My capital is quite large.

Chapter 202 The Mobile Game Empire's Clearance Sale

Listening to Zhao Zhe, the head of the investment department, throw out a combination of "spin-off + performance-based agreement + reverse takeover of the core team", and finally the estimated acquisition cost of RMB 33 billion.

The executives in the conference room were all deeply shocked.

Three billion!

Is the price too high to solve the bottleneck problem of a single battery in Xiaomi phones?

"Mr. Li..."

Just as Li Feng lightly tapped his fingers on the table, preparing to make the final decision.

A young man sitting at the back of the investment department suddenly stood up.

Although he looked a little nervous, his tone revealed the fearless spirit of a newborn calf.

"Mr. Li, this plan is too costly, and it involves core Japanese assets, posing a significant risk of foreign investment scrutiny. I... I have a better plan!"

Upon hearing this, the entire conference room fell silent.

Zhao Zhe, the head of the investment department, turned as black as the bottom of a pot in an instant, glaring fiercely at his subordinate who was oblivious to his own mortality.

Reporting to someone above your immediate supervisor is a major taboo in the workplace!

However, Li Feng, who was sitting in the main seat, did not get angry. He looked the young man up and down with great interest.

"What's your name?"

"Hello, Mr. Li, my name is Cao Xi," the young man introduced himself.

Li Feng searched his memory and realized he had never heard of this person in his previous life. It seemed to be a financial geek who had grown up in a wild and unregulated way.

"Tell me, do you have a better solution?" Li Feng leaned back in his chair, gesturing for him to continue.

With the boss's tacit approval, Cao Xi quickly walked to the whiteboard.

"Mr. Li, your desire to acquire ATL ultimately stems from your desire to address Xiaomi's high-end battery production capacity. If I'm not mistaken, the core pain point is undoubtedly [separator technology]!"

"Since our core need is to streamline the supply chain, there's absolutely no need to touch TDK, that prickly hedgehog!"

"I've done my research. Currently, there are two startups in China struggling in the diaphragm field, but their technological paths are correct: NJ Technology in Shanghai and StarWish Materials in Shenzhen!"

Cao Xi drew a completely different escape route on the whiteboard:

"They can't manufacture high-end membranes because they don't have the money to buy the top-of-the-line Japanese membrane manufacturing equipment! Mr. Li, Haofeng has plenty of money! We just need to invest a billion or so in each of these two companies to take control and help them solve their equipment problems, and we can complete the process at the very upstream material end!"

"As for ATL's core technology and production capacity, we can use high-pressure policies and heavy financial incentives to force ATL's Chinese founding team to leave! Then we can build a new factory for them in Xuzhou and complete the technology divestiture through a management buyout (MBO)!"

"This roundabout approach not only avoids censorship but also costs only around 20 billion! That's over 10 billion cheaper than Mr. Zhao's plan!"

After listening to Cao Xi's impassioned speech...

Sitting next to her, Zhang Xinyu's eyes flashed with disgust.

As the chief secretary, she had seen far too many "smart" people like this who wanted to climb the corporate ladder by stepping on their superiors.

You may be a piece of gold, but this is the magnificent Haofeng Group!

Even the most talented person who doesn't follow the rules is a potential threat that could backfire at any time.

Li Feng looked at the seemingly ingenious indirect solution on the whiteboard and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

He forgave the newcomer's overstepping of bounds.

In his view, taking credit for others' work has never been a problem. As long as someone can create irreplaceable value, he doesn't mind promoting them beyond the usual ranks.

However, if you lack the ability, that's a different story.

"Cao Xi, your logic is very clear, and you have done your research in great detail."

Li Feng's voice wasn't loud, but every word was piercing.

"But the biggest problem with your plan is that you've lost ATL, the goose that lays the golden eggs!"

"Enjie and StarWish Materials do have potential, but they're only half-finished products right now! Spending 20 billion to support a few half-finished products that could stumble at any time in terms of technological development, and then gambling on that elusive 'MBO divestiture'?"

"Which is riskier: spending 33 billion to buy a global leader, or spending 20 billion to gamble on an unknown, defective product?"

Cao Xi was speechless when asked the question. He had only calculated the costs but had overlooked the winner-takes-all mentality and the appetite for monopoly that capital had!

