The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 271 A Purposeful Vacation

The technical content of the mobile phone industry is not high. It depends on who you compare it with. For a technology giant like Microsoft that has been standing in Silicon Valley for 20 years, it really has no technical content.

Even for smartphones, the only difficulty in their view is the touch screen, which Microsoft cannot solve in a short time. For mobile chips such as Mphone, which has a huge advantage, Microsoft also believes that it is only a matter of time before they and Intel can surpass each other.

Of course, it would be best if it could be acquired, especially through share acquisitions. Ballmer likes acquisitions the most. Acquisition means that the financial institutions on Wall Street will give him a lot of benefits in private, and let them be the middle of this transaction. square.

After Ballmer took over, the biggest impression Microsoft left on the outside world is that it is particularly fond of acquisitions. In 2006, it completed 14 mergers and acquisitions throughout the year.

However, most of these companies that were acquired did not end well, and were reduced to stragglers within Microsoft. The day they were acquired was their peak.

Not only did Microsoft make massive acquisitions in American, but it also made a big deal in China, with an investment wave of 500 million US dollars. This investment was signed by Ballmer himself in Jinan, and Microsoft even followed up with a wave of wholly-owned acquisitions.

For Ballmer, he is eager to acquire Matrix. It is no exaggeration to describe the benefits in terms of massive amounts, and the combination of Newman and Bill Gates in another field is the pinnacle of the capital market.

It will definitely bring Microsoft's valuation back to its peak.

Before the Nasdaq bubble burst, Microsoft's market value exceeded US$5000 billion. Zhou Xin's butterfly effect made Microsoft's market value a full US$1000 billion more than its original peak.

After the Nasdaq bubble burst, Microsoft's market value has been fluctuating around 1000 billion or 5000 billion, let alone [-] billion US dollars, not even a third.

But Ballmer believes that if he can merge with Matrix, Microsoft can quickly return to the top.

Bill Gates thought for a while and said: "If Newman accepts the share swap method, what position is more suitable for Microsoft to give him?
I actually want him to be the CEO of Microsoft. If he feels that the CEO is not enough, I can also give him the position of chairman of the board. "

Bill Gates and Ballmer are college classmates. Ballmer is the No. 24 employee of Microsoft. Ballmer was the best man when Bill Gates held a wedding in Lanai in 94, so this kind of speech is not suitable for face-to-face , Bill Gates did not avoid suspicion when he said it.

Ballmer took the words: "If Newman came to replace me, I would not have a little nostalgia for this position, just as I can also have time to do something I want to do."

It doesn't matter what Ballmer thinks or what he says, but what he says in front of Bill Gates is important.

The most powerful person in Microsoft reached an agreement in a few words, and then they started to act. They found Goldman Sachs, the financial institution that had the best relationship with Newman in the eyes of the outside world, as an intermediary broker.

Bush won't propose Henry Paulson to succeed John Snow as treasury secretary until 06, and Paulson won't start working on it until late 04.

So now Paulson is still the top three executives of Goldman Sachs, so the big names on Wall Street are still excited after chatting with Bill Gates.

Personally promote the merger of Matrix and Microsoft, which is the largest business on Wall Street after the millennium, ten times bigger than the merger of Google and Baidu.

The merger of the well-deserved overlord in the personal PC era and the emerging giant in the mobile Internet era will definitely be epoch-making news. Even Time Warner’s acquisition of Quora was far behind.

Because Time Warner is far less famous than Microsoft, Quora also has more potential and imagination than Matrix.

"Bill, I think your proposal is very good, very imaginative and of course a test of our abilities.

Once successful, it will be a triple win for Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and Newman. "

If Goldman Sachs can make this deal, it will become the top financial institution, and it will be at least half a position away from other Morgan, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch.

For financial institutions, business determines status.

Is there anything more top-notch business than pushing for a Microsoft-Matrix merger?Once this business is successful, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most important merger and acquisition case in the history of Goldman Sachs, and Paulson's position in Goldman Sachs will also be unshakable.

"Bill, you agreeing to this means that Microsoft agrees to this, and Matrix, we only need to convince Newman.

