1989, Wu Ying unexpectedly met Huang Xiaoqing, who later served as the chief technology officer of UT. It was this wonderful encounter that eventually became a landmark event in Wu Ying's life.
Five years later, in February, 1994, Huang Xiaoqing officially left Bell Laboratories and plunged into Unitech, a company that Lu Hongliang from Taiwan Province devoted himself to developing communication software in the United States. Later, thanks to Huang Xiaoqing's efforts, Wu Ying, Xue Cunhe and Lu Hongliang had the opportunity to drink wine on the wine table and felt sorry for "getting to know each other late". When the 50%: 50% merger plan was deeply communicated between Wu and Lu and finally finalized, Wu Ying even took it to China.
During the period of 1996, Xu Fuxin, then director of Zhejiang Yuhang Post and Telecommunications Bureau, stumbled upon the availability of PHS technology during his inspection in Japan, and quickly returned to China to develop PHS. According to informed sources, Xu had been in close contact with many international communication giants at that time, trying to cooperate in development. However, the other party refused to cooperate on the grounds that PHS technology was backward. Among them, Huawei and Ericsson have done special research on this, but finally gave up.
It was the collective absence of these communication giants that made Wu Ying buy out the technology and strongly promote it. During the period of 1998, Wu Ying invested tens of millions to develop PHS business, which eventually became an instant hit. On March 3, 2000, UT Starcom was successfully listed on NASDAQ. On the day of landing, the stock price once rushed to $73, an increase of 278%, and the market value of the company instantly expanded to more than $7 billion, and Nash was crowned as the top company in the first quarter of 2000 10.
Wu Ying bet on PHS, and it actually succeeded.
Wu Ying was intoxicated by the good news of the stock market and the touting of the media. Wu Ying's iconic figure can always be seen at various celebrity parties and fortune forums, and his momentum and aura are no different from those of big-name stars.
After Businessweek rated UT as the top IT 100 company in the world in 2002 and the fastest growing company in the world, in 2003, Time magazine made a grand special report on Wu Ying, Whitman, founder of Yi Bei, omid kordestani, global vice president of Google, Kevin Rollins, president and chief operating officer of Dell, and Zhang Chaoyang, president of Sohu, etc.
In this heavy publicity titled "Technical Survivor", Time magazine expressed its intriguing admiration for Wu Ying's remarkable commercial contribution to PHS technology: "When Wu Ying started PHS business in China on 1998, it is estimated that no one would have thought that by 2003, its users would exceed180,000. What's even more bizarre is that this technology came out in Wu Ying as early as the early 1990s, and with his degree in electronic engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology, he redefined the concept of PHS, convinced the officials of China Information Technology Department that PHS was an extension and supplement of fixed communication services, and sold this technology to two fixed-line operators in China-China Telecom and China Netcom. At that time, the two companies were hesitant to move their operating licenses, and the cooperation was logical.
Time magazine quoted a consultant as saying: "The most wonderful thing about Wu Ying is that he always makes the impossible reasonable and legal."
But Wu Ying's dream only lasted a few years. With the rapid collapse of PHS business, the decision-making level of UT is like a cat on hot bricks. They used to spend a lot of energy on PHS, and they haven't thought about their future development strategy for a long time, thinking that they can eat this one thing for several years.
The embarrassment of the situation forced the emergence of a change, and reversing the decline became a top priority. However, Wu Ying's gambling mentality can't be dissolved in his mind, and his temperament of "gambling to win or lose" seems to have been completely integrated into his blood: from throwing huge sums of money at 3G, he almost lost all his money, and then planning the IPTV map of China has no future, UT and its spiritual leader Wu Ying, like headless flies, began to bump around.
Wu Ying, the material carrier branded with PHS logo, doesn't want to mention PHS any more at the moment.
