Super Tycoon

IBM, also known as International Business Machines Corporation, used to start out as a typewriter, then started to provide computers and related services, and now it has dabbled in communication technology and so on.

At one time, they were also the largest software company in the world. It was not surpassed by Microsoft until 1999.

The company has always been in the top 100 of the world's top 500 companies, and has never been in the top ten, but the company's brand has always been in the forefront.

In 1992, the company lost close to five billion U.S. dollars, setting a record loss at the time. It is precisely because of this that the company's business focus gradually shifted from hardware to software and services, and turned losses into profits in one fell swoop, becoming the largest software company at that time.

In 2002, the global financial industry was not good, and many enterprises saw a decline in profitability, but IBM launched a research plan worth tens of billions of dollars.

IBM has paid great attention to technology research and development before, especially likes to apply for patents, and the application speed is very fast. Today, IBM has more than 30,000 technical patents, many of which are patent portfolios.

Relying on these patented technologies, they can not only obtain more profits, but also crowd out competitors, making them have to pay more money to be similar to them in technology.

They are also constantly cross-licensing with other companies. Even so, they have brought billions of dollars in net profit to the company through patent licensing.

This also gave IBM a taste of the sweetness. They hope that in the future, they can discover in this direction that they don’t need so many hardware factories and equipment, and rely on some professional technical talents to create great value.

In this way, the enterprise's ability to resist risks will increase a lot, and it will be able to survive every crisis smoothly. That's why they decided to sell IBM's PC business. On the one hand, they can exchange for some cash and investment, and on the other hand, they can slim down the company, reduce expenses, and increase profit margins.

In fact, the negotiations were almost done last year, but because there were so many interests and policies in the design, it was not until March this year that the relevant agencies of the two countries agreed to the transaction permission, and planned to sign the contract formally in May to complete the transaction.

Liu Chuanzhi's team has already come here, and Liu Chuanzhi also came here last week. The two sides are negotiating some final details, mainly about some technologies.

As for the market, brand, etc., they have already negotiated, and both parties want to complete it as soon as possible, so this part of the concession does not matter.

However, on technical issues, the two sides had some differences, and now they are almost at the end of the discussion.

But today Liu Chuanzhi is very energetic,

Because Zhang Yang is here.

Zhang Yang, let me introduce you. This is Samuel Palmisano. He also has a Chinese name, Peng Mingsheng. He is currently the president of IBM. Samuel, this is Zhang, the chairman of Zhiduoxing Group. Yang is also the director and chief strategic advisor of Lianxiang Group.

Hello Zhang, it's an honor to meet you.

Hello. Zhang Yang was also looking at the helm of Big Blue, who proposed a research plan worth tens of billions of dollars, laying a good foundation for IBM's future.

Old Liu, how is your talk going? Are the details finalized? Zhang Yang turned his head and asked.

It's almost there. What's left is some payment methods and time, as well as the details of the subsequent patent priority authorization and other terms and conditions. It can be completed in two days, and the contract can be signed next week at the latest.

Liu Chuanzhi also felt that it was not easy. He started the negotiation last year and it is only now that the negotiation has been completed. The bigger the company, the more complicated the negotiation on the details, because any one of the terms may bring a gap of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Then congratulations, I think this is a win-win situation for Lian Xiang and IBM. Zhang Yang switched to English.

Hahaha, Zhang, you are right, we are a win-win situation. Peng Mingsheng said with a smile, I actually have some things that I want to discuss with Zhang. Is your company interested in cooperating with us?

The other party offered to cooperate, but Zhang Yang did not directly refuse: How to cooperate? What aspects?

Our company has a lot of technology related to game console processors, and has some experience in the development of game console systems. Your company is also the world's leader in game consoles. How about a cooperation?

Zhang Yang smiled: But the products you cooperate with don't sell very well. Sunny has always been our underdog, and it's been going downhill in the past two years. Is there anything special about your new generation of products?

Starting from PS2, Suuni is no longer the opponent of Zhi Duoxing. And Zhiduoxing is about to launch G3, and the relevant specifications of Sunny's PS3 have not been announced to the public, which proves that the research and development has not yet been completed.

In the previous life, Suuni's PS3 was only released to the market at the end of next year. In this life, even if it is earlier, it will definitely be next year, and it will not have much impact on Zhiduoxing.

There must be something special, that is, the performance, especially in terms of game performance, is very good. Palmisano continued.

I'm sorry, our company has shares in Chaowei Eagle Weida, so we will only purchase the other party's core processors. And now Chaowei Eagle Weida is ahead of Intel in dual-core technology, and it is currently the last word-of-mouth processor in the market. There is no need for me to be far away from the dual-core processor manufacturers.

Perhaps IBM has many unique features in the design, and the performance of the PS3 in the previous life is indeed not bad, but the cost is too high to sell.

In fact, there is not much difference in the performance of the game consoles of the four game console manufacturers. Price is a very important determining factor, followed by games.

Now Sunny's game camp has been further reduced. Although IBM has joined Microsoft and participated in the design of Sega Bandai Neptune, Zhang Yang is still not optimistic.

The blind pursuit of hardware performance has taken a detour.

Peng Mingsheng's face was not very good-looking. He originally wanted to cooperate with Zhi Duoxing, but he did not expect that the other party refused without hesitation.

If there is some cooperation in communication technology, I would be very willing. Zhang Yang said suddenly.

IBM also has many communication-related patents, which are what Zhang Yang is envious of. IBM has been the company with the number one new patents for many years, so some people call it Patent Machine Company.

communication? Only then did Peng Mingsheng recall that there was indeed a smart phone on the market recently, and it was said that it was selling well. The ultra-thin V3, second only to Motorola in sales in North America, outperformed the new BlackBerry.

Then we have something to talk about. If you are free tonight, can we have dinner together? Peng Mingsheng invited.

OK.

Peng Mingsheng stood up and said goodbye, leaving room for Zhang Yang and Liu Chuanzhi. Zhang Yang also learned that Lian Xiang had paid a huge price for the acquisition of IBM's PC business this time.

600 million dollars in cash, 650 million dollars in stocks, and 500 million dollars in debt from the other party, with a total price of 1.75 billion dollars. No wonder other competitors withdrew early.

And IBM will also hold about 19% of the shares of Lianxiang, becoming one of the major shareholders.