William Millard was not handsome, his forehead was broad and high, slightly bald, and his cheekbones were protruding, giving him a dull appearance when he was not smiling. But don't be fooled by this illusion of his appearance, as those who know Millard know that he is actually a very shrewd businessman.

The "Computer Playground" is the result of Millard's third venture. The first time, in 1971, he founded a company called Power Systems, which sold communication terminals compatible with IBM products, but it collapsed the following year.

After three years of hibernation, Millard rekindled his ambitions in 1975 and founded Information Management Technologies (IMS), this time a much more successful venture than the first. At that time, MITS's Cowherd personal computer was in short supply, and William Millard keenly seized the opportunity to clone his own microcomputer by imitating the Cowherd machine, named IMS-8080. The IMS-8080 was introduced to the market and quickly gained popularity among customers who could not buy the Cowherd Star computer. As a result, in 1976, IMS also occupied an important place in the personal computer market.

However, with the advent of Apple's Apple personal computer, the competition in the microcomputer market has become more and more fierce, and many early microcomputer manufacturers have collapsed. Millard's IMS company also lost the fierce competition and filed for bankruptcy in 1978.

But as early as 1976, when IMS was in its prime, Millard set up a separate PC sales store called "Computer Park". The "Computer Corner" has a flexible sales strategy, not only selling IMS's own microcomputers, but also other competitors' products on the counter for customers to choose from.

Relying on the supply support of IMS, Millard authorizes the "Computer Park" brand in the form of chain operation, and as long as he pays a license fee of 75,000 US dollars, he can become a franchise store of "Computer Park".

The computer park sales company began to expand rapidly. In 1978, when IMS declared bankruptcy, Computer Park began to flourish, with more than 50 chain branches.

Under Millard's painstaking management, the computer park expanded at a faster pace, and by 1980 it had reached 170 outlets, not only in every state in the United States, but also in Australia and Canada.

"Mr. Millard, the offer of 30 million US dollars is the value obtained by our Dongfang Electronics Company after inviting a professional asset appraisal company to evaluate the computer park! We have given an appropriate premium to this brand according to the development potential of the 'computer park'!" Li Xuan said with a stern face.

I think Dongfang Electronics' offer still underestimates the value of my company. To be honest, I'm not short of money right now, I don't have to sell it!" Millard said, shaking his head.

"Yes, Mr. Millard, but as far as we know, the bankruptcy dispute of IMS seems to have reached the final critical moment, and the current situation of this case does not seem to be very favorable to you!" Han Peng, who was also involved in the negotiation, said unhurriedly.

"What do you mean?" Millard seemed to be caught by the sore foot, and his face suddenly turned gloomy.

Han Peng was unimpressed by Millard's unhappy expression and continued: "Once you lose this case, it seems that you will have to pay a large amount of compensation to the defendant! Do you have so much cash on hand? If not, you can only sell a part of the shares of the computer park company to survive the crisis. But by that time, do you think there will be anyone who is willing to give a reasonable valuation to the computer park company like we are now?"

Looking at Millard's somewhat hesitant expression, Li Xuan and Han Peng looked at each other and smiled. This is a plan that the two have already made, one sings red face, and the other sings white face.

"Mr. Millard, we Dongfang Electronics can make a concession and raise the purchase price to $33 million, but this is already our bottom line!" Li Xuan saw that the other party was doing a fierce ideological struggle, and immediately spoke out to add a weight to the balance that was already leaning towards him.

"35 million, if you can accept this price, I can sell my company to you!" Millard gritted his teeth and finally passed.

A smile flashed in Li Xuan's eyes, but he deliberately lowered his head and pretended to be pensive. After a long while, Millard was a little impatient, and he finally raised his head: "Okay, 33 million, I can use it to make a deal!" But there is a small condition, after you settle the lawsuit of IMS Company, you will also transfer the shell company to me!"

Millard was a little puzzled, just as you chose to say that IMS is already an empty shell with no value, what is the use of the other party asking for it?

In fact, what Li Xuan needs is a deep licensing agreement for the CP/M operating system signed between IMS and DRI. Four or five years ago, DRI was not as popular as it is now, when the CP/M operating system had just come out, and IMS only spent $25,000 to license the CP/M operating system.

The two shook hands, and Dongfang Electronics successfully took the computer park company into the bag. Millard has an absolute controlling stake in Computer Park, a 90 percent stake. The remaining 10 percent of the shares are in the hands of another partner, John Martin.

John Martin was originally reluctant to give up his shares, but Dongfang Electronics put the investment plan of the computer park company in front of him for the next three years, and he obediently chose to withdraw.

The plan John Martin saw clearly stated that the computer park company would not only pay dividends in the next three years, but would also continue to invest $20 million to build a large-scale computer store in ten metropolises in the United States, including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Therefore, even if Martin does not withdraw, not only will he not get a penny in the next few years, but if he does not increase his investment proportionally, the original shares in his hands will be constantly diluted. So he wisely chose to settle down and take the money and leave.

This is the third acquisition completed by Dongfang Electronics in a month. The first acquisition of Aikang Company allowed Dongfang Electronics to immediately have a mature microcomputer product, and on this basis, the first personal computer could be quickly launched with a slight modification. At the same time, Dongfang Electronics has gained a fulcrum in the British market, laying a good foundation for the next step of rapid development of the European market.

The second acquisition of Dan Breclin's "Visual Computing" reporting software was aimed at weakening Apple's competitiveness with Apple PCs. Before IBM's PC went on the market, Apple was undoubtedly the main competitor that Dongfang Electronics would face.

As for the third acquisition of the computer park sales company, it is to pave the way for Dongfang Electronics' first personal computer ABC (Acornbestputer) to be listed. Other consumer electronics, such as washing machines and air conditioners, have very simple buttons, and consumers will learn as soon as they learn them, and most of them look at the brand awareness of the manufacturer when they buy products.

But the PC is a little different, it's a fledgling market with very high professional requirements. Except for some computer enthusiasts, most of the customers, such as the mother and son whom Li Xuan met in Jamie's store before, don't know much about computers, and rely entirely on the sales pitch of the shopping guide to make their choices.

Therefore, the marketing efforts of computer stores are particularly important to quickly open up the market after the new computer is launched. Otherwise, the aroma of wine is afraid of deep alleys, because most of the customers are people who don't know how to taste wine at all.

After Li Xuan acquired it, although he would not be stupid enough to directly remove Apple's products from the shelves, he would definitely use a series of means to promote his company's products.