Chapter 825
Howard Stringer was very happy when he saw Lu Yiming agreed to his request, as if he had gained the upper hand in the negotiation. He kept boasting, "Dear Lu, you are a true gentleman."
In fact, Lu Yiming himself wanted to make smartphones, and he looked down on all feature phones, let alone Sony, which was not even the leader in the feature phone industry.
"Haha, we have an old saying here, 'Birds of a feather flock together.' Since I'm a gentleman, you should be a gentleman too. Let's get ready, and once the board of directors votes in favor , we can sign the contract."
Although he didn't understand what "birds of a feather flock together", "gentleman" Howard Stringer still understood it. He was very happy with this evaluation and said, "Yes. I look forward to this deal being successful immediately."
When leaving, Howard Stringer was reluctant to say goodbye to Lu Yiming: "My friend, I wish us a pleasant cooperation."
Lu Yiming also smiled and said, "Yes, Sony will become great again under your leadership."
If SONY can get rid of the "burden" of scientific research and those businesses that have been losing money and focus on the entertainment industry, it will not be difficult for it to take off with the help of the big IP of Marvel superheroes.
Even from a business perspective, this can be considered a success.
But this is essentially a financial game, burning the future of Sony in exchange for the short-lived glory of the present.
However, Lu Yiming didn't care about it, because people's joys and sorrows are not the same.
It is undeniable that Sony had a period of glory and innovation.
For example, the DSC-F505V digital camera launched in 2000 heralded the arrival of the megapixel era. Its 5x optical zoom and 2-megapixel resolution also brought new imagination to the photography world at the time.
For example, the QUALIA004SXRD high-definition projector launched in 2003, at a time when color TVs were not yet fully popular, made a portable high-definition projector with keystone correction.
For example, the PSP-1000 series PlayStation portable game console just released in 2004...
In fact, Sony’s crisis began in 2003.
Compared to before the crisis, SONY's market value has almost been halved.
If Lu Yiming makes a move now, the price can be said to be quite affordable.
He negotiated for SONY's rich experience in imaging at a price of three billion US dollars.
When the news reached China, the whole country was shocked.
Mr. Lu’s richest man actually wants to acquire SONY?
Even though it's just with a department under Sony, it's still quite remarkable.
You know, in 2000, SONY reached the peak of its life with a market value of 138 billion US dollars. At that time, Apple's market value was only 10 billion US dollars, and Samsung's was only 3.6 billion US dollars. This shows how powerful SONY is.
At the Sony headquarters, Ryoji Chubachi stood in front of the French window of the president's office, staring down with an expressionless face.
The older people get, the more they like to immerse themselves in memories, and this is especially true for Ryoji Nakabachi, who is already 59 years old.
"Time flies so fast. I'm almost going to retire. Thinking back to when I first joined Sony, it seems like it was just yesterday."
"Why, are you going to start the revolving lantern of life ?"
Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, teased Ryoji Nakabachi with a smile.
In anime, reminiscing about the past often means that the filming is about to end.
When saying this, there was a hint of self-mockery in Kutaragi Ken's tone.
SONY Computer Entertainment is the most profitable company under the SONY Group, and Ken Kutaragi can be said to be the biggest contributor. It was he who, against all odds, invested huge amounts of money at all costs to develop the popular PlayStation home game console, and he was therefore given the title of "Father of PlayStation".
Since the beginning of the 21st century, under the leadership of Ken Kutaragi, PS2 has further overturned the performance of the first generation, selling 1 million units on the first day of its launch, occupying more than 80% of the game market share at one time, and a total of 159 million units sold worldwide, becoming the best-selling game console in history.
PS2 not only pulled the entire SONY Group out of a huge debt of 2.8 billion US dollars, but also established SONY's dominant position in the gaming industry.
That was the heyday of Sony game consoles, and it was common to see news of people fighting over a PlayStation console in department stores.
However, Ken Kutaragi, who had made such great contributions, was about to "leave".
Kutaragi Ken looked at the sad-looking Nakabachi Ryoji and said jokingly, "Be cheerful, or people will think you are the one who will retire after your term is up."