Li Feng didn't fire him, but instead casually remarked, "You're a promising young man, but you're still lacking in experience. Go back and learn more from your boss, Mr. Zhao."

After giving the newcomer a pep talk, Li Feng turned his attention to Zhao Zhe, the investment department head who looked relieved.

"Is 33 billion enough?"

"I've prepared 35 billion in cash for your project team!"

"Go to Japan and fight according to your plan! If you can't win... you know the consequences."

Zhao Zhe was so excited that his legs were trembling. This was a staggering gamble of 35 billion!

"Don't worry, Mr. Li! If I can't take down ATL, I'll offer my head in retribution!"

……

After the meeting.

Inside the CEO's office, Zhang Xinyu was no longer the naive girl who panicked at the first sign of trouble.

She didn't ask where the huge sum of 35 billion yuan came from, nor did she mention Cao Xi, who wanted to rise to power.

She simply brewed the tea quietly and waited for the boss's instructions.

Li Feng stood by the window, pondering for a long time.

In the past few months, he has indeed pushed leverage to its limit for semiconductors and various investments.

The overseas stocks were pledged, and the most expensive property in Hong Kong was also mortgaged.

But this 35 billion yuan cash acquisition will eventually need to be covered by real revenue.

"Xinyu." Li Feng made a decision that shocked the entire gaming industry.

"Contact overseas investment banks and major gaming giants."

"Including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Fishing Joy, Fruit Ninja, Subway Surfers, Temple Run, and Plants vs. Zombies..."

"Put all the IPs and overseas operating rights for these mobile games up for sale!"

"What?!"

Even Zhang Xinyu, who was used to big events, couldn't help but feel a tightness in her heart at this moment!

"Boss...you really want to sell these?!"

Zhang Xinyu said eagerly, "This is all the first pot of gold that Haofeng started with! Although the revenue from these games has declined slightly in recent years, they still bring the company a stable net profit of over one billion US dollars a year!"

She had assumed that if her boss was really short of money, he would mortgage his Weibo shares or leverage them with Xiaomi stock.

Unexpectedly, the boss is going to liquidate all the Yuanxun mobile games that once made great contributions to Haofeng!

Seeing Zhang Xinyu's pained expression, perhaps recalling the days and nights he spent coding in that cramped workstation at Tencent, Li Feng became unusually more talkative.

"Times have changed, Xinyu," Li Feng sighed.

"The hardware of smartphones is evolving too quickly. These games are all casual single-player games developed based on the logic of the first-generation touch screen. Players have long since figured out the depth of their gameplay, and their current revenue is just relying on their large user base to live off past successes."

"Without social attributes and the support of an e-sports ecosystem, their life cycle is predictable."

"While these games are still highly sought after, why not cash in now? Are we going to wait until they're squeezed to rock-bottom prices by various reskinned games in a couple of years before selling them?"

……

the next day.

The Wall Street Journal and major domestic technology media outlets were abuzz with a bombshell news story!

[China's entertainment giant, Haofeng Group, makes a shocking announcement: liquidating all of its original casual mobile games!]

[A host of high-grossing IPs, including Angry Birds and Temple Run, are up for auction globally!]

The industry is in an uproar!

"Holy crap?! Has Boss Li gone mad?! This is his cash cow that made his fortune! He's just going to sell it off like that?!"

According to estimates from Wall Street investment banks, the total price for these six super IPs, which have hundreds of millions of overseas players, as a package deal is conservatively estimated to be between six billion and eight billion US dollars!

"My God! That's over 40 billion RMB! What is Mr. Li trying to do?!"

Soon, various discussions and speculations arose online.

"Is there even a need to guess? It must be that Boss Li can't hold onto those tens of billions of yuan in loans!"

"Exactly! Semiconductors and mobile phone manufacturing are pure money-shredding machines! I heard that Huaxin Technology in Xuzhou alone has billions of yuan in interest every year! Nobody wants to carry such a heavy debt forever, so selling games to pay off debts is normal."

"Sigh, running a physical business really burns through money. But to be fair, the mobile games Haofeng made back then were all truly groundbreaking masterpieces! No wonder they sold for so much money; I bet EA and Gameloft, those big overseas companies, are fighting tooth and nail for them right now!"