1302 Save Ajax
Although he is a friend, Yang Yang has to admit that Van Basten is a great star, but not a successful head coach. He has never achieved satisfactory results in his coaching career.
During his coaching at Ajax, he was full of high hopes of the team's management regaining the Champions League within five years and invested a lot of money in the transfer market. Soleimani's transfer fee was as high as 16 million euros, twice the Dutch transfer record at that time and one-quarter of Ajax's fiscal revenue.
It can be said that that big bet was a disaster for Ajax. They wanted to invest and produce high output, but the result was a complete failure. None of the players they introduced had ever played satisfactory value. Soleimani played in Ajax for four years, but his performance was not ideal, and he eventually transferred to Benfica.
It can be said that in this big bet, Van Basten and Ajax's management completely destroyed all the club's funds. Since then, Ajax has suffered losses every year and has not improved at all.
"The fiscal revenue has not increased, but has even dropped sharply. The transfer operation has failed. These have hit Ajax very hard, but what has followed is the continuous increase in European football salary in the past few years. From 2006 to 2010, Ajax's salary expenditure has increased by more than 50% in the past five years."
"This is not a problem with Ajax's team, it is a problem with the entire Dutch football. Alkmaar declared bankruptcy and was regulated, and Feyenoord almost followed suit. This traditional giant was in a slump. At that time, thirteen clubs in the Netherlands were listed by the Football Association for serious financial crisis, but in fact, there were more teams not on the list."
"Many people know what happened next. A group of people led by Cruyff launched the Velvet Revolution and overthrew the management. They began to pay attention to financial health, so they reduced the number of players and said they wanted to clean up some useless players. But in fact, this is unrealistic. Ajax has been losing money over the years and has been making ends meet every year."
Guido Albes is obviously very worried about Ajax's situation. This old-fashioned giant team is quite substantial in the minds of many Dutch people, but unfortunately, the problems they are facing are very serious now.
Yang Yang also has some understanding of this history, but it is not as deep as Guido Albes. He still vaguely remembers that UEFA President Platini also proposed to merge Belgium with the Netherlands to form a new league, including Anderlecht, Ajax, Eindhoven and other well-known European teams competing on the same game, thereby increasing their influence and fiscal revenue, but in the end it was left unresolved and failed.
After Albes finished speaking, Wei Zheng also immediately took out his gains during this period.
"Ajax's capital reserves are very bad. It has been declining since more than 110 million euros in 199. Now it has even reached a serious lack of cash flow. In addition, the team's performance has been very sluggish over the years, Ajax's stock price has also continued to decline. It fell below nine yuan not long ago. Now a stock is only about 8.5 euros, setting a record low."
"The club's current market value is about 150 million euros, and there is no asset at all. The total value of the first team is also a record low. The team only holds 13% of the shares in the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium, and the remaining 48% are held by the Amsterdam Municipal Government, and 39% are held by the joint shareholders."
"For this reason, Ajax needs to pay 10 million euros in stadium rent every year, while Ajax's annual ticket revenue is about 30 million euros. If you deduct all expenses such as stadium maintenance, the income is actually not much."
"The only thing worthy of praise is that Ajax has no debt so far, but the team's operations are in a dilemma. Although the management has been committed to adjustments and efforts to maintain it, the funds are still seriously insufficient."
Yang Yang understands that cash is the key to a company's survival. Ajax is now seriously insufficient cash and has lost a large amount of revenue from the Champions League before the season, which makes the team's operations really more embarrassing.
"I vaguely heard the news that Ajax was planning to find investors, and they needed some funds to overcome the difficulties." Yang Yang expressed the information he had obtained, which was also the reason why he asked Wei Zheng, Raiola and others to inquire about the information.
Van der Sar's previous conversation made him feel that Ajax's management has indeed realized the problem, and this team is his parent team. Although it is not well-managed, Ajax is still very well-founded in football.
"Your news is right. I heard that Invesco, an investment company from the United States, has some interest in Ajax, but you also know that Ajax's situation is not optimistic now. Invesco is also the first time he has entered football, so both sides are very cautious." Guydo Albes affirmed Yang Yang's intelligence.
Yang Yang looked at the three people in front of him, "What do you think?"
"I don't think it's worth it, so it's better to go to the Championship team." Raiola suggested from the perspective of a businessman.
