An hour later, Henry Morgan reluctantly left the arcade in front of him, but his eyes seemed to become more excited, and he said: "Eric, this "Tank Battle" is so fun, I don't even want to stop. , it is much better than the previous "Space Invaders", I feel like I don't even need to test it, I just need to ship it directly to the United States, right?"
"Yes, Hong Kong has already started producing "Tank Battle" arcade machines two months ago. However, considering that "Pac-Man" has not yet completely declined, we did not contact you earlier." Chen Zhiwen smiled. said.
Several games developed before, even the most playable "Magic Cube", as a time traveler who has been baptized by various entertainment methods of later generations, no matter how boring they are, they cannot be played for too long, and they will become boring after a while.
But "Tank Battle" is different. The playability here is much greater. Different levels and different settings will make each game a little different. At least it can allow him to play for a longer time, and it will not Bored.
"Well, I'll decorate it on the west coast before Christmas." Henry Morgan said with a smile. Now his dividends from the normal sales of arcade machines are not much, but if the game is popular, then the terminal bar may increase the price to buy it. In this area, his share will be much larger. In other words, the more popular Midea's games are , the more he can earn.
"There is another setting." Chen Zhiwen said: "The game of "Tank Battle" is a promotion system. If someone keeps playing it over and over again, it will be very boring, so this game has also developed a function, that is Bind the game according to different accounts. Suppose a person reaches the tenth level, then he can apply to purchase an account, and then his game records will be saved. Even if he comes back a few months later, as long as he invests again coins, you can directly enter the tenth level to play.”
"It's so powerful, but the effect is really good. In this way, people who buy accounts will lose money if they don't continue to play in the future." Henry Morgan nodded and said.
"Not only that, I am also planning to promote an event. Whoever can play the first 100 levels in the United States will receive a reward of US$100,000." Chen Zhiwen added.
"100,000 US dollars? Is it difficult to reach level 100?" Henry Morgan asked with a smile. One hundred thousand US dollars is nothing to him, but for ordinary Americans, it is also a large number.
"It's not particularly difficult, but it still takes a long time. Our team has tested it and found that if a person wants to play to the last level, he needs to invest at least US$1,000-2,000." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Then as long as 50 people participate, it will be enough." Henry Morgan nodded and said.
"There are more than 50 people trying to pass the level, it can be a hundred times or a thousand times. I just give them a goal." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "And even if someone really reaches 100, there will be 150, 200, etc. Hold them."
"This game actually has so many levels?" Henry Morgan asked in surprise.
"It's like a blank piece of paper, you just need to add various settings." Chen Zhiwen said.
As a special product, arcade machines have two customers. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the direct customers who buy the arcade machines can make profits, and to ensure that the end players have fun playing. However, each level cannot take too long, which makes it difficult to set up the game. Much more. With the current scale of Midea's R&D team, the development time of the "Tank War" game itself is not long. It was completed as early as the beginning of this year. However, it is more difficult to set hundreds of game interfaces that meet the requirements. It is very It takes time and requires a lot of testing. Because it’s too easy, bar owners lose money, and if it’s too difficult, bar players may give up and stop playing.
Several previous games, even the first "Snake", did not take long to develop without a sufficient team, but the development time of "Tank Battle" was much longer, not The game itself is difficult to develop. The most time-consuming thing is to set up countless different interfaces and then find a large number of people to test. If it is too difficult or too easy, it needs to be modified. Otherwise, there will be problems later. In the era without the Internet, there would be no The method will be updated remotely after release.
If you wait until the era of home game consoles, it will be much simpler. You can set different interfaces casually, and customer players can also skip levels, and they can even freely set the game interface themselves, which makes the playability much greater. It can even be said that now that "Tank Cube" is released in arcades first, you can not only make a fortune from it, but also advertise for future home game console cartridges in advance.
"Then this game is really endless, and it will probably be popular for a year or two." Henry Morgan said.
"It should be about the same." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "But our game development at Midea will not stop. Maybe the next game will surpass "Tank War"."
"It seems that in the field of games, the only thing that can beat Midea's arcade games is the next Midea arcade game." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"No one can monopolize the game market forever, but I think the coexistence of multiple games is coming. As far as I know, American bars are starting to have other games now, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
Henry Morgan nodded and said, "Yes, according to my research, the price of their arcade machines is much lower. Even if there are fewer people playing, the bar owner can make back his money."
