A Few Families Worry

Some rejoice, while others lament.

Just as Shenma Technology Company's Phantom Projector sales were booming, the official flagship stores on JD.com and Taobao experienced a stark contrast.

At this moment, the live streaming sales rooms of major TV and display brands appeared very deserted.

In the Changhong TV official flagship store's live stream, a young female host earnestly introduced her company's products.

"Product number seventy, product number seventy is a cost-effective product our company has specially launched for Double Eleven.

It's seventy inches in size, features a 4K HD screen, an ultra-thin full screen, your private big-screen cinema, a borderless design, an AI smart voice assistant, mobile screen casting, and 2+16GB of large memory.

Currently, with the Double Eleven discount price, you can get it delivered to your home for just one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan!

This is a historic low price for a seventy-inch LCD TV. The manufacturer made significant sacrifices to achieve this price, aiming only for volume sales with almost no profit.

What are you hesitating for? Hurry up and place your order! If you order today, you'll also receive a free gift, our Changhong Brand electric kettle. No tricks, all customers who purchase a product will receive it!"

However, no matter how the host tried, consumers had clear eyes.

The live stream had only a handful of viewers. Unlike other home appliance products, the comments section wasn't lively. No one inquired about the product's specifics, nor did anyone say they had placed an order. The style of everyone's comments was completely different.

"I just placed an order for a Phantom Projector Generation 2 from Shenma Technology's flagship store. I've been trying to get one for days, and I finally managed to. It wasn't easy! Shenma Technology Company doesn't even have a live stream, so I just came here to take a look."

"It's so quiet here, has anyone ordered a TV?"

"Sir, times have changed. Why buy a TV now? Plus, the cost-effectiveness isn't high. Wouldn't it be better to buy a Phantom Projector Youth Edition with that money?

For only one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine, you can enjoy a two-hundred-inch screen! Although the picture quality is much lower compared to the first and second generations of the Phantom Projector, it's perfectly adequate for watching TV. Even the operating system of the Youth Edition is smoother than that of other companies' TVs or TV boxes!"

"Shenma Technology Company is truly a company with a conscience. The TV system's memory has already reached 8+128G, which is larger than my phone's memory. Can you believe it!

What's more, it's powered by a Snapdragon 855. Although it's a CPU from two or three generations ago, it's still smooth to use. Some people are still using the same CPU on their phones nowadays!"

"The Phantom Projector is the real conscience product. They directly lowered the price when they said they would. The product wasn't hard to sell in the first place; people would buy it even without a price drop. Yet, the manufacturer insisted on lowering the price themselves to offer benefits, without any tricks!"

"Hehehe, I bought three Phantom Projectors in one go, one Generation 2 and two Youth Editions. I'm planning to replace my bedroom, living room, and computer monitors at home!"

"Everyone's buying them, I'm the same. Just waiting for them to arrive!"

"I've looked at several TV sellers. Although the prices have decreased to some extent compared to before, they still lack cost-effectiveness. To sell units, I think a seventy-inch TV should be priced at six hundred and ninety-nine, or nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Why would anyone spend two thousand yuan on a TV when the Phantom Projector Youth Edition is more portable and has better effects!"

In the live stream, the audience was talking about other things, and no one was buying anything!

Faced with this situation, the host was also helpless. Kicking people out was impossible, so she could only pretend not to see it and continue her work.

Occasionally, a customer would place an order, making the host as excited as celebrating the New Year. It was too difficult!

However, a customer who bought a TV later commented that they couldn't get a Phantom Projector, so they had to buy a TV first.

The host could only cry herself to sleep. She had never imagined such a day. For a big brand TV, the live stream used to be so lively, selling thousands of units in minutes.

From the early morning of November 1st to 3 PM, host after host rotated through the live stream. However, the TV sales remained very stable, with about one customer placing an order per hour.

This means that in the fifteen hours since the Double Eleven event began, despite significant discounts compared to the past, the TVs had only sold fifteen units!

