Chapter 173 Listing is approaching
Li Xuan returned to Hong Kong at the end of May, and as soon as he walked out of the airport hall, he immediately felt a heat wave hit, and Hong Kong had entered the height of summer at the end of May. Although the sales of FC game consoles in the U.S. market cannot be said to have been decided, the trend of prairie fire has been formed.
Atari could no longer effectively suppress FC consoles. And the Atari-2600 is clearly at a significant disadvantage in a head-to-head head-to-head confrontation with FC consoles. FC consoles, relying on better performance and more popular games, are eating away at Atari's market share little by little.
Li Xuan rushed back to Hong Kong, where a more important job awaited him. Kang Computer's IPO has reached the final sprint moment. Because Dongfang Electronics is headquartered in Hong Kong, iKang specially set up the last stop of the global roadshow in Hong Kong.
In the previous two-week global roadshow, from London to Zurich, to Paris and New York, iKang Computer has been enthusiastically sought after by investors everywhere it goes. Aikang originally planned to issue 20 million shares to the public, but in just three promotion events in London, investors subscribed more than 50% of the total issuance plan.
By the time iKang went from Europe to North America and then to Asia, the issuance of 20 million shares had already been oversubscribed several times. Even if Aikang adjusted the pricing range of the listing issue price from the initial 5-7 pounds to 7-8 pounds, it still could not stop the enthusiasm of investors.
The last stop of the entire global roadshow is planned to be in Hong Kong, the venue of the roadshow is arranged at the most famous Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon. The first investment pitch in the morning was scheduled to start at 9:15 a.m., but it was less than 8 o'clock. Dozens of reporters have already guarded various intersections of the hotel, especially at the entrance of the parking lot. I hope to be able to catch the figure of "Little Li Sheng" Li Xuan.
In the past six months or so, Hong Kong media have been led by Hong Kong Economic Journal and other newspapers and periodicals. The continuous attention to the listing process of Dongfang Electronics' first subsidiary has made Aikang a household name in Hong Kong. Before that, Hong Kong reporters also followed and reported on the global roadshow process of Aikang company, and the enthusiasm of investors from various countries for Aikang shares was transmitted back to Hong Kong citizens by the reporters, which also sharply aroused the enthusiasm of Hong Kong investors.
Li Xuan did come to the Peninsula Hotel, but he was not caught by any reporters, because he had stayed in a luxurious suite at the Peninsula Hotel as early as last night.
"Albert, what you said is right, there is indeed no computer company in the world that will disclose the technical standards of its products to the public!"
Li Xuan smiled and explained to Albert Hawke, who was sitting across from him. Hawke is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) he hired for Akon. Prior to joining Iconon, Albert Hawke was an Executive Director of General Electric in the UK, where he was responsible for all aspects of the company's Computer Division.
General Electric Company of the United Kingdom and General Electric Company of the United States are two companies that have nothing to do with each other at all. The latter is what we often hear about GE, and the former is abbreviated as GEC.
GEC is the UK's largest electrical and electronic engineering company and the third largest of all listed companies on the London Stock Exchange after BP and Shell.
If Akon Computer wants to gain a foothold in London, it naturally needs a president with deep connections in the UK to take the helm. Albert Hoult, who was born in the north of Scotland, was not only a noble nobleman, but also a senior executive of Britain's largest electronics company for many years. He has good connections in the British political and business circles.
In today's British society, the aristocracy has long lost real power, but there is a noble title in front of the name, which is still the best stepping stone to promotion to the upper class. Albert Hawke was a real baron. He inherited the title from his late grandfather and also owned a 150-acre baronial fief in the Grenoch region of Scotland.
"Albert, there have long been reports in the American media that IBM is interested in entering the personal computer business. It's likely that the first PC product will be launched within this year!"
Li Xuan took out a document from a black briefcase and handed it to His Excellency the dashing baron in front of him, and continued: "And according to the detailed information collected by Dongfang Commerce. This news is not only true, but also not surprisingly IBM PC products. It is likely to be available around September to October.
IBM's influence in the US computer sector is comparable to that of GEC in the UK electronics industry. You are a senior executive of GEC, and you should know very well that the essence of this kind of giant enterprise is simply incomparable to a new company like our Aikang Computer.
Many people say that Apple and Kemodo will be our main competitors in the US market. Even when we list the number of competitors in the various reports of Aikang, we also use these companies as a reference.
But in my opinion, Apple and Kemodo are not worth mentioning, and IBM, a monster that has not yet surfaced, will really pose a mortal threat to us once it opens its fangs. With IBM's technical background, developing a new personal computer is not a very difficult task. And in fact, from the perspective of technical reserves, Aikang computer must be at an absolute disadvantage.
