The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

1999 is coming.

After New Year's Day, Lin Ruijiang and other high-level officials gathered in the Yangtze River Industrial Group's conference room.

Today's Cheung Kong Industries Group's influence in Hong Kong is close to that of the Cheung Kong Group, and it is recognized as Hong Kong's technology giant.

The business of Yangtze River Industry Group is divided into four parts:

1. Traditional manufacturing industry; including the world's top three zipper brands - Yangtze Zipper, and the world's largest toy manufacturer - Yangtze Toys.

2. Home appliance manufacturing; Midea Electric’s products are sold overseas, and Midea Electric (China) is also the leader of mainland joint venture brands.

3. Electronics and games: The products invented by Xiaomi Technology include: Walkman, VCD, MP3, and USB flash drive. Its main products include telephones, mobile phones, pagers, semiconductors and other electronic products. The9 is a gaming giant in the world, whether in the era of console games (Hong Kong Cube, Space Wars, Street Fighter, Contra, etc.) or the era of PC games (SimCity, The Sims, Age of Empires, Resident Evil, Pokémon Dreams, etc.), or in the era of online games (Legend, Lineage), they are all giants leading the world.

4. Telecommunications industry: As early as 1995, Yangtze River Industrial Group established 'Yangtze Telecommunications', committed to promoting the patented technology of 'Digital Cordless Telephone System' purchased from Japan in underdeveloped areas; later it developed the IPTV industry, and related Communication Technology.

Lin Ruijiang sat in the chairman's position and couldn't help but feel proud. Although this country was built by his father, it can be said that it was carried forward in his hands.

At this time, Yangtze River Industrial Group, Lin Ruijiang is also the chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer, Yuan Tianfan and Chen Ningfeng are the vice presidents of the group, and they are also the presidents of the four major businesses, as well as other related senior officials.

The lineup is strong!

"Now that the government has proposed revitalizing Hong Kong through science and technology, we, the Yangtze River Industry Group, as the leader, must continue to display an innovative style. The government has decided to grant us the 'Cyberport' project, and we will have our own Silicon Valley in the future!"

From 1996 to 1997, Xiaomi Technology first invented the USB flash drive and then the MP3, which made it a big hit in the world's technology community. Both inventions have obtained international patents, and they can earn 20 billion Hong Kong dollars in the future.

Everyone showed joy.

Cheung Kong Industrial Group has an electronic technology park in Hung Hom, Hong Kong, which was the factory area built by the original Qingzhou Yingni Heyuan Factory; now it has won the Steel Wire Bay 'Cyberport' project in the south of Hong Kong Island, which is a good information.

"After the Cyberport is completed, our group's office areas for electronic games and telecommunications networks can be transferred there and play a leading role," said Vice President Chen Ningfeng.

Hong Kong people don’t like to invest in high technology, but under the leadership of the Lam family, Hong Kong’s technology industry has developed very well. It has driven many technical talents to start businesses and has achieved certain results. Especially in the field of electronic games, some good companies have emerged. studio.

Lin Ruijiang said: "The9 is developing a total of five online games this time. Once successful, Hong Kong will become the gaming capital of the world. President Zhao, you must hurry up. As far as I know, our competitors There’s Japan and South Korea.”

Zhao Ruian immediately said: "Lin Sheng, don't worry. At present, the number of R\u0026D personnel in The9 City has exceeded 800, and we are one of the largest game companies in the world. We have made some progress in the five games that were launched last year. Millennium Later, we will launch it one after another!”

The more than 800 R\u0026D personnel are basically local talents in Hong Kong, which is truly remarkable. The salary level of these R\u0026D personnel has reached the level of white-collar workers in Hong Kong, with an average monthly salary of around HK$30,000 to 40,000.

There are currently about 1,500 game technical talents in Hong Kong, and they are basically talents trained by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

As for the five games that were approved in the second half of last year, they were all created by Lin Zhichao, namely "Bubble Hall", "Maplestory", "Audition", "Ragnarok" and "Miracle MU". Although these games are inspired by Korea, in fact Lin Zhichao only remembers the general gameplay and background, so Hong Kong R\u0026D personnel are needed to implement them.

The gaming talents accumulated in Hong Kong over the years and the investment from The9 are the real keys to success. Of course, having a direction is better than having no direction, as it can at least increase the probability and process of success.

Lin Ruijiang said: "Internet speed will also comply with Moore's Law. It is expected that in two years' time, including the mainland's Internet speed, online games can truly become playable."

