Reinventing the Millennium

Yoshihisa Ishida was elected CEO of Sony. Some people are happy and some are worried.

But it can be said that his appointment came from the collective appointment of shareholders, directors, and senior executives, and it was approved by the vote of all shareholders. It cannot be more legitimate in legal terms.

The Stringer era of Sony has completely come to an end. As the new head, Ishida accepted interviews with the media and responded positively to the questions from the outside world. He gave Sony’s estimated loss of around US$8 billion, talked about the direction of reform, and believed that Sony should Only when the group loses weight and gathers strength can it start again.

However, the next day, Sony's stock price plummeted again, verifying the secondary market's sentiment towards the unknown new CEO.

Although Yoshihisa Ishida has the nickname "Sony's Four Musketeers", he is not well-known outside. Regarding this Sony extraordinary shareholders meeting, the picture may not include the low-key external director Fang Zhuoduo.

Such a person took office and personally determined the estimated huge losses. Although it was less than what Wiki revealed, it was not much less. The market was quite pessimistic.

The newly minted new CEO may not look good on his face, but his emotions are not something Fang Zhuo cares about.

On the morning of the second day of the Sony shareholders' meeting, Fang Zhuo met at the hotel with Yu Nakagawa, who cast the key vote at yesterday's meeting.

Yu Nakagawa is Sony's executive vice president, responsible for the semiconductor and electronic components business. At the same time, he is also the chairman and CEO of subsidiary Sony Sensors.

The current board of directors and management of Sony Sensor Company are mainly employees of the parent company, but they are also changing with the development of the Third Ice Core Factory in Shanghai.

Because CMOS sensors require in-depth cooperation in the manufacturing process, the R\u0026D center and team in Shanghai are getting stronger and stronger, and these are the foundation of the sensor company.

Sony sensors also have production lines in Japan, but local technology is hampered by financial conditions and wafer manufacturing processes and is no longer as advanced as that in Shanghai.

Fang Zhuo had met Nakagawa Yu several times before when he was in Shanghai, and they had also talked about their cooperation on sensors.

As he made it clear at the meeting, this is a model of technical cooperation between the two companies, so he also had a phone call with this person before flying to Tokyo to ensure that Sony's power struggle this time would not affect him.

After all, in addition to the CEO and CFO, there are 12 group executives who will be responsible for Sony's huge losses.

As for Nakagawa Yu's considerations in supporting his colleague Yoshihisa Ishida to take office, that is his own business.

Fang Zhuo's meeting with Yu Nakagawa did not involve any private exchanges. He did not have this power as an outside director. He just elaborated on the inevitability of further deepening of mutual technical cooperation.

Yu Nakagawa is in charge of semiconductors at Sony, which is not only the business of the sensor subsidiary, or in other words, except for the sensors, the others are also at a loss.

He strongly agrees with Mr. Fang's view and believes that Yike, Bingxin and Sensor have reached a perfect cooperation. If Sony mobile phones are also launched in the future, it will be the most perfect win-win situation.

The meeting between the two did not last long, and they soon walked into the conference room with a reduced number of people to participate in the discussion of the new board of directors and high-level appointments.

Compared with yesterday, Fang Zhuo is more low-key today, and his appointment as an outside director and nomination committee has not made any waves.

Although he had a personal relationship with Stringer, Fangzhuo always kept a distance from Sony's internal affairs, and even seriously resigned from this position when he was in New York.

Therefore, due to the characteristics of outside directors, the enthusiastic current CEO Yoshihisa Ishida does not have too many scruples. Sony's overseas shareholders also believe that it is a good choice for someone like Mr. Fang to have a seat.

Today's meeting was as intense as yesterday. Ishida needs more of his own people to take over, while Nakahata still wants to maintain influence. The authority of the former CEO is not high enough. For the future of Sony, it is inevitable that compromises are needed to unite the majority. .

Fang Zhuo watched coldly. The only thing that interested him was that Kazuo Hirai, who was far away in New York, was discussed in a nonchalant manner about the business scope. His position would remain unchanged, but the work in hand would be reduced.

Without being able to take over, Hirai will continue to lose power within Sony.

As it neared the end of the day at noon, Fang Zhuo declined the invitation to the luncheon and planned to stroll around with his friends.

