Rebirth of America, this is my time

As the saying goes, those who are in authority are confused and those who are onlookers will understand.

In Ethan's previous life, there were countless street literature describing the power of the Rockefeller family as very impressive, saying that they were the real richest man in the world and the real owners of America, regardless of whether it was the Donkey Elephant Party or other families. You can only breathe with their approval... Although this kind of statement seems silly at first glance, when Ethan comes to this world and discovers that the Rockefellers really dare to kill people on the street, he will not have to bear the responsibility for the wanton violation of the law. Any behavior with any consequences still brought a huge shock to the young mind of a child in his twenties who had not experienced higher education. Therefore, when Wenlock's man took out a gold-plated business card in a very pretentious manner, he became extremely nervous.

But following Evelin's interference, Ethan immediately realized that Rockefeller may have indeed done forceful buying and selling in the past, but this time, Wenlock's people were definitely bluffing.

If Rockefeller really robbed openly, he would have broken the rules of this land. When the scientists who support America's continuous advancement find that half of the figures in their own science and technology community can't keep the achievements of their own people, then why do they still study der? Forget it! Better to run away! If it really doesn’t work, it’s no problem to reach Liaoning! Because no matter how hard they try, they can't get a sip of soup in the end!

If Rockefeller dared to carry out real forceful buying and selling on them, he would not be flipping the table, but blaming everyone. It is impossible for other big capital to let Rockefeller do this, so when Fred Trump When the name Man can stabilize the pot that represents interests, the biggest gap in this war has actually been smoothed out by the principal, and the rest——

For the special code!

Ethan hammered the table, ran to Cupertino, stared at Steve Jobs and asked for reports.

Under Ethan's urging, Steve Jobs, who was still making vacation arrangements, took a big stick and asked the company's finance staff to work overtime to produce Apple's 1977 financial report. In a simple glance, it was too horrible to watch. The contents of the report made Ethan frown.

The first thing Ethan discovered was that there were huge problems with Apple's production process.

In the beginning, when the sales of the first generation of Apple were not high, Apple computers were all designed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. There was no problem with this approach at the time.

As the market demand increased, that is, after Pac-Man was launched last year, and Ethan helped promote it, some people in the industry became more interested in Apple computers, which also made it difficult for the original local workshops to keep up. There was strong feedback from the market, so Steve Jobs hired people to make and assemble it.

But Steve Jobs did not standardize the management of this part of the manpower. Apple did not open its own factory, but let them directly do the work of producing computers in the name of company employees, forcing them to overcome the first Product increment period. If the market demand for Apple computers stabilizes after this, then there is no problem with this approach, but the problem is...

Market demand for Apple computers has been rising in a straight line.

After they launched the Apple II, the color display and games that could be played with simple programming made the market more interested in them again. As market demand increased, Steve Jobs also made changes to Apple's production. In their own reform, they retained existing production manpower while using external factories for OEM production. At first glance, this method is very similar to the operation of the Destiny game, but in fact there is a huge difference, because both parties The profit margin is different.

The profit margin of Destiny Game can be maintained at more than 50 points, but it is God's blessing that Apple Computer can have 15 points. With such a huge difference in profit margins, they retain the company's production personnel instead of directly transferring production All outsourcing is actually changing the direction of raising the company's production costs, and the products produced by external factories also have a certain deviation from their internal hand-made products. Although they have not encountered any problems currently, in the future, it will Something is bound to happen.

It's thunder.

Ethan threw aside Apple's chaotic production ledger.

No matter whether we raise external funds or not, this must be rectified.

Oh-oh-- Xiao Qiao sat aside like a primary school student.

Ethan's gloomy expression made him afraid to express his anger.

After checking the production, the second problem discovered by Ethan was finance.

Because Apple's capital turnover rate is so bad.

Currently, Apple’s capital expenditures fall into three categories: expenditures on product advertising, expenditures on employee salaries, and expenditures on product production. The first two of these three categories are fine, but The last category, capital expenditure on production costs, is a big problem.

