Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 473 They started fighting.

After Kim Jung-hyuk left, Lee Jae-young picked up the folder that Kim Jung-hyuk had provided. He read through the contents of the folder and became increasingly annoyed.

IBM made this so blatant; what's the difference between this and shitting on their heads?
After considering it for a while, Lee Jae-yong finally dialed the number of IBM President Parmishano.

Although Samsung has been competing with IBM for the global market, the two sides have maintained a friendly relationship on the surface.

As soon as the call connected, Lee Jae-yong said without any politeness, "Mr. Parmisano, I heard you're planning to acquire the Actoz Group? Don't you need to give me an explanation?"

Parmisano chuckled and said, "My esteemed Vice President Lee Jae-yong, what explanation do you wish to receive from me?"

Parmisano made sure to use the word "deputy" very clearly, seemingly hinting at Lee Jae-yong's current status.

Parmishano had absolutely no goodwill towards Samsung Group. These Koreans, relying on their relationships with European and American conglomerates, were desperately challenging IBM's authority. Even in the US market, Samsung Group's number of patents was beginning to catch up with IBM's.

Besides, Lee Jae-yong's sudden phone call to question him made Pamisano lose face.

Unlike Lee Jae-young, he got to where he is today step by step. Besides, he was already working at IBM when Lee Jae-young was born.

This young man in his thirties really has no respect for others.

He, like his arrogant and conceited nation, deserves to be taught a lesson!
Is this how you treat industry veterans?
Lee Jae-yong said coldly, "Mr. Parmisano, are you playing dumb with me? Or perhaps I should mail you the evidence of your lobbying efforts against Actoz Group shareholders?"

Parmisano laughed and said, "Vice Chairman Li, I really don't know anything about this. Is this Actoz Group so outstanding that Vice Chairman Li would personally call and question me?"

Seeing that Pamisano was being unreasonable, Lee Jae-yong knew there was no point in continuing the conversation.

Arrogance is the most prominent characteristic of these Americans.

Lee Jae-yong thought that making a phone call to remind IBM would make them behave, but he knew he was wrong. These arrogant Americans didn't give him any face at all.

Or rather, if his father were to make the call, the deterrent effect would be far greater than if he were to do it himself.

In the eyes of European and American conglomerates, Lee Jae-yong was nothing more than a prince who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth.

“Mr. Parmishano, we have indeed had some business frictions in recent years, but I’m telling you very clearly now! Actoz is Samsung’s bottom line! If you dare to make a move, Samsung will use all its power to make it impossible for IBM to move an inch in South Korea!” Lee Jae-young said calmly before hanging up the phone.

Lee Jae-yong put down his phone and said in a deep voice to his secretary beside him, "Notify the investment department to use all resources to stop any institution from acquiring Actoz! At the same time, collect all evidence of IBM's illegal operations within our control and sue them to the bitter end!"

"Yes!" The secretary noticed that Lee Jae-young was in a bad mood and quickly responded and ran out.

At this moment, Pamisano was not in a good mood either. He had just been hit in the face by Lee Jae-yong's overseas phone call, and he was still a little dazed.

They were in a meeting discussing how to acquire Actoz, and the discussion wasn't even finished yet, so how did Samsung find out?

However, Pamisano did not take Lee Jae-young's threat to heart.

The South Korean market? Is the South Korean market as big as the Chinese market?
Besides, the Korean market isn't even enough for Samsung to eat; we can barely get a few sips of soup in Korea.

"President, what happened?" At this moment, the executive president, Donofrio, asked.

Parmishano stared coldly at Donofrio and said, "Someone in our group tipped off Samsung."

Donofrio exclaimed, "This can't be! Only our core personnel know about this!"

Parmishano said coldly, "What I fear most is problems with key personnel."

“I still don’t quite believe it.” Donofrio frowned. “Rather than saying there’s a problem within our organization, it’s more accurate to say there’s a problem with Momo Group. We weren’t the only ones involved in the acquisition of Actoz Group.”

Pamisano lowered his head and considered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Acquiring Actoz Group is a strategic move that Momo Group must make right now. From a business perspective, they attach far more importance to this matter than we do. It's unlikely that they would leak the information. Besides, even if they wanted to leak the information, they couldn't possibly find out that we sent people to negotiate with Actoz shareholders, could they?"