June 5438+1October 65438+July, 2006, in the office building of UTStarcom's headquarters in China, located in the Oriental Plaza of Chang 'an Avenue in Beijing, Zhang Chun, the senior investment relationship manager of its market headquarters, told the IT Times reporter that Wu Ying did work here, but he had gone to the United States, and he often flew to the United States, Beijing and Hangzhou, and the time was very uncertain. Before communicating with, the reporter chatted with the receptionist, and the other party said that Mr. Wu was often absent from Beijing.
On several walls of its office building, UT's latest product drawings, latest product models, honorary certificates and trophies in various periods are placed respectively, recording the glory of PHS. According to authoritative figures released by the Ministry of Information Industry, the overall profit in the first half of 2005 increased by 365,438+0.5% compared with the same period in 2006, while the first half of 2006 only increased by 2% compared with the same period in 2005. Although it seems that it is still growing in quantity, as far as the industry as a whole is concerned, the expectation is very pessimistic. According to official data of UT, in 2005, the company had a net loss of $462 million. In the first half of 2006 alone, the net loss exceeded $3,265.438 billion. Analysts even predicted that UT's annual financial report in 2006 would be even uglier than that in 2005.
When PHS was no longer in sight, Wu Ying finally took off his magical aura. However, regarding Wu Ying's resignation as CEO, UT said that it was only because the company asked Wu Ying to take on more important functions and look for the company's strategic choice, not because of PHS.
get into trouble
PHS business is no longer beautiful, and Wu Ying has started a new round of gambling. He frequently bet on WCDMA, CDMA2000, IPTV and other services, hoping to pull back the defeat. But this time, the god of fate obviously didn't care for him again. Wu Ying who bet on IPTV is called "desperate Saburo". Zhou Shaoning, who is familiar with Wu Ying, said in an interview with IT Times Weekly, "Yes, the development model of IPTV has yet to be explored, the standards are uncertain and there are problems in supervision. Large-scale application may still be a long process, and a large amount of investment may be risky. " Zhou Shaoning worked in UT for 9 years, and was called UT China Troika with Wu Ying and Huang Xiaoqing at that time. For this statement, UT Starcom said that after their verification, the dialogue between the reporter and Zhou was called out of context, which seriously violated the original intention of the respondents. But unfortunately, how they verified it was not clear.
Guan Yongqi, who once worked for Motorola and is now the president of Freescale Semiconductor Asia Pacific, was responsible for the research and development and promotion of PHS technology in Japan, but the PHS business was later decisively cut off by Motorola.
On June 65438+1October 65438+1October 9, 2006, Guan Yongqi accepted an exclusive interview with IT Time Weekly in Beijing Hepingli Middle Street 16 Business Club.
Guan Yongqi said frankly to this magazine: "At the beginning, Motorola also developed PHS in Japan, and later we completely withdrew. Because at that time, the Japanese government believed that this technology was already facing elimination, and the technology should go higher, not the other way around. I have been paying attention to the development path of UT and Wu Ying. I have also seen Wu Ying bring this thing to China, and he did a good job. I can congratulate him, but we won't do it! "
"PHS is a very special product, but it is not a long-term development plan. It just appeared at a specific time and at a specific opportunity. Even if you asked me a few years ago if Freescale wanted a PHS chip project, I can tell you for sure, no, although you can say that a solution like UT Starcom has developed into a global company, it can't last long. " Guan Yongqi holds a negative attitude towards the development track of PHS.
Many experts expressed regret when talking with reporters about ut and Wu Ying. Because they didn't consider the "scope economy", they put almost all their energy into PHS. Finally, when the PHS business showed signs of slow development, they mentioned the transformation, which was a few steps late, which was naturally unfavorable.
Where the transformation will turn is another question. First, 3G investment, from WCDMA to CDMA2000 and then to IPTV, gives people the impression that it is aggressive and chaotic. In the field of 3G, many enterprises have entered. Nokia, Ericsson, Nortel and Huawei have established their own camps several years ago, and they have obvious advantages in terminal equipment.
It is worth mentioning that Huawei, a completely different enterprise from UT, is involved in almost all branch technologies in the communication field. Is a typical complete product line, competing with world-class enterprises in various fields on a global scale. So in such a competitive environment, UT doesn't seem to have much say.
