Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 404 Using Piracy Again!
Since Chen Xuebing first came into contact with Goldman Sachs after the Lunar New Year, he has been somewhat regretful about the financing of Singularity.

The initial idea was to bring in some international partners to help KOS (Kunlun) expand its international channels. Singularity was also short of money to build a park. After the shareholding reform, a large number of management employees held shares, and there were also expectations to bring in international investment banks to improve Singularity's valuation.

The general trend.

But after he sent people to investigate, they found that it wasn't what he had imagined at all.

Since February, Changzheng has sent investment invitations to internationally renowned institutions such as KKR, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Temasek, and Warburg Pincus through various channels. Among them, the main foreign investor is Carlyle Group, which was mentioned by the Weibo employee earlier in the case of "XCMG Group's acquisition being blocked".

—That "American and British Presidents' Club".

But almost without exception, the messages disappeared without a trace.

Carlyle simply reads the message but doesn't reply. The most frequent replies he receives are "How long is the Singularity IPO plan?", "Are the financial statements up to standard?", and "Can the shares be sold at an internal price of 50%-30% of the offering price before the IPO?"

I've heard that some shell companies raise funds and go public by offering 10%-30% "internal financing prices" to attract well-known international investment banks to invest and hype up the concept. Afterwards, "the money of the wealthy is returned in full, while the money of ordinary people is split 30/70."

The responses from foreign investment banks and funds are practically tantamount to treating Singularity as a company that's using their name to scam money.

Many of these institutions have actively participated in investing in Chinese internet projects and are optimistic about online platforms going global. However, they do not have long-term investment expectations for projects like Singularity Kunlun Global Mobile System. They only want to profit from it. They completely disagree with the valuation of 66.2 billion yuan given by PwC, let alone increase the valuation. Even Hu Zuliu of Goldman Sachs, who had previously taken the initiative to contact them, should have known about Singularity's financing setbacks and lowered his valuation offer to 40 billion yuan.

Singularity has indeed been too low-key since its press conference. It hasn't been hyping itself up, but has been focusing on improving its system and phones, researching related technologies, and setting up sales channels. As a result, its popularity has gradually decreased, and it's normal for it to lose some valuation.

But how could investors with this get-rich-quick mentality possibly provide any real help to Singularity?
He was silently holding his breath, not wanting to announce this bad news to the management of Singularity, feeling it was a bit embarrassing to rush to these international investment banks.

I'm not melting anymore.

Recently, he has been quietly revising the previous financing path. First, he reduced the stock options of Singularity employees to lower everyone's expectations for external investment. Then, he shifted the source of funding for the construction of Singularity Park to banks to solve Singularity's urgent need for money.

He no longer wants to beg for investment; he intends to use Qidian's performance to make these institutions regret their decision.

Furthermore, since international institutions are optimistic about the internet, let's start by promoting the internet.

Let these institutions see that Singularity, which they look down on, is worth 66.2 billion yuan for just one of its internet projects!
"Chairman, the financing serves as a confirmation of the previous valuation work, and it can also solve some urgent problems."

Lu Weibing had a vague feeling that the chairman's recent actions were what he wanted to do, but he didn't want his previous work to become a sunk cost, so he wanted to try again.

Chen Xuebing's expression gradually turned cold.

“I told you, Singularity’s current valuation is too low. I’ll take care of the funding for the industrial park, and I’ve also arranged for employee benefits. What, is Singularity not making enough money from Spreadtrum? Want to become self-reliant?”

Lu Weibing swallowed hard.

This is not a discussion, it is a notification.

It even seemed to carry a warning.

"That's good too. I also think it's too low. If Singularity needs to raise funds, it should at least have 10 billion!"

President Lu's tone changed seamlessly, and even his eyes changed, showing a hint of determination in his gaze as he looked at the executives of Qidian.

10 billion.

Chen Xuebing chuckled.

These days, people are still a bit reserved with numbers.

Sina Weibo was valued at 7 million yuan during its first round of financing, and its IPO price exceeded 30 billion yuan before listing.

Dollar.

However, he didn't want to brag to the management team anymore. He smiled again, slammed his hand on the table, and said, "Okay, you're determined, I support you. Let's put it this way. The Qidian financing will be put on hold for now. We'll proceed with our strategy of promoting project financing. The management team needs to build everyone's confidence and continue to do a good job in all aspects. I will personally participate in Qidian's market work arrangements afterward."

The people on the other side nodded in agreement, expressing their determination.

"The management team can go ahead and get busy. Mr. Lu and Mr. Lin, please stay behind. The last person to leave should close the door behind them."

The management team never expected that today would be a triple event.

As the level of attendees continued to rise, some people wondered what more important matters the chairman might have planned.

However, given the chairman's last words, the management team all withdrew.