Chubachi Ryoji sighed and said, "They are going too far. If we allow this group of people to continue to do this, will Sony still be Sony?"
Kutaragi Ken shook his head: "I will be retired next year. What can I do even if I am dissatisfied? In this country, we are the masters, but we can't even be our own masters. Ryoji, listen to my advice, don't fight them anymore, you can't beat them."
Both of them are "conservative" forces of SONY. They want to protect SONY's last "pure land". However, facing the suzerain father country, the United States, their resistance is undoubtedly ridiculous.
Ken Kutaragi's original position will soon be taken over by Kazuo Hirai, president and chief operating officer of Sony Computer Entertainment. Like Howard Stringer, Hirai has risen through the ranks from Sony's American branch and has the body shape of an American father.
Nakabachi Ryoji looked at Kutaragi Ken and made his request: "I hope you can support me in the board of directors and oppose this acquisition. Sony's wealth should not be sold."
Kutaragi Ken still shook his head: "Although I still have my position and my seat on the board of directors, I no longer have the decision-making power. Even if you win my vote, it will be meaningless."
Zhong Bo Liangzhi was very unwilling: "Are we just going to let Howard Stringer and others hand over our hard-earned family business to others? Lu Yiming is the richest man in Asia and never does business at a loss. He is willing to spend so much money to buy our Sony technology and talents, which is enough to prove that those things are valuable!"
Kutaragi sighed: "You can convince me, but can you convince those people on the board of directors?"
Chubachi Ryoji cursed: "These insects only know how to watch the stock price go up and down every day. Sooner or later, they will destroy Sony."
"It doesn't matter. Just do it."
Ken Kutaragi was a little bored. As a idler who was about to retire, he really couldn't muster any interest, and he was too lazy to save the career he once fought for.
SONY's experience is just a microcosm of the island country.
When leaving the company, memories of the past began to emerge in Ken Kutaragi's mind, recalling the good old days that he once took for granted but could never find again.
In the hotel, Lu Yiming, who had already negotiated the acquisition, was studying the contract carefully.
After all, the target is Sony, and he has heard how powerful Sony's legal department is. Although three billion US dollars is not a lot, it would be embarrassing if he was cheated by them.
However, knowing the reputation of SONY, Lu Yiming also brought people with him, not only Yu Jiayi, but also Li Qiu's entire team.
They have already read the contract and feel that there is no problem with it. Once Sony votes to approve it, the two parties can officially sign the contract.
Although Lu Yiming really dislikes the SONY brand, the situation is stronger than he is now. Domestic products are lagging behind in all aspects and it will take time to catch up, so he can only make do with it.
Lu Yiming firmly believed that once the domestic industrial level was raised, Xiaguo, as the only country in the world with a full range of industrial sectors, would not let him down.
What's more, he is now leading the direction of Xiaguo's technological progress - this is no exaggeration to say, after all, everything Lu Yiming has experienced has been proven feasible by the market.
"SONY is guilty of a heinous crime..."
Lu Yiming muttered the lines from the TV series.
At this time, Yu Jiayi walked in and said to Lu Yiming: "Boss, I just received a call. The president of Zhongbo wants to meet with you."
Lu Yiming looked at the brightly lit night scene outside the window, smiled slightly, and said, "He's here? Okay, let's meet him."
Lu Yiming still felt quite emotional about the life of Nakabachi Ryoji.
How glorious the island nation was in the late 1980s.
Mitsubishi bought Rockefeller Center for $1.4 billion, Panasonic bought Universal Pictures for $6 billion, and Sony bought Columbia Pictures, one of the six major Hollywood studios, for $3.4 billion, which included the copyright to Spider-Man that Marvel was unable to regain after 20 years.
But in the following ten years, SONY's market value went from prosperity to decline and plummeted.
Around 2001, Mingyuan Technology's Tianyin series of MP3s quickly crushed Sony's ATRAC3, which only supported its own closed format.
In 2002, Tianyin's sales volume exceeded that of the Walkman, and it took over the hegemony in the Walkman field from Sony. However, this was only the first domino in Sony's retreat in the consumer electronics field.
