Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 273: Burden Relief
Fujio Masuoka's office is located in the Xinghai Semiconductor First Laboratory in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa.

This is Masato Takeshita's hometown, so he plans to go home to see his parents first.

"Mom, I'm back."

"Kid, why did you come back without saying a word? Is there something wrong?"

"Well, I'm mainly on a business trip nearby. I didn't think about this, so I came to see you guys."

As the young man spoke, he moved the gifts prepared for him by the company's logistics department into the house.

"Why did you buy so much? You can't even finish it. What a waste of money."

Although Mother Takeshita complained, she was extremely happy in her heart.

"It's okay. You know my situation. It's just small money."

"Even if you have money, you can't spend it recklessly."

"Well, I see."

Masato Takeshita replied perfunctorily, and then asked casually: "Mom, where is Dad?"

"Hmph, what else can I do? Let's go fishing."

When it comes to her husband, Takeshita's mother is full of resentment.

There is simply no end to the fish at home. Every time I empty them out, I have to freeze a new pile.

"Uh, okay."

The young man also guessed it and washed the bunch of grapes by himself.

Prepare to chat with my mother while eating.

The elderly need to communicate, even if the mother is only in her early 50s.

After staying at home for almost an hour, Masato Takeshita was ready to leave.

"Is it so urgent? Let's eat first."

The mother patted the child's hand, hoping that he could spend more time with her.

"Mom, I have something to do this time. I will come back to see you next Saturday, next Saturday."

"Well, okay. Drive safely and don't cut in with other cars. The Gaosong family near our house was injured and hospitalized because they cut in with other cars..."

In response to his old mother's muttering, Masato Takeshita smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry, mom. I'm the most careful about safety."

"That's good, that's good. When riding in a car, you need to pay attention to safety. You must drive slowly."

"Okay, I'll ask the driver to be more steady later."

At the end of his conversation, he gave his mother a gentle hug and then walked out the door.

The mother was reluctant to let her son leave, so she followed him outside.

The two walked to the car, and Takeshita Masato habitually persuaded: "Mom, you don't have to send me off, you go back to the house first, it's quite cold outside."

"It's okay, I'll just stretch my arms and legs."

The young man knew that he couldn't persuade the driver, so he simply asked him to drive faster.

Because only when the car disappears will the mother return home.

However, when the car slowly drove away from the house, the young man couldn't help but stick his head out of the window and waved goodbye again.

"Mom, go back."

"Yeah, right away."

Having said that, the mother still showed no sign of turning around.

For her, watching her child leave is the only thing she can do now.

Ten minutes later, Masato Takeshita took a car to the first laboratory of Xinghai Semiconductor.

He did not directly state the purpose of his visit today, but took a look around first.

“Is this the SSD laptop that the company designed independently?”

"Yes, the design capacity of the solid-state drive is 20M, which can meet the most basic office needs of employees."

After Fujio Masuoka became the company's chief scientist, he gradually learned how to communicate with non-professionals.

Try not to use too many technical terms such as technical data, as your president will not understand them at all.

Be brief and say directly what you are doing.

"Very good. How many units do you plan to produce?"

"We plan to produce 1000 units, mainly to demonstrate advanced technology."

Laptops using large-capacity solid-state drives are expensive and not yet suitable for mass production.

Once the technology becomes more mature, it will be time for Xinghai Semiconductor to launch its own laptop computers.

"Ah."

Masato Takeshita nodded in understanding, then looked at the digital camera beside him.

“Is the cooperation with Sony going smoothly so far?”

"It's going pretty smoothly. Our two businesses complement each other."

Sony has very strong technology in imaging.

Xinghai Semiconductor is a world leader in flash memory research.

The cooperation between the two companies is a perfect match.

"That's good."

After visiting all the products in the laboratory, Masato Takeshita talked about the main purpose of his visit today.

"Mr. Masuoka, Sony and other companies want our flash memory technology. Can you agree to that?"

"The basic technology can be licensed, and we cannot monopolize this industry."

The chip technology in the 90s was relatively simple, and even if Xinghai Semiconductor wanted to monopolize it, it would be impossible to do so.