That afternoon, a meeting was being held at the headquarters of Changhong Electrical Group.

The company's president sat at the head of the conference room, with reports on Double Eleven product sales from various appliance departments below.

The department manager for air conditioners reported first: "The Double Eleven event has been underway for fifteen hours. During this period, we sold over fifteen thousand units of air conditioners across major platforms, with sales revenue exceeding forty-two million yuan."

"Changhong Refrigerators sold over nine thousand units, with sales revenue exceeding twenty-two million yuan."

The departments for washing machines, mobile phones, and small appliances (electric fans, heaters, kitchen and bathroom appliances, rice cookers, induction cookers, solar water heaters) all reported their sales performance, achieving good results.

However, the manager of the TV department, responsible for Changhong Home Appliances' flagship product, which used to account for over eighty percent of the entire company's sales, hesitated to report their sales figures.

Finally, after all other department managers had finished their reports, the TV department manager reluctantly stood up to report: "Regarding today's online TV sales, since the Double Eleven event began, across major online shopping platforms and forty-seven official stores, we have sold a total of one hundred and fifty-seven TVs, with sales revenue of three hundred thousand yuan."

The atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

After the situation report, the president frowned deeply. Although he had anticipated a significant drop in sales due to the Phantom Projector, the decline was too severe!

The other department managers also looked grim, and some were even whispering!

"Only three hundred thousand yuan, and this is our company's flagship home appliance. If this continues, the company could be in danger before long."

"We're a well-established brand in the domestic TV market, having made TVs for decades. Today might be the worst sales day ever. I never dreamed of such a scene."

"It's not the worst day. The sales were even lower a couple of days ago, with single digits in daily sales!"

"It's all because of the Phantom Projector. Honestly, I bought one for my own home, and compared to our company's products, it's much, much better. Even our own employees feel this way, so consumers naturally know what to buy."

"Perhaps the era of TVs is coming to an end, and the future belongs to projectors. They offer better visuals, faster response times, smaller size, and better eye protection than TVs. Anyone who looks into it will know how to choose."

"Sigh, I don't know if I can keep my job. I've been with the company for over twenty years, and I finally reached this position, only for the company to face the risk of bankruptcy."

"Who isn't? Look at how glorious the TV department used to be. The department manager had more seniority than other department managers and could speak with higher-ups. If this situation continues, things will be difficult in the future. We can't blame the TV department manager; it's just technological progress."

The people below were in an uproar. The president, with a deep frown, finally spoke: "Alright, everyone, please stop talking. The company is actively seeking breakthroughs to overcome the current difficulties and hopes to get through this crisis. This meeting will temporarily conclude here."

The meeting ended, and the president, filled with a strong sense of crisis, headed to another conference room for a meeting.

A few minutes later, in another office in the same company building, it was already filled with technical personnel.

The meeting began, and the CEO impatiently asked, "Regarding the Phantom Projector, half a month has passed. How is your technical cracking work progressing?" The CEO inquired with great anticipation.

After the engineers exchanged glances, the chief engineer reluctantly stood up and replied:

"The components used in the Phantom Projector are from some classic projector products. There are almost no difficulties with the parts themselves. There are only two issues.

The first is the driver program. Our company has been developing driver boards and programs for televisions and projectors for decades. However, a driver program like the one in the Phantom Projector, which can unleash 100%, or even 200%, of the equipment's performance, is unprecedented. We've never even imagined it.

Even with all our relevant professional engineers concentrated on it, we still can't fully understand how the Phantom Projector achieves this. We can't get a handle on the underlying logic code at all, and simple copy-pasting is useless.

The second issue is calibration. It's like the difference between various cars; even with the same model, different tunings can give drivers completely different experiences.

In this regard, even if we try to imitate it, we can only achieve fifty to sixty percent of the Phantom Projector's performance. The gap is still huge."

Not hearing the good news he wanted, the CEO dejectedly held his head. After a while, he said, "So the main problem is the driver software?"

