Global Monopoly of Technology

The latest website: "Mr. Luo, I am very curious why you are interested in Sony's Cell chip?" question.

Howard didn't expect to get a real reply from the other party.

"We are here to make friends. Sony is a great consumer electronics empire, and Côte d'Azur very much hopes to form an alliance with such a company. Our philosophy is to hope that people all over the world are our good friends. We hope that there are few enemies and many friends. Yes, they are all willing and willing to cooperate with us, we believe that the future winners are not obtained through competition, but cooperation." Luo Sheng looked at the Englishman and said with a smile. Information.

"Make friends?" Howard couldn't help laughing, looking directly at the other party: "I haven't seen any friends who came up to peep at the Cell processor project that he spent more than 4 billion US dollars on."

"But Cell has become the biggest joke in the history of chips." Luo Sheng replied.

It really is a pot that cannot be opened without mentioning.

"Then why are you still interested in Cell?" Howard stared at him and asked, unmoved.

"So, we are here to make friends." Luo Sheng said with a smile.

The words went back and forth, leaving Howard dumbfounded for a moment, but for a moment he added: "Sony is also very happy to be friends with the Côte d'Azur, but it should not be at the expense of the Cell processor, we will not sell this business, Sony is also early The crisis has been completely out of the way, and the Cell processor is a product jointly developed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba, and it is not Sony's decision to sell it."

Howard officially took the helm of this electronics empire in 2005. At that time, Sony was in a difficult period. As soon as he took office, he announced a "medium and long-term corporate strategy to revive the electronics business and strengthen the group's performance". The company will focus on three cores. Its business areas are deeply cultivated, namely: electronics, games, film and television entertainment, and its strategy focuses on strengthening the competitiveness of the group company, especially revitalizing the electronics business.

The research and development investment of the Cell processor of more than 4 billion US dollars has not recovered the cost after so many years. For Sony, this price is a bit too heavy.

Still, thanks to price cuts and a shortage of Nintendo's Wii console, sales of Sony's PS3 console are improving, with sales of 200,000 units a week in North America and Europe since Black Friday last year, and in its home market of Japan, A week's sales can also reach about 400,000 to 500,000 units.

Following this trend,

By 2009 next year, the hole in the Cell chip should be able to be filled. Of course, if this non-performing asset can be sold, Sony's accounts will immediately become gorgeous.

But the price is still heavy, because Sony has done nothing in the past six or seven years, while its competitors are constantly improving. The invisible loss here is immeasurable.

So many years are not only in vain, but in an era of rapid technological progress, being delayed for six or seven years is a catastrophic blow.

The price is to make Sony's dream and ambition to revive its past glory basically declared bankrupt. The opponent is already far ahead, and now the taillights that have been thrown are no longer visible.

Today's Sony, the PS4 that is being developed is no longer noisy, and honestly chooses Intel's x86 architecture. As for the dream of overturning the "toothpaste factory", it can basically only stay in the dream stage.

Does Sony really want to make a fuss? Of course not, but there is no capital to make trouble.

At this moment, Luo Sheng and the other party continued to mediate between you and me, and gradually got some general context.

On the surface, Sony is like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water. It still treats Cell as a baby and covers it. In fact, it can't hide from Luo Sheng's eyes. Announcing the adoption of sworn enemy Intel's x86 architecture?

Therefore, Luo Sheng has decided on the other party, and Sony's heart is actually in a state of wandering and entanglement.

On the one hand, they really want to sell, and the reason is very simple. Few people are willing to carry a tow oil bottle, but at the same time, although the dream is broken, it still lingers in their hearts.

Find out what the other person wants to find the right medicine.

However, just when Luo Sheng organized the language and was about to speak, Howard suddenly asked him: "Mr. Luo, I suddenly feel... Are you really here to make friends with Sony? I seriously doubt that you want to enter the console market as a First party, you're a terrible competitor, Sony won't be fooled!"

After speaking, Howard looked directly at each other with firm eyes.

