Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 678 The White Warrior of the Bank of America
……

Among a lot of serious news, there are always people who like to mix in some tidbits.

I don't know which cramp, but the BBC adopted a photo sent back from Japan by its reporter, and accompanied it with the eye-catching title of "the richest man and the emperor's grandson are at odds", which instantly caused a huge sensation and became the same as the United States. Side of the "Iran-Contra" super heavyweight gossip reports complement each other.

In the picture, Prince Deren's hand was stretched out in the air, while Tang Huan opposite him turned his face to the side and did not give any response. The awkward atmosphere was overwhelming.

What's the reason for making such a fuss?The British "Sun" quickly analyzed the answer.

Because this year's 26-year-old grandson of the emperor, Chun_ was moved, and developed a love for Wada Masako, the secretary of the richest man, and then pursued her, which aroused Tang Huan's displeasure.

Therefore, this is a veritable jealousy incident.

The current Masako Wada is not an unknown person. She often appears behind the richest man in media reports and has become the main public relations object for the Japanese side to understand Tang Huan's dynamics. Recently, she often accompanied Princess Diana and the two little British princes. .

To put it simply, Tang Huan, who would make the world media move for him no matter where he went, brought his beautiful female secretary to a soaring popularity, especially in Japan, he seemed to be a star figure.

Now the British "Sun" has linked Wada Masako to that picture in a serious way, giving people more room for infinite reverie, and making boring people constantly ask curiously, "What's down there? What's down there?"

Of course there is no one below, and it is impossible to have one?

For such an arrangement, the parties will certainly not turn a blind eye to it.

After the BBC issued the report, the Japanese Imperial Household Agency quickly clarified: the scene in the picture was purely an accident of etiquette. It happened that Tang Huan was interacting with others at that time, and he immediately apologized to the emperor and made a warm and friendly exchange. conversation.

The tone of Tang Huan's office spokesman was much stricter, and he directly questioned the BBC: What is your intention to play tricks on this accident of etiquette?What about your professional qualities?Is it really declining year after year?
When the British "Sun" report came out, the Japanese Imperial Household Agency could not calm down, and immediately issued a harsh protest, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone summoning the British ambassador to Japan.

Tang Huan's public relations team was even more resolute, directly dispatching lawyers to sue the BBC and the British "Sun" in court.

At the moment of the uproar, Charles stood up to help explain: This was indeed an accident. At that time, everyone attended a charity event together, and he was at the scene, and it was him who Tang Huan was talking to.

When the matter got to this point, the BBC and the British "Sun" naturally had only one way to go - to bow their heads and admit their mistakes.However, some of them, who are scheming and calculating, have some ways to deal with it. They bite the "work error", and after apologizing and losing money, they just let it go.

Regarding this farce, Tang Huan, who had initially concluded the matter of the California high-speed rail, just sneered and made another note in the account book.

As for the truth about that photo, it doesn't matter.A grandson of the emperor, no big deal.What's more, most Japanese people believe that this is an accident and misunderstanding, isn't it!

At this time, Tang Huan was dealing with the affairs of the bank and was sitting with a large group of representatives of Japanese semiconductor suppliers. The contract texts were placed in front of everyone, and his front was stacked the highest.

Although the third echelon has been deployed in the supply chain as a spare tire, Japanese semiconductor manufacturers are still the most important suppliers at this stage.

There has been news from the United States that IBM is about to start action. Tang Huan must ensure that Fangyuan Computer Company has enough ammunition to fight against it within the next 18 months, so there is this purchase order worth more than 5 million US dollars.

What is the concept of this amount?

It is equivalent to the annual sales of Sony Semiconductor, which ranks bottom in Japan, one-fifth of the annual sales of Motorola Semiconductor, which ranks first in the United States, and one-sixth of the annual sales of NEC Semiconductor, which ranks first in the world. Forehead.

It is impossible for Tang Huan to hand over such a large order to one supplier, but to distribute it to several suppliers according to his own risk-benefit model.

The reason why everyone is sitting together with smiles on their faces is because the fruit distribution is about to be finished.

