No company is willing to be only a technology licensee. Eric talked with Roger Wilson for a whole afternoon, and basically confirmed his intention to acquire ARM. Next, Firefly only needs to convince several major shareholders of ARM Transfer of equity in hand.
The market value of ARM is only about 80 million US dollars, and it has not shown any amazing growth potential. As long as Eric offers a reasonable price, it is not difficult to buy this company.
The autumn sky in London is very short, and the helicopter landed on a helipad in Pinewood Studios, and it was already dusk. Eric got off the plane first, looked at Caroline stepping on the pedal carefully, smiled and stretched out his hand: "Come on, I'll carry you down."
Caroline doesn't mind letting Eric hug her down, but the smile on his face and the tone of his speech are like treating a child. The thing Caroline dislikes the most is that others treat her like a little girl You know, she is only one year younger than Eric, and she is twenty-five this year.
"No, I can do it myself," said Caroline, who had already jumped down, staggering a little, but was immediately supported by Eric beside her.
After Caroline stood still, Eric said, "Let's go have dinner together. The restaurant here is pretty good. I'll take you back later."
Caroline drove here by herself during the day, but it was already dark at this time. Although Wilson Manor was not far from here, Eric was worried that Caroline would go back alone. This is the outer suburbs of London, and the roads on both sides are basically There are wilderness farmlands all over the place, driving alone at night is definitely a very exciting thing.
Caroline walked out side by side with Eric, and said, "Eric, I can just drive back by myself, and I promise my mother will come home and have dinner together."
"Then let's have dinner together, I'll take you home first," Eric said, seeing what the girl was going to say, and continued: "Don't refuse, I don't worry about you driving home alone now, tomorrow I will let someone Sent your car to Wilson Manor."
Caroline lowered her head slightly, nodded softly and said, "Then, all right."
Stepping out of the tarmac, the driver had already prepared the car. Eric opened the door politely, let Caroline get in the car, and then got in himself.
Eric didn't think much about it, but thought it would be more polite to send Caroline home in person, since it's not too far anyway. However, Caroline, who was sitting next to Eric, was a little overwhelmed, and her little brain began to overclock unconsciously.
Eric is going to his house.
There seems to be something wrong with this.
How to entertain him later.
What will Mom and Dad think about this
Eric chatted with Caroline casually, and when he saw that the girl was a little absent-minded, he calmed down.
The driver obviously drove much faster than Caroline.
Fifteen minutes later, the car passed a stone bridge. Eric took advantage of the street lights on the bridge and looked out. Outside the car window was a deep river about ten meters wide. Presumably this was the River Thame that Caroline had mentioned. .
Wilson Manor is on the other side of the Thame River. After crossing the stone bridge, the car stopped outside a manor in a blink of an eye.
Eric and Caroline got out of the car together, looked at the past curiously, looked over the iron fence wall, and under the lights in the manor, they could see the wide and flat lawn and the castle in the distance.
Because of the long history of aristocracy, there are countless castle buildings in the UK. However, due to the expensive maintenance and repair costs, most of them are even in a state of disuse. Even the Windsor Castle of the British royal family needs state financial appropriations to maintain it. In this era, the nobles who can still maintain the castle estates left by their ancestors have very deep backgrounds.
Caroline stood next to Eric, but she was obviously at a loss. She wanted to invite Eric to sit in, but she didn't know if Eric would be willing, and she didn't know what her parents thought. After all, she could Never told Mom and Dad that Eric would visit.
At this time, the gatekeeper of the manor saw his lady get off the car with a man, and greeted him proactively, and recognized Eric's appearance after approaching.
Seeing someone approaching, Caroline came back to her senses and took the initiative to introduce: "Eric, this is Mark."
Eric reached out and shook hands with the other party politely, and said, "Hi, I'm Eric Williams."
"Hello, Mr. Williams," the doorman shook hands with Eric reservedly, and looked at Caroline next to him: "Miss, do you need me to inform the master and madam?"
