to employees at a low price.

So he had to go to a specialty store outside and try on a high-end suit.

"Sir, this suit costs $30,000."

Musk asked: "Can I try it on for two days?"

"sure"

"Where are these leather shoes?"

"It's okay." The waitress smiled, but she hated this guy in her heart. There are many people like this in the United States who try on clothes, wear them for a week, and then return them.

"Okay, then I want these leather shoes and suit."

Twenty minutes later, Musk left the store in a suit and went to have dinner at the Pacific Heights estate in San Francisco this evening.

He can't be too shabby.

He will not really buy the suit or leather shoes this time. If he wears them for dinner tonight, he will come back here to return them the next day.

So he didn't take off the sign.

This scene happened to be photographed by a reporter in the store.

[Outdated billionaire Elon Musk tried on Louis Vuitton that is not out of date, why he didn’t dare to take off the label on his clothes

son? 】

And Musk returned to Tesla's small factory, wondering how to persuade the rich man he was going to meet tonight to invest money!

He racked his brains to rehearse the questions investors would ask and how he would answer them then.

A few hours later, he saw that the media was exposing him again, mocking him, humiliating him, and even saying that he had no money and went to the Louisville store to try on clothes in order to show off. He did not even dare to take off the brand, and announced that he was Will return within a week.

This stimulated Musk so much that he cursed the media.

Then he adjusted his mood.

Then we set off. It takes nearly an hour to drive from here to Pacific Highlands.

His car has long been sold, as has his private jet, and now he can only travel by taxi, bus, or cheap flight.

He often travels between Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, flying Southwest Airlines, the cheapest airline in the United States.

Sitting in the car, Musk thought about his life.

He was born in South Africa, his father is a South African engineer, and his mother is a Canadian who works as a nutritionist and model.

Then my parents divorced.

His student days were not easy.

In South Africa, it is very chaotic. White people suffer from discrimination and oppression by black people.

On one occasion he was bullied, thrown down a flight of stairs and beaten until he was unconscious, after which he was admitted to the hospital.

In 1981, at the age of 10, Musk got his first computer and learned software programming.

In 1983, at the age of 12, he successfully designed a game called "" and offered a price of US$500 for this commercial software.

After graduating from high school, Musk moved to Canada with his mother, Maye, and younger siblings.

Studied at Queen's University.

It was the most bleak working period in his life. He relied on temporary and summer jobs for less than $1 a day to get through college.

His ultimate dream destination is the United States.

In 1992, he entered the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship. He graduated at the age of 21 and was admitted to Stanford for graduate school. He dropped out of school after two days to start his own business.

Musk founded Zip2 with his brother Kimbal, and then it was acquired, earning the first pot of gold in his life, US$22 million.

He then founded an online bank. About a year later, Confinity, a financial startup co-founded by Peter Thiel, merged to form PayPal.

At that time, as a major shareholder, he drove Peter Thiel out of PayPal. Then because of poor management, Peter Thiel and the board of directors drove him out of PayPal while he was on vacation.

But for Musk, it was still a success. When eBay acquired PayPal at the end of 2002, he made another windfall. As PayPal's largest single shareholder, Musk netted $165 million from the $1.5 billion eBay paid.

After achieving financial freedom, he has been thinking: What other problems are most likely to affect the future of mankind? And not just from a “best way to make money” perspective.

So he began to pursue his scientific dream, change the world, change mankind, and create SpaceX. Without investment, many people regarded him as an idiot and an idiot.

Building rockets and engaging in aerospace is a matter for NASA. Why do you do that?

He had no choice but to invest $100 million himself.

I was ridiculed and ridiculed all the way.

In 2005, the 34-year-old Musk was worth more than 300 million US dollars. When he was less than 40 years old, the three ideals of the Internet, clean energy and space had been realized.

In 2008, the financial crisis broke out, and his life was miserable. Three rocket launches of SpaceX failed. Tens of millions of dollars of investment turned into a big fireball after the explosion. Because of the high research and development costs, it was also on the verge of bankruptcy.

Now in 2009, he is still at the bottom of his life, and he is still living on loans.

Time flew by and we reached our destination.

At this time, the driver also recognized him and asked, "Are you Elon Musk from Tesla?"

Musk was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

Then the old driver said: "Now the media is saying that your company is bankrupt, and they are also ridiculing you for borrowing clothes from Louis Vuitton."

