CBQ, Inc. (China Business Quotient) (fka CBQI)

[Da !]

Bix, note this press release makes no mention of Shanghai General Electronics Group Co. Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary of GE. Why would that be, Bix?

http://www.infocus.com/company/press/archive/06_29_99sgeg.asp

"InFocus® Enters Manufacturing Agreement With Leading Chinese Electronics Company
Will partner with Shanghai General Electronics Group to manufacture InFocus projectors for the Chinese market

Wilsonville, Ore., June 29, 1999 -- InFocus® (NASDAQ: INFS), the global technology and marketshare leader in data/video projection systems, announced today an agreement with China’s leading electronics company, Shanghai General Electronic (Group) Co., Ltd (SGEG), to manufacture InFocus’ extremely popular personal projectors in China for distribution in the Chinese market. Under the terms of the agreement, SGEG will be the exclusive manufacturer of InFocus personal projectors sold in China. In addition, SGEG will market products based on the InFocus’ personal projector platform under the Shanghai General name.

The agreement between the two companies combines both technical and design expertise and infrastructure capabilities in one of the biggest markets in Asia. "This strategic relationship with Shanghai General further demonstrates our commitment to global leadership in our industry," said John V. Harker, chairman, president and CEO of InFocus. "It also contributes to InFocus’ objective to accelerate the growth of the data/video projector industry worldwide and further reinforces our strong commitment to the market in China."

One key element of InFocus’ strategy for expansion of the data/video category is to make its technology available to as many end-user customers as possible. Personal projectors based on the InFocus technology platform are currently available under multiple brand names in addition to InFocus’ own. Sharing projector expertise with a reliable and capable partner such as Shanghai General contributes to this overall global expansion strategy.

"This agreement is a milestone for China’s projector manufacturing industry. It is the first time that China has received a license from an international company to manufacture DLP-based projectors in China. We see the sharing of projector manufacturing expertise with InFocus as a major strategic step for SGEG," said Mr. Xu Wei Hu, chairman and CEO, Shanghai General Electronics (Group) Co., Ltd. "It allows SGEG to combine our manufacturing expertise with InFocus’ optical engine expertise to produce truly superior results."

InFocus has been serving the Chinese market for several years through a well-established network of local distributors. In the last two years, InFocus has become one of the leading brands of data/video projectors in China. "Strategically, China is one of the most important markets for InFocus," said Thomas Mills, Managing Director, InFocus Asia-Pacific. "InFocus’ shipments to China grew by 273% in 1998, spearheaded primarily by the LP™420 and LP™425 personal projectors."

Though the market is still in its early stages, China presents enormous long-term growth opportunities for InFocus. Projection technology has been named as a new economic growth point for China. Experts forecast that the market will increase 30-40% annually over the next five years.

InFocus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFS) is the worldwide leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing award-winning data/video projection products and services. All projectors provided by InFocus are backed by a comprehensive two-year service warranty, an exclusive "24-hour seven days per week" customer support hotline [phone] and our Priority Care program. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 1998 InFocus revenues were $306.7M."