Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1017: Got up early and arrived late

Microsoft's current stock price is $26.7. If the stock price can reach $30, it will be equivalent to Microsoft's stock price and market value rising by 12%!

This is quite terrifying for Microsoft. You have to know that Microsoft's current market value has exceeded 336 billion US dollars. If the stock price can really reach US dollars, the market value will soar by billion US dollars, making it the world's first giant with a market value of over billion US dollars!
Spending $3.5 billion to acquire a star-gazing company may seem like an outrageous price, but if Microsoft can use that money to gain a market value of more than $30 billion, would it still be a loss?

This is simply a huge profit, isn't it? Microsoft's shareholders and Wall Street investors are all grinning from ear to ear.

For a time, various investment institutions on Wall Street were touting Microsoft's acquisition of Stargazing.

The stargazing video recorder has been praised to the sky and is considered one of the most creative electronic products in this year's technology industry. Middle-class families all over the world will buy it in the future, and it will be a cash cow!

With it, Microsoft has truly gained a foothold in the hardware industry and will be able to enter more hardware industries in the future. This is of epoch-making significance for Microsoft.

Spending $3.5 billion in exchange for a project that could make huge profits in the future will allow Microsoft to gain a foothold in the hardware industry.

More importantly, this acquisition will also cause Microsoft’s stock price and market value to soar. How is Microsoft at a disadvantage?
“Microsoft is going to implement the living room strategy!”

Bill Gates also took the opportunity to accept an exclusive interview with the Seattle Times. This interview seemed to be just an impromptu interview, but the news released by Bill Gates was so explosive that it shocked the global technology industry and fully demonstrated the style of Microsoft, the world's largest technology giant.

“It’s time for more people to see and understand Microsoft.”

Bill Gates said to the Seattle Times, "In the future, the line between computers and televisions will be very blurred. By then, televisions may have the same functions as computers, allowing users to watch TV, play games, browse emails, and so on.

The living room is where countless families spend the most time, and TV is the largest appliance in the world with the most users every day. Microsoft cannot afford to lose this market. "

It has to be said that the Emperor's vision has always been amazing. Just like tablet computers, Bill Gates saw the potential of tablet computers ten years ahead of others.

On television, Bill Gates also had a hunch that television functions would become increasingly powerful, even reaching the same level as computers.

Judging from his vision, Bill Gates is indeed quite amazing, but between Microsoft's poor hardware capabilities and Bill Gates' vision, there is a company called Apple...

"So, acquiring Stargazing is just Microsoft's first step?" asked a Seattle Times reporter.

Bill Gates showed his signature smile, "Strictly speaking, Microsoft has reached a comprehensive cooperation with Tanglin Hi-Tech. Next, Microsoft will start to implement the second step of the living room strategy. Microsoft will officially enter the game console market!"

"Microsoft is going to enter the game console market?" The Seattle Times exclaimed. Unexpectedly, Bill Gates would target the game console market.

"Microsoft has developed two plans for this. In the first plan, Microsoft hopes to reach a cooperation agreement with Nintendo similar to the one between us and Dongling Hi-Tech. Microsoft is willing to provide Nintendo with a suitable offer!"

The reporter from the Seattle Times was a fool at that time. The emperor's imagination was so big that it was beyond his expectations.

Although Nintendo encountered some troubles at this time and was suppressed by Sony in the game console market, it is still the world's second largest game console manufacturer. Microsoft actually wants to acquire Nintendo?

"Of course, Microsoft hopes to join hands with Nintendo to change the landscape of the global game console market. Microsoft is confident that it can help Nintendo change its current situation!"

Bill Gates said confidently that as long as Nintendo joins the Microsoft camp, with Nintendo's technology, Microsoft's financial strength, and Dongling Hi-Tech's complete component industry chain, would they be afraid of not being able to beat a Sony game console?
"Of course, Microsoft would be very sorry if it fails to reach a cooperation with Nintendo, but there is also an alternative plan, which is... launching Microsoft's own brand of game console!

Microsoft has reached an agreement with a number of partners. As part of Microsoft's living room strategy, game consoles are a market that Microsoft must enter."

Bill Gates said this with a bit of arrogance, implying that whoever dares to stop Microsoft from entering the game console market will be crushed to death by Microsoft!
"Of course, in addition to stargazing recorders and game consoles, Microsoft's living room strategy will also launch some other new products in the future!"

The interview with Bill Gates ended, but the storm it stirred up did not end. Instead, it swept the world like a hurricane.

"I haven't heard of it, I don't know, I can't comment!"

At the first moment, Arakawa Minoru, the son-in-law of Nintendo of North America and president of Nintendo of Japan Hiroshi Yamauchi, returned to Japan to discuss countermeasures with his father-in-law. When asked about media interviews, he adopted the strategy of not knowing anything.

……

"After spending $3.5 billion to acquire Stargazing Video Recorders, Microsoft has not stopped. What exactly is Microsoft trying to do?"

"Who can stop Microsoft? Japan will be emptied out by America!"

"This is robbery. Nintendo belongs to Japan!"

