In June, Li Dong prepared to lay low for a period of time.
Li Dong was low-key, but it did not mean that the business world was calm.
In 2008, due to the impact of the financial crisis, the business world was in turmoil. Some people could not hold on and had to quit, while others went against the trend and prepared to go all out.
In the domestic retail industry, while Li Dong and Carrefour were discussing mergers and acquisitions, the integration of resources in other regions was also ongoing.
After Huarun acquired Home World last year, the integration was completed in June.
At this point, Huarun Vanguard gained a foothold in North China.
As for Wal-Mart, it also made a big move a year after the acquisition of Trust-Mart.
The original CEO of Trust-Mart resigned. Along with the departure of the original CEO, 18 of the original executives of Trust-Mart left one after another, and Wal-Mart took complete control of Trust-Mart.
At this time, Wal-Mart and New Yijia were competing for supremacy in South China.
Just as Far away, Huarun Vanguard, and Wal-Mart made their moves, other retail giants were not to be outdone.
On June 4th, Auchan and RT-Mart announced that all of their stores in the mainland would be jointly invested into a Xiangjiang holding company.
This meant that Hua Xia had one less company competing for supremacy in the mainland. However, the two companies merged into one, and their strength was greatly enhanced.
Originally, RT-Mart was neither rising nor falling. It was ranked in the top five in the department store industry and did not attract much attention.
But now, after Carrefour withdrew from Hua Xia, RT-Mart merged with France's second largest retailer, Auchan. Their strength surpassed Wal-Mart in one fell swoop, and they became the number one foreign company in the domestic department store industry.
In addition, Letian announced that it had completed the acquisition of Makro. The eight Makro stores in Beijing were renamed and officially opened in June.
In addition, Da Shang Group, which had been rooted in the three provinces in the northeast, was unwilling to be left out. Seeing the fierce competition in East China, North China, and South China, they changed their direction and chose to advance to the west.
…
In June, the retail industry continued to merge and consolidate, with the big fish eating the small fish, and the small fish eating the shrimps.
As the dust settled, the domestic retail industry gradually stabilized.
At this time, most of the small and medium-sized supermarkets were acquired, forming a situation where several dominant department stores divided 70% of the Hua Xia department store market.
Bailian, Far away, Huarun Resources, RT-Mart, Wal-Mart, Da Shang Group, Wumart, Agribusiness, Xinyijia, and New Cooperative Commerce became the new top ten enterprises.
Carrefour, which used to be in the top 5, was no longer in the rankings. Su Guo, which used to be in the top 10, was also merged into Huarun Resources.
On the other hand, foreign companies like Tesco, Lotte, and Metro could not compete with them because they had only been in the market for a short period of time.
In the department store industry, other than Carrefour, who was still undecided, had already become the regional hegemon.
While the department store industry was undergoing restructuring and consolidation, other industries were doing the same.
The financial crisis is dangerous, but it is also an opportunity.
Only at this moment would they have the opportunity to annex other companies. Only at this moment would they be able to do what they normally couldn't do.
In the real estate industry, Vanke, Evergrande, Poly, Huarun, Longhua, Longhu, Country Garden, and other large real estate companies are also reducing the market share of other small and medium-sized real estate companies.
Gradually, some small and medium-sized real estate companies could not continue and had to retreat.
Meanwhile, Wanda, which would become famous in the future, was still very low-key. Old Wang had just privatized the company and was now consolidating resources. He did not participate in the competition for the time being.
In addition to the changes in the retail and real estate industry, Li Dong also noticed a few news that seemed to have nothing to do with him.
In June, the six major domestic telecom operators also began to merge. Telecom acquired Unicom's CDMA network, Netcom and Unicom merged, Tietong merged into China Mobile, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology submitted the 3G plan to the International Telecommunication Union.
Apple announced that on June 10th, it will hold the "World Developers Conference" to announce the new models of the 3G era.
Nokia announced to the public that it will start the acquisition of Symbian.
The ever-changing era of smart machines had finally begun.
