First, for cross-shareholding with Qualcomm, Lin Feng still focuses on the issue of patent fees.

"Unavoidable Qualcomm" is the real beneficiary of the smartphone industry chain in the 3G and even 4G era.

Qualcomm has 3,900 CDMA patents, accounting for 27% of all CDMA patents, accounting for the vast majority of CDMA chip market share. In the field of CDMA chips, Qualcomm also owns nearly 50% of the patents.

In the near future, after the smartphone era has truly arrived, Qualcomm has a 100% market share in its portfolio of essential patents for CDMA, CDMA and LTE wireless communication standards; The market share of CDMA, CDMA and LTE wireless communication terminal baseband chips also exceeds 50%, with an absolute market dominance.

And the most ruthless thing is that Qualcomm's patent fee is charged very "overlord clause", which is charged at 5% of the sales price of the mobile phone.

For high-end phones like Cool and Apple, the patent fee is even higher!

Since there is no way around, the only way to do this is to try to build an alliance and obtain preferential licensing on patents.

As for the acquisition of Qualcomm......

First, it is impossible to obtain the approval of the US government, and second, the cool wind and even the wind are popular, and now there is no strength and funds for the time being.

As for whether Qualcomm will agree to this deal, Lin Feng is not worried.

Qualcomm has always been ambitious for the layout of the whole industry chain, they are very interested in Samsung's model, in the next ten years, in addition to successively acquiring a large number of chip manufacturers to strengthen its leadership position in mobile chips, but also invested in Sharp, Xiaomi and other companies, intending to strengthen influence in the panel, terminal and other fields.

Now in the smartphone market, the hottest ones are Apple's iPhone and Coolwind's Xphone.

Moreover, Coolwind also has Android, another core operating system in the smartphone industry chain, which is far better than other mobile phone manufacturers in terms of future industrial chain influence.

The use of additional new shares for shares does not cost Qualcomm's cash reserves, which is undoubtedly the best choice for shareholders.

Lin Feng didn't believe Qualcomm's shareholders were not moved.

Qualcomm's response was not so fast, and Lin Feng was not in a hurry.

The longer it drags on, the better it will be for the cool wind......

It's only August now, and if it comes to November, Qualcomm's stock price will fall by half, and then the other will be eliminated, and Coolwind will have a greater negotiating advantage!

………………

In fact, Lin Feng also has the ambition of the layout of the whole industry chain, and he thinks farther and deeper!

Fengxing Group and Cool Wind are the two fulcrums of his layout in the era of mobile Internet.

The Internet content application system that Fengxing is committed to building, and the derived big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are the core.

The Cool Wind uses smartphones as an entry point to expand the layout of smart hardware terminals.

Mobile phones are just one type of hardware, such as pad tablets, internet TVs, wearables, driverless cars, drones, robots, ...... These smart terminals will be the foundation of the Internet of Things based on the wide application of "Internet +" and mobile Internet in the future.

Therefore, while everyone is shocked by the rise of Xphone, Lin Feng is already thinking about a more far-reaching layout.

It would be a pity if the opportunity of the financial crisis was rare, and it would be a pity if it was only in the mobile phone industry chain......

During this period of time, the acquisitions of chip company Intrinsity, graphics technology company Imagination, and touch and human-machine interface company Synapics have all come forward with Cool Wind, making a small fuss, and the price is not engaged.

Even if he is ready to make a share exchange deal with Qualcomm, according to Coolwind's current valuation, although the transaction amount of 15% of the shares is as high as $6 billion, it will not use cash reserves by issuing additional shares.

Lin Feng has $12 billion in cash in his hand, ready to do a big job.

And in his heart, he has selected several high-quality goals that will have great development potential in the future.

Time unconsciously came to September 15, 2008, a day that shocked the whole world and was remembered by history......

Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, filed for bankruptcy after the Federal Reserve refused to provide financial support assistance, and on the same day, Merrill Lynch, the third-largest securities company, announced that it had been acquired by Bank of America.

These two events marked the following week, the global stock market crash in September 2008, marking that the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States finally evolved into a full-scale financial crisis, and quickly spread from the local to the world, officially kicking off the prelude to the global financial crisis!

