Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 575 Elected (Two in One)

The temporary board of directors convened by Nobuyuki Idei made a surprise attack.

Fang Zhuo didn't know whether the head of Sony had discovered something or had planned to do so long ago.

Judging from the situation in the past few days, it may be that the majesty of the elders just wanted to play this kind of routine.

However, in this way, the communication between Stringer, Ken Kutaragi and even Norio Oga behind him really came to naught, and it was impossible to communicate openly and honestly - even face-to-face communication may not be like this, not to mention that there may only be one or two phone calls now .

Fang Zhuo thought about it on the way back to the hotel. Ken Kutaragi had a reputation for being violent within Sony, but if it was true as he imagined, his public opposition to Stringer’s foreign chairman was to win support. Jinge's phone call may not fail to identify the prospects for cooperation between the two parties.

The interim board meeting is at twelve noon.

Considering that the distance is not far away and that Stringer is seeing Nobuyuki Idei at the moment, Fang Zhuo went back to the hotel and had a simple lunch in an orderly manner, while calmly thinking about what he could do this time.

"Mr. Xu, have the domestic experts' demonstrations on CMOS image sensors been sent?"

When Fang Zhuolin went to Sony headquarters, he pulled the technical director Xu Kedeng into the car.

"Uh, not yet. There are relatively few researches in this area in our country, and I'm afraid that it will really bring wrong judgments to Mr. Fang." Xu Keden said cautiously, "So, we are still looking for the most expert experts."

Seeing the boss frowning, he continued: "What is certain at present is that CMOS materials have better performance in terms of noise and speed than current CCD materials, and can greatly reduce the power consumption of the chip."

"Moreover, Sony itself is very accomplished in cameras, and this year it is rumored that it will acquire the camera brand Minolta."

"Based on the current judgment, they are very ambitious in CMOS."

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. Sony has a lot of good things, including cameras, lenses, semiconductors, panels, etc., or else they are proud of their technology.

"Okay, Mr. Xu, don't rush this matter, don't rush, what I want is an accurate judgment." He instructed, "When the Sony matter is over, you can form a technical team to come to Japan for exchanges and see what is right. It is beneficial for us to make mobile phones."

Fang Zhuo pondered for a while, and then said: "Sony's situation in the past two years has not been good. If it is really worthy of research and development, we can try to learn from it."

"Sony Music and Bertelsmann's original merger plan was to each hold 50%, and the companies that merged Sony Mobile and Ericsson Mobile also held 50% each. Look, they like to do it like this."

"If this CMOS has a future, I can try to get Sony to spin off the business, and we will set up a joint venture with a [-]-[-] split."

"It's not limited to this, there are other technologies, lenses, etc. You make a list and confirm each item."

Xu Kedeng understood the boss's intentions, and just as he was about to tease, the car stopped.

Fang Zhuo opened the car door and jumped off.

Xu Kedeng looked through the door and saw that he had arrived at Sony headquarters.

He asked in astonishment: "Uh, boss, why did you come to Sony?"

"I'm here to help my friend, you don't have to go up, eat whatever you want nearby, and charge it to my account." Fang Zhuo stood beside the car, looked up at Sony's signboard, and smiled back.

Xu Kedeng was curious, but seeing that Mr. Fang was already striding forward, he could only mutter: "Mr. Fang, loyalty is not true friendship."

He also got out of the car, looked at the Sony headquarters, and guessed the situation of Mr. Fang's trip.

Although Mr. Fang always said that he came to Tokyo to watch the fun, what he saw and heard in the past few days is likely to be limited to a small area and affect the entire Sony empire.

Xu Keden held back his curiosity, waiting for the changes that he would see sooner or later.

……

The headquarters of the Sony Group is luxurious.

A skinny camel is bigger than a horse, not to mention, Sony is not dead yet.

Fang Zhuo was also surprised by the luxury of the Sony headquarters in the United States. Now that he came to the Tokyo headquarters for the first time, he felt that it was more like Sony.

The temporary board of directors is in the meeting room on the seventeenth floor.

When Fang Zhuo arrived, almost all the people who should have arrived in the conference room had arrived.

"Today is the meeting of the board of directors, and irrelevant people should not attend." A Japanese who was already sitting clearly recognized the president of the competitor, and tried to drive him away before others spoke.

Fang Zhuo also recognized this person, who was COO Shizuo Takajo, or in other words, he could recognize all the directors of Sony Group's board of directors.

Without him opening his mouth, Stringer himself spoke.

