giants of the era

Chapter 198 Apple is about to go bankrupt
Li Zetian often thinks about a question, what is the purpose of making money?
Here in the orphanage, he found the answer: when money is just a bunch of numbers, what he pursues is not just money, but more influence, status, and the ability and responsibility to change the world and others.

Spider-Man has a classic line: "With great power comes great responsibility!"

This sentence is used to describe Li Zetian, and I think it is the most appropriate.

In fact, when Li Zetian changed the world, he also changed himself, making him stronger!

Many disabled children are abandoned by their parents. It is very pitiful. Since Li Zetian has established an orphanage, he cannot abandon them a second time.Because there is probably no place for them to live except here... In fact, no matter whether they are normal people or disabled, everyone has unlimited potential.Some disabled children in the orphanage may be super geniuses beyond ordinary people in certain fields, such as mathematics masters or computer hackers...

In short, no matter what, philanthropy still has to go on.

Besides, the enterprises under the name of Li Zetian have to donate to the LY Foundation every year to reduce taxes anyway, so there is nothing wrong with doing charity...

Indeed, many years later, when those who benefited from the LY Foundation grew up and made amazing achievements in all walks of life, they were all grateful to Li Zetian, so that Li Zetian's global influence reached It is unimaginable that even the president of a country is not as important as his words!

……

……

At the end of December, as the brilliant deeds of the LY Foundation were frequently reported by the media, the scale of the foundation became larger and larger, and people from all walks of life donated money one after another. The LY Foundation has also set up branches in various countries around the world, and the funds raised almost reached one-tenth of the funds donated by the company under the name of Li Zetian, which was simply beyond his expectations!And this number may become even bigger in the future!
Since Yu Jingqiu was pregnant in 1981, and Li Zetian focused on political investment and philanthropy, he did not intervene too much in the development of the companies under his name. However, these companies are basically on the right track , Even without his command, the performance is very good, with a total revenue of 700 billion U.S. dollars and a profit of more than 150 billion U.S. dollars.In particular, Flamingo, which entered the world this year, sold a total of more than 4000 million Flamingo-1 game consoles and nearly 3 million game cartridges, plus other income, this year hit a record of 170 billion US dollars. The sales volume ranks among the top 30 of the top [-] companies, which is almost equivalent to the income of the entire TV industry in the United States, making it an entertainment industry comparable to the film industry.

Li Zetian asked his company to donate US$10 billion to the LY Foundation.In addition, almost $1 million has been raised externally.

The funds of the LY Foundation are mainly used for the construction of orphanages, schools, hospitals, education, and medical research.Roche Pharmaceuticals and Genentech have benefited a lot and saved a lot of research and development funds because of their cooperation with the LY Foundation in medical research!
1981 passed, and in 1982, Li Zetian was going to do something big, so he decided to use a large sum of money for dividends this time, and Gene Umbrella received a dividend of 45 billion US dollars.

In Li Zetian's view, 45 billion US dollars is really not much. The annual profit of Apple in the previous life was 500 billion US dollars.Considering the current value of the dollar, though, it's quite a bargain.

……

Li Zetian had time to take a look at the office of Flamingo Company.

"It's surprising that Apple didn't release a new game console this Christmas." Li Zetian smiled in surprise, and took a sip of red wine.

Nolan Bushnell said: "Mr. Li, this is the shrewdness of Apple! During the Christmas shopping season, merchants are everywhere with overwhelming advertisements for promotional activities. If Apple releases new phones at this time, the media will be exposed. The popularity is not high, it is difficult to attract people's attention. Moreover, Flamingo is also engaged in promotional activities, and many players are rushing to the Flamingo-1 game console and game cartridges. It is difficult for Apple to release a new machine at this time. Create a sensational effect!"

Li Zetian frowned slightly and nodded, feeling that Nolan Bushnell's analysis made sense.

Apple knows that it is difficult to confront Flamingo head-on, so it deliberately staggers this time period.

