Silicon Valley

"Don't be nervous," Henry smiled at Jiang Wanmeng looking at Jiang Wanmeng's somewhat uneasy expression, "perhaps you should be glad that you came to Real-Networks. If you cooperate with C-cube to design the decoding chip, In order to make more money, they will also sell the decoding chip to other companies! You know, if they don't sell the decoding chip, there will be other companies designing the decoding chip in the face of the huge market demand! Businessmen seek profit, Nothing wrong!"

In fact, the American ESS billion world company has become one of the two companies that monopolize China's VCD decoding chip after C-Cube company!

Not only that, the movement, another key technology of the VCD machine, is also controlled by Philips and Sony.

It can be said that China is a VCD power rather than a power.

Philips, C-cube and several companies sneeze, and the Chinese VCD market will catch a cold!

Chinese VCDs without key technologies can only be strangled by the neck! Although Jiang Wanmeng has good ideas, he can only develop in cooperation with foreign companies, which has to be said to be a kind of sadness.

Hearing this, Jiang Wanmeng frowned in thought.

Henry continued: "Besides, the Chinese don't know what VCD is! Therefore, in order to sell the product, it is necessary to promote it in the early stage. However, with your financial resources, I am afraid that it will be weak in the future! Once the Chinese people know what VCD is. The time is the critical moment to fight for production capacity. And the huge publicity in the early stage will inevitably lead to a reduction in production costs! That is to say, it is completely making wedding dresses for others!!!”

"Also, just to make a VCD player, if there is no film source, users will not buy it, just like a gun, without bullets, it is useless. It is conceivable that as the first developer to develop a VCD player What difficulties will the manufacturers be facing!" Henry's mouth rose slightly. He chuckled, "Maybe the first person to eat crabs, but it may also be a stepping stone for others. Become a martyr!"

Jiang Wanmeng couldn't help but nodded, "Mr. Williams, you are right, these problems really need to be solved urgently. Otherwise, even launching a VCD player would be very difficult!"

Henry smiled. After the establishment of Wanyan VCD Company, in order to win the film source, it directly acquired the copyrights of 11 audio-visual publishing houses. However. How useful are the copyrights of 11 audiovisual publishing houses? Poorly sourced. Users are reluctant to buy. VCD can fire, a big reason is the flood of pirated VCD discs!

"Mr. Jiang Wanmeng, you may have some understanding of the CD standard. The CD technology patents basically belong to Philips and Sony. As early as the late 1970s, the magnetic recording technology was well-established, such as audio tapes, video tapes, etc., while laser storage However, the research on storage technology has only begun, and as a result, this peach was picked by the famous Philips company in the Netherlands, and they launched the LD (Laser-Disk) laser disc. This thing is the predecessor of the CD.

Sony originally had no technology in optical storage, but when they saw the LD laser disc developed by Philips, they could not help realizing the benefits of this kind of thing. So, with a shy face, he stepped forward and said that he wanted to cooperate. After that, Sony got the technology, and then worked with Philips to promote the CD standard, but you can imagine how difficult it is to promote a standard. Sony and Philips in order to promote the CD standard. Finally, it cooperated with Hollywood studios and major record companies around the world, and even Sony acquired Columbia Pictures!

What I mean by saying this is that I want to tell you that if you cooperate with me, you will not only get technical and financial support, but also get the support of Hollywood Galaxy Films. After that, you will be able to win over several film companies, so that the VCD player will have the Enough sources! ! ! "

Hearing this, Jiang Wanmeng's eyes lit up, he looked at Henry, and couldn't help but say in a deep voice: "After saying so much, I have roughly understood what you mean. No matter what, you are my best partner. Just tell me, Mr. Williams, how are you going to cooperate?"

Henry smiled slightly and said: "The two sides invested in the joint development of the VCD machine, and the VCD decoding chip was designed by ARM, and then authorized to be produced and used by the newly established VCD company! That is to say, the newly established VCD company will not be subject to the decoding chip. I think this way should be better than the way you cooperate with C-cube company!”

Jiang Wanmeng couldn't help but nodded when he heard the words, "Yes, it is indeed better than C-cube's cooperation method!"