Donofrio also thought that Parmishano's words made sense.

He frowned and said, "But those of us involved in this are all veterans of the group."

"What's wrong with the old man?" Parmishano looked down at Donofrio and said, "If Samsung offered you ten million dollars to be their corporate spy, would you agree?"

"Of course not, my respected superior, you are humiliating me," Donofrio retorted angrily.

“What about fifty million US dollars?” Parmishano asked again.

Donofrio's voice softened slightly as he scoffed, "I have enough money to live on now."

"What if it's five hundred million US dollars?" Parmishano suddenly raised the price to an unbelievable level.

Donofrio stared at Parmishano in shock and said, "Anyone who would pay that price is a fool."

“Just answer me whether you will agree or not,” Parmisano said. “You need to be honest; I need a definite answer.”

Donofrio shrugged and said, "Alright then, if Samsung gives me five hundred million dollars, I think I'd be more than happy to become a corporate spy. I might even kidnap you to South Korea if they ask, since they're being incredibly generous."

“I’m in the same boat as you.” Parmishano patted Donofrio on the shoulder and said, “So there’s a problem at the core of our group. Now Samsung Group is eyeing our market with predatory intent. I think there are quite a few people within us who have been bought off by Samsung Group. Or perhaps, quite a few of them were originally corporate spies sent here by Samsung Group.”

"What about the acquisition of the Actoz Group?" Donofrio asked. "Should we continue?"

“Samsung Group has already intervened, so even if we continue, it will be difficult to make any progress,” said a business vice president. “I think that rather than something as trivial as acquiring Actoz Group, we should first take precautions against Samsung Group. Their pace of progress is too fast, and they have already posed a great threat to us.”

“Hmm…” Parmisano nodded slowly and said, “This matter does reflect a lot of problems. The biggest problem is that Samsung Group no longer takes us seriously.”

“Samsung Group has never taken anyone seriously; their arrogance is notorious in the industry,” Donofrio scoffed.

"This is a characteristic of the Korean people."

"Since they think they're so great, let's teach them a lesson. Before, out of respect for Microsoft, our competition with them was just a minor skirmish."

"Exactly, do they think that by piggybacking on Microsoft's coattails, they can run rampant all over the world?"

"The 'fox borrowing the tiger's power' is also a characteristic of the Korean people."

When the acquisition was discussed earlier, everyone in the meeting room seemed rather listless. Now, with the topic of the dispute with Samsung coming up, everyone in the meeting room became excited, chattering away, clearly harboring deep resentment towards Samsung.

Seeing everyone's unusual enthusiasm, Pamisano sensed that his opportunity had arrived.

Perhaps, taking this opportunity to suppress Samsung would be a very good option.

In October, the weather in many places has turned cool, but the IT industry has suddenly become hot.

Far away in South Korea and on Wall Street, the sudden falling out between Samsung and IBM, these two old rivals, has stirred up the nerves of IT professionals worldwide.

Cheng Yi stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor of the Momo Technology Building, holding a cup of bitter coffee in his hand.

The view beneath my feet is the bustling Momo City Complex.

With the assistance of the Handong Provincial Government Affairs Association, the Momo Industrial Park has now exceeded expectations in both the scale and speed of its investment attraction efforts.

More and more companies are starting to get involved in the internet sector.

With several large companies, such as NetEase, relocating here, the occupancy rate of Momo Smart Community instantly reached 68%.

Momo Smart Community has a living area of ​​810,000 square meters and offers two types of apartments: an 80-square-meter four-bedroom dormitory-style apartment and a 75-square-meter two-bedroom residential apartment. Due to the small size of the apartments, the entire community can accommodate up to 60,000 people.

While it can't compare to those upscale residential communities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou that can accommodate 100,000 people, it's unique in Handong Province.

None of the houses in Momo Industrial Park are for sale to the public. You also need to apply to move into Momo Smart Community. Once you have successfully applied, you can use it for free. You only need to pay for water, electricity and property management fees. The application requirements are also very simple. You just need to be employed by any company in Momo Industrial Park.