Not long after, at 1 o'clock in the morning on January 20, Apple held a press conference and announced that the Apple game console would be officially released on February 9, 1982.Company CEO Vincent Gay claimed that the price of the Apple game console is only $2, which is $1 cheaper than the price of the Flamingo-150 game console, but the performance is more powerful!In addition, he also emphasized that the Apple game console is compatible with games on the Atari 1, and that the new machine will carry 50 new games when it is released.

I have to say that the Apple game console really attracted a lot of people.

A large number of Apple fans and Sunbird fans expressed their expectation.

The popularity of Apple's flagship store has increased a lot for a while.

The media has nothing to report during this period, and it happens that Apple is doing something, so there are reports that Apple is about to release a game console.At the same time, the editor involved the Flamingo Company to draw hatred and make comparisons, attracting attention and sparking heated discussions.

I don't know if Apple is operating behind the scenes, and the Apple game console is very hyped.Many people want to see if the game console is fun even if they don't plan to buy an Apple game console.

On the morning of February 2st, a long-lost "long queue" ushered in at the entrance of Apple's flagship store.

……

"Mr. Li, things are not good. Many Apple flagship stores are overcrowded!" Dongfang Yuqin frowned after receiving a call, and said to Li Zetian.

Li Zetian stood up suddenly, frowned and said, "Go, let's go and see for ourselves!"

"Ok."

Not long after, Li Zetian and Dongfang Yuqin arrived near the Apple flagship store in downtown Los Angeles. Instead of getting out of the car, they watched the situation outside through the window.

Sure enough, there was a queue outside the flagship store.

Li Zetian felt a sense of crisis in his heart, thinking that Apple game consoles were going to carve up the game market.

However, his worries quickly faded away.

There are indeed quite a lot of people who come to watch the excitement, but very few people are willing to spend money to buy it.

"Although the Apple game console has so many games, but only three or four are fun, while the Flamingo-1 game console has dozens of fun games, and many games are classic and durable! I would rather spend more money on a fire Flamingo-1 game console, and I don’t want to buy an Apple game console. Let’s go, it’s boring!”

"Me too, as long as I have played games on the Flamingo-1 game console, I feel that the games here are not interesting!"

"Come in high spirits, come back disappointed! Apple left Chronos Li, and all the things it develops are rubbish. Apple game consoles want to compete with the Flamingo-1 game console, it's just a dream!" A Chinese shook his head sigh.

"..."

After a while, many people left the Apple flagship store empty-handed.They come, but don't shop.

Li Zetian watched it for more than ten minutes, then suddenly laughed, and then said to Dongfang Yuqin: "Let's go back, Apple is not a problem!"

On that day, Apple sold a total of 15 game consoles. This result is indeed a good result for a new game company, but it is undoubtedly a very bad result for Apple, which acquired Sunbird. .

The next day, Apple's flagship store was far less lively than the first day.

A week later, it can almost be described as empty.

The public opinion in the media immediately changed direction, and they kept bad-mouthing Apple.

"Popular Electronics": "In terms of performance, Apple's Apple game console is better than the Flamingo-1 game console; in terms of price, Apple's game console is also cheaper than the Flamingo-1 game console. But Apple lost in the end. After only one week, the Apple game console could no longer be sold. Through comparative analysis, we can easily draw a conclusion: the core competitiveness of the game market is the game software, not the game console! The games on the Apple game console It's not fun, so the players all abandon it..."

"Wall Street Journal": "Apple made a desperate move, acquired Sunbird, developed a game console, and even sold it at a loss, with a loss of $50 per machine sold. However, even so, players did not buy it. The Apple game console project became The most failed project in Apple's history, resulting in serious losses for the company. Soon, Apple is about to file for bankruptcy!!!"

"..."

PS: I'm not in a good state today, I didn't make a big update, sorry.Get up early tomorrow morning to code and go out to play, and sooner or later you have to pay it back.

(End of this chapter)