Global monopoly of technology

"Mr. Luo, I am very curious why you are interested in Sony's Cell chip?" Howard asked bluntly in his opening remarks. This is a question that Sony executives began to study after learning about Bluestar's willingness.

Howard did not expect to get a true reply from the other party.

"We are here to make friends. Sony is a great consumer electronics empire. The 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 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 British and said with a smile, saying this is equivalent to not saying it, but there is greater Information.

"Make friends?" Howard couldn't help but laughed, looking directly at each other: "I haven't seen any friends who came up and peeped at the Cell processor project that Nei has spent more than 4 billion dollars in."

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

Which pot is really not open and which pot.

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

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

These words went back again, making Howard dumb for a while, but for a moment he added: "Sony is also very happy to make friends with the Cote d’Azur, but it should not be at the expense of Cell processors. We will not sell this business. Sony is also early The crisis has been completely shaken off, 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 the electronics empire in 2005. At that time, Sony was in a difficult period. As soon as he took office, he announced the "medium and long-term company strategy to revitalize the electronics business and strengthen the group's performance." The company will focus on three cores. Deeply cultivated business fields, namely: electronics, games, film and television entertainment, and its strategy focuses on strengthening the competitiveness of the group company, especially the revitalization of the electronic business.

The Cell processor has invested more than 4 billion US dollars in research and development, and the cost has not been recovered for so many years. For Sony, the price is a bit too heavy.

However, due to price cuts and the shortage of Nintendo Wii game consoles, Sony’s PS3 game console sales are improving. Since Black Friday last year, the sales of PS3 game consoles in North America and Europe reached 200,000 units a week. In its home market, Japan, One week's sales can reach about 400,000 to 500,000 units.

Following this trend, by next year's 2009, the hole in the Cell chip should be able to be filled. Of course, if this bad 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 competitors are constantly improving, and the hidden losses in it are immeasurable.

All these years have not only been in vain, but in an era of rapid technological progress, being delayed for six or seven years is simply a disastrous blow.

The price is that Sony’s dreams and ambitions to revive the glory of the past have basically declared bankruptcy. The opponent has already been far ahead, and now the taillights of the dumped car are invisible.

Nowadays, the PS4 being developed by Sony is no longer fussy. It honestly chooses Intel's x86 architecture. As for the dream of overthrowing the "toothpaste factory", it can basically only stay in the dream stage.

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

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 a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water. It still treats Cell as a baby holding it. In fact, it can’t hide from Luo Sheng’s eyes. Let’s not say anything else. If you are really holding it as a baby, what about PS4? Announced the adoption of the x86 architecture of the arch rival Intel?

So Luo Sheng has taken the other party, but Sony is actually in a state of wandering and entanglement.

On the one hand, I really want to sell it, and the reason is very simple. Few people are willing to carry an oil bottle, but at the same time, although the dream is broken, it still lingers in my heart.

Knowing what the other party wants is the right medicine.

However, when Luo Sheng organized the language and was about to speak, Howard suddenly asked him: "Mr. Luo, I suddenly felt... Are you really here to make friends with Sony? I seriously doubt that you want to enter the console market. On the first side, you are a terrible competitor, and Sony will not 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 an idea? NONO, I never thought about entering the game console market at all."

After a pause, Luo Sheng spoke serious nonsense, with good reason and evidence: "Without him, if you occupy a large pool, it is easy to attack a small pool, but if you only occupy a small pool, attacking a large pool is as difficult as the sky. Times changes. Yes, Jazz. The scale of the game console market today is far from comparable to that of home computers, and the foundation is not good. The pool can't draw much water. Why do you say I have entered the game console market?"

After finishing speaking, Luo Sheng secretly said in his heart, "Oh, fucking", but he was not exposed by the other party's words, and the other party did not detect any useful information from him.

Luo Sheng also did not shy away from looking at Sony’s head, and added: “So Cell is doomed to fail. Your company wants to overturn Intel’s hegemony. You may not like to listen, but IMHO, Sony It’s too naive, and it’s too tragic. Everyone has seen that Sony’s results are tragic, but Sony itself has been taken advantage of. You have to know that you are not only facing Intel. Challenging x86 means challenging the developers of the entire world. This is One is doomed to fail before it starts."

"You don’t even understand how to play with the ecosystem. Whether it’s Wintel’s work together or the AOS ecosystem developed by the Riviera, our success is based on our strong software and hardware integration capabilities, while Cell’s stubbornly engages in hardware R&D, the software is left to the developer to optimize, how can it be successful?"

"Take a thousand steps back. Sony's tragic lesson has been reproduced as it was yesterday. I have to walk a failed road that has been verified by Sony through bloody lessons? Am I crazy?"

Facing Luo Sheng's ruthless ridicule, whether it was Sony’s head Howard Stringer or the Japanese executives who accompanied him, they were very angry but could not refute it.

Because Sony has also 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 if it has money, it can't keep up with its opponents. It is impossible to do it now.

In seven years, if you go against the current, you will retreat. The taillights of the dark toothpaste factory are no longer visible. If it goes up, Sony may really collapse and go bankrupt.

In the end, Howard was still in a posture that I did not believe, and asked again: "We have been communicating with Mr. Luo for most of the day, but you still hide it from me, unwilling to say why you want to buy Cell, what do you want to do? what?"

Luo Sheng shrugged with an indifferent relaxed attitude: "Well, although Cell is a failed work, the technology is still there, and there are some outstanding engineers who have accumulated experience. We think these are very helpful to the Riviera. , We hope to be able to actively absorb in, but this does not prevent making friends with Sony, right?"

Howard said lightly: "I hope so."

Obviously, for what Luo Sheng said, Howard, the old fox, still believed only half, or even less.

However, one thing is certain. Even if a consensus can be reached on this M&A transaction, it cannot be settled in three or two days.

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

Hearing this sentence, Luo Sheng secretly lifted his spirits 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 US dollars."

When this offer was spoken, several Sony executives in Japan felt an urge to furious. Howard frowned and said, "This is the sincerity of your company? If it is, I think it has not been discussed. Necessary, I would rather let Cell be a bad asset on Sony’s asset list."

What international joke?Sony invested US$4 billion in research and development for this, and Cell lost as much as US$3 billion, not to mention the failure of the product, but the technological precipitation will not disappear.

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

Negotiation is the art of compromise. In the end, we will strive for concessions and gradually approach the other party's true bottom line in constant bargaining. A consensus can be reached and the negotiation will fail.

Howard: "2.8 billion dollars!"

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