Reinventing the Millennium

The investigation gang headed by Gasoline Man has been targeting Japanese companies for four months.

But the results are average.

At present, there are only four companies that have evidence. Sony lost US$7 billion this year, Olympus has been making false accounts for 20 years, Toshiba has been involved in hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud since at least 2008, and Kobe Steel's The material data of steel products has been tampered with.

That's all that can be determined for the time being. Other companies with possible fraud are still thinking and looking for breakthroughs because they really can't find any definite loopholes.

The current four have testimonies from company leaders, such as Stringer from Sony, and Woodford from Olympus. The former is from Director Fang who does not want to be named, and the latter is from Woodford. Self-explosion to gain corporate power.

As for Toshiba, there were anomalies in the data that IDC had sorted out for several years, and internal witnesses were found. As for Kobe Steel, the first definite clue came from China. It once provided steel to the Three Gorges, but the first batch of products shipped It was inspected and judged as defective.

After learning about Kobe Steel's past situation, Kong Yu's team conducted parameter inspections on its current materials. The latest news is that substandard products were found.

Moreover, this also provides the team with new ideas, and plans to use stupid methods to help Japanese companies conduct independent third-party inspections.

The method is too stupid. There are many Japanese companies and there are many raw materials and products for the world. Therefore, we look for those large companies with "little financial losses" and "rumours" to see if we can filter out the targets that meet the goals.

But the workload has become larger and the attributes have also expanded.

It is not only financial fraud, but also material parameter fraud. Companies like Kobe Steel are among the top three in the Japanese steel industry and have many well-known customers around the world, involving products such as aircraft, automobiles, and motorcycles. Their influence may be Another category.

Fang Zhuo read the investigation report submitted by the gasoline man over and over several times. He was not satisfied with the definite number, but he could understand it.

Counterfeiting is inherently secretive, and the atmosphere in Japanese companies is relatively conservative, so it is indeed difficult to find a breakthrough.

Fang Zhuo thought about the current situation.

He didn't come back to his senses until his secretary Liu Zonghong walked into the office and asked, "Has Mr. Kong set off?"

"Just got on the plane." Liu Zonghonghui reported.

Fang Zhuo nodded, threw the report to the secretary, and said with a smile: "Take a look."

Liu Zonghong silently went through the contents of the report and found that except for Sony, the fraud of other companies was quite conclusive, and many suspected targets were also listed.

He couldn't help but said: "What I have always heard is the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship...this..."

"It seems like Toshiba is doing systematic fraud." Fang Zhuo said, "However, although these companies are big enough, they are still not enough."

"Mr. Kong and the others are already continuing to conduct a close investigation." Liu Zonghong put down the report.

"Investigation or not..." Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly, "Sometimes it's not that important. When the fake is the real thing, the real thing is also fake. If nothing is found, bring Panasonic and Hitachi with us."

Panasonic and Hitachi's financial situation has been very bad in the past two years.

For example, Panasonic was selected for the selection of the top ten failed CEOs.

Maybe they didn't commit fraud, but if concentrated fraud by Japanese companies is exposed and their loss-making financial reports are put back on the media pages and processed by public opinion, they will lose their crotch.

This kind of thing is prone to chain reactions, and coupled with the fact that there are gasoline men eyeing the financial market, you can see how it will bleed.

Liu Zonghong understood what he was saying. It didn't matter whether it was dirty or not, just throw it over first.

He did not comment. Mr. Kong, who is dedicated to this matter, will arrive later and he will definitely be able to discuss a charter with the boss.

Fang Zhuo thought for a while and picked up another evaluation report on Nikon's lithography technology.

The possible counterfeiting behavior of Japanese companies is certainly exciting, but his initial purpose is to see if he can obtain some technology needed for ice cores, and if he can reach cooperation with ASML according to local conditions. The target is Toshiba, Nikon and ASML.

Among them, Nikon's photolithography technology appears as a spare option, because, according to public information and industry news, although Nikon lags behind ASML, the gap is acceptable, and it is far ahead of the domestic market.

However, Fang Zhuo's face darkened as he looked at the report in his hand.

"The latest Nikon lithography machine purchased by Bingxin's Shencheng factory has constant problems. Scanning and etching cannot be truly synchronized, and the architecture of the operating system has flaws."

"The actual overlay effect is much different from Nikon's specification, and it has not been able to improve much."

“There are quite a few exaggerations in the technical statements about EUV, and they are more of just a PPT display, and the actual research and development progress is seriously lagging behind.”

Fang Zhuo casually marked a few key points with a pen, put down the evaluation report, and said angrily: "Nikon deserves it for not being able to compete with ASML! There are constant small problems, big R\u0026D is not promoted, and they just want to lower the price to get by!"