…
In 2008, a storm was brewing.
Whether it was in China or abroad, there was a big change.
The weak were eliminated, and the strong seized the opportunity to soar. The business landscape for the next 10 years was gradually laid in 2008.
At this moment, Li Dong, who had disappeared from the eyes of outsiders, had already rushed to Guancheng.
On June 6th, Li Dong and Shen Qian went to the OPPO cell phone production workshop in the suburbs of Guancheng.
Since the project started in 2006, OPPO's first cell phone, which was ready to enter the cell phone industry, finally went offline after two years and was officially put into use.
This cell phone, named A103, was actually officially put into production in March.
The reason why it was delayed until now was mainly because Li Dong had made a few requests, which caused the online time to be delayed.
Originally, when the A103 went online, it used the original WAP browser.
Before going online, Far Away suddenly made a request, hoping that the A103 could use the PP browser that Far Away had just released.
As a major shareholder with 20% of the shares, when Shen Qian made this request, Chen Mingyong tested the PP browser and felt that it was not worse than the current WAP and UC. In the end, both parties signed a cooperation agreement, and OPPO's first cell phone officially used the PP browser as the built-in browser.
This time, Li Dong came to Guancheng, on one hand, to see the situation of the new cell phone, and on the other hand, he hoped to deepen the cooperation.
Just the browser, this was not Li Dong's ultimate goal.
What he hoped to see was Far Away Mall, PP, Weibo, and Pea Pod become the standard configuration client for OPPO cell phones.
However, the current cell phone's memory and network could not support these, and Li Dong hoped to take this opportunity to remind Chen Mingyong to hurry up.
The iPhone 3G was about to be released, and Li Dong felt that the current conditions were almost ripe.
Google would soon release the Android source code. At this time, Android was not very valued, and most of the domestic users were using the Symbian system.
Li Dong did not care who was stronger or weaker between the two, the only thing he knew was that Android would completely replace Symbian in the future.
Also, Google was constantly developing the next generation of systems, while Symbian became more and more unsuitable after being acquired by Nokia.
In the end, even Nokia was defeated and had to give up on Symbian.
…
Chen Mingyong was actually a little surprised that Li Dong came to Guancheng.
When Shen Qian came to buy OPPO shares, she did it under her own name, and at that time, Chen Mingyong thought that Li Dong did not know about it.
However, last time, when Shen Qian proposed to use the PP browser for the first cell phone, Chen Mingyong had some guesses that Far Away was behind it.
Guesses were just guesses, at this time, OPPO was still unknown.
Chen Mingyong himself was far from being comparable to a business giant like Li Dong.
Therefore, when he found out that Li Dong actually came to Guancheng personally and hoped to deepen the cooperation, Chen Mingyong was full of anticipation and a little nervous at the same time.
In the production workshop.
Li Dong was playing with the A103 cell phone that just came off the line. He had to admit that although OPPO had different opinions in the future, there was still a reason for its success.
At least, Chen Mingyong had a thorough understanding of the psychology of young people.
This A103 would be considered an old-fashioned cell phone in the future.
But at this time, OPPO had put in a lot of effort on its appearance. Comparing it with the current Nokia model, Li Dong felt that OPPO's new model was definitely better looking.
Before the 3G era officially started, there were not many things that could be done with cell phones.
The OPPO A103's main focus was music, and it also had a new selfie mode. At least, young people would like it.
Li Dong played with the phone for a while and looked at Chen Mingyong. "Mr. Chen, how much do you know about Apple?"
Chen Mingyong quickly said. "Apple from the US?"
Li Dong nodded.
Chen Mingyong immediately said. "I don't know much about them in the past few years. But in 2007, they released the iPhone, which was known as the God's phone, and it caused quite a stir at that time. Last year, we were also developing cell phones, and I asked my friend to bring back a few models for me to test. At that time, it gave me a big shock. This was a new model, and it was completely different from the previous cell phones. The built-in Safari browser made people want to use their cell phones to surf the internet. The design of the touch screen was even more amazing. It had completely abandoned the previous clumsiness, and it gave users a better experience … "
Chen Mingyong spoke logically, and Li Dong also nodded.
