Chapter 615: The New Boss's Generous Spending
On March 16, the Clippers played against the New Orleans Hornets at home, and Chris Paul sat on the sidelines in a suit. The unlucky guy's injury has not yet recovered. The official news of the Hornets is that they will make a comeback in early April, but they know whether it is true or not.
The inside duel between the two brothers and Bynum + West became the biggest highlight of the game. The two teams competed extremely fiercely in the first quarter, and the scores increased alternately. Unfortunately, they lacked the team's core and the Hornets were seriously insufficient in their endurance. They were defeated in the second quarter. In the first half, the Clippers led by 10 points with 48::38.
The Clippers beat the Hornets 26:18 in the third quarter and scored another 8 points, with an 18-point lead. As a result, there is no suspense at this moment. Bynum scored three consecutive fouls in just three minutes in the last quarter, and was expelled from the court for a full foul. The scores of the two teams were also widened to 20+. The Hornets took down their main players and announced their surrender.
The loss of this game was definitely a bad result for the Hornets.
The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Denver Nuggets the day before yesterday, and their record was already on par with the Hornets. The latter lost to the Clippers today, and the eighth position in the West was immediately occupied by the Grizzlies. If this continues, Paul may not be able to enter the playoffs like the unlucky Anthony this year. You can imagine what the Queen Bee feels like at this moment.
On March 18, the Clippers continued to play at home, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference underdog.
The pre-sale of "Experience Panda" was also stopped on March 18. The ten-day pre-sale allowed the Experience Panda to sell 4.2 million units. After achieving an astonishing sales of 2.2 million units in the first three days, the remaining 7 days were sold for 2 million units. Although the decline was slightly large, this result was enough to make Apple jealous. The ten-day pre-sale of Experience Panda has exceeded the sales volume of Apple's 3Gs when it was officially released for ten days last year. How could this not make Jobs jealous?
The official opening and sale time of Extraordinary Panda is April 1. Cat Fox Entertainment further pointed out that Extraordinary Panda will be launched on April 1, including: China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. After successful listing, the fourth-level will also be listed in the following countries and regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea. Spain, India, Sweden and Switzerland.
Then Maohu Entertainment released the proportion of pre-sales in various places, of which the United States contributed 1.5 million units in sales, with a total sales of 35.7% of the total sales; secondly, China, without counting Hong Kong and Taiwan, China still contributed 1.2 million units in sales, accounting for 28.6% of the total sales. Thirdly, Germany, with a total of 450,000 units sold, a proportion of 10.7%. Considering the population of Germany, this sales figure is very high, which shows that Germans love the extraordinary panda style more. South Korea sold 400,000 units, second only to Germany, exceeding the expectations of the two brothers. The United Kingdom and Japan ranked fifth and sixth respectively, and the pre-sales were less than 300,000 units.
Only more than 200,000 units were sold in Japan, which was much lower than the expectations of the two. According to historical perspective, the Japanese did not exclude foreign mobile phones. In another time and space, the iPhone 4 was sold out of stock all the way in Japan, and then began Apple's long-term rule in Japan.
But when it comes to their great fox and extraordinary panda, sales in Japan were both sluggish, which made the two of them feel very puzzled. Is it because of their Chinese identity?
"No, our sneakers and jerseys have long been ahead of Kobe and James in Japan. Is it impossible for mobile phones to be the exception?"
Ji Guomori thinks it shouldn't be. He is very popular in Japan. Many Japanese girls want to give birth to monkeys for him, which made Taylor Swift refuse to go to Japan with him last summer because Ji Guomori's Japanese female fans have been spared no effort to blacklist the young singer.
"Maybe the style of our mobile phones is not suitable for Japanese people, who knows..."
Ji Guoqiu has no good explanation, so he can only understand that the style does not match the Japanese recognition.
The two of them didn't know that the Japanese were typical cheap people. They had to buy things that everyone bought. Only when they were sold out of stock would they think it was good things and would follow the trend to buy them. So when the ten-day pre-sale was over, the media reported that the extraordinary Panda had set a new pre-sale record, these cheap people wanted to buy them. However, the ten-day pre-sale had already ended. If you want to buy, you had to wait for the official release on April 1, and you had to wait for the 4.2 million units of the pre-sale were shipped before you could ship new orders. It is hard to say whether you could receive your mobile phone at the end of April.
On March 22, the Clippers took a break for three days this time, and then played against the Sacramento Kings at home.
Ballmer officially passed the boss meeting yesterday and became the new owner of the Clippers. The price of 3.1 billion broke the NBA acquisition record. Many people are still wondering how he earned the money back?
After analyzing the U.S. tax laws, the Financial Times stated that after Ballmer acquires the Clippers, he will become an "active owner of sports franchise activities." This identity will allow Ballmer to apply for tax relief equivalent to half of the price of his team acquisition, which is a tax discount of $1.55 billion in the next 15 years.