"Ah, this..." Caroline looked at Eric.
"Don't bother, it's just that it's getting late, so I sent Caroline back," Eric shook his head, said to Mark, and then turned to Caroline: "Then I'll go back first, tell your parents for me say hello."
"Well," Caroline nodded, not knowing whether it was loss or regret.
The driver handed over the two packing bags, and Eric remembered that they were the windbreaker and shoes that Caroline had changed during the day, and handed them to Mark who was standing next to Caroline, and said to the girl, "Then, I'll go first Bye bye."
"Goodbye," Caroline waved to Eric, watching the lights of the car go away, this time she looked away, took her clothes from Mark, and said, "Mark, I'll do it myself."
Mark didn't understand what was going on at all. It wasn't until his young lady walked into the manor alone with two packing bags that he realized that he called the Count and Countess.
Countess Edith Wilson heard the notice from the doorman and came out to welcome her. Seeing her daughter wearing a pink hoodie and flat boots, she looked like a little girl, completely different from the one she left during the day, her eyes flashed, but He quickly regained his composure, took the bag of clothes and handed it to the maid behind him, took his daughter's hand and asked, without mentioning Eric, and asked gently: "Honey, how are you doing today?"
"Well, Mom," Caroline nodded and said, "Eric sent me back personally, but unfortunately he doesn't want to stay as a guest."
Knowing daughter Moruomu, the Countess looked at Caroline's puzzled and disappointed expression, smiled and said, "Mr. Williams is a gentleman, maybe he didn't want to be too abrupt."
Having said that, the Countess sighed slightly in her heart. Since childhood, the Countess and his wife have loved this little daughter the most, and even Caroline's three brothers have taken good care of this little girl. They originally hoped that Caroline could find a husband who was well-matched like many noble ladies, and spend her life peacefully and happily.
It's a pity that Caroline graduated from Cambridge University a few years ago, and Mr. Earl arranged a blind date for his daughter. Caroline, who has been obedient and obedient since she was a child, unexpectedly showed strong resistance and even ran away from home. move.
Caroline met Eric Williams by accident, and the Countess also felt that it would be a good choice if the two could walk together.
Then the development of things is still not satisfactory.
Caroline also boldly expressed to the couple afterwards that she did not want to continue her previous life, so she went to Harvard University to study business school, and finally worked for Eric Williams by accident.
Over the years, as Eric became more and more famous, the earl and his wife also learned more about Eric's deeds. They realized that it was difficult for Eric and Caroline to get together, so this time Eric was filming "Casino Royale" at Pinewood Studios not far from Wilson's estate, and they did not send any invitations to each other.
only…
Looking at the daughter beside her with some pity, the Countess suddenly remembered many years ago.
Although people around her say that Caroline is weak, but the knowing daughter Mo Ruomu, Caroline's stubborn character under her weak appearance is exactly the same as that of a woman many years ago. She is worried that Caroline will repeat the past In the past few years, the earl and his wife let their daughter live according to their own ideas.
After all, it is the sweetheart that I have cherished and cared for for many years. The couple have three sons who are not bad, and they don't expect Caroline to inherit the family business.
As long as my daughter can be happy.
Realizing that the mother beside her was in a daze, Caroline asked, "Mom, what are you thinking?"
The countess shook her head: "It's nothing, your father is waiting for us to have dinner together, go in quickly."
…
Back at Pinewood Studios, after a brief dinner, Eric came to the study where he lived.
These days, apart from shooting, he has been thinking about the layout of the future smartphone era. Today, he has confirmed his intention to acquire ARM, which means that he is about to hold another important chess piece in his hands.
However, there is still a long way to go in the future.
Companies such as Nokia and Qualcomm invested by Firefly Investment Company have been developing rapidly and prosperously according to the trajectory established by the management over the years.