Apple's current external production model is to place an order with the foundry first, and then pay them a corresponding deposit based on the number of products. The remaining payment will be paid directly after the factory ships the goods.

There doesn't seem to be any problem with this method. It's just a matter of getting money and goods in business.

But if it matches their payment speed, the problem will be huge.

Apple's current external sales method is very simple. They have cooperated with some stores in California and put their products directly on their shelves. Since single-unit settlement is very troublesome, they collect accounts every other month. money.

Mailing transactions through the U.S. Postal Service are even more troublesome. They ship the goods directly after receiving the buyer's payment receipt. Although this method cannot be corrupted by a third party, the specific payment time is Negotiated based on FedEx delivery time.

This process is not a problem for small businesses, but for large companies with hundreds of millions of dollars, the return of money is quite slow, and the impact on the capital turnover rate is very low.

so--

This link must be optimized. Ethan made a decision.

And his words made the two Steves beside him somewhat confused.

Ethan, I don't think I understand what you mean. There should be no problem with our process, because companies on the market seem to do this.

Jobs said: We pay the factories, they help us produce the goods, and then we sell the goods they deliver and collect the money from the customers. This should be the entire process of our sales. I don't know what the problem you are talking about is. where.

Right, Stephen?

He turned his attention to Woz.

Woz also nodded with a confused look and cast an inquiring look at Ethan.

Such a question made Ethan stunned for a moment, then he shook his head helplessly and said: The speed or slowness of capital turnover has a great impact on the company's development and risk resistance.

Assuming that one company's funds can be turned over twice a year and another company's funds can only be turned over once a year, then even if the former's profit rate is only half of the latter's, with the same initial capital, the profit they obtain is identical.

The advantages brought by this high turnover can be reflected in all aspects, such as price reduction. The room for price reduction under high turnover will be greater than that under low turnover. They can occupy the market through cost-effectiveness, or in other words, the same profit At a lower rate, they can generate more profits.”

It doesn't matter if you don't understand this. These matters can be handled by others.

Ethan does not expect Xiao Qiao and Woz to figure it all out, because even after the former returned to Apple, he was not in charge of these things. According to Ethan's understanding, Apple's production lines, supply chains, sales channels, etc. The contents were all discussed by Tim Cook himself. What Jobs did was to show the ideas in his mind to the world. As for how to bring them to the world? That's a matter for my subordinates. Not to mention Woz, he is a technical genius, it's that simple.

Following Ethan's statement, the two people who didn't understand ignored it. When Ethan opened Apple's salary ledger, the distribution method on the account made his eyesight...

Mr. Jones, I think these financial statements can prove that your company has many terrible operating problems, right? When Wenlock's people once again received a call from Steve Jobs, they were invited to Cupertino to discuss When it comes to investing in Apple...

They immediately laughed when they saw Apple's annual report.

The guy in the lead was about sixty years old. After taking off the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, a confident look appeared on his wrinkled face, Before this, we just doubted whether you have the ability to manage a family. The company's capabilities, then now, we have been able to determine that if you continue to operate in this way, Apple will definitely fall into the abyss.

I think this is also the purpose of inviting us here, right?

Perhaps you already know that your abilities are still lacking?

The old man looked at the three people across the conference table with a smile and asked: So you have accepted our offer now? Ten million and twenty percent? And you also have the right to operate the company?

The continuous questioning caused the people on Wenlock's side to stop what they were doing.

They are all industry elites who can work for Rockefeller.

After they saw Apple's report, they already knew that the deal would probably go through.

As for the remaining 20% ​​that failed?

It’s just the reluctance, reluctance and desperate struggle of young people.

Do you think our reports are ugly? Ethan, sitting between Xiao Qiao and Woz, asked with a smile.

Yes. The old man representing Wenlock nodded decisively.

What's ugly? Ethan continued to ask.

Well - it's ugly everywhere. The old man said bluntly.

