Reborn in Hong Kong as a Tycoon

Chapter 497 Benefits are inspiring, the price of the mainframe increases (two in one)

After leaving Beverly Hills, Bill Gates and Paul Allen returned to the hotel where they stayed.

The two went to Bill Gates' hotel room to talk together.

Paul Allen said aloud: "Bill, looking at Allen, he obviously doesn't want to give up as much as 20% of the shares."

"I see it too."

Bill Gates nodded slightly: "Actually, this is not expected. Seeing that the company can develop after cooperating with IBM, the company's valuation has soared, but before that, it gave up two-thirds of the shares and replaced it with me. I won't agree either."

"Are we really going to get there?"

Paul Allen said with some hesitation. In fact, they had already speculated and discussed Lin Baicheng's reaction, and had a plan, but he really didn't want to go to that step.

"Paul, are you willing to let Allen just ride the wind and make money? You know, if he didn't buy our shares, we would have made more money."

When Bill Gates said this, he subconsciously left Lin Baicheng’s contribution to Microsoft behind. Lin Baicheng bought shares in Microsoft at a premium, guaranteed loans for Microsoft, and even suggested that Microsoft make an operating system. Forget it all.

Most people will only remember the things that are beneficial to them, not to mention the disgraceful actions of Bill Gates, so they will naturally ignore Lin Baicheng's contribution to Microsoft.

"Bill, of course I want to earn more, but I'm a little worried."

Paul Allen is certainly not a saint. When Bill Gates proposed to kick Lin Baicheng out of the game, he still agreed and did not firmly oppose it.Otherwise, if he resolutely opposes it, Bill Gates must be alone.

"I don't think you need to worry too much. Unless Allen wants to make his Microsoft shares worthless, he must accept a compromise. Besides, even if he fights to get rid of his Microsoft shares, it won't make us feel better. , we can also start another company.”

Bill Gates is not too worried. First, he thinks that Lin Baicheng will not fight for a penny to make them feel better. Second, they can choose to start a new business and start another company to make an operating system. Anyway, the operating system is not particularly important. exclusive patent.

It's just that, if you start a new company, it will be a bit troublesome in terms of time, and you have to talk to IBM. Therefore, Bill Gates doesn't want to do this unless he has to. He prefers to maintain the existence of Microsoft.

Of course, the premise of doing this is that Lin Baicheng is willing to give up more than half of the shares so that they can get more benefits.

"That's not what worries me."

Paul Allen shook his head: "I'm worried that Allen will become our competitor in the future. If he also establishes a company to make an operating system, he will definitely compete with us in the future. You know, his capital is very strong, At least billions of dollars in net worth."

"Like you, I'm a little worried, but I don't think it's a big problem."

Bill Gates said, "It's certain that Allen is rich. He can start a company specializing in operating systems just by spending money. There is no way to compare with IBM, as long as we connect with IBM, we don’t have to worry about Allen’s problems at all.”

Paul Allen couldn't help but nodded slightly after hearing this: "It's true if you say so."

"We're still going as planned."

Bill Gates said: "Our bottom line is that Allen gave up 15% of the shares. At that time, we can not only contact IBM, but our shares will not be reduced, but can be increased a little bit."

"Just do as you say."

Thinking of the benefits contained in this, Paul Allen immediately left some worries behind him.

In fact, what Bill Gates and the others said to Lin Baicheng was not true. It was not that he got on-line with IBM through his relationship, but that IBM itself was looking for a company that makes operating systems, and then Microsoft entered IBM's sight, so IBM wanted to There are not many shares to stake.

However, seeing that Microsoft was about to take off, Bill Gates didn't want Lin Baicheng to do nothing and make profits, and wanted to increase his own shares, so he recruited Paul Allen to attack Lin Baicheng together. , let Lin Baicheng give up a large amount of shares.

The next day, Bill Hawes brought people to talk with Bill Gates and Paul Allen, but Lin Baicheng did not participate.

Lin Baicheng himself went to Apple on this day.

Lin Baicheng came to find Jobs.

"Jobs, do you know that IBM is already in contact with companies that make operating systems, and is ready to enter the personal computer market?"

After the politeness, Lin Baicheng said one thing to Jobs.

"Alan, how did you know about this?"