"Mr. Fang is a director of Sony Music, an important partner of Sony America, and an external director of the Sony Group I nominated." Stringer said in a deep voice, "I invite Mr. Fang here because I respect him for today's electronic music industry. Judgment and experience with consumer goods.”

Shizuo Takajo didn't like this, and the other Sony directors next to him were also ready to move.

However, Nobuyuki Idei, the chief executive, waved his hand, and everyone was at ease.

"I met Mr. Fang in Huaxia." The head of Sony spoke slowly, and commented with a rather high attitude, "The music player made by Yike is extremely good and leads the trend, very good."

Fang Zhuo didn't mind this gesture, and said with a smile: "Yike is learning from Sony. The two companies have a lot of cooperation. I believe that the future cooperation will be wider and deeper."

As he spoke, he sat down next to Stringer.

In today's conference room, the layout is clear just by looking at it a little.

On one side is the outside director of Sony Group, and even Stringer, the current vice chairman, is also sitting on this side.

On the other side are the internal directors of the Sony Group, which is the executive director in the popular sense.

The proportions on both sides are not halved.

There are 12 internal directors on the board of directors of the Sony Group, counting Nobuyuki Idei and Stringer, while the external directors are all heads of major Japanese companies, a total of 5 people.

Therefore, it takes a lot of effort to convene the interim board of directors within an hour. People like Akishige Okada, chairman of Sumitomo Mitsui, and Yotaro Kobayashi, chairman of Fuji Corporation, are not always in Tokyo.

Facing Fang Zhuo was Ryoji Nakabachi, the vice president who had just left, sitting respectfully with a serious expression.

Fang Zhuo blinked at Nakaba Ryoji.

Ryoji Nakabachi also blinked his eyes in a vague way, and then lowered his eyebrows, and his eyes no longer intertwined.

The people in the conference room hadn't arrived yet, and that Kutaragi Ken still hadn't arrived.

Fang Zhuo took advantage of this time, and it was not easy to play with his mobile phone in front of him, so he used a pen to write on the paper in front of him his urgent thinking about how to participate in the meeting. Due to the situation, he only wrote a few sentences.

——Ask Nakabachi about Sony's reforms.

— against him, stating that the group should not be radical now.

Stringer glanced at it and savored it a little.

When I met Ryoji Nakabachi before, the other party agreed with my reform measures, but now I openly ask the other party's views at the meeting, it will be regarded as a judgmental position.

If Ryoji Nakabachi still pursues the position of "representative director", he is likely to express a similar reform direction.

In the eyes of the other party, this is an opportunity to establish his "president" + "representative director" in one fell swoop, and it is also a performance of being in tune with his successor.

At this time, a backhand knife...

Radical reforms are not welcomed by most people. This is a valid reason on the surface. After all, what the board of directors wants to discuss is the future development of the group, not just the change of power. As for how to implement it in the future, there are various reasons.

Stringer thought over and over in his mind that all of this had to be done after the board of directors first passed the resolution of the next chairman. If Idei discussed the positions of other people first, he would have to wait and see.

Rao is that Stringer is already the vice chairman of Sony and the president of Sony America, and now it is related to the position of the head of the entire group, so he is also worried about gains and losses.

boom.

The door to the conference room was pushed open.

The last director, Takeshi Kutaragi, arrives.

However, he did not come alone. Walking in front of Ken Kutaragi was the former chairman of Sony Group, Norio Ohga, who was 75 years old at the time.

Norio Oga wears glasses and has gray hair, but he is hale and hearty.

Fang Zhuo and Stringer looked at each other, but they didn't expect that the former head of the board would come to this temporary board of directors in person. Nobuyuki Idei would definitely not call him, it can only be that Ken Kutaragi wanted to give it a go .

Otherwise, the chances of the shareholders meeting struggling again are even slimmer.

Fang Zhuo has corrected his cognition. With Sony's current atmosphere and situation, the general meeting of shareholders is not easy to cause waves.

Amidst the greetings, Norio Oga and Ken Kutaragi took their seats.

It can be clearly felt that the original formal atmosphere in the meeting room became a little strange with the arrival of Norio Oga.

Norio Ohga has been the director of the company since 64. Under his leadership, Sony is almost the golden age. The popularity of Walkmans, the popularity of CDs, the acquisition of Columbia Pictures by CBS, the advent of MD and the birth of PS game consoles Thanks to this guy.