The four-bedroom dormitory type is designed for single employees. The dormitory type is a shared rental model, where employees only have the right to use a single bedroom, while the bathroom and kitchen are shared by four people.

The two-bedroom apartment is designed to provide a temporary place for married employees.

If an employee resigns and leaves the Momo Industrial Park, they must return the apartment within two months.

If the employee's employer is still a registered business in the Momo Industrial Park, then he only needs to complete a change of registration to continue using the house.

The reason for designing the apartments as 75-square-meter units is to prevent executives and ordinary employees of certain companies from competing for them.

Company executives would definitely not be interested in such small apartments, but for ordinary employees, having a place to live is already a great blessing.

The Momo Industrial Park is now taking shape. It's just nightfall, and the plaza of the Momo City Complex is already bustling with activity. Tens of thousands of people are shopping and strolling on the streets, and with the dazzling lights, it's like a city that never sleeps.

Just looking at it gave Cheng Yi an extremely strong sense of satisfaction.

Taking advantage of the current low land prices, Momo Group has bought up plots of land in the old commercial street and vacant land next to eighteen universities.

Cheng Yi's ambitions were unknown to everyone, not even Du Yusheng.

He wants to transform the entire university town area into a Chinese version of Silicon Valley, but this is just the first step.

Cheng Yi drank a cup of coffee, his gaze seemingly piercing through space, looking far into the northeast.

This month, he focused all his energy on IBM and Samsung.

In its previous life, IBM was gradually devoured by Samsung and suffered a complete defeat.

In 2018, Samsung overtook IBM to become the largest holder of US patents.

Perhaps only he knows how bad the relationship between Samsung and IBM really is.

Even executives at Samsung and IBM were unaware of it.

Due to IBM's advantage in the patent field, whether it's SK Hynix, Micron, or even TSMC, their technology licensing mainly comes from IBM. There are even rumors in the IT industry that IBM is TSMC's teacher.

These groups are all competitors of Samsung, and IBM is undoubtedly the biggest obstacle in Samsung's path.

To go further, Samsung must surpass IBM in the area of ​​patents to gain a decisive advantage.

Samsung is internally determined to surpass IBM, while IBM has been secretly supporting Micron to suppress Samsung.

There was already some tension between them.

Cheng Yi only threw in a little bit of oil.

"Boss, Samsung's counterattack is too fierce!" Sitting on the sofa, Du Yusheng held his laptop, his tone filled with amazement and excitement. He said, "Hahaha, Samsung used all their power in the South Korean political and business circles, citing the threat to the security of the country's core industries, to forcefully halt IBM's related capital's acquisition negotiations with several key minority shareholders of Actoz! That's amazing. I bet even the Actoz Group never imagined that they would one day be linked to the security of the country's core industries."

"And another thing, Samsung Semiconductor just announced an indefinite delay in the delivery of some custom memory chips needed for IBM's high-end servers, citing insufficient production capacity!" Du Yusheng was overjoyed and laughed, "Boss, has Samsung gone mad? If they don't deliver, aren't they just asking for trouble?"

"That's business warfare," Cheng Yi said. "Most business battles between evenly matched opponents result in heavy losses for both sides; they don't concern themselves with the gains or losses of a single city or town."

After finishing his coffee, Cheng Yi turned around and said, "Take a look and see if IBM's stock price has fallen."

Du Yusheng immediately checked IBM's real-time stock price and exclaimed, "Holy crap, it really has dropped!"

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "IBM has fallen, so Samsung will fall soon too."

Cheng Yi placed his coffee cup on the table and said, "I reckon IBM is too busy to deal with us right now. They have to deal with Samsung's all-out attack while also appeasing the PC division that was cut off from supplies. I guess they also have to explain the stock price issue to Wall Street."

Cheng Yi took out his phone and dialed Qian Buqun's number.

Qian Buqun's injuries were not very serious, and he had already left Jingzhou City half a month ago.

Upon receiving Cheng Yi's call, Qian Buqun's tone carried a hint of apology as he said, "President Cheng, I'm truly sorry, but your acquisition of the Actoz Group will likely have to be postponed."

Cheng Yi deliberately pretended to be in a hurry and said, "Postpone? I've already prepared the $100 million down payment you're asking for. You're not kidding me, are you?"

(End of this chapter)