May 20.
The timeframes shift. To provide a clear picture of the IPO sale.
"It might be annoying for anyone; it might be difficult, but Stanley was like a fleeting current. The delivery of the results had already been approved by the Securities Commission, and a sale date had been set for June 4. Ten days away, people already knew how it would unfold. What a clean fight.
-In any case, I won't make much from this operation. - William Dommer commented, having arrived late, at least for this operation.
The telephone line remained fixed; both men chose their words carefully, and Billy was deliberately challenging when requested.
-I'll take care of it. You have a lot of money, but not the liquidity. Oil businesses are good. When my companies start working, we'll do good business together. - Billy commented. -I will invest in those businesses with your approval, and we will create a formal research partnership.-
May 23.
The Autodesk IPO was gigantic, fueled by stock market anxiety and the complexity of the structure. How do the different mechanisms move within an ordinary phone call that makes people doubt? The IPO, the Initial Public Offering. A long and expensive process that began in January 1998, and as it progressed, everything seemed to grow at disproportionate rates.
Billy took the money he had, organized a corporate structure composed of seven companies that were brought under Autodesk's control, and then merged them, creating complete management control. The requirements were not yet as strict as they would become after the dot-com bubble, but they were still a thorn in the spine. From his future knowledge, he knew that simply organizing the company would not be enough. He would need at least five years of audited financial statements. Autodesk had been in the market for twelve years, with audited financial analyses, and six of those years had passed after Billy's acquisition.
The second step was improving internal corporate governance controls, creating an independent board of directors free from various political influences, and resolving all legal or tax issues, meaning lawsuits, litigation, or contractual disputes, before the public offering. This final stage was carried out by the company under authorization. The third requirement was for the company to approach one or several investment banks and obtain a valuation of the company that would help prepare the offering, seek investors, and place shares on the market. The fact that Billy's company did not need outside investment mattered little, because it had established itself politically within the market.
Billy retained Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, which valued the company at $140 per share, with a total of four billion shares outstanding and five billion shares available in the market. Before the offering, Billy sold twenty percent of those shares from his own holdings to the public, and those shares entered the market as investors purchased them. Another ten percent came directly from the company itself, and John Fletcher's shares, representing another five percent, would be sold entirely.
After all, both he and Billy possessed a type of stock known as political shares, which granted voting power and influence without carrying direct profit rights, at a ratio of 100,000 to 1. Billy held a total of 10,000 such shares, while Fletcher held 500 shares, representing twenty-five percent of the total voting power. This effectively created a near-blocking position against certain actions and generated a significant political imbalance.
Once these documents were prepared, the regulatory filing was submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including financial statements, the business model, executive information, and the number of shares to be issued. From there, decisions were made regarding how many shares would be sold, what percentage would remain in circulation, and the rest became a story that centered around a sale percentage with an opening price of twenty dollars per share.
But Billy believed that, driven by the dot-com boom, this stock in particular would rise to two hundred dollars. Therefore, he had made several adjustments for the offering, essentially betting that the price would rise so he could sell, while simultaneously working through debt and carrying out all the outrageous acquisitions he planned to make in the coming days.
-We have the valuations, the growth of the software sector, and what Billy calls the dot-com bubble. - Anne whispered. She knew perfectly well the difficulties and the magnitude of the work involved.
Raimon's tired eyes wanted to speak about Billy's activities, but he had no idea why Billy was considered so extraordinary. Everything revolved around data and insider information; it was a technical character trait that stood out. Raimon could now observe in great detail the next technical operation, one that for some time had seemed completely devoid of common sense.
-Billy made very optimistic calculations. - Raimon commented.
-Beyond the money, the price rises according to the technical narrative that can be built around the ideas. I don't think anything can approach that valuation. - Raimon commented.
Once again, he was overweight. Though his fingers were less pudgy now, some slimness could be seen around his jawline. He wore a fitted suit, and underneath it he had a limited-edition Star Wars: The Phantom Menace shirt, already looking forward to The Clone Wars. Ever since some animated series had aired, they had become a priority for Raimon.
-You checked with your contacts. - Anne asked.
-I can't do that. Bubbles are random, and the signals are plausible. At least from my perspective, there remains a logical premise, nothing ambiguous. It can be viewed as a boom operation; perhaps Billy wants to accomplish something. It's true and well known that stock prices do not always reflect intrinsic value; they often orbit a certain degree of speculation. - Raimon commented.
-Billy hasn't mentioned anything to me. - Anne replied, moving closer. She was not particularly strict whenever it was obvious she was following Billy's instructions. She always thought in terms of her options. She wrote down the words press, identity, and minimum power position.
Anne's office was spacious. A giant container of potato chips sat beside a large salad spread across the table. Raimon ate twenty-four hours a day; even when he exercised, he was always hungry. As a result, he chose foods that suited him perfectly: salads, steamed pickled vegetables, steamed potatoes, and large amounts of fruit, all balanced with two liters of water.
Unlike Billy's office, Anne's office did not contain a library filled with all his work, complete with drafts and originals that covered every available space, every filing cabinet, without mercy. It was an office designed for meetings, rest, and privacy.
-The market is reactionary. There's no doubt about that. The smallest opportunities are highly specific. The most appropriate thing to say is that he has some plans, or perhaps... well, I don't understand him. With him, business is always very formal. It makes me wonder whether he already has everything planned. - Raimon commented.
To be fair, May was only the beginning of the truth.
...
One hundred thirty-four dollars on the first day of trading; one hundred forty dollars on the first day of trading; then it fell to one hundred twenty dollars, but resistance levels formed while investigations began surrounding Autodesk's financial statements and all of its operations.
Billy created a narrative completely different from what was expected: projects emerging from multiple directions. Nothing was being valued based solely on the product itself.
Four years of news and breadcrumbs that, when assembled, created the impression that the company was anything but typical.
-I see. - Raimon whispered.
All of the projects were centered on Autodesk's potential and growth, as an eternal subscription system built around various licensed services that allowed continuous expansion and inspired considerable admiration. It stood on its own merits, not merely as the sum of its parts.
-We will be very happy to purchase shares for ourselves. But as you say, we must remain patient and buy carefully. - Lomas whispered to him, now part of Billy's investment company in an ordinary managerial capacity.