Video Game Empire

Coolill sometimes listened carefully, sometimes buried himself in notes, and he clearly felt that today's senior managers' meeting was a little different from the past. Everyone spoke freely, and the speeches were very enthusiastic and enthusiastic, and various views kept colliding and generating countless sparks.

It's not that everyone in the past was very silent. After all, everyone present was an elite with extraordinary wisdom. It's just that no matter how everyone discussed it before, Li Xuan's final decision could always lead the company to one victory after another.

But today that godlike decision maker is on vacation in Europe thousands of miles away. Everyone who was accustomed to accepting Li Xuan's leadership suddenly needed to make real independent decisions, which made everyone feel the pressure. Everyone present is undoubtedly the best talent. Previously subject to Li Xuan's performance against the sky, everyone suppressed their ability to think, and gradually began to rely on Li Xuan's judgment.

When this suppression disappeared, the elites of the Eastern Group present finally burst into a strong light. Starting in the morning, the management team continued to discuss and extend from the first few issues, and even lunch was resolved in the conference room.

The last and most important issue today is about IBM's entry into the shareholder software company. The two companies have been negotiating for half a year, but they have not been able to reach an agreement. Recently, IBM has become tough.

"Our group's development idea is actually to build a complete upstream and downstream ecological chain in the entire IT industry. The front end is the Dongfang Research Institute and Dongfang Semiconductor Company, which are responsible for the R&D and manufacturing of integrated circuits, and the middle section is Aikang Computer, which is responsible for product application development. Company, Dongfang Game Company, Dongfang Software Company, and at the end are Dongfang Commercial Company and Computer Garden Company, which are responsible for later sales.

Relying on the integration and optimization of the entire industrial chain, it can reduce costs, improve comprehensive competitiveness, and maximize profits. And around this core industry chain. We are building a huge industry cluster in Hong Kong. Several important nodes of this industry group are chips, games, computers and software.

Before, Oriental Software Co., Ltd. has always been dependent on Aikang Co., Ltd., but now this dependence is rapidly declining! According to the sales data of Dongfang Software Company in the first half of this year, sales outside the series of computer platforms have increased to 17% from the previous 5%. In the second half of the year, as new models using the East-operating system such as IBM and Texas Instruments are listed one after another, this share will soar further.

Due to the strong position of the series of computers, the technical standard of the -3 computer previously disclosed by Aikang has actually become the industry standard of the personal computer industry. So far, more than 500 manufacturers of various accessories have announced their support for the technical standard of -3 computers. The ERM-1 processor and East-operating system included in this standard are gradually establishing an unshakable dominant position in the industry.

By comparison. The position of the East-system may be more solid. Intel Corporation, IBM Corporation are investing a lot of resources to develop their own (reduced instruction set) architecture processors. Once the new architecture of the processor comes to market, the ERM-1 will usher in fierce competition.

The only possible threat to East- is the CP/M system of the US company (Digital Research Corporation). But it is clear that the owner of the company, Mr. Kildare, prefers to enjoy life rather than continue to participate in the fierce market competition! "Han Peng carefully analyzed.

He can be said to be the second person in Dongfang Electronics Company after Li Xuan. After many adjustments to the company structure, he still serves as the president of Dongfang Technology Holdings. President of Oriental Commerce, chairman of the board of directors of Aikang Computer Company and many other important positions.

Among them, Dongfang Technology Holding Co., Ltd. holds the equity of most of the subsidiaries of Dongfang Department, which can be described as the core link between various companies. Oriental Commercial is responsible for key businesses such as information collection, procurement, and sales within the system, while Aikang Computer is the only listed company in the Oriental Group. Therefore, there is no doubt about Han Peng's status. Li Xuan is not there, and he is the host of this meeting.

As sales of the series of computers continued to grow, the share of East-operating systems continued to climb. Especially after Aikang made public the technical standard of -3 computer. The eyes of the entire microcomputer industry suddenly jumped from 8-bit and 16-bit to the era of 32-bit computers.

The PC industry is changing rapidly, and companies are clearly not keeping up. The companies that used to have a monopoly in the operating system field are still indulging in their glory in the 8-bit era. As early as last July, when the -3 computer was launched, Dongfang Software Co. randomly released a new version of the East-system that supports the 16/32 processor ERM-1, while the company's 16/32-bit CP/M operating system was not available until It was only listed not long ago.

Dongfang Software Co., Ltd. acquired the deep authorization of CP/M system through the acquisition of Computer Garden Company before, and can develop CP/M-compatible operating system. The new version of East-compatible with CP/M. In turn, CP/M is not compatible with the East-system.

Much of the high-performance software previously developed for the -3 computer simply cannot run on the new CP/M system. On the other hand, the East-software company has continuously contacted other third-party software companies and computer manufacturers to support its own East-system by taking the initiative to attack. This further leads to the fact that CP/M systems are not competitive at all in the 16/32-bit era.

"Although we have made some concessions, there is still a certain gap with IBM's offer!" said He Guoyuan, president of Dongfang Software. "According to IBM's latest offer, they are willing to pay $500 million for a 25% stake in us. Among them, $300 million will be paid in cash, and the other $200 million will be replaced with IBM stock!"