"Mr. Fang, thank you for your advice." Yoshihisa Ishida remained humble even after becoming CEO. He caught up with Mr. Fang who was leaving and asked for his opinion, "Do you have any more ideas about Sony's future? "

"Reform is easier said than done. You have to take it one step at a time." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "I have nothing to say about this matter because I have no experience in this area."

The company he owns is very young compared to Sony, and is far from ready for large-scale operations.

"Mr. Fang, do you think Sony can start investing in cloud computing?" Ishida Jiajiu asked a direction that surprised Fang Zhuo.

"Cloud computing is a direction that I am very optimistic about, and our company has recently established YWS." Fang Zhuo said truthfully, "If nothing else happens, this will be a market that will shine in the next ten years, but it is also a strategic focus, and a company’s strategic focus is always limited.”

He hesitated and said: "I'm not sure how long it will take for Sony to start from investment. During this period, there will be problems of tight funds and resources. You guys are starting from scratch, or even starting from a negative, well... it's hard to say."

Ishida Jiajiu nodded silently. Although his current reform of the company is just on paper, he has also thought about it repeatedly.

As one of the fastest-growing companies in the world, Yike's success is so dazzling, and it is right next door. He will inevitably think about Yike's business development and direction.

As companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Yike try to develop cloud business, Ishida Yoshida feels that Sony may also give it a try.

"Sony can obtain funds in Japan." Ishida Yoshihisa said this first, and then hesitantly said, "This direction needs to be carefully demonstrated."

This direction is obviously highly recognized by the recipient. Whether it can be used to drive long-term value...at the very least, it may not be possible for Sony now.

Fang Zhuo looked at Ishida Jiajiu's thinking expression and felt relieved. Good guy, can he really open up a new path?

He said: "No matter what, we still need to ease the financial pressure first."

Ishida Jiajiu nodded, walked a few steps, and asked: "Mr. Fang, you once purchased shares in the New York Building. In this situation, are you interested in the remaining part?"

Fang Zhuo found the feeling of an old friend from Ishida.

He smiled and said: "Sony has started selling and selling this time, and I am afraid that the external evaluation will not be very good."

"As the Chinese saying goes, even if there are tens of millions of people, I will leave." Yoshida Ishida sighed, "Although I can borrow money from banks, the use of my own funds is the least stressful."

"Leave this matter to the company to discuss." Fang Zhuo gave his attitude.

Sony also holds 60% of the shares of the New York Building. Last time it was a private purchase, this time it was handed over to Yike.

If it moves quickly enough, Yike's U.S. headquarters will be able to move to a new home next year.

Fang Zhuo chatted with Ishida Jiajiu for a few more words. Perhaps he had officially become the CEO. He could feel that this person was already a little complacent and just waiting to show off his skills.

However, the first step in flexing their muscles is probably to lay off employees, close factories, and cut off business.

After lunch was over, Fang Zhuo called the video to China.

Because Yike Line meetings are relatively stable, he now uses this to chat with Su Wei.

When Su Wei went online, her first words were what the Japanese media reported today: "You really want to be the chairman of Sony, right?"

"What? Can't I be the one?" Fang Zhuo asked with a smile.

"Hey, no, you, you..." Su Wei's first reaction was disbelief, but because the man was Fang Zhuo, and she thought it was possible, she could only ask again, "Sony isn't that abstract, is it? "

"No, there was an internal defeat. I originally wanted to fight." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "But just when everyone was about to vote, Ishida Yoshihisa jumped out and said that if he voted for me, he would commit suicide by caesarean section. There is no way, the votes were not cast on my side.”

Su Wei breathed a sigh of relief: "If he really did this, I'm afraid you would have become the chairman of Sony."

Fang Zhuo laughed.

"How does it feel to watch an aircraft carrier sink at close range?" Su Wei once again quoted the Japanese media.

"I don't feel much at all. I started by comparing Sony's Walkman back then, and now I want to buy a Sony building. It's quite emotional to think about it." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Don't tell me, I used to see people using it when I walked on the street. walkman.”

The Japanese market is relatively closed and stubborn. No matter how popular foreign products are, it will take more time to get market feedback here.

Su Wei showed a smile, and she also thought of the walkman that had been dismantled in the office.

