Bartz, a sixty-year-old woman known for her assertive style, felt a bit annoyed. Yi Anguo had mocked her power, saying it was too limited compared to her predecessor, CEO Yang Zhiyuan. Yang, after all, could make major company decisions with a single word, without needing the board's approval.
After going public last year, Tao Bao's market value had once soared to over $20 billion. Now, however, it had plummeted to less than $5 billion, and the stock price was still dropping. With the financial crisis worsening, its market value could easily sink to just a billion or two.
Now, someone was offering to pay $6 billion for their 40% stake in Tao Bao. This price represented a premium of over 100%—it was higher than the entire current market value of Tao Bao.