Lu Weibing realized what was going on and personally went out to arrange for people to guard both sides of the video conference room to prevent anyone from getting close before returning to the conference room.

When Chen Xuebing saw him return, he got straight to the point:

Have the sales channels for counterfeit N95 masks been secured?

The term "copycat" left both Cai Zhijian and Wu Jiesi somewhat bewildered.

Isn't a counterfeit the same as a pirated copy?
Singularity is still making pirated phones?!

Having worked in piracy for a year, Lu Weibing wasn't bothered by the term and chuckled, "There won't be any problems with Huaqiangbei's distribution channels. In 05, the four major mobile phone manufacturers joined forces to challenge the Ministry of Information Industry, but they couldn't stop Huaqiangbei's channels. Nokia is even less likely to be affected. It's just that President Chen is a little worried that if it sells too well, it will cause a sensation. He has already gone to Africa to explore the market and plans to control it remotely. If everything is fine in China, he will come back."

The Mr. Chen he mentioned is Chen Jinling, a major distributor in Huaqiangbei, who currently has more than 50 counters throughout Guangdong, with more than 20 in Huaqiangbei alone.

One of the earliest participants in the Kunlun System Alliance was originally also going to make Kunlun mobile phones.

But since November of last year, Chen Jinling's production tasks have changed.

At that time, Chen Xuebing learned from Wang Jianzhou that the N95 was going to enter the Chinese market ahead of schedule, so he arranged for Lu Weibing to secretly purchase more than a dozen N95s from Europe for reverse engineering, and then selected Chen Jinling as the "Huaqiangbei N95 boutique pirated manufacturer".

The factories behind Chen Jinling have mediocre technology for piracy, but Qidian has the technology and its own system. According to Chen Xuebing, they want to help Chen Jinling make an N95 that is "a one-to-one replica in appearance and surpasses the original in content".

We studied singularities for several months and succeeded.

Lu Weibing became somewhat excited when she talked about this:

"Chen Jinling obtained the original CAD drawings of the casing from Foxconn's quality inspectors, and we helped them die-cast the magnesium-aluminum alloy frame, achieving the exact same matte metallic texture! We replaced the damping device with phosphor bronze sheet springs, which have a shorter lifespan, but the weight and feel are very similar. We also invested heavily in the camera, using 200 megapixels, and the visual effect is not much different from the N95's 500 megapixels, with very high detail!"

"The chip used is the Spreadtrum SC8800L single-core, which has only 48% of the performance of the original OMAP2420, but we added a coprocessor and equipped it with our optimized system, so it runs very smoothly."

"The system's UI is completely taken from Symbian 9.2, and the operation logic is similar, but the kernel is our keyboard version. The software is also different; it lacks their navigation and office software, and cannot run Symbian C++ framework .sis format applications. However, this is a TD 3G version, which can use China's 3G network as quickly as possible! Moreover, it has Kunlun's app store, allowing developers to participate freely. I will have Chen Jinling release this 'Kunlun Symbian Replica' to our developer community. With our 'Kunlun Mini' SDK adaptation, the keyboard version software developed can be installed on this 'TD N95,' enjoying a larger software ecosystem. The manufacturing cost is less than 1200, but the market price is unknown. Anyway, Chen Jinling's own terminal channels only sell it for 1799!"

Lu Weibing's introduction of a pirated mobile phone was surprisingly passionate.

The successful development of this system means that Kunlun Business Unit has the ability to extend its coverage to the Symbian system, which makes him very excited.

Saipan is old, Kunlun should rise!

Chen Xuebing laughed upon hearing this, then couldn't help but sigh, "The Kunlun that Chen Jinling uses is actually better than our own 'Kunlun Mini'."

Before the Chinese New Year, at Qidian, a technical manager named Yang Ke would come to him to report on the development progress of "Kunlun Mini". This system was based on Symbian and modified to create the "Kunlun Keyboard Edition" strategic defense product.

In reality, the "Kunlun Mini" was just a small derivative project. The real secret project team was developing the "Kunlun Saipan Replica," which was specifically designed for Chen Jinling and would never be released in the name of Singularity.

Regardless of Nokia's perspective, they will insist that it was modified using leaked source code from the Kunlun system.

However, Lu Weibing suggested that they should take this opportunity to create a defensive keyboard phone system with the same SDK, which would allow them to openly flash the keyboard phone and also better explain the rationality of the "Kunlun Symbian replica" technology source.

That's how the "Kunlun Mini" project team came about.

Poor Yang Ke, after obtaining the design logic and part of the code of the Symbian replica, was determined to create his own style of "Kunlun Mini" system, but it turned out to be just a cover for the Symbian replica.

“We are not afraid of going to court, but we must be able to explain ourselves through all channels. We are the victims in the law.”

