Although the specific split plan needs to be further explored, Eric does not intend to hide the news. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

On the contrary, the news of Firefly Electronics' plan to divest the Fireflyerer player business should be spread as soon as possible, releasing a signal to the outside world that Firefly Electronics intends to list this business separately, and it can also temporarily stop some forces that are making small moves in private.

Grabbing a glass of champagne from the waiter's tray, Eric said straight to Larry Ellison: "I'm planning to spin off the Fireflyer player business from Firefly Electronics in the near future and set up a special subsidiary. ”

Larry Ellison is not aware of the recent games and negotiations between Firefly Electronics and several major record companies, but when he heard this, he naturally thought of the current increasingly turbulent NASDAQ market. According to the speed of promotion and profitability of the Fireflyer player, if the IPO is carried out in the near future, it will definitely be able to obtain a super high valuation.

"Eric, are you going to let this subsidiary go public?"

Eric took a sip of champagne and beckoned to Christina, who was not far away probing his head, before saying to Larry Ellison, "There are no further plans for the time being, let's divest the business first." ”

Larry Ellison watched Eric rub Christina's head like a kitten, the petite girl squinted her eyes and her eyelashes fluttered, as if she was enjoying it, her expression was slightly strange, but she still turned her attention to the topic that the two were discussing, and said, "Eric, the Nasdaq has reached its peak now, and it could collapse at any time." If you let Firefly Electronics go directly to the market, it may be too late. If the split is completed, it is likely that it will not be able to catch up with this bull market. ”

"There's still a lot of room for growth in the Fireflyer player, and if you can't catch up with this time, you'll have to wait a few more years. ”

Fireflyer's current annual sales have just surpassed 20 million units, but its market limits are much more than that. Even if it can't catch up with this technology stock bull market, as long as the global sales of Fireflyer players maintain the current growth rate, it will be more beneficial for Firefly Electronics to delay the launch of the IPO for two or three years.

When Larry Ellison walked away, Eric looked at Christina, who was already hanging on him, reached out and picked the girl's small chin, looked at it, and said with a smile: "You've gained a little weight recently, are you greedy again?"

Christina immediately denied it with some caution: "No, Eric, it must be your delusion." ”

Eric half-jokingly said, "I don't care if it's a delusion or not, but if you go from a bottle spirit to a barrel elf, I won't pay attention to you anymore." ”

"Genie in a Bottle" is one of the title singles of Christina's first album some time ago, and it is also the song that the girl once became famous. Since he happened to remember, Eric took it out casually.

At this time, Christina, who was definitely a 'little waist spirit', obviously couldn't imagine herself becoming a fairy in the bucket, and even showed a terrifying expression on her little face, gently shook Eric's arm, and said dissatisfiedly: "Definitely not, Eric, your description is really bad." ”

Eric smiled and didn't continue the conversation, instead saying, "How's your first album selling?"

"It's already exceeded 15 million," Christina immediately turned to joy at the mention of this, but her little face quickly showed a look of loss again, and said: "However, Mr. Weiss said that it is unlikely to reach 20 million, and it should only be about 18 million in the end." ”

With the popularity she has accumulated in the MGM Agent Cinematic Universe in recent years, and the advantage of first impressions before Britney's record release, Christina can be considered the fastest-rising teen pop singer in the last year or so.

"18 million is already good, and there are not many other artists who can achieve such high sales with their first albums. The next one is more careful, and it will definitely break through 20 million. ”

Eric said, leading Christina towards the buffet table, where he was now hungry after more than four hours of continuous meetings since the afternoon.

"Eric, can you help me come up with ideas for the next album?"

"Okay, but I don't have much time, so I'll see if I can write two more songs for you. ”

Eric had planned to return to Los Angeles the next day, but due to the impromptu plan to split the digital music player business, Eric stayed in San Francisco for the next few days to discuss the split.

At the same time, the news that Firefly Electronics planned to split the Fireflyer player business separately also spread quickly, and the media immediately turned the speculation to the topic of listing.