What's specific? Ethan asked.

... This behavior of breaking the casserole and asking the end made the old man frown, but within two seconds, he laughed, Okay, Mr. Jones, I think I understand what you mean.

You want to have normal negotiations between investors, right?

Okay, I can satisfy you.

As he said that, he picked up the report form in front of him and said: Your company has three visible problems, which are in the three aspects of production, capital flow and wages and salaries...

The old man kept talking.

And what he said was exactly the same as the problem Ethan found when he looked at the report before.

Faced with his criticism and criticism, Ethan, who was sitting opposite him, did not panic at all:

Regarding production problems, we have discovered and are working to solve them. The aspect currently reflected is that there are functional conflicts between employees within the company and the work of outsourced projects, so in the future we are planning to start from two aspects. First, It is to formally cut down the production department within the company and reduce the production expenses within the company. Secondly, it is to properly arrange the original production employees. If they are qualified for other positions in our company, we will transfer them to other positions. If they can't, then we will directly lay off employees to reduce the company's operating costs...

In terms of capital flow you mentioned, we have actually discovered that we have not handled it, not because it cannot be handled, but because we need to use the current status quo to maintain operational stability. Our employment costs in America are due to social factors If we arbitrarily default on payments to manufacturers, it will most likely cause the manufacturers to go bankrupt. At that time, we will be forced to find new manufacturers, and the speed of capital recovery is controlled by the U.S. Postal Service. I think even your boss Mr. Lawrence Rockefeller cannot change this situation for the time being, right...

As for the salary issue you mentioned... Yes, I admit, this is a very big problem, but the reason for this problem is to cope with the IRS inspection...

The salary issue at Apple discovered by Ethan is actually exactly the same as his own product commission in Destiny Game. In order to cope with random inspections by the IRS, they will not be able to catch any tax evasion, so in the development cost of Destiny Game, Yi Sen Both Sen and Evelin will increase their own income and increase product research and development funds by taking commissions from product sales. The same goes for Apple. Woz and Jobs will take a portion of the sales revenue of Apple computers.

From a legal point of view, there is no problem with this approach. If the founders' own interests cannot be protected, then they still open a useless company!

The real problem is that Apple's current profit margin is not as high as that of Destiny Game. No matter how much Ethan and Evelyn take a commission, the net profit of the product will not be as low as less than 40, but when Jobs and Woz start taking a commission , even if they take very little money, it still drags down Apple Computer's net profit to a very ugly level.

And this kind of problem... can actually be solved. For example, stock option awards are used to offset the founder's low income during the company's founding period.

For example, a company's registered shares are 15 million shares, and all shareholders' shares are 12.5 million shares. The remaining 2.5 million shares actually dilute the equity of all shareholders. It provides a certain salary guarantee for low-wage founders, employees, key employees, and positions similar to CEOs, because there are few industries in the world that are as full of huge profits as video games, and you can't earn enough in the company. When you have cash, it becomes inevitable to use stocks to pay your salary.

Of course, this can also improve employee cohesion.

After Ethan gave his own solution to the problem, the Wenlock delegation sitting opposite all laughed, and the old man at the head even pressed his hands down and said: Mr. Jones, I appreciate your efforts. I admit that the method you just mentioned can indeed solve many problems.

But... this does not mean that your company's operations are perfect.

I can understand that you want to keep the appointment and removal rights of the CEO and CFO, but we really don't believe that you can run a company well. Moreover, the three problems I just mentioned are only the most superficial superficial problems. In addition, you Apple Computer currently still has market infringement issues, as well as your sole procurement of major production materials...

The old man waved to the people around him.

In a moment, two documents were distributed to the three of them.

When the three of them saw the contents of the file, they instinctively frowned at the dazzling data. The old man put his elbows on the table, leaned forward, and said with a smile: Apple's market infringement occurred in the field of electronic games. The electronic game programming cards you distributed have actually infringed on other companies' intellectual property rights. If nothing else, you will definitely be subject to class action lawsuits in the future.

