Wang Yaocheng and his party lived an idyllic life in the Nordic Netherlands, but a series of blockbuster financial news came from the outside world.
Since the bursting of the Internet high-tech bubble in early 2000, the U.S. economy has been hit particularly hard, with the national economy slipping from weakness into recession in the second half of the year.
Beginning of 2001
The U.S. economy has entered recession, and all walks of life are in bleak condition. It has ended a period of economic growth that lasted for more than ten years, and the national economy has experienced a negative growth of 1.3%.
In this environment, business operations are particularly difficult.
Some large companies that were already on the verge of trouble seemed to have been pressed by the last straw and collapsed.
April 6, 2001
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company of the United States declared bankruptcy and applied for bankruptcy protection, involving assets of US$36.15 billion. As soon as the news came out, it shocked American society.
at the same time
One of the top ten corporate giants in the United States, the energy giant Enron has been exposed to constant scandals. From the company's CEO to the chief financial officer and other senior executives, they have been exposed to false accounting scandals.
Enron Company was busy putting out fires everywhere and launched strong crisis public relations, but unfortunately it had little effect.
The securities market was the first to react. Under the continuous attack of scandals, Enron's stock plummeted like taking laxatives, and its market value shrank sharply. This huge energy giant was in a precarious situation.
April 27, 2001
Polaroid, a well-known American conglomerate, officially announced that it had filed for bankruptcy protection, dealing a heavy blow to the gloomy American and world economies.
From New York to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, from the London Stock Exchange to Frankfurt, financial markets are falling and falling.
Who is the Polaroid Company?
What made the Polaroid company an instant hit was the instant camera. This Polaroid camera, which can image images immediately after shooting, became popular in European and American society as soon as it was launched. It is so cool!
Starting in the 1960s, within a short period of time, Polaroid cameras took over the mainstream market, and almost every European and American household that could afford it had one.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Polaroid Company was prosperous.
Color imaging giant Kodak, as a follower, has also entered the Polaroid market to compete for the cake, and it is almost a junior player in the imaging market.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. After the introduction of advanced digital camera products, the rigid and unprogressive Polaroid Company gradually entered a dead end.
At the St. Regis Hotel
Wang Yaocheng held the "Amsterdam Chronicle" in his hand and browsed the news leisurely. As the most important news in the world's financial news, the bankruptcy protection of Polaroid Company was placed in the eye-catching headline position.
These are not what Wang Yaocheng cares about, his focus is different from others.
In the eyes of all financial commentators, the imaging patents held by Polaroid Company are outdated and far behind the current momentum of Kodak and its Japanese and German counterparts. Its assets are even more useless and the whole thing is in ruins.
In today's difficult economic recession, real estate and factory equipment cannot be sold for much money, and they are almost equivalent to a pile of junk.
Wang Yaocheng also looked down upon that pile of rags. What he valued was Polaroid, a trendy brand that was well-known in Europe and the United States.
In China, probably not many people know the brand Polaroid.
Most of those who play with color Polaroid cameras are photography stall owners in some famous scenic spots. Ordinary people rarely come into contact with Polaroid brand instant cameras and do not know much about them.
While China's economy was booming, Polaroid Company had already declined.
The biggest problem of Polaroid Company is that it does not want to make progress. It once had the most advanced imaging technology in the world and had a lot of bombs in its hands.
It failed to embrace the booming digital imaging technology, missed market dividends and opportunities again and again, and eventually fell behind the times and was eliminated.
But European and American consumers are different.
Polaroid brand cameras have accompanied them from children to teenagers, from youth to middle-aged people with successful careers. They have been memories of almost their entire life and are especially precious.
As long as the brand "Polaroid" is mentioned, many elderly people often smile with warm memories. In those beautiful years gone by, "Polaroid" cameras were the most loyal companions.
According to the understanding of the high-tech era of the Internet, the world-famous brand "Polaroid" almost has its own fan flow, its own protagonist aura, its own topicality, and has all the elements to rise again.
If the Wang Consortium takes it over and turns the old hen into a phoenix in a matter of seconds, it will definitely not run away.
The consortium has many electronic products, and the "Polaroid" brand is most suitable for targeting the mid-to-high-end mobile phone market.
The generation that grew up in Europe and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s has the deepest affection for the Polaroid brand. They are potential fans and the easiest customer group to develop.
Most of this generation are middle-aged, have successful careers, and are relatively wealthy financially.
The "Polaroid" brand is positioned as a mid-to-high-end mobile phone. It first lets feelings pay for it, and then relies on its excellent product performance to expand the market and establish a high-end image in the market.