Jobs couldn't help being surprised when he heard this: "We have always known that IBM is going to enter the personal computer market, but we don't know when it will enter. We originally thought that IBM would enter by the end of the year or even next year. If you don't say it, we still don't know about IBM. It's been undercover."

Lin Baicheng explained: "It's a coincidence that the operating system company contacted by IBM is the Microsoft company I invested in."

"Alan, since this is the case, can you ask Microsoft to delay the cooperation with IBM?"

Jobs did not say that Microsoft should cancel its cooperation with IBM, because he thought that would be impossible. After all, Lin Baicheng was only a shareholder of Microsoft, and Microsoft was not Lin Baicheng's.Furthermore, even if Microsoft is owned by Lin Baicheng, for his own benefit, Lin Baicheng would not agree not to cooperate with IBM, which is IBM.

"Jobs, it's really possible, but it's different from what you think, and I'm not sure how long it can be delayed."

Lin Baicheng said something with a smile, and before Jobs asked, he took the initiative to explain: "Microsoft is about to cooperate with IBM, but it is going to kick me out. I will not make it easy for them. I have already done it." In order to prepare for the end of Microsoft. That's why I said that it can be delayed for a while, but I can't guarantee how long it can be delayed."

"I didn't expect them to be this kind of people. It's too unethical to kick Alan out of the game."

Jobs complained for Lin Baicheng, but he secretly thought that Lin Baicheng had a strong desire for revenge. Fortunately, when Apple was financing, it did not think of kicking Lin Baicheng out, otherwise Apple's financing would not be so smooth, and it will not develop now. so fast.

In fact, at that time, Jobs and others did not dare to take the idea of ​​​​Lin Baicheng's shares, because Lin Baicheng helped to guarantee Apple's loan. big impact.

A simple comparison shows that Apple relies heavily on Lin Baicheng, while Microsoft relies very little on Lin Baicheng, not to mention that Microsoft is about to rely on the giant IBM.

"Let's not talk about them."

Lin Baicheng waved his hand, he didn't care whether Jobs was acting or not, but said: "Jobs, today is just the first day of July, half a year before the end of the year, I think IBM will enter the personal computer market within this year, at the latest With the IBM PC coming next year, Apple's biggest competitor is about to emerge."

"Alan, I understand what you mean. Our management is also mentally prepared for this and will fight this battle well."

Jobs nodded solemnly. IBM is a giant in the industry. Now that the giants are going to enter the personal computer market to compete with Apple, it would be a lie to say that they are not worried.But they have no other choice but to choose to fight the battle well.

"It's good for you to be mentally prepared for this. I'm afraid that you will be fascinated by Apple's current achievements and underestimate the enemy."

Lin Baicheng is still very concerned about Apple. After all, he owns 27% of Apple's shares. If Apple can't go public like he did in his previous life, then his loss will be huge, at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

At least hundreds of millions of dollars, let alone now, even four or fifty years after Lin Baicheng was reborn, it would not be a small sum.

"Alan, don't worry about this, none of us dare to be careless. To put it bluntly, if Apple goes bankrupt under the suppression of IBM, Alan, you still have other business assets, and you are still a billionaire , we people have nothing.”

What Jobs said was what was in his heart. They, shareholders and management from ordinary families, hoped that Apple would become bigger and stronger than Lin Baicheng and Goldman Sachs, so that they could also become billionaires.

"Okay, I'm relieved when you say that."

Hearing this, Lin Baicheng let go of his worries, at least Apple's management would not be careless, and if Apple still can't compete with IBM under such circumstances, then he has no choice but to admit that it's bad luck.

At that time, Lin Baicheng could only blame himself. It was his butterfly effect that caused Apple to fail to develop. After all, Apple had become a trillion-dollar giant in his previous life.

Jobs said: "Alan, now that IBM is about to enter the personal computer market, I am going to let Apple go public in advance and raise a sum of money, so that I can be more confident when facing IBM."

"I have no opinion."

Lin Baicheng agreed after thinking about it. Although going public too early would lead to a lower market value of Apple, just as Jobs said, if Apple can raise funds to go public and obtain a sum of money, it will be able to face IBM even better. Confident and more competitive.