"The stock market is using performance to turn around losses to deceive retail investors! They only know how to win awards and use news to push up the stock price!"

"The first smell is the smell of corruption in the consortium!"

Liu Zonghong listened to his boss scolding Nikon for a quarter of an hour in the office, and deeply felt the deep concern of Sony's outside directors for Japanese companies.

Fang Zhuo's mouth was dry and he drank half a cup of tea in one breath: "Forget it, no matter how broken the copper or iron is, it is still valuable. This time, even if we collect scrap iron, we have to take back some of it."

This is because the original judgment position in the heart has been lowered, and it is still the PPT-style method.

Liu Zonghong nodded, he expected to take advantage of less, which is really annoying, but you still have to take advantage if you can.

He waited until the boss's mood gradually calmed down and then reported: "Mr. Fang, I heard from the R\u0026D department that the server's processing volume of 'Siri, Siri' has increased dramatically in the past few days, and everyone is very interested in this."

A salon had the impact of making it possible for Microsoft CEO to be replaced. This was extremely unexpected to the stock market, industry and even passers-by, and they quickly voted with their feet.

But apart from this, the performance of Siri, the intelligent voice assistant, is also amazing.

Yike acquired Siri. Although the App was removed from the Apple and Android stores after the official agreement was reached, many users had already tried the previous independent software. Part of this group was reactivated and tried "Siri, Siri" one after another. of interaction.

Different from "Hi, Siri", this "second personality" with more intelligent performance or more fun performance has gained a lot of popularity and inspired more calls for Yike to release the app again.

Yike Company responded and will integrate it into its mobile phones before Christmas.

"What do they ask most about?" Fang Zhuo asked.

Liu Zonghong smiled and said: "Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?"

Fang Zhuo: "Yeah...that's understandable."

Liu Zonghong continued: "I also asked Siri, and it asked me to turn on the front camera. I suspect that its program made an error and failed to figure out my gender."

"There is still a lot of room for improvement, let's optimize it slowly." Fang Zhuo knew that with Siri's current performance, it is likely to appear smart at one moment and retarded at the other.

Liu Zonghong once again reported a more important matter: "The technical cooperation model with Google is still being discussed. There are two directions now. One is to push Siri across the entire Android system, but it needs to separate Siri and establish a company. The other is to simply Technical exchange, let’s do this, we will only push it on our own mobile phones before Christmas.”

Larry, the current CEO of Google, has witnessed the performance of Siri on the spot and is very interested in the development of this field and is willing to raise the price to cooperate with subsidiaries.

According to Dai Ge, the former CEO of Siri, more users joining in training is obviously good for technology development, but...

Fang Zhuo feels that Siri has not reached that stage yet, and even the underlying architecture still has a lot of room for optimization. The most sensible positioning at present is to serve as the smart voice assistant of the Yike family.

Oh, yes, the domestic YMS may consider doing synchronization.

He said "hmm" and had an inclination in his mind, but he didn't give an attitude first. The popularity is temporary. After this period, it will still require long-term investment and research and development.

"Let's do this for now. We'll talk about it later when we meet with Mr. Kong tonight." Fang Zhuo stopped looking at the third document. "Didn't he say that there are still people on Wall Street who want to buy the yen? Let's listen to it later."

There are rumors that Soros is interested in the Japanese yen. If he can gather a bunch of ghosts and monsters, the water may become even more muddy.

However, it was said to be evening, but Kong Yu was late because of the heavy rain on the road. When he arrived in Silicon Valley, he hurriedly packed up and came to see his boss, but he heard Liu Zonghong mention that President Founder was playing cards with Microsoft's Ballmer and others.

Kong Yu saw his boss playing cards and became curious.

When he passed the security check, he saw four rich people playing cards, Mr. Fang, Larry, Ballmer, and Kaplan, who was investing in Silicon Valley. Except for Kaplan, whose net worth was relatively weak, the other three people's combined wealth was quite large. Portion size.

The card game has been going on for a while, and judging from the expressions of the four people, the situation seems to have reached a critical point.

"Ballmer, it's your turn to speak. You don't have any chips to follow." Fang Zhuo urged.

Ballmer said angrily: "I have a cashier's check of 5 million from Morgan Bank. Isn't that enough? I think you don't have many chips anymore."

When Fang Zhuo saw the Microsoft CEO asking the person next to him to take out a promissory note, he immediately said seriously: "I also have a $10 million promissory note from Huaxia Rural Credit Cooperative. Don't worry, it's enough to lose."

Grass!