But the first generation of the iPhone was still nothing.
What really made the iPhone popular was the upcoming 3G cell phone.
This time, Apple launched the App Store, and for the first time, it was equipped with an application market. This was the foundation of Apple's era.
If there was no App Store, it would be difficult for the iPhone to be recognized by the world.
Now, it was different from the future. There were countless applications.
Almost every famous company would use their own exclusive application platform.
Tencent's App Store, Ali's acquisition of Pea Pod, Baidu's acquisition of 91 …
Of course, Pea Pod belonged to Far Away. When Wang Junyu developed the application platform, he named it Pea Pod.
Actually, Li Dong was considering changing his name to PP Assistant.
In Feng Yu's previous life, there was also PP Assistant, but it was not released yet. Li Dong did not mind using the name in advance.
Far Away's PP Assistant was quite famous now, and changing the name would make it easier to form a complete brand effect.
Anyway, the application platform, especially the mobile application platform, was almost non-existent now.
The App Store had contributed a lot to Apple's success in the early stages.
This was what Li Dong and Chen Mingyong meant when they talked about Apple.
After Chen Mingyong finished explaining his understanding, Li Dong continued, "In a few days, Apple will be releasing a new generation of iPhone 3G. Have you heard of it, Chief Chen?"
"I've heard of it."
Chen Mingyong did not know what Li Dong wanted to say, but he was willing to listen to an entrepreneur whose achievements were higher than his.
Unhurriedly, Li Dong said, "I feel that Chief Chen can buy a few to study. I think the upcoming iPhone 3G is very meaningful to me. If Opper wants to continue making mobile phones, I think the iPhone is the future of mobile phones. The 2G era is slowly passing. Nowadays, mobile phones are no longer based on appearance and style. Nowadays, concept is king. "
Chen Mingyong thought for a while, not in a hurry to speak.
Li Dong did not say much and continued, "Apart from working hard on the mobile phone itself, the other point is to promote and set up channels. Opper has no reputation in the domestic mobile phone industry. Now is not the time when good wine fears no dark alleys. If you don't promote it, why would consumers choose the unknown Opper when there are hundreds of types of mobile phones in the market? "
Upon hearing this, Chen Mingyong nodded and said, "Director Li and I happen to have the same idea on this point. We've been preparing to do some publicity activities recently. A few days ago, we talked with several TV stations about the title sponsorship, but we haven't found a suitable program yet. Once the promotional plan is finalized, we will conduct a large-scale promotional campaign. "
Chen Mingyong said with some difficulty, "As for the setting up of channels, we know its importance. But if we do it now, I'm afraid Opper will not have enough funds."
Li Dong had been waiting for this sentence. As soon as he finished speaking, Li Dong smiled and said, "In terms of funds, if Chief Chen has any difficulties, you can look for me."
Chen Mingyong's expression changed, becoming vigilant.
Shen Qian already controlled 20% of Opper's shares and was now the second largest shareholder.
If Li Dong entered the market, Opper might change owners, which Chen Mingyong did not want to see.
Although he admired Li Dong, it did not mean that Chen Mingyong was willing to hand over the business that he worked hard for.
Seeing his vigilance, Li Dong explained, "Please don't misunderstand, Chief Chen. I'm actually not interested in controlling Opper.
Far away has a lot of businesses, and they are all pillars with assets of over 10 billion.
Far away Technology's valuation is probably over 30 billion.
The reason why I chose to cooperate with Opper last year was to give it a try.
On the PC side, Far Away Mall and Far away PP have always been lagging behind. It's too difficult to defeat Taobao and QQ through formal channels.
That's why I'm prepared to take a different approach. When Apple released the first iPhone, I felt that there might be a revolution in the mobile phone industry in the future.