"Yes, we have absolutely no clue," the chief engineer replied, his expression also grim. He had worked at this company for decades and didn't want to see it go bankrupt. He had been working day and night with his team recently, without any slack, but technical problems couldn't be solved just by putting in maximum effort.

Waving his hand, knowing they were all old employees and understood each other, the CEO could only comfort him at this critical juncture for the company, "I understand. Just do your best. I don't know how much time we have left. If we can't find a way to break through, the company might go out of business."

The chief engineer couldn't guarantee anything and could only say, "We will do our utmost."

The meeting with the engineers and technicians concluded, but the CEO still hadn't gotten the answers he wanted.

Could such a large company really go bankrupt under my leadership?

A thought that had never occurred to him before popped into the CEO's mind. He shook his head, quickly pushing the idea away.

The company was at a critical juncture of survival.

Returning to his office, the CEO pondered for a moment before making a call to urgently convene a company shareholder meeting.

Two hours later, the sky had darkened, and most of the company's employees had already left.

In the company conference room, representatives of the company's major and minor shareholders, who were rarely seen together, were gathered for a meeting concerning the company's survival.

The meeting began, and the CEO presented the company's recent predicament: the sudden emergence of Shenma Technology Company, the Phantom Projector product, and the crisis of sharply declining sales of the company's pillar product, televisions.

The chairman sat at the head of the table and, after some thought, asked, "Have we conducted an in-depth investigation into Shenma Technology Company?"

"Not yet."

"Begin an in-depth investigation immediately after this meeting concludes. If there's an opportunity, I'd like to acquire Shenma Technology Company entirely. Do we have a rough valuation for this company?"

"Our engineers have conducted a profit assessment for the three Phantom Projector models.

The components for the first-generation Phantom Projector are all readily available projector parts on the market, costing around two thousand yuan in total. Bulk orders would reduce the price to about fifteen hundred yuan.

Then there's the labor cost. Since the components are directly ordered, the labor cost isn't high, about a hundred yuan per unit. Add in factory overhead, utilities, employee accommodation, taxes, etc.

With the current selling price of three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan for the first-generation Phantom Projector, the profit per unit is about two thousand yuan.

The second-generation Phantom Projector is currently on sale for four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan, with a similar profit of around two thousand yuan per unit.

The Youth Edition has a profit of about four hundred yuan.

On the first day of the Double Eleven event alone, Shenma Technology Company pre-sold two hundred thousand units of the Phantom Projector, generating a profit of approximately three hundred million yuan."

Three hundred million yuan in profit. The chairman rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"With such high profits, a valuation of several billion or even tens of billions would be no problem. Although we've been operating for many years, Changhong Electrical Appliances Company would find it difficult to come up with that much money at once.

However, the Phantom Projector technology is a key technology. If we can obtain the patent, Changhong Company will have further room for growth, and the acquisition cost will be recouped in no time.

Conversely, without the projector technology, the company could truly be in danger.

Also, if we could poach the engineers who developed and manufactured the Phantom Projector for Shenma Technology Company, that would be ideal.

Alright, for the next period, we need to contact the boss of Shenma Technology Company to inquire about their intentions for financing or listing, whether they are willing to sell Shenma Technology Company, or if the technology patents can be licensed.

This is the overt approach. Covertly, we need to send people to thoroughly investigate the company's background. If we can contact the company's engineers, that would be best; even if it costs tens of millions in annual salary, we must bring them over.

Since we can't compete head-on with their projector products in the television market, we'll take a detour. As long as we have similar products ourselves, that's enough.

These are the main tasks for the company moving forward. We cannot just sit idly by."

The meeting ended, and the CEO immediately got busy again, arranging the corresponding matters for this meeting.

And similar meetings were being held in dozens of companies across Daxia Country whose main products were televisions, projectors, or displays.

At the same time, several perceptive major companies abroad also convened special meetings targeting Shenma Technology Company's Phantom Projector.

The conclusions reached in these meetings were largely the same.