"Auto maniac" Li Shufu's company has made the latest progress in acquiring Meizu. It is reported that Hubei Xingji times Technology Co., Ltd., a mobile phone company of Geely Group, has acquired Meizu, a mobile phone manufacturer, and is currently in the delivery stage, which also makes Meizu rush into microblog hot search. Meizu declined to comment.
Li Shufu's company makes mobile phones
The person in charge of Xingji era responded to the media, "we will not evaluate these market rumors for the time being. If there is clear information, we will confirm it at the first time. There is no clear timeline for the progress of new high-end mobile phone products. In fact, the external rumors have always been inaccurate. It should be said that it is not Geely made mobile phones, but Xingji era made mobile phones personally invested by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group."
According to tianyancha, Xingji era was established on September 26, 2021. Its business scope includes mobile terminal equipment manufacturing, satellite mobile communication terminal manufacturing, 5g communication technology services, etc. Li Shufu's final shareholding ratio is 57.85%.
In September 2021, Xingji era signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone and announced its entry into the field of mobile phones. The headquarters of the project is located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone.
For cross-border mobile phones, at that time, Li Shufu said that with the rapid iteration of mobile communication technology and the upgrading of personalized consumption, users' demand for smart phones has become dependent, and the development prospect of more high-end and smart phones is still promising.
Li Shufu believes that the mobile phone is a fast iterative portable mobile terminal and an application carrier for electronic product market verification and software innovation. The project can not only enable users to share innovative achievements as soon as possible, but also transfer some safe and reliable achievements to automobile applications, so as to realize the close interaction between vehicle and mobile phone software technology.
In terms of product positioning, Li Shufu's mobile phone business positioning high-end smart phones will give full play to the long-term experience accumulated by Geely and Volvo ecosystem in the fields of design, R & D, high-end intelligent manufacturing and industrial chain management, as well as the global layout advantages such as the space-time Daoyu low orbit satellite network under construction. At the same time, Li Shufu will empower each other in terms of vehicle intelligence, software capacity-building and scientific and technological transformation to achieve super synergy.
The decline of Meizu
Meizu once had a highlight moment in the domestic mobile phone market, but it has become a niche brand in recent years. Meizu was founded in 2003. At the beginning of its establishment, it was committed to developing high-quality MP3 products. In 2007, Meizu turned to the research and development of Internet smart phones. It is one of the old smart phone manufacturers in China.
In February 2015, Meizu and Alibaba jointly announced that Alibaba would invest $590 million in Meizu. At the same time, Haitong Kaiyuan fund also invested $60 million in Meizu. Meizu received a total investment of US $650 million, which is also the first time Meizu has introduced strategic investment.
Since then, Meizu technology has played a "machine sea" strategy. In 2015, Meizu's total sales exceeded 20 million, with a year-on-year increase of 350%. Meizu released more than 10 mobile phones in 2016, with a total sales volume of 22 million in that year. In 2017, Meizu shipped nearly 20 million units, with total sales of more than 20 billion yuan.
By 2018, Meizu was once in financial difficulties and its sales were also declining. According to the data of cinno reaserch, a market research organization, Meizu accounted for 1.4% of sales in the domestic market in 2019, ranking sixth. In 2021, Meizu sold 450000 units, with a market share of only 0.1%. Meizu has no presence in the top ten.
Some analysts believe that Meizu was acquired by Li Shufu's company to see whether it can return to the vision of more consumers with Geely in the future. However, the team integration and future development after the acquisition remain to be seen.
At present, the competition in the mobile phone market is still white hot. According to the report of Market Research Institute omdia, the global smartphone shipment reached 308 million in the first quarter, showing a negative growth trend in the past three consecutive quarters. The top ten mobile phone brands account for 92.5% of the market share.