Wang An, the former richest man in China, is known as the "Computer King". When he dominated the world in the traditional computer field, Microsoft and Apple were still little-known companies.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Wang An spent twenty years creating a myth of wealth and fighting against the American giant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

But such a legendary Chinese man misjudged the future of the market because of a single mistake, and was surpassed by Microsoft and Apple. In just a few years, he was defeated in the computer field...

The content of this article is that Wang An, the former richest man in China, fell from the top to the bottom.

Regarding Wang An’s legendary life, we must start from 1920. He was born in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province in Shanghai. He enrolled in a new-style school and ranked first in every exam. In 1936, he ranked first in the exam. With good grades, I was admitted to the National Chiao Tung University.

For that era, Wang An was a typical high-level intellectual and the hope for the future of the country and nation.

After Wang An entered the school, he developed a strong interest in radio. In other words, in that era of saving the nation, intellectuals were thinking about how to serve the country.

It is said that during the Anti-Japanese War, Wang An, as a young college student, made many contributions to the country.

After Japan surrendered and World War II came to an end, 25-year-old Wang An went to the United States and entered Harvard University.

At that time, the United States had eaten up all the dividends of World War II and the economy began to take off. It was a great era for young people to make a career. It was not as hollow as it is today, but in the manufacturing and technology fields. golden age.

Wang An encountered the best opportunity for advancement at that time at the best age. He studied hard in school, cherished every inch of time, and achieved the best results in the school. Full scholarship given by the school.

It only took him three years to become a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He thought that with his high academic qualifications, he could enjoy the life of the upper class for the rest of his life.

However, when Wang An confidently applied for a job at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), he suffered discrimination because of his skin color.

International Business Machines Corporation, as a technology giant, looked down upon Chinese people at all. Not only did it interrupt Wang An's self-introduction, it even suggested that Wang An go to the factory to do physical work, learn to repair cars or paint brushes. Wash the dishes.

Suffering setbacks in life and being humiliated because of his skin color, Wang An retreated to the next best thing, so he joined the "Father of Computers" Howard Aiken and got a job in a laboratory.

Aiken just saw that Wang An had good grades, so he asked this young Chinese to come to the laboratory to handle some messy daily affairs. He did not realize that this young Chinese would change the future of computers. field.

Aiken invented the world's first computer, but due to data storage problems, the size was as large as several rooms. He was struggling to solve the problem, thinking about how to "weight loss" for dozens of tons of computers.

Unexpectedly, Wang An developed the "magnetic core memory" in less than a month in the laboratory, which shocked Aiken on the spot and directly solved the problem of excessive computer size.

In other words, without Wang An’s magnetic core storage, Aiken was shocked on the spot.

At this time, a problem arises. Computers originally relied on International Business Machines Corporation's equipment to store data. If they switched to Wang An's storage, it would squeeze out International Business Machines Corporation's market share.

Although Wang An got a promotion and salary increase in the laboratory, he decided to leave Aiken, give up his annual salary of 5,000 US dollars, say goodbye to his friends in the laboratory with 600 US dollars, and start a business alone.

The starting point of his career was in a basement in Colombia, where he worked hard on research and development. After a period of hard work, he launched the first smart product.

What followed was walking around the streets to promote products. Wang An was exhausted every day, but for new technology products, the times were not ready yet.

Wang An ran into obstacles everywhere. One day, he finally waited for someone to knock on the door, but when he opened the door, he realized that it was International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

The other party directly took 400,000 US dollars and wanted to buy Wang An’s patented technology worth 5 million US dollars, and his attitude was very tough.

When Wang An heard the price of 400,000 US dollars, he felt humiliated. However, except for International Business Machines Corporation, few people were willing to buy this patent.

After thinking about it, Wang An suppressed the anger in his heart and exchanged his patented technology for 400,000 US dollars from the other party.

The reason is also very simple. Although Wang An has great ambitions, he needs a start-up capital as a fulcrum in his life. His only advantage is his brain, and his only way to realize cash is international business. Machine Company.

He thought that he had been humiliated by the other party one after another, and secretly vowed to fight back fiercely. It should be noted that Shaori Naoyunzhi once promised to be the best in the world!

Wang An took the first pot of gold from his own business to buy new equipment everywhere, improve the research and development capabilities of the laboratory, and create his own computer company. He vowed to defeat International Business Machines Corporation.

At the age of thirty-four, Wang An successfully launched the world's first commercial computer, adding a glorious touch to the computer age of mankind.

With this technological product, Wang An realized his original dream. He achieved sales of one million US dollars in the first year, established a firm foothold in the market, and the road to revenge officially began.

