Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Then let's not talk about business first, you and I are more optimistic about the development of personal computers in the future, so let's talk casually first." ”

Trammell was obviously interested in the topic, so he said, "What do you think, Mr. Xu?"

Xu Zhidao: "Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that personal computers are about to usher in rapid development, Apple is one of the leaders, but the market is still very small, even in the United States, only 1% of households currently have a personal computer."

Taking a step back, semiconductor processes are now changing rapidly, and a few years is enough time to make the once most advanced chips obsolete, so even if all homes have computers, they need to replace them every few years.

This is a very large market, the situation of our Midea company, Mr. Trammell is also very clear, we are not short of funds, but hope to be able to enter this market quickly, and Kangmaoda company now has its own reserve technology, but lack of funds to further development, now Apple is in full swing, IBM is also ready to develop its own personal computer, we join forces is the best choice!

As for why the wholly-owned acquisition, it is because in my plan, the annual investment in the research and development of new computers and other technologies in the future will be tens of millions of dollars, if it is not wholly-owned, then it must be co-invested with all shareholders, which will form an unnecessary rip-off, you know, how precious the current time is, one step late, the market may be gone!"

"Tens of millions of dollars!" Trammell couldn't help but be a little moved, he was short of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a project, so he negotiated with a bunch of shareholders for several months, and the loss of time was the most helpless, so he asked: "If your company acquires Commodore, how will we arrange all our employees and future development plans?"

Xu Zhidao: "If Midea Electronics is successfully acquired, then Commodore will become our company's subsidiary brand, all employees will still be in their respective positions, and you will also serve as the general manager of the American company, and I will invest 5 million US dollars to build a research and development laboratory in the United States and Xiangjiang respectively, as long as there are research results, follow-up funding is not a problem." ”

Trammell asked, "What do R&D institutions in the United States mainly develop?"

"LAN systems, CPU R&D, instruction set development, and some underlying frameworks for software.

In fact, the main research objects of the laboratory in Xiangjiang are functional software and computer games.

However, this is only for now, and in the future, other countries may also have R&D institutions, and the R&D may be different in different places, and I will arrange for each laboratory to send personnel to each other, so that we can better cooperate.

Of course, the production of computers will still be located in Hong Kong or other parts of Asia, after all, the labor cost is low. ”

Xu Zhi simply said the future plan, although the current Xiangjiang is not an electronic desert, but the technology is too poor, the original Xiangjiang cube is still developed by local technicians, but when it comes to Contra and Mario, basically the main game framework is completed by Japanese and American engineers, and the Xiangjiang team is mainly responsible for level design.

Today's computers are more demanding of engineers than arcade machines, and the team in the United States is responsible for the core technology development, which is the only option, at least for now.

"I'm going to think about it for a while. Trammell did not refuse as directly as he did at the beginning, and his attitude has softened somewhat.

Xu Zhidao: "No problem, I have been staying at the InterContinental Hotel in New York during this time, and I am always ready to welcome Mr. Trammell's visit. ”

Trammell said: "Even if I agree, the main stake in Commodore is not mine!"

Xu Zhi smiled: "These are not problems, I have already acquired all those shares." ”

Trammell asked, "Since Mr. Xu has already acquired these shares and is already a major shareholder of the company, why did he consult me like this?"

Xu Zhi smiled: "I am not only interested in the company, but this team, Mr. Trammell, you are the core of this team, no matter whether we can work together in the future, but I still hope that this acquisition can achieve satisfactory results for everyone." ”

Later in life, Jack Trammell had a similar encounter with Steve Jobs in 1984, when both men had serious conflicts with the board of directors, Jobs was fired, and Trammell left the company he created.

The difference is that although Jobs was talented, he had a very poor relationship with his subordinates, while Trammell was the opposite, and after leaving, a large number of Commodore employees also left, which also laid the groundwork for the subsequent failure of Commodore.

Trammell nodded and smiled: "I understand, Mr. Xu is indeed a gentleman, so let's do it, I will discuss this matter with my employees, although they are only employees, they used to start a business with me, and they also have some shares of the company, Mr. Xu wants to buy it wholly, and they must also agree." ”

Xu Zhidao: "No problem, the price is definitely not a problem, if the acquisition is successful, I can announce that all employees' salaries will be increased by 20%!"

Trammell nodded and said, "Okay, then thank you Mr. Xu." ”

The follow-up arrangement is much simpler, although the predecessor of Kangmaoda company has some history, but the development of personal computers has only been a few years, most of the company's employees are relatively young, these people are basically a generation that lacks funds, and the shares in their hands can have the opportunity to cash out at a high level, naturally they can't ask for it, plus Xu Zhi's promise of a 20% salary increase, basically everyone agreed to the acquisition.

After several verbal arguments, Midea Electronics finally acquired Trammell and a group of employees for $3.25 million, the price is a little higher than the acquisition of the shares in the hands of venture capitalists, but it also saves a lot of time, after all, it is unrealistic to negotiate slowly with too many employees, and it is most convenient to be in place at one time.

Commodore's brand has not changed, and after all the formalities were filed with the local government department in New York City, Xu Zhi directly remitted $5 million for the company's research and development of several projects: odore 64 computer development, local area networking, floppy disk drives, etc.

With the funds, Commodore quickly moved away from the environment that is now almost close to a snail's house, and the agency rented a four-storey office building near Columbia University, which has a beautiful environment and is close to several well-known universities, which can more easily recruit high-end talents and add fresh blood to the company's development.