Xiao Qi originally hugged his wife in the warm bed and didn't want to talk to her, but he called her again and again, which made Xiao Meiji wake up.
Then Tang Mingxiang punched her husband on the shoulder and asked him to get up to answer the phone, but she wrapped herself in a quilt and continued to sleep.
Xiao Qi walked over and picked up the phone and looked at it. It was only 5 o'clock in the morning, and it was a call from Anthony.
"Boss, it's bad!" Anthony said with a trace of panic in his tone, "There is news from the European Union that they will launch an investigation into our Skype, saying that spype involves national security issues."
"Huh?" Xiao Qi frowned, "I can't tell you clearly on the phone. Come to my house right away."
"yes!"
Anthony hung up the phone in a hurry, and within an hour, he arrived at Tang Mingxiang's manor.
While drinking the coffee ground by the servant, Anthony told Xiao Qi what happened in detail.
In the past two days, the EU's telecommunications and mobile communication departments took advantage of the annual meeting of EU foreign ministers and heads of state to gather together and discuss some related issues.
What I didn't expect was that yesterday afternoon, that is, early this morning Eastern Time in the United States, the Germans suddenly mentioned the rapid development of Skype in Europe.
Skype was acquired by Xiao Qi in January this year. After putting forward five important development plans, Skype entered the channel of rapid development.
By the end of November, Skype already had more than 500 million European and American customers, an increase of almost 50% compared to May and June!
Moreover, the number of daily Skype call minutes has increased by 180% compared to May and June. The sales volume of phone cards in November has reached a staggering 1.5 billion US dollars! The overall operating income combined is more than
As much as 2.3 billion US dollars.
Although this sales volume is completed in more than 30 countries, the sales volume accounts for 60% in Europe, posing a huge threat to the European telecommunications industry.
According to their data, after Skype entered Europe, mobile phone bill consumption in the UK dropped by 3%. In France it was 5%, in Spain it was 5%... and in Germany it was up to 8%.
Although it has not yet reached the point of breaking out, if Skype is allowed to develop, it will definitely be a huge blow to the communication industry of these EU countries.
In any country, mobile phone, telecommunications, Internet and other expenses are very profitable, and those who can control communication companies are not ordinary companies. They are usually inextricably linked with the government.
Once they find that their cake is passive, they will definitely seek help from the government to put pressure on and crack down on competitors.
If you want to talk about an American company, the EU doesn't dare to be so obvious, but you are a Chinese company. Although it is the company of the world's richest man, so what?
Therefore, after a group of EU ministers from the communications industry met, they immediately made the decision to suppress Skype.
How to suppress it?
Of course, the communications industry, which has been tried and tested, is concerned with confidentiality. It may involve leaking citizens, leaking state secrets, etc. - these illusory things, the government says it does not have it. It just does not, and the government says it does, then it does.
Once "citizens", "national security", etc. are used as excuses, then the issue is no longer a commercial issue, and you can't use your influence no matter what.
Even giants like Mario Law Firm can't put in the effort.
Because national security is above all else!
Due to time issues, the specific plan has not yet been decided, but the specific tone has been set.
Fairy Company has hired consulting companies all over the world, and one of the functions of these consulting companies is to find out gossip about Fairy Company.
The same is true for Mario Law Firm. Lawyers naturally have to have good relations with government departments. Those who are reckless and think that they are really the "government's nemesis" have already disappeared.
Therefore, with large amounts of US dollars being spent on weekdays to open the way, naturally there are many people in the EU who have good relations with Mario Law Firm. This time, one of the deputy ministers who attended the meeting gave Mario Law Firm Europe a consultation after arriving at the hotel.
The person from the place called and told them to make preparations immediately.
Anthony is usually a very stable person, but when he heard the news, he was a little overwhelmed.
He is now one of the most powerful people in the legal profession, but he is still far behind in going against the entire country, and even the entire European Union.
It’s not just him, he knows that his boss is not qualified either. If it were one of the countries like Britain, France, and Germany, it could barely be considered equal, but now so many countries are attacking together, the world’s richest man doesn’t care what the use is.
.
After all, Skype is moving everyone’s cake. If everyone pools their strength, it is simply not something that a Chinese company can compete with.