The public news is that China Telecom signed an agreement on 3G technology and equipment cooperation with Ericsson a long time ago. Guangdong Mobile has long proposed to adopt Ericsson's 3G equipment, while UT is still in full swing to kill PHS. Under such circumstances, the transition to 3G has been very unfavorable to UT in terms of time and overall atmosphere.
An insider who has been close to Wu Ying and UT for several years revealed to the T Times reporter that because Wu Ying was very strong in PHS at the beginning, he robbed China Mobile and China Unicom of their jobs, which once caused great pressure on them, and UT's relationship with them was very stiff. Therefore, regarding 3G services, leaders of Ericsson, Nokia and other enterprises visited China Mobile and China Unicom successively, and both companies warmly received them. However, Wu Ying was rejected by the other party, and the delay in issuing 3G licenses made ut even worse.
The only gratifying thing is that due to the deep cooperation in PHS business, UT has accumulated good relations with fixed-line operators such as China Telecom and China Netcom. But in a sense, China Telecom and China Netcom have to push PHS. Because there is no mobile GSM license, PHS belongs to fixed-line communication, so we can only find PHS as the only way to expand our business, and there is no other choice.
The board rejected Wu Ying's global CEO.
The embarrassing mentality of companies and individuals caused by PHS strategic mistakes once reminded Wu Ying of that experience in Bell Laboratories: at the moment when he was expelled from Bell Laboratories, Wu Ying, who was a farmer and studied hard, suddenly burst into tears. Strong self-esteem burns high morale. Wu Ying patiently and resolutely searched for all the clues that might lead to his career until he found PHS. Wu Ying once said: Only in the most difficult times can you know who is a man and who is a boy!
Wu Ying tried to rally all the forces to turn the situation around. After switching to 3G, he showed his last trump card: IPTV!
As it turns out, he was wrong again.
Yang Jing, the chief scientist of UT in the whirlpool, had to praise IPTV. He said that IPTV is the most effective way to bridge the digital divide and realize the informationization of the whole society. The implication is that everyone should make a show for IPTV so that UT can be better!
The stock price falls again and again, and the loss spreads endlessly. UT's board of directors watched helplessly as the company's stock, which was once high, was now sold at a low price like Chinese cabbage, and was full of anxiety. Some analysts said that UT's share price is only $5, which is in line with the actual situation.
The fixed assets are continuously lost invisibly, the labor enthusiasm of enterprise employees has been hit hard, and the storm of executive job-hopping has intensified. More importantly, the collective rejection of shareholders has become a great pressure within the company.
Lu Hongliang, chairman and global CEO of UT, who has always been only concerned about the capital level and does not actually operate China business, is very annoyed. The reliable news revealed at that time was that Tom Toy, an independent director of UT, would be the chairman of the company from June 5438+1 October1day, 2007, and Lu would still serve as the company's strategic adviser after his departure, but the global CEO no longer considered Wu Ying.
Ironically, in a recent news interview, Wu Ying revealed that although he was "hand-picked" by his boss Lu Along as the global CEO some time ago (the company also announced that Wu Ying would be the global CEO on June 5438+ 10/day, 2007), he always felt that there was still a gap in his ability. However, when boss Lu decided to resign and continue to employ Wu Ying in May 2006, Wu Ying said happily: I am capable, so I must do this job well!
Now the boss's face has changed.
He Tao, an industry veteran, deeply analyzed the complex relationship between Lu and Wu when interviewed by the reporter of IT Times Weekly.
According to He Tao, Lu Hongliang is a very easy-going and generous person, and also a person who can be a buddy and is worthy of trust. Long before the cooperation with Wu Ying, Lu had achieved great success in the United States, but the domestic attention was not enough. It was not until Wu Ying and PHS made great strides in China that everyone discovered that there was such a shrewd strategic investor behind them.
