But Gerald didn't want to retreat easily. On the one hand, in his thinking, the arrogance of Westerners towards Orientals does not allow him to give in; On the other hand, TOMTOM's stock price has basically fallen to the lowest level in history, and cashing out at this price has shrunk by more than 9% from the high price era in TOMTOM's history.

SO DESPITE TOMTOM'S STUMBLING, GERARD FANTASIZES ABOUT ONE DAY BEING ABLE TO GET BACK ON HIS FEET. Although this illusion is getting closer and closer to the brink of disillusionment. The consultant is right, TOMTOM is now in the middle of the day, losing ground in the market.

From the perspective of the market environment, those copycat products with strong imitation power in emerging markets such as China are obviously their nightmare, and they are selling them at unbelievably low prices. In China, you can buy a navigation device for $50 or $60, and although no one has ever heard of the brand, it can still sell well through C2C, digital stores and other channels.

To make matters worse, smartphones are growing in popularity at an unexpected rate, and smartphones with built-in navigation functions are more eroded to the market than low-cost navigators.

This is a navigation function that has almost zero cost, and for the vast majority of low-end ordinary users, although it is simple, it is cheap enough and convenient and practical. Cottage navigation products, together with mobile phone navigation, have impacted the low-end market of navigators to pieces, basically eaten up.

In the high-end market, TOMTOM's American counterpart Garmin has gained the upper hand, dominating the US market, not to mention, in recent years, it has frequently launched offensives in emerging countries and European markets, in addition to the European market, TOMTOM's market share in emerging countries has been very low.

Even though it still has the largest market share in Europe, most of this is achieved through good relationships with several major European car companies through OEM.

TOMTOM is no longer the high-spirited era of '07 and '08, this is the bloody market reality in front of Gerald. GERARD HAS TRIED HIS BEST TO REVERSE IT ALL OVER THE YEARS, BUT TOMTOM IS STILL UNSTOPPABLY SLIDING TOWARDS THE ABYSS. With this year's losses, TOMTOM is even starting to stand on the brink of bankruptcy.

It can be said that being acquired is the only option for TOMTOM in addition to bankruptcy, and the market is expecting whether Garmin will make a move, but for Garmin, the value of TOMTOM is not too large, and the channels, brands, production capacity, and technology are basically overlapping and no bonus for Garmin.

On the contrary, TOMTOM's thousands of local European employees are likely to be a heavy burden on Garmin, and thanks to high taxes in Europe, the cost of wages for European employees is more than 60% higher than that of its American counterparts.

However, the employment of European, especially Belgian workers, is the biggest difference between Gerard and the current CEO of the company, Diaby, according to Diaby's thinking, the company's production and manufacturing should be transferred to emerging markets, now is the era of globalization, and the practice of sticking to Europe is no longer suitable for the development of the company.

But Gerard adamantly resisted this line of thinking, he was of Belgian origin, and it was unacceptable for him to abandon the Belgian production plant.

Therefore, the biggest value of TOMTOM to Garmin is the cooperation between TOMTOM and several major European car manufacturers, just for this alone, not only need to pay a huge purchase price, but also the consequent disposal of redundant workers, and the dismissal of workers in Europe is not only an economic burden, but also a political consideration.

So the acquisition of TOMTOM isn't necessarily a good thing for Garmin.

As an industry insider, Gerrard certainly knows these causes and effects, but he will never admit it to his face.

"IF YOU THINK TOMTOM IS INCORRIGIBLE, WHY DO YOU WANT TO BUY MY SHARES? Isn't that a paradox? Gerrard retorted weakly.

Looking at the somewhat arrogant Gerald on the other side, after listening to the translated words, Cai Siqiang thought for a while and said: "Because we have the latest intelligent voice navigation system, and we also have abundant financial support." ”

"You're also going to have a leading edge in navigators?" Gerard skeptical, with some sarcasm, said, "In the Chinese market, we are competing with the navigators known as copycat products, and I don't see anything special about Chinese copycat products other than the price war." Gerald said bluntly.

Looking at Gerald's contemptuous expression and arrogant answer, Cai Siqiang couldn't help but get a slight fire, please figure out that Lao Tzu is here to buy you, not to be ridiculed by you. "There is no leading technology, Mr. Gerald can see for himself in a while, our SAL company raised a billion dollars to enter the navigation market, whether there is TOMTOM or not, it will not affect our pace of progress."