She casually chatted about the situation in Shencheng, and then said: "Sony's stock price is very tragic. Doesn't everyone recognize Ishida?"

"Olympus, Kobe Steel, Takata, Sony, none of the exposed companies have good stock prices." Fang Zhuo shook his head, "It's just that various negative states have been superimposed in such an environment."

The worst thing is Olympus. Since the news that it may be forced to delist, its stock price has plummeted by 70%, from US$9 billion at the beginning to US$2.68 billion today.

This kind of tragic situation on Wall Street would make people jump off buildings, but the situation here in Tokyo is good, and I have never heard of anyone being unable to think about it.

Olympus hasn't fallen into place yet.

But there is another company that hopes to rival it. Takata's substandard airbags have officially attracted class-action lawsuits from users in the United States and several European countries. This matter cannot end with a bow and apology.

"It's really the darkest moment for Japanese business." Su Wei gave a serious evaluation.

This evaluation is similar to the domestic public opinion at the moment.

The little day next door was exposed as fraud by many major companies. This has been a hot topic on major media platforms. Everyone is very interested and paying attention to the progress of the situation.

"No." Fang Zhuo lowered his voice, "It hasn't reached the darkest place yet."

Su Wei "coughed", understanding it, but thinking that this was using the Internet, she immediately said more logically: "Yeah, several of them are like this, there must be others, and Toshiba's situation has not been confirmed yet. , when will you come back from Tokyo?"

"Come on, things here are almost over." Fang Zhuo made a pun.

Su Wei smiled and asked the man to bring some gifts back.

She lacked nothing, but gifts always brightened the mood.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, with the second day of Sony's extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, WikiLeaks, which had not been touched for many days, was updated again. This time, perhaps to make up for it, it released bad news about three Japanese companies at once.

As usual, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric had product fraud, while the giant Panasonic suffered huge losses.

If you cheat, you will lose money.

When the news from WikiLeaks was updated, even if Sony was voting on the board of directors, there was still a commotion, and everyone was whispering about the situation of their friends and businessmen.

There are no new tricks for the counterfeiters. They are just pretending to be unqualified and tampering with data, and the time is longer than expected. But Panasonic’s losses...

According to information provided by WikiLeaks, Panasonic's huge losses are even greater than Sony's, and may exceed tens of billions of dollars.

Losing more than Sony?

So how much will you lose?

How much food do you have?

The expressions of many people in the Sony Conference Hall became inexplicably excited.

Even the new CEO Ishida Yoshihisa sitting in front couldn't help but talk after learning the latest news: "Sony's losses are largely due to the huge impact of the natural disaster in March. Obviously, it is not only us who are affected, but also It’s not just us who need recovery.”

He even made a joke: "Although we all need to recover, I still hope that our Sony will recover faster than other brands."

This sentence is not appropriate.

Based on the public opinion situation of Japanese business, the words of Sony's new CEO have gained more attention than his reform of Sony.

The media ridiculed Ishida Yoshihisa: "Sony's situation is terrible, but Ishida Yoshihisa showed a disgusting smile after hearing that Panasonic was suspected to be even worse. Can such a person also serve as the CEO of a brand like Sony that makes all the people proud?"

It is unclear whether Ishida Yoshihisa, who has only been CEO for a day, will stand up and apologize for inappropriate remarks. As soon as the Wiki news came out, new titles and analyzes were drafted with ease.

Everyone is now very familiar with the process.

However, the scale of Panasonic's huge losses is still questionable. Unlike Sony, which usually reports small losses, Panasonic's financial reports for the first two quarters have always shown losses.

It suffered a loss of US$320 million in the first quarter and a loss of US$450 million in the second quarter.

Such a loss figure is already staggering, and Panasonic did not cover up its poor condition.

No, perhaps, it is still covering up, covering up an even more shocking loss situation.

The news in the afternoon sent stock prices plunging before the market closed.

That night, in the face of unconfirmed news, even TV Tokyo couldn't help lamenting in its report that the image of Japanese giants on a global scale has suffered this time.

What happened to Japanese companies?

After lamenting, TV Tokyo gave a program preview, and has invited business giants such as Fang Zhuo of Yike, Nissan's Ghosn, and SoftBank's Masayoshi Son to discuss the current bad situation.