Boston, An Wang Company.
Wang Lie had just finished a meeting with the mid-level managers. Exhausted, he entered his office, dropped heavily into his chair, and did not move for a long while.
He had truly been too tired lately.
His father had suddenly passed away, multiple orders had been canceled, and the company's losses had surged. One piece of bad news after another charged at him like African wildebeests crossing a river, flooding over Wang Lie in an instant.
Wang Lie was genuinely dazed. Could he really be a "prodigal son"?
Four years earlier, An Wang Company had defeated every competitor, including IBM, and secured a military order worth nearly five hundred million dollars. It had been one of the largest computer orders in the whole Beacon in recent years, and An Wang Company had then been unrivaled in the limelight.
That same year, because of health issues, Wang Lie's father handed the company over to him.
And then there was no then.
In just three short years, An Wang Company's losses had surpassed its total accumulated profits from the previous thirty-three years.
Within only a few years, An Wang Company had fallen from the world's thriving number two to the brink of possible bankruptcy.
"Everything began four years ago. What exactly happened four years ago?"
Wang Lie could not help muttering aloud as he turned his thoughts back to four years earlier.
That year, IBM began negotiating with small and medium-sized companies such as Microsoft and Apple, unifying protocol standards so that the products of all its subsidiaries would be fully compatible.
To An Wang Company, that was practically raising competitors for itself.
And now, Old Mr. Wang's view appeared to have been right. Microsoft and Apple had indeed grown, and they might very well become future hidden