The world economy is in the deepest recession since World War II.

And for Lin Feng, the opportunity to pick up cheap is here!

The first step is to buy back shares:

On October 8, 2008, Fengxing Group announced that the group has been approved by the SEC to launch a share repurchase plan: the group will repurchase a total of up to $1 billion in the next 12 months of issued American depositary shares, and at the same time announced that the group's major shareholder Lin Feng will also in the next 12 months, private repurchase of no less than 500 million US dollars of the company's shares, through the management of the way to increase holdings, to express confidence in the company's future long-term development under the financial crisis!

This move also caused the share price of Fengxing Group, which was affected by the overall downward trend of the U.S. stock market, to rise by 13.5% on the day, and the stock price recovered.

As the saying goes, if you go outside, you must first settle inside.

Moreover, because of the high degree of time freedom of this buyback plan, Lin Feng can start the buyback in November when the company's stock price is at its lowest to maximize benefits.

The second step is to increase investment:

Under the financial crisis, many Internet start-ups faced the problem of shortage of follow-up venture capital funds, including Tiiter, Linkedin, etc., which had attracted much attention before, and Fengxing made a new round of investment in these companies and continued to expand its shareholding ratio.

However, some of the companies that will shine in Silicon Valley in the future, such as Uber, Instagram, Groupon, etc., have not yet been established, so there are not many companies to choose from in terms of investment.

Step 3: M&A:

This is the highlight of this financial crisis!

On October 21, 2008, Fengxing Group announced that it would spend $2.2 billion to acquire Skype, a VoIP service provider under EBay!

The news caused a huge shock in the US stock market......

People have questioned, what is Lin Feng doing?

Is he crazy?!

Skype is an instant messaging software that supports voice communication, developed by KaZaA developers, using P2P (peer-to-peer technology) technology to connect with other users, which can conduct high-definition voice chats, and the sound quality may exceed that of ordinary phones when the connection between the two networks is smooth.

Founded in 2003 and based in Luxembourg, Skype was developed in Estonia by programmers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn.

In 2003, Skype gained rapid growth after receiving official grants from the Swede Zenström and the Dane Frees. Over the next three years, Skype reached 115 million users, making it the fastest-growing Internet community at the time.

In 2005, the American auction site eBay beat out Google and Yahoo to buy the loss-making startup for $2.6 billion.

But in the two years that followed, the acquisition became widely regarded as one of the most failed deals in technology history......

When eBay acquired Skype, the company thought it would integrate Skype into e-commerce (e-commerce channels) to boost eBay's business, but later found out that this was not the case.

eBay management had thought that Skype, a cheap and easy-to-use VoIP tool, would help eBay attract more customers. But in reality, many small shopkeepers on eBay simply don't have time to sit back and wait on the phone to ask questions.

Not long ago, eBay finally reluctantly admitted that it had wronged money in the acquisition and wrote down $900 million in goodwill.

Such an "expensive chicken rib", why would Lin Feng, who has always been known for his shrewd investment and sharp vision, spend such a high price to buy it?

Analysts and industry parties are puzzled!

It's not like Richard Lin's style......

If any other company acquires it, it may have been ridiculed by countless people as a "pick-up man".

But it was replaced by Lin Feng, and many people began to think, is there any bright spot that has not been discovered for Skype?

Lin Feng's strategic vision has been invested countless times, Myspace, youtube, Facebook, Xphone...... , a series of successes confirmed!

Will he stumble this time?

Of course, Lin Feng will not make a loss-making transaction!

Is it more than $2.2 billion?

You know, in two years, Microsoft will spend $8.5 billion to buy Skype from a private consortium and Ebay, and this acquisition will also be the largest acquisition in Microsoft's 38 years of existence!

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are not stupid, why would they pay such a high price to buy Skype?

Because in the era of mobile Internet, this will be a breakthrough for Microsoft to break through the advantages of Apple and Google and transform from the PC platform to the mobile terminal platform!

What they value is the synergistic effect of Skype combined with Microsoft's indos Phone system.

In fact, this is also the reason why Lin Feng is willing to spend a lot of money to buy Skype.

Of course he noticed that, too!

I believe that the combination of Skype and Android system will definitely have an unexpected and amazing performance......