He Guoyuan frowned and said, "The company's CP/M system has an absolute dominance in the 8-bit era, but everyone knows that 8-bit is a thing of the past. Our East-system relies on the first-mover advantage of -3 computers. , has established an absolute advantage in the 16/32-bit market.

But this advantage is not stable yet, and if IBM switches to supporting 16/32-bit CP/M operating systems on new PCs, it will bring a lot of trouble to our East-! And IBM is also seeing this. I don't think their threat may come true, but it must be guarded! "

IBM has recently become tougher in its negotiations, and news from the United States has reached an agreement with IBM to support CP/M systems onboard.

It was because of the arrogance of the company before. IBM will choose Bill Gates' Microsoft as the operating system developer for the computer. In another time and space, Microsoft started out as a system and eventually grew into a super devil in the computer industry by hugging IBM's thigh.

But before the wave of the world machine emerged, it was blocked in the bud by Aikang's series of computers. Microsoft's system naturally failed to catch fire. The machine has already begun to support East-system of Dongfang Software Company. Now the machine supports the CP/M system, that is, this computer with very general sales, there are three operating systems for users to choose from.

Dongfang Software is not afraid of the CP/M system at all, and will make waves by relying on the machine that has been included in the list of failed products by IBM itself. But if IBM always switches to support the CP/M system in the next new computers, under the vigorous promotion of IBM, there may really be a lot of trouble. After all, the foundation of the CP/M system in the 8-bit era is too strong. Many application software may be able to be applied to the new 16/32 bit system with slight modification.

"Have you considered the possibility of further splitting the Oriental Software Company?" Huo Qiuxing, who had not spoken much before, suddenly said. He is the president of the Oriental Economic Research Institute and can be said to be Li Xuan's chief think tank.

With the support of Li Xuan, the Oriental Economic Research Institute has grown into a research institute with nearly 100 researchers. In addition to providing strategic consulting for Dongfang Electronics Co., Ltd., it has recently begun to publish a series of research reports on Hong Kong's industrial economy, which has attracted a lot of attention.

"Dongfang Software's business is mainly divided into two parts, one is operating system software. The other is application software! According to Dongfang Software's sales data, operating system sales only account for 35% of the company's total sales revenue, and the remaining 65%. The income comes from East-, East-Table, East-DBASE and other application software!

But it is clear that whether it is IBM or ourselves, what is more important is the future development prospects of East-! It is likely to rule the operating system market in the next 16/32-bit era, and after that in the 32-bit era!

The asking price for Eastern Software's 25% stake was lowered from the original $650 million to $600 million after we previously made concessions to IBM. At this rate, the entire company is valued at $2.4 billion. The operating system, which only accounts for 35% of its sales, is valued at $1.2 billion alone, accounting for half of the value of the entire Oriental Software Company.

Since we are reluctant to lower the offer, we are even more reluctant to accept IBM's share replacement plan. Then it is better to simply split the Oriental Software Company. Take out the operating system company alone to accept IBM's shareholding. 25% of the $1.2 billion is exactly $300 million, which is exactly the maximum amount of cash IBM is willing to give! "

Don't look at the market value of big companies with billions or even tens of billions of dollars, but that's just the market value, and the company doesn't hold a lot of cash. So those large-scale corporate mergers and acquisitions in history. Most of the acquisitions are completed by equity replacement, and few actually use all cash.

$5.6 billion in cash is not impossible for IBM, but such a huge expenditure will definitely affect the cash flow of the entire IBM in the short term. If some of it can be converted into private placement of shares, the impact on IBM will be much less.

For Dongfang Electronics, if it accepts the equity swap, the stock exchanged will definitely have a long lock-up period. This not only prolongs the time for capital recovery, but also increases additional risks due to the volatility of IBM's stock price. Naturally, there is no one-time payment in cash.

"If Dongfang Software Company splits, will the competitiveness of the newly independent application software be affected?" Han Peng asked with some doubts.

Although Eastern Software Company strongly supports other third-party software companies to develop various application software based on East-system. But this does not include text software, form software, database software, these existing products of Oriental Software Company. So East-, East-Table, East-DBASE and other software have no competition on the East-platform at all.

Once Dongfang Software Co., Ltd. completes the split, and external companies such as IBM begin to enter the board of directors of the new company, they will definitely require open competition, so other application software will have to face fierce market competition!

"The value of operating system software is that ~www.readwn.com~ it is indispensable to every computer, and it is also the running platform of other software! East-system has obtained the support of most third-party software vendors and computer companies. , and the performance of our software itself is excellent enough. Under the superposition of these factors, it has the opportunity to form a market monopoly and completely dominate the operating system market of personal computers in the near future!

It is precisely when IBM saw this that it actively asked for a shareholding! But in my opinion, if the East-system really dominates the market, we need to face a lot of trouble, such as the antitrust investigation of the US Department of Justice.

IBM can entangle with the US Department of Justice for ten years, and finally achieve a settlement, that is because it is an American company. As a foreign company, we, Dongfang Electronics, are born with hostility and suspicion! The reason why we were willing to accept IBM's shareholding before was also to find allies and share the pressure that may be suffered in the future.

Instead of trying to figure out a solution when you encounter trouble in the future, it is better to take the initiative to split it now! In this way, even if there are open guns and dark arrows in the future, the more influential copy system companies can attract firepower, while the application software companies can hide in the corner and make a fortune! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point () to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please read it.)