Rebirth of the Internet Overlord

{Time: May 25, 2005}

{Location: United States-Armonk, New York}

In just two days, Ning Zimo moved from the warm California to the slightly cold New York. The cold air not only allowed Ning Zimo to experience the damn weather in New York, but also allowed Ning Zimo to experience the plan.

The sense of frustration.

Ning Zimo couldn't help but smile bitterly. He remembered that before leaving California, he explained to Li Ying in a shameless manner, "I'm procrastinating because I was poor some time ago."

In fact, the current result is entirely because the Emperor Penguin completely lost to others in the current hard power competition.

This is the first real failure since rebirth!

Also allow yourself to experience the ingenuity and inefficiency of a heavy sword without an edge!

In the face of all "strength",

All conspiracies and tricks are paper tigers.

However, the other party's representative, Stephen Ward, advanced and retreated in a measured manner and expressed enough apology, which left Ning Zimo completely speechless.

Ning Zimo frowned and suddenly saw Stephen Ward moving opposite him.

Looking up at the vice president of the IBM Personal Systems Division, Ning Zimo still smiled: "Stephen, at least you told us before the final decision was made clear, so that we wouldn't know what you decided after the media.

News. So... thank you for your candid statement."

Stephen Ward nodded to Ning Zimo and said apologetically, "Sorry, Ning, our decision to reject your acquisition is definitely a comprehensive consideration that took into account many reasons."

Stephen Ward paused, then looked at Ning Zimo and continued: "If IBM only sells the ThinkPad brand and Neon National University and laboratories to your company, then this decision depends on our IBM Personal PC Division.

Not good news.

Because for our potential future partners, it is definitely impossible for them to accept a personal PC division with no brand value and only sales channels and production lines.

On the contrary, Luanluowan fully takes over IBM's personal PC business department, as well as the corresponding production, channels and service centers of the ThinkPad brand. This can be regarded as a supply piece for IBM and Luanluowan.

So after careful consideration, we can only reluctantly reject your high-priced acquisition invitation."

Ning Zimo nodded slightly, he was still very clear about the meaning behind IBM's decision.

In May last year, Ning Zimo had already planned to acquire the related matters of IBM's projects before the bad news.

Unlike Luo Laowan, who is preparing to win the IBM personal computer business and obtain the right to use the IBM brand and global sales channels, Ning Zimo does not have much ambition for the declining personal PC, but for the sake of the Damo Academy.

Prepare in one stage.

DAMO Academy is positioned as an intelligent hardware laboratory. In addition to chips and solutions, DAMO Academy needs to output all content related to the overall hardware for Emperor Penguins. Therefore, DAMO Academy is the key player in the entire process of Emperor Penguins in the next mobile Internet era.

The most important part.

But whether it is Zhang Lihua or Mike Zafirovsky, the former Motorola CEO who joined DAMO Academy in August last year. It is not enough for them to mobilize their contacts to gather talents. Ning Zimo naturally wants to use

Some methods of mergers and acquisitions can most directly acquire teams with relevant experience.

Therefore, this intended acquisition is not only for the ThinkPad brand to echo the "iPad" brand that has been acquired. The most important thing is to acquire the most important locomotive of IBM Computer, "Neon National University and Laboratory"

"(yamato)'s laptop and desktop computer-related R&D team.

Speaking of Yamato Labs, Ning Zimo remembers the evaluation of it by the notebook industry in his previous life.

It is said that Daiwa Labs is the greatest asset of the ThinkPad brand, because Daiwa Labs is the design and development center for IBM laptops. Many innovations in design, specifications, materials and concepts in the global laptop industry are often led by Daiwa Labs.

As early as 1992, the first notebook computer named after the ThinkPad brand, ThinkPad 700c, was born in Neon National University and Laboratory.

The main theme of ThinkPad is simplicity, no redundant structure, emphasis on feel and touch, unified logo and the famous red dot used as a mouse. These are still the most classic elements of ThinkPad notebooks.

It can be said that notebook products in the early years did not have any industry standards, and everything was blank. However, Yamato Laboratory of Neon Country gradually set up some standards from scratch to build ThinkPad into a classic brand.

Such an experienced team is the weapon that Ning Zimo has thought up early on to use against the mysterious product laboratory behind Apple.

Before that, whenever Ning Zimo thought that his future opponent in the mobile Internet era would be Apple and someone as paranoid as Steve Jobs, Ning Zimo felt futile and powerless about the details that needed to be worked out in the future.

He originally thought that he could gain some experience in advance by acquiring Yamato Laboratories. As the chosen one, he never expected that IBM would buy the company for as much as 1 billion or even 1.5 billion US dollars after careful consideration.

Rejected.

"Ning, we IBM and Lenovo plan to form a complex joint venture, which will make Lenovo the third largest personal computer manufacturer in the world, second only to Dell and HP. It will also help IBM get involved in personal computers.

business, and the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter."

Stephen Ward continued to explain, "Under the agreement, IBM will acquire 18.9% of Lenovo's shares. Lenovo will acquire the IBM PC division for US$1.25 billion and assume debt, which will bring the total cost to US$1.75 billion."

Based on the past sales data of our two companies in 2004, the annual sales volume of this new joint venture is expected to reach 11.9 million units and the expected revenue is US$15 billion. This will quadruple Lenovo's current PC business, and

Under our agreement, Lenovo will become IBM's preferred PC supplier.

