On June 13, the Second Division of Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement on the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the acquisition of the equity of Zhuhai Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. by Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd.
According to public documents, this transaction involves Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. ("Xingji Times") signing an agreement with Zhuhai Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zhuhai Meizu") and Mr. Huang Xiuzhang (Huang Zhang) to acquire a 79.09% stake in Zhuhai Meizu, which is mainly engaged in smartphone manufacturing. Before this transaction, Mr. Huang Xiuzhang and Taobao (China) Software Co., Ltd. ("Taobao China") held 49.08% and 27.23% of Zhuhai Meizu respectively, jointly controlling Zhuhai Meizu. After the completion of this transaction, Mr. Huang Xiuzhang’s shareholding in Zhuhai Meizu will be reduced to 9.79%.
Meizu replied: "Recently, Xingji Times, led by Mr. Li Shufu, has signed an agreement with Meizu Technology on strategic investment matters. This transaction still needs to go through the approval procedures of relevant regulatory agencies, and the details of the transaction are still under negotiation. I believe Meizu will use this strategic investment as an opportunity to create a better future. This means: Taobao China will withdraw from its shareholding and control of Zhuhai Meizu; the acquirer, Xingji Times, will hold a 79.09% stake in Zhuhai Meizu and gain sole control of Zhuhai Meizu.
Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. – Equity Penetration Chart – Tianyancha
The acquirer Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. shows that the actual controller is Li Shufu through the public information of the Tianyancha system. The public documents show that Xingji Times was established in September 2021 and the registered place is Hubei Province, China. The final controller of Xingji Times is a natural person, and Xingji Times has not actually carried out business yet. In addition, the public information through the Tianyancha system shows that there are currently 19 intellectual property rights applied for or held:
Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. – Trademarks – Tianyancha
Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd. – Some patent information – Tianyancha
In recent years, car companies have made mobile phone companies that seem to be irrelevant. In fact, there are many mysteries. In addition to Geely, incomplete statistics are currently known that car companies have plans to enter mobile phones, such as NIO and Tesla.
Li Bin, a representative of domestic new forces in the car company, once said: It is imperative for NIO to make mobile phones. Mobile phones are the most important equipment for NIO users to connect to the car. 50% of NIO owners use iPhone and 40% use Huawei. However, due to the closed nature of the iOS system itself, NIO often encounters the problem that Apple does not open ports when connecting cars and machines. The mobile phone is made to break the passive situation.
Tesla’s Musk announced in May that he was suspending plans to acquire Twitter, but his communication project Model Pi has not stopped. Another function of Model Pi does not require the use of a SIM card and is linked to the Starlink system he laid out. As of March 2022, Musk’s SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 "Starlink" satellites to provide network services to 250,000 users. The current Starlink system monthly tariff is not cheap, starting at $99 and up to $500; while the US telecom operator’s unlimited data package is $60-100, and the limited viewership of the package is between $30-60.
At the same time, mobile phone companies are ready to cut into the automotive industry. Huawei claims that it does not build cars, but only provides Hongmeng system matching car companies. However, in fact, the Extreme Fox α coefficient S and Sailis M5, which are equipped with Hongmeng cars, have already appeared for sale.
Lei Jun, who was the most talked-about car builder last year, once said that Xiaomi car building was his last business in his life. Through the financial report released by Xiaomi, the process of Xiaomi car building was also announced: Since the car building plan was announced in March 2021, Xiaomi’s smart electric vehicle business has progressed beyond expectations. The size of Xiaomi’s car business R & D team has exceeded 1,000 people, and it will continue to expand research and development in core areas such as autonomous driving and intelligent cockpit in the future.
Apple Car rendering graph
The next generation of CarPlay in iOS 16
Pocket Car has reported that Apple, the real tech giant, is very committed to launching intelligent electric vehicles. ";"Also at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote this month, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay that will be included in the iOS 16. Supported vehicles will be announced by the end of next year. Automakers such as Ford, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Volvo, and Polaris are already considering integrating the new CarPlay. Apple may test the CarPlay experience before deploying it to its own cars.
The acquisition of Meizu by Geely is not because Geely wants to make mobile phones, but an indispensable part of the entire Geely business puzzle. Likewise, Geely must not be regarded as a simple car company. Li Shufu’s ambitions go beyond cars. Akio Toyoda, global president of Toyota Motor Corporation, once said that Toyota’s real competitor is not its German counterparts, but American technology companies such as Google, Amazon, and Apple. As a world-class enterprise, Toyota’s vision is not only globalization, but also beyond its peers. The only giant in the automotive industry that has the ability to deliberately maintain a big gap with competitors. In the automotive industry, except for Toyota’s manufacturing and Toyota’s parts manufacturing – this sentence is truly understood by those who understand the automotive manufacturing industry. The changes in the automotive industry are not just a change in manufacturing integration, but a comprehensive change in digitalization and global resource redistribution. In the future, there may not even be half of the brands that can survive, but the top giants will be more centralized, and the pattern will be completely different from what it is now.