At the same time, your company's dependence on MOS 6502 has reached a level of madness that is unimaginable to ordinary people. If MOS cuts off chip supply to you, you will be doomed.

No, are these two problems? Steve Jobs was shocked.

Although he did not understand the specific content of the company's issues that Ethan and Wenlock's people discussed, now, he really has something to say.

Why is the video game programming card infringing?

We don't sell those kinds of cards! We don't sell games to outsiders either!

“All we do is teach ordinary people how to program!”

Also, regarding the MOS 6502 problem you mentioned, Ethan is a shareholder of that company! Unless the others are gone! Otherwise, it is impossible for us to encounter the problem of supply cuts!

The raised voice reflected Xiao Qiao's anxiety.

And his rebuttal made Wenlock's people shake their heads.

The leader of the old man spread his hands and said: Look, this is why we want to ask for the management rights of the company. If you don't even understand these things, how can you manage a company well?

If they are a mature CEO, they may use your game programming cards when promoting computers, but they will never spread everything in front of the world like you do.

They will sell computers normally, and then secretly promote programming cards. For example, they will communicate with offline stores and ask the boss to tell the highlights of your machine to users who come to buy computers through word of mouth. This will serve as a basis for Take the opportunity to give away the programming card.”

After the delivery of programming cards reaches a certain scale, we will invite the media to report on this matter and spread the news that your computers can be used for game programming and that there are already samples on the market.

In this way, the results may be a little slow, but at the same time you can avoid legal troubles.

Because on the surface, the sharing of games on computers is a spontaneous behavior of the public and has nothing to do with you. In this way, when the infringed party wants to sue you, it will be confused by disorganized information just in terms of evidence collection. Drag, and sometimes they can't prosecute due to insufficient evidence. Even if they really succeed in prosecuting, you can still claim that this is a false accusation because you have never told the public openly that our machines can play existing games. .”

‘…’ This operation stunned Steve Jobs.

The old man from Wenlock continued: For a mature CEO, there is a solution to your crazy dependence on MOS 6502.

I'm not asking you to replace the chip, but I'm asking you to use your existing resources to force MOS to open the chip authorization to other companies and allow other companies to obtain 6502 production agents.

Doing this allows you to purchase the same chips from different companies.

Once a company has a problem, such as a factory burning down and workers going on strike, it doesn't matter, because the supply capacity of other companies still exists.

This is actually risk control in industrial production.

Maybe for other people, this thing is difficult to do, but for you, it should be very simple. Just like what you just said, Mr. Jobs, Mr. Jones has equity in 6502 Chip Company. You can Easily let them license chip production to others.

But even if you could do all this, you didn't do it!

When this fact is placed in front of us...

What do you want us to believe that you can run a company well?

Um?

The old man spoke through his nose and looked at the three of them seriously.

Under his glance, Jobs opened his mouth and said nothing, but Woz...

This little fat guy was sleepwalking from beginning to end.

This situation made the old man smile and purse his lips.

And when he focused his attention on Ethan again, the others in Wenlock also spoke.

Mr. Jones, we believe that your ability in game production is unparalleled. But in terms of running the company, we do feel that we need some professional advice here.

Mr. Jones, we don't understand why you are so resistant to our suggestions. Don't we have the same goal now? We are all for the good of this company.

Mr. Jones, please trust our expertise, okay? You are serious about making products, and we are looking for people to help you sell your products. If you can't trust us, can't you still trust the Rockefeller brand?

The support from his colleagues made the old man headed by Wenlock smile even more.

He leaned back and said, Mr. Jones, accept it.

“Our intervention allows you to make more money.”

At this pace, you will be able to go public in less than two years.

Maybe you don't care, but these two people around you...

The bottom line is he's also a billionaire.

I swear on our boss's last name, Rockefeller, for that matter.

The serious words made Jobs' eyelids twitch twice.

Even Woz turned his head and cast an inquiring look at Ethan.

