Chapter 1400 Thorns and Bushes

Feng Yiping picked up a piece of bread, dipped it in the sauce on the plate, and stuffed it into his mouth. "It's delicious."

When Vincent saw this, he wanted to imitate him. He took a piece of bread from the table and made it as his father did, but he didn't think it was very delicious. He licked his fingers and tilted his head to look at his father in confusion.

"Haha," his son's cute look always made Feng Yiping very happy. He held his son in his arms, "Look, if you eat all the food on the plate, that is the best thing for the cook. Of course, it’s best to say it out loud, so look, is mom very happy now?”

"I know," Vincent held out his belly and patted it twice with his hands, "It's so delicious!"

This kid is really capable, he can do better than himself!

After seeing his exaggerated performance, Ma Ling really smiled happily. She reached out and rubbed her son's head a few times, "With dad, we can even eat more. Okay, I'll serve the soup."

By now, she was very accustomed to some of Feng Yiping's very un-rich practices.

Of course, when dining out, Feng Yiping is still more particular. At home, he is very casual. As long as it is not special or very unpalatable, he will definitely eat everything. It is really not a waste at all.

Ma Ling, a former free vegetarian, actually welcomed and liked this kind of behavior.

In other words, at Feng Yiping's current level, in many aspects, he can completely ignore the various particularities that are regarded as classics by the petty bourgeoisie, and instead show his true self in front of the public.

The so-called fashions, the so-called trends, especially those that are truly popular, all spread from the circles of the powerful.

For example, because Mr. Li had a preference for Nissan's presidential sedan for a period of time, many Hong Kong people were proud to own a Nissan presidential car during that period.

If some of Feng Yiping's personality and authenticity were exposed, including his disc disc behavior, it might become a popular trend - there would naturally be people who would give elegant interpretations to his behavior.

By the way, he has really reached the point now where even when he farts, some people say it smells good.

The vulgarity is the elegance, and the people it really applies to are people like him.

Ma Ling is also trying to adapt to some of Feng Yiping's habits. For example, if you eat three meals in a row here, it is best to have one meal with a staple food such as rice or noodles. As for the dishes, it doesn't matter, as long as it has meat or seafood. That's fine, the taste shouldn't be too bland.

There is also soup. He actually doesn’t like all kinds of thick soup, cream soup, vegetable soup, and cold soup. He still likes Chinese beef soup, rib soup, fish soup, etc., so she has now learned how to make soup.

What we are stewing tonight is oxtail soup, which is a combination of Chinese and Western methods.

Feng Yiping looked at his watch, "I'm sorry, I have to hurry up, Google will have a meeting later,"

"It didn't go well?" Ma Ling asked.

She knew that Feng Yiping was putting most of his energy on Google these days.

"Yes, we are facing a lot of problems,"

"I believe you will figure it out," Ma Ling held his hand.

"Okay, I have to change clothes," Feng Yiping drank the soup in the bowl cleanly.

He has a habit of taking off the clothes he wore at work and putting on loose sportswear when he gets home.

Ma Ling quickly put down the bowl and said, "Vincent, can you watch TV by yourself first?"

"Well," the little guy who had eaten and drank was quite obedient and turned on the TV to watch Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

In the bedroom, Ma Ling took out Feng Yiping's clothes and asked, "Will you come over tomorrow?"

"I'm afraid it's too much, so I'll try my best. I think it's better to hire a full-time nanny. You have to go to work now, and you have to take your son to kindergarten. It's too hard,"

"I want to wait until the new house is settled," Marling said.

Feng Yiping told her clearly about the possible problems that day. The privacy of this house was not high and it might lead to some bad consequences. After hearing this, Ma Ling said that she could completely understand.

"Or, what do you think about us buying all the surrounding houses?" Feng Yiping thought for a moment and said.

This house has undergone some renovations. All the original ordinary glass has been replaced by smart glass. Now even if the lights are on indoors, the situation inside the house cannot be seen clearly on the mountain opposite. However, he still cannot go outside, such as Vincent especially liked the many activities on the balcony.

After taking down all the surrounding houses and renovating them, there will be more open-air and private space for activities. There is no need to worry about the paparazzi discovering his presence here.

"It's not necessary. That's too wasteful." Ma Ling helped him take off his clothes, but didn't rush to put them on and kissed his back. "Can you postpone it for five minutes?"

"Fifteen minutes then," Feng Yiping smiled and turned around. Immediately, he killed two birds with one stone, um, no, it should be one...two stones, and fell into Ma Ling's control...

At least 2,000 words later, Feng Yiping took the scent of shower gel and walked into the back seat of Irving's Ford Diplomat parked in the yard. The car was equipped with privacy glass. Feng Yiping sat down slightly, and there was nothing outside. Can't see who he is.

Ten minutes later, they transferred to Feng Yiping's Range Rover in a new indoor parking lot opened by Netflix.

…………

At Google, Feng Yiping hurriedly passed by Mayer, "Hi," he just said hello hastily.

"Hi," Mayer sniffed, did he seem to have taken a shower?

Immediately, Mayer, who had figured it out, looked at his back, snorted fiercely, and insisted on going home for dinner. As a result, he not only had dinner, but also took a shower. Why did he take a shower? It must not be because he was sweating from eating!