Authorized production obviously means that the new company has the autonomy to produce decoding chips, and they can produce as much as they want, without worrying about getting stuck!

"Haha," Henry smiled, looked at him, and asked lightly, "Then how should the equity be distributed?"

Jiang Wanmeng hesitated for a moment and did not speak.

Henry asked, "How much money can you come up with?"

Henry had seen Jiang Wanmeng's personal information in his previous life and clearly remembered that on March 18, 1993, Jiang Wanmeng and Sun Yansheng jointly invested 17 million US dollars to establish Wanyan Company. However, Jiang Wanmeng's personal wealth may not be so much, but the company behind him is rich.

The Wanyan VCD Company in the previous life was a collectively owned enterprise, that is, a state-owned enterprise. Sun Yansheng belongs to foreign capital, but does not occupy absolute control!

Jiang Wanmeng hesitated for a moment before saying, "10 million US dollars!"

"Okay, I will pay 20 million US dollars and hold 70% of the shares. Do you have any opinions?" In the spring of 1992, Comrade Xiaoping's speech in the south cleared the obstacles for further accelerating reform and opening up and making more use of foreign direct investment. You can only invest in shares, and you cannot achieve absolute holding! But now it is possible, otherwise, Henry would not have proposed a 70% shareholding requirement!

Hearing this, Jiang Wanmeng could not help frowning. In his opinion, Henry's investment of 20 million US dollars, holding 70% of the shares, is very reasonable, and Henry has provided more help to the company! But in this way, his side is equivalent to losing control of the company. He doesn't know whether the leaders behind him agree?

For a while, Jiang Wanmeng didn't know how to answer.

Henry picked up the water glass and took a slow sip without urging. Jiang Wanmeng said to Henry with embarrassment: "Mr. Williams, can you invest less?"

"How much less?" Henry asked indifferently.

Jiang Wanmeng didn't say how much, "Mr. Williams, I mean, it's better for us to hold the absolute controlling stake in the company!" Jiang Wanmeng was a little embarrassed. When he spoke, he didn't dare to look at Henry. Eye.

Hearing this, Henry frowned and said, "I contributed funds. Technology, film source, but few shares. Do I have the words 'serving the people' written on my head?"

Jiang Wanmeng smiled awkwardly and said, "You can spend a little less money..."

"Hehe, a little less money? That's fine, but in order to protect my interests, I will cancel the production authorization of the decoding chip!"

Jiang Wanmeng was stunned when he heard the words. Jiang Wanmeng also expects that after obtaining authorization, he can produce decoding chips by himself and sell them to other companies to make money...

"Mr. Williams, look, isn't it agreed just now that the production of the decoding chip will be licensed to VCD?" Jiang Wanmeng looked at Henry and said.

"Mr. Jiang Wanmeng. You have to figure out. What is the core technology of VCD. The most important thing is the decoding chip! You go to C-cube company, they will never authorize the production for you, that is to say, you cannot sell it by selling The decoding chip makes money. While we cooperate, we are willing to give up this profit, but you have not shown sincerity, do you want me to give up the profit of the decoding chip in vain?!!"

Jiang Wanmeng blushed when he heard the words, and he didn't know what to say. He was silent for a while. Then he said, "Well, Mr. Williams, I'll tell the company about your request first, and then reply to you?"

Hearing this, Henry's face softened a little, and then he responded, "Alright then!"

After Jiang Wanmeng left, Henry pondered in his heart that the competition of vcd machines in China is too great, but European and American countries cannot sell them. In fact, it is more profitable to sell decoding chips. Henry can already expect it. The company behind Jiang Wanmeng would never agree to let Henry have the absolute controlling stake in the company.

State-owned enterprises have never been less wary of foreign investment. And more importantly, they are used to being the boss, they are not willing to become the second child, and they are still subordinate to foreign businessmen!

Sure enough, the next day, Jiang Wanmeng came to RealNetwork with a look of disappointment.

"Mr. Williams, I'm very sorry, but we insist on holding the absolute controlling stake in the company?" Jiang Wanmeng said.

"So?" Henry asked indifferently, looking at him.