I believe we can do it. "Paulson is confident.

In other words, in his opinion, this is something that must be done, no matter what Zhou Xin asks, he will try his best to do it.

"Bill invited us to vacation at his villa in Washington State. Do you want to go? If you don't want to go, I will refuse him." Zhou Xin said.

Li Jingyi knew where Zhou Xin was talking about the villa. They had been there before. Li Jingyi actually liked the scenery and climate there, but she really had nothing in common with Bill Gates' wife.

Whether it's charity foundations or the skills of how to be a good wife and mother, Li Jingyi is not interested in these.

The only thing that interests Li Jingyi is nothing more than the other party's travel experience and rich knowledge around the world. Melinda can speak as if she is in the scene herself. Her spoken English is not very good before, and it is difficult for her to understand.

After starting to work in American, Li Jingyi felt that she should be more interested in talking about this topic this time.

In addition, it is true that she has not had a good rest for several months. Li Jingyi said: "Go ahead. You don't have many friends. You just go to Washington State to have a drink with Bill Gates and talk about heroes."

Originally, Zhou Xin thought that he and Robin could become friends, but the two gradually drifted apart, especially after Baidu’s listing, the two parties met in public places as usual, and the other private meetings were very rare, and the frequency was about a year. once.

Zhou Xin guessed that the reason why the two parties drifted apart was because Zhou Xin was the largest individual shareholder of Baidu, and Robin was afraid that his position would be shaken, or because Zhou Xin gave him something that was contrary to his business philosophy during daily meetings. Will he listen to or not?
The second reason is that Robin joined the Committee of [-]. As a member of the committee of the Committee of [-], under the influence of these people, he would keep Zhou Xin at a respectful distance.

Pony's words are too dull, and he is also an engineer immersed in his own world. He can listen to you, but he is not very good at expressing his opinions.

Originally, the relationship with Jerry Yang was not bad, and the competition between companies did not affect the personal friendship between the two parties. However, Yahoo's performance has been declining all the way, and it has a strong competitive relationship with Baidu. The two made Jerry Yang return to the CEO position of Yahoo.

As a result, he was too busy. It was far more difficult than Yang Zhiyuan expected to pull out a once brilliant giant like Yahoo. Since returning to the CEO position of Yahoo, Zhou Xin had only met Yang Zhiyuan once.

It is completely old that is visible to the naked eye, and Zhou Xin can't help but feel that it is really not a good job to be an executive of a down-and-out giant.

Not to mention the giants like Yahoo that have fallen from the top of the mountain to the valley, the future giants like Ali who are only on the verge of decline, the executives have changed one after another, and Feng Qingyang's resignation is not sad but happy.

In Zhou Xin's career, there are many executives who have a good relationship with him, such as Guan Jianying and Hu Zhengming, who have all returned to China, and usually can only communicate through emails and international phone calls.

As for Lei Jun, he did a good job in Matrix, but the relationship between superiors and subordinates and the lack of foundation between the two parties made it difficult to change from a subordinate to a friend.

In addition, Lei Jun came to Silicon Valley and jumped from the software industry to the consumer electronics industry. It was also a big challenge for him. Walk around in private with Zhou Xin.

Zhou Xin nodded after listening: "Okay, it's indeed time to talk to Bill.

We talked about our views on the mobile Internet on the phone before. Microsoft has always adhered to the view that it is only a software service provider and will not end, but recently his thinking seems to have changed.

Has been testing whether Mphone's mobile chip can be sold. "

Li Jingyi asked while answering the email: "It seems that it's not about cooking wine and talking about heroes, it's a bit like a grand banquet."

Zhou Xin shook his head: "That's not the case, Bill is just a test, and there is still a long way to go from the test to the real end.

And even if Microsoft really ends up doing mobile Internet, Matrix is ​​not afraid of Microsoft, and they are the challengers in this field. "

Bill Gates' vacation villa in Washington is considered luxurious, and Zhou Xin can't help feeling that he belongs to the family who only makes money and doesn't spend money.

"Bill, you look good. There is almost no difference from the last time I saw you. It seems that leaving the management position is indeed the right choice, and you don't have to worry about the company and the industry anymore."

