pertwk Chapter 167 The Gift of Blizzard and the Cold Water of Silicon Valley
Chapter 167 The Gift of Blizzard and the Cold Water of Silicon Valley
August 2012, across the ocean, California.
Irvine, Blizzard Entertainment headquarters building.
Inside the core conference room, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime looked at Li Feng across from him with a hint of relief and joy in his eyes, but this was followed by a sharp, agonizing pain.
For the past few years, Blizzard's management has dreamed of getting rid of the leech from its parent company, Vivendi.
Now, they have finally raised enough funds and are ready to complete this historic "redemption" plan.
But what stands in their way is the 3% strategic stake that Li Feng seized two years ago for $425 million, along with the written "right of first resale."
"Mr. Li, as per our previous agreement, we are prepared to repurchase the 3% of shares you hold."
Mike Mohan pushed over a financial statement, saying, "Based on Activision Blizzard's latest market capitalization premium on Nasdaq, we are willing to invest $6.75 million."
In two years, 425 million became 675 million.
Without doing anything, they made a net profit of $250 million! That's equivalent to 1.6 billion RMB!
That's the terrifying thing about capital leverage!
But Li Feng didn't even look at the check.
"President Mohan, money is just the foundation."
"Our original supplementary agreement included additional clauses, which should also be implemented today."
Mike Mohan's expression stiffened slightly, but he still nodded.
Zhang Xinyu stepped forward and placed the pre-drafted, all-English exclusive agency authorization letter for Greater China in front of the Blizzard executives.
Li Feng looked intently at Mike Mohan: "I heard that your hugely expensive next-generation online game project, 'Titan,' has recently been internally halted?"
Upon hearing this, a hint of embarrassment and shock flashed in Mohan's eyes.
This is top secret within Blizzard! How could this Chinese person know so much about it?!
"Yes, the Titan project has encountered an insurmountable bottleneck." Mohan sighed. "However, the project leader, Jeff Kaplan, did not give up. He led the team to start a brand new team shooter game from the ruins of Titan, codenamed Overwatch."
"This game is currently only a framework, and it's not expected to be released until 2016 at the earliest. Mr. Li, are you really interested in a shooting game that hasn't even been fully developed yet?"
"I only value Blizzard's R&D foundation."
Li Feng pointed to the authorization letter, "Sign it, and Haofeng Network will have the permanent exclusive distribution rights for Overwatch in Greater China. I will sign and release the $6.75 million transfer immediately."
Faced with the immense temptation of regaining his freedom, Mike Mohan had no choice but to accept it.
With a few swift strokes, Li Feng not only made a fortune, but also secured the most profitable IP under Blizzard in the future!
……
After leaving Blizzard headquarters, I got into a bulletproof Cadillac SUV.
Zhang Xinyu was also very excited as she looked at the transfer confirmation letter in her hand, which showed a total of $6.75 million.
"Boss, you're amazing! You made over two hundred million US dollars without any investment!"
Li Feng smiled faintly, not particularly proud, because this was just an appetizer.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 20 ...
"How much overseas US dollars does Haofeng currently have at his disposal?" Li Feng asked.
"There's probably less than four hundred million dollars left," Zhang Xinyu quickly calculated.
"Round it up."
Li Feng's gaze was like that of a hungry wolf eyeing its prey. "Adding the $6.75 million that Blizzard just bought back, that's a total of one billion US dollars!"
"Notify the convoy to proceed to Santa Clara!"
"Let's go to Nvidia headquarters!"
In Li Feng's strategic vision, the billions of dollars sitting idle in the accounts are simply dead money.
In recent years, with the implementation of the 30 billion yuan low-interest loan for Huaxin Technology in China, the bottomless pit of lithography machines and semiconductors has become his biggest worry.
He knows it all too well! It's 2012 now, and there are less than four years until the end of 2016 when that blond-haired Trump comes to power!
Once 2017 arrives and the technology war and trade war fully erupt, that invisible hand will lock the throat of Dongda's chip industry!
Therefore, he must plan ahead!
He plans to use this billion US dollars to acquire an additional 12.5% stake in Nvidia, on top of his existing 5% stake!