Just as the digital music revolution brought about by the Internet swept through the old era and eliminated the Walkman, LCD TVs from Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung, and LG are also beginning to shake up Sony's outdated cathode ray tube technology.
Limited by its past glory, SONY's slowness in facing the tide of the times has caused this huge business empire to begin to fall apart.
In March 2003, SONY released its fourth quarter financial report for 2002. As sales profits were far lower than expected valuations, investors began to panic sell SONY shares, even triggering an avalanche in the Nikkei index.
In 2005, Microsoft and Nintendo launched the new generation consoles Xbox360 and Wii, but Sony was still stuck in the huge success of PS2 and did not take any action. As a result, the new generation Xbox360 quickly seized a large market share of the game market. By the time PS3 was officially launched, the sales of Xbox360 had reached 10 million units.
With the advent of the mobile Internet era, SONY has become even more faltering.
Lenovo, HP and Dell dominate the notebook market, and VAIO is on the verge of being eliminated.
Smartphones' increasingly high-definition cameras are beginning to squeeze the camera market.
The digital age has begun to make Sony's proud VCDs useless...
The smartphones that SONY is desperately trying to catch up with can only be listed silently in the "Others" category of the mobile phone sales list.
In 2012, SONY's market value was only US$82.2 billion, 10% of Samsung and 3% of Apple.
Yu Jiayi asked: "Should we ask him to come over?"
Lu Yiming touched his stomach and said with a smile: "Look at this beautiful night view. To be honest, there are not many night views in China that can compare with this one. It just so happens that I'm hungry now. Why don't we call everyone together and find a barbecue stall - no, they call it an izakaya here, right? It would be great to find an izakaya and have everyone eat, drink and chat at the same time, wouldn't it?"
Yu Jiayi thought that Zhongba Liangzhi's failure to come to see Lu Yiming might be related to the purchase of Sony's patents, so she reminded him, "Boss, a meeting of this nature should be held in a private place, since it involves commercial secrets."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Why not just drive away the other customers in the store?"
“…”
Yu Jiayi was speechless.
Well, this does seem like something that rich people would do.
"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away. The meeting will start in about half an hour."
"Um."
Yu Jiayi is not only a top student in law, but is also becoming more and more competent in the role of Lu Yiming's secretary, especially in the area of time management, which has reached an astonishing level.
Half an hour later, Lu Yiming and his friends showed up at the door of a high-end pub on time.
There are two white paper lanterns hanging above the door lintel of the izakaya. The orange-yellow flames dance in the breeze, creating a very atmospheric feeling.
If the word "甸" were written on it, it would be invincible.
Lu Yiming had some understanding of this and said that they were born to be rebellious and would do everything in the opposite way.
For example, the izakaya in front of us. Normally, restaurants in Xiaguo would hang red lanterns, but here they hang white ones.
For example, in Xiaguo, flower baskets are sent when a store opens, while here wreaths are sent.
For example, for a happy event like marriage, the Chinese people pay attention to red and prosperous, but here they wear white, match it with music, and match it with lanterns...
It's like seeing a ghost.
As for their preference for cold food, raw food, etc., it can be said that each one is worse than the other.
Passing through the narrow door and walking inside in the dim light, Lu Yiming felt like he was playing a tomb exploration game.
After walking for a while, they suddenly saw the view. There was a square hall with an oval table in the middle. The chef was busy in the middle of the table. The diners sat around the table in a circle. The prepared food was brought up bit by bit, which made Lu Yiming think of a buffet.
It's amazing.
"Mr. Chubachi, we meet again."
When Lu Yiming saw Zhongba Liangzhi, he greeted him with a smile.
Zhongba Ryoji glared at Lu Yiming and said, "Why are you targeting Sony? Do you know that you are acting like a robber?"
Lu Yiming said: "I spent three billion US dollars. This is a reasonable and legal business behavior. How can it be called robbery?"
Lu Yiming's words made Zhongba Liangzhi not know how to respond for a moment, but in his heart he was very unhappy with Lu Yiming's behavior.
It feels like wanting the horse to run but not eat grass. You want to stir up trouble and make a killing in the capital trial production, but you also want to get some protection when you suffer losses.
