Chapter 250: Borrowing a Knife

Song Luancheng looked at Yang Bohua in astonishment, not expecting Yang Bohua to make such a proposal.

"If it's not a fierce dragon, it won't cross the river!"

"Ning's Trading Company is a local Hong Kong company. If Hong Kong Telecom has a change, and the Cable & Wireless company really wants to sell it to an overseas company, it would be most appropriate for Ning's Trading Company to come forward to acquire it!"

Yang Bohua got up and walked a few steps in the office. "The Ning family's strength in Hong Kong is not enough to acquire Hong Kong Telecom, but if Dongling High-Tech uses the Ning family to enter Hong Kong, it may not be impossible to take down Hong Kong Telecom!"

Mainland Telecom is a state-owned company. Under the situation that Hong Kong is about to return to the land of Shenzhou, if Telecom makes a big move to acquire Hong Kong Telecom, it will inevitably cause criticism and public opinion.

And apart from a host of state-owned companies, on the mainland side, there are only a few companies with the strength to intervene in the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom. Dongling High-Tech is definitely one of them!

With Dongling High-Tech's reputation, coupled with the support of the Post and Telecommunications Bureau and the telecom company, obtaining bank loans is not difficult. In the previous life, the second son of the Li family of Cheung Kong, PCCW, was at the critical moment when Hong Kong Telecom was about to be sold to Singapore Telecom by the Cable & Wireless company. Within ten days, without any collateral, he obtained a loan of over 10 billion USD and snatched Hong Kong Telecom from Singapore Telecom's hands.

If the Li family of Cheung Kong could do it, could it be that the Li family of Dongling High-Tech couldn't?

Song Luancheng listened to Yang Bohua's words and nodded. If Dongling High-Tech took action, then there would really be a chance for Ning's Trading Company to take down the equity of Hong Kong Telecom!

"However, this matter is afraid that it still needs to be agreed with Dongling High-Tech. The funds required to acquire Hong Kong Telecom are an astronomical figure!"

Song Luancheng said. And after the acquisition, what Hong Kong Telecom will be like in the future, no one knows. It may become a cash cow, or it may become a mess, becoming a big burden. Whether Li Dongling is willing to let Dongling High-Tech intervene in this acquisition, no one knows.

Yang Bohua was stunned, then nodded. If Hong Kong Telecom has a change, he of course wants Dongling High-Tech to intervene, but whether Dongling High-Tech will intervene depends on Li Dongling's willingness. Even if he is promoted to Yanjing, he can only give suggestions and cannot influence Dongling High-Tech.

"I hope Hong Kong Telecom will not have a change, otherwise this matter is afraid that it will still fall on us!"

Yang Bohua gave a helpless, bitter smile to Song Luancheng. Who let PHS complete its going-to-sea now, having overseas experience? And as the people who pushed PHS in the country, they are naturally the people with the "most abundant" experience. When it comes to communications companies outside the mainland like Hong Kong Telecom, whether it is the Post and Telecommunications Bureau or other departments, they will definitely find Yang Bohua, Song Luancheng, and others who have "abundant" overseas experience to deal with the trouble.

"UTStarcom must enter the PHS mobile phone market. The 'Big Brother' (mobile phone) is starting to collapse in the mainland and even the entire Southeast Asia!"

The atmosphere in the Yanjing UTStarcom headquarters is extremely heavy. The bearded founder of UTStarcom, Wu Ying, said with a heavy expression to UTStarcom President Lu Hongliang and several other founders of UTStarcom.

UTStarcom is actually formed by the merger of two companies, UT and Starcom. The founders include Wu Ying and Xue Cunhe of Starcom, as well as Lu Hongliang and Huang Xiaoqing of Unitech, and another person.

Now the merged UTStarcom is also jointly controlled by Wu Ying and Lu Hongliang, representing the two companies respectively.

Lu Hongliang is not a nobody. When he was in America, he cooperated with SoftBank's Masayoshi Son and earned his first pot of gold.

When Starcom was established, it was also him who took Wu Ying and others to Japan to see Masayoshi Son, claiming that they got 30 million USD from Masayoshi Son in six minutes. SoftBank is now a major shareholder of Starcom with a 30% stake.

Doesn't this rumor sound familiar? That's right, the same rumor appeared on the body of Alibaba's Boss Ma.

How Alibaba's Boss Ma got 20 million USD from Masayoshi Son in half an hour is unknown.

