My Age of Investment

  Chapter 824 Dark Chess

  In the context of communication and adjustment of the relationship between all parties, Eberhard’s departure did not cause too many waves.

  This Tesla well-digger, with more than 10 million US dollars of "retirement" given by the company, entered his retirement life ahead of schedule.

  Tappening also resigned with him.

  The two people have always been in focus, and Meng is in focus, and they have a deep friendship.

  Tapenning’s resignation was also in Xia Jingxing’s expectation. There is nothing to regret. The old will not go, and the new will not come.

   played down the color of Tesla’s founder and eliminated potential internal hazards. He can also free up his hands to promote Tesla’s great development.

When Tarpenning left, the company also bought back half of his shares.

  In addition to the part of the repurchase of Eberhard, Tesla repurchased a total of 10.16% of the two founders at a cost of $25.4 million.

  There was no surplus funds in Tesla's account. After repurchasing the shares of the two founders, the funds in his hands began to be stretched.

  However, Xia Jingxing and the rest of the shareholders have reached an agreement long ago and completed the E round of financing with an amount of 50 million U.S. dollars and a post-investment valuation of 300 million U.S. dollars.

  Among them, Vision Capital invested US$40 million, and Defengjie invested US$10 million.

  At the same time, the 10.16% of the equity that was repurchased, after being diluted by the E round of financing, became 8.47%. All of these equity will be injected into the option pool to motivate new management and key employees.

  After these changes, Tesla's shareholding structure has completely changed.

  Vision Capital holds a total of 45.02% of the shares through its multiple funds, ranking the largest shareholder;

  Xia Jingxing personally holds 17.78% of the shares, ranking the second largest shareholder;

  Value equity capital holds 7.21% shares, ranking third largest shareholder;

  Eberhard and Tarpening hold 5.82% and 2.65% respectively, ranking the fourth and sixth largest shareholders;

  Defengjie invested $10 million in Tesla in the E round of financing, and its shareholding increased to 4.03%, making it the fifth largest shareholder;

  Other shareholders who did not participate in the follow-up investment, such as Waterfall Investment, Bezos Ventures, SDL, Compass, will dilute their shares proportionally, holding 0.7% to 1.69%;

  The option pool was injected with 8.47% of new shares, which expanded to 12.7% of the total share capital.

  Penetrating through all funds, Xia Jingxing holds a total of 62.8% of Tesla's shares. In fact, his shareholding has not increased much, and it has increased by about three points from the original.

Because Eberhard and Tarpening sold half of their holdings, the remaining half of their holdings were diluted by the E round of financing. The combined holdings of the two have less than 10%, and they will face further dilution. , Has no effect on the overall situation.

The trajectory of the two shareholding changes can be regarded as a vivid interpretation of how the founders of the company lost control of the company under the coercion and lure of capital step by step.

  Too much unintentional feeling, Tesla soon convened a new round of board of directors and re-elected the management.

  "Straubel, led the team to develop the battery management system, single-speed gearbox, induction motor electric drive system, outstanding achievements, hereby promoted to the company's CEO, in charge of all the daily work of Tesla, directly reporting to the board of directors..."

  "Gene Bodicevsky, led the team to design the three-dimensional model of the Roadster vehicle power system, assisted in the development of the battery management system, and was promoted to the company's CTO, responsible for leading the company's technology research and development..."

  "David Lanes, led the team to build the first Roadster prototype, and was promoted to the company's vice president, managing the vehicle engineering department..."

  ……

  In the meeting room, under the witness of all directors, Tesla issued several new personnel orders.

  The departure of the two founders made room for Tesla’s young and strong faction.

  Especially the company’s early core R&D trio. Everyone has been promoted from one to several levels, which can be regarded as a rocket speed promotion.

   "Papa Papa~"

  After the personnel order was read out, there was a warm applause in the conference room, and the directors immediately blessed the new management team.

  In this round of promotion, the three most profitable Straubel three were a little nervous and a little excited at the same time.

  To be more real, the three people have joined Tesla for about three years, but they have made it to the sky and become senior management.

  This is something that I never dreamed of before!

  Thanks to the two founders!

  Thank the board of directors!

  Thanks to Chairman Darren Xia.

  All three of them glanced at Xia Jingxing, with faint gratitude in their eyes.

  The other two have learned the truth from Straubel. It is because the chairman Darren Xia pushed them that the three young people got this precious opportunity for promotion.

  In addition, Xia Jingxing and Envision Capital are the company's largest individual and largest institutional shareholder, respectively. The change of CEO also made the three of them see the energy and courage of the chairman.

  So, they respect and fear Xia Jingxing.

  The three of them together, each gave a few minutes of promotion speech.

  In a pleasant atmosphere, this board meeting ended.

  After the meeting, the three came to the chairman's office together.

   "Sit down!"

   Seeing the three people with somewhat restrained expressions and movements, Xia Jingxing smiled kindly, and greeted the three of them to sit down on the guest sofa.

  "Daren, I don’t know how to use words to express my feelings at the moment...

  Thank you for your trust in me, I will definitely do it well. "Gene Bodicevsky waved his fist excitedly, and said firmly.

  Xia Jingxing smiled and nodded slightly to Bodicevsky. The newly appointed CTO is very young, only in his twenties, and is also the one most questioned among the three new managements.

  It’s him who excels in disagreement, and this guy has a chance to become the chief technology officer.

  Bodychevsky had a good personal relationship with him. At the beginning, they also asked Principal John to drop out.

