game trailblazer

Chapter 102 The Origin of VCD

Zhang Lexing left Burbank and came to Las Vegas, not to go to the casino to have fun, but to visit the annual fall Comdex exhibition. This may be a new place for others, but for Zhang Lexing Said is a good place to find investment objects.

Of course, Visual Software Group will not be absent at this autumn Comdex exhibition. In addition to the latest exhibits of operating systems, office software and databases, this time it also brought an Internet business suite running on the KylinServer platform (including Web servers, FTP servers, etc.) Components), and even the promotion of related materials on the World Wide Web browser that has just begun to be studied, which has attracted the attention of many viewers.

It has been two years since the formulation of the multimedia computer 1.0 standard (MPC1.0), and many related products have been exhibited at this conference, such as the DVIActiveMedia750I interactive digital video jointly developed by the old enemy Intel and IBM. Dealing with cards, so many conference media called this year "Multimedia Year".

Zhang Lexing originally wanted to come here by himself this time, but Yang Xinxin didn’t want to do it. He must go with the exhibitor group of Visual Software Group, otherwise she would come to arrest people in person. It seems that the incident in Hong Kong really stimulated her , she has never been so tight before.Zhang Lexing had no choice but to compromise, and followed the brigade to Las Vegas aggrievedly, and stayed in a heavily guarded hotel room.

After finally waiting for the opening day, Zhang Lexing didn't want to hang out with the team anymore. He didn't come here to look at the booth. He stayed at the Visual Software Group's booth all the time, so how could he look for investment opportunities.So Zhang Lexing slipped away early in the morning with the manufacturer's representative card, and of course there were still three or four black, white, fat and thin bodyguards of various colors dangling around behind him.

Wandering around along the exhibition hall, Zhang Lexing saw many interesting things along the way.For example, the first-generation ThinkPad (ThinkPad700C) launched by IBM uses a 10.4-inch color display, has a TrackPoint mouse positioning device (the legendary "Little Red Riding Hood"), and weighs less than 8 pounds (about 3.6 kilograms). From the beginning of this machine, it has already had a distinctive black coat, which is one of the characteristics of IBM notebooks in the future.There is also Adobe's PDF (PortableDocumentFormat, Portable Document Format) 1.0, which is the first step in digital publishing on the desktop.The Standard Edition and Professional Edition of VisualBasicforKylin released by Microsoft Corporation can be regarded as a long-cherished wish of Gates.There are also such things as Texas Instruments exhibiting their new product TI486 microprocessor chip and so on.

It's a pity that there was nothing that caught Zhang Lexing's eyes. It was not until he came to the booth of a small company called C-Cube that an unexpected change occurred.

This company is not well-known, and Zhang Lexing has never heard of it in the past few years. What is displayed on the booth today is a set of MPEG-1 decoder boards. MPEG-1 is the first video and audio lossy compression standard formulated by the MPEG organization. The definition of video compression algorithm was completed in 1990. MPEG-1 audio is divided into three layers, namely MPEG-1Layer1, MPEG-1Layer2 and MPEG-1Layer3 , the upper layer can be compatible with the lower layer, among which the third layer protocol (MPEG-1Layer3) is referred to as MP3, but now the MP3 standard is still being studied in the laboratory.

In order to display the products, the employees of C-Cube Company placed a computer with the cover open and a TV in the booth. Through the open cover of the computer, it can be clearly seen that the input signal of the TV comes from the computer. An expansion card, this expansion card is the MPEG-1 decoder board claimed by C-Cube.Zhang Lexing stood there pondering for a while, and suddenly thought that this thing is the same as the decompression card for watching VCD on the computer that he had heard about back then. Could it be that there is some connection between this company and VCD.

Zhang Lexing is very clear about VCD. Of course, the clarity here refers to the ability to use VCD. However, the short golden period of VCD in China has allowed many companies to take advantage of the opportunity to make a lot of money, and many companies have successfully risen.It is impossible for my learning machine factory in Shenzhen to continue producing forever. Computers will really become popular in a few years, and the living space of learning machines will become smaller and smaller by then, but these factories can’t just shut down. , then switching to VCD is a good choice.So the employees of the C-Cube company next to Zhang Lexing's booth wanted to come to some product information, and while looking at the information, they compared it with the actual product and studied it.

