Opened in 1930, the Merchandise Market Building at 222 West Commerce Plaza on the north bank of the Chicago River was the largest building in the world at the time, and even had its own zip code, which is still regarded as a model of architecture today.

After Motorola split up earlier this year, Motorola Mobility rented the roof and the top three floors of the building.

On the afternoon of March 25, the rostrum of the Motorola Mobile Press Conference Hall was surrounded by flowers, and a new red carpet was rolled out under the stage, which looked festive and warm. More than 200 media from all over the world were already waiting at the scene, filling the entire press conference hall. Since there was still some time before the signing ceremony began, the reporters chatted in twos and threes.

"Zhang Ran is really amazing, he really won Motorola, I thought Microsoft and Google would come out to stop it, but I didn't expect them to react at all. ”

"Microsoft's participation in the acquisition is mainly to prevent Google's acquisition, and then use patents to attack Android. Once Google completes its acquisition of Motorola, Google will have 17,000 patents that will protect Android and resolve the recent crisis facing Android. The acquisition of Motorola by the peak of the century, Microsoft is happy to see it, and naturally it will not stop it!"

"That's true, but Google's reaction is rather strange, Android has faced a lot of lawsuits since last year, Google needs Motorola's patent, how can they give it up so easily? It's so strange!"

At the same time, in Motorola's lounge, the top executives of Century Summit were chatting with Motorola Mobility's shareholders and management, while Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide were chatting and laughing with several important guests. Guests attending today's signing ceremony included Li Zhongyi, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, and Chicago Mayor Emmanuel.

In the past nearly a month, the acquisition team of Century Summit has conducted complex and arduous negotiations with Motorola, and the staff often works from 6 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m., while Zhang Ran has to be busy with other things during the day, and holds a project team discussion meeting between 7 p.m. and 2 or 3 a.m. the next day to discuss the negotiation plan.

There are two difficulties in the acquisition negotiations, one is the issue of liquidated damages, and the other is the severance compensation plan, especially the severance compensation of the management. The biggest problem of Motorola Mobility is that the company's engineer culture is completely unsuitable for the needs of the Internet era, and after Century Peak takes over, it will definitely change the company's blood, and many people in the management will leave, including CEO Sanjay Jia will leave. Century Summit naturally wants less compensation, while Motorola hopes that the higher the compensation, the better.

After several rounds of negotiations, the two parties finally agreed that if Motorola Mobile rejected the acquisition of Century Peak, then Motorola Mobility would need to pay $400 million in liquidated damages to Century Peak, and if Century Summit withdrew from the acquisition, Century Summit would need to pay Motorola Mobility a break-up fee of $2 billion. In the compensation plan, the compensation plan given to employees by Century Summit is to sign a new three-year contract, and if the employee is affected by the working conditions and location due to the merger and acquisition within three years, he will enjoy "N+4" compensation. For management, Summit offered a compensation package consisting of cash, stock grants and other perks, with Sanjay Jay receiving $45 million in compensation after his departure.

After the completion of the acquisition, Century Summit will acquire 100% of the equity and related assets of Motorola Mobility. When the time comes, Century Summit will get clean intellectual property rights, there will be no disputes, there are no potential legal risks, and it will truly master the world-renowned brand of Motorola.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn looked at Zhang Ran and said, "Motorola is a great company that has influenced the whole world, and we sincerely hope that Motorola can return to its former glory in your hands." ”

Zhang Ran said solemnly: "In cross-border mergers and acquisitions, 70% of mergers and acquisitions do not achieve the desired business value, and 70% of them fail in cultural integration after mergers and acquisitions. Corporate culture is the saddest hurdle in mergers and acquisitions, and if you can't pass this hurdle, you won't have to talk about anything else. Motorola has a very strong engineering culture, while the pinnacle of the century is the Internet culture, and the difference between the two is very large. To integrate the two is a huge test for me and for the pinnacle of the century. ”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said: "It doesn't have to be integrated, and not doing real integration after the acquisition should be the best choice in the short term, which can reduce friction and conflicts caused by differences in corporate culture in the short term." According to McKinsey's 2010 research, more and more Asian companies do not integrate immediately after mergers and acquisitions in order to reduce risk. In 2010 alone, more than 1,900 M&A deals worth $145 billion were used. ”

Zhang Ran was very unimpressed by this: "Jack Welch once said that if the cultural differences between two companies are too big to integrate, then he will quickly throw away the acquired business. Of course, it is very difficult to transform an enterprise with a deep cultural heritage like Motorola, but it is not impossible.

Treasury Secretary Paulson said with a smile: "You can successfully transform Blockbuster from a DVD rental company to a derivatives chain, and I believe you can also transform Motorola and make Motorola reborn!"

