How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 253 If you want war, then let's fight.

Wang Yao wrote a public relations draft outline and aspects for Huang Zhang, clearly marking all kinds of verbal traps and purposes, blurring the key points, emphasizing the concepts, downplaying the facts, and promoting the emotions.

Is this what professionalism is?
After Huang Zhang finished his cigarette, he realized that Wang Yao had not hung up the phone.

"Mr. Wang, are you still there?" Huang Zhang asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, go ahead." Wang Yao's usually gentle voice suddenly became exceptionally reassuring.

"What's the worst possible outcome for this public relations effort?" Huang Zhang asked.

"The worst outcome won't be worse than what you're experiencing now," Wang Yao chuckled.

This statement may seem like a truism, but it's more like a guarantee.

"Is it inevitable that the M8 will be discontinued?" Huang Zhang sighed.

"There's nothing we can do, it's true that we infringed on their rights. But products are temporary. As long as users are still around and willing to support us, we can save our losses and wait for the right time. We might just be able to make a comeback someday," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"That's true, but it's really frustrating. How could a design patent lead to such serious consequences? What, did Old Joe invent the rectangle too?" Huang Zhang said with some annoyance.

If it were a technical issue, that would be one thing, but the fact that it was ruined by its appearance is really upsetting for him.

“They set the rules of the game, and we newcomers can only abide by them. When we have the ability to set the rules, we can switch roles and there will be no wave that only rises and never falls.” Wang Yao said in a low voice.

“Rules,” Huang Zhang murmured.

“It’s very important. If Huang Zhang thinks it’s credible, listen to my terms?” Wang Yao changed the subject.

"Go on," Huang Zhang said, concentrating intently.

"How much inventory does the Mao tribe have left? How much loss are they expecting?" Wang Yao asked.

"These two months happen to be the peak sales season, and the M8 has always been in short supply, so I stock up on a month's worth in advance, about 60,000 units. The book loss may be as high as 150 million."

"Furthermore, in order to regain customer confidence and recover losses, I will have to use a trade-in program, exchanging old phones for new ones with M8s. The losses will be incalculable. If a million users upgrade, the losses could reach billions." Huang Zhang hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth.

His tone was somber, his heart was bleeding. Although it was impossible for a million users to switch to the new system, the losses suffered by hundreds of thousands or even millions of users were still staggering.

I feel like I've wasted the last few years of my life.

“It’s more serious than I thought. But in the long run, it’s still a strategic loss. But this should put a lot of pressure on the Mo Clan’s cash flow. Can they hold out until the new product launch?” Wang Yao asked again.

“This involves trade secrets,” Huang Zhang said warily.

"Mr. Huang said yesterday that he wouldn't accept investment. Has his mind changed now?" Wang Yao asked rhetorically.

Huang Zhang fell silent upon hearing this. In fact, the moment he realized that there was a problem with the cash flow, he contacted Lei Jun, who had wanted to invest in the Mao tribe three months ago, but this time Lei Jun directly rejected his invitation.

This sense of loss made him feel uneasy, as if all those nights he spent having heart-to-heart talks with President Lei had been a waste of his time.

“I’ll cover part of the cost of the remaining M8 inventory, 9000 million, as a donation. It’ll also earn us some goodwill,” Wang Yao said before he could even speak.

Huang Zhang's mind went blank.

M8的毛利率在30%左右，成本大约1700元，王曜相当于以1500元/部的价格采购，这样直接让他的亏损变成了从1.2亿变成了1200万！
Moreover, this is a large-volume purchase, which eliminates the rebates from intermediaries. If you calculate it carefully, there is very likely that there will be a profit.

Moreover, since it's done in the name of a donation, it can earn a wave of goodwill towards public welfare, and even have some of the spirit of "Burning Opium at Humen".

Fame and fortune?

This is not just a timely help, it's a blessing!
But do such good people really exist in the world?
"What are Mr. Wang's terms?" Huang Zhang asked, his tone filled with wariness.

His reluctance to accept investment from institutions stems from his fear of losing control. Furthermore, since the MP3 era, the company has been profitable with a healthy cash flow. If it weren't for the heavy investments required for the transformation to mobile phone R&D and factory construction, coupled with the current losses of the M8 leading to a broken cash flow, he wouldn't even have mentioned financing.

He prefers taking out a loan to financing.

"I value Meizu at 10 billion yuan. I'll invest 2 million yuan for a 20% stake. I won't participate in the company's operations, but I will recommend customized clients to Meizu and help them build their own online and offline marketing channels and promotional efforts," Wang Yao said in a deep voice.

Not involved in company operations?
“The Mao tribe may not go public to raise funds,” Huang Zhang said in a deep voice. The reason he didn’t trust the investors was that he knew these wealth movers weren’t after good products; they just wanted to package the project and resell it.

