Chapter 533

Just as the iPhone 1 was becoming popular all over the world, the news came that Henry was going to buy Bertelsmann group, a European media giant, and offered a sky high price of US $100 billion!

However, the acquisition of Bertelsmann is true, but $100 billion is purely media fabrication, and Bertelsmann group can't be worth the price at all. Smith actually offered Bertelsmann a $30 billion purchase price! Although Bertelsmann group is one of the world's top 500 enterprises with a history of more than 170 years, the ranking of the top 500 enterprises is at the end of the crane, and its revenue has not exceeded 20 billion US dollars. In recent years, due to the impact of the Internet, the performance of Bertelsmann group has gradually declined. If it does not change, it will fall out of the top 500 enterprises in a few years.

This time, Henry suddenly sent someone to buy Bertelsmann, which made Bertelsmann feel an opportunity. Henry Williams is recognized as the overlord in the Internet field, which is also the key breakthrough for Bertelsmann to seek the transformation of digital industry! So the two sides hit it off, Bertelsmann immediately terminated the cooperation with Sony and began to negotiate with Henry's representative Smith. Among them, Sony seems to be very pitiful and sad. It has spent a lot of effort to "pursue" Bertelsmann. However, just when the two sides "communicate" with each other, they are only short of the last base. Suddenly, they are "green". Are they hurt or not?!

Some time later, at 10 o'clock on November 1, 2003, Bertelsmann group held a press conference at its headquarters and announced that Bertelsmann accepted the acquisition of Williams Royal Investment Company and was willing to sell 80% of its shares!

After the news came out, the global book and music market was shocked and panicked!

Amazon was originally the largest retail bookstore on the Internet. Now Henry Williams has acquired Bertelsmann. Then Random House, Bertelsmann's largest public book publishing group in the world, and gunayal, Europe's largest periodical publisher, belong to Henry. Naturally, Amazon's competitiveness in the book industry will be further strengthened in the future.

As for the music market, www.mp3.com and Tiantian Music software originally occupied about 55% of the market share of Internet music. With the advent of iPhone, the market share of the iTunes Store soared, and the entire Internet music sales channel was almost monopolized by Henry Williams. However, this situation is far from what other record companies hope to see. Therefore, they actively support other music playing software to fight against it. Many music companies restrict the copyright of www.mp3.com, Tiantian music and iTunes! Before Bertelsmann was acquired, so was BMG records. As a result, many users complain that some of the songs they found are restricted by copyright and can't be played. It's really unpleasant!

Now that BMG records company is acquired by Henry, there are naturally a large number of songs that can be lifted. On the one hand, it solves the source of songs; On the other hand, it caused a rift in the alliance of record companies. BMG record company takes the lead and many record companies follow suit. Of course, the other four major record companies must still insist on the copyright restrictions on some songs. If they all open up, then Henry's music software will really become the only one. If the sales channels are controlled by one person, then the right to speak and the right to bargain is not what others say. The four major record companies are not so stupid!

As one of the top five record companies in the world, BMG records company is naturally powerful. It has signed many famous singers and has a large number of song copyrights! As a result, when the news came out that a large number of songs would be banned in iTunes, the sales volume of iPhone 1 smart phones rose to 2 million units per day in vain. Before that, the sales volume had stabilized, with only 100000 units per day!

So far, more than 35 million iphone1 smartphones have been sold, a miracle in business history! As Henry let Apple delisted, so the outside world is not clear about Apple's revenue and profits. An 8GB iPhone 1 costs $599, with a net profit of $300; A 16GB iPhone 1 costs $699, with a net profit of $345; The 32GB version of the supreme local tyrant iPhone 1 costs $1499, with a net profit of $780! All in all, they made $11.5 billion. However, it's just mobile hardware profits

The app store and iTunes also have a lot of revenue. After sharing with a third party, apple made $2.5 billion.

In fact, this is only the revenue related to the iPhone 1. The hot sale of iPhone 1 has also driven the sales of iPod, macbook, IMAC and other products. All of Apple's products together should have made nearly $16 billion in October. The net profit of one month is so high, I'm afraid no one will believe it when it comes to it!!!

Based on the idea of making a fortune, Henry decided to keep a low profile. If he let users know that Apple actually made so much money on them, he would be upset.

"Your Majesty, have you ever thought of listing apple?"

Villette exclaimed with a shocked tone, "if Apple can make so much money, its market value will be very high!"

"Yes Henry thought about it and nodded, "the Williams Empire has no stock exchange. When the empire is on the right track, I'll have people set up a 'Digo exchange' in Digo, and then let apple go public on the Digo exchange. This is the first shot!"

"Well, with Apple's current profit situation, it will make a good start!"

"Yes, there is no doubt about this. No matter where it is listed, it will be sought after by countless people! But... "Henry paused, looked into the distance, and said," I want Digo to become the second NASDAQ. It's not enough to have only one apple company. At that time, I plan to let a number of companies under my name list on Digo one by one. With the support of these companies, Digo will surely grow, Become one of the largest stock markets in the world and make Digo one of the international financial centers! "

"In addition, after the company goes public, the stock price will certainly rise. Most of the people who buy the stock should be citizens of Williams Empire, which can also be regarded as giving them benefits!" Henry said.

"Your Majesty, this is the wealth of the people!"

"That's right!" Henry nodded and said with a smile.