The employees of C-Cube on the other side are also busy, and they are trying their best to recommend the company's products to the visitors around.

"Sir, don't be in a hurry to leave. This is our latest technological product, which can restore images compressed using the MPEG-1 format to the TV." Employee A tried hard to solicit.

"How's the clarity?" A passing man who heard the introduction stopped, wanting to understand more clearly.

"It's very high, with 250 lines." Employee B replied honestly.

"Tch, it's not as clear as my home video, so don't watch it." The passer-by waved his hand, turned and left.

"Who told you to say that, you're so stupid!" Employee A was furious, and looked at the stupid employee B with a look of hatred.

……

After reading the information for a while, and listening to the rumors of the employees of C-Cube, Zhang Lexing finally confirmed the value of the company in front of him. The product they developed seems to be the decoder board used in VCD in the future.After leaving the booth of C-Cube, Zhang Lexing felt that he was a little absent-minded, and he was not interested in seeing anything. It seemed that his heart might be occupied by the MPEG-1 decoder board.

Zhang Lexing wanted to do more things, but he didn't know much about this C-Cube company. The only impression he had was that after the rise of the domestic VCD market, it was said that for several years the market for decoder boards had been neglected. What is monopolized by C-Cube Company, what is useful to me now is the relevant information about C-Cube Company brought from the exhibition, including a little company introduction, contact information and products Introduction or something, relying on this to get in touch, I'm afraid it's a bit rash.

Zhang Lexing has set up some commercial investigation companies in recent years. Although we are born again, have we received too much favor from the heavens? Not all major events in the world can be clearly remembered, so having a commercial investigation company is a good way to obtain information about ourselves It helps a lot.In addition to the corporate consulting and research department within the group, which is responsible for this aspect, there are many independent business research companies in Europe, America, RB, Hong Kong and other regions outside the group. After all, a single information channel is not safe enough.

Naturally, it was time for these people to appear again. Zhang Lexing picked up the phone and dialed the number of Russell Market Research Company.This company was established many years ago, and it is one of the commercial investigation companies owned by Zhang Lexing. It is mainly responsible for investigations in North America.Russell Market Research Company worked very efficiently. A week later, when Zhang Lexing returned to the headquarters office of Visual Software Group, a report on C-Cube was delivered to him.

Zhang Lexing flipped through the survey report: "C-Cube Microsystems was established in 1988 and is headquartered in Milpitas. It is mainly engaged in the research of digital video compression and decompression technology. The founders include Dr. Edmund Sun. , Dr. Balkanski and others, the early funds came from Taiwan venture capital company Handing... At present, the company's entrepreneurial team still holds about 35% of the equity, and there are two other venture capital companies (Fan Rock United and Kreller) Each holds 30% of the equity, and the remaining 5% is in the hands of RBJVC...Skopper is currently in a tight financial situation. Under the active promotion of the two venture capital companies, the company's CEO Bill O'Mara is actively seeking new financing channels, we do not rule out the possibility of a public offering in the future..."

The content of the report is very detailed, from the company's establishment to the current development, and even the personal resumes of the company's main founders and current management team.After reading the report, the past and present of the C-Cube company began to blend together in Zhang Lexing's heart, which once again strengthened Zhang Lexing's determination to acquire.

When Zhang Lexing was secretly thinking about his next move, the office door was suddenly pushed open and someone walked in. He didn't need to look up to know that it was Yang Xinxin, and she was the only one in the whole company who dared to enter Zhang Lexing's office without knocking on the door.

"Sister Xin, come in without knocking, you are not afraid of seeing things you shouldn't see?" Putting down the report, Zhang Lexing said pretending to be serious.

"Tch, there's something to look down on, I already knew it." Yang Xinxin said with a smile: "Brother, you just nestled in the office as soon as you came back. Have you fallen in love with another company?"

"It's nothing, it's just a small company." Zhang Lexing handed over the information, "If you don't believe me, just take a look."