But it is impossible to say that Masayoshi Son invested in UTStarcom purely based on Wu Ying's mouth. Lu Hongliang and Masayoshi Son are old acquaintances and also Masayoshi Son's senior. When the two were in America, they worked together to import game consoles, arcade machines, and game discs from Japan to sell to hotels, cafes, bars, etc., in America, and then shared the revenue 50-50 with these places. The two earned 1 million USD in half a year.

Last year, Masayoshi Son completely achieved financial freedom. SoftBank was successfully listed, with a market value exceeding 3 billion USD, and his personal net worth also exceeded 1 billion USD.

And Masayoshi Son, who had achieved success and was not willing to be lonely, also started his own "buy, buy, buy" career. Companies like Yahoo and UTStarcom were all investment products after Masayoshi Son achieved financial freedom.

But to say that Masayoshi Son didn't look at the company at all, and invested by waving money just because he felt it was pleasing to the eye, that would be too much nonsense.

In fact, just after SoftBank was listed, Masayoshi Son raised a large sum of USD through borrowing, issuing stocks, etc., and invested in the information publishing company Davis Company, as well as the International Computer Exhibition Company, which mainly does exhibition business.

The magazines and weeklies under Davis Company include *Popular Aviation*, *Personal Computer Magazine*, *Car and Driver*, etc., while the International Computer Exhibition Company owns the hosting rights for the world's best computer exhibitions.

Through these two companies, Masayoshi Son almost mastered the information of America and even the intelligence of overseas industries, knowing what each company does, who has the best technology, and who the technical big shots are.

And the decision to invest in Yahoo was recommended to Masayoshi Son by Davis Company. Otherwise, America is so big, how could Masayoshi Son find Yahoo, which was still a grassroots team, to invest in!

Later, SoftBank took down the exclusive sales rights for Apple mobile phones in Japan, all of which could not be separated from the support of this intelligence system. Otherwise, how could Masayoshi Son be prophetic everywhere? If it were really so outrageous, his success rate in other projects would not be less than 20%. The money earned from Yahoo and Alibaba was all filled into the holes.

At this moment, at the meeting held by UTStarcom, not only were founders like Wu Ying and Lu Hongliang present, but Masayoshi Son, who was in Japan, was also listening to this meeting through the conference phone on the table.

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy. Lu Hongliang and others did not speak. After all, transformation is not so easy. What is UTStarcom's main business now? It is very similar to what Lu Hongliang did in America, which is reselling. He imported "Big Brother" (mobile phones) from companies like Motorola and sold them to the mainland at a premium. Since the establishment of UTStarcom, they have already earned over 10 million by reselling.

Originally, they thought that this kind of business of earning price differences could continue to be earned steadily, but who knew that they would run into the birth of Xiaolingtong, which immediately put UTStarcom in an awkward position.

"You want UTStarcom to transform into Xiaolingtong mobile phones?!"

The voice came from the phone on the table. It was clearly SoftBank's Masayoshi Son speaking.

"Yes!"

Wu Ying said. To let Starcom complete the transformation, it must have the support of the major shareholder SoftBank.

"I think Xiaolingtong's PHS mobile phone will have a very large market, and it is far from reaching the limit now!"

"I know Xiaolingtong. It also sells very hotly in Japan. Now the number of PHS users in Japan has exceeded one million!" Masayoshi Son said, his words also carrying appreciation for Xiaolingtong.

But Lu Hongliang interrupted Wu Ying's words at this time. "But the PHS market is not so easy to enter. Patents, technology, and key components are all in the hands of Xiaolingtong's parent company, Dongling High-Tech. How could Dongling High-Tech easily allow UTStarcom to enter this industry?!"

Xiaolingtong mobile phone is now a gold mine. Anyone can see it. This gold mine, no matter who it is, wants to hold it tightly. How could they let others dig it?

"But no matter what means are used, whether it is spending money to buy patent authorization from Dongling High-Tech, or even making counterfeits, we must do it. Otherwise, UTStarcom will be a dead end!" Wu Ying said.

His purpose in holding this meeting was very simple: he wanted to get Masayoshi Son's support, and also hoped that SoftBank could pay another sum of money to buy Xiaolingtong's patent authorization from Dongling High-Tech, allowing UTStarcom to also enter this line.

"Then talk to Dongling High-Tech. This matter must be done no matter what!" Masayoshi Son did not waste any more time. He didn't want to waste too much time listening to this meeting, and then hung up the phone.

With the support of the major shareholder Masayoshi Son, Wu Ying immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face.

In Pingyang, Hanxi, Li Dongling also came out of the Dongling High-Tech headquarters to welcome the personnel who had rushed over through the dust.

"Factory Manager Chen, you've worked hard!" Li Dongling reached out his hand to the visitor.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 251 =====