In Japan, Bandai President Makoto Yamashina watched the Japanese media report on Microsoft's acquisition of Nintendo on TV. The entire Japanese public opinion was in an uproar, and everyone thought that Microsoft was robbing Nintendo openly, and it was quite a sensation.

Yamauchi Hiroshi also seemed to respond when he was interviewed by a Japanese TV station, although he did not say it directly.

"This joke is not funny. It's like someone who doesn't understand the gaming industry at all thinks that he can change the rules of the industry with just a little money!"

Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi responded on TV to Microsoft's acquisition of Nintendo with a bit of contempt and ridicule, saying that Microsoft's proposal was simply a fantasy.

Yamauchi Hiroshi had to respond because he didn't want to sell Nintendo, but someone else did!

The stock market votes with its feet. After the news came out, Nintendo's stock price, which had been sluggish, suddenly soared.

Nintendo's investors also want to sell Nintendo to Microsoft at a high price so that they can make a lot of money.

It seems that Yamauchi was mocking Microsoft's wild ideas and overestimating its own capabilities, but Nintendo was in a state of panic internally and under tremendous pressure externally, so Yamauchi had to respond.

Watching the news on TV, Bandai's president Makoto Yamashina, who has been quietly promoted to become the world's largest toy giant this year, didn't care about Nintendo's response.

Instead, he watched as the stargazing project was sold to Microsoft at a high price of $35 billion, which was related to his old employer.

Nippon Benz Bandai is also a company under Dongling Hi-Tech. When Makoto Yamashina saw that a product he had never heard of before could be sold for 3.5 billion US dollars, he really didn't know whether it was because the people at Microsoft were stupid and had a lot of money, no, it was because they were rich and powerful, or because his old employer was too good at making promises.

But based on Makoto Yamashina's understanding of his major financial sponsor, if Microsoft could agree to such a big deal, there must be other agreements besides the things on the surface. Makoto Yamashina has personally experienced how good a certain philanthropist is at making empty promises when selling a big product.

Bandai is now in a very successful period. The financial crisis that swept across Asia not only had no impact on Bandai, but instead caused a huge increase in its performance.

When the economy is in recession, the lipstick effect becomes stronger. Now the lipstick effect is no longer limited to watching movies, buying lipstick and the like, figures are also one of them!

Bandai's performance of figures is constantly skyrocketing, and coupled with the super IP of Pokémon, Bandai's figures, toys, models, animations, comics, peripheral products and other products are all selling well.

In addition to the figures, what made Bandai's stock price soar was Pop Mart's blind box business. It can be said that Pop Mart has opened up an era of trendy toys around the world!

Pop Mart has now become the mainstay of Bandai, with its revenue continuing to soar. With the two major businesses of Bandai figures and Pop Mart, Bandai's stock price and market value have both reached historical highs.

Even this year, Bandai's market value exceeded 10 billion US dollars for the first time, and its stock price more than doubled in two years, making it a dark horse in the Japanese stock market!
If the stock price continues to rise, Bandai will surpass Nintendo. Nintendo's current market value is 12 billion US dollars, and the gap between the two is only 2 billion US dollars!
Watching the news on TV, Makoto Yamashina pursed his lips. The news on TV reminded Makoto Yamashina of Bandai's humiliating history of defeat in the game console industry. Even the Yamashina family lost the controlling stake in Bandai because of this.

Based on Makoto Yamashina's understanding of Yamauchi Hiroshi, he will never give up controlling stake in Nintendo. After all, Nintendo has been passed down for three generations, so how could he possibly give it up?

Since Microsoft cannot buy Nintendo, it can only start from scratch and establish a new game console department.

Previously, Bandai teamed up with Apple to make a game console, but failed miserably. Now it’s Microsoft’s turn, and Makoto Yamashina is a little unsure.

If it were just Microsoft, Makoto Yamashina would still not be optimistic that Microsoft could challenge Nintendo and Sony in the game console industry.

However, Microsoft has obviously teamed up with Dongling Hi-Tech this time, and Shan Kecheng is not sure whether it will win or lose. The key is that the big money sponsor has always played unconventional games, and no one knows whether it will play tricks or not.

Look at Bandai now. The two major projects, Pokémon and Pop Mart, which helped Bandai's market value increase by 6 billion US dollars in two years, were what Bandai was asked to do by its big sponsors.

The effect is obvious. Bandai has returned to its peak and Makoto Yamashina has gotten rid of the reputation of a prodigal son. He has become a role model among the second generation of Japanese Bandai. He can be said to be the Japanese version of having a son!

Now that Microsoft is working on game consoles with a big money sponsor, Makoto Yamashina feels that Bandai should also make a move. He plans to go to Pingyang to meet with the big money sponsor. Maybe this is also an opportunity for Bandai!

……

"Snapped!"

"Microsoft is crazy to spend $3.5 billion on such a piece of junk and buy Nintendo?"

Unlike Yamashina Makoto, in another Nippon Benz company, Nakamura Sueio, the president of Nippon Benz Telephone and Telegraph Company, threw the newspaper on the table with disdain.

(End of this chapter)