Li Shufu – Chairperson of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Picture source Geely official website)
Li Shufu once said that mobile phones can connect vehicles to everything, satellite Internet, create rich consumption scenarios, and strengthen the ecosystem, which is conducive to building a user ecological chain, building a corporate moat, and better coordination with the automotive business. Is it that simple, or is it what ordinary people think: In the future, Geely’s cars will not be stuck, and Meizu’s Flyme system will be connected to mobile phones? People who hold this idea are naive, and Li Shufu will not tell everyone his true ambitions. According to the latest news on the official website of Geely Group: "One Arrow and Nine Stars Successfully Entered Orbit," Geely Future Travel Constellation "Layout Hardcore Technology Ecology" report: At 12:00 on June 2, 2022, the first orbit of the "Geely Future Travel Constellation" was successfully launched in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in a way of one arrow and nine stars. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. Through the construction of the "Geely Future Travel Constellation", Geely Holding Group will build a high-precision space-time information system integrated with heaven and earth. The starry sky is immense, and the exploration is never-ending. Li Shufu, chairperson of Geely Holding Group, publicly stated as early as 2010: While rooted in one earth, we should also look at the vast universe, where there are Humans should take a bolder and more scientific attitude to continuously explore and accelerate the development of the space world and the future of the universe, and at the same time protect and develop the earth’s economy, open up a wider universe. Take a look. This is the perspective of entrepreneurs from a high house.
"Geely Future Travel Constellation" first orbit nine stars (picture source Geely’s official website)
One arrow and nine stars, the first orbit of the "Geely Future Travel Constellation" launched by Geely Technology Group Zhejiang Time and Space Daoyu Technology Co., Ltd., is completely independently developed by Geely Technology Group, and its Taizhou Satellite Super Factory leaves the factory. Can this be the thing of automobile companies? Geely Group also has technology, digital technology and education sectors and other sectors. After years of precipitation, these sectors have a very solid foundation, and the storage of technology, industrial chain and talents is not comparable to ordinary enterprises. The large-scale integration of the aerospace industry and the automobile industry will bring profound changes to commercial application scenarios. Musk’s SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 "Starlink" satellites to provide network services for 250,000 users. Musk’s plan is to launch 42,000 satellites, which has aroused opposition from many countries, because it may be used for military purposes and pose a threat to other countries. In April this year, a solar storm caused its newly launched 40 "Starlink" satellites to be scrapped. NASA said that if it continues to launch "Starlink" satellites, it will affect the safety of the International Space Station. This accident has also greatly affected SpaceX’s plans. The existing "Starlink" satellites are obviously unable to meet the needs of global users. In the current international situation, Chinese companies need to lead the scientific and technological power. They not only need entrepreneurs with international vision, but also do not shout slogans for marketing, but also have real execution power. So far, there is no second one in China.
Why the acquisition of Meizu? The future of mobile communications is the Internet of everything, mobile phones are the key, and cars are one of the important carriers. According to the latest IDC quarterly tracking report on mobile phones, in Quarter 1, 2022, China’s smartphone market shipments were about 74.2 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%. In Quarter 1, 2022, China’s top five smartphone manufacturers were OPPO, Honor, vivo, Apple, and Xiaomi, with market shares of 18.5%, 18.2%, 17.9%, 16.7%, and 14.9% respectively. Meizu is classified as other, and the mobile phone industry has reached the stock period. Huawei was not included in the list due to sanctions. Meizu has fallen behind in the market share. This acquisition is actually the best destination.
Flyme system logo
Huang Zhang took a screenshot of Weibo that year, and then he deleted the above remarks
As a friend for many years to tell you why Meizu reduced to other, first of all, the mobile phone industry is a combination of soft and hard industry, after many rounds of fighting the head has been solidified, Chinese brands with global industrial chain advantages and labor and market advantages occupy the mainstream position, but all this is a hard advantage, not a soft advantage, in addition to the Chinese mainland market the only hardware advantage is Samsung, including Apple from the whole industry chain Samsung hardware almost proud of the whole industry, only the Chinese mainland market can not reflect the Samsung advantage, in addition to the Chinese mainland market outside the mobile phone market to see Samsung in a considerable number of countries occupy the forefront or even the first, this is the Chinese mainland market can not see the situation, can also understand Samsung can strategically give up the Chinese mainland market, Software, there are almost only two kinds of ecology, Apple monopolizes one, in other countries the market is the native Android market, and the Chinese mainland special market environment to create a local special ecology, so reflect the world’s soft and hard only can do well only Apple, and Meizu’s advantage is precisely the soft aspect, so that Meizu is proud of the Flyme system, in 2020 Meizu Flyme cumulative user volume broke through 100 million, 5 years ago the UI can hang now big factory, interaction design is also leading the industry, the earliest to enable synchronous Cloud as a Service, Flyme never worried about the loss of mobile phones, these are actually Meizu first use, but your small factory ah, be plagiarized (zhijing) do not take you seriously, Meizu can be said to be China’s local smart The grandfather of the machine, and now the Meizu former employees of major factories are not a few. At that time, Huang Zhangkou scolded Lei Jun unabashedly to his house to learn secret techniques: ** cheap self and cheap industry (then he deleted the above remarks), the frivolous Huang Zhang really has this qualification, although not very personable. But in business, no matter how good your system is, it cannot be called a success without market share. The small and beautiful Meizu Huang Zhang pursues essentially limits the expansion of business scale. At the same time, he bet on MediaTek at the wrong time, resulting in entanglement with Qualcomm lawsuits to delay the industry blowout period. Coupled with the most criticized familial management, the entire procurement chain was controlled by three relatives and four relatives, and it was impossible to optimize the hardware procurement chain that was not strong. Although Lao Bai, Li Nan, and Yang Yan in the Three Musketeers period struggled to support resistance for a while, the eunuch was ultimately defeated by internal and external relatives. After Ma Yun’s Taobao (China) software injection continued.But out of an Ali OS case remnant blood Flyme operating system, there is not much movement. The latest news since May this year, a number of Meizu’s old employees have recently returned to Meizu, and whether the three Musketeers can reunite is also worth looking forward to by Meizu. In addition to bringing capital into the manufacturing industry, Geely has also brought the entire Geely Group’s industrial integration capabilities, so it is not so much Geely’s acquisition of Meizu mobile phones as the integration of the Flyme system into the Geely system.