After listening to Cai Siqiang's confident words, Gerald just sneered secretly, in terms of navigation technology research and development strength, although TOMTOM does not dare to say the first, but the second and third are not to run, he absolutely does not believe that an Oriental company with no accumulation and fame can develop the world's leading navigator.

"Really? Then I'm going to see it! Gerald said. Although Cai Siqiang couldn't understand what he said directly, he could also hear the disdain in his tone. Then let you see and see, although Cai Siqiang's face did not change, he was ruthless in his heart, and when the company arrived, this Gerald would still stay where it was cool.

Connected to the projector,Cai Siqiang played the measured video of the prototype,Gerald started as a navigator technology,Naturally, he knows better than those venture capital bosses about the technical leadership of this new navigator,TOMTOM also has the so-called voice navigation,But compared with the engineering products of SAL company,If the SAL engineering sample is as intelligent as an adult,Then TOMTOM's intelligence is at most an infant level。

If it is really like what is shown in the video, Gerald can say responsibly that as soon as this thing comes out, TOMTOM and Garmin will make their high-end navigation products lose their advantage in an instant. For the navigation industry, prejudice aside, Gerald can confirm that this product is not an improvement, but a revolutionary successor.

However, he didn't see the actual engineering product, and Gerald really doubted the authenticity of this video. In his opinion, with such a leading product, is it necessary to acquire TOMTOM?

"Since your company has such a leading product, I can't think of a need to acquire TOMTOM." So after watching the video, Gerald still shook his head stubbornly. This footage of the actual test was understood by Gerald as a negotiating tactic for the Orientals, and he was not moved by this ruse.

At this point, the talks can basically be regarded as nothing.

The first dispatch was unfavorable, although Cai Siqiang was a little disappointed, but he was not discouraged. Because there are two shareholders in the future, if they can get both of them, they can control the company as well.

Compared to Gerald, Diabi is obviously much more positive, he has long wanted to get rid of it, but with his shares, if no one starts the acquisition process, it will be difficult for Diaby to get rid of it, Cai Siqiang's acquisition proposal can be said to be in the right place, but Diaby is still skeptical about whether SAL can save TOMTOM.

As one of the co-founders of TOMTOM, Diabi still has a deep affection for the company, and even if he sells his shares, he is very eager to revive TOMTOM's success. However, as a start-up company, SAL has no experience in the field of navigators, but only has an outstanding product, and Diabi is still very skeptical that SAL has the strength.

As an investment company that owns 17% of the company's shares, they have only one problem, that is, they can make up for the loss of their investment in TOMTOM, so in the face of Cai Siqiang's acquisition intention, the investment company put forward a premium of 30%.

After finding out the intentions of the three major shareholders, the M&A consultant conducted a new round of negotiations with Cai Siqiang's acquisition team and proposed a new acquisition plan, in which the second shareholder Diabi and the third shareholder investment company were mainly acquired by agreement to obtain control of the company.

The Board of Directors and the company's senior management team were then reorganized to take full control of TOMTOM, and then a restructuring plan was proposed, the most important of which was to separate TOMTOM's brand and channels from production and R&D, and establish a new company with the new results of SAL R&D after evaluating TOMTOM's brand and channels.

Of course, in this restructuring plan, SAL's wholly-owned subsidiary will commit all ordinary shareholders to liquidate their shares at the agreed purchase price, ensuring that ordinary shareholders have the same rights as major shareholders.

Obviously, if this plan is implemented, TOMTOM will be dismembered and reorganized into a company responsible for production and R&D and a sales and operation company, and the most valuable part of SAL, that is, TOMTOM's brand and channel will be included in SAL's pocket, and TOMTOM will only be worthless or even burdensome, making Gerald's shares less valuable.

THEORETICALLY, THE PRODUCTION PART OF TOMTOM COULD BE A TAIL THAT SAL COULD CUT OFF ITS TAIL AT ANY TIME, IF SAL DIDN'T HAVE TO CARE ABOUT THE POLITICAL PRESSURE OF THE WORKERS.

This is a very vicious plan for the non-cooperative major shareholders.

But Cai Siqiang likes it very much, to be honest, what does it matter to him whether the European people live or die, SAL only wants the brand and channel of TOMTOM, just like when European and American companies came to joint ventures with domestic companies and only wanted the domestic market, creating a record that an outdated model can be sold for more than 20 years.

Now, with the opportunity to recoup a little interest, Cai Siqiang will never mind laughing.

PS: I'm sorry, it's a little late today, a little long holiday, I went out with my family, and I just came out