The9 released two online games in 1997 - "Legend" and "Paradise". However, the Internet speed limited these two games. However, this is the case with online games. You can follow new versions unlimitedly. Every time the version is updated, It is equivalent to a new product launch conference, which can attract players to come in.

A week later.

The Hong Kong government’s approval of the ‘Cyberport’ project has finally been officially finalized. Although it caused protests from some real estate developers, it is a done deal.

Of course there is a connection between Lin Zhichao, but more importantly, the Dong government is now "anxious" and will pay double attention to any plan that is conducive to boosting Hong Kong's economy.

Because Hong Kong has been in urgent need of new economic industries since the financial crisis (Chinese Medicine Port is Dong’s plan). The economic advice that Lam gave to Dong - to revitalize Hong Kong through culture and science and technology - was really a huge gift. Therefore, after Lam Ruijiang proposed the "Cyberport", Dong actually agreed immediately.

The reason why the 'Cyberport' is besieged by major real estate developers is because this project also includes a large number of residential and office buildings. Once completed, it will have an impact on them. In addition, it is also very cheap to sell to the Yangtze River Industrial Group.

But there is no way. The 'Cyberport' has become one of the trump cards of the Dong government. Lin Ruijiang promised to introduce Hong Kong's gaming industry and telecommunications industry after its completion. This is a solid success rate.

Yangtze River Industrial Group.

Lin Ruijiang and Yuan Tianfan are discussing the plan of "backdoor listing".

"Lin Sheng, the scale of Yangtze Telecom is too large and its potential is unlimited. If it is included in the assets of 'backdoor listing', the group will suffer a bit!" Yuan Tianfan said.

According to Lin Ruijiang's idea, the two projects of 'Yangtze Telecom' and 'Cyberport' are to be injected into a 'shell' company; Cyberport is okay, no funds have been invested yet, and it is equivalent to a 'PPT'; but Yangtze Telecom Since its establishment in 1995, it has become a giant in the telecommunications field and has great potential.

Yangtze Telecom was established in early 1995. In the second half of 1995, it began to cooperate with "Personal Smartphone" in Zhejiang Province, and entered IPTV in 1996. At present, it has launched "Personal Smartphone" business in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and other regions. Inexpensive radio technology is popular among people in underdeveloped areas. As for IPTV, it combines telecommunications and television.

Yangtze Telecom also has another business, which is the world's leading IP-based end-to-end network solutions and service provider.

All in all, the business is doing great.

Taking the mainland market as an example, it may eventually reach 100 million users; Asia as a whole may eventually have 300 million customers.

Of course, this aspect is still in a pioneering stage.

Lin Ruijiang said: "My father said that the Internet bubble has already formed, and it will burst in as little as one year or as long as two years. Therefore, if Yangtze Telecom is not injected, even if the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom is successful in the future, it will be affected by the Internet bubble in the future. Huge impact. And by injecting it, we are equivalent to building a solid telecommunications empire, rather than a simple capital operation!"

Yuan Tianfan suddenly felt ashamed. He was a master in capital operations, but he only considered profits and cash out after successful operations. As for future operations, this was not their strong suit.

Lin Ruijiang's meaning is very clear, he wants to prepare for long-term management!

"Okay, then we will try to increase the market value to more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars."

"President Yuan, let you take charge of this matter!"

"no problem"

Yuan Tianfan joined Lin's Enterprise in 1995, but he did not follow Lin Ruijiang at the beginning. Instead, he served as the president of Pengli Insurance acquired by Octopus Financial Group (Haiyu Asia was privatized and renamed). After getting on the right track, he would come back. He served as Vice President of Yangtze River Industrial Group, responsible for developing the PHS business and planning the Cyberport business.

Dexinjia is a useless listed company in Singapore owned by Huang Hongnian. The company's stock price has been hovering between 4 cents and 6 cents in Hong Kong dollars. At the current acquisition level, HK$100 million is enough for full privatization.

Because of this, Huang Hongnian cleaned up the company's business and only retained the property rent collection business. The purpose of this is simple, that is, the stock is an excellent "shell" and has no legal problems.

Huang Hongnian is a person in the capital market. By doing this, he naturally told others that he intended to sell the shell.

Yuan Tianfan and Liang Botao found Huang Hongnian and directly talked about purchasing Huang Hongnian's Dexinjia.

The two parties hit it off immediately, and Yangtze River Industrial Group injected 93% of the new shares into Dexinjia through the "Yangtze River Telecommunications" and "Cyberport Project".

For a time, Dexinjia Company attracted much attention from the market!