After speaking, he also glanced at the logo on Musk's clothes.

"Young man, it might be better for you to give up some things."

Musk took a closer look at the old man and asked, "Are you Mr. Anderson?"

Anderson smiled and said: "I've been driving a taxi for a long time. I heard that Ford Motor Company planned to acquire your Tesla company. Why didn't you agree? It's such a relief."

Musk said firmly: "If something is very important to me, even if everyone is against me, I will stick to it."

Anderson gave Musk a business card and said, "If you go bankrupt, you can come to my family business."

Musk took it, put it in his pocket, and went to the Crown Estate in Pacific Heights.

This place was luxurious and extravagant, which made him sigh.

At this time he saw Peter Thiel, Alan Mulally, and a mysterious boy, which made him very curious.

Alan Mulally, chairman of Ford Motor Company, had previously been approached to acquire his Tesla, but he declined at the time.

Why are you here?

Could it be that Ford Motor Company plans to invest in his Tesla company?

"Musk, you are finally here. You are in good spirits today." Peter Dill introduced: "This is Mr. Wang, a partner of my company. I forgot to tell you. He invested US$200 million in my company." , we are partners now.”

Musk was surprised when he looked at such a young boy. He had thought that the boy in front of him was a soy sauce guy tonight, but he didn't expect that he was the super rich man that Peter Dill said.

It's simply unimaginable.

When he was young, he was worth hundreds of millions, which was already a legend, but now he feels the huge gap.

This boy must have inherited his money, right?

At this time, Wang Guanxi said: "Elon Musk, welcome to my manor."

"Hello, Mr. Wang." Musk said neither humble nor overbearing.

Wang Guanxi said: "Let's have dinner first, enjoy the delicious food, and then talk about business matters."

"Okay, Mr. Wang"

Then everyone entered the manor together.

Dinner was simple, chowder, chestnut cake, salad, garlic bread, crab cakes, tenderloin steak, and Tooth Fish.

At dinner, while Wang Guanxi was sizing up Musk, Musk was also secretly sizing up Wang Guanxi.

The mysterious big data company founded by Peter Thiel serves the CIA. As a good friend, he also knows about it.

However, the company is very small because it only has one client, the CIA, and it doesn’t make much money in a year.

After all, it is a big data company, and many commercial companies may not necessarily trust the company because it is associated with the CIA, and no one likes it very much.

Now that the company has actually received an investment of US$200 million from Wang Guanxi, it seems that Peter Thiel plans to expand his customer base.

During the chat, he also learned that Ford Motor Company had given the company a large order and would use the company's software to improve production efficiency and identify potential safety hazards.

It seems that Ford Motor Company has also changed its boss. Is Wang Guanxi also the boss of Ford Motor Company?

To be honest, there was so much news every day and a huge amount of information, but he could remember very little. He just knew that Ford Motor Company had changed its boss.

Then Musk asked: "Mr. Wang, Mr. Mulally, do you control Ford Motor Company now?"

Alan Mulally smiled and said: "Yes, you guessed it right, the boss of Ford Motor Company is Mr. Wang."

Musk suddenly felt a wave of panic in his heart. Despite his hard work, he was just an electric car company with a few hundred people, while Wang Guanxi, at such a young age, owned a Fortune 500 automobile giant.

Chrysler Motor Company has gone bankrupt and reorganized, and General Motors will also go bankrupt. Only Ford Motor Company has resisted.

It's really awesome.

At such a young age, he is the big boss behind Ford Motor Company, which makes Musk feel disappointed.

He just runs a small electric car company with only a few hundred employees, and it's just a little short of going bankrupt.

There's no comparison.

Musk: "Mr. Wang, Mr. Mulally, you have turned the tide in the economic crisis."

"Chrysler Motors has gone bankrupt, General Motors will go bankrupt, and now the only remaining three major American car companies are Ford Motor Company."

His Tesla Motors company also came within a hair’s breadth of bankruptcy.

At this time, Wang Guanxi smiled and said: "Musk, you are not bad, Tesla Motors still resisted."

Musk said with a wry smile: "We just survived 2008. Now our monthly expenses exceed US$4 million. If we can't find the money this year, Tesla Motors may go bankrupt."

Wang Guanxi smiled and said: "The media is mocking you every day, saying that your company is going bankrupt."

Musk smiled awkwardly: "I'm used to correcting the shortcomings of the company and myself in scolding."