When Wang An turned thirty-seven, his computer company went public, and he vowed to make the world use commercial computers launched by Wang An.

The stock market favored Wang An's computer company, and its market value soared to 70 million US dollars, pushing Wang An to the forefront of the technology field.

In Wang An's view, this was just the beginning. He followed up by launching a new word processor and received large orders from various departments in the United States.

Immediately afterwards, the company launched new products one after another, refreshing the sales lists in the office field. Commercial computers were a great success in the market.

At the same time, Microsoft and Apple in the United States are still unknown among the vast crowd, while Wang An has reached the pinnacle of technology in the business field.

By 1986, Wang An's career reached its peak, with an annual income of US$3 billion. He ranked 146th among the 500 large companies in the United States and had three companies around the world. More than 10,000 employees.

Wang An himself became the world-famous "Computer King" with a personal wealth of up to two billion US dollars. He became one of the top ten richest people in the United States and the richest Chinese.

Wang An realized his dream back then, grabbing a large amount of market share from IBM, and was named one of the most outstanding immigrants in the United States.

In October 1986, Deng Xiaoping met with entrepreneurs at the Great Hall of the People. When shaking hands with Wang An, he said: "You are very famous in the United States, and now you have a big business. This is something you have worked hard for yourself. "Yes!"

President Reagan of the United States awarded Wang An the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" in recognition of Wang An's outstanding contributions in the field of science and technology.

Because Wang An has made great contributions to the computer field, he was selected into the Science and Technology Hall of Fame in the United States. He is the 68th scientist to enter the Inventors Hall of Fame. However, many of those who can enter this field are It is a technological giant that changes human life style.

Also because Wang An achieved great success in the United States, the status of yellow-skinned Asians in the West has increased.

In line with that sentence, knowledge changes destiny, and technology changes life. In the early days of the computer age, Wang An became a trendsetter.

Although Wang An occupies a high position, he has not forgotten his responsibility as an entrepreneur, nor has he forgotten that he is a descendant of Yan and Huang. During China's reform and opening up, Wang An also invested and set up factories in Shanghai.

But while Wang An Computer Company was booming, the market was quietly changing. His former rival, International Business Machines Corporation, had quietly formed an alliance with Microsoft. In addition, Apple was also growing and developing PCs. Personal computer field.

When Wang An first started, he believed that PCs had no future. The market for computers was in government units and large companies, not individual users.

It was not until Microsoft and Apple made huge profits that Wang An realized that there was great potential in this field, and the company's senior officials also suggested entering the PC track.

But in fact, Wang An’s business in the personal computer field is not progressing satisfactorily and cannot keep up with Microsoft and Apple.

In addition, Intel, which was weak at that time, also asked Wang An for help with joint development, but Wang An's attitude was very bad, just like when International Business Machines Corporation drove him away, he used the same way, rejected Intel.

Wang An's company encountered huge difficulties in its transformation. He himself suffered from esophageal cancer, which was a double blow to his career and health.

The successor of the company was his son Wang Lie, which aroused the resentment of the company's senior management.

Wang An needs a successor to lead the company out of crisis. It is obvious that Wang Lie is not the one to save the company, and Wang An does not trust outsiders to take over the company.

In 1990, Wang An lost to illness and died in Boston. His legendary career of ups and downs over the past seventy years came to an end.

By 1992, Wang An Computer Company's profits were only 1.9 billion US dollars, a sharp drop of more than one-third in four years, and there were only more than 8,000 employees left.

He rose like a miracle and ended like a tragedy.

Wang Lie shouted exciting slogans and wanted to lead the company back to the top, but everyone was more willing to believe the dismal data.

Even if Wang Lie resigned and Miller took over the company, Miller was good at handling debts and knew little about the company's business.

The company's progress in industrial software research and development is far lower than expected.

Wangan Computer Company’s stock fell from its peak of 42.5 US dollars to 37.5 cents, and it had no choice but to file for bankruptcy and reorganization.

In the business field, Wang An has become a negative example, and many analytical institutions have listed various reasons for his bankruptcy.

First of all, Wang An’s advantage is his rich scientific and technological knowledge. He graduated from Jiaotong University and Harvard, which laid a solid foundation for his future inventions and creations.

He gained recognition from the scientific community by inventing the "magnetic core memory". His talent was the key to his first pot of gold in life.

Wang An also has his own uniqueness in management. He employs a large number of talented scientific and technological personnel, tolerates the shortcomings of nerds, and allows the scientific researchers in the laboratory to give full play to their talents.