"Small company? How many small companies have you invested in before, and that time it was not a good return, this time you can't play alone." Yang Xinxin took the information and looked at it, and still didn't forget to teach Zhang Lexing a few words.

"Okay, as long as you can afford it, I'll count you in when investing."

"Skopper is currently researching an MPEG1 format decompression chip. What is the use of this?" Yang Xinxin asked curiously.

"This is said to be researched at the request of a company from China. It is said that it intends to develop a player using CDs, which can play the video on the CDs on TV." Zhang Lexing explained.

"I saw that the picture resolution mentioned in the materials seems to be lower than that of a video tape, and the disc cannot be recorded. Will there be a market for this thing?" Yang Xinxin looked very worried.

"It may not be possible here, but the situation is different in some emerging markets in Asia, where video recorders have not had time to popularize at all. If the prices of such players and CDs can be lowered, I believe it will definitely create a huge market. market." Zhang Lexing said confidently.

Yang Xinxin thought about it for a while, and then said as if she had made a big decision: "Okay, I trust your vision. Well, I decided to hand over all my wealth to you. What do you think?"

"Sister Xin, this is just a small project, the entire net worth, you are too exaggerated!" Zhang Lexing felt a little headache.

"Just kidding. When will this project officially start, and then give me a plan." Yang Xinxin smiled proudly, obviously showing a successful robbery.

"I plan to contact this company in the near future. Dongfang Microelectronics Co., Ltd. will come forward to discuss the acquisition. After all, they all belong to the electronics industry, and the future earnings of this company will also be a good supplement to Dongfang Microelectronics. The specific acquisition action It will be under the responsibility of Red River Fund. It plans to buy the equity of C-Cube from two venture capital companies and RBJVC. If it can be successfully completed, we will own 65% of the equity. If Sister Xin, if you need it, I can give you no more than 10% of the equity. I estimate that the funds needed for this acquisition should not exceed 3000 million U.S. dollars, and you only need to prepare more than 400 million U.S. dollars, Sister Xin. "

……

Two days later, the joint negotiating team formed by Red River Fund and Dongfang Microelectronics began to contact Fan Locke, Colelle, and RBJVC, and Zhang Lexing could also devote his energy to the technical seminar on the "Baiji" operating system with confidence.

Soon after, the negotiating team began to feed back one by one.The joint negotiation with Van Locke went very smoothly. Perhaps Ray Rothrock felt that Skooper’s development speed over the years was too slow, and the joint negotiating team’s offer of 1000 million US dollars was quite satisfactory to him, so a preliminary agreement was reached soon. , has entered the formal signing process.Negotiations with Koller were a little turbulent, and John Doerr’s attitude was not relaxed until the joint negotiating team raised the offer to 1000 million US dollars at the beginning, and John Doerr also began to enter In the process of formal signing. RBJVC's attitude was extremely stubborn, and they refused to let go. Even the joint negotiating team offered a high price of 1200 million US dollars for its 5% equity, which made Zhang Lexing doubt whether JVC saw the future of the VCD market. excellent.Fortunately, in early December, after Van Locke United and Kreiler completed the equity transfer agreement with Dongfang Microelectronics Co., Ltd., JVC might be worried that Dongfang Microelectronics would take advantage of the privileges of major shareholders, and finally gave up resistance and agreed to transfer the equity to Dongfang Microelectronics. In mid-December, after nearly two months of hard work, the joint negotiating team finally won a 400% stake in C-Cube, and then it was time for a showdown with the company's existing management team.

The meeting with C-Cube Chairman Edmund Sun, CEO Bill O'Mara and others went very smoothly. Perhaps the management team is most worried about the company's financial problems before the public offering, so when the joint negotiation After the team promised to provide financial guarantees and ensure that the public offering plan would be successfully realized, the company's management team all chose to stay. Now Zhang Lexing can finally rest assured that at least he does not have to worry about problems in Skopper's business.After Christmas, the shareholding change ended smoothly, C-Cube continued to operate normally, and Yang Xinxin also got 10% of the shares of C-Cube as he wished, which is considered to be the best of all. Everyone is happy.Zhang Lexing did not forget to dial a number in Hong Kong, and the bald reading technology he got from Sony could come in handy again.

(End of this chapter)