Of course, Lin Baicheng hopes that Apple's market value can be as high as possible when it goes public, but the prerequisite is that Apple survives and can go public, otherwise everything is empty talk.

"Thank you for your support, Alan."

Jobs couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard the words. Lin Baicheng holds 27% of Apple's shares. With Lin Baicheng's support, he will have more confidence in promoting Apple's listing.

"I will persuade other shareholders to support Apple's listing. If necessary, I will ask Alan to support you more."

"You can rest assured that it is in everyone's interest to let Apple go public, and I don't think anyone will object."

Lin Baicheng smiled. Institutions such as Goldman Sachs did not invest in Apple for the purpose of making money. They wished that Apple would go public soon so that their investment would make money sooner.

Jobs quite agrees with this statement. The reason why he said this is just to be prepared.

After chatting with Jobs for a while, Lin Baicheng did not stay to visit Apple. There was no need for that, so he went directly back to Los Angeles.

When we returned to Los Angeles, it was already evening, Lin Baicheng thought about it and went to the branch of Xingyue Electronics in the United States.

Pete Malter, the branch manager of Xingyue Electronics in the United States, Lin Baicheng talked to him about the company's operations.

Pete Malter first reported to Lin Baicheng the current sales data of Xingyue consoles and game cassettes in the United States. In fact, Lin Baicheng generally knows that he is very concerned about Xingyue Electronic Game Company, and he must read the sales report once a week. .

The Xingyue mainframe went on sale on May 5th. The one-month promotional price that was advertised at the beginning has long passed, and it is now July.

After one month of promotion time, Xingyue Electronic Game Company sold a total of 15.4 units of regular consoles, 460 units of high-end deluxe versions, and 118 million copies of game cassettes, with a total sales of almost 7000 million. USD or so.

It can be said that this is quite a good result, especially for game cassettes, the sales volume is a bit unexpected, so that the sales volume has increased a lot.

It is also based on this good result that after the one-month promotional price has passed, the price of the ordinary Xingyue console has increased, but it has not mentioned 229 US dollars or even higher, but only increased by 10 US dollars. Now The regular version of the host is priced at $189 each.

This time it is also under the banner of a promotional price, and it is no longer a one-month promotion, but a half-year promotion. After half a year, it will return to the original price of $229 per unit.

The reason why I say this is because if the calculation starts from June 6th, it will be December 12th half a year later, and Christmas is coming soon. At that time, we can continue to promote under the banner of Christmas, but the price will change again It has risen to $12 a piece, which is equivalent to an increase of another $12.

Of course, the premise of Christmas price increase is that the sales volume of the Xingyue console is not bad in the past six months, otherwise, if the sales volume is too bad, Lin Baicheng can only consider restoring the price to $179, and even a lower price is not unacceptable to him.

There is a reason why Lin Baicheng dared to lower the price of the normal Xingyue console.

Among the three products currently sold by Xingyue Video Game Company, the regular version of the Xingyue console, the deluxe version of the Xingyue console, and the game cartridges, the regular version of the Xingyue console is sold at a loss, and each one is sold at a loss of about sixty or seventy dollars.

As for profit, the profit of the deluxe console is almost negligible due to the low sales volume.

Game cassettes can make a profit of nearly 20 US dollars per copy, and it is calculated that the profit is a quarter of the loss of the ordinary version of the console.

In the first month's sales, the sales of game cassettes were about seven times that of the ordinary version of the console, which means that the profit was much higher than the loss, and the company was making money. This is why Lin Baicheng dared to continue to let the ordinary version of the console continue. Price reduction confidence.

However, he has the confidence to lower the price. Of course, Lin Baicheng hopes to make more money, so it is best to increase the price of the regular Xingyue console.

It has been almost three weeks since the price increase of the regular Xingyue mainframe, and the price increase still has some impact on sales, but fortunately, the impact is not too great, and the weekly sales volume is still about [-]% of the previous one.

The key depends on whether the sales of the Xingyue mainframe will plummet after the summer vacation is over. The reduction in sales is certain, and I just hope that it will not fall too badly by then.

Lin Baicheng didn't stay with Xingyue Electronics Branch for too long, but told Pete Malter to cooperate with Xingguang Company to do a good job in product sales, and at the same time, do a good job in supervision and publicity, so as to grasp the speed.

(End of this chapter)