Chapter 1080: Sweet big money

On the banks of Jianye River, Xicuiyuan, and Lion Garden west of Shizi Mountain are the two high-end villa communities with the best geographical environment in Jianye Linjiang. Looking north from the window, you can see the two bridge light strips under the night and the dazzling shadows in the river.

Li Jae-soo stood in front of the north window, looking at the blurry river water under the night, listening to the low sound of the river slapped the rocks on the shore. On the windowsill was the evaluation report of Samsung Economic Research Institute on Microsoft's acquisition of 30% of the equity of Global Music Online.

Li Zaixinyu sat on the sofa, tilted her head and looked at the report on the windowsill, and pursed her lips slightly.

Samsung Economic Research Institute is Samsung's think tank and is also recognized by HG as the most outstanding industrial economic research institution for HG. Samsung can emerge from the quagmire of Asian financial storm, and the Economic Research Institute has played a huge intellectual support role. Samsung's development of the Chinese market was not as smooth as expected. In addition to other industrial adjustments, the headquarters also made a decision to establish the China Center of the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Jianye to systematically study deep-seated problems in the Chinese market.

The reason why Li Xinyu sat here with a frown was because she was asked to contribute to Samsung as a member of her family and was asked to participate in the work of the Samsung Research Institute China Center. However, the center is still under construction, so she can be lazy and not participate for the time being.

"Have Xinyu read the report from the headquarters?" Jin Nanyong brought the coffee and walked in and distributed it to Lee Jae-soo and Lee Sing-yu.

"Yeah!" Li Xinyu nodded, feeling really sad.

Who knows that ordinary people's brothers and sisters fall in love with each other, but Li Xinyu rarely gets this feeling from the brothers and sisters in the family. Her father was trained as an heir very early. In the past, Li Xinyu was still young and had no memory. However, after her grandfather died in 1987, she had already gone to school. The strange atmosphere in the family made her remember it deeply. Now everyone is competing for the position of heirs.

What is Lee Jae-soo's idea? Why do you have to force yourself to participate in the work of the China Center of Samsung Economic Research Institute under the excuse of the family? Can you put the blame for the failure of the Chinese market on others? Is it expected that she would betray the family by letting herself participate in the trade secret?

Seeing that Li Xinyu was frowning, Jin Nanyong took the report into his hand and flipped it casually. Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit solemn, he wanted to change the topic and thought about it and gave up and finished reading the last part of the report that he had not finished.

Kumho spoke out loudly about Microsoft Leo, and it costs $900 million. There are many discussions about this in the outside world. Samsung Economic Research Institute, which provides strategic think tank support for Samsung Group, soon entered in-depth research on this matter.

In the second half of 1997, when the financial storm hit Asia, RB acquired the global music online website for less than one million US dollars. Later, ESS and Ida Group North America injected 20 million US dollars in funds for development, and obtained online sales authorization from most traditional music publishers including Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI.

At the end of 1998, Toshiba and Scooper jointly invested 60 million US dollars in Global Music Online to acquire 30% of the equity. On the one hand, Global Music Online does not have to worry about capital failure. On the other hand, the top three hardware manufacturers of digital music players are completely tied to Global Music Online.

Toshiba and Scoop paid a total of US$60 million in cash to acquire 30% of the equity of Global Music Online last year. When Toshiba and Scoop accepted this offer at the end of last year, the industry felt that it was a bit incredible, but from the perspective of the favorable sales of the IPlayer hardware, it is not unbearable to blackmail Kumho to a small blackmail. If you don’t blackmail Kumho, you will suffer greater losses in the future, which is not an unimaginable thing.

A year has not passed, and Kumho once again offered a 15-fold increase in price for Microsoft for 30% of its equity. Lee Jae-soo didn't know whether the senior executives of Toshiba and Scooper were secretly excited or secretly wiping their noses' sweat...

Compared with the funds invested by Kumho, if Microsoft accepts this offer, it means that Kumho's investment has achieved an excess return of nearly 150 times in more than two years.

Lee Jae-soo stared at the river with a little light under the night, and didn't say a word for a long time. There were Xinyu's resistance and the economic data that gave him heavy feelings in the report - this report seemed to tell him that among the rising stars in the global financial and business world, he was far from among the best small group of people.

Kim Nanyong also said nothing. When the outside world was generally questioning that Kumho's lion's big talk this time would definitely anger Microsoft, the final conclusion of the report of Samsung Economic Research Institute was that "the quotation of 900 million US dollars is not too outrageous"!