Of course, there are also people who slander: If you have to have such a cool signing ceremony, you can pretend to be so awesome!

But having said that, because of this, even laymen can realize how important Tang Huan's value is.

At a later reception, Tang Huan looked forward enthusiastically: "The entry of personal computers into the era of 32-bit architecture is the real golden beginning. Graphical user interface, video games, graphic animation design, network...etc. The wider the application, the continuous improvement of Fangyuan computer hardware specifications is required, which depends on your continued support in the future."

……

After the California high-speed rail circled a basket of preferential conditions and the purchase order spread a circle of money, Tang Huan non-stop inspected Zheru Japan, Epson, Yamaha, EA Japan, Taito and other industrial groups, as well as strategic partners such as Sharp.The top priority is the performance of LCD and lithium-ion battery technology, production capacity, and cost.

In fact, with the advancement of the digital age, Tang Huan's IT technology is rapidly infiltrating traditional industries, such as the recently promoted TV wall and VCD.

For some of these products, the marketing progress has exceeded ordinary people’s imagination.

Take the video wall driven by computer graphics technology as an example. Since the Eurovision Song Contest officially debuted in May this year, it has become a hot topic.

Hong Kong's Media Asia TV and TVB have adopted this product in their studios.Especially through the influence of the [-]nd Miss Chinese Contest, those venues that often hold large-scale events are attracted by it.

The little Xiangjiang is just a microcosm, and the reaction from Japan is the same.

In terms of video games, Shigeru Miyamoto, who has been packaged as a star producer, launched a newly designed work in the Japanese market at the beginning of this year - "The Legend of Zelda", and it has just been launched in the US market.

Tang Huan seldom paid attention to specific products, but he still paid attention this time.

Compared with Shigeru Miyamoto's previous works, "The Legend of Zelda" is quite difficult to play, but it is still very popular, and has sold more than 100 million copies.

In this, Taidong's operation is indispensable.It has created a player club, and the number of members has exceeded one million.

It has launched a preferential policy for "The Legend of Zelda", that is, any game buyer who sends back the authorization card will become a member of the Players Club and enjoy some additional services, such as game cheats.

More specifically, The Legend of Zelda, which benefited from this, in turn appealed to the children's community through hints such as in-game rooms, hidden keys, and passages.

In Tang Huan's eyes, the achievements of this kind of game community culture construction really surprised him.

Nowadays, the richest man has more and more properties, but he has limited energy and wants to enjoy life. Naturally, he can no longer teach his subordinates how to do it like before.

Therefore, although EA sits high on the throne of the industry's hegemony, small companies with minimal constraints and amazing creativity are still very threatening.

How to cultivate player loyalty?The software weapon of game culture has naturally become the best choice.And Taito practiced it again in "The Legend of Zelda".

Tang Huanrao chatted with the relevant team about such issues with interest, and asked if Taidong had its own game publication.

Now that the entire industry is getting bigger and bigger, it is difficult to achieve the previous effect by relying on partners like the magazines founded by Sun Zhengyi to take care of them. In the end, we have to rely on ourselves.

As soon as this discussion was over, the assistant sent over a fax from the United States.After Tang Huan glanced at it, he immediately ordered, "Depart for the United States immediately."

……

Originally, even though IBM was almost suffocated and wanted to expand its strategy, Tang Huan still wanted to visit Funan after his trip to Japan.

Since the death of Annan's pro-Soviet supreme leader Le Duan in July this year and his pro-China succession by pro-China Chang Zheng, the relationship between Funan and Annan has undergone drastic changes.

As the national economy is on the verge of collapse, and the aid materials from the Soviet Union's big brother are nowhere in sight, Annan is eager to get out of the quagmire of Funan.This makes Funan's conflict focus begin to shift.

Against this background, Tang Huan planned to go over there to actually learn about the situation there.

But the fax just sent made Tang Huan change his mind.Because, the financial core of the California consortium - Bank of America, is suffering from a hostile takeover.As a result, Bank of America issued a meeting invitation to Mr. Richest Man.

