Chapter 413 Deep Cooperation

Chapter 413 Deep Cooperation

Chapter 413 Deep Cooperation
"Haha, Nokia has fallen behind?" Robert trimmed the cigar in his hand with a cigar tongs. Then, instead of lighting the cigar, he held it between his fingers and said, "Chairman An, judging from the current market feedback, your opinion is indeed quite niche."

After saying this, he reached out for a box of matches from the coffee table, lit one, and slowly lit the cigar in his hand.

"According to the information I got, Nokia will launch the latest mobile phone based on Symbian S60 version in a few months," Robert continued after taking a puff of his cigar. "It is said that this is Nokia's ambitious work, aimed at launching a siege against the emerging Apple smartphone. And for now, everyone seems to be quite optimistic about this new Nokia phone."

As a reborn person, An Rushong knew that the new mobile phone that Nokia was going to launch was E71. To be honest, as a mobile phone based on the Symbian system, E71's performance in all aspects was indeed outstanding. It not only integrated more mobile phone functions, but also had a built-in GPS module. Compared with various previous mobile phones, the functions of E71 were already very powerful.

but!

Non-smartphones are non-smartphones. No matter how many functions are integrated into them, for mobile phone users, these functions are fixed and cannot be modified, let alone downloaded on demand. Just this defect makes mobile phone brands like Nokia have no choice but to fail when facing the impact of smartphones.

However, even though he knew all of this in his heart, when facing Robert, the American, An Rushong had no intention of mocking him for being short-sighted. There were two main reasons for this.

First, the reason why he knew that Nokia would eventually fail under the impact of smart phones such as Apple and Android phones was because he was a reborn person, and the memories of his previous life told him everything, so he was so sure. For Robert, who was not a reborn person, it was impossible for him to predict the future like An Rusong.

What is the current reality? Undoubtedly, the current reality is that Android-based smartphones have not yet been launched, and the first generation of Apple phones has too many defects. Its two main advantages, namely the "App Store" and support for the "3G" network, have not yet been realized.

Both the "App Store" and the support for the "3G" network will be realized in the second-generation Apple mobile phone, namely the "iPhone 3G". According to Apple's plan, the "iPhone 3G" will be officially launched in three months.

In An Rushong's memory of his previous life, compared with Symbian system phones like Nokia and the first generation of Apple phones, the "iPhone 3G" was a truly epoch-making product. The "3G" network connection allowed mobile phone users to completely bid farewell to the so-called "slow" network era, and the introduction of the "App Store" freed mobile phone users from the limitations of fixed functions of mobile phones. People can download any application they need from the "App Store" according to their needs.

As for the mobile side of NGN, its true value can only be realized after the official launch of Android-based smartphones and iPhone 3G.

As for the second reason, it was because An Rusong suspected that the American sitting next to him was playing dumb with him. This guy obviously came for NGN shares, and the reason why he talked about so many irrelevant topics was probably to lead the topic to a certain point and then bring the topic of the conversation back to the right track.

Think about the identity of this American. He is one of the independent directors of BlackRock Group and the decision-maker who directly controls BlackRock's venture capital business. How could such a person not have a detailed understanding of the future direction of the mobile phone industry? How could he not know what kind of future the "iPhone 3G" and HTC G1 will create for the mobile phone industry?
To be honest, if this guy didn't even have this sensitivity and couldn't grasp this information, An Rushong felt that Blackrock would never have been able to grow into the behemoth it was in its previous life.

Now that he had thought of this possibility, An Rusong was too lazy to continue beating around the bush with the other party. He put out the half-smoked cigarette in his hand, glanced at the other party again, and then smiled: "Mr. Robert, since we have the opportunity to sit here today, we can be considered friends in a sense, so, just like General Thurman said before..."

He pointed at the other person, then pointed at himself, and said, "If you have anything to say, just say it."

He moved his body on the sofa and sat in a more comfortable position. "General Thurman just said that you are very interested in my company, NGN. Of course, I believe this, otherwise you would not have come all the way from the United States to Seoul."