The report pointed out that the copyright storm that has set off in Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea this year and the ever-expanding DMP-iplayer hardware market have determined the growth space of global music online.

Although the copyright storm that traditional publishers have set off in economically developed regions such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea has made decisive progress after the summer. Free Internet music resources in economically developed regions have rapidly increased, and this region is the focus of the current market of the IPlayer, which has severely limited the increase in the sales of IPlayer hardware. However, due to the increasing maturity of flash commercial technology, IPlayer has great room for price reduction, which actually makes the copyright storm have far less impact on IPlayer hardware sales.

It’s just that everyone enjoys the excessive huge profits at this time and is not in a hurry to adjust the price.

The report pointed out that as long as the price of mainstream IPlayer products in the market is reduced by one third, hardware sales will increase and return to the level before the copyright storm.

What is the stage of development of NAND flash commercial technology? As a supplier in this field, Samsung is certainly aware of it.

Samsung Electronics HG headquarters has just developed a 1G flash memory chip prototype, which is expected to be invested in large-scale commercial production in less than a year. Although it is impossible to accurately judge which step Kumho's technical level is at this time, in order to roughly determine the technical gap between Kumho and Samsung in flash memory chips is between the first and second generations, if necessary, Kumho should also be able to put a large number of flash memory particles with 256M storage capacity on the market - Toshiba's technical investment in flash memory chips has decreased, Toshiba and IBM have focused their attention on micro hard drive technology with larger storage volumes. Compared with the technical prospects of micro hard drives, the storage volume of 1G flash memory chips will be too small at the end of next year.

Toshiba and IBM have been developing microhard disk technology for more than a year, but have not yet developed mature commercial technology. Flash memory chips are still the core factor in determining the price of the IPlayer.

Kumho launched four IPlayer products in the North American market at this time, with prices ranging from US$199 to US$699. Kim Nanyong believes that even if Kumho cuts the highest-end four-core 512M capacity, the market price of the IPlayer price of US$699 to below US$300, it will not lose money.

The report pointed out that Kumho holds considerable initiative. Kumho significantly lowers the price of IPlayers in North America, stimulating the rapid increase in the hardware market and sacrificing hardware profits to promote greater growth space for global music online. The equity value of global music online will naturally rise.

Other digital music player hardware manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics, certainly do not want the sharp decline in hardware prices. The market growth caused by the sharp decline in selling prices cannot offset the profit losses caused by the sharp decline in selling prices in a short period of time. Besides, the transaction between Kumho and Microsoft also includes the authorization of the IPlayer product technology, which means that once Kumho and Microsoft reach an agreement, the IPlayer hardware market will squeeze out another giant crocodile that shares the food.

Although Microsoft has not shown its skills in the consumer electronics hardware market, which consumer electronics manufacturer dares to underestimate Microsoft's expansion?

All the initiative lies in the hands of Kumho, including Samsung, Toshiba, and Scope. Everyone looked at Kumho with a gaze, looking at Kumho's trade-offs and weighing the interests of Kumho.

Toshiba, Scoop is better. After all, Toshiba owns 20% of the equity of Global Music Online, and Scoop owns 10% of the equity of Global Music Online. Their profit losses in hardware sales can at least make up for some of the equity appreciation.

Of course, there is no point in making up for it. If Microsoft accepts Kumho's offer, the equity obtained by Toshiba investing $4,000 will increase to $600 million.

You should know that due to the financial crisis, Toshiba's total net profit of all consumer electronics, communications and computer businesses in 1998 was not US$600 million.

Toshiba and Scooper have any profit losses in hardware sales, transferring some of its equity to a risk fund at a low price is enough to make up for it.

Jin Nanyong stood a little closer to the north window and pondered the various tricks here. He only had Samsung, who was a child without a mother, may suffer a huge loss in hardware sales profits, and he could not get compensation from global music online like Toshiba and Scooper.

After a year of hard work, Samsung's global sales will surpass Scooper and squeeze into the top three, but what's the use? When Kumho closely integrates the online music sales model of global music online, Samsung only seizes hardware sales and is destined to always be in a passive position.

Lee Jae-soo suddenly turned around, and Kim Nam-yong was startled. Seeing Lee Jae-soo's eyes wide and shining, he forgot to ask him what thoughts came up with.