"It's incredible, after Dexinjia resumes trading, the stock price will not skyrocket!"

"At least 100 times. Yangtze Telecom's business is very large. It is not only a telecommunications network service provider, but also a mobile phone manufacturer. The valuation is at least several billion dollars!"

"So awesome!"

"Do you know PHS? Wireless phones are very popular in the mainland. A call only costs 20 cents! How many people are there in the mainland? We need to have 100 million customers."

"It's true, it's so awesome, I thought it was Nokia!"

Of the two assets injected this time, Cyberport was injected free of charge, while Yangtze Telecom was the asset.

Early March.

Dexinjia resumed trading. In just 15 minutes after the market opened, the stock price soared from more than 10 cents when trading was suspended to 9.22 Hong Kong dollars, an increase of 82.6 times. It immediately transformed into a giant company with a market value of nearly 10 billion Hong Kong dollars.

And Dexinjia also changed its name to "Yangtze Telecom"!

In the days that followed, Yangtze Telecom's stock continued to rise, creating more myths.

Time flies.

After the fifth son of the Lin family came to power, the Lin family's business became bigger and bigger, and their business became wider and wider.

The Lin family set off an Internet craze in Hong Kong and established TOM Network - bringing China into the world and the world into China, kicking off investment in the Internet.

The person who presides over TOM Network is Zou Kaixuan, who has been in the United States for many years. Of course, she is only the chairman, while the president is Wang Lei from the Mainland.

TOM.com went public in October 1999, triggering a huge wave of subscriptions in Hong Kong and becoming a major social event.

Lam's investment in the Internet was not limited to TOM Portal. Its subsidiaries also invested in the Internet, setting off an Internet wave in Hong Kong. For example, the media group has invested in a series of websites such as Internet comics (webtoons) and music websites.

Shortly after the listing of TOM Online, Hutchison Whampoa sold the British company Orange to Europe's second largest telecommunications company - Mannesmann (a century-old company in Germany that switched to telecommunications business in 1995), earning a profit of HK$118 billion (25.6 billion cash, 26 billion in bonds, and more than 60 billion in stocks).

Suddenly, "selling oranges for hundreds of billions" became a classic business war case - the boss and the second child were fighting fiercely, and the second child got angry and merged with the third child, hoping to compete with the boss.

This was not the end, the eldest brother later merged with the second eldest brother out of anger, becoming a complete giant - Vodafone Telecommunications.

When the boss merged with the second, Hutchison Whampoa's shares in the second had already appreciated by another 50 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Therefore, Hutchison Whampoa’s profit was actually HK$168 billion!

At the turn of the century, Lin Zhichao, who had retired, was selected as the "Millennium Entrepreneur" by an authoritative American magazine and was praised all over the world.

Defeated opponents include: Bill Gates (Microsoft), Henry Ford (Ford Motors), Richard Arkwright (the first person in the British Industrial Revolution), Medici (Italian Renaissance family) and 15 other people Famous late and living entrepreneurs have won this laurel that spans eras and centuries, becoming the most outstanding entrepreneurs of the century.

Shortly after.

The British Cable and Telegraph Company released news that it planned to sell Hong Kong Telecommunications Company, which immediately attracted competition from Singapore Telecom. The other competing company was of course "Changjiang Telecommunications".

After nearly a year of growth, Yangtze Telecom's market value has reached more than HK$50 billion. But even so, if you want to acquire a Hong Kong telecommunications company with an annual profit of 11.5 billion, you can only rely on loans and shares of the new company after the merger.

In fact, the Yahoo shares held by Yangtze River Industrial Fund began to sell off last year, making profits of more than 6 billion US dollars.

Although such a huge amount of wealth has been earned from the United States, the money will not be used for the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom. After all, after acquiring Hong Kong Telecom, Hong Kong Telecom should naturally be allowed to repay its debts.

British Dadong holds 54% of Hong Kong Telecom's shares, so the acquisition of its shares also involves the comprehensive takeover regulations, which requires the acquisition of the entire Hong Kong Telecom.

With the team led by Yuan Tianfan, Yangtze Telecom finally succeeded in defeating Singapore Telecom because it could provide more cash (Singapore Telecom gave more stocks); moreover, Yangtze Telecom's stock has better growth potential than Singapore Telecom's stock because After the acquisition is successful, Yangtze Telecom will have three important assets: Yangtze Telecom (mainly PHS business), Cyberport (real estate project), and Hong Kong Telecom.

Shortly after completing the acquisition, the Internet bubble burst!