He really knows how to seize time and use time. No wonder he is late.

"Sorry, sorry," Feng Yiping walked into the meeting room in a hurry, "I was entangled by the children on the way out. Hey, what happened again?" He said to the three guys at the table with worried faces.

"Look," Brin handed him a document, "just received."

Feng Yiping knew it was definitely not a good thing when he saw the "SEC" mark on it. "Investigating the details of improperly issuing stocks and options to employees as rewards? Now?"

He shook the paper, "Isn't this matter a long time ago?"

This matter has indeed been a long time ago. As early as when they officially launched the IPO and submitted the listing application for the first time, they took the initiative to mention this issue. When the hired financial company audited the company's accounts, it was found that some of the issued stocks and options were not registered in accordance with regulations.

This news may lead to tax evasion, because after the audit, the part that was not registered in accordance with regulations was not a small number, totaling 23.2 million shares. For this reason, even the state government, which had always had a good relationship with the company, went to Google to investigate once.

But after the company decided to repurchase these shares, the matter was properly resolved at the time. Why is the SEC reheating it now?

"Yes, so I think someone is artificially setting obstacles for us," Schmidt said.

He still felt a little upset about the conclusion of the previous meeting.

"Since everything has been handled, let them investigate if they want," Page was unhappy.

Although the SEC's request was reasonable and legal, it did not get rid of the suspicion of targeting.

"And this," Schmidt handed over a piece of paper, "Two more underwriters are shouting to withdraw,"

"Withdraw if you want to, anyway, we have nearly 40 underwriters this time," Feng Yiping said with some indifference, and the next moment, he was stunned, "Merrill Lynch?"

This is not a one-two-shift underwriter. As one of the world's largest securities retailers and investment banks, as a leading international financial management and consulting company, as an investment bank with performance in 40 countries on six continents, Merrill Lynch has always been the best partner of many well-known companies in such crucial business behaviors as mergers and acquisitions or listings.

If it insists on withdrawing, it will undoubtedly bring many adverse effects in the industry.

"Yes, Merrill Lynch," Schmidt nodded solemnly, "I just received their notice, and their attitude is very firm,"

"Why? Can it be saved?" Feng Yiping asked.

If an institution like the SEC, at least a giant like Microsoft, can still exert some influence, but an investment bank like Merrill Lynch, which puts profit above all else, cannot be lobbied by Microsoft.

"It's not a question of return," Schmidt sighed, "Their main point is that this work has high investment but low return,"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but look at Page and Brin again. The underwriting fee was controlled at around 3%, which was also what they proposed and insisted on.

In Schmidt's view, the two of them proposed this, which was equivalent to asking for trouble.

Since they both agreed to the "Dutch auction" pricing and gave up the pricing power, they should really give them a return at least above the average line!

Now it's only 3%, less than half of the average line. Look, something has happened!

"Schmidt, do you think there is any possibility of recovery?" Other underwriters can back out, but Merrill Lynch's backing out will definitely cause a bad impact, and these bad impacts may directly affect the pricing of the IPO, and the high or low pricing will directly affect Feng Yiping's income.

"I think it's difficult," Schmidt shook his head.

"Feng, this is the opposition force on Wall Street you mentioned," Page said, "Don't be nervous, there will always be one or two, right? Fortunately, we still have more than 30 others,"

"But I suggest that the underwriters be gathered together for a communication meeting as soon as possible," Brin suggested.

"I agree," Feng Yiping said immediately. After preparing for so long and taking it so seriously, there must be no mistakes in the end, otherwise, it would be a matter of losing both face and substance.

"How is the negotiation with Yahoo going?" He asked about another thorny matter.

"It's still under negotiation," Page rubbed his face in annoyance, "Their demands are too outrageous,"

"What are the conditions," Feng Yiping asked.

"It's okay to reach a settlement, but at least 4 million shares must be issued to them,"

Feng Yiping took a breath when he heard this, "Do they really think of themselves as a tiger? Such a big appetite?"

"So we have been negotiating. Although it is still in a stalemate, believe me, it will be handled with reasonable conditions in the end," Brin said confidently.

"Feng," Page sorted out the scattered documents in front of him, "Did you encounter so many troubles when you took those two companies public?"

"It seems that there really is no such thing," Feng Yiping said, "but my two times and ours are not comparable in many data."

According to the current trend, Google's IPO will set many records this time, and the market value and funds raised are one of them.

The market value of Feng Yiping's Auto Network and Yijia Express Hotel at that time was estimated to be less than one-tenth of Google's after its listing, and the funds planned to be raised were completely incomparable with the nearly 4 billion US dollars target proposed by Google this time, so the difficulty was much smaller accordingly.

There is another major factor. Feng Yiping's two companies have competitors in China, but not in the United States, and will not affect the hearts of giants like Microsoft and Yahoo.

"Up to now, I really feel that there are too many troubles," Page shook his head.

To put it bluntly, this guy, he is always reluctant to do such things.

"Of course, it is not as simple as you writing code, but the road to success has always been full of thorns, isn't it?"

"No problem, we will definitely achieve our goals smoothly," Feng Yiping encouraged them.

He had long known how exhausting this work was when it reached its later stages.

Under such circumstances, with constant difficulties, it was easy to get discouraged.