"The future of gaming still lies in home game consoles and handheld consoles. Midea has recently released the handheld version of "Magic Cube" in Japan, and the results have been very good. Once home game consoles appear, it should be the same." Chen Zhiwen paused. Said: "Henry, you should be ready."
"Eric, what do you mean, let me be the American agent for Midea's home game consoles and handheld consoles?" Henry Morgan's eyes lit up and he asked.
"Not the entire United States." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "These two are not arcade machines, and the sales volume will be a very huge number, so the entire United States will have one agent per state, but because of our relationship, I can let you Select 3 states.”
"Three states?" Henry Morgan thought for a moment and asked, "Is it my choice now?"
"Yes, you have priority, but dealers of home game consoles and handheld consoles will not be as easy as arcade machines." Chen Zhiwen said: "For these two electronic game products, the channels that will be given priority are major U.S. stores. Supermarkets, such as Costco, Wal-Mart or Celtics, but such products cannot be placed in supermarkets. Corresponding people need to be recruited to introduce them to all potential customers.
Midea will specifically sign corresponding contracts with these supermarkets, but according to the rules of the supermarket industry, this type of electronic products need to be specially introduced by someone. Especially my products are still new gadgets. Without introduction, no one will know them at all.
In addition to major supermarkets, countless small supermarkets are also responsible for dealers. You need to get through these dealers and sell my games through them. I will not care about these specific business details, nor does Midea, but each state Depending on the economic situation of the state, each dealer needs to have certain sales performance.
It takes a lot of energy to do this in just one state, and it's not easy if you want to do it well. "
A company, especially when its products have some technical content and are civilian end-use products, will be involved in many channels. Even in a city, there may be dozens or even hundreds of sales points, in a state or in a country. There are so many.
Due to the concentrated population, the Hong Kong market is handled by PARKnSHOP, which already has 200 branches, while the Japanese market is delivered directly to Sony. Midea doesn't care how to sell to more Japanese people, because it doesn't have the ability.
The same is true in the United States. Just choose the right dealer. Henry Morgan, as a partner who has been working together for several years, has been helpful to Chen Zhiwen in many aspects. Now that arcades are about to be replaced, Chen Zhiwen can naturally do the same. Give him some benefits, such as agents in several states in the United States.
Moreover, because production capacity is still gradually expanding, developed countries with a population of 300 million will definitely need to enter step by step. For example, select a few states first. If the sales are good, then Midea will negotiate with potential dealers in other states. , you will have bigger trump cards and higher benefits.
"In this case, it does take a lot of investment to complete the entire distribution." Henry Morgan nodded and said. With his ability, it is true that he cannot cover the entire United States. It would be good to have three states, like an arcade machine. The days of lying around and making money are over.
"It is true that this distribution channel is not easy to build, but as long as it is built well, other Midea products can also use this channel in the future. In the long run, the benefits you can obtain may far exceed those of arcade machines in recent years." Chen Zhiwen added said.
Even in the 2020s, when Internet monopoly capital and offline supermarket capital have reached their peak, many electronic products still need to have many branches in cities, such as Apple, OV, Xiaomi, etc., any civilian electronics giant’s The rise requires a large number of dealers.
"That's true. If it doesn't work, I can sell your electric fans." Henry Morgan said jokingly.
"Decide which three states we want as soon as possible, and then set up channels, so that a batch of game boys can enter the US market during Christmas." Chen Zhiwen said.
"Okay." Henry Morgan nodded and agreed.
Two months later, New York, USA:
"Eric, SITC Bank's request to us is to sell 51% of its shares to us at a price of US$130 million. Especially the top management of the bank must not lay off employees within 2 years." Henry Morgan received him again at the World Trade Center Chen Zhiwen.
"It's not too much to ask, but I'm curious. As far as I know, HSBC should have been in contact with them a long time ago, right? In terms of funds, HSBC will not be reluctant. Why did they negotiate with us in such a short period of time?" Is it almost done?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
For a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if it involves mergers and acquisitions, it can be done within half a year, which is already very fast, not to mention that this is the sixth largest commercial bank in New York State.