Besides, Toshiba’s flash memory chip technology is only slightly behind that of Xinghai Semiconductor, which is almost negligible.

Just like the Xinghai OEM, Masato Takeshita also instructed the laboratory to make a list to avoid any omissions.

"President, let's finish dinner before leaving."

"No, my family is waiting for me. You should go home early today and stop working so hard every day."

Fujio Masuoka is a workaholic and really enjoys scientific research experiments.

If possible, he would like to spend the whole day in the laboratory.

"Okay, I'll listen to the president."

The next morning, Fujio Masuoka and Junyoshi Koike quickly transferred the information needed by the company to the company headquarters.

Masato Takeshita took a quick look and then called and instructed, "Sakai, notify the president of Xinghai Semiconductor to come over."

"Hi!"

Ten minutes later, Lou Gerstner came to Masato Takeshita's office.

"President, has the matter come to a conclusion?"

"Yes, these are the company's bottom line for negotiations. Go back and see if they are appropriate."

"OK, no problem."

Lou Gerstner acted decisively and immediately returned to his office with the information, ready to discuss a more appropriate result with professionals.

Giving up interests always makes people feel very conflicted.

Almost three days passed before Xinghai Semiconductor determined which parts could be exchanged and which could not.

After roughly understanding the points of interest exchange, Masato Takeshita did not waste any time and directly dialed the phone numbers of the five companies.

After many negotiations, the meeting time was finally set at 3 p.m. on Friday.

As for the location, it is directly at the headquarters of Xinghai Group.

Because those who came were all bigwigs at the level of presidents or CEOs, Masato Takeshita brought Lou Gerstner to the company building early to receive them.

Perhaps because of his relatively short experience, Toshiba President Fumio Sato was the first to arrive by car.

"Good afternoon, President Sato."

"Good afternoon, President Takeshita."

Although the entire Toshiba was very unhappy with the Xinghai Group, Sato Fumio did not show it directly on his face. Instead, he chatted and laughed with Takeshita Masato.

Those who don't know the inside story will definitely mistakenly think that the two have a good relationship. It can only be said that everything in the business world cannot be taken seriously.

People cannot be compared.

After chatting politely for a while, Masato Takeshita felt a little overwhelmed.

In order to avoid any business accidents, the young man decisively changed the subject and said, "President Sato, please come in first, we will talk later."

"Okay, President Takeshita, you're busy!"

After politely escorting Sato Fumio to the elevator door, Takeshita Masato returned to the front of the office building and waited for the next big boss to appear.

Soon, the time came to 3 o'clock.

Five big bosses who have the final say within the company gathered at the Xinghai Group headquarters.

The few of them didn't start talking about business right away, but just chatted aimlessly.

But men are always fond of talking about that, and they started talking about the impact of the war on the international situation without realizing it.

"The military pressure accumulated by the United States has been completely released this time. It may be more difficult for us to get along with the United States in the future."

Tadahiro Sekimoto also had in-depth research on the international situation. He clearly realized that the next 20 years would be the period of American dominance.

If you want to do business in the United States in the future, you must pay tribute.

For example, allowing American capital to own a certain amount of shares in large Japanese companies.

"Yeah, I don't know what to do next."

Akio Morita traveled between Japan and the United States for many years, and he understood that the current situation was not very good for Japan.

The US military capabilities were not good enough before.

Many bad pictures are shown both towards North Korea and Vietnam.

The famous Saigon Iron Fist is the ultimate manifestation of this.

But it's different now.

Relying on its advantages in information technology, the United States achieved a dimensionality reduction attack on Iraq and won a glorious victory.

The morale of the US military is bound to remain high.

More importantly, serious problems arose in the rival Soviet Union.

When one of the two levels suffers an epic weakening, the stronger one will inevitably attack its former teammates.

Because of such a long confrontation, the US economy has also encountered serious problems.

Instead, Japan and Germany took this opportunity to make huge amounts of money.

The United States is now basically certain to become the victor of the Cold War, so it will naturally not allow its allies to continue sucking its blood.

Japan is the weaker party and must be given priority.

After defeating Japan, we will then move on to conquer Western Europe.

Of course, the two things are actually happening at the same time, but more emphasis is now placed on Japan.