From a business perspective, the probability of success is almost 80%.
Some unknown brands appear in TV and newspaper advertisements, and ordinary consumers just pass them by, leaving almost no impression.
It is necessary to repeatedly bombard with advertising and repeatedly deepen consumers' favorability and impression in order to achieve a certain advertising effect.
The "Polaroid" brand is different.
Once it appears in advertising, it will naturally attract attention.
After the bankruptcy of Polaroid Company, it became even more tragic.
Just like the lost beautiful memories in the heart are hard to trace, once they are reborn, the warm feeling of surprise and joy cannot be replaced by other brands.
Wang Yaocheng held the newspaper in his hand and was already in a state of mind.
Carefully weigh in your mind which company under your control can operate the "Polaroid" brand?
Atlantic Business Machines Corporation?
inappropriate.
Atlantic Business Machines Corporation only needs to devote all its efforts to operating the Oppo brand and is committed to following the path of Apple without being distracted by other things.
One monk had to carry water to eat, but the two monks had no water to eat.
Yangtze Technology Group or Yellow River Technology Group?
inappropriate.
Yangtze Technology Group owns Dell brand products, and Huanghe Technology Group owns Panda Electronics, Pacific Chain Home Appliance Mall, Pacific Electronics Market, and also owns the franchise of Playboy brand electronic products, which is too complicated.
After the launch of the Playboy brand mobile phone, mobile phone design and brand operations focused on fashion and personality groups. It ranked 15th among the world's mobile phone manufacturers, but ranked ninth in profit.
This unique Playboy brand mobile phone has no possibility of becoming a mass brand. It is born to belong to a niche and high-consumption trendy group.
In addition, for purely Chinese-owned enterprises, it is difficult to establish a high-end brand image, and promotion in European and American societies is even more difficult.
This has nothing to do with brand strategy, company execution and innovation, but with the deep-rooted prejudices in European and American society, which may lead to the "Polaroid" brand being so popular that it suffocates everything in its hands.
Needless to say
Due to one-sided and selective propaganda by the media, European and American society's impression of China today is still stuck in the "Red Sorghum", "Yellow Land" and "Raise the Red Lantern" stages, looking down with a sense of superiority.
In this case, it is inappropriate to include the Yangtze River Technology Group and the Yellow River Technology Group with a wholly Chinese-owned background.
Think about it
Wang Yaocheng finally made up his mind;
The Royal Family Fund came forward to acquire the brand. In the end, the brand operated independently and adopted a light-asset independent operation policy. Only part of its R&D and industrial design capabilities were retained. All brand mobile phone production was OEMed by Changjiang Technology Group.
As for sales channels, high-end brand operation stores must be built separately and sales channels must be independently operated. This part of the cost cannot be saved.
Fortunately, the Oppo brand and the Gli brand have mature sales channel partners around the world, so doing one alone can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
As for the person at the helm of the enterprise, Wang Yaocheng has already thought about it.
Let Hong Fu, deputy director of the Secretariat, take charge. He is a very capable executive who has been around for several years and has a broad international perspective.
The most important thing is that deputy director Hong Fu is a fashionista. Although he is not tall, his dressing has always followed the trend, and he has a natural sensitivity to fashion language.
Wang Yaocheng believed that Hong Fu was more suitable for this position than Wang Huiyang.
Secretary General Wang Huiyang holds a Ph.D. in electronics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. He is rigorous and well-planned in his work, and his courage and ability are both top-notch. What’s more, he is rare in doing things in a down-to-earth manner and with a very good sense of proportion.
Wang Yaocheng planned to work at Atlantic Business Machines Company as executive vice president, which was Zhang Shuguang's previous position, and slowly cultivated such talents.
Polaroid company?
We are not in a rush for mergers and acquisitions now. We will wait until the bankruptcy protection period to deal with the shabby assets, and just keep paying attention.
It won’t be too late to get it by the end of the year or early next year.
Wang Yaocheng’s current core work;
The first priority is to help his companies promote the internationalization process. In addition, the second priority is to ruthlessly suppress Samsung and compete for the international market for DRAM chips and LCD panels. The third priority is to plan for the next step in the smartphone market.
This trip to the Netherlands has been here for five weeks, and the two goals, one bright and one dark, are close to being achieved.
On the surface, Wang Yaocheng was personally involved in Cathay Pacific's acquisition of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to show his concern.
This put great pressure on the negotiation team and also greatly accelerated the progress of the negotiations.
Under the temptation of money, small and medium-sized shareholders of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have sold their shares one after another, and the original negotiation pattern of the board of directors has been broken.
