Top of the big era

The next day, Zhou Buqi received a call from Boss Wang, saying that he had considered it all night and then held an overnight meeting with domestic executives before finally deciding.

Get rid of all distractions and buy AMC theaters!

Zhou Buqi said "congratulations". As for the specific discussions between the two parties, he would not participate and could not help much. At this time, Don Mattrick also called and said that he could talk about EA.

"I'm in Los Angeles."

"Then I'll rush there now?"

"Huh? Where are you?"

"I'm at my old company, so I'm on my way."

Don Mattrick really has a strong spirit of being a professional manager. He is very considerate of his boss and wants to go out of his way to report in person.

The so-called old company is the part of the game division that was originally affiliated with Ziweixing International. It is now a branch of Changyou, and its U.S. headquarters is already located in New York.

For Zhou Buqi, this matter is actually quite important.

This is related to Changyou’s next merger and acquisition ideas.

Although he admires the business development ideas of making money by being friendly and not fighting or picking troubles, it does not mean that he is willing to be bullied. If EA is really targeting him intentionally, there's nothing much to say.

How to repay kindness with kindness?

In the matter of Friend's Studio, EA indeed suffered a serious loss, which caused it to vomit blood. However, Zhou Buqi has never deliberately targeted EA. This is a normal business operation.

Even in April last year, Friend Studio was valued at US$3 billion.

Finally, in August, Ziweixing International was sold to EA for less than US$2 billion, which was considered a big concession.

Zhou Buqi never forced EA to do anything.

All results are pursued proactively by EA. They even spent money on public relations, went to regulators to jump in line, come to approve the deal in advance, and got it approved.

Everything is EA's active choice.

As for whether you make a loss or make a profit, that is a normal thing in the business world.

However, Changyou has been negotiating with the British game studio Codemasters for more than two years, and finally the negotiation was concluded...At the last moment, EA showed up and made an extremely high premium offer.

They may not even have done due diligence before making a hasty offer, which is completely inconsistent with the common logic of M\u0026A transactions.

What is it not aimed at?

Don Mattrick is somewhat embarrassed, because he served as an executive of EA in the 1990s and was a meritorious senior vice president.

The two parties met here at Ziweixing Global.

Zhou Buqi stood up, like a polite corporal, took the coffee from Ning Lu's hand from a distance, and handed it to him, "How is it? I heard that there is chaos at EA?"

Mattrick nodded, shook his head again, and sighed, "If it hadn't been for chaos, they wouldn't have made such random decisions."

Zhou Buqi understood, "So, EA is deliberately targeting Changyou?"

Mattrick coughed, "To be precise, it's aimed at you."

Zhou Buqi said: "There is no difference."

Mattrick said: "There is actually a certain internal logic behind EA's desire to acquire Codemasters. In the past two years, EA has been investing in the social game market and has spent a lot of money. Unexpectedly, the social game industry suddenly fell off a cliff. The market fell. The conservative forces within the company were furious.”

Zhou Buqi laughed dumbly.

For most companies, there will be two distinctive factions within the company, one is conservative and the other is radical. There are also Ziweixing, He Yang is a conservative, and Guo Pengfei is a radical.

Both factions have their pros and cons.

Conservatives can stabilize their position and protect the company's fundamentals; radicals can look for more profit points to expand territory and welcome the new era.

Some companies, because the conservatives are too strong, have old businesses, lack innovation, gradually fail to keep up with the times, and are then eliminated by the times;

For some companies, because the radicals are too strong, innovation means risk. Once a decision is made incorrectly, they will suffer huge losses, or the company develops too fast and grows wildly, which may lead to the collapse of tall buildings.

For EA, the layout of the social game industry in the past few years has been dominated by radicals who want to keep up with the new era.

However, it is now clear that this is the wrong path.

It caused huge losses to EA.

Therefore, conflicts broke out in the board of directors. The radical CEO wanted to step down, and the conservative CEO wanted to step up to stabilize the company's business.

Codemasters is a traditional game company. EA's acquisition of Codemasters must be a decision made by conservatives. It is a strategy of conservatives who want to save EA.

Mattrick said: "The conservatives have the upper hand. Since the new development route is unclear and cannot be found, it is better to strengthen the existing territory and use EA's advantages in traditional client games to further strengthen itself. Stay the same to cope with all changes. When the direction of the market is clear and a new way out for the game industry is found, it will not be too late for EA to make plans."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "It's also a way to stabilize the overall situation."

Just like people.

When you are angry, don't make any decision, calm yourself down first. No matter who they are, their IQ is zero when they are angry. Wait until you feel calmer before making a comprehensive judgment.

EA's overall situation is already in dire straits, so we must not make blind decisions. If you enter the mobile game track in a hurry, what if you go in the wrong direction? This little bit of EA's heritage has really been drained away.

The conservatives appeared at this time to stabilize the situation.

Lead EA back to the traditional game perspective.

Let’s talk about the way out for the future later!

EA needs to stabilize the situation first, clean up the mess caused by the radicals in the past two years, recover some blood, and recuperate. When the way out for the future is clear, then follow the trend and go out to explore.

Better to be slow than wrong.

However, this is not a reason for Zhou Buqi to let EA go. "This is not a key issue, whether the radicals are in power or the conservatives are in power. EA's offer this time has seriously damaged Changyou's interests! This makes Changyou’s efforts over the past two years have all been in vain!”

"Of course, this is a point that cannot be ignored." Mattrick was also dissatisfied with this. "Codemasters is a good company and a company I like. Don't forget, my famous work is the racing game."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi suddenly remembered after hearing his reminder, "Yes, "Need for Speed"!"

Mattrick smiled and said: "Yes, after I joined EA, the first successful game developed was "Need for Speed". Because of the success of this product, I was promoted and led "FIFA Football" series, allowing this game to be compared to Pro Evolution Soccer."

Zhou Buqi finally understood the cause and effect, and said with a smile: "No wonder after you became CEO, you used the fastest method to finalize the Codemasters case that has not been discussed for two years. You are an expert in racing games, Codemasters’ games are all racing games, which are just enough for you to express your ambitions.”

Mattrick nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, I mainly want to develop a mobile version of a racing game. This market is still relatively blank."

Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "Where's EA? What do you think?"

Mattrick said firmly: "There is no doubt that EA is deliberately targeting us. The most criticized transaction by EA's radicals is the acquisition of a friend's studio. Conservatives are very angry about this. Launched against Codemasters The bidding acquisition can not only strengthen EA's position in the traditional racing game industry, but also counterattack. So they acted quickly and resolutely."

"Counterattack?" Zhou Buqi shook his head and said lightly, "You can't say that. I have never attacked EA, so how can I talk about counterattack? When there is an attack, there will be a counterattack. Now, it is EA who is moving towards If Chang You attacks, Chang You should be the one to counterattack!"