Moreover, in addition to the brand 'thinkpad' you want to acquire, we will also license the 'ibm' brand to Lenovo for five years. And we, IBM, promise to provide support to Lenovo through sales staff and marketing.

Ultimately, the combined company will have approximately 10,000 IBM employees and 9,200 Lenovo employees. It will be headquartered in New York, with operations in Peking, your country, and Raleigh, North Carolina, in the United States."

"You already want to announce it to the public?" Ning Zimo said in a stunned tone.

It’s no wonder that IBM rejected its own proposal. Although 1 billion to 1.5 billion US dollars seems to be a lot. But what Lenovo wants is the ThinkPad brand and cooperation with some other companies. As for Yamato Labs, which supports the ThinkPad brand, Lenovo will naturally not let go.

of.

Before, I was thinking about splitting ThinkPad from Lenovo.

Thinking about it now, this idea will be a bit taken for granted in the future.

"Yes," Stephen Ward nodded. "Before we determine what kind of reply we will give you, our negotiations with Lenovo have already finalized all the framework and details. After I inform you of your needs, we will inform you tomorrow.

We will work with Lenovo to officially announce this news."

Hmmmm, this is really an irreversible trend!

Lenovo has spent a lot of money to get closer to the PC business, and it even did not hesitate to use 18.9% of Lenovo's shares in exchange for this opportunity!

Under the same conditions, Ning Zimo felt that he couldn't open it. There was no question whether the Emperor Penguin would be listed on the market, let alone the future of the Emperor Penguin, which Lenovo could compare with.

but……

Ning Zimo looked at Stephen Ward, always feeling that the other party was so open and honest, which completely violated the logic of confidentiality.

"Stephen, at least part of what you just told me should not be announced to the outside world, right?" Ning Zimo wondered.

Stephen Ward heard this and shook his head gently, "Ning, that's not the case. All the information I just conveyed to you is a paraphrase of what we are preparing to announce to the media. So you don't have to worry..."

"Then tell me your purpose." Ning Zimo frowned.

If it is a rejection, just email or call or inform Luo Shuohan, who is specifically responsible for this matter. Why do you have to wait until you come to the door to get feedback? So even if this is the so-called respect mentioned by the other party, then this respect is not enough.

Seems a little too much.

Stephen Ward saw the condensation between Ning Zimo's brows and didn't care. Instead, he stood up and walked towards Ning Zimo and said: "Ning, actually I was entrusted by someone to invite you to Armonk this time...

…”

???

Ning Zimo was confused,

The most amazing thing is that anyone can make him come all the way from California.

Gerstner?

Palmisano?

These two big guys shouldn’t be paying attention to themselves, right?

Out of curiosity, Ning Zimo watched Stephen Ward open the small door on one side of the conference room.

Then, a somewhat impressive oriental face appeared in front of Ning Zimo with a kind smile.

Out of curiosity, the white-haired middle-aged man had already walked towards Ning Zimo with a smile. Out of respect, Ning Zimo quickly bowed his body and took the initiative to move forward.

When the two hands were held together, before Ning Zimo could say anything, the white-haired middle-aged man opposite smiled and said in Chinese:

"In the past two years, I have heard Zimo's name in the Internet industry, and I have been looking forward to meeting Zimo. I didn't expect that when I came to the headquarters to sign a contract this time, I unexpectedly got such an opportunity..."

The man shook his hand lightly and introduced with a smile, "I am Henry Chow."

Zhou Wei?

Ning Zimo felt strange,

What kind of love is this...

Zhou Wei!!!

Chairman and CEO of IBM Dahua District!!!

Ning Zimo suddenly remembered who this person was! No wonder he always felt that this person looked kind-hearted just now.

Among Zhou Wei's many titles, the one that impressed Ning Zimo the most was the fact that in 2001, the same year he was hired as a visiting professor at Luffy's current school, Shanghai Jiaotong University, he was appointed as a senior economic adviser to senior officials of Zhonghua Qin Province.

IBM is the company I admire the most besides Paypal, and Zhou Wei has a connection with his hometown.

Therefore, Zhou Wei was one of the few powerful figures in his previous life that he could remember except ***, who was related to his hometown and political circles.

He was appointed as the chairman of IBM Flower Planting Company Co., Ltd. in July 1995, and he has a legendary impression in his mind. After he became the chairman and CEO of IBM Large Flower Planting Region in September of the same year, he has been in charge of IBM.

Business in flower growing mainland, Hong Kong Province and Bay Area.

IBM has tens of thousands of employees in Zhonghua, distributed in 20 cities, and has also established 12 wholly-owned and joint ventures engaged in manufacturing, professional services and software development. All of them are moving in an orderly manner under the leadership of Zhou Wei.

Ning Zimo still remembers society’s high evaluation of Zhou Wei:

If there is any person who can represent the image of his company to the greatest extent, it must be Zhou Wei; if there is any professional manager of a multinational company who is most qualified to become a model for professional managers to learn from, it must be Zhou Wei

.

This is definitely true for the senior experts, but Luban Technology’s ERP software business has a “cooperative” relationship with IBM’s large planting area to a certain extent, which is both an enemy and a friend.

this,

So kind now,

You can't actually come here to cause trouble, right?