A total share of 17.5%!
This would not only allow him to surpass those retail investors and institutions on Wall Street, but also make him the largest single shareholder of Nvidia, a giant with a future market value of three trillion dollars!
More importantly, the 17.5% shareholding ratio is extremely shrewd.
This is enough to give Li Feng veto power on Nvidia's board of directors, making him an absolute force that can influence major company decisions.
However, at the same time, it just happens to fall below the red line that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must impose more stringent and comprehensive public disclosure and review!
It can be used for both offense and defense!
Li Feng's plan was quite elaborate: he intended to use his position as the largest shareholder to exert pressure on the board of directors, forcing Nvidia to invest in and build factories in mainland China, and compelling them to keep their core chip technology in the country. This would then be used to support Huaxin Technology, a domestic company, and achieve a complete technological substitution at the core level.
……
Two hours later, at Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley.
When Li Feng sat down in front of Nvidia CEO Huang Laoxie with a billion dollars in cash flow and a statement announcing a strong increase in his stake to 17.5%,
The Chinese man, Mr. Huang, wearing a black leather jacket, had an extremely solemn expression.
"Mr. Li, your large-scale acquisition of our circulating shares has caused great unease within the board of directors." Old Huang looked at the young and aggressive capitalist in front of him.
"Mr. Huang, I have come with sincerity. As Nvidia's largest shareholder, I am very optimistic about your company's future."
Li Feng interlaced his fingers, revealing his true intentions: "However, in order to address the risks to the global supply chain, I, as the major shareholder, formally propose that Nvidia must establish a core wafer fab in mainland China and set up a high-level R&D center to achieve localized sharing and transfer of some technologies!"
These words caused the air in the conference room to plummet!
Looking at Li Feng, Lao Huang didn't show any anger at being forced out by the major shareholder; instead, his eyes revealed a deep sense of helplessness and...mockery.
He pushed up his glasses and, with an expression as if he were looking at an outsider, poured a bucket of cold water on this Chinese internet tycoon worth billions!
"Mr. Li, you may have some misunderstanding about how our semiconductor industry operates."
Old Huang leaned back in his chair and tore apart Li Feng's seemingly perfect strategic pie in the sky:
"First, Nvidia is a purely fabless semiconductor company!"
"Our core competitiveness lies in chip architecture design! Many years ago, we outsourced all our wafer manufacturing, packaging, and testing operations to professional foundries like TSMC, UMC, and ASE!"
"We don't even own a single manufacturing plant. You want me to build a factory in mainland China? An empty office?!"
Li Feng's pupils contracted!
Fabless?!
In his previous life, he was just a programmer who wrote code on the Internet. He knew that Nvidia was awesome and that graphics card prices were skyrocketing, but he had no idea about the detailed semiconductor industry chain behind it!
Old Huang hadn't finished speaking, but every word he uttered struck at Li Feng's weak spot:
"Secondly! Regarding the technology localization, sharing, and transfer you mentioned..."
Old Huang shook his head and said coldly, "President Li, although you are the largest shareholder with 17.5% of the shares, you can veto the salaries of our senior executives and you can also veto the company's business acquisitions."
"However! You cannot override federal law concerning Emily!"
"Semiconductor underlying architecture technology falls under the Wassenaar Arrangement and is on the Ministry of Commerce's strictly controlled list of core technologies subject to export restrictions!"
"Don't even mention that you're just a major shareholder with a 17.5% stake. Even if you bought 100% of Nvidia, a single ban from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) would prevent you from taking even a single line of core code out of customs!"
Li Feng sat stiffly in the chair. This was the first time in more than four years since his rebirth that he had felt a sense of defeat!
His life has been too smooth!
Relying on his memories from his past life, he wielded immense power in the internet, gaming, and entertainment industries, believing that money could unlock all doors in the world!
He believed that capital was omnipotent!
But today, in this Silicon Valley conference room, reality taught him a lesson!
In the face of turbulent geopolitics and technological blockades, what are you, a wealthy businessman from Dongda University, compared to them?!
Your money can't buy core technology! Your status as a major shareholder is nothing more than an ATM that can be frozen at any time in the face of Emily's laws!