Although Firefly Electronics has not even held a formal press conference for the time being, the news from all sides has confirmed that this matter is beyond doubt.

As a result, the North American stock market reacted immediately, and the stock prices of other companies related to digital music players in the NASDAQ market almost all fell significantly in the following period. Component suppliers such as Seagate, which provides microhard drives for Fireflyer players, have hit new highs without any suspense.

The name of the subsidiary to be divested is not too tangled, directly named Fireflyer company, in the process of registering the Fireflyer trademark, Firefly Electronics has registered this company at the same time, at this time can be directly used, Eric also privately came up with a very nice Chinese translation for Fireflyer, Flying Fireflyer.

Compared to the name of the subsidiary, it is not so easy to determine the split plan.

For a week, everyone was meeting repeatedly to discuss, and Eric also had to juggle the promotion of the upcoming "Iron Man", which was simply too busy.

Fast forward to April 20th.

The Tokyo premiere of "Iron Man" is the day after tomorrow, and Eric must leave for Yamaben tomorrow morning.

Firefly Electronics Headquarters.

Eric is attending his last high-level meeting before leaving San Francisco.

The divestiture plan between Fireflyer and its parent company, Firefly Electronics, mainly focuses on two aspects, the separation of technology patents and the distribution of benefits after the split, which seems simple to summarize, but there are too many details that need to be considered repeatedly.

Just the distribution of the patented technical solution of the digital music player was discussed by everyone for a week. The disagreement among several of the company's top executives focused on whether the full suite of patented technology for digital music players should be incorporated into Fireflyer.

In the conference room, Eric patiently leaned back in the leather chair and listened to the speeches of several high-level executives, not intending to let this disagreement continue, and said: "I agree with Victor's plan, the patented technology of the digital music player is all retained in the parent company, and Fireflyer is licensed by paying royalties to the parent company. As for the percentage of patent fees, you will come up with a plan for me as soon as possible. ”

Bill Olson was the party that agreed to put the digital music player technology patent into Fireflyer, and said: "Eric, in this case, we will face a very difficult problem, Fireflyer will definitely continue to develop new products for Fireflyer players, if the patent is split, what will happen to the patented technology developed by Fireflyer itself?"

Victor McNelly immediately said: "This problem is easy to solve, and Fireflyer's own technology, of course, is kept by itself. After the completion of the spin-off, Firefly Electronics will focus on the research and development of tablet and mobile phone products, and will no longer be involved in this business. ”

"But what if the parent company's electronics use the technology developed by Fireflyer?"

"If we need to, we can get the authorization. ”

"It's so unfair to Fireflyer, and if it goes public, investors will definitely criticize it. ”

Hearing that the two of them were arguing again, Eric interrupted, "Bill, I need you to be able to distinguish between a priority and a secondary issue, and the Firefly Electron is the most important thing for us. Fireflyer is just a shell that we have spun off in order to seek partners, as long as we determine the specific profit distribution plan in advance, investors who join Fireflyer in the future can only choose to accept it, or not accept it. So, the solution to the problem you just proposed is also very simple, the technology developed by Fireflyer, Firefly Electronics will automatically get the reverse authorization. Of course, if Firefly Electronics applies these technologies to its own products, we will also pay royalties. That's it, I don't want you to continue this kind of dispute, you need to spend your energy on polishing the specific divestiture plan, so, is there any more problem?"

After Eric finished speaking, his eyes scanned the quiet conference room for a week, and everyone stopped talking, so he nodded with satisfaction and said, "Then, that's it, I will fly to Tokyo tomorrow, and if you have any questions next, you can contact me at any time." ”

In the evening, when the day's meetings ended again, and everyone left the room, Eric did not get up, and Victor McNelly and Bill Olsen stayed with each other.

Eric quietly went through the minutes of today's meeting again before looking up at the two of them and asked very bluntly, "Did you two have any conflicts in private?"

These days, it's not just the issue of the divestment of patented digital music player technology, but Victor McNelley and Bill Olson are in many ways a bit of a-for-tat.