"We give up the authorized production of decoding chips, but your company must guarantee to provide sufficient decoding chips for vcd company." The company behind Jiang Wanmeng does not think the decoding chips have much profit. It is more important than having the production rights of the decoding chip. Between C-cube and Henry, they still prefer Henry, on the one hand, considering rmvb, on the other hand, because of the film source.

At first, they decided to cooperate with C-cube and use MPEG technology, but they felt that the rmvb format seemed to be better! At least the rmvb format is better than the mpeg-1 format!

Hearing what Jiang Wanmeng said, Henry couldn't help laughing, "Okay, since that's the case, I'll invest 4 million US dollars and take 30% of the equity, how about it?"

Jiang Wanmeng thought about it for a while, and immediately agreed: "Okay, no problem!"

Henry said: "Well, we can now sign a contract and set up a company at any time!"

Jiang Wanmeng nodded and said, "Mr. Williams, what do you think the company's name should be?"

Henry thought for a while and said, "How about Wanwei VCD?"

Jiang Wanmeng joked: "Hehe, others are majestic, but we are majestic!"

Henry just smiled and didn’t speak. He just combined the names of the two sides, and there is no such thing as a majestic idea. Wanwei VCD company will be thankful for not closing down in the future...

Henry asked tentatively: "Mr. Jiang Wanmeng, do you think after the VCD machine is made, do you want to apply for a patent for the whole machine?"

Jiang Wanmeng shook his head and said, "There is no need. In China, patents are fake!"

In fact, all the pirated VCD functions are pirated. Only the movement and the decoding chip require powerful technology, so pirated copies cannot be pirated, and can only be purchased from other companies...

However, Jiang Wanmeng apparently ignored the foreign market.

In Latin America and Africa, VCD still has a certain market, although it is far inferior to China. But China's domestic VCD competition pressure is so great, it is simply jaw-dropping! Every year CCTV's standard king is a VCD machine, and the top ten advertising fees are also VCD machines.

CCTV advertising has changed from a liquor label to a VCD label!

Henry reminded solemnly: "Whether it is useful or not, the patent for the whole machine still needs to be applied!!!"

"Well, that's fine, then apply for a patent for the whole machine!" Jiang Wanmeng nodded.

At this time, Henry asked, "Are you going to use the rmvb format video file to put it on the CD?"

"That's right!!!" Jiang Wanmeng replied.

At present, MPEG-1 has not yet formed a standard, and will not be formally determined until the end of 1992. Therefore, Jiang Wanmeng did not realize the influence of MPEG-1 after the formation of the standard! But Henry knew that Sony, Philips and other companies would launch VCD technology based on MPEG-1 after the MPEG-1 standard was formed.

VCD is just a product of the transition from CD to DVD.

However, after Sofly Alliance made the VCD disc, it was only applied to the computer. Wanyan VCD was the first company to develop a VCD player and applied it to TV sets. This change of thinking has made Soofei Alliance stunned, and it is even more unexpected that VCD has achieved unreasonable success in the world's audio-visual industry in China!

The reason why Sofly Alliance did not think of developing a VCD player is because VHS video recorders have been popularized in European and American countries, and even if a VCD player is made, there is no market. Another point, VCD was limited by the technology at that time, and the resolution of the image was too low, slightly inferior to the most traditional VHS video tape, and could not replace the status of VHS VCR at all!

The developed countries are the big consumer countries and the goal of the Sofly Alliance. So they don't see the Chinese market at all. When video recorders were popularized in Europe and the United States, and China was just reforming and opening up at that time, it was relatively backward, and very few families had video recorders. Undoubtedly, the first contact for many Chinese people is not a video recorder, but a VCD player!

Finally, VCD became popular in China, while developed countries in Europe and America still used video recorders until the birth of DVD.

The VCD disc developed by Sophie Union adopts MPEG1 technology, Henry can't fight against it at present, and he can't fight it at all!

CD standard, Soofei Alliance, to seize the opportunity, there is no way.

DVD standard, but it can be contested!

(PS: These few days, my cousin is doing a wedding, so the update is delayed, woohoo, they are all married, and the author is still a bachelor...)

(To be continued ~^~)