Haig's diplomatic stance on the Middle East issue is not in sync with Regen's thinking, and his secretary of state will not last long after all.

He can only play the image of "the first hawkish secretary of state that Li Gen needed when he first came to power", and after the "Star Wars" plan was announced and the Soviets were frightened, Li Gen finally needed a civilian secretary of state with a non-general background.

In history, Li Gen's "Star Wars Project" was announced in March 83, and it was also a move by Li Gen to emphasize the tense international situation and build momentum for the re-election after the midterm elections.

All things considered, Haig would probably have been secretary of state for nine months longer than he had in history, and then resigned and entered the business world.

After Gu Biao had a little bit of this in his heart, he decided to care about the other party's specific plan, so as to design how to convey the benefits owed to him back at that time:

"I don't know what specific arrangements Your Excellency has for entering the business world? Don't worry, I have absolutely no other intentions, but I just hope that I can repay you better. ”

Since there were no outsiders, Haig said bluntly: "I have also considered opening my own consulting company, but first of all, I already have two close friends in the business world who want to ask me to be a director." One is 'America Online' and the other is UTC. They all need to have served as directors of both the military and the diplomatic top. ”

What Haig said is exactly what history is.

In another time, as soon as he stepped down from the position of secretary of state, he was immediately invited to become a director of these two companies. In the next ten years, he will have more and more directorships, but that's all for later.

AOL, which is still a LAN company, was just reorganized this year by Steve Case, a good buddy of Secretary of State Haig, and is also the first LAN company in the United States. (Note that it is a "local area network" and not an "Internet", because there is no WAN yet, and it will be another 11 years before the official Internet appears.) But LAN technology is already there)

The AOL currently has only one main for-profit business: providing customers with point-to-point transmission of copies of game software on computers using telephone lines for a fee.

It's a bit like the model of selling games and wool resources online in later generations to make a profit, except that people are genuine and legal, and they also ask the game manufacturer for the license to buy with money.

It's hard to imagine that even work like "helping others transfer files and install game software" can be used to make money, and it has become the first business model for LAN technology to make money. However, the technology of 82 years is so backward, and people who know how to operate the computer file system can be regarded as "high-tech talents". (Because many older machines, with the exception of Macs, don't have a graphical interface or a mouse, and rely on the command line to use.) It's a lot more complicated than DOS, and non-professionals don't know how to use a computer at all. ）

As for the UTC mentioned by Haig, that is, the "United Technologies" company, this company is not well-known in China, but it is actually quite awesome. Because the predecessor of UTC, the old UTC, was forcibly split in 1934 because of the Antitrust Act of the United States, and it was split into UTC, Boeing and United Airlines.

(The 1930s were the climax of the anti-monopoly split of the Americans, mainly after the Great Depression of 29~33, the American reflection generally believed that monopoly led to the excessive concentration of wealth, the huge gap between the rich and the poor, and the collapse of the purchasing power of the poor)

Before the split, UTC was very good at aviation, aircraft manufacturing and aircraft core technical components, and later the part of the aviation industry became United Airlines, and the whole aircraft manufacturing became Boeing, engine and avionics systems and other R&D companies became the new UTC.

Pratt & Whitney, which now supplies Boeing with engines, is a subsidiary of UTC.

In other words, Boeing is really just a "complete aircraft assembler", and UTC is the core technology controller that provides the engines and avionics. In the past two years, such a company has been trying to bypass the core technology control of the United States and directly export engines and avionics to make a lot of money, and does not want to make most of its profits by its old brother Boeing. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a dignitary who has been a general and secretary of state to be a director, specifically responsible for public relations on the export ban.

After Gu Biao roughly understood Haig's whereabouts, he hurriedly said: "You are my 'uncle', and I will definitely serve you if I can serve you with affection and reason." Whether you're in 'AOL or UTC), if you have anything to work with, just say it!"

The three chatted happily for a while, and soon it was past 8 o'clock, and Haig got up to say goodbye and went to work in the National U Hospital.

Kissinger also wiped his mouth, and then went to Georgetown University with Gu Biao.

Gu Biao secretly wrote down the to-do list in the small book in his heart: April 83, there are still 9 months, and when the time comes, whether it is "America Online" that needs to pull investment or find resources, or Pratt & Whitney needs to sell fighter engine and avionics, we have to help repay the favor......

……

When I returned to school, I was followed by two days of daily academic life on campus without any hot spots.

Gu Biao attended a presentation and discussed with Kissinger the specific writing arrangements for the monograph "On China" and assigned tasks.

Then, Gu Biao took out his vacation again and went to California to take care of his game console business.