Dahe, Inoue Shenda, and Morita Akio have always been regarded as Sony's troika, their status is not too high, and their influence is not too deep.

Now, he appears on the interim board of directors against the background of Sony's decline, which makes people think about today's changes.

Several internal directors with a neutral position felt that it was likely that Dahe was going to block the appointment of a foreign chairman.

It's not like someone questioned Fang Zhuo's appearance, even though Dahe Norio did not have the right to vote, no one at the scene objected to his arrival.

The same goes for Nobuyuki Idei.

The two heads of Sony sat at one end of the conference table and one at the end, and for a while it was a bit unclear which one was the current chairman.

"Today, we are going to discuss the candidates for Sony's next board of directors." Nobuyuki Idei scanned the audience, and finally landed on Stringer, and continued, "In view of Sony's current business changes and the development of the global industry, I think Sony needs more To examine the overall trend of the group well, we must face the development of globalization with a more positive and inclusive attitude.”

Norio Ohga suddenly said: "Yes, Sony is facing a big challenge now, and it is gratifying that the PS, finance, and entertainment fields are still there. The entire Sony Group must pay attention and unite, so as to live up to the challenge Ibuka and Morita's expectations."

A 75-year-old former boss mentioned the two Sony founders he once worked with, which has to be heard.

Norio Oga continued to speak, his words were a little sad and indisputable, and his words became a little rambling.

Fang Zhuo looked at Stringer thoughtfully while listening. The first sentence of this big congratulatory affirmation of Sony Entertainment's achievements may be a fair evaluation, but it seems to be able to match the phone call with Ken Kutaragi earlier. connection.

Although the two sides did not see each other, the phone call itself was an attitude.

Sure enough, Stringer also had similar feelings, and more strongly.

He deeply felt the xenophobic sentiment of the Japanese management last year. At that time, he didn’t ask a single question. Now it’s a public affirmation on the occasion of discussing the future board of directors, and there is a vague consensus in their hearts.

Stringer's eyes jumped from Oga Norio to Kutaragi Ken's face, the other party's expression was dignified and his eyes were sober, as if there was no trace of the legendary "crazy" expression.

"So, I think the future development of the Sony Group can consider Vice Chairman Stringer."

At this time, Norio Ohga released a more direct signal and took the lead in proposing a discussion on the candidate for the next chairman.

Nobuyuki Idei was startled when he heard the words, and immediately considered the purpose of Oga's trip. Since it was not Stringer, it must be Ken Kutaragi.

He showed a smile and put it away quickly, nodded: "Yes, Sony America's development is very strong, Stringer is a rare natural manager, he has convincing ability, let him be in charge of the group I am assured of its development.”

Norio Oga sat at the end of the conference table, heard Idei's words, and also saw the other party's eyes that greeted him proactively.

After all, he was old, and it took him some time to remember the familiar words.

Once, Norio Ohga used such words when deciding on the next head.

It took only 15 minutes to call out Nobuyuki Idei to inform him of his decision, praising him as a "rare natural manager."

That was ten years ago.

Norio Ohga shook his head, shaking his head for his memory and Idei's memory.

Nobuyuki Idei pretended to be surprised and asked, "Mr. Oga, do you have any objections?"

Norio Ohga folded his feelings about time and people, and said calmly: "No, let's vote."

Within 1 minute, Ken Kutaragi, who once publicly opposed it, also raised his hand in favor.

The appointment of a foreign chairman was unanimously approved by Sony's interim board of directors.

From entering the gate to voting, it only takes 10 minutes.

It seemed shorter than the 15 minutes it took to decide a successor last time.

However, the atmosphere in the conference room was very strange, and there was no applause at all.

Stringer was stunned, not only stunned by the short process and the voting results, but also stunned by the atmosphere that seemed more like his dismissal.

clap clap.

Fang Zhuo likes to do clapping the most, so he clapped his hands with a smile.

In this way, applause congratulating Stringer on his election resounded in the meeting room.

But it was precisely after seeing the competitor's actions that Shizuo Takajo, who had spoken out before, spoke again.

"Mr. Stringer, do you think the president of Yike should be nominated as an outside director of our Sony Group?" The operating officer who participated in the design of Walkman said forcefully, "This should not even be included in the discussion."

Fang Zhuo was happy for his friend and Sony's future, but suddenly he fell into doubt.

He glanced at Stringer, and when he saw that the future chairman wanted to speak, he waved his hand, indicating that he would speak up.

After all, a future outside director should also have an opinion on Sony.

(End of this chapter)