Zhou Xinyi came up directly to the general, implying that Bill Gates is here for vacation this time, can we stop talking about work.

Bill Gates didn't talk about it: "I belonged to leaving the post, but my mind still couldn't relax, always thinking about what to do.

It's just that compared with before, I don't have the sense of urgency to do something, but I can do things according to my own rhythm and preferences. "

Because they have family members, Bill Gates did not invite a lot of models to hold a pool party like just the two of them. Instead, he held a barbecue party. The servants were handling the ingredients, and Bill Gates and Zhou Xin looked for Chatted in a secluded corner.

"It's hard to imagine that the gadgets in our hands will become so smart. It's not wrong to name it with smart." Bill Gates waved his Mphone2.

Bill Gates is also a loyal user of Mphone. Zhou Xin gave him one before the official release of Mphone1, not to mention when Mphone2 came out later.

Zhou Xin agreed: "From the day I started making smart phones, I knew that the development of chips in the future will determine that the computing power of mobile phones will become stronger and stronger, and the improvement of communication transmission rate will allow the information received by mobile phones to evolve from text to text. From picture to video.

With the combination of the two, mobile phones will naturally become more and more intelligent, Bill, this is the law of development of the objective world. "

Bill Gates: "You're right, but you were the first to discover this law of development. When other mobile phone manufacturers are still focusing on the battery life, communication quality, and appearance of mobile phones, you realize that the future of mobile phones will There is an essential evolution, and computing power and transmission ability have become the key to evolution.

When Mphone1 came out, I thought it was very interesting. At that time, like the media, I thought it was an Internet phone, a demand you created out of thin air, just to cater to some users who are heavily dependent on the Internet.

For example, when I was using Mphone1, I found it very useful. Some pages and content that originally needed to be browsed in front of the computer can now be completed on the mobile phone.

But until the Mphone2, it has gradually replaced the computer in my life, especially when I am out on vacation, I have forgotten how many days I have not turned on the computer.

Whether sending and receiving emails, browsing the web, online forums or even music and video can be done through Mphone2. "

As a user of Mphone, Bill Gates is more aware of its appeal, and it is for this reason that he wants to acquire Matrix.

Before that, it was because it formed an offensive and defensive alliance with Motorola and Intel in the field of smartphones, which made Bill Gates feel safe. With the help of Motorola, Microsoft's mobile operating system was well-known, and then promoted to smartphones produced by global manufacturers.

However, two recent events have changed Bill Gates' minds. One is that Motorola has recruited people privately, but it still does not give up on building its own mobile phone operating system.

The second is because of the public opinion war between Tencent, Motorola, and Nokia. The public opinion war made Bill Gates realize that the operating system is also a core interest for mobile phone manufacturers. I don't want to give up this part of the profit to Microsoft.

Not only the buyout cost of the operating system, but also the long-term benefits created by the future smartphone ecosystem, which mobile phone manufacturers are obviously unwilling to hand over.Small manufacturers may be willing to cooperate with Microsoft due to scale constraints, but large enterprises are definitely not willing.

For Microsoft, their mobile operating system would be meaningless if it could only be carried on scraps.

After figuring this out, Bill Gates decided to make his own mobile phone.

Because there is no Android at the moment, everyone didn't want to understand how operating system manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers distribute benefits, and they didn't want to understand that the app store may not be part of the system pre-loading.

Therefore, whether it is Bill Gates or the executives of mobile phone manufacturers, they all believe that there is a direct conflict of interests between them.

Zhou Xin watched and smelled the aroma from the chefs roasting meat in the distance, wondering when technology could transmit the aroma through the sensor for long-distance transmission, and said absent-mindedly:
"Yeah, the smartphone can do everything, and the operating system and software developers jointly set its upper limit.

You will feel that Mphone is easy to use because Mphone has a group of omnipotent developers who are the soul of Mphone. "

Bill Gates retorted: "No, they are integral components, they are cells and blood, only you are the soul of Mphone."

　The crow has been in Guizhou on weekends, and there is no time code word at all. Yesterday’s bad one will be added tomorrow morning

　　
　
(End of this chapter)