If we want to compete with IBM, which has a technological advantage, the best way to do that is to unite all the other forces that can be united. If we can preemptively disclose the technical standards for our new computers, we will certainly attract a large number of hardware manufacturers to join Vaughn's camp, and quickly become the industry standard for personal computers.
If most of the hardware manufacturers in the United States develop personal computer accessories according to the technical standards of our company, then we can undoubtedly gain a huge advantage in the competition with IBM, and they will not be able to play a large part in the profound foundation of the computer industry!"
Li Xuan did not come to the front desk to serve as the chairman of the board of directors of Aikang Company, but asked Han Peng, as a representative of the major shareholder Oriental Holding Company, to join the board of directors of Aikang Computer Company and serve as the chairman of the board of directors.
Therefore, on the surface, Li Xuan cannot directly intervene in the specific operation of Aikang Company. The way he realized his personal will was through the presence of the chairman of the board of directors. A more direct and effective way is to convince Hawke, the CEO who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company.
The first ERM-based processor, ERM-1, developed by Dongfang Shiyàn Chamber, has been developed by Dongfang Semiconductor in its wafer fab in Silicon Valley, California. Started small-batch industrial production. The new PC with ERM-1 as the CPU has also entered the final testing phase before launch.
Revealing the technical standards of the new computer is an established strategy that Li Xuan has already thought of. As for why he did it, he couldn't tell Hawke that we weren't going to do it, and it would be when IBM hit the PC market in a few months.
IBM did a very good job of keeping the development of its first personal computer secret, and it was difficult for the outside world to know their development process. Li Xuan also relied on the advantage of rebirth to let Oriental Commercial buy off a programmer under Bill Gates. Microsoft is responsible for the development of the operating system and has a lot of communication with IBM's personal computer research and development team, and it is on this basis that Oriental Commercial is based. to judge the development process of the PC.
But IBM would definitely not tell unrelated Microsoft companies about its intention to disclose PC technical standards, so Li Xuan could only find another excuse to persuade Sir Hawke.
"We started with ABC computers, and most of the accessories were not developed by ourselves, but were purchased directly from related companies using mature products on the market. The only thing that really belongs to us in the whole computer is the BIOS (input and output system), and even the ownership of the operating system East-DOS belongs to Dongfang Software Company, which is licensed by him to Aikang.
So we don't really have much to keep secret. The problem of technology diffusion that you are worried about is not as serious as you think. What's more, as long as we don't license BIOS, it is impossible for other computer companies to produce products compatible with us in a short period of time.
Even if other computer companies had written BIOS programs that were compatible with our computers, we would have already relied on the first-mover advantage to seize enough market share! Moreover, the computer industry is rapidly changing in technology. The mainstream configuration of computers now will become obsolete in three to five years!" Li Xuan said in a very firm tone.
In the previous life, IBM's personal computer business was overtaken by PC compatible machine companies such as Compaq. The most important reason is IBM's own arrogance, which has not quickly kept up with the pace of technological updates. When Compaq launched the 386 computer, IBM had not even seriously studied the performance of the 386 processor.
But Li Xuan in this life will never let Aikang Company make the same mistake. Aikang can get the full cooperation of other oriental companies in processor technology and software support, and it has already been invincible for other compatible machines.
After a deep conversation with Albert Hawke, Li Xuan finally convinced him to accept his decision to disclose all the technical information of the new computer that was about to be released. Li Xuan did not make an appearance at the Peninsula Hotel's roadshow conference hall.
Originally, Hawke was not ready to come forward, after all, Hong Kong's position in the entire listing of Aikang Company was dispensable, and the main purpose of Hawke to follow the IPO roadshow team to Hong Kong was to have some in-depth exchanges with Li Xuan, the big boss behind the scenes.
As the roadshow approached, more and more Hong Kong investors flocked to The Peninsula to attend the conference. Several elevators in the hotel didn't even have time to transport so many people upstairs that many investors had to wait in line in the lobby.
As the number of investors who came to the roadshow was far higher than expected, Aikang had to urgently contact the management of The Peninsula Hotel to open a temporary branch venue. And Albert Hawke, who was not ready to go on stage to speak to investors, had to come out urgently to save the scene. He was in charge of the presentation of the main venue, while the original roadshow presenter was sent to the newly opened branch venue.
HSBC Joydo, which is responsible for distribution in Hong Kong, is not in a high position among the three underwriting brokers selected by Aikang. Especially in a situation where Akon shares are now highly sought-after, the number of shares that Tori can snatch from the other two lead underwriters is very limited. Therefore, most of the investors who rushed here today are actually unlikely to subscribe for the new shares issued by Aikang. (To be continued......)
ps: It is said that there is a double monthly pass at the end of the month, and you can keep the monthly pass for Ski, and Ski will pay off the previous arrears in a few days!