novelraw Chapter 685: Chapter 686: We'll Have Nothing
Chapter 685: Chapter 686: We'll Have Nothing
Chapter 685: Chapter 686: We'll Have Nothing[Chapter 686: We'll Have Nothing]
Eric didn't expect the Firefly management to act so decisively. They had just discussed matters in the morning meeting and by the afternoon, they already moved to engage with JIVE Records. However, he wasn't too surprised. JIVE had seen its glory days around 2000, and at that moment, with Teen-Pop still so far away, JIVE's market value was hardly more than ten million dollars, a negligible amount in the grand scheme of the Firefly Group.
When Eric heard that Howard Stringer was using JIVE Records as a bargaining chip, he merely chuckled and said, "Howard, it's true that Katzenberg plans to acquire some promising record labels soon to strengthen Firefly Records. Since you've mentioned it, I guess it must be true. But unless Firefly intends to buy all of Sony Records, I won't be getting involved with these minor issues. If you have any questions, feel free to call Katzenberg and his team."
Howard Stringer certainly couldn't know that Eric had instructed this himself. Hearing Eric's words made him a bit uneasy.
Upon receiving news from JIVE, Howard quickly gathered information on the unassuming subsidiary. He found that JIVE had focused on Black Hip-Hop music and had previously missed the chance to sign Will Smith, which had become a notable industry gossip. Over the years, JIVE had failed to nurture any heavyweight Black artist, and perhaps as a result of their stagnation in Hip-Hop, the management team at JIVE was now trying to pivot.
Despite re
Qualcomm's worst-case scenario from the onset was that if CDMA was rejected by all established telecom operators, they would then seek commercial opportunities from C block license winners.
However, after Eric expressed interest in Qualcomm, Andrew had developed a bold idea. They
planned to secure enough financial support from Eric and then swiftly acquire all the C block licenses. They would then bundle CDMA technology and offer those spectrum licenses at a lower price to smaller telecom operators. Even if CDMA technology failed to gain traction with mainstream telecom operators, it could still capture one-third of the mobile communication market through promotion within the C block.
"I've already registered a company called Wave. If I can get funding from Eric Williams, I'll
step back from Qualcomm and focus entirely on Wave, preparing to acquire all the C block licenses," Andrew declared.
Irwin set the plan aside. Although Andrew's voice was filled with anticipation, he knew full
well that both of them lacked confidence in this matter.
Due to their tacit understanding, competition for A and B block licenses hadn't been intense. Nevertheless, the FCC still auctioned off a staggering $3.75 billion in total. To acquire all the licenses in the competitive C block auction, they would at least need to set aside double the
premium compared to A and B blocks, which conservatively estimated would also require $4 billion.
After a moment's hesitation, Irwin asked, "Andrew, how likely do you think Eric Williams
would be to provide us with $4 billion in support? Don't forget, Qualcomm is barely worth $400 million as a whole now."
Supporting a company valued at under $400 million to execute a $4 billion plan seemed like a madman's idea to most.
Despite having prepared a set of carefully deliberated remarks, neither Irwin nor Andrew felt
any assurance regarding the outcome. The only reason they put forth such an unrealistic plan was that Qualcomm had run out of options.
"Since Eric Williams reached out to us, we're sure to gain some support from him. Perhaps Eric can help us persuade a mainstream telecom operator to embrace CDMA technology too. As for the plan," Andrew reassured Irwin, attempting to comfort himself as well, "if we try, we may have a 1% chance of success. But if we don't try, we'll have nothing."
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