Choosing Opper as our partner is also a win-win situation for Far Away. "
Chen Mingyong roughly understood Li Dong's meaning, but he still had some doubts. "Then why did General Manager Li choose Opper?"
Opper had yet to produce mobile phones at that time.
Li Dong wanted to make a breakthrough in the mobile phone industry and suppress his competitors. In Chen Mingyong's view, Opper wasn't the best choice.
Li Dong smiled. "There's a reason for this, but I hope you don't mind me saying it."
Chen Mingyong immediately said, "General Manager Li, please speak your mind."
If Li Dong didn't say it, he would be even more worried. From the beginning, Li Dong seemed to have shown a desire to control Opper.
Facing a business tycoon like Li Dong, Chen Mingyong was naturally worried that Opper would fall into Li Dong's hands.
"First, Opper is new to the mobile phone industry. It's not well-known and its value isn't high. If I invest, I can achieve my goal with the lowest cost."
Chen Mingyong smiled dryly. His words were direct enough.
"Second, Opper is backed by Bubu Gao. I heard that you and Bubu Gao are still sharing technology. To be honest, the reason I know about Opper is because I studied Bubu Gao. Relatively speaking, Opper and Bubu Gao can't be mentioned in the same breath. Rather than investing in Bubu Gao, it's better to invest in Opper with the same technology. "
Chen Mingyong nodded. This was also one of the reasons he had been guessing.
"Third, Far Away is just a test. If we invest in a big manufacturer, we won't have a big say. On the other hand, if the test fails, we might suffer a huge loss. But Opper is different. To put it bluntly, even if Opper goes bankrupt, to me, a loss of three or two hundred million won't matter. "
When Li Dong said this, Shen Qian couldn't help but push him.
Saying bankruptcy in front of the CEO? You're too direct, right?
Chen Mingyong didn't really care about this. He smiled and said, "General Manager Li's words make sense. If it were me, I would rather try it on some small companies. Moreover, we have Bubu Gao's technology. In fact, although our company is small, our R&D power is not weaker than a big company. "
Li Dong nodded and said, "That's what I mean. In fact, I came here this time hoping to deepen our cooperation with Opper.
Next, I hope that Opper can develop a phone that can support Far Away Mall, PP, and other application platforms.
Far Away's Internet industry will be able to occupy a leading position among mobile phone users. This is the perfect ending that I want to see.
That's why I suggested that you research the iPhone, Chief Chen.
Once the 3G phone is released, we will have the confidence and foundation to support these applications.
Although there are still some technical difficulties, I think it shouldn't be too difficult for Opper.
All in all, Far Away still hopes that Opper can continue to grow. So, Chief Chen, you don't have to worry that I have any bad thoughts about Opper. "
Chen Mingyong hurriedly said, "General Manager Li, you misunderstood. I was just curious that General Manager Li would like to invest in a company like ours. Now that I heard what General Manager Li said, how can I have any other thoughts?"
Li Dong smiled and continued, "That's why when I said that Chief Chen can look for me if you need money, I was also speaking from the bottom of my heart. I am happy to see Opper grow. If Chief Chen is still worried, we can sign some supplementary agreements. Opper's leader will always be Chief Chen's team. As long as we can help Far Away and make money, I don't care if Opper is under my control or not. "
Chen Mingyong smiled and nodded in silence.
He still had to think about this matter. He wasn't someone who would take anything Li Dong said seriously.
Moreover, the industry's view of Li Dong was the same. Sole owner!
If it were someone else, Chen Mingyong might have agreed. But with Li Dong, if he didn't think it through, Chen Ming would never agree.
If he let Li Dong's shares increase, what would he do if he was kicked out?
It wasn't the first or second time that a founder's team was kicked out. Without full confidence, even if Chen Mingyong lacked money, he wouldn't let Li Dong in.
Of course, if he had the confidence to continue controlling the company, then letting Li Dong in was fine.
Far Away was strong and Li Dong was optimistic about Opper. This was his chance.
In this day and age, not everyone would be optimistic about a little-known mobile phone company, especially a giant company like Distance.
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