"Don't worry, Chairman. We used middlemen at every stage. Neither we nor Spreadtrum knew these parts were intended for making pirated phones. I actually hope they sue us; the bigger the fuss, the better. A knock-off 'Kunlun Mini' system that can pass for the real Symbian system will drive Nokia crazy and make a scene. I'm just afraid they'll admit it and suffer in silence."

"Let's wait and see. Once this guy has suffered a huge loss that they can't take anymore, they'll naturally file a lawsuit."

Chen Xuebing and Lu Weibing exchanged knowing smiles.

Nokia China is now advertising the N95 everywhere, touting its elite smart system and advanced business design, giving the N95 a premium price, and consumers are buying it like crazy, with sales soaring.

Many electronics enthusiasts are optimistic about Kirin's comprehensive innovation, believing that the "Starlink" feature alone is worth the price of admission. People often compare the content of Kirin's launch events with the N95, but there are many sarcastic voices. Many people firmly believe that the performance of Kirin phones in the launch events is a background effect, and that the actual product operation is not stable at all.

Singularity did not respond at all, seemingly out of fear.

The calls to defend the N95 are even stronger.

This is a silent spiral, and also the poison fed to N95 masks.

When a large number of 1:1 replica products priced at over a thousand yuan appear on the market, with systems that are more open and intelligent than the N95, and with more and more developer software, what will the N95 still have to boast about?

What will Nokia's loyal high-end consumers think?
unknown.

"Let's release the 'Kunlun Mini' first. We need to give the imitators some reasonable time to modify it."

Chen Xuebing issued the order, signifying the start of a trial run for the battle.

"Should we arrange for them to ship our products next month when they launch?" Lu Weibing asked.

"No rush. Let's tease Nokia a bit first and wait for the right moment. But we need to prepare the goods in advance, in case Nokia reacts too quickly and finds the manufacturer. Although Shenzhen can't do without Huaqiangbei now, if we receive a precise report from an international manufacturer, we definitely can't turn a blind eye. After we start shipping, it's best to stop production for a while. If a few people are caught, it won't be good if they reveal something."

"Don't worry about that. Chen Jinling took the accountant with him. The people left behind are just there to handle things and they don't know anything."

"Hmm, how are the manufacturers in Huaqiangbei preparing?"

"Tianyu is already supplying the goods. We'll have Nikan and Little Pepper ready before May, and the rest between May and August."

"What is a little chili pepper?"

"Mr. Li, the one who resells chips! He named the factory! What's his series called? Goddess Phone! He originally wanted to use the original name, Nikna! The English name is NCKLA! But it looks too much like Nokia on the phone, so I rejected it! But they have a lot of money."

"Hehe, there aren't many companies in our Fund No. 3 that aren't financially strong, are there?"

"That's right, they're all wholeheartedly following us now."

“Okay, our offline channels are currently highly dependent on mobile. The regional managers of 3G Magic Cube need to be ready to expand at any time. We still can’t completely cut off the home appliance store channel. If Suning or Gome changes their minds, we can choose one to supply exclusively. Whoever can reduce the channel fee to below 5% first, we will supply exclusively to them.”

"That's a ruthless move! But for 5%, we'd have to sell like hotcakes. By the way, Chairman, after discussing it, we've decided to stick with the high-end brand name 'Qilin' and not change it again. We can change the series suffix for future products, otherwise the advertising costs will be too high."

Chen Xuebing stroked his chin and considered for a moment before saying, "Alright, you guys decide."

"Let's use Aether as our mid-range brand name. The Chinese name is '以太' (yǐtài). It comes from ancient Greek philosophy and refers to the fifth element that makes up the universe. It has a sense of mystery and sophistication and is quite well-received in Europe."

"Why are we using English names again? Our company is so big, with so many people, is it really that hard to come up with a friendly and easy-to-pronounce name?" Chen Xuebing scratched his head and decided to give up his "no plagiarism" obsession, since he had already done piracy.

"Honor or Smartisan, you can choose one of these two names."

".hammer??"

Lu Weibing's eyes widened.

In Sichuan and Chongqing, this word is not a compliment.

He immediately pictured a scene in his mind: two young people discussing something in front of a mobile phone store.
"I'm going to buy a hammer."

"You son of a bitch!"

Lu Weibing was speechless.

I'll sell my hammer!
Chen Xuebing said, "Yes, it symbolizes the spirit of craftsmanship and also means the quality inspector of the smartphone industry standards. It's an idealistic name. By choosing this name, this series will focus on ergonomic design and quality pursuit."

Now that he heard that, Lu Weibing felt that it made some sense.

Thinking gradually becomes more intellectual.

"Okay, let me think about it!"

(End of this chapter)