  This guy is very technically talented. When he was studying at Stanford, he was a core R&D member of the solar team. He was very passionate about technology. At that time, he wanted to drop out and join Tesla, even if it was a free sweep for Tesla.

  After joining Tesla, this guy behaved like he was on the hook, and quickly became one of the core trio of R&D, conquering everyone with excellent technical prowess and love for technology.

  As an alumnus who dropped out of school, Bodychevsky is naturally closer to Xia Jingxing, and now he is promoted. He obeys and admires Xia Jingxing sincerely.

  Eberhard and Tarpening, except for the early end of the job, are engaged in management later. The understanding of Tesla, and even the control of electric vehicle technology, is really not necessarily better than the three in front of them.

  Xia Jingxing's selection of these three as the management team is not entirely selfish. The three are actually capable young people, but they are almost inexperienced, but they can be cultivated slowly.

  "Dalun, after I take office, I will strictly control the cost of all aspects of automobile manufacturing, and strive to help the company make profits as soon as possible."

  David Lanes is the eldest of the three. He is in his thirties and speaks more sophisticatedly. He knows that the company’s biggest and most urgent problem is to control costs.

  Xia Jingxing nodded slowly, his face gradually became serious, "Yes, now the cost issue is the first issue we have to solve, and the board of directors is very dissatisfied with it.

  In fact, if Tesla wants to gain more room for development, our cars should not be reduced to toys bought by the rich, but should be a reliable means of transportation that can travel hundreds of thousands of kilometers on the road.

  At present, the board of directors has made a decision that Roadster has increased its price by US$10,000 and set it to be delivered at US$110,000. "

"what?"

  Straubel's expression was shocked, "Then the customer can't make the noise?"

  "You are the CEO. This is the first problem you must solve after taking office."

  Xia Jingxing looked at Straubel and said seriously: "Your performance will determine the board's evaluation of you."

   Ten thousand alpacas rushed past Straubel's heart. He thought that God had finally blessed him, but he didn't expect that he would have to go back as soon as he took office.

  However, he quickly adjusted his mentality, and the more difficult things were, the more he was able to demonstrate his ability.

  If this matter can be properly resolved, then his position as CEO will be secured.

  Although he is a direct line of Xia Jingxing, after all, there are still so many shareholders and colleagues watching that an incompetent person is not qualified to be the CEO of Tesla.

  Furthermore, he understands that if he wants to get greater support from Xia Jingxing, he has to show his own value. Just as a direct lineage, he cannot gain the trust and reuse of the big boss for a long time.

   "I understand, I will immediately begin to deal with this matter, to ensure a satisfactory result to all parties." Straubel smiled and replied confidently.

  Xia Jingxing nodded secretly. He was still satisfied with Straubel's EQ. He was afraid that he would bargain with him without knowing how to do it, or if he was arrogant, then he could only replace him.

  "I persuaded the board of directors to inject all of the equity repurchased from Eberhard and Tarpening into the option pool. After the three of you take up their positions, you will receive a new round of option incentives."

  Xia Jingxing knew that if the horses were to run, they had to graze the horses. He did not choose to take the repurchased shares as his own, but used them to motivate talents.

  As a major shareholder, he paid the most to expand the option pool.

  The three nodded. They all know about this. The senior management’s option incentives will be several or ten times that of when they were in the middle management.

  Silicon Valley people all understand what this means, this is the key to the freedom of wealth.

  Now that the keys have been handed over to them, it is up to the individual to compete.

  To tell the truth, they think Xia Jingxing’s generous work this time is very proud.

  The original 10% option pool, after several rounds of financing, has been diluted to only a little bit more than four percent, and now it has been directly expanded by a factor of two.

  In addition, including the E round of financing, Xia Jingxing and Envision Capital have invested more than 100 million US dollars in Tesla. They are Tesla's well-deserved father of the largest financial sponsor and have completely resolved Tesla's financial crisis.

  After a conversation, Bodychevsky and Davis left, while Straubel stayed.

  "After Darren, Eberhard, and Tarpening left, some old employees clamored to leave in private, saying that Tesla has changed."

  Xia Jingxing nodded. These are all in his expectation. The two founders have been in charge of Tesla for more than three years, and it is normal to have party members.

   "I think we need to calm the hearts of the people, such as announcing an E round of financing, and giving employees a salary adjustment." Straubel suggested.

   "No problem, you just need to follow your own ideas."

  Xia Jingxing smiled and looked at Straubel, and patted the latter on the shoulder, “Don’t be intimidated, I will be your strongest backing, and you can show your fists and feet in front of the stage.”

  Straubel nodded, and from the moment Xia Jingxing gave him the credit for inventing the battery management system, he got on Xia Jingxing’s boat.

  For so many years, he has maintained a one-line contact with Xia Jingxing, reporting some Tesla's situation to the big boss.

  He suddenly recalled that a few years ago, Xia Jingxing had encouraged him to work hard, and it might not be impossible for him to be in the most beautiful position in front of the stage in the future...

  Think carefully. The big boss in front of me may have been in the layout a few years ago, and it is not an accident to hand over the battery management system to myself.

  As a person with vested interests, he will not pick out these things, let alone tell anyone that the small person must have the consciousness of being dominated by the big person. If it is not for holding the thigh, today the CEO will not be his turn.

  At the same time, he was a little lucky, fortunately he didn't accept Musk's poaching.

  Poor Nicolas, a real prototype car was only launched some time ago. In the previous product launches and auto shows, I have been doing some vain things.

  　 No one actually remembered that this pit spanned 600 chapters and was finally filled.

  (End of this chapter)