Even though Count Van Basten, the second largest shareholder, raised and raised objections, it was a pity that he could not support it alone.
After President Huo Jiaguang proposed that HSBC was willing to take over UBS Group's claims, UBS Group soon ceased its activities and stopped making any excessive demands.
Therefore, the two parties quickly initialed a cooperation agreement and made proper arrangements for all major and minor matters involved in the merger.
At this time
Basically, all 99 steps have been completed, except for the last shiver.
The merger between the two parties has become irreversible. Cathay Pacific's relevant senior personnel have joined KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and taken over the relevant core departments.
As long as it is approved by the European Commission, everything will be fine.
Judging from the stance of relevant people from the European Commission;
We are happy to see Asian capital entering Europe and believe that this is a welcome aspect of the wave of world liberalized trade, which will promote the elimination of global trade barriers and strengthen communication and cooperation.
The stance of relevant parties is positive, and information gathered from various channels shows that relevant EU parties will not come forward to stop this cross-border merger.
Wang Yaocheng’s secret target is the Dutch ASML company;
This is a highly professional high-tech enterprise that produces photolithography machines. It originally belonged to the Dutch company Philips and became independent in 1984. It can be said that it comes from a famous family.
Nowadays, the world's lithography machine market is full of heroes, with more than 20 manufacturers. The market is saturated, competition is very fierce, and there are many strong players.
Fuso's Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, American gca, svg, ultrach, aset, perkin-elmer, eaton, Germany's zeiss and other lithography machine manufacturers compete fiercely, and the market competition is very cruel.
In August 2000, the Dutch ASML company launched the twinscan dual-stage lithography machine, which immediately attracted the attention of Atlantic Jinko Group.
Nothing else
Although this advanced photolithography equipment is expensive, it can improve the yield of Atlantic Jinko Group's most advanced 0.13 micron process processor chips, which is a timely help.
This made Atlantic Jinko Group, which had been struggling to climb the yield rate of advanced processes, but was unable to break through the 50% production yield rate, immediately saw hope of solving the problem.
Once you obtain the most suitable high-tech lithography machine, you will gain the strongest market competitiveness.
Therefore, at the end of 2000, Atlantic Jinko Group sent a large order for six units at once, and the 12-inch wafer fab to be prepared later will inevitably use this advanced equipment.
At the same time, it also attracted the attention of Chairman Wang Yaocheng.
Through the operation of the working group, the capital injection into the Dutch ASML company was very smooth. Atlantic Jinko Group successfully obtained 37.5% of the equity, ranking as the largest shareholder of the Dutch ASML company.
According to the agreement, Atlantic Jinko Group has the right to continue to inject capital and obtain up to 45% of the equity.
On the shareholder list of the Dutch ASML company, there are also the famous Intel Corporation and TSMC, both of which account for no more than 10% of the board of directors.
The Dutch ASML company very much welcomes the chip industry giant Atlantic Jinko Group to take shares, which can bring abundant R&D funds and stable and generous end customers.
It helps enterprises to concentrate on the research and development of new technologies without being too distracted by marketing and sales, and stay one step ahead in the fierce market competition.
The current Dutch ASML company cannot be viewed from the perspective of future generations. In the cruel photolithography machine market, it is still unclear who can survive in the end.
When you look up, you can see a forest of strong players, but not a single one is good.
Now in the world lithography machine market
The Japanese company with the strongest technical strength is Nikon, as well as Sony, Canon, and Olympus, all of which have strong capabilities and look like they are not to be trifled with, and are ahead of their competitors in all aspects.
Japanese lithography machine manufacturers have always been stronger than the Dutch ASML company in terms of funding and technology research and development, occupying a dominant position in the market.
It belongs to the mainstream manufacturers in the market and is also the most preferred lithography equipment provider for mainstream Japanese chip factories.
At this time, Atlantic Jinko Group chose the Dutch ASML company as its partner, which was really a blessing. No wonder they accepted it happily without any hesitation.
Everyone is willing to hug someone's lap, and the Dutch ASML company has finally found an organization.
This secret transaction was uneventful.
Even the local media in the Netherlands did not pay attention to it. They just sent out a big news report and nothing more happened.
Everyone's attention is still drawn by the big news of Cathay Pacific's acquisition of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and the attention between the two is completely different.
After all, whether it is work, life, travel, or business travel, traveling by air is a matter of vital interest to every Dutch citizen, and it is impossible not to pay attention to it.
As for the ASML company, it is too niche, who knows which onion it is?