Zhang Ran said confidently: "I don't dare to say that we will definitely succeed, but we will do our best!"

Zhang Ran knows how difficult it is to transform a culturally rich company like Motorola, but he also knows that no matter how difficult it is, it must be transformed. If you don't change Motorola's genes, if you don't inject Internet genes into Motorola, Motorola will not survive in the mobile Internet era.

There are two main factors that determine the DNA of a company, company culture and company leaders. If you want to change Motorola's DNA, you must have a strong leader to lead the team to succeed. There is a very suitable candidate in Zhang Ran's heart, this guy understands the Internet, has an excellent vision, and is very skillful in doing things. Although it is difficult to convince this guy, Zhang Ran is confident in it.

While chatting, the staff came over to inform Zhang Ran that the time was almost up, and the signing ceremony was about to start.

Zhang Ran got up with a smile and said, "Distinguished guests, then we should go down!"

The guests present all stood up: "Let's go!"

After Zhang Ran and the others entered the signing ceremony, the media flocked to the scene, and the dazzling flashing lights were intensively lit.

The host stood on the stage and said passionately: "Distinguished leaders, guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, I am very welcome to participate in the signing ceremony of the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by the Summit of the Century, I am the host." Today I am also very shocked and excited to be able to preside over this ceremony for you on this stage. Because I know that this step at the peak of the century is also a big step forward for Chinese enterprises......"

After the host made an opening speech, he began to solemnly introduce Li Zhongyi, Paulson and other guests, and then invited Zhang Ran to the stage to give a speech.

Zhang Ran greeted the strong flashing light, with a faint smile on his face, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good afternoon. All of you here may have learned from relevant media reports that today Century Summit Group will sign a definitive equity acquisition agreement with Motorola Mobility, and Century Summit will acquire 100% of Motorola Mobility and related assets, including intellectual property, for $16.7 billion. With the signing of the M&A agreement today, we would like to thank the five original shareholders of Motorola, including Apollo Investment Fund, **** Investment Fund, Bain Capital, Carlyle, and Spectrum Investment Fund, all of whom are globally influential investment funds and have contributed to the development of Motorola Mobility. We have also agreed that, in addition to cooperating with Motorola Mobility in M&A, Century Summit will further cooperate with them in business development in China and globally......

…… After obtaining the approval of the relevant Chinese and American government departments and completing the merger, I am committed to respecting the U.S. market norms and corporate governance rules, respecting Motorola Mobility's corporate culture and management team in its operations, implementing a more effective incentive system, improving Motorola Mobility's profitability, and creating greater value for Motorola Mobility's management, employees, customers, and shareholders. Thank you!"

Sanjay Jia, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said in his speech: "In the coming days, we will work with Century Summit to develop the mobile phone market. "Motorola's partnership with Summit of the Century is a match made in heaven, and this transaction will bring tremendous value to Motorola shareholders and provide new opportunities for our employees, customers and partners." Summit of the Century has excellent content such as Netflix, Marvel, and Summit Entertainment, and in the future, Motorola will cooperate with Netflix to provide you with more outstanding mobile solutions. ”

Next, the Secretary of Industry and Information Technology, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson, and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn took the stage to deliver speeches, all of which expressed their support for the acquisition, and said that under Zhang Ran's leadership, Motorola will soon get out of the predicament and become a leader in the field of mobile phones again.

At the end of the speech, the host said loudly: "Now I announce that the signing ceremony of the acquisition of Century Summit and Motorola Mobility has officially begun, and I invite the representative of Century Peak, Mr. Wu Ruide, CEO of Century Peak, and the representative of Motorola ......."

The signing ceremony is a formality, and the content and terms of the contract to be signed have already been finalized. Under the strong flashing lights, Wu Ruide and Sanjay Jia took to the stage, witnessed by many guests, under the light of the flashing lights, signed the contract and then exchanged documents. After the two shook hands, they smiled and took a group photo with the photographer.

The flashing lights in the hall were flashing non-stop, and the reporters' cameras were focused on Wu Ruide and Sanjay Jia. Behind them, Zhang Ran and the management of the peak of the century, as well as the management of Motorola, smiled and applauded.

The face of the management of the peak of the century is full of passion, joy and pride, the peak of the century in recent years to acquire a lot of enterprises, including Marvel, Prada and other well-known enterprises, but these companies can not be compared with Motorola, Motorola was once synonymous with the communications industry, is the inventor of the mobile phone, is a truly world-class enterprise;

Even the members of the acquisition team are proud of their participation in this acquisition, and Mike Wyatt, the financial advisor of Century Summit and the manager of Morgan Stanley, told Zhang Ran yesterday: "It is the pride of my life to be able to complete this acquisition!"