The media doesn’t know what Musk’s financial situation is, but they are well aware of Tesla’s precarious financial situation and enjoy making fun of its unstable financial situation every day.

The "Car Truth" website launched a column called "Tesla Death Countdown" (Death Watch) in May 2008 and published a series of articles.

The blog posts refused to acknowledge Musk as the company's founder, describing him as the investor and chairman who stole Tesla from genius engineer Eberhard.

The famous British car TV show "Top Gear" criticized Tesla as useless, making it look like it had run out of power before it even hit the road.

"People are paying attention to the 'Tesla Death Countdown' as if it were a joke, but it is actually very cruel." Musk laughed: "Mr. Wang, one day before, there were even 50 articles talking about how Tesla will perish at the same time. .”

Wang Guanxi said: "Your SpaceX is actually pretty good."

Musk said with lingering fear: "Three rocket launches failed, and I was desperate at the time. Fortunately, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund invested another $20 million in my SpaceX company."

"At that time, I didn't know how many media outlets were reading my jokes and just laughing at me for fun."

"Even after my rocket launched successfully, they still laughed at me."

He remembers that in October 2008, a few weeks after the successful launch of SpaceX, "Silicon Valley Gossip" resurfaced.

It first mocked Musk as Tesla CEO instead of Drory, on the grounds that it believed that Musk's past success was simply due to good luck.

Then it published an email from a Tesla employee to the general public.

This report stated that Tesla had just experienced a round of layoffs, closed its office in Detroit, and had only $9 million in the bank.

"We have over 1,200 orders, which means all the tens of millions in cash we received from customers have been squandered," the Tesla employee wrote.

"At the same time, we have only handed over less than 50 vehicles. In fact, I once persuaded a good friend to buy a Tesla for $60,000. I cannot in good conscience be a bystander and allow my company to continue to deceive. The masses and dear customers. Tesla is surrounded by these customers and the masses, and they should not be deceived."

Musk later cleverly discovered the employee’s identity. He copied the text of the letter into a Word document and learned the file size.

He then submitted the file to the printer and found a file of the same size in the printer's print history. This way, he found the employee who printed the original document. The employee wrote a letter of apology and resigned.

Musk escaped another disaster because of his wit.

"Fortunately, I discovered it in time and asked the employees to apologize. Otherwise, the company would have been finished long ago and investors would not have financed me."

Speaking of this, Musk was still frightened.

Wang Guanxi smiled and said: "Musk, you are so witty."

Then Musk said frankly: "Although I am not honest enough, the company has survived for the time being."

Wang Guanxi said with a smile: "These media will not let you go."

"If you open the media now, you will see that the news in the automobile section is all negative for you."

Musk smiled bitterly and said: "Yes, Tesla deserves most of the negative attention. Everyone hates rich people because of the economic crisis. But I have become a rich man in name only, and the media has not let me go."

In fact, in 2008, people's hatred of bankers and rich people turned him into a target!

Thinking of this, he added: "I was literally shot at with pistols, and many people were gloating about my misfortune. This was very detrimental to me in all aspects."

Wang Guanxi: "Then you were quite miserable. How did you survive?"

Musk's eyes were a little red and he said: "I don't know how I got through it. At that time, my ex-wife Justin tortured me through the media, there were always negative reports about Tesla in the media, and SpaceX's third launch failed. It was very hurtful to me. It made me seriously doubt that I could live my life, that I could no longer build my car, that I was going through divorce proceedings and all of that. I felt like I was worthless. I felt My company couldn't survive. I thought maybe everything was over suddenly."

Wang Guanxi now wanted to know more about the situation and valuation of Tesla Motors and SpaceX from Musk's lips, so he asked: "How did you save Tesla Motors and SpaceX at that time? How did you save them?" Please tell me more specifically, I want to know how you face difficulties. If I invest, it depends more on the entrepreneur's personal confidence and courage."

At present, Wang Guanxi does not know how much to value Tesla and SpaceX, but how much Musk can be valued, Wang Guanxi still has to listen to his specific story.

Musk recalled it and said: “When I looked at the financial status of SpaceX and Tesla, I found that only one company had a chance to survive.

I can only choose SpaceX or Tesla, or split the money in half.”

Musk lamented, "This is a difficult decision. If I split the funds, neither company may survive. If I give all the funds to one of the companies, it will have a higher probability of survival, but It also meant that another company would definitely go out of business. I thought about this for a long time.”

