Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1748 Add Microsoft
Apple's headquarters is located in Cupertino, in the south of the San Francisco Bay Area, next to San Jose, about a 15-minute drive away.

Zhou Shaoning came here specially from Cupertino, so he was puzzled, "Why did you come here?"

Zhou Buqi said: "There is a football team called the San Jose Earthquakes."

"what?"

Zhou Shaoning looked bewildered.

Zhou Buqi said: "I am laying out the football industry."

Zhou Shaoning was a little dizzy, "Is it necessary? I know you like football, but the United States is a football desert, and it may not be much better than China."

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "You really don't understand. American football is not very good. It's not because the level is not good, but because it doesn't pay attention to it. With the sports soil in the United States, as long as you pay attention to football and want to develop football, you can't use it." How long will it take to do it?"

Zhou Shaoning really doesn't know much about sports, "The American women's soccer team is really good."

Zhou Buqi said: "In the final analysis, it is the promotion of professionalism. Furthermore, it is actually the flow of capital. American football looks similar to the national football. The men's football is very poor, and the women's football is very good. In fact, it is not the same at all. Domestically, it is true. deserts, America has soil.”

Then he explained it briefly.

This is what San Dezi told him.

It is an important argument for investing in American football.

In the United States, equality between men and women is politically correct, including universities.Sports in the United States are college sports. Every year, the federal government allocates a large sum of money to support the development of college sports, and this "sports development fund" must be divided equally between men and women!
But here comes the problem.

In professional sports, which tend to be male-dominated, especially in America's most popular sports, football and baseball, girls are limited to cheerleading.

Rugby and baseball are the main training directions of the sports development fund in universities, but what do girls develop?
There are very few sports that girls can do.

But a lot of money!

The tuition fees in the top universities in the United States are too expensive, and many people have to rely on sports scholarships to study. Finding a sports program that suits them has become a task for many girls in college.

Basketball is too much for the body, and the average girl can't do it... Choose and choose, probably just a few categories, tennis, football, volleyball, gymnastics.

Gymnastics is not a professional sport, what you eat is youth food.Tennis is a professional sport, but it is too professional.Volleyball is not professional at all.After much deliberation, the best choice turned out to be football.

The reason why the American men's soccer team can't develop is because football, baseball, and basketball are too strong, and all the funds for sports development have been absorbed.

As long as the United States pays more attention to men's football and allocates part of the money to football, men's football can develop rapidly.

It is completely two concepts with the domestic men's football team.

However, whether American football can develop or not has nothing to do with Zhou Buqi.

He wants to acquire the San Jose Earthquakes. Firstly, this is part of the global industry of Chaowan Football Group. More importantly, this is a Silicon Valley team!
Zhou Buqi said: "For Silicon Valley, we are outsiders after all, and sports can increase the sense of identity. I bought the Golden State Warriors, and we can look forward to the dynasty era established by the Golden State Warriors in the next few years. Football is similar. Compared with rugby and baseball, football is a world-class sport, and the United States will definitely pay more and more attention to it. Now is the era of bargain hunting.”

Zhou Shaoning's eyes lit up, and he thought this was a really good idea, "This is the American version of Xiaonei!"

"what?"

Zhou Buqi was amused.

Zhou Shaoning said: "The most important industry in American universities is sports. I went to the University of San Francisco to enroll students in April... The scene was really shocking. I felt that all the students were fans, just like...just like Manchester United every time. There's a home game, and Old Trafford Square looks pretty much the same."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Almost, for Americans, sports are an essential part of life. If we can develop the sports industry here in Silicon Valley, we can rely on the employees of Ziweixing and Astar If you give priority to sports events, then the attraction to Silicon Valley talents and Stanford University, University of California, University of San Francisco will be greatly increased. Blood transfusion for technology through sports.”

Zhou Shaoning said: "Then you have to plan for football and baseball, including ice hockey. Football and basketball are both niche sports in the United States."

Zhou Buqi said speechlessly: "I have to understand it. I don't even know the rules of football, baseball, and ice hockey. Once Ballmer invited me to watch the 49ers game. It was like suffering." , I can't understand it at all."

Professional sports is money, and the more money, the better.

The three richest business districts in the United States: New York, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Silicon Valley has a very strong professional sports system.

For example, the Golden State Warriors in basketball; the San Jose Sharks in ice hockey; the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics in baseball; the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Predators in football.

And football's San Jose Earthquakes.

Silicon Valley giants also have a deep relationship with these sports clubs. Almost every company has a sports department that cooperates with these sports clubs and sponsors some teams.

