Chapter 495: Negotiation

Seeing Inoue first lose his patience, He Jun laughed, but Xiao Yuan's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

You bastard, you've been completely played—how can we still negotiate this?

Or are you just letting them lead you by the nose?

He Jun said with a laugh.

"Manager Inoue, are you here to beg us Many Stars to give up?"

Inoue had just opened his mouth when Xiao Yuan cut him off.

"Manager He, we came to discuss things with you. After all, we have no past grudges and no recent enmity—there's no need to make this ugly."

"This is no good for anyone."

He Jun shook his head.

"Xiao Yuan, Many Stars really needs Motorola's consumer business."

"Never mind anything else—just saying, its huge consumer channels are extremely valuable."

"For Many Stars, this is crucial."

"This concerns Many Stars' future strategy."

It's begun, they've started to open their mouths wide like lions.

The more aggressively they speak now, the more it shows they have a big appetite.

Xiao Yuan Cilang had expected this.

"Manager He, let's be frank—we Panasonic want Motorola's consumer business."

"Many Stars, what would it take for you to loosen up?"

"Above all, don't say anything that would put both sides in a difficult position."

"We Panasonic don't accept extortion."

"Manager He also wouldn't want to offend us Panasonic to death over a Motorola business unit that nobody wants."

"I've laid my cards down, I'm not playing anymore—don't go too far."

He Jun didn't expect the other side to surrender just like that, laying everything out.

This actually makes it awkward for him to make overly lion‑sized demands.

He thought it over.

Afterwards he took out a document from the drawer.

"Manager Inoue, these are the patents and technology Many Stars needs."

"If we can get these patents and technology, we can withdraw from the fight over Motorola."

Xiao Yuan Cilang took it in his hand and had a look.

They turned out to be basic, outdated patents and technology that many factories have—none are core competitive patents.

They won't create direct competition for Panasonic.

Inside there are also some patents for video tapes and cassettes.

In this area, their technology is also based on licenses from Philips.

But it's no big deal—Philips sells these patents to anyone; they just need to be introduced.

This time He Jun is quite sincere, but Panasonic certainly won't give them away for free.

"Manager He, we can sell these patents and technology to you."

"But they must be bought with money."

He Jun shook his head.

"Xiao Yuan, if we have to buy these, why not just take Motorola's business outright?"

"The technology and patents in there are highly advanced—at least they could save Many Stars twenty years of detours."

"I'm being sincere; I hope Panasonic doesn't push too far."

Inoue got angry.

"Who's being excessive? This is a systematized set of technology and patents across several industries."

"Go out and buy some—see if anyone will sell them to you."

He Jun snorted.

"Manager Inoue, I think your vision is problematic."

"Nobody sells patents and technology?"

"Look at the world today."

"Nowadays who knows how many electronics factories want to sell off their own businesses."

"Otherwise why would Motorola be selling off its business unit?"

"You want us to give up such high‑quality technology, yet you don't want to suffer any loss."

"You're thinking too optimistically."

"Furthermore..."

He turned his gaze to Xiao Yuan Cilang.

"Xiao Yuan, you need to understand—what does it mean for Panasonic if we accept their full suite of technology?"

"It means Many Stars and Panasonic are now bound together."

"If we want to develop our electrical‑appliance industry, many high‑tech components must be bought from Panasonic."

"Panasonic is essentially giving itself a free assistant."

"You handle the cutting‑edge, fiercely competitive low‑margin mid‑low end, while we take care of the rest."

"And you can stay in the background, selling high‑end components and patents to make money."

And those components with little profit, I believe Panasonic also hopes to find a supporting supplier.

This is mutually beneficial for us; for Panasonic it's only good, no downside.

And if we obtain Motorola's technology and business division, we will directly compete with Panasonic.

Mr. Xiao Yuan, I believe the chairman of Panasonic Trading will be able to tell the good from the bad.

Is it to be friends or enemies?

Mr. Xiao Yuan, this is not a difficult choice.

After He Jun said that, Xiao Yuan's eyes lit up.

Originally he thought this was a zero-sum game, but he never expected He Jun could turn it into a win-win situation.

Put that way, Panasonic actually benefits instead.

However, this matter is obviously not something just thought up; it must have been carefully considered.

"General Manager He, we had long anticipated that Panasonic would come over, and we had already thought about how to utilize Motorola."

He Jun laughed and shook his head.

"No, no, no."

"Mr. Xiao Yuan, you're overthinking it."

"If Panasonic doesn't come, maybe someone else will; if no one comes, we can absorb Motorola's know-how and develop on our own."

"Things have never been a single-choice question; we merely made preparations in advance."

"We can continue competing with Panasonic for Motorola's business; cooperation is just one of our options."

Xiao Yuan Cilang fell silent, and Jing Shang Erlang also closed his mouth.

As it turned out, the initiative had never been in their hands.

Then, in Yang Qing's view, wasn't their earlier performance just like monkeying around?

No wonder General Manager He is so righteous and confident.

They began to admire General Manager He a bit.

As for those harsh words He Jun said earlier, making money is no big deal.

After we bring Many Stars into Panasonic's product line, we'll take it slow from there.

"General Manager He, in principle we agree, but we need to go back and report."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to persuade headquarters to accept your proposal."

He Jun gave neither affirmation nor denial, laughing as he saw them out.

What Many Stars needs now is to go from nothing to something; being a bit behind in technology doesn't matter.

Being technologically behind means maturity, quality assured, and capable of large-scale production.

This can drive the expansion of Vast Sea Precision Engineering.

The West may not like these outdated products much, but the Third World will surely like them.

Cheap and durable—what better product could there be?

Currently, Many Stars cannot compete with anyone in the TV sector; it would be better to adopt a rural-surrounds-cities strategy and actively develop Third World national markets.

Avoid competing with top-tier brands like Panasonic.

First, survive; then we'll talk.

Of course, these low-end appliances cannot bear the Many Stars brand.

Many Stars needs to affix a new brand.

Let's just call it Apple TV.

Simple and easy to remember, everyone is familiar with it.

Moreover, it can be associated with the great Newton, making it sound highbrow.

Thinking of He Jun just feels just right.

The more I think about it, the more I like this name.

"Why not simply expand the brand scope, just in case, extending to all electronic products."

"So as not to leave a loophole for others to exploit."