"Eric, this one is absolutely not, my dispute with Bill is limited to work. ”

"The CEO and the president of the company are at odds with each other at work, and this is even worse for me as a boss. ”

Bill Olsen sensed the displeasure in Eric's tone, and took the initiative to speak: "Eric, we can guarantee that it will definitely not affect the specific work. ”

"I don't think so," Eric said, putting down the pencil in his hand, sitting up straight and looking at the two of them, "Now, let's sort this out." The fundamental issue between the two of you is the distribution of interests between Fireflyer and the parent company of Firefly Electronics. Bill, you're leaning more towards Fireflyer, Victor, you're on Firefly's side, so, I wonder why?"

Victor McNally didn't speak, he was a technical executive who was not very good at words, and although he was the CEO, most of his energy was always focused on product development. And, at the same time, he understands that Eric's personal position is clearly on his side, and that seems to be enough.

Bill Olsen was silent for a moment, but still took the initiative to be frank: "Eric, I hope that after the company splits, I can exchange my holdings for Fireflyer shares. ”

"You need money?"

Bill Olsen subconsciously shook his head, but felt that this denial was too unreliable, so he nodded slightly.

Victor McNally and Bill Olsen have been with Firefly since the inception of Firefly Electronics, and Eric initially gave them an annual salary of $300,000, only to increase the base salary to 800,000 last year, which is basically the pinnacle of professional managers.

Of course, the main source of income for top professional managers has always been bonuses and options, but in the first few years, the income of the two in this area was naturally zero.

However, since last year, the two have started to get big bonuses.

Since the Fireflyer player sold more than 20 million units last year, the two received even more generous bonuses at the beginning of this year, with Bill Olson personally determining the prize money, which is the same as Victor McNelli, both of which are $20 million. And, not only that, but the two also got close to $200 million worth of shares each.

So, hearing Bill Olson say that, Eric couldn't help but be a little disappointed in him.

"Bill, pay more attention to the Nasdaq, and you should understand that we can't catch this bull market, and even if we barely go public before the Nasdaq crashes, you still have at least a year of lock-up on your shares. So, in any case, it's simply impossible for you to cash out at a high level. ”

"Eric, of course I know that, and besides, I haven't thought about cashing out. ”

"That is," Eric said, stretching his arms across the conference table with his fingers crossed, "do you want to earn a higher net worth, even if it's just on the books, um, or do you think I'm giving you too little?"

Bill Olsen fell silent again.

Eric waited for a moment, shook his head and said, "If you really think so, I have nothing to say, but you have to understand, just this year, I gave you $220 million, you tell me, what other professional manager in Silicon Valley can get $200 million in a year?"

Bill Olsen lowered his head slightly, not daring to look directly into Eric's gaze again.

Eric didn't stop, and continued: "Maybe you think that a hairy kid like Eric Williams has a fortune of $300 billion and only $200 million, which is so unfair, you should have at least 2 billion, or 20 billion, right?"

"Eric, I didn't think so. ”

"Then don't think about it anymore," Eric said in an accentuated tone, staring at Bill Olsen, "I've never treated anyone who works for me badly, and even, I always subconsciously give you more, if you still feel dissatisfied, you can always tell me, I can let you go and find what you think is a better place to develop." ”

"Eric, I, well, I'm sorry. ”

"Well, that's it," Eric said, standing up directly, "I hope I'll be able to see the preliminary draft when I get back from London." ”

With that, Eric left the conference room without looking back.

Victor McNelly watched Eric's figure disappear before saying, "Bill, you shouldn't have thought that. ”

"I'm sorry, Victor," Bill Olsen said, rubbing his forehead a little dejectedly, "Maybe I've been too busy lately, and I've been under a lot of pressure." ”

"You should know that Eric is busier than we are. ”

"I'm sorry. ”

"So," said Victor McNelli, "we'll go out for a drink, I'll have a treat." ”

After hesitating, Bill Olsen nodded, got up and said, "I'll please." ”

"You should have taken the time to give Eric a call. ”

"I will. ”