Kong Yu was originally holding his breath because of the competition between the rich, but when he heard this sentence, he immediately realized...it's just fun, the boss is just having fun.

It's all about money, but why does it feel weird as soon as the name comes out?

After two rounds of poker, both Fang Zhuo and Ballmer lost all their chips, and Google's Larry won three.

This was a card game proposed by Ballmer, but he was not unwilling to lose. Instead, he directly changed the topic: "I'm almost going to retire."

When such a sentence came out of his mouth, everyone looked at Mr. Fang.

Fang Zhuo spread his hands: "You can't blame me. If you really want to blame me, then blame the stock market and blame them for being bullish on Microsoft's future."

He was just the beginning of a chat in the salon. What really verified the view was the majority of investors and institutions. They all felt that Ballmer was no longer suitable for Microsoft's development and changes.

Whose CEO resigned and the company's stock price rose sharply?

Is this a good CEO?

If Apple and Yike are replaced, the company's stock price will immediately fall when news of Jobs and Fang Zhuo's resignation comes out. Oh, no need to assume that because of Jobs's physical condition, Apple's stock price has been very volatile recently.

Therefore, as soon as Ballmer, the CEO, received news of his resignation, the stock market immediately expressed his position by saying that it had surged - or surged, which undoubtedly made Ballmer very embarrassed.

Everyone seemed to be afraid that Ballmer would not be able to make up his mind, so they gave silent support.

"Yeah." Ballmer nodded slightly to express his attitude, "You can't blame Mr. Fang entirely."

"Hey, you can hardly blame me, right? It's not me who made Microsoft slow, and it's not me who made Microsoft fail in the mobile era." Fang Zhuo complained.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to say that there is no relationship at all.

"I originally planned to retire in 2017." Ballmer sighed, and then looked at the three young rich people in front of him, Larry, Fang Zhuo, and Kaplan. They were all much younger than him.

It's just that I was very powerful back then.

Ballmer was invited by Gates to join Microsoft 31 years ago. As time went by, he really couldn't keep up with the times.

Larry consoled him: "It's not bad to retire early. On that rainy day in Seattle, move out as soon as possible."

Microsoft's headquarters is over in Seattle.

Ballmer flew back to Silicon Valley from Seattle after the board of directors, and his intention was basically confirmed. The board of directors was accustomed to retaining him, but it was not too forceful... which made him feel that times had changed.

So, after thinking about it, I decided to come to Silicon Valley to relax and see the instigators.

Ballmer was silent for a while and shook his head: "Suddenly my plans were disrupted. I was thinking about retiring early and buying a team to play."

"Basketball team?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I'll sell you the Rockets for 2 billion US dollars."

This is a figure that is far from the market price.

Ballmer felt sad, but he was still provoked to get angry: "You denied me in front of the whole world, and you didn't even settle the score. Now you still want me to be taken advantage of?"

"If you don't want to buy it, don't buy it. Oh, if you really want to buy it, it seems that the Philadelphia team is looking for a buyer." Fang Zhuo provided normal information, "It just so happens that Philadelphia is very close to New York."

The Philadelphia 76ers are interested in taking action.

Fang Zhuo knew that Ballmer really liked basketball and later bought the Los Angeles Clippers, but the current Clippers are probably not for sale.

Ballmer sighed: "I'll ask someone about the approximate price."

"It's estimated to be around US$300 million, and it won't exceed US$400 million." Fang Zhuo thought for a few seconds and gave a price range.

Ballmer nodded, feeling that it was indeed feasible to retire and start a team.

"Since you are here, I invite you to visit our Yike tomorrow and visit our new era enterprise." Fang Zhuo extended the invitation.

Ballmer accepted.

It was already late, the card game was no longer going on, and the chat soon came to an end.

When the show was over, Kong Yu, who rushed over in a hurry, couldn't bear his strange mood: "Mr. Fang, I don't think this Ballmer... hates you at all."

"Why does he hate me? The board of directors doesn't retain him, the shareholders don't support him, and the company doesn't agree with him. I just said a few words beside him. Does this mean he hates me?" Fang Zhuo sneered.

Kong Yu felt that it was probably the people next to him who made sarcastic remarks that attracted the most hatred.

He stopped wasting time and reported some new situations that were not included in the report. For example, he got close to some company insiders. For example, Olympus had publicly said that the CEO had smeared the company's image and was not suitable to continue in this position.

"Olympus may not be able to survive for long, and their conflicts are intensifying." Kong Yu said.

"How long do you think it will last?" Fang Zhuo asked.

Kong Yu thought for two minutes: "It will be almost within the year."

No matter how our own investigation goes, Olympus is likely to explode within the year. (End of chapter)