You know, Skype currently has more than 330 million users worldwide!

Moreover, in the past year, SKype has maintained a triple-digit growth rate every quarter. Although it is not profitable, the revenue size is close to 800 million US dollars.

As for the loss of $7 million...... , this figure is not worth mentioning for Lin Feng, who is now making a lot of money with Xphone.

In addition to voice, Skype can also make video calls and send files, as well as unlimited global calls. About 30 percent of Skype users use video calling.

In addition to international calls between Skype users and Skype users, ype's video services have developed a strong team of journalists who use the web to broadcast content.

It's fair to say that Skype is in a very special position to connect the three major trends of social networking, mobile communication and video.

Ebay doesn't play the true value of Skype, just like Alibaba has always been bad at socializing......

The value of Skype is not in e-commerce, but in mobile Internet communication!

Lin Feng has been thinking about the global layout of Fengxing Group in the era of mobile Internet.

In the Chinese market, Fengxing already has QQ, and in the future mobile Internet era, WeChat will also be launched, which can be said to occupy a dominant position in the domestic social and instant messaging field.

But in the global market, QQ does not have much influence and market share.

Skype, on the other hand, is now the leader in VoIP and instant messaging (before hatsApp).

In addition, Skype has partnered with PChome in Taiwan to launch Skype called PChome-Skype. In Hong Kong, Skype has partnered with Hutchison Global Communications to launch Skype called HGC-Skype, and there are many loyal users in both places.

All in all, Skype may not be of much value to the world's major internet companies...... , but, in addition to the popularity!

The combination of Fengxing's Android system and Skype is the big killer!

…………

The popular acquisition can be said to be one of the few bright spots in the US stock market, which is deeply affected by the financial crisis.

Even the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC did not set up too many obstacles, conducted a simple investigation, and believed that there were many powerful competitors in the video communication market, including Google, and this acquisition transaction would not bring market competition problems, so it quickly approved the acquisition application of Fengxing.

Regulators were the biggest obstacle to such a large-scale merger, and when that hurdle was removed, the Skype acquisition went very well.

Ebay can't wait to get Skype out as soon as possible and put its energy back into focusing on e-commerce.

Although compared to 3 years ago, it was almost sold at a discount (although Ebay was bought for $2.6 billion, but the actual $1.5 billion in post-payment was added, the total price was as high as $4.1 billion), but not long ago after the write-down of $900 million in goodwill, the valuation of Skype has dropped to $1.5 billion, and now in the case of the financial crisis, it can be sold for $2.2 billion, Ebay is already overjoyed.

John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, said: "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement, which will not only enhance eBay's short- and long-term corporate value, but also help Skype further unlock its market potential. Entering into this agreement will significantly improve our company's cash flow. ”

He also expressed his blessings to Skype: "Skype is an area with great growth potential, but there is no better synergy with our e-commerce and online payment businesses. With the acquisition of Fengxing, we believe that Skype can better focus on improving its competitiveness in the field of network audio and video communications and accelerating the growth of the business. ”

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype, also welcomed the popularity: " Richard is a world-renowned genius entrepreneur whom we respect very much, Fengxing is also a great Internet company, in the field of mobile communications, Fengxing has a very innovative Android system and Xphone smartphone, which is of great help to the future development of Skype, and we are full of expectations for Skype to join the Fengxing family!"

After a period of silence, the outside world commented that they finally figured out the popular strategy.

The well-known IT website PC orld published an article, saying that the acquisition is a win-win deal: eBay can get rid of Skype, which has never been integrated into its core business, reduce investment losses, and refocus on building a stronger online auction site; Fengxing has strengthened its layout in the field of global network communication and video calling, and Skype can then focus on Internet VoIP service innovation and find a better profit model in the mobile Internet era.

Since becoming one of the world's top companies with a market value of nearly 100 billion US dollars, Fengxing has not yet shown its muscles, and many previous acquisitions and investments have been petty fights, and this time it cost 2.2 billion US dollars to acquire Skype, and finally makes people feel that Fengxing has a domineering spirit comparable to Google, Yahoo, and other Internet companies.

And no one knew that this was just the beginning of Lin Feng's next bigger acquisition!