Just when Henry and Willett are talking, Pearson Education Group of Britain takes the initiative to send a request to Bertelsmann group, hoping to merge its Penguin publishing group and Random House!

The rise of the Internet, a serious impact on the paper book market. Both random house and penguin are on the decline. Now, Random House has found a buyer, and will use Henry's Internet resources to transform the digital industry. What's the future of Pearson Education Group, the world's publishing giant?

After the launch of iPhone 1, Pearson Education Group found that more and more people read e-books through iBook. Once the popularity of smart phones in the future, it will greatly squeeze the survival market of paper books. After Pearson Education Group found this, it deeply felt that the crisis was coming! As a result, Pearson Education Group finally came up with the idea of merging Penguin publishing group and Random House to resolve the crisis!

Smith called Henry immediately to reflect the situation.

"Your Majesty, Pearson Education Group has taken the initiative to merge Penguin publishing group and Random House. Look..." Asked Smith.

When Henry heard this, he was stunned. He still remembered that the penguin publishing group published Harry Potter for him!

"Even if it's a merger, Pearson Education Group in the UK seems to be the largest education and training group in the world. You bought it directly for me!" When Henry finished speaking, he laughed in his heart. It's really "a sheep into a tiger's mouth". If you don't mention the merger of penguin publishing group and Random House, I really didn't think of buying you!

Pearson Education Group is more powerful than New Oriental company. It is the world's leading education group with a history of more than 150 years. It is committed to providing educators and students of all ages with high-quality educational content, educational information technology, testing and evaluation, career certification, and all education related services. Pearson Education has spread over more than 60 countries in the world, ranking first in many fields such as higher education, primary and secondary education, English education, professional publishing, examination and evaluation, network education, etc., helping more than 100 million people in the world to receive education and training.

For the education of Williams Empire, it seems imperative to acquire Pearson Education Group! The current scale of New Oriental is still small, which can not provide much talent for Williams empire. Pearson Education Group is more mature, larger in scale and more effective.

"Han Xin ordered soldiers, more is better", for the investment in education, Henry is not stingy.

"Smith, what is the market value of Pearson Education Group?" Asked Henry.

"Pearson group is one of the world's famous publishing and media giants, including the world's largest education publishing group (Pearson Education), Penguin Publishing Group Penguin Group, the famous financial times group and the famous economist group, with more than 30000 employees in 65 countries and regions. Pearson group is famous for its rich intellectual property and high quality publications. Annual sales are more than $7 billion, so we have a valuation of $15 billion. "

Smith added, "sire, the financial times ranked first in the world's most influential media in November 2003, even the Wall Street Journal

Henry nodded. Wall Street has the Wall Street Journal. If Digo has the financial times, it will play a very important role in the development of Digo exchange in the future!

"Then buy Pearson Education Group at a premium of US $2 billion!" Henry said faintly, but his tone was domineering.

"Yes

……

……

Pearson Education Group was very depressed. It planned to merge its Penguin publishing house with Random House, but it attracted the attention of Henry Williams and sent someone to buy itself!

Pearson group held an emergency board meeting.

At the meeting, a director said: "the Internet is a major trend. If Pearson group wants to maintain strong development, it must transform its core education publishing business to digital and invest heavily in emerging markets! Obviously, Henry Williams has both! With the help of Henry Williams, the digital transformation of Pearson Education will be very easy, and the backward education in Williams Empire and Africa is our emerging market! "

"You're right. If it's cooperation, we'd like to, but Henry Williams wants to wholly acquire us!" Another director said, frowning.

As soon as the words were finished, the whole audience became quiet.

"However, the price offered by the other party is fair. If you want to sell it, you can do it!"

"Apart from selling, Pearson group is a British group with a history of more than 150 years. How can it sell so easily?"

"It depends on who you sell it to! Although Henry Williams is the king of Williams Empire, he is also an Englishman and the pride of our Englishmen. Pearson group may sell him, or it may become the first company in history to enter the world's top 500 as an education industry, and benefit more people with education! So, if you really want education, not money, I think Pearson group should be sold to Henry Williams A 40-50-year-old man with glasses suddenly stood up and said loudly to the crowd.

When people heard the speech, they began to discuss it in a low voice.

Half an hour later, an old man in his seventies who was sitting at the top of the table suddenly said, "Crofts is right. We do education not for money, but for education! The purpose of Pearson group is to "help everyone to play their best potential", so I am willing to sell Pearson group if I can help more people!!! What's more, the other side bought Pearson group at a premium and did not treat us badly. On the contrary, Pearson group is facing the problem of declining performance.... "

The old man, Lance hesslett, chairman of Pearson group, holds 15% of the shares and is the largest shareholder of the group. Moreover, his prestige in the group is very high. As soon as he spoke, many people calmed down and could not help rethinking and changing their own decisions.

"Let's vote. The party with more shares will decide the fate of the group!" Lance hesslett sank.

"Just as Mr. hesslett said, vote!" Crofts stroked his glasses and said in a loud voice, "I support it. Sell Pearson!"

"I'm against selling Pearson group..."

“……”

At this moment, Smith is sitting on the sand side of the reception room of Pearson group's headquarters. He has a cigarette in his mouth. He is puffing and puffing, with a self-confident manner. A few minutes later, the door of the reception room opened, and lance hesslett came in first. "Mr. Smith, by our vote, we are willing to sell Pearson group to his Majesty King Henry Williams..." lance hesslett said to Smith with a smile.