Why was Feng Yu so calm? It was not because Feng Yu thought they will agree to his conditions. It was because he had arranged for someone to act as a middleman!
Being a middleman is a useful occupation, and it will be very effective at the right time. For example, now. If this middleman is very powerful, then the benefits will be doubled.
"Mr Feng, Microsoft has decided to join this organization!"
Huh?
Everyone looked at this American in shock. This is Microsoft's representative? What did he say? Microsoft wants to join this organization?
Stop joking with me. Microsoft is a software manufacturer, and PC software has nothing to do with DVDs. Why are you here to join in the fun?
Feng Yu pretended to be surprised. "Vice President James? Are you representing Microsoft to join the DVD forum?"
"Yes. I had been authorized by the Microsoft Board of Directors to represent Microsoft to join the DVD forum. We will develop, refine, and promote the Wind and rain – Philips standard." James replied loudly.
"Since when is Microsoft going to produce DVDs?" Panasonic's Vice President asked. He does not doubt James's identity, and Feng Yu will not come up with such a lousy plan to lure them. After all, they will need to sign the legal documents.
"We are not producing DVDs. We are only interested in the DVD encoding technology." James replied calmly.
He was representing Microsoft because Feng Yu had called Bill Gates and convinced him. Feng Yu is Microsoft's third-largest shareholder. Although he does not have any say in Microsoft, Feng Yu's financial power had already made Bill Gates look at him.
Furthermore, Feng Yu had said that if they successfully develop the DVD optical drive, they can enter into a strategic partnership with Microsoft. This way, both the operating system and the hardware will never leave Microsoft. Both parties will be able to make more money together.
Rather than saying that Feng Yu persuaded Bill Gates, it was more accurate to say that the benefits moved Bill Gates. In the face of almost visible profits, Bill Gates had no reason to refuse this matter.
That's why James appeared. James also knows Feng Yu is Microsoft's third-largest shareholder, and he will not reject Feng Yu's request to be the first to speak.
After Microsoft said this, the rest of the senior executives were shocked. Microsoft had become the industry leader in the software industry, and their share prices had been rising for the past two years. Microsoft was the fastest growing company in recent years. Also, many people say Microsoft will become one of the top few companies in the world in the future. Although Microsoft is not a consumer electronics company, it is still related to Microsoft, and they must support Microsoft.
At this time, the representative of the second major company stood up. "On behalf of Thompson Company, I agree to join the organization and become a member."
Huh? Even Thomson Company has joined in? Thomson is a French electronics company, and their market share is the largest in the US and Europe. They are also well-known in the consumer electronics industry, and they had also agreed to join!
But when Thomson Company thinks about it, they are the top companies in the TV and VCR industries. It's normal for them to join this association to research on DVDs.
After that, Taiwan's Mingji, Hongji, and other companies also expressed their intentions to join. Some European companies also expressed their intentions to join.
These Japanese companies had wanted to form an alliance. But now, it seems that if they don't speak up, they will be excluded.
"Our Panasonic is also joining."
"Our JVC is also joining."
"Our NEC is also joining."
"I am representing Mitsubishi."
"South Korea's Samsung is also joining."
"Hitachi is also joining."
… …
The representatives of more than 30 invited companies expressed their intentions, and none of them wanted to back out. Even a few of the top companies had joined, and there's no need for them to hold back.
Feng Yu smiled and looked at everyone. It's simple. I will invite Microsoft, Philips will invite Thomson, and then Fu Guangzheng will invite a few Taiwanese companies.
Now, more than half of the world's consumer electronics companies had joined the DVD forum. The rest of the companies did not have any involvement in the DVD industry. The few companies that did not join the DVD forum were mostly related to Toshiba, Sony, Pioneer, HP, etc.
That means from now onwards, the DVD industry will be split into two alliances. But Feng Yu's DVD forum was stronger and had more unified standards.
Toshiba and Pioneer had different standards. Even though they had joined forces, they were not compatible yet. Both parties refused to give up, and the result was obvious.
Everything was going smoothly. Everyone signed an agreement to abide by the DVD forum's standards. If any company breaks the agreement, they will have to compensate the rest of the members. The compensation for each company must be at least 10 million USD.
Although 10 million USD was a lot, it was easy for these big companies to fork out such a sum. But if this figure was increased by more than 30 times, it will be more than 300 million USD. Every company will have to consider the consequences of betraying the DVD forum.
Wind & Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Philips, Aiwa, Microsoft, Thomson, Samsung, Panasonic, and Tata Consultancy were the first 9 companies to approve the standards.
After the representatives were selected, Aiwa Electronics immediately mentioned that the DVD industry should follow the Wind and Rain -Philips standards. Those who agreed raised their hands.
Wind & Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Philips, Aiwa, Microsoft, and Thomson's representatives raised their hands. The representatives from the other 3 companies saw that even if they did not raise their hands, this standard would still be approved. Instead of being the bad guys, they raised their hands. This meant that this standard had been approved by the DVD forum, and all the companies must follow and promote this standard.
The forum members thought that everything was settled, and everyone was waiting for Feng Yu to tell them the benefits. Didn't the agreement state that after joining the DVD forum, the fees for VCD technologies will be lowered?
But after that, Aiwa raised the second issue. It was the standards for optical drives. More accurately, it was the standards for DVD optical drives.
Optical drives were already available now, but most of them were CD drives. The only company that had VCD technologies was Wind & Rain Electronics, and they had licensed it to Lenovo to install it in their new PCs.
But VCD optical drive was only a transitional product. In the future, the most practical optical drive will be DVD optical drive. Wind and Rain Electronics was still ahead of other companies in this area.
After the standards were raised, everyone voted to approve. Feng Yu had gotten what he wanted.
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