"Even if you don't want to flatter, since you are a neighbor, do you have to show kindness? It's not a problem anyway." Mina didn't want to pursue her husband's original intention anymore, but her husband said it wasn't right. But as an instinct for studying diplomacy, she still wanted to make good friends as much as possible.

Gu Ao solemnly set the tone: "If there are meals or other activities in Watson's house in the future, if you invite them, you can go there, and Buxu will be spared.

It’s not that I don’t think he can be the president or not, but that this person is a bit stubborn and unaware of his abilities and is easy to do... The last time I was interviewed by Professor Vo Gowful and Professor Song Yimin, I said that he was confused and confident.

We are Chinese, so we should avoid dealing with idiots who can't remember whether they have been seen by some Saint Seiya."

Mina couldn't help but feel a little regretful: "But your mentor is Professor Kee, you are somewhat branded with the stereotype of that faction."

Gu Ao took a sip of tea gracefully and plucked the lid of the teacup: "My mentor has retired from the academic community for four or five years, and some things will fade. And we are Chinese, so what do they do?"

Gu Ao has some connections with the nuclear supply faction in the United States, but there is no friendship. Based on the natural connections brought by Professor Ki, the Lucians can maintain the status quo when the Lucians still exist. But as long as the Lucians disappear, Gu Ao must draw a clear line and protect themselves.

Gu Ao looked down on the small profits of the moment, and he didn't bother to change history.

After hearing her husband's resolute statement, Mina did not express any disagreement.

Although she cannot fully understand it for the time being, she believes that her husband's vision has never been missed in the past few years.

Due to Mina's reminder, Gu Ao, with the idea of ​​having a date or not, sent a secretary at noon that day to go to Watson's house next door to take some gifts, and asked the other party to have afternoon tea together when they have time recently, as the friendship of the newly moved landlords.

Americans are not so particular about neighborhood friendship and do not visit each other as diligently as Chinese in the same era. However, the super rich are also willing to expand their circle.

Standing at this time in 1988, ib is of course the second most powerful high-tech company in the United States. In terms of scale and technical content, it is far beyond Wang An, who was acquired by Gu Ao.

The first is General Electric. There are many other industrial enterprises that are larger than ib, but their high-tech level is not as good as ib.

The people's admiration for computer technology in the 1980s was similar to the people's admiration for artificial intelligence giants 30 years later. They thought that the company that made this thing was the most awesome, both in China and the United States.

In terms of market value, ib company is now at its peak, with a market value of more than 40 billion US dollars.

It is ten times higher than Texas Instruments and Wang'an's computer peak in the past few years, and it is more than ten times higher than Atari's craziest market value before the collapse in 1983.

In contrast, the Wang'an Computer, which Gu Ao now takes over, had a nominal market value before delisting, but was less than 2 billion US dollars. If Tiankun really wanted to take it to the capital market, the issue price was probably only at this level.

So it is equivalent to adding up the Wang An system and Tiankun system in Gu Ao's hands, which is only one-tenth of the size of ib. (The businesses that Xiangjidian and Gu Ao are not included in the communications industry layout, and those industries and ib business do not overlap, and they are not peers at all)

Such a valuation is also normal, because Wall Street will give an additional super high valuation for giants that monopolize the field and kill the rebels so that no one dares to compete with you.

Although Gu Ao's Tiankun system has a current gaming console business inventory and user scale, although it is far three or four times that of Atari back then, the existence of Nintendo, a competitor, will inevitably make Wall Street not optimistic about Tiankun.

Because as long as there is competition, even if the other party is only 20% of your size, it will at least force you not to plunder consumers and make huge profits at high prices. Then the capital will think that your future is not as good as those who monopolize and make huge profits.

Just like Atari, the capital market gave it a valuation of 30 billion yuan in the past because the competitors were killed and did not dare to enter the market. Atari dared to say boldly, "I can even put a brick into the plastic shell of the cassette, and it can be sold for dozens of dollars." So Wall Street is giving you a market value of 4 billion yuan for this huge profit.

From this perspective, the "ET Alien" incident was considered to be what Atari shareholders cashed out at high levels wanted to do this, but unfortunately they did not expect the intensity of the rebound.

At that time, many Atari executives wanted to prove it to Wall Street investors: selling good games to customers and making money steadily, what is the ability? Good games are not common, they depend on luck. If you expect good games to make huge profits, this huge profit has the element of gambling luck. It is not a 100% profit that will make money, and it is not enough to reassure investors.

They just want to prove it to investors that they can really sell hot chickens at high prices. Their huge profits do not rely on technology and design, and are not afraid of the fluctuations of creativity. This is the ability.

Investors should continue to grab stocks on this profit-profit platform because it is a company that can continue to make a lot of money even if the R&D department employees are replaced by people with intellectual disabilities. Wall Street loves this certainty about future profits the most, and loves it so much that it is fanatical.

It goes a little far, but it can also explain Wall Street's worship of monopolists' additional valuation premium system, whether for Atari or the current ib.