Because he has an absolute controlling stake in Nokia, Eric has absolute power to let this mobile phone industry giant develop according to his own ideas. The same is true for Qualcomm, which holds a high proportion of shares, and Yahoo, which is on the rise. But if this is the case, Eric will have to devote a lot of energy to control these companies. This is obviously impossible, because the Firefly Group has already occupied most of the time and energy. Apart from exhausting himself to death, Eric couldn't think of a second outcome, so he could only grasp a general direction, and leave the specific and minor matters to the professional managers of these companies to take care of.
According to the current trend, Nokia will only go on the track of the original world. This development idea is very feasible during the rise of smartphones, but once the rise of smartphones, Nokia will inevitably decline.
After these days of thinking, Eric also roughly figured out another path to find a new way.
In the study, connected to the Internet, Eric opened the YCR chat software on the desktop, Chris in New York, Yahoo CEO Ian Grenier and Chief Technology Officer Steve Mitnick in Boston are already online .
A separate impromptu chat room was created, a few people were pulled in, and Eric briefed them on the outcome of today's meeting with Roger Wilson.
Then, the four of them began to discuss the topics that have been going on these days.
Eric's plan to find another way is mainly divided into three stages.
The project is mainly themed by Yahoo Internet Corporation and Firefly Electronics Corporation, and the time span is ten years.
With the assistance of Yahoo, Firefly Electronics will focus on the development and sales of three products in the next ten years.
From 1996 to 2000, Firefly's main energy will be on the promotion of MP3 players, while privately developing the tablet computer that Eric discussed with Roger Wilson in the afternoon.
Several people have come up with a name for the tablet these days, and it's called the YahooPad.
In the plan, ARM, Yahoo, and Firefly Electronics itself will all be important links in the YahooPad R&D system.
ARM will focus on the development of YahooPad application chips in the next four years, Yahoo will be responsible for the system development of YahooPad, and Firefly Electronics will be responsible for the overall R&D framework of this product.
Steve Mitnick had the idea of developing a brand new PC operating system a few years ago, but the Windows operating system had risen at that time, and it was impossible to break Microsoft’s monopoly in the PC field, so Eric rejects Steve Mitnick's idea.
However, now, his original ideas and ideas can be used in the development of mobile operating systems. Eric has also provided Steve Mitnick with a lot of ideas based on his impressions of Android and Apple operating systems in his previous life these days. In the future, this mobile operating system will carry Eric's ambitions in the field of mobile Internet. This time, Eric will definitely not let the mobile operating system field share the same situation as Android and Apple in his previous life.
After four years of sufficient research and development time, the YahooPad was officially launched in 2000. By then, the mobile communication market will also completely turn to civilians.
Then, from 2000 to 2005, while promoting and selling MP3 players and YahooPad, Firefly Electronics will also use the technical background accumulated in the past few years, with the assistance of Qualcomm and Nokia, to quickly specialize in the research and development of smart phones. At the same time, because of the investment in Sprint, the promotion of this mobile phone in the mobile communication market is not a problem.
In ten years, in 2005, Firefly Electronics will also completely open the era of smart phones.
…
However, now, his original ideas and ideas can be used in the development of mobile operating systems. Eric has also provided Steve Mitnick with a lot of ideas based on his impressions of Android and Apple operating systems in his previous life these days. In the future, this mobile operating system will carry Eric's ambitions in the field of mobile Internet. This time, Eric will definitely not let the mobile operating system field share the same situation as Android and Apple in his previous life.
After four years of sufficient research and development time, the YahooPad was officially launched in 2000. By then, the mobile communication market will also completely turn to civilians.
Then, from 2000 to 2005, while promoting and selling MP3 players and YahooPad, Firefly Electronics will also use the technical background accumulated in the past few years, with the assistance of Qualcomm and Nokia, to quickly specialize in the research and development of smart phones. At the same time, because of the investment in Sprint, the promotion of this mobile phone in the mobile communication market is not a problem.
In ten years, in 2005, Firefly Electronics will also completely open the era of smart phones. (To be continued.)