dhibooks Chapter 461 Sofia's Achievements
Chapter 461 Sofia's Achievements
At 10 a.m., Sophia flew from New York to Jinan. This time, she didn't have Zhao Hu pick her up at the airport; she took a taxi herself. When she arrived at the Xinghuo Group building, she spent a long time explaining to the security guard at the entrance, saying, "I really didn't have an appointment, but you can just call your CEO Ling's office and you'll know."
After the security guard finished making the call, his attitude changed immediately, and he escorted her all the way to the elevator.
Ling Yun was in his office looking at StarPhone's weekly sales report for Europe. The door opened, and Sophia came in, placing a thick stack of documents on his desk.
"Mr. Ling, everything has been inventoried."
Ling Yun put the report aside and looked at the stack of documents. "Are they all here?"
"It's all here." Sophia sat down and opened the first document. "Let's start with the overall picture. From the Southeast Asian financial crisis in 1997, to the short selling during the dot-com bubble in 2000, and now to this counterattack against Goldman Sachs, the assets managed by IceCloud have exceeded $50 billion as of yesterday."
When she gave this number, she spoke in a tone similar to reporting the weather.
Ling Yun picked up the document and flipped through a couple of pages. It was filled with detailed lists of the balances, holdings, and leverage ratios of various offshore accounts. He closed the document.
"Just get to the point."
"Okay." Sophia pulled out the second document. "I suggest that we withdraw two hundred billion US dollars from the financial market and convert it into a strategic reserve fund for the Spark Group. This money will be used specifically to support long-cycle R&D in semiconductors, operating systems, and baseband chips. We will not pursue short-term returns, but only look at the strategic value over ten or twenty years."
"What about the remaining 30 billion?"
"Keep it on IceCloud. But the strategy needs to shift from offensive to defensive. At this scale, it's no longer appropriate to take the initiative like before. Every transaction will cause violent market fluctuations, which will not only fail to make more money, but will also attract regulatory attention."
Ling Yun stood up and walked to the window. The tower crane outside was still turning, and a new foundation pit had appeared on the ground, with workers tying steel bars inside. That was the construction site of Xinghuo's new R&D center.
"Is 20 billion enough?"
"That's enough," Sophia said. "Ni's lithography machine project burns through a billion dollars a year, with two years' worth of funds reserved. Liang Mengsong's chip factory will expand with another 12-inch line, which will cost five billion dollars. Spark Systems will push into the global market, so we'll use another three billion dollars for ecosystem subsidies. There's still ten billion dollars left, which the head office can use as a contingency reserve."
Ling Yun turned around. "When the short selling hit Southeast Asia, we only had less than 100 million in our accounts. Now we can put 20 billion back into the real economy. What do you think of this?"
"I think Anderson won't be able to sleep tonight if he hears this."
Ling Yun smiled, but the smile quickly faded.
"Where are the stars?"
Sophia pulled out the third document. This document was thin, only two pages long. The first page was a printout of an acquisition announcement, which read, "Dell and HP Joint Holding Company formally acquires Star Technology."
"The agreement was signed the day before yesterday. Dell and HP each contributed half, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley's shares were completely divested. Starting next Monday, Star Technology will be delisted from Nasdaq and become a privately held company."
Ling Yun stared at the paper without moving. There was a bird chirping outside the window; he didn't know what kind of bird it was, but its call was very sharp.
What was the board's reaction?
"Both Anderson and Winston signed documents waiving their preemptive rights. It wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't signed—Dell and HP's combined voting power exceeds 30 percent, and if they didn't agree, the deal wouldn't go through."
"Is Anderson willing to accept this?"
"He's not reconciled." Sophia's lips curled slightly. "But there's nothing he can do. Goldman Sachs lost nearly four billion last year on StarCraft, and the board doesn't want to hear the name StarCraft anymore."
Lingyun placed the acquisition announcement on the table and slowly pressed down the creases on the paper with his fingers.
"Where's Eric?"
"He sent something to you through someone." Sophia pulled a small, dark blue box from the innermost part of her briefcase. "He said it was a gift you gave him years ago."
Ling Yun took the box and opened it. Inside was a pair of platinum cufflinks, exactly the same as the pair he was wearing on his shirt. Underneath the cufflinks was a neatly folded piece of paper.
He unfolded the note. Eric's handwriting was messy: "Mr. Ling, my wife's illness is almost cured. Thank you for recommending the traditional Chinese medicine doctor." The day I resigned as CEO of StarCraft, I sat in my office for an hour. I thought of that 300-square-meter office you rented in Silicon Valley in 1997, and how you first explained the StarCraft system's kernel architecture to me, filling an entire whiteboard with drawings. Those days are gone forever. I'm returning the cufflinks to you; it's not that I didn't want to keep them, but I felt they should return to you.
Ling Yun folded the note and put it back in the box. He took out his cufflinks and twirled them between his fingers. The words on the inside were still there—L&Y 1998.5.20.
What was the highest market share Xingchen Technology achieved when it operated independently?
"Forty-seven percent. The quarter before the millennium."
"And now?"
Less than 15 percent.
Ling Yun placed his cufflinks on the table and stood up. He walked to the window, his back to Sophia.
"StarPhone has fulfilled its mission. Without it holding back Microsoft for those years, Starfire System could not have gained a foothold in the domestic market. Without it paving the way, we could not have built up the application ecosystem so quickly when we were developing StarPhone." He paused for a moment, "When I agreed to Goldman Sachs's conditions and handed over the CEO position, I was already prepared for this day."
Sofia didn't speak. The only sound in the office was the faint whirring of the air conditioning vents.
"Sophia, transfer those 20 billion to the domestic account. Do it this week."
"clear."
Just then, the door was pushed open. Li Mo stood in the doorway, holding a StarPhone. "Brother Ling, come take a look at this. The developer version of Starfire OS has a strange bug; it crashes when updating from the app store."
Ling Yun turned around. "Is it serious?"
"It's not serious, and the probability of it recurring is very low. Jianguo and I have been investigating all morning but haven't found the cause." Li Mo held up his phone. "Come and take a look."
Ling Yun walked to the door and glanced back at Sophia.
Sophia stood up. "Mr. Ling, you can go ahead with your work. I've finished dealing with things here and will fly back to New York this afternoon."
"Thanks for your hard work."
Ling Yun followed Li Mo towards the technical department. Someone carrying a server case passed by in the corridor, the case fans whirring loudly. Li Mo gestured as they walked, "I suspect there's a problem with the app store's incremental update interface, but the logs are all normal..."
Ling Yun listened without stopping.
The two men turned through the glass door of the technical department. A dozen monitors from the Spark OS project team were arranged in two rows, their screens flashing with code. Wang Jianguo sat at the very back, operating a keyboard in each hand, a data cable dangling from his mouth. A brown stain clung to the rim of the coffee cup on the table. A breeze picked up outside, causing the glass to vibrate slightly; no one looked up.