Guido Albes thought about it, "I think Ajax has a foundation in the field of football, which is why Van der Sar, Davis, Debor, Borgkamp and others will return one after another in difficult times. The problem now is that Ajax needs a large amount of funds to survive this difficult period and embark on a path of healthy development."
"Investing in a Dutch club may not be a good deal, but I believe that you and I are the same, and don't want to see Ajax fall into the quagmire like this, and if you have your capital injection, I believe Ajax will regroup soon."
Yang Yang is so popular nowadays.
He invested in Ajax today, and the Eredivisie team will immediately be on the page of major media around the world tomorrow, and its influence will soar. In the future, everyone mentioned Ajax. In addition to the decline of European giants, there is also Yang Yang's team. These are very great help to Ajax.
More importantly, Yang Yang's funds can help Ajax overcome the current difficulties.
"Where are you?" Yang Yang looked at Wei Zheng.
Wei Zheng smiled, "You have already made a decision, why bother asking me again?"
Yang Yang smiled bitterly and nodded, "I talked a lot with Van der Sar that night at the Grimalti Convention Center. He said that for him, Ajax is his memory, and to me, isn't it? In the past, I always thought that sooner or later, I will go back to Ajax."
Raiola looked at Yang Yang, turned to look at Wei Zheng and Albes, and finally his eyes fell back to Yang Yang and sighed. He suddenly remembered the incident of Yang Yang investing in Apple's stocks. He opposed it at the time, but Yang Yang's profits were overturned, and it has increased by more than ten times.
At that time, Yang Yang never thought about making money by buying Apple stocks, but it was purely because of his likes and interests.
He knew Yang Yang and also knew that Yang Yang was a person who valued feelings at heart.
"If you are really interested in Ajax, it is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to buy at the bottom. The stock price has fallen to 850 million yuan and the market value has fallen to 150 million euros. I'm afraid it will be difficult to fall again."
Raiola spoke, and Yang Yang felt confident.
"Okay, let me leave it to you to discuss. I can invest 50 million euros. You can ask the Ajax management to come up with a plan. I want to know how they plan to spend the money and a plan for the next three years, but one thing must be clear. I must get the corresponding power of the Supervisory Board."
Currently, 75% of Ajax's shares are private, which is in the hands of the member organizations of the Ajax Association. This member organization is composed of Ajax management and members, and the remaining 25% are circulated in the stock market.
Although it is a listed company, Ajax's management structure is similar to that of other clubs in the Netherlands. It is composed of shareholders, supervisory board and board of directors. Needless to say, the shareholders' meeting is composed of shareholders. The board of directors is responsible for the daily business decisions of the club, and the board of supervisors is responsible for supervising the board of directors.
According to normal circumstances, the shareholders' meeting has no right to interfere with the Supervisory Board and the Board of Directors. In other words, it is impossible to intervene in the daily operations and decision-making of the club. It is simply spending money as a mascot, holding meetings, or something, and has no management rights.
Yang Yang is very familiar with this pattern of Dutch football, but he is not Kazi himself. He has feelings for Ajax and hopes to help the team get out of the predicament. However, he cannot accept that he has paid money and is famous, but he just puts it on like a mascot.
Even people like Cruyff who have no shares and have never paid a penny can enter the supervisory board and make trouble for the club's daily operations. Yang Yang has paid real money. If he doesn't give him power, he will definitely not agree.
After hearing this, Wei Zheng nodded and smiled. He just wanted to remind Yang Yang of this, but he didn't expect that Yang Yang would be prepared long ago.
"Okay, let's leave this matter to us. Don't worry, friendship is friendship, but how to do business, what else should I do." Raiola made a very clear distinction.
Wei Zheng had no objection either.
He is now Yang Yang's Minister of Finance. He knows very well that 50 million euros are a timely help to Ajax. It is a long drought that has a rainy rain, but it is nothing to Yang Yang.
Not to mention anything else, Yang Yang has been escaping from Rice Technology in the past two years, and he has a very generous amount of cash in his hand, let alone 50 million euros, even if he invests 100 million, I believe there is no big problem.
Of course, it would be unrealistic if Yang Yang really wanted to acquire Ajax.
At least Ajax's management and fans would not agree, and the bet was a bit big. After all, no one knew whether Ajax could really reverse the business dilemma after receiving Yang Yang's capital injection.
Chapter completed!