For example, the home court of the Golden State Warriors is sponsored by Oracle and is called "Oracle Arena"; for example, the stadium of the San Francisco Giants is sponsored by AT&T and is called "AT&T Park Stadium".

Zhou Shaoning said: "Anyway, I think this idea is feasible. In the United States, sports is an industry that everyone can't avoid. Almost everyone is a fan. If you have...ahem, if you have extra funds , I suggest that you can enter the field of football and baseball, which is the core, a hundred times stronger than football. If you can’t manage it, you can follow the model of the Golden State Warriors and only occupy 50% of the shares.”

Zhou Buqi raised a black line on his forehead, "Stop giving me bad ideas!"

"What kind of bad idea?" Zhou Shaoning laughed, "This is the right way."

"Let's talk!" Zhou Buqi waved his hand and glanced at him, "I think you are in a good mood? The negotiation with Apple is going well?"

Zhou Shaoning nodded, "Well, it went relatively smoothly. The big framework was basically reached. There are four main parts. First, Softbank gave up its exclusive agency in Japan and allowed KDDI to sell iPhones; second, Apple and Asda settled. , each Aster has to pay a patent fee of 6 US dollars, and the educational preferential terms are 1 US dollar; limited to support the 'TT strategy' in some regions, that is, the Top2 sales model of iPhone and Aster..."

"Wait a minute!" Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "What's the matter with the third article? Didn't it mean that Apple disagreed?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yeah, I didn't agree last week, but I suddenly agreed the day before yesterday."

"why?"

"Samsung responded to the lawsuit and officially started a war with Apple."

"Tsk tsk..." Zhou Buqi suddenly had the feeling of incarnation Su Qin, "Is this considered commercial politics? In this move, we played really beautifully! Sandwiched between Softbank, Google, Samsung, Apple, and the agency iPhone There is a lot of swaying between operators."

Zhou Shaoning didn't care about his stinky fart, "However, it's only limited. It's mainly for Apple's retail stores and official website, where it's hard to operate and can only cooperate with operators to sell as an agent. iPhone and Aster jointly negotiate, and they can have a bigger voice right."

"I'll go..." Zhou Buqi was stunned, Apple is playing a bit tough, "Unite to negotiate with the operator? Put pressure on the operator? So strong?"

Zhou Shaoning looked helpless, "Silicon Valley giants have always been like this, relying on technological advantages to bully the world. iPhone and Aster are currently the two best-selling smartphones in the world, and they are a strong alliance."

"Isn't this a trust monopoly!"

"So we have to operate in some relatively underdeveloped places, such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Not to mention Southeast Asia, even China, Japan, and South Korea lack sufficient and complete anti-monopoly provisions. Years, they have a lot of experience."

"It can also curb Samsung's smartphone development."

"Yes, don't look at the fact that Asda's smartphone sales are four times that of Samsung, but Apple is more against Samsung than Asda."

"It's not surprising." Zhou Buqi nodded, "What about the 'Instruction Manual'? This is the most important project. Bill Gates even brought his wife and children to visit me in Manchester and talked to me about it."

Zhou Shaoning said: "This is the fourth part. The big framework is basically negotiated. Apple promised to match our 'instructions' on its official website, offline retail stores, and iPhones supplied to operators. However, they don't want to White help."

"Ok?"

"They want a commission, 50%."

"I go!"

Zhou Buqi was angry and funny.

After a while, it still falls on the interests, what about the agreed pattern?What about the strategy?

Zhou Shaoning said: "The 'Manual' project is a very good app promotion channel and has great business prospects. Apple's requirements are mainly three points. First, they will charge 50% of all 'Manuals' that match the iPhone. ; Two, Apple has to review the apps recommended in the "Manual" in Apple's sales system, and has a veto power; Three, Astar's mobile phone supply chain in China must be properly shared with Apple."

"Everything else is easy to say, 50% commission is too high!"

Zhou Buqi was very happy to hear about this disagreement.Cooperation is about mutual benefit and win-win. Only when Apple enters the market and can share the benefits of the "Manual" project, they are more willing to promote the development of this project and let "Manual" cooperate with the iPhone sales system for a long time .

This is a good thing.

However, 50% commission is too high, and we have to continue to discuss.

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yes, I mean the same thing. Other conditions are fine, but the 50% commission is too high. But the Silicon Valley giant... there is no way, Apple's market value has surpassed Microsoft, and it has become the world's largest The tech giants, they're strong, they're not willing to budge."

"Microsoft..." Zhou Buqi squinted his eyes, "You're right, Microsoft! You can add Microsoft! It's just a combination!"

(End of this chapter)