"Because the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Reserve are not optimistic about HSBC, and through detailed investigations, it has been found that HSBC invested in low-interest government bonds in the past two years, resulting in losses of tens of millions of dollars. Now the bank's operations are in difficulty. At this stage, it would not go bankrupt or cause a run, so HSBC was adjusted, and I stepped in to acquire it. Regardless of whether outsiders knew it or not, they would think it was the Morgan family who stepped in." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
Treasury bonds should originally be a very stable investment, but the premise is that the benchmark interest rate is stable. In the current environment, inflation is serious, and the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates many times. As a result, the interest rates on newly issued Treasury bonds are very high, and the low-interest Treasury bonds purchased before have begun to change. No one cared about it, so many banks or large funds in the United States suffered serious losses because many low-risk hedging projects were purchased from government bonds.
Some radical investment projects, although they also bought treasury bonds, used leverage. Once the value of treasury bonds fell, they would immediately suffer collapse-like losses. Many small banks in the United States suffered heavy losses. SITC Bank was relatively better among them. of.
"Does your family have any objections?" Chen Zhiwen asked curiously.
"What are your objections to this? I am originally from the Morgan family, and this is considered the most basic benefit." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"Then what price do you think we should pay?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Isn't it about US$100 million? With this kind of funds, you can basically acquire other banks of similar size. Now the Federal Reserve has a tendency to raise interest rates. If we wait a little longer, I am confident that SITC will lower interest rates a little more. ” said Henry Morgan.
"Okay, then wait a little longer, but not too long. If HSBC convinces the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Department of Commerce, it will be troublesome." Chen Zhiwen said. In his memory, HSBC began to internationalize in the 1980s. Because the mainland has good relations with Western countries, HSBC has to internationalize. If we pursue stability, it would be better to acquire SITC as soon as possible.
"Okay." Henry nodded and said, "In addition, 100,000 game boys have been sent to many large and small supermarket stores in New York State. Currently, there are only samples for customers to experience. They will not be officially released until 7 days before Christmas."
"OK, then I'll wait for your good news." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
In the following days, Chen Zhiwen arranged for people to meet with more than a dozen investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bear Stearns, because gold futures were about to be cashed out.
Although gold prices were at their highest in January 1981, Chen Zhiwen held a large number of gold futures, and it was impossible to wait until the last minute to sell them all. The gold trading market was very large, but he also needed to cash out separately.
For such a major matter, Chen Zhiwen was naturally in New York personally. In late December, several major investment banks began to follow the requirements and gradually began to sell a small amount at the price of 650 US dollars. By January 1980, the price of gold reached 700, and Chen Zhiwen began to sell a large amount of gold. sell off.
Because he knew that the high price of US$810 per ounce only lasted for a short time, and then immediately collapsed after US President Carter issued an executive order restricting gold trading.
In mid-January, all the gold futures held by Chen Zhiwen were cashed out.
More than a year ago, his entry price was around $250 and his exit price was $750, which was almost three times.
The initial loan of US$5 billion from US$1 billion has now become US$15 billion. After deducting the US$5 billion principal to be repaid, there is still US$10 billion left.
However, investment banks are not philanthropic. Borrowing such a large sum of money involves certain risks, and the interest rates are naturally high.
In order to suppress inflation, the current benchmark interest rate in the United States is as high as 13.5%, which means the interest rate for depositing money in banks is as high as 14%, and normal commercial loans are about 18%-20%.
Although futures trading does not include interest in name, the wool comes from the sheep, and the funds for investment activities also have a cost, which just becomes a handling fee, and this handling fee is actually related to the benchmark interest.
In addition to the handling fees for various transactions, Chen Zhiwen received almost US$7.9 billion.
Fortunately, through more than a dozen investment banks, the average of each one is not low, but it will not make these investment banks lose their face. Besides, each of these investment banks also made more than 100 million US dollars from the above-board transactions.
Fortunately, in a capitalist society, after futures trading, there is no need to pay personal income tax, and there is no need to specifically report this income.
However, such a large amount of funds cannot be transferred out of the United States in a short period of time. Even if it is legal income, you will be hit if you play this way. It is better to invest in the United States first, wait for these investments to make profits every year, and then transfer part out. In this way, it is legal and reasonable, and after many years, not many people will care.
End of January 1980:
Chen Zhiwen came to Morgan Stanley's mysterious VIP client reception building and once again met Jim, who had previously invested in gold for him.
Seeing Chen Zhiwen, Jim smiled happily and said: "Eric, I am very happy to see you again."
"Both each other, and so do I." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Please take a seat." Jim smiled and said, "I wonder if Eric comes to my place because there is any big investment?"
"Of course, it is a very big investment." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "I want to acquire a car company in the United States."
(End of chapter)