When this kind of open and honest estrangement appeared, Ethan, who was sitting opposite the old man, chuckled.

He turned his head and glanced at the two Steves. With just one glance, he could capture the desire in his heart.

'Young people are young people——'

'Frustrated -'

He sighed, tapped the table with his index finger, and with the clicking sound, a rhetorical question popped up.

I would like to ask, what is the annual salary Mr. Lawrence Rockefeller offers you?

‘? ’ The people at Wenlock didn’t know why.

The leader of the old man said: Mr. Jones, I don't understand what you mean.

Oh - I mean very simply - Ethan raised the corners of his mouth and said with a smile: I want to say, if I were your boss, I would fire all of you.

‘! ’ The provocative words made Wenlock’s man grimace.

Mr. Jones, you-

Listen to me, okay? Ethan interrupted with a wave of his hand: Do you think the game card promotion plan proposed by Steve is an infringement? Will it lead to a class action lawsuit?

Oh - let me tell you this -

With your eyesight, you can only see these things!

There is a saying that I don't know if you have heard of it. Social demand plays a greater role in scientific and technological progress than ten universities! Social demand is the first driving force in production!

Why were computers born?

I think Stephen can give a good answer to this question.

Ethan turned his attention to the little fat man.

The little fat man who didn't know why he suddenly became the focus was stunned for a moment, and then he said: During WW2, the military's ballistic calculations have exceeded the limit of manual calculations. In fluid mechanics, manual slide rules simply cannot satisfy Ballistic calculations were required, so computers came along.”

Yeah! Ethan took over the topic and said, This is the reason why computers were born!

I believe that the information you have obtained can prove that Stephen did not lie.

Because his father studies missiles.

After a pause, Ethan said: For a long time in the past, computers were used by the military. Their purpose was scientific calculations, but there are not so many problems in the world that require calculations, so In my spare time, video games were born.”

“Bored scientists gave computers entertainment capabilities.”

But even so, computers have still not entered people's homes.

There are reasons for the high cost, and there are also reasons why people can't use it.

But with the advent of the CPU, all this changed, because Altair is here.

Altair brought microcomputers into the public eye, but their sales have always been tepid and have never seen a dramatic increase.

Do you know why?

the reason is simple!

That's because people don't know what they can do after buying a computer.

And this question...

Solved by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

When they took the game programming card and announced that ordinary people can make and taste games on computers! The public's demand for computers also appeared!

That's the greatest thing about both of them!

They blazed a trail between society's needs and computers!

“They turned high-tech machinery used in engineering into consumer products!”

“This is the real revolution they’re bringing to the industry!”

Although people's demand for computers is still very limited so far, the first step taken by the two of them is what makes this God's Apple really valuable!

This is also the real reason why people are crazy about it!

Their actions will be remembered by the world!

And now-

You said-

“Will their actions earn the company a class action lawsuit?”

Wow! If you can only see this, then I advise you not to invest!

Because you are wasting the Rockefeller family's money!

It brings shame to the investor's identity!

Bang! Ethan put his hands on the table.

He looked straight at Wenlock's representative.

The old man he was staring at frowned, and the two Steves beside him...

Ethan... Classmate Xiao Qiao murmured to himself, his eyes shining.

Oh oh oh... The fat little Woz's mouth was so big that he couldn't speak.

Following Ethan's roar, the huge conference room fell into silence.

After a moment, Ethan, who was staring at the old man, took a deep breath and said, You want to invest?

Can!

But you have to show some sincerity!

We can solve all the problems you raised!

I think this is proof that we have the ability to manage the company.

So, please go back and tell Mr. Lawrence Rockefeller.

Come on a price that matches your Rockefeller net worth!

If you can't take it out, it doesn't matter...

I can tell you what we want!

After speaking, Ethan slammed a stack of documents in front of them.

Then there was a shout, Ballmer!

Steve Ballmer, who was guarding the door, got in.

Then, he saw his boss wave his hand and said: See you off!