In other words, Ballmer acquired the Clippers in just $1.55 billion.
The world's most powerful American tax expert said that this tax preferential policy for sports franchisees was introduced 10 years ago, mainly to address concerns about media rights. At the same time, the government also hopes to use this to encourage wealthy people who are passionate about sports and greatly stimulate their interest in investment.
Ballmer is still one of Microsoft's largest shareholders, with a $1.5 billion stake in Microsoft. He paid $3.1 billion to acquire the Clippers, which also reflects his crazi pursuit of sports franchise.
Ballmer appeared in the stands in this game. Now the media are reporting that Ji Guoqiu will set up his own business next year. Clippers fans are also worried that the team's core will fly away by themselves, so they will really lose their roots. The Clippers' glory is entirely due to twin brothers.
Ballmer was interviewed by the media before the game and said that he had met the players and would hold a private dinner at the right time to entertain his players. Regarding the rumors that the two brothers were likely to leave, Ballmer said in a shocking way: "I am a loyal fan of their brothers. I am willing to spend 3.1 billion to buy the Clippers because they are worth so much money. I also know that there are only two examples of NBA team giving shares to meritorious players, and our neighbor Magic is one of them."
The new Clippers boss smiled at the reporter and said, "Yes, I mean the same as you think. If the two of them are willing to stay in the Clippers and are willing to retire from the Clippers, I will give each of them at least no less than the Magicians' shares in the Lakers."
Ballmer looked at the shocked reporter and smiled like a bun. He said, "Gentlemen, you heard it right. I am just proving that I am showing some people that I bought the Clippers for not having any ulterior motives, nor is it for the tax exemption policy. As you said, I have a net worth of 20 billion US dollars, and people like me have no pursuit. And I didn't tell them about this matter. Now I make a guarantee in front of the camera to prove my sincerity and prove that I will not regret it in the future."
The reporters were all stunned by Ballmer's courage. But when these smart people thought about it carefully, the Clippers can now be worth 3 billion. It depends entirely on the contribution of the twin brothers.
If the two left next year or the year after, the value of the Clippers will immediately shrink. But if the two continue to stay in the Clippers, the value of the team will undoubtedly continue to rise, and it is not impossible to surpass the Lakers in the future. Then even if they give 4.5% of each of the two brothers (the Magician's Lakers shares), Ballmer will only make a profit and gain a good reputation. Why not do it?
When talking about the new boss, we have to mention the unlucky Sterling. Half a month ago, when the Clippers were about to change hands, Sterling sued his wife, saying that Shelley was not qualified to represent the entire family and was not qualified to sell the Clippers. In the end, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that Sterling lost the case. Later, Sterling appealed, but was rejected.
The entire Clippers team has only met their new boss for the time being. This game is the first time the new boss has come to watch the game on site. Of course, they can't mess up the show, let alone the opponent is still the big-skinned king.
The Clippers, who played at home, had a very high desire to win, and in the end they defeated their opponents with a big score of 136:105 and achieved a refreshing victory.
In this massacre game, the Clippers set 4 records, with three-point shooting (23) set team history records and NBA records this season. The 42 assists sent were the NBA records this season, and the team's record of 44 points in a single quarter set the team's record of this season.
Ballmer looked like an ordinary fan on the sidelines. No matter whether his style was pretending or not, at least his spirit was very charming as Cuban back then.
The difference between the two is that Ballmer is more rich than Cuban.
The Clippers are now in a great moment of impacting the historical record. The team's new boss has not distracted the Clippers players. They are still training, resting, and playing step by step...
Although Old Dunleavy flattered the new boss, he suggested to the boss in principle that it is not suitable for holding dinners in the near future, nor is it suitable for promising players high bonuses. The most important thing for the Clippers now is to be stable and maintain this momentum until they break the 72-win record.
On March 24, the Clippers challenged the Dallas Mavericks away, who is currently competing with the Rockets to compete for the sixth position in the Eastern Conference. None of the two teams wants to end up 5th. The fourth-ranked Lakers are much more difficult to deal with than the third-ranked Thunder.
The Clippers have 11 games left. As long as they guarantee at least 8 wins in these 11 games, they will tie the best record in the league's 72 wins and 10 losses created in the 95-96 season.
Western rankings—
1, Los Angeles Clippers (64 wins and 7 losses)
2, San Antonio Spurs (51 wins and 20 losses)
3, Oklahoma City Thunder (38 wins and 34 losses)
4, Los Angeles Lakers (54 wins and 17 losses)
5, Dallas Mavericks (44 wins and 27 losses)
6, Houston Rockets (43 wins and 28 losses)
7, Phoenix Suns (41 wins and 31 losses)
8, Memphis Grizzlies (41 wins and 31 losses)
9, New Orleans Hornets (40 wins and 34 losses)
10, Portland Trail Blazers (38 wins and 33 losses)
Chapter completed!