"While I was thinking hard, the economic environment in the United States deteriorated sharply, and my financial situation became even more difficult. And as 2008 came to an end, I ran out of money.

My new girlfriend showed up and she saw my life as a Shakespearean tragedy."

"Sometimes I open up to her, but sometimes I retreat into my own world."

Musk recalled the days he spent with his second girlfriend, Riley, as his most difficult days.

Riley would secretly watch Musk read his emails and look sad when he received bad news. "You see him having conversations in his head," Riley said. "It's painful to see someone you love suffering like that."

Musk's weight went up and down due to long hours of work and irregular eating.

Bags began to appear under his eyes, and his face looked like that of an exhausted athlete after an ultramarathon.

"He looked like the Grim Reaper," Riley said. "I thought this guy was going to die of a heart attack. He looked like he was on the verge of death."

Musk often has nightmares and wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. "He's suffering physically,"

"He would crawl on top of me in his sleep and start screaming," Riley said.

At that time, Musk asked that he had to borrow money from friends, and Riley's parents were willing to mortgage their house again and lend money to Musk.

Musk also sold his private jet. From now on, he can only fly between Los Angeles and Silicon Valley by Southwest Airlines, which is an American low-cost airline!

With monthly expenses of around $4 million, Tesla needs to complete a new round of financing to survive in 2008. In order to pay his employees weekly salaries, Musk could only turn to friends while dealing with investors.

He made a sincere plea to every friend he could think of who might be able to spare a little money.

Bill Lee invested $2 million in Tesla, and Sergey Brin also invested $500,000.

"Many Tesla employees have contributed money to help keep the company afloat,"

"They eventually became investors, but at the time, it was $25,000 or $50,000 that was never going to come back. It was like it was over, everything was going to be destroyed."

Kimbal, Musk's younger brother, lost most of his assets in the financial crisis, but he still sold what little he had left to invest in Tesla.

Tesla took an upfront payment from customers who bought the Roadster. Musk needed the money to keep the company going, but soon the funds ran out.

Although he risked going to jail for embezzling other people’s property!

But Musk believes he can get everything on track!

"I almost went to jail, but luckily everything is fine," Musk said with lingering fear, his face full of bitterness and bitterness, and his eyes moist.

Wang Guanxi also had to accept Musk's tyranny, and then said: "Musk, I will invest in your Tesla company. I already have a valuation of Tesla in my heart, and I want to hear about your SpaceX company!"

Musk recalled it and said: "I launched several plans at the same time in December last year to try to save my company."

At that time, Musk heard rumors that NASA was about to sign a supply contract for the International Space Station, and SpaceX had a chance to win this contract, which was said to exceed US$1 billion, because of its successful fourth launch.

Musk used his connections to contact Washington in advance and found that SpaceX may be the top candidate for this contract.

So, he tried at all costs to convince everyone that the company was capable of overcoming difficulties and sending a space capsule to the International Space Station. As for Tesla, Musk can only ask existing investors again, hoping that they can raise another batch of funds before Christmas Eve to avoid the company's collapse.

In order to give investors a little confidence, Musk did his best to invest his remaining wealth and funds into the company.

After getting permission from NASA, he borrowed money from SpaceX to fund Tesla.

He tried to sell his shares in the solar installation company on the secondary market.

He also made $15 million when Dell tried to acquire Everdream, a data center software company founded by his cousin and in which he participated.

The Everdream deal saved Musk’s business.

Musk then raised nearly $20 million of his own money and asked existing Tesla investors—since no new customers were willing to invest—to chip in the same amount.

Investors agreed to his request.

On December 3, 2008, when they were finalizing the documents for this round of financing, Musk discovered a problem. Venture capital firm VantagePoint Capital signed all the documents, but not the most important page.

Musk immediately called VantagePoint co-founder and manager Alan Salzman to inquire about the situation.

Salzman responded that the company had some questions about the round because they had lowered their valuation of Tesla.

"So I said, I've got a great idea. I've staked my life on it and I'm having a really hard time raising money right now. There's only enough money in the bank right now to cover next week's paycheck. So unless you have something else Can you please invest an amount of money that you think is reasonable, or try your best to pass this round of financing to prevent the company from going bankrupt?" Salzman was hesitant, so he asked Musk to come to the company at 7 a.m. next week to explain directly to the senior management.

Unable to wait a week, Musk asked to go the next day, but Salzman rejected his request, leaving Musk to continue to rely on loans.