The three or four days back to Watsengton were just a small episode, taking care of the transactional work that was going on. In California, he actually has a lot of follow-up arrangements to be busy, and he completely takes time out of his busy schedule.

After officially finalizing the work of helping the tutor write a monograph, Gu Biao will be able to come and go more freely for more than a year.

Because writing books and researching information, no matter which city you are in, you are capable. If you have any questions, it's a big deal to communicate remotely by phone, regularly mail manuscripts for proofreading and discussion, and you can usually herd sheep.

On July 10, Gu Biao flew to California.

Schulhoff sent someone to greet him as usual, and as soon as he was sent to the headquarters of Tiankun Entertainment in San Francisco, all the executives were waiting for Gu Biao to report for a meeting.

There are not only the president and representatives of the marketing department, but also the technical backbone, including Professor Erikson, who has just been officially poached.

Since Gu Biao talked and laughed at Larry King's scene, Professor Erickson saw that Gu Biao had the ability to mediate with him in various large companies to participate in his philanthropic efforts and lead the initiation of the IEC Society chapter on electromagnetic compatibility. Professor Erikson made up his mind to officially leave Stanford University and then work full-time for Gu.

After all, Gu Biao's identity is not a scholar, and no matter how awesome the Tiankun Department is, it only plays the role of an "initiator/council member unit", and specific things need to be organized by scholars. Just like the national standard "GB-XXXXX" in the electrical field in later generations, the first page will be written with the preparation unit: Philips, General Electric...... But the compiler also has to leave a name.

Erikson has been at Stanford all his life, and he doesn't necessarily have such academic highlights, so of course he has to make a decision and come to Tiankun's technical director.

After chatting about the marketing of existing products for a while, Erickson will report to Gu Biao on the research and development of new products.

But for the time being, I can only let him wait next to him.

As soon as Gu Biao sat down, he first saw the latest sales data report handed to him by his subordinates.

He just glanced at it slightly, and sure enough, the 250,000 PLAY-BOXES on the market had been officially sold out - he had also said "sold out" before, but that was only divided up by distributors at all levels, and now it is officially in the hands of ordinary players.

This efficiency is no one.

The sales profit was also reported at the same time, and the price to the dealer was 99 US dollars, and the price of these materials could enjoy double tariff reduction, so the tax rate of the whole machine was not 15%, only 9 US dollars tariff, and the CIF price was 90 US dollars before entering the customs. (The double tariff reduction here is for chips and memory used in machines.) Because the materials were originally exported from the United States to foreign countries for processing and production, and then sold back to the United States. According to the foreign trade regulations of the United States at the time, these parts should not be subject to tariffs)

In fact, the cost of the machine's circuit motherboard is only $28 - PLAY-BOX uses the CPU of the Z80 subsequent modification, which is very cheap, only about $20, and the other memory and motherboard add up to more than 8 pieces.

A non-self-illuminating LCD lattice screen costs $6. Counting the plastic shell and labor, Han Ting's factory cost is only $42.

However, Han Ting and Guo Taiming also have to make money and amortize management costs, so when they sell to Gu Biao, the FOB is 50 yuan, plus the freight and insurance between FOB and CIF...... Gu Biao can earn 35 for one piece.

"How long do you think this sales can be maintained?" asked Shulhoff after Gu Biao put down the report.

Schulhoff: "Until the end of the summer season, it's not a question of how much is sold. After all, young people have enough time and pocket money to spend during the summer vacation, and there are hot spots to rub on current affairs, so we have conducted a rigorous deduction of market feedback and research. ”

Gu Biao motioned for him to speak slowly, and he first calculated in his heart.

If he can ensure that the first 700,000 units are sold out when they arrive, then he will have at least $80 million in retail sales in the third quarter (dealers will add profits to players when retailing to players, and it is impossible to sell them for 99 yuan), which can be attributed to Tiankun Entertainment's gross profit, which is $24 million.

The scale of this business is not inferior to the arcade business at its peak last year.

The effect of sinking channels and doing business directly with consumers at the bottom is still obvious.

Of course, Gu Biao has done so many things and mediated so many tap water allies, which he deserves.

In fact, these tens of millions of dollars are not what Gu Biao is most concerned about.

In contrast, Atari's sales this year will approach $3 billion, and compared with Atari, Gu Biao is still an order of magnitude lower than Atari - before the Christmas crash, Atari had been sacrificing word of mouth but running wild for cash flow.

has a fight with Shi Yuzhu's style of play in later generations, which belongs to "in the process of fame gradually becoming stinky, but making more money", it suddenly collapsed in the last night.

After Gu Biao settled the account, he continued to ask: "So, what about the fourth quarter? Don't you have confidence? How will the follow-up advertising and promotion plan be determined?"