"My shortcoming is also my advantage, that is, I trust others too easily. Many times, I know that the borrower is gone forever, but I still want to help him. Others say that I am too naive. " Lu Hongliang, who has always kept smiling, founded three companies and is well versed in the innovative mechanism of Silicon Valley. No matter how he looks at it, part of his personality is directed at Wu Ying.
For this conclusion, when this magazine asked UT Starcom for verification, UT only said that the conclusion was wrong, but the specific mistake was not made clear to this magazine.
Many analysts expressed similar views when communicating with reporters: Lu Hongliang is a person with considerable weight in UT, and no one can shake him so far. Why did UT Chairman Lu Hongliang and the Board of Directors reject Wu Ying's position? In fact, it is nothing more than an explanation to investors.
Stubborn personality has harmed itself.
UT came to an embarrassing cliff, and it was dangerous no matter how you walked.
UT, which prides itself on "60-point ability and 80-point stage", preaches the "harmony" of respecting talents everywhere, but it is not.
A former UT employee told IT Times that he had met bearded Wu Ying, listened carefully to his grand interpretation of the company's development strategy, and immediately lamented that he had found the right leader. However, this employee, who admitted that "ideal is higher than reality", gradually revised his previous views in specific work. Later, with the overall development of UT, he encountered many constraints, "Wu Ying's benchmarking role in UT was greatly degraded", and its internal mechanism also highlighted many loopholes. The personal will of company leaders often affects the final direction of an enterprise. Whether you are good at adopting the feasible suggestions of lower-level employees is very critical. Wu Ying and his UT did not seem to straighten out such a basic relationship from the perspective of enterprise strategy.
Ma Lianfu, a professor and doctoral supervisor at Nankai University's International Business School, said that Wu Ying, as the spiritual symbol of PHS, did have his own advantages, but after PHS became famous overnight, he seemed to have completely lost himself. "If a person without rational thinking, once he expands his financial resources, his personality is often distorted, and he thinks he can do anything. He doesn't listen to other people's correct suggestions, and he has the final say. This is definitely unacceptable. "
A single market and a single product are very dangerous, especially for high-tech enterprises, but Wu Ying has stubbornly come to this step.
According to informed sources, whether UT "remarries" or not, Wu Ying will definitely leave UT this time. However, according to the letter of intent signed by both parties, Wu Ying must work closely with other colleagues and Merrill Lynch to take the last shift of UT before the latest adjustment of UT Board of Directors is released on June 5438+1 October12007. At this critical moment, Wu Ying needs to bear corresponding responsibilities. Later, UT Starcom replied to the IT Times Weekly that this was a commercial rumor, and the company had publicly rumored it for a long time and grasped the background of the rumor. But what interested the reporter was that ut did not disclose the background of the rumor.
101On October 27th, a UT employee finally accepted an interview with a reporter after repeatedly revealing "Never sign". After in-depth communication, the employee talked about his own experience on the overall operation of the company and the rumor of Wu Ying's resignation. He said: "In fact, the internal turmoil in UT began several months ago for two reasons. First of all, everyone has been very nervous, both grass-roots employees and middle-level leaders are confused. As we all know, the overall recession of the company's operation is likely to trigger large-scale layoffs again. Furthermore, before the official news came out, the whole company was speculating about Wu Ying's whereabouts, whether it was in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing or California. Among them, except for some senior executives who privately said that Wu Ying was leaving, more people heard that even if Wu Ying didn't leave, he would be demoted and probably transferred from Beijing to Hangzhou to take charge of R&D and production. However, the competition for this appointment is fierce. This interview with UT employees was still defined as a rumor by UT in the later verification. Ut expressed its willingness to communicate sincerely with the media in its reply to this magazine, but when our reporter communicated with UT, the result was not the same. UT, an international "big" enterprise known as "the wisdom of the East and the innovation of the West", has suffered heavy losses in its development strategy and is once again facing difficult choices.
Wu Ying, who is good at communication, eloquent and integrated into Chinese and American cultures, was left in a lifeless and gloomy world and felt very embarrassed.