"The only reason Salzman held the meeting in his office was because he wanted me to get down on my knees and beg him for money so he could struttingly say 'no' to me. This guy is a real asshole."

VantagePoint declined to discuss the matter, but according to Musk, Salzman's ploy was to disrupt Tesla and drive it into bankruptcy.

The investment company wants to expel Musk from Tesla, restructure its assets, and make itself Tesla's largest shareholder.

They could then sell the company to a Detroit automaker or focus on selling electronic powertrains and battery packs rather than building electric cars.

Wang Guanxi couldn't help but said: "This VantagePoint is forcing an entrepreneur with a broader dream to swallow his anger and give up his dream. Maybe they are used to using this trick to force CEOs to surrender, but you don't want to do this!"

Musk smiled bitterly and said: "Yeah, I won't accept his trick, so I took a bigger risk at that time."

At that time, Musk changed Tesla's financing round from shareholder equity financing to debt financing because VantagePoint could not interfere with debt financing.

But the tricky thing is that such venture capital institutions do not conduct debt financing transactions. For a company that may fail within a few days, convincing investors and banks to change their investment strategy is a very difficult task.

Musk, who knows the rules of the game well, decided to call his bluff.

He told investors he could borrow another $40 million from SpaceX to complete the round.

His strategy worked.

Wang Guanxi also had to submit to Musk's methods and really turned the tide. He smiled and said: "Actually, if opportunities become scarce, then naturally, people will become greedy and more interested. This will also make it easier for us to go back to the company and say, 'This is the situation now, to vote or not to vote?"

"Yes, they all finally agreed. This round of financing was finally completed on Christmas Eve. Tesla may have declared bankruptcy in a few hours," Musk said with a hush.

At that time, Musk only had hundreds of thousands of dollars left and could not even pay his employees the next day. In the end, Musk contributed $12 million to this round of financing, with investment firms providing the rest.

Regarding Salzman's behavior, Musk said: "He should be ashamed and regret it! I must make him regret it!"

Wang Guanxi smiled and said: "I will definitely regret it. That's because he has no vision."

"Haha, fortunately, I am lucky after all, but the god of fate always makes fun of me." Musk smiled bitterly.

At SpaceX, Musk and executives spent December in panic.

SpaceX, the top competitor for NASA contracts, suddenly lost the favor of the space agency.

Michael Griffin, who almost became the co-founder of SpaceX, became the new boss of NASA and began to target Musk everywhere.

Griffin doesn't care at all about Musk's aggressive business strategies. He believes that Musk's sidekick behavior is unethical. Others speculated that Griffin was jealous of Musk and SpaceX.

Because Griffin is eager to build a new large-scale spacecraft to solidify his position in the industry. But with Obama riding high in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Griffin, who was appointed by Bush, knew his days as NASA chief had come to an end, and SpaceX looked interested in building the latest and most cutting-edge machines. Fully confident.

On December 23, 2008, SpaceX received great news.

Staff at NASA continued to work for Griffin and eventually succeeded in helping SpaceX become a supplier to the International Space Station. SpaceX received $1.6 billion for 12 missions to the International Space Station.

At that time, Musk was drawing cables at the factory with his brother Kimbal. When he heard that the transaction between SpaceX and Tesla went smoothly, Musk shed tears with excitement.

“I hadn’t even had a chance to buy a Christmas gift for Dalulla before,” Musk said. “I ran down the street in Boulder, and there was only one store open that sold all kinds of knick-knacks, but it was fast. It was closing. The best things I could find there were plastic monkeys and coconuts - those three monkeys (three monkeys, one covering the eyes, one covering the ears, one covering the mouth)."

At this point, Musk giggled and actually cried.

All of this was extremely difficult, and he was like a character crawling out of the abyss.

A legend of a generation naturally has his own extraordinary features. In the face of great suffering and difficulties, he always has courage, courage, determination and confidence that ordinary people do not have.

For Wang Guanxi, he also fully understood Musk’s character.

This is a man who came to the United States with bare hands to work hard, lost a South African boy, was severely humiliated by reporters and his ex-wife in the media, and the company he had worked so hard for all his life was on the verge of collapse.

"Mr. Musk, you work harder and can withstand more pressure than anyone I know," Wang Guanxi said: "What you endured in 2008 may have caused others to collapse long ago. You not only survive Calm down and stay focused on your work.”

