Chapter 2874 The war begins!

The atmosphere in the conference room was solemn.

Less than a month after Steven Mollenkopf was promoted to CEO of Qualcomm, he is already feeling the tremendous pressure of being a decision-maker. Previously, he was the company's COO. Although he was also in charge of the entire company's operations, he only had the highest authority at the executive level.

Now that he is the CEO, he is responsible for all decisions.

It seems simple, but in fact it is the most difficult!

For execution, he only needs to do things according to the requirements of the board of directors and the executive meeting; for decision-making, he needs to communicate with the board of directors and lead the executive meeting, and most importantly, he needs to make the final decision with the final word.

This is too much pressure.

Especially now he has encountered the most difficult situation. Qualcomm's forced bundling sales strategy of chips in the past few years has caused a backlash. The three giants in the mobile phone industry, Apple, Samsung and Asda, have simultaneously stood up to resist!

What do you want to do?

Rebellion?

Mollenkopf was very angry, very dissatisfied, and felt like he was being deliberately targeted.

During the period when he took over as CEO, he had communicated with Apple, Samsung and Asda, saying that he did not want friction and hoped to return to the negotiating table. It would take longer to resolve these historical issues. .

However, they don’t appreciate it at all!

Over in South Korea, the Fair Trade Commission has issued a request, requiring him, the CEO, to bring the head of the chip and patent departments to participate in the investigation; over at Asda, Boss Zhou has an extremely strong leadership style and a firm attitude, and even gave him An ultimatum was given.

apple……

The most hateful thing is Apple.

Mollenkopf said solemnly: "I have always wondered why Samsung is so determined to start a war with us. If Samsung still has a reason, Asda has no reason at all. Without Qualcomm, Asda's The product will completely lose its competitiveness. However, they still rush forward without hesitation. Why? I don't believe that Zhou Buqi would make such a hasty decision! Now we have all seen it, and the truth is revealed! "

Another executive, Smet, said slowly while smoking a cigarette: "I don't believe the market rumors, but I believe my own eyes. Apple, Samsung, and Asda are all competitors in the market. However, in Samsung Before there was any action, Cook met with Li Zairong; before Aisda took action, Cook met with Zhou Buqi again. I don’t believe that this is all a coincidence!”

Mollenkopf frowned slightly.

He has long been dissatisfied with the current situation within Qualcomm.

Even smoking in the executive meeting?

It is the only one among the technology giants.

After this dispute is resolved and his butt is settled, he must introduce a measure to completely ban smoking in the conference room.

Le Mans, another executive who was also smoking, said: "I don't care if Apple is behind this matter, but this matter..."

Mollenkopf interrupted him very dissatisfied, "It must be Apple! The competition in the mobile phone market is so fierce. Without Apple's support and a united front, neither Samsung nor Asda would make up their minds. Fight us head-on!"

Le Mans nodded and continued: "For us now, the situation will be very complicated. The current mobile phone industry is mainly dominated by China and South Korea. The Korean market is led by Samsung. Samsung has stepped up. Other Korean mobile phones Manufacturers will follow suit; similarly, Asda is the largest mobile phone manufacturer in China, especially with the appeal of Mr. Zhou Buqi. I am worried that more Chinese mobile phone manufacturers will participate. . Once mobile phone manufacturers such as Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, LeTV, Coolpad, Xiaomi, and Meizu also exert pressure, this will make us very passive!”

Mollenkopf looked at the chief legal officer, "What about the legal aspect? This is an alliance monopoly."

"Sue them for monopoly?" The chief legal officer shook his head, "It's difficult! Not to mention that we don't have definite evidence. Even if we have evidence that proves that Apple, Samsung and Asda have reached a certain agreement, it will be difficult to sue them for monopoly. Reasons to restrict them. This is not a price alliance, and... the most important thing is that it does not harm the rights of consumers.”

Mollenkopf said angrily: "It hurts our rights and interests!"

"This..." The chief legal officer is a woman with a complicated expression. "In the past year, the gross profit margin of our mobile phone chip business has reached 70%. With such a high profit margin, we will be very passive if we file a lawsuit. "

Qualcomm's profit margins are really high.

The gross profit margins of high-end phones from Samsung and Asda are between 25% and 30%.

Apple is much higher, with a gross profit margin of 45%.

Qualcomm is too evil.

In the past year, the business revenue of "chip sales + patent bundling" reached US$16 billion, of which gross profit exceeded US$11.2 billion. The earning power is simply shocking.

When a chip is sold for 10 yuan, Qualcomm can keep 7 yuan in profit!

It would be strange for such an evil pricing principle not to be attacked by a group of people!

Mollenkopf said solemnly: "We are too passive now."