In the past few years after the outbreak of the Latin American sovereign debt crisis, Ocean Bank of the United States, in which HSBC has a stake, was not the only one that was dragged down terribly. Bank of America also had a large number of non-performing loans in these third world countries, which led to a sharp drop in stock prices and became the target of hostile takeovers. .

The initiator of this capital war was the First Intercontinental Bank of Los Angeles, which directly poured in 32 billion U.S. dollars aggressively. Although Bank of America was in a predicament, it did not want to end up in such a situation, and immediately launched a resistance.

In fact, Bank of America and First Intercontinental Bank have a deep relationship. Just over 30 years ago, the two parties were still the same.This is related to their development process.

The predecessor of the Bank of America was a small bank founded by Italian-born banker Amadi Giannini. This is a powerful figure who can compete with the traditional tycoon Morgan consortium. When he was alive, he accumulated a large industry.

However, after the death of Amadi Giannini in 1949, the financial empire he left behind was gradually disintegrated under the effect of antitrust laws.

First of all, the insurance business became independent and became Pan American, the former owner of United Artists, the first Hollywood company acquired by Tang Huan.

Intercontinental was then spun off to become what is now First Intercontinental Bank.

Monopoly is a kind of nature and trend. Due to factors such as the development of the situation and the appeal of interests, the US antitrust bills often have to be compromised in the end.

Just like the separation of commercial banks and investment banks required in the 1930s, but in the end bank securities can still be grabbed.

Now, First Intercontinental Bank, which is developing well, plans to take advantage of Bank of America's serious illness to take it down and become a family again.

Although this approach seems quite sentimental, the financial world that only cares about interests does not value it. Bank of America still hopes to maintain its original independent status.

……

Tang Huan showed up in the meeting room with Louis Gerstner, who was from American Express.

The newly appointed Bank of America CEO, Alden Clausen, solemnly introduced their arrival to the audience.

After a crisis of poor management, Bank of America fired its original CEO, Sam Armacost, and asked Alden Clausen, who just stepped down as the president of the World Bank this year, to take over in order to turn the tide.

In fact, Alden Clausen is a veteran candidate for Bank of America. He was the CEO of Bank of America before, and he became the president of the World Bank after leaving this position. Now Turned around and came back again.

In order to save itself, Bank of America's main measure is to sell some assets, including a bank founded by Amadi Giannini in Milan, Italy in the early years.

Tang Wenmao and Zhuang Menghua's Tang Family Investment Fund managed this goal for the ship queen Christina.

During the contact process, the Bank of America found that Tang Huan was a good candidate for the White Warrior, so they had this meeting.

As a fresh fried chicken in the California consortium, Tang Huan is no stranger to this group of people in front of him. First of all, he said straight to the point: "I am not familiar with banks, and I don't have much ambition. The main condition for cooperation is that Bank of America Strong adoption of my IT application solutions, such as wealth management business, Visa credit card, etc.”

This is Tang Huan's real thought. The water in the financial field is too deep, especially with many traditional forces with a long history intertwined. is sufficient for speculative gains.If picking up a girl becomes a husband, and speculating in stocks becomes a shareholder, it will add unnecessary burdens instead.

All in all, the current principle of doing things is that everyone does not violate the river water, and no one fishes beyond the boundaries.

As for Bank of America, which is headquartered in San Francisco, it is mainly because of its comparable status to Standard Chartered Bank that the richest man is tempted.

The Bank of America, which is deeply wary, is still quite rare to give the White Warrior a chance.If you miss it, you may have to wait until next year for the global stock market crash whose causes have not been determined in time and space, and whether it will happen again is still unknown.

Alden Clausen replied with a look of embarrassment: "The wealth management business is also on the list of asset sales this time, and we have already negotiated with Charles Schwab on the transaction."

"You won't even sell Visa, right?" Tang Huan joked.

"That's not enough." Alden Clausen shrugged and asked instead: "There are no obstacles to the California high-speed rail project?"

"This is one of my great attractions." Tang Huan, who had this idea flashed in his mind, nodded, and happily gave the other party the answer he wanted, "The funds have basically been raised, even if the federal appropriation is delayed No problem. I think Bank of America should be able to provide some services."

(End of this chapter)