This is completely inconsistent with his entrepreneurial philosophy; he wanted to create a company as great as Apple!

"It's alright," Wang Yao chuckled.

"Huh?" Huang Zhang was stunned.

Is this really a timely act of kindness?! There is true compassion in the world! Having seen so many wolves and tigers, I'm a little taken aback by the sudden appearance of a good person.

“I admire Mr. Huang’s attitude towards scientific research and products, and I don’t want a company like Meizu, which has the potential to lead the development of domestic terminals, to have its future bleak because of some minor setbacks. I’m investing not only in Mr. Huang and Meizu, but also in the future of Huaxia Terminals,” Wang Yao said casually.

Huang Zhang was somewhat moved; this grand narrative of "every man has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation" was extremely powerful for a science and engineering man like him.

He took two deep breaths and finally said in a deep voice.

"If Mr. Wang is truly sincere, I, Lao Huang, would rather go bankrupt than fail to repay this kindness of a meal!"

"A storm is brewing, Mr. Huang," Wang Yao sighed softly.

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhang was filled with emotion.

The current predicament of the Maozu and the strength of Apple have caused a great stir in the industry.

As competitors, brands like Changxiang watched from the sidelines with a hint of schadenfreude, as they feared that the Mao tribe's core customer base might be swallowed up by them.

Lei Jun realized the importance of patents. He never expected that this thing could affect the rise and fall of a company. If used well, wouldn't it be a powerful tool?
We need to study this carefully; it's just a pity about the Mo tribe.

Meanwhile, terminal equipment manufacturers are lamenting and feeling apprehensive about the massive number of patents held by Western technology giants.

How can we catch up? They've been developing for decades.

But there are also those like Xia Wei who, while observing from the sidelines, feel deeply saddened.

“Self-developed.” Yu Chengdong sat in the office of his boss, President Ren, and slowly uttered two words.

Mr. Ren stared at each patent, his face expressionless. "It's difficult, but we have to do it."

"That young man yesterday was quite prescient. It's gratifying to have such a promising young man." Yu Chengdong raised his eyebrows slightly, suppressing his delight.

Unexpectedly, the breakthrough point was here.

"Although the OEM business is not very profitable, it is, after all, a touchstone for expanding users and accumulating experience. We can cooperate first, but we can't make a big fuss about it." President Ren drew a line.

My gaze shifted to the setting sun outside the window.

I don't know if I'm watching the afterglow or the approaching night.

Apple's lawsuit against the Maozu tribe is generating a lot of buzz, not only because of the popularity of Le's product launch yesterday, but also because of the lingering effects of Alibaba's counterfeit goods scandal. Faced with negative international impact, the general public has a sense of inferiority, feeling "angry at their own incompetence," which often leads to extreme emotions.

Within a day, the reputation of the Maozu brand almost collapsed, and some Maozu users even felt ashamed to use it and threatened to smash their phones/MP3 players to prove their innocence.

Suddenly, many users of the Mao ethnic group appeared online, and even flocked to Mao ethnic forums.

Just as all the rhythms began to gain an overwhelming advantage.

The CEO of Meizu posted a long article on the forum, which was quickly shared across all social media platforms.

It turns out that apples invented circles and rectangles.

The article addresses the infringement issues point by point, mainly emphasizing the appearance and layout. It uses common-sense analogies like rectangles and circles to satirize the absurdity of design patents. It also emphasizes that M8's 'independent research and development' seems to have put pressure on the other party, forcing them to resort to such outrageous methods to curb the development of the M8.

"Back then, the Eight-Nation Alliance used cannons to force open the gates of the Qing Dynasty. Today, some people are trying to repeat the plunder of a century ago using patents, but this time we will not repeat the humiliation of a century ago."

If you want war, then let's fight. Whether it's a stubborn resistance or a futile attempt to shake a tree, it's all the same.

Not an inch of land will be yielded.

The 1.3 billion people of China will forever remember this somber day in the history of Chinese science and technology.

The final paragraph shifts the focus from patent disputes to the suppression of Chinese innovation by international giants, emphasizing the difficulties and risks of the "rise of domestic products" and Huang Zhang's courage and perseverance in leading the Mao tribe to be pioneers.

The grand narrative and family sentiment are resonances etched into the very bones of the Chinese people, directly drawing all netizens into a sense of inexplicable humiliation.

Finally, Huang Zhang made his stance clear: since the rules are as they are, he will admit his mistake and correct it. Starting today, sales of the M8 will be suspended, and all of the more than 6 M8s in the warehouse will be donated free of charge to the charitable organization "Women's Aid Association" to serve as a "seed" for children in impoverished and remote mountainous areas to access digital and intelligent information education.

They also launched a trade-in program for all members of the Mao tribe, looking forward to their next reunion.

Once a righteous cause is declared, nothing can stop it.

It's burning up!

(End of this chapter)