Hill, another business executive, suddenly said: "Yesterday, Apple contacted me. I thought it was quite strange at the time. Now that I think about it, it's normal."

"Um?"

"They told me that they hope to reduce patent licensing fees. In particular, they provided a set of data. In the past year, Apple paid us US$2 billion in patent licensing fees, and the 'service fee' we paid Apple was only 1 billion US dollars. In this transaction, Apple lost 1 billion US dollars, and according to the current trend, Apple will lose at least 1 billion US dollars every year.”

"Um?"

Mollenkopf's eyes widened and he almost exploded with anger.

Depend on!

This is a threat!

The so-called "service fee" is just a name. This was the strategy adopted by Qualcomm to persuade Apple to abandon cooperation with Infineon and instead purchase Qualcomm chips. As long as Apple uses Qualcomm's chips, Qualcomm can pay Apple $1 billion in incentives every year.

Mollenkopf said angrily: "Except for Apple, there is no other company in the world that can enjoy such favorable conditions from Qualcomm. We pay them US$1 billion every year in vain, and they are not satisfied, and it is too little. ? What is Tim Cook trying to do? Is he trying to use Samsung and Asda to threaten us? "

Hill said: "At this point, that's it. During the handover of the business, Apple has complained more than once that Apple's interests have been lost during our cooperation."

"We give them 1 billion US dollars every year for free, but they say that their interests have been harmed? Are they confusing right and wrong?" Mollenkopf felt that it was unreasonable, very angry and annoyed. He had just been promoted to CEO, but he was Ke threatened like this, as if he was being laughed at, "Apple really thinks that with a market capitalization of US$500 billion and being the world's largest, it can do whatever it wants? We do not accept any unequal treaties!"

Here comes the most critical element.

This moment is too sensitive.

It involves the three giants of Apple, Samsung and Asda. Once the wrong decision is made, even Qualcomm will peel off a layer of skin. The final decision must be made by the new CEO Mollenkopf. He is the first person responsible and the first scapegoat.

Mollenkopf took a deep breath, "Facts have proven that our strategy towards Apple in the past few years has been completely wrong! We have given them too much tolerance and too much preferential treatment, but in exchange for all these benefits, It’s not about sincere cooperation, it’s about repaying kindness with enmity!”

"What are we going to do?"

“Starting from next year, cancel the payment of technical service fees to Apple!”

"ah?"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the seven or eight executives in the conference room changed drastically.

This is a breach of contract!

In order to bring Apple into its own camp, Qualcomm wrote the corresponding terms in black and white. As long as all Apple models use Qualcomm's chips, Qualcomm will pay Apple a "service fee" of US$1 billion every year.

If you don't pay, it's a breach of contract.

If this lawsuit is decided, it will be too easy. Qualcomm is obviously the party that breached the contract and will have to pay a large amount of liquidated damages.

This decision is really not smart at all, it is too reckless!

Mollenkopf, however, was very calm and said unhurriedly: "The strategy towards Apple must change. South Korea has already started an antitrust investigation, and it is estimated that it will not be long before China will also start. And Behind all this is Apple. We are too passive, so we might as well take the initiative.”

The chief legal officer strongly objected, "If we breach the contract, we will have to pay at least US$3 billion in liquidated damages!"

"Liquidated damages?" Mollenkopf snorted coldly, "Lawyer, then I would like to ask you, how much of our intellectual property rights have been misappropriated by the A-series chips developed by Apple in the past few years? They have infringed on our patents. How much should we ask for?"

As soon as these words came out, the executives present took a deep breath.

Ho!

This is awesome.

This new CEO seems to have been cornered by Apple, and he wants to pre-emptively challenge Apple!

In European and American law, breach of contract is indeed very serious.

However, breach of contract is on the table, and it is enough to pay the liquidated damages. There will be no punitive additional compensation.

Misappropriation of intellectual property is theft, a more serious offense. In addition to a large amount of compensation for theft, there will also be an unimaginable sky-high penalty. Such fines are often calculated based on revenue, and will be 5%-10% of the total revenue as a penalty. .

In the past year, Apple's total revenue reached $200 billion.

A fine of 5%-10% would be US$10 billion-20 billion.

Can this apple be offended?

Hum!

Isn’t Apple playing dirty tricks behind its back?

For example, just set up a battle formation and have an upright fight!

…

Zhou Buqi returned to China.

Mainly two things.

First, tell the authorities clearly about Tesla. By next Tuesday at the latest, Tesla will make more than 90% of its intellectual property open source; second, explain the antitrust investigation of Qualcomm to protect domestic products. interests of the mobile phone industry.

All is ready except for the opportunity.

bring it on!