"We can't stop Microsoft from stepping in. Instead of letting Microsoft cooperate with Kumho, why can't we take the initiative?" Lee Jae-soo asked loudly, and he hit his palm with his fist. As the market size of the IPlayer became larger and larger, the ropes that gave Kumho the head were tighter and tighter.

"Copy global music online outside of global music online?" Kim Nam-yong asked. He communicated with Lee Jae-soo in Korean and didn't think that his description was laborious.

"Although it's a bit difficult, it's better than us tying Kumho's neck, and Microsoft blackmailing Kumho $900 million!" Lee Jae-soo said.

"We want to cooperate with Microsoft. Will Kumho take the initiative to lower the offer to Microsoft?" Jin Nanyong asked, looking at Li Xinyu.

Li Xinyu pursed her lips and didn't speak, pretending to be thinking, but she wouldn't make the atmosphere too stiff.

"Kumho takes the initiative to reduce prices on Microsoft, which is also good or bad for us," said Lee Jae-soo. "With the reduction in profits in global music online equity transfers, Kumho will not give up too much hardware sales profits and slow down the pace of a sharp price reduction; the reduction in funds obtained by Kumho at one time cannot be considered a bad thing!"

Kim Nanyong felt that what Lee Jae-soo said made sense, but he thought it was too simple. Did Kumho, when he offered Microsoft a quotation of $900 million, he did not consider that it would anger Microsoft, and he did not consider that it would give them an opportunity to take advantage of it? Some things are hard to figure out and there is no way, and he could only judge things based on the amount of information he had already mastered. Besides, they could only make suggestions to the headquarters. Will the headquarters adopt it or not? After the headquarters adopts it, it will be carried out by American companies.

Jin Nanyong thought again, what does Ji Sashuzang from Mitsui think about this? Thinking of this, he looked at Li Xinyu again.

Chi Zuoxuezang was also in Jianye, Huaxia NEC main project jungong. As the general representative of Mitsui Products in China, he was invited to attend the main project jungonggong ceremony.

The Asian wafer market is far from recovering. In addition to a few wafer factories that can be full, NEC Electronics' local wafer factories in RB have a surplus capacity, so naturally they will not distribute their business here. Most people believe that China NEC should postpone production and avoid huge losses as soon as it is put into production.

Chi Zuoxuezo doesn't want to attend the main project ceremonial ceremony. In reality, if he doesn't come out to encourage Huaxia NEC, Huaxia NEC doesn't know how much it will suppress Zhongjing Microcore.

He has now received news that the US authorities also hope to promote China to join the WTO and reach a bilateral agreement between China and the United States as soon as possible. The US authorities hope that China will make greater concessions in liberalizing the domestic market, so it is very likely to relax the review standards for the wafer technology transfer association of China Crystal Microchip and Deyi.

This is almost a situation that all electronic manufacturers in RB, Taiwan and HG are unwilling to see.

Once the wafer technology transfer agreement between Zhongjing Microchip and Deyi is reviewed by the US authorities, the wafer manufacturing level of Zhongjing Microchip can be improved by two generations in a very short time. The growth of Aida Group, Kumho, who is behind Zhongjing Microchip, has been so amazing in recent years. It is almost certain that once the technology transfer agreement is reviewed, it will have a great impact on the Asian electronics industry.

RB, HG, and some electronic basic industries in Taiwan can only be forced to transfer to China, where labor costs are lower and human resources are rich.

Whether from a realistic perspective to observe the changes in things or the personal grudges with that guy, Ji Zuoxun wants to promote the production of China NEC as soon as possible.

He doesn't care whether Huaxia NEC loses money or not. Anyway, the Japanese side doesn't need to bear the losses. If Huaxia NEC suffers huge losses and Zhongjing Microchip is profitable, Chi Zuoxun doesn't have to worry about his understanding of Chinese officials, he will agree to Huaxia NEC to allow Zhongjing Microchip to acquire. The Chinese official will definitely hold up Huaxia NEC. Sometimes it will be too hard to hold on, so it will naturally be too far.

With this thought, Chi Zuoxue came to attend the construction ceremony of Huaxia NEC in a high profile, and also brought some important figures of NEC Electronics over, and enthusiastically coordinated to make NEC Electronics promise that the trial production will hand over some wafer foundry orders to Huaxia NEC to complete - you must always give some sweetness first.

It was almost before boarding the plane to Jianye that Ji Zuoxu learned about Kumho's talk to Microsoft's lion. He was also a little confused at the time. He didn't know why Kumho dared to offer a price of 900 million US dollars. In the two days in Jianye, there was more news from all parties, so he clarified some of the context.