When the company's three swordsmen "Kaublau, Sgar, and Kolko" were fighting, Wang An was assigned to three different departments based on the characteristics of the three people, and they were all reused to realize the company's success. Product innovation and wealth soar.

Psychologically speaking, Wang An has a persistent pursuit and a strong will that surpasses most people.

When ordinary people get a huge sum of US$400,000, they often deposit it in the bank to earn interest, thinking about how to maintain a decent life through financial operations.

When Wang An got a huge sum of 400,000 US dollars, he did not use it for his own enjoyment, but used it all to develop new products. If he thought about how to live the rest of his life with ordinary people's thinking, To live a stable life, there would be no such thing as the emergence of Wang An Computer Company.

According to the memories of company insiders, Wang An always has a good mood. As the leader of the company, he can always infect most people around him, so the company's atmosphere has always been very good.

When people within the company were fighting for power, especially the "Three Musketeers" in the laboratory, Wang An did not fire anyone, but instead used their strengths to compete with each other.

After the company developed to a certain scale, Wang An did not settle for a corner. Instead, he developed a strong sense of market competition, actively innovated and developed new products, and had a pioneering spirit that surpassed most people, which allowed him to stabilize his pressure. IBM.

This is the main reason why he made a fortune from 600 US dollars to 5.6 billion US dollars.

As for the reason for the failure, it is his persistence in the traditional computer field. He believes that the future development of the market will focus on word processors, logarithmic computers, or miniaturized commercial computers, rather than personal PCs. computer.

Perhaps because of his dominance in the computer field, Wang An stood too high and ignored the huge profits behind PCs, so that he missed the opportunity for development.

The crisis has clearly arrived, but Wang An no longer has the sense of crisis he had back then.

Especially when Microsoft and Apple launched their first-generation products, Wang An still didn’t take them to heart and failed to grasp the future development direction.

When Wang An started to catch up, the larger the company became, the more difficult it became to transform, and it was even difficult.

As the company loses money year by year and its debts get higher and higher, what Wang An is thinking about is not improving product technology and upgrading computer performance. Instead, he is increasing service costs. Through repair and maintenance, Gather wool from old users.

This approach of Wang An Computer Company is equivalent to pushing old users away, which naturally hurts the feelings of agents everywhere.

When the business community talks about Wang An, they often mention his son Wang Lie. Nepotism is one of Wang An’s biggest mistakes. The older he gets, the more he trusts his own people and refuses to trust his family. other people.

When Wang An's thinking was transferred to the family business, he lost his former fairness and tolerance, and both sons entered important departments of the company.

After Wang An was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he regarded his 36-year-old eldest son as the successor of the company instead of hiring a professional manager.

The family concept destroys company unity, which is a difficulty that many large companies in modern times have encountered during their transformation.

However, the capable senior executives of the company were not reused by Wang Lie, so they submitted their resignation letters in anger and left the company, which caused huge losses to the company.

After Wang An entered old age, he lost his previous keen insight into the market when developing new products. The company tended to be conservative, and his own personality became stubborn, failing to grasp the actual needs of users. need.

During this critical period, those incompetent employees seized the opportunity for promotion, followed Wang Lie's footsteps, and gained reuse.

When Wang An was questioned by people from all walks of life, instead of listening to the advice, he refuted it: "I am the founder of the company, and I want to maintain my security control over the company so that my children can They can have the opportunity to prove their ability to run the company."

Wang Lie became the president of the company, and the company started to decline year by year.

The times accept new things very quickly, and abandon backward companies even faster.

Two years after Wang Lie took office, the company lost more than 40 billion US dollars. Only then did Wang An realize that his son could not lead the company out of the crisis.

The focus of Wang An's thinking was on debt, to keep the company alive, rather than to develop products that adapt to the times. That's why Miller came to the position. The debt was handled well, but the company collapsed quickly.

Wang An spent twenty years creating the "myth" of sudden wealth for Chinese people, but the company fell off a cliff in the last two years.

When Wang An Computer Company, the giant in this industry, fell, it was a sigh of relief.

To sum up the reasons for the bankruptcy of Wang An Computer Company, the first thing that bears the brunt is that Wang An has no modern management ideas, and the family concept has become a "poison" that destroys unity.

The company has lost its ability to innovate and has not recognized the actual needs of consumers. If the company cannot adapt to society, it is destined to be abandoned by society.

Some people also analyzed that the real value of the company lies in serving consumers, but in order to reverse its losses, Wangan Computer Company squeezed value from consumers and lost its sense of service and integrity. ? ?

Postscript:

Wang An rose along with the trend of the times, but failed to keep up with the times and was abandoned by consumers.

Learn from his outstanding qualities for success, but also learn from his failures.