Musk's ability to stay focused during a crisis sets him apart from other executives and competitors.

"Most people who have experienced that kind of pressure shrink back," Wang Guanxi said: "They will make mistakes in decision-making. But you become more rational and can still make clear and far-sighted decisions. The greater the pressure, the more you make decisions. The better. Anyone who has seen what you have been through has great respect for you. Mr. Musk, I have never met a tougher person than you."

Musk wiped his tears and said, "I'm just lucky. Mr. Wang, you think too highly of me."

Wang Guanxi thought for a while and then said: "Mr. Musk, I will give you a high valuation and become your partner. What do you think?"

Musk asked: "What's the valuation?"

Wang Guanxi said: "I will value SpaceX at US$900 million and invest US$600 million. You don't need to raise money now. I will value Tesla at US$1.2 billion and invest US$800 million. You I don’t need a loan, I have collected the money, and I don’t have to worry about not being able to pay my salary. I can just wait for Tesla to go public. I will push Tesla to go public soon.”

"Don't worry, the control of the company is still in your hands. I just want 30% of the voting rights of both companies."

"At the same time, Ford Motor Company will also cooperate with Tesla Motors!"

Musk was immediately stunned. SpaceX is easy to say, and its valuation has at least doubled, while Tesla is now far from worth US$1.2 billion.

If Wang Guanxi becomes a partner, he only has 30% of the voting rights. This is no problem.

Especially a total of 1.4 billion US dollars.

Oh my god, where are you going to find so much money?

This is all cash.

With so much money, I will soon be able to fly and solve all the bad things in the company!

It was ridicule and humiliation. The face of the person who ridiculed him was swollen.

He doesn’t plan to return the Louis Vuitton he wore tonight.

Musk immediately said: "Wang, we have a happy cooperation. Having a partner like you is undoubtedly lucky in my life. It must be God who favors me."

After saying that, Musk was about to give Wang Guanxi a hug, but Wang Guanxi immediately avoided it.

"No need, no need"

Musk laughed and gave Wang Guanxi a big hug.

In the next few days, Wang Guanxi and others visited Musk's Tesla and SpaceX companies.

At present, the two companies have a total of just over 1,000 people. Because Musk is short of money and has experienced major layoffs, he does not plan to find people yet.

But there is about to be 1.4 billion US dollars, and Musk is immediately preparing to recruit people.

Musk said: "Wang, isn't my place nice?"

Then he pointed to the rocket model in the distance and said: "My Falcon rocket will replace all human rockets in the future! The best rocket and the lowest-cost rocket will be from my company SpaceX. In the future, I also plan to launch an interstellar rocket." Regarding the immigration plan, although no one believes in me, I will still do it, and I hope you support me!"

In 2001, he planned a project called the "Mars Oasis", which planned to land this small experimental greenhouse on Mars with crops grown in Martian soil. However, when he found that the launch cost was much higher than the R\u0026D and engineering costs of the project, he put the project on hold and ideally turned himself into a rocket expert.

After Paypal was acquired, he gained financial freedom and began to pursue his scientific dream. He immediately established SpaceX to study how to reduce the cost of rocket launches. Without saying a word, he immediately invested US$100 million in SpaceX, with the ambition to launch The cost has been reduced to 1/10 of the commercial space launch market, and it is planned to develop the world's largest rocket for interstellar immigration in the future.

Wang Guanxi nodded: "I believe you, you can definitely do it!"

Musk has indeed reduced the cost of rockets to one-tenth of the market price, or even lower, crushing NASA's rockets. NASA had to give orders to SpaceX, and even Boeing had to give orders.

Musk is also working on a starship project to colonize Mars. Now it sounds like everyone thinks this is an exaggeration, an idiot, and a fool.

But he did it anyway.

At this time Musk asked: "Then let's sign the agreement."

Now he can't wait to get the $1.4 billion in funds, which will solve all the problems he faces.

He feels that his life is so lucky. After passing the lowest point in his life, he will usher in a huge leap.

"Okay!" Wang Guanxi nodded and then signed the agreement.

Wang Guanxi transferred US$1.4 billion from Fund 1 to the Wang Venture Capital Foundation, and then injected US$600 million into SpaceX and US$800 million into Tesla.

At this point, Wang Guanxi became Musk's partner, holding 40% of SpaceX's equity, 40% of Tesla's equity, and 30% of the voting rights in both companies!