"As for me, I am not a person who is complacent. Although I have my own plans for the future of NGN, the current reality is that if I want NGN to develop rapidly, I must introduce more investment, or even push the company to go public at a suitable time to obtain more abundant funds," An Rusong said, "So, I will not reject any potential investors and partners as long as the other party has enough sincerity." When An Rusong said this, Robert always had a faint smile on his face. He waited until An Rusong finished speaking, then nodded and said, "Well, President An, if we talk frankly, then my purpose is just like Thurman said before. I am indeed interested in your NGN company. To be precise, it is BlackRock that is interested in your NGN company."

He placed the cigar on the side of the ashtray. "To be precise, BlackRock hopes to establish a deeper and broader cooperative relationship with NGN based on its investment in NGN."

An Rushong made a please gesture, meaning to let the other party continue speaking.

"I believe Chairman An should have some understanding of BlackRock. As an asset management company, we have been working hard to build a complete investment portfolio in the past few years," Robert said. "In our investment portfolio, the secondary market is only a part of our investment. We are also actively participating in the primary market investment. Our ultimate goal is to build a complete ecological chain covering 'public offering - venture capital - listing - mergers and acquisitions'."

An Rusong nodded. It was only 2008. As mentioned before, BlackRock was still in the early to mid-stage of development. Although its asset management scale was already very large, its main investment was mostly transactions between investors. If we follow the ecological chain Robert mentioned, BlackRock was mainly engaged in "public offerings and venture capital" and some mergers and acquisitions. However, it was still a newcomer in terms of operating corporate listings. It did not have any classic cases to show off.

"The partnership we want to establish with NGN is not just about investment. We also hope to become the leading force in providing market support to NGN," Robert continued.

An Rushong frowned. Robert's meaning had been expressed. It was obvious that BlackRock and Draper Fisher Jurvetson were pursuing different things. The latter was pursuing profits, and the means of pursuing profits was to invest in NGN in advance in exchange for a certain number of shares, and then earn a difference after the market value of NGN went up.

BlackRock not only wants to be an investor in NGN, but also wants to list NGN operations one day in the future. In other words, it wants to be the issuer of NGN stocks.

There is no doubt that compared with the simple investment of DFJ, the interests sought by BlackRock are obviously greater, even much greater. However, the reason why DFJ did not think of listing NGN is that it does not have such strong capabilities. If DFJ wanted to list NGN, it would at least need to find a big investment bank on Wall Street to cooperate, such as Goldman Sachs.

The reason why An Rushong frowned was because he doubted whether the current BlackRock had such great ability, or whether BlackRock could do the best job in listing NGN.

Seeing An Rusong frowning, Robert thought he was about to speak, so the American spoke first: "President An, don't rush to ask questions. You might as well listen to me talk about Blackrock's sincerity."

An Rushong smiled and then made a gesture of invitation.

"On the issue of cooperation with Chairman An, we at BlackRock can make a basic commitment, which is: we do not seek controlling rights in NGN Company, and the upper limit of the NGN equity we hope to obtain will never exceed 15%," Robert continued. "Of course, we are also willing to accept a governance structure with equity separation. However, while making equity concessions, we also have three conditions, namely: we need to have data access rights to NGN software; we need to reserve at least one observer seat on the board of directors; and we need to participate in the budget formulation of NGN Company."

An Rushong raised his eyebrows. He was very surprised, not for any other reason, but because according to Robert, the cooperation conditions that BlackRock gave to NGN were simply too lenient.

"Just like Chairman An is optimistic about Apple and Android phones, we at BlackRock are also optimistic about the development and prospects of NGN companies," Robert continued. "Therefore, we not only hope to invest in the development of NGN in the long term, but also hope to participate in the growth of NGN as much as possible. Of course, for us, listing NGN operations may also be one of the classic cases for us to expand our business into the primary market."

(End of this chapter)