So he hurriedly came to report to Xiao Qi, hoping that Xiao Qi could prepare early.
"On the EU side, is it possible to try harder?" Xiao Qi asked Anthony thoughtfully.
"I guess it won't work, because boss, your Skype has developed too fast. In less than a year, it has had such a huge impact on their communications company. They won't be able to sustain it if it continues like this." Anthony
He shook his head and said, "Even if we are willing to spend money on this matter, it is impossible to bribe all the ministers, and the risk is too high. Once someone exposes it, I am afraid things will be even worse."
"I see."
Xiao Qi began to think.
Since the EU cannot be accommodating, there are only two ways Skype can go.
The first is to completely abandon the European market and only specialize in the American market and developed Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. Because spkpe is based in the United States and employs mostly Americans, it will naturally work in these places.
The second is to split off the European branch of Skype and form a partnership with European communication operators, so that they have no excuse to stop Skype. However, there is no doubt that at least half of the shares must be divided, which will allow
Xiao Qi was quite unwilling.
But leaving half of the shares is better than having nothing at all.
In fact, Xiao Qi had already planned for the situation that Skype would encounter. Xiao Qi was even prepared to sell Skype when it reached its peak.
The reason is because Xiao Qi is not from a European or American country.
This kind of encounter is not just for Xiao Qi. If you were someone from European and American countries who went to China to develop this kind of free online communication, they would still be subject to the strictest supervision... Well, in fact, Skype has not been allowed to enter from the beginning to the end.
The reason for crossing China is of course the same.
However, it is far from time to sell Skype.
Skype in the previous life has not reached the height of Skype in this life. It was bought by Microsoft at a price of 8.5 billion US dollars in May 2011. In this life, it is really uncomfortable to sell it without a market value of 20 to 30 billion US dollars.
Na.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Qi had a plan to immediately negotiate with European communications companies in the form of this joint venture, trying to get it done before the investigation bill against Skype came out, so as not to have a great impact on Skype's operations.
But before he could say anything, the bodyguard outside knocked on the door and walked in.
"Qi Shao, it's Mr. Ballmer from Microsoft." He said to Xiao Qi with his cell phone, "He said he has something important to ask you."
Xiao Qi looked at the time, it was only about 7 o'clock in the morning.
After thinking about it, he said hello to Anthony and walked aside with his work phone, "Hi, Stephen, hello, I'm Xiao Qi."
Microsoft CEO Ballmer smiled and said, "Hello Qi Shao, I heard that you are having some troubles here recently. I wonder if you want my help?"
"What's the trouble?" Xiao Qi was slightly startled and asked calmly.
"Haha, it's Skype. The European Union has already decided to investigate Skype, right?" Ballmer didn't hide it, and smiled: "If Qi Shao is not so smooth, Microsoft can help.
Two."
"How are you going to cooperate?" Xiao Qi said with a smile.
"Microsoft won't take advantage of Fairy. We are prepared to acquire 50% of Skype's shares at a price of 3 billion US dollars. We will help you with it in Europe!" Ballmer said.
At first glance, Microsoft's prices seem a bit high.
But if you think about it carefully, you can see that Microsoft is taking advantage of the situation.
It's true that Xiao Qi spent 2.8 billion US dollars to buy Skype, but after including commissions and other expenses, it was already 3.2 billion US dollars. Then in more than half a year, Xiao Qi invested 1 billion US dollars in various network construction and
The total cost of promotion is at least US$4.2 billion.
This is just the cost, and does not take into account Skype’s rapid progress over the past six months or its promising future development trends.
Calculated in this way, Microsoft only gives a valuation of 6 billion US dollars, which is purely devaluing the value of Skype and trying to buy a golden doll at a low price.
So Xiao Qi also said two words directly: "No."
"Qi Shao, don't be too busy to refuse." Ballmer was not impatient. "You only got news from Europe, right? According to what I know, there seems to be this argument in the United States. Once the investigation is carried out in Europe,
Then those people who can't stand the development of Fairy Company will definitely actively push for the United States to also investigate. By then, even Microsoft will not be able to save Skype!"
Xiao Qi's heart sank.
Good guy, this is going to drive all Skype away! (To be continued.)