"What?? NONONO..." Luo Sheng denied without hesitation: "Sir Stringer, why do you have such thoughts? NONO, I never thought of entering the game console market at all."

After a moment's pause, Luo Sheng said nonsense in a serious manner, with reason and reason: "Without him, if you occupy a large pool, attacking a small pool is easy, but if you only occupy a small pool, attacking a large pool is as difficult as the sky. Times have changed. Now, Sir. The game console market is nowhere near comparable to that of home computers, the foundation is not good, and the pool can't draw much water. What reason do you think I should enter the game console market?"

After he finished speaking, Luo Sheng secretly said in his heart, "Oh, what the hell", but he did not reveal the slightest flaw in the words of the other party, and the other party did not detect any useful information from him.

Luo Sheng also did not shy away from looking at the head of Sony, and added: "So Cell is doomed to fail, your company wants to overturn Intel's hegemony, you may not like to hear it, but with all due respect, Sony Too naive and too tragic, everyone saw that Sony's result was a tragedy, but Sony took the lead, you must know that you are not only facing Intel, challenging x86 means challenging the developers of the whole world, which is One is doomed before it even begins."

"You haven't even figured out how to play with the ecosystem. Whether it's Wintel's joint effort, or the AOS ecosystem developed by the Côte d'Azur, our success is due to our strong software and hardware integration capabilities, and Cell's boring hardware In research and development, the software is left to developers to optimize, how can it be successful?"

"Take ten thousand steps back, Sony's tragic lesson is like yesterday's reappearance. A road of failure that has been verified by Sony through bloody lessons. I have to walk again? Am I crazy?"

In the face of Luo Sheng's ruthless ridicule, whether it was Sony's head Howard Stringer or the Japanese executives who accompanied him, they were angry but speechless.

Because Sony has realized this since summing up the lessons of failure, but what is the use of hindsight?

It's too late!

Sony has no money anymore, and it can't keep up with its rivals with money. Now it's impossible to do it.

In seven years, if you don't advance, you will retreat. You can't see the taillights of the dark toothpaste factory. If you go on, Sony may really collapse and go bankrupt.

In the end, Howard was still in a stance of disbelief, and asked again: "We have communicated for a long time, Mr. Luo, but you still hide it from me and do not want to say why you want to buy Cell, what do you want to do? what?"

Luo Sheng shrugged with an indifferent attitude and said: "Well, Cell is a failed work, but the technology is still there, and there are some outstanding engineers who have accumulated experience. We think these are very helpful to the Côte d'Azur. , we hope to be able to actively absorb it, but that doesn't prevent you from making friends with Sony, right?"

Howard said lightly: "I hope so."

Obviously, Howard, the old fox, still only believed half of Luo Sheng's words, or even less.

But one thing is certain, even if a consensus can be reached on this merger and acquisition transaction, it cannot be done in three or two days.

After a while, Howard asked, "How much is your company willing to bid?"

Hearing this sentence, Luo Sheng was secretly refreshed and smiled knowingly. This inquiry is very important. Asking for a quotation shows that he wants to sell.

Luo Sheng said concisely: "$1.3 billion."

When the offer came out, several Japanese executives from Sony who were present immediately felt the urge to be furious. Howard frowned and said, "Is this your company's sincerity? If so, I don't think it will go on. If necessary, I'd rather let Cell rot on Sony's asset list as a bad asset."

What an international joke? Sony invested 4 billion US dollars in research and development, and Cell lost as much as 3 billion US dollars. Not to mention that the product failed, but the technical precipitation will not disappear.

Luo Sheng immediately asked back: "I still think this is reasonable, but I also want to hear your company's expectations, Sir Stringer, what is your expected offer price?"

Negotiation is the art of compromise. In the end, they fight for concessions. In constant bargaining, they gradually approach the real bottom line of the other party. If a consensus is reached, the transaction can be traded. If no consensus is reached, the negotiation will fail.

Howard: "$2.8 billion!"

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