The richest man in the world
In the future, selling mobile phones to increase financial statements? According to other reports, Geely has been in the chip field for many years. In 2016, Li Shufu founded Yikatong Technology, with a research and development team of more than 1,000 people. In terms of mobile phone-related teams: Wang Yong, CEO of Xingji Times, used to be vice president of ZTE, and Zhang Yadong, supervisor of Xingji Times, used to be vice president of ZTE mobile phone research and development. Wang Wenjun, former chief MIUI architect of Xiaomi, joined Geely. Talent + chip + Meizu acquisition + satellite launch + industrial layout and execution, Lao Li has actually surpassed the world’s richest man in many aspects, but Lao Ma, who has higher financial skills, is the world’s richest man.
Screenshot of Huang Zhang’s early Weibo, packing up "unfilial people"
Just to buy a quick monetization car machine system? Can a mobile phone factory do a good job of a car machine? My answer is: yes, but it is difficult. Why? Some time ago, there were advertisements for domestic car brands that appeared while driving. There are problems with car machine suppliers, and there are also problems with car manufacturers that are not professional in their own research. Therefore, even if there are mature car machine suppliers, there are still car factories that want to do it themselves, and it is not just about poaching a few people from the mobile phone factory or buying a mobile phone factory. Talking about a topic that everyone in the mobile phone industry does not talk about: simply selling mobile phones does not make money, installation advertisements come quickly and endlessly, and the real profit of mobile phones is here, so domestic mobile phones continue to guide users to install applications in their own app stores, as well as various push advertisements. The cost of mobile phone dilution hardware is a mobile phone retail price, and there are even stickers to sell mobile phones, not to mention other R & D and marketing costs. Don’t think that it is all about making friends. It is normal for businesspeople to get up early without profit, including Huang Zhang. Domestic relevant regulations are not perfect on the one hand, but there is a bottom line for everything. Car driving is related to life safety, and this opening cannot be opened. Car advertising and media and institutions are publishing relevant industry reports to study user cultivation of the car advertising market, which is even more undesirable. The achievements of the top-ranked mobile phone manufacturer Blue Green Factory lie in research and marketing. Xiaomi has to personally go off the market to build a car. Huawei says it doesn’t build a car. The actual situation is difficult to say. There are really not many options left. The essence of software is user experience. The soul of Meizu is Flyme. Huang Zhang’s real strength is also here. Huang Zhang is the first in China to directly talk to users on social media and his own forums. If you disagree, you can call people "scram" online. It’s really not like words, or it doesn’t look like a businessperson, but it’s definitely true. The polishing of the product often goes crazy. It risks the industry to come up with a 30 mobile phone: 0 advertisements, 0 push, 0 pre-installation. The price is higher than that of friends with the same configuration. In fact, there are many users who support it, but this one The mobile phone has caused industry controversy, so it will not be sold later. Huang Zhang wants to be himself, have the ultimate user experience, make money, and face peers. It can only be said that it is too difficult. The pursuit in this old young man’s heart comes from love. The craftsman spirit and the pursuit of the ultimate corporate culture have always been engraved in Meizu’s DNA, and it is destined that he is not a good businessperson, but a top product manager.I hope to truly clean up the "unfilial" under the big tree that backs Geely.
Meizu ushered in the backer, into Geely bid farewell to the small factory, sufficient funds can also solve the brain drain, Flyme also married into the wealthy to always, Geely car machine or Geely any system end point has a self-developed system, by the way, sell a mobile phone to really make a friend, Meizu has recently felt that Meizu has begun to find the sense of belonging of old customers, Meizu official latest activities: a variety of old models free new batteries, the real activity is really awesome, Geely owners annoyed car machine start half a day, especially the future owners look forward to good things are about to happen, this is actually a win-win business cooperation.