It is precisely because I have clarified some of the context that I feel even more troublesome. When attending the steep construction ceremony of the Huaxia NEC main project, Chi Zuoxuezhao would subconsciously frown even if she wanted to laugh.

Over the past two decades, the portable music player market has been the world of Japanese companies, and Japanese electronic companies have drawn huge profits from it. So far, Sony has sold nearly 200 million tape Walkmans, 50 million CDs and 5.2 million MD-Walkmans to the world.

The reason why Sony has become the throne of the global consumer electronics industry today is that the portable music player market has made great contributions.

Before Kumho launched DMP-iplayer, Sony and other Japanese companies never considered which company could compete with them in the portable music player market. When Kumho first launched DMP-iplayer in the RB market in early 1998, Sony and other Japanese companies were dismissed, except Toshiba.

The alliance between Toshiba and Kumho did not change their attitude. It was not until the end of 1998 that DMP-iplayer's total sales in North America exceeded MD for the first time, and Sony and other Japanese companies were a little nervous.

The reason why DMP-iplayer has risen rapidly in 1998 is related to the existence of a large number of free music resources on the Internet. Sony and other Japanese companies have seen this very clearly, and they do want to make the situation back from this aspect.

Sony, as one of the four major music distributors in the world, authorizes the copyright of global music online to sell music owned by Sony. Because of this, Sony is not convenient to directly attack Kumho to fight the infringement official, and the American Recording Industry Association has become the best representative. However, it never expected that the infringement lawsuits that thought it could deter Kumho from North America almost caused all the emerging capital forces related to the Internet in North America to sympathize with Kumho, and also made the idea brand famous in North America, and the product sales surged, causing the sales of Japanese brands CDs and MDs in North America to decline slightly since March.

Sony, Japanese companies and the American Recording Industry Association, adjusted its strategy after a rush, directly targeting the infringement lawsuits at Internet companies that provide free music resources. Not only the American Recording Industry Association, but also Sony, as one of the four major music publishers in the world, can also openly and launch dozens of lawsuits at RB.

This time they were asked to find the right rhythm. After the rapid decline in free music resources on the Internet, DMP-iplayer's sales growth in developed countries and regions has come to an end temporarily. Although the copyright problems in economically underdeveloped countries and regions are still serious, the computer penetration rate in economically underdeveloped areas is low, and the high price of DMP-iplayer further limits the sales volume in the region. After the summer of Kumho began to sell ordinary Italians with a capacity of 64M capacity in the domestic market, the sales volume of less than 20,000 pieces throughout the summer.

Ji Sashuzo was quite clear about the whole story, and he also secretly coordinated and promoted it with Mitsui's power; Sony's contact person for coordination on the matter was also considered an old friend of Kumho. Seeing that the sales of DMP-iplayer were rising, Ji Sashuzo and Nakamura Yuyuma both believed that the first battle was a barely win.

Yuyuu Nakamura looked at this matter more from Sony's standpoint. Ikesa Hidezo was mixed with personal grievances. Who would have thought that the pleasure of winning temporarily was shattered after not being maintained for a month, and then he realized that he shouldn't have any pleasure at all.

To curb the global DMP-iplayer sales growth momentum, but Kumho, with an official official with the Recording Industry Association of the United States, sales in North America have nearly tripled, which has slowed down a little in the past month. However, the clearance of free music resources by music publishers such as Sony directly led to a sharp increase in the market value of global music online. This is the fundamental basis for Kumho to dare to speak out with Microsoft Leo, with a 30% equity offer of $900 million.

From beginning to end, Kanho was getting a big advantage. Thinking about something thoroughly, Ikesa Hidezo felt bitter in his mouth, and he felt like he was about to vomit blood.

The first thing that Ji Sahizo thought of was to destroy the transaction between Kumho and Microsoft. Toshiba and Samsung joined the DMP-iplayer camp, which threatened the kingly position of Japanese companies in the portable music player market. If Microsoft joined the DMP-iplayer camp, wouldn’t it mean that the results achieved in the early efforts may be in vain?

In Chi Sashuzo's view, the reason why Kumho can rise miraculously in more than five years has a lot to do with Kumho's approach to the big tree of Deyi. Not to mention far, without Deyi, Zhongjing Microchip relies on its own ability to improve wafer process technology for two generations. It will take at least ten years for Kumho to approach Microsoft again!
Chapter completed!