Of course, there are many factors that affect valuation. Generally speaking, the historical high valuation of companies such as ib and Wang An is also due to the fact that Wall Street is familiar with their products. The servers and office computers produced by the companies are all used by Wall Street elites every day when they go to work.

People always tend to overestimate the proportion of the world they know in the real world, just like a celebrity fan circle, they always overestimate the popularity of the idols they pursue.

Wall Street elites are also unavoidable. They think that the equipment they use to work every day is good, so they will overestimate the market competitiveness of these suppliers. Apple's high valuation in later generations is also benefited from this factor, which is not a complete reflection of its real strength.

In terms of sales, ib is definitely not as much as ten times that of Tiankun and Wang An.

However, ib is the absolute industry number one and monopolist in sub-sectors from giant machines to small machines and servers, which gave ib an additional premium, which was more than 40 billion US dollars in the late 1980s, which is not an exaggeration.

Of course, because ib is an old company with a history of more than half a century, when the first founder, Thomas Watson, died and passed the throne to Thomas Watson Jr., the Watson family's holdings were only less than 40%.

The old Watson era has not yet entered the computer business.

In the Watson era, ib was from the 1950s to the 1960s, but huge financing of ll-i electronic computer fields will inevitably lead to huge equity dilution, which is more than twice as diluted than his father. So the ib stocks in the Watson family have now fallen below 20%, and the total value is only 70 to 8 billion US dollars.

From this perspective, the gap between Gu Ao's wealth and the Watson family's wealth is not as big as the multiple of the company's market value gap.

The family wealth on the surface is only two or three times smaller.

...

As for the Watson family, after receiving the invitation from their new neighbor, they were very polite. After only two days, they came to Gu Ao for afternoon tea.

Xiao Sui didn't have to attend, so Gu Ao took Mina and chatted with the Watson family as a couple, making her look familiar.

Thomas Watson is already in his 70s. In fact, he has resigned from his position as president of ib 14 years ago, regardless of the heavy daily affairs, but he has retained his identity as chairman.

The one who is still in charge of ib is already the third generation of the Watson family, and those three generations are still in their 40s.

Of course, the third generation does not have the ability of the second generation, so they cannot be the president, they just do things as an ordinary senior executive. e still has to rely on the team of professional managers to support it.

Afternoon tea refreshments are all old-school traditions in New England, and there is nothing fancy.

Although Watson and Gu Ao had never talked about each other before, they were still very familiar with each other's deeds, so there was no need to introduce them at all and they could get a chat soon.

"Gu, I was really a little surprised when I heard that Wang An was taken down by you last year. Young people have the courage, and Wang An can't handle it himself. You dare to take on this mess. I am looking forward to the changes you bring." Not long after chatting, little Watson pointed out bluntly.

Gu Ao also said sincerely: "The times are changing too fast? Brands can be eternal and products are constantly changing. If you miss a wave, just aim at the next wave and start a new one. There is nothing scary about it.

What is really terrible is that this generation has missed half a step, and has even bitten it to death and insisted on fighting against people on this sub-track track, and refused to decisively break the arm and start a new business."

Watson was stunned, then smiled confidently: "That's right, since he was delisted and privatized, he hasn't heard Wang An's movement for several months. It turns out that you are ready to go. Then I'm looking forward to seeing the results even more.

I'm very curious, you young man seems to have more temperament than when Wang An was younger. Don't you think we ib is your biggest opponent? When Wang An first went public, ww. But he tried his best to hint to people on Wall Street: he is ib's biggest opponent and the most threatening opponent, so he can take advantage of the popularity to raise the company's stock price. You seem to be disdainful of doing such things."

These words were said by Watson Jr. Naturally, there is a certain prejudice. He will slightly subconsciously belittle Wang An, who has been competing with him for a lifetime, and say that the other party is deliberately taking advantage of the popularity.

The so-called intentional ride on popularity is just like what Liu Goudong did in later generations. He wanted to make headlines and make rumors of scandals, and he deliberately denied to the media: "No, absolutely not, it must be the wind that is insulting me."

Of course, Goudong did this to create a kind of "I am Ma Feng's only enemy in the Chinese e-commerce industry", and to raise his own value and block other e-commerce companies.

In fact, before he said this, no one treated him as a competitor to Ma Feng. Many public thought they were passers-by when they saw this name at first. It was not until they heard his remarks that they had the idea of ​​"Oh? Is this person qualified to be Ma Fengyin? Is he actually worthy of Ma Fengyin?", and then went to Baidu to find out who the name Goudong is.

When Wang An went public in his early years, when asked about his positioning by underwriters, he said that he must have said "We are competitors in the personal computer business of ib", but whether he was planning to ride on the popularity depends on his specific words and deeds.

Gu Ao would not believe all of Watson's retelling.

Faced with Watson's provocation, Gu Ao answered artistically:

"I think I am not a competitor to ib. Maybe we still have opportunities for in-depth cooperation in the future.
Chapter completed!