This year, Christmas Eve became particularly deserted.

Li Xiaobin took his wife and daughter to the Bahamas for vacation. Eric and Little Marie sent greeting cards and expressed their blessings by phone.

Norma, who was with Little Kendy, rarely called them to express their blessings.

It seems that Li Zitao's attitude towards the relationship between the two has changed and he has obtained Norma's understanding!

The Grand Duke was busy celebrating with the people, and also prepared for the federal summit held in London a month later, and there was no time to come.

Not to mention Mason, he was traveling to Bermuda on behalf of Elizabeth to give condolences.

So, this year, they are the only family to celebrate.

But because of the previous events, the atmosphere was not pleasant, but it was a bit deserted and stalemate.

"I would have a good time if there was an atmosphere." Li Zitao suddenly missed those dedicated girls.

Fortunately, the festival only has one day, and Aiden flew back to New York the next day, and Li Zitao also went to Seattle for a meeting.

Thanks to the massive investment of funds, IBM's development has made rapid progress in recent years.

Among them, the most popular "Advanced Program Laboratory" project was announced to be successful.

At present, IBM has become an important partner of the Ministry of National Defense.

ARPA has multiplied the communication and coordination capabilities of the US military for them and increased dozens of times.

In terms of private business, ARPA has also begun to be used in many fields such as large enterprises, administration and education.

The Internet is no longer a strange word.

However, it is still far away from ordinary people. Only governments and big entrepreneurs who are not short of money can feel its magic and convenience.

The shareholders who had complained at the beginning have now become hindsight.

When you slap the rainbow fart, one is better than the other.

The good annual meeting was almost turned into a flatterer forum by them.

"The overall development of IBM must still maintain extremely high investment. We must look to the future, rather than spending on the current profits and losses."

"I think you have also received sufficient returns and hope to get more." Li Zitao's words meant that the shareholders' hearts were in the hearts.

Does anyone think they have too much money?

Charlie Lee, who was predicted by the media to have a net worth of 10 billion, would not even think that how could they be arrogant and complacent?

As both billionaires, there is still a huge gap.

"The investment in the laboratory can be guaranteed, but... Charlie, should we cut off some projects and focus on the Internet?"

Watson is considering it from a business perspective. The current project plans they invest in are too fragmented, which is not a good phenomenon.

Especially for large companies like IBM, it is better to focus than to diversify. Only by focusing can you achieve the best.

"Are you referring to?" Li Zitao looked at him and asked.

"The research and development of small machines has not achieved any results until today. We should wait."

Watson's speech was agreed by shareholders. Tens of millions of investment have accumulated more than 200 million yuan, and there is still no return.

Even shareholders who see hope on ARPA do not think it will change in the near term.

1 year, 2 years, 3 years...

They can tolerate that under Li Zitao's strong high pressure and other projects continue to generate benefits.

But 6 years have passed since today, and there is still no hope.

This feeling is like constantly investing money into the bottomless abyss, which can never be filled and create benefits!

At least in the short term, there will be no hope in the past 10 to 20 years.

They hope to shut down projects and return to research and development when the period is ripe.

"Our host has been able to occupy a room to the size of a car now, and it is all due to it."

Li Zitao looked at the shareholders one by one, and looked at them with his eyes and said, "Isn't it the change in size that makes ARPA successful?"

The shareholders looked at each other. What he said was the truth, but it was not very accurate!

If you want to reduce the machine to its current size, it will cost only tens of millions of dollars, but the subsequent 100 million will be fruitless.

Everyone knows that computers in the future will become smaller, faster and more advanced.

But before the technology matures, there is no need to invest unlimitedly to promote that tiny change.

"The thousand-mile dike is destroyed by ant holes, and it is often those seemingly inconspicuous changes that will set off a huge wave."

"Believe me, your investment will be rewarded well. If someone is dissatisfied, you can come to me at any time and I will give him a suitable price."

Hearing him say this, no one complains anymore, and even Watson keeps silent.

If you sell the shares to him, unless you are facing bankruptcy or encounter irresistible reasons, no one will agree to do so.

Those who can still stay on the board of directors at this time are all those who are full of confidence in him and are extremely optimistic about IBM's future.

Retreatment at the last minute is not their style.

When ARPA was not stable enough and had not been officially launched into the market, some shareholders encountered financial difficulties.

But he would rather let go of the investment that made good profits and insist on holding shares in IBM.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that its stock could not buy at the time and was not enough to fill the hole.

But it also proves from the side that he is optimistic about IBM.

ARPA's success, the huge public opinion and reforms it caused, and the generous benefits it brought proved to him that his vision was correct.

Li Zitao's achievements and legendary experience also played a great role in it.

The shareholders believe that he will never do a loss-making business, believe that his judgment is correct and can achieve generous returns.

This is actually a kind of gambling, and it is very dangerous from the perspective of shareholders.

Fortunately, they won the bet!

Now, they can only count this as another gamble.

If you win a bet, the gains you can get will be more abundant than ARPA.

Almost every time, there was a debate. The issue of R&D investment that was raised again in the past ended here, and Watson thought of another thing.

"Charlie, did you know there is a company called Wang Laboratories?"

"Oh? What's the difference?" Li Zitao neither admitted nor rejected it.

I wanted to hear what Watson was going to say, Wang Laboratories, of course he knew about this company.

It should be said that any Chinese who is interested in IT history would not be unfamiliar with the word Wang An.

"We acquired its magnetic core storage patent, which is a technology that can replace punching cards, which is small, light and more advanced."

"But, during the transaction, we had a misunderstanding, and Wang used the money from selling the patent to set up a new computer company..."

Speaking of this, Watson's face was a little awkward. Compared to IBM, Wang An's computer company was like an inconspicuous little ant.

But it is such little ants who have designed products that surprise them one after another and gradually grew up.

Even, we already have the ability to refuse and resist IBM.

They are worried that if this continues, IBM will lose its dominance and monopoly over the industry.
Chapter completed!