Seeing that everyone was worried, Takeshita Masato smiled and comforted them, "Don't worry, we will no longer be the main target soon."

"Just keep a low profile and there won't be any problems."

The United States temporarily suppressed Japan's development by magnifying Japan's economic bubble.

But in Europe, it is more difficult.

Especially in cutting-edge technologies, Europe has surpassed Japan.

For example, when it comes to second-generation digital communication technology, Europe is showing a trend of leaving the United States behind and starting its own.

What is even more terrible is that there is a tendency for the European Community countries to further unite.

Compared with the big European Community, Japan is no longer that important.

Because no matter how well Japan develops, it has no chance of surpassing the United States.

It is different for the European Community countries. If they unite, there is a real chance of achieving it.

The United States must do its utmost to stop it, and even if it cannot stop it, it must lay various hidden dangers.

In addition to expressing their concerns about the United States, everyone also laughed at Saddam.

They are so incompetent and yet they dare to invade Kuwait. They are a bit ignorant of their own limitations.

All I can say is that a pig can only see the blackness of a crow, but the same is true for it not being able to see itself.

Japan also made mistakes during World War II.

After talking about politics, they turned to domestic real estate.

"President Takeshita is one of the best judges of economic trends in the world. I wonder if you could share your views on real estate."

Akio Morita intended to take advantage of the big price reduction to buy some land to build top-notch office buildings to avoid having to pay higher prices in the future.

But I am also worried that real estate and stock markets will continue to fall.

"Personally, I think it's a little early to buy now, but it's not too late to wait."

"Is that so? Then I'll wait a little longer."

Even with the precedent of the stock market explosion, a large number of Japanese still remain interested in real estate.

They all firmly believe that Japan's land resources are limited and that prices will inevitably rise in the future.

In the past, giant companies such as Sony, NEC, and Toshiba have invested large sums of money into the real estate industry this year.

So don't overestimate any leader, and don't think they won't make mistakes.

These people simply have stronger risk resistance and more determined will, and will ultimately succeed.

Of course, excellent execution capabilities are also essential.

Small talk is just to create a relaxed conversation atmosphere and should not go on endlessly.

So after more than ten minutes, Masato Takeshita decisively changed the topic to the main business of the evening.

"I believe everyone has learned about Xinghai Semiconductor's debt situation through various channels in the past few days."

“It should be known that the company’s debt is particularly large and several loans are about to mature.”

"If we don't find a solution, the funding chain may break in the context of tighter bank lending."

Xinghai Semiconductor is a typical example of a debt-ridden business, having already owed billions of dollars.

If it weren't for Xinghai Investment, the bank would have demanded repayment of the money long ago.

Having said this, Masato Takeshita continued to explain slowly in a low voice.

"Xinghai Semiconductor has several large loans that are about to mature, but the company does not have that much money in its account."

"If you choose to borrow new money to repay old debt, not only do you need everyone to guarantee it, but you also need to pay more interest."

The Bank of Japan has raised interest rates several times, and the benchmark point has reached 6%.

If Xinghai Semiconductor borrows money again, the interest rate will be at least twice the original amount.

"If you don't want to become a slave worker for the bank, I think the best way is to convert debt into equity."

No matter how dirty you are in private, you have to find an impeccable reason on the surface.

Although it seems shameless, doing this will indeed make everyone feel much more comfortable.

Because with enough correct excuses, people will brainwash themselves.

We did this as a concession to the company's development, not forced into it.

"The company's debt is indeed serious, and I agree to convert the debt into shares."

Tadahiro Sekimoto was the first to agree, wanting to do the young man a favor.

Soon after, Sony's Akio Morita also agreed.

Although they knew that everything was an excuse, they still pretended that they knew nothing.

Many times, companies or individuals need a reason that both parties can accept.

It's not to convince yourself, but to shut others up.

The other party readily agreed to the conditions proposed by him, so naturally Masato Takeshita also had to express his opinion on their request.

"We agree with everyone's opinions. It's just that there may be some big differences in the specific details."

After saying that, Masato Takeshita gave everyone a copy of the company's debt-equity conversion planning document and the interest exchange plan.

Written information is far more intuitive and profound than oral communication.

(End of this chapter)