The two sat down on the reception sofa by the window in the study. Judith Miller took out a notepad and a recorder from his satchel while secretly observing the young man opposite.
Compared with Western women who are generally prone to premature aging, most Western men are just the opposite. Many young people often have childish blush and freckles on their faces in their twenties.
However, although Yi Xian's youthful blond hair was retained, and there was no trace of stubble on his cheeks, the sharp-edged face in front of him did not give any sense of youthfulness at all. On the contrary, Judith Miller felt a kind of maturity and calmness from Eric that would only appear after being polished by the world.
Cindy quickly brought in a pot of coffee, poured it carefully for the two of them, and then quietly exited the study.
The appearance of Cindy interrupted Judith Miller's observation of Eric, and noticed the faint smile on the man's face, and Judith Miller realized that he had just looked at him for a long time. Smiling embarrassedly, Judith Miller turned on the recorder, held the notepad in his hand, looked at the other party and said: "So, Mr. Williams, according to the latest statistics, with the listing of Yahoo, Your personal net worth has reached 265 billion U.S. dollars, even exceeding the latest GDP value of the Russian Federation, can you talk about your views on this wealth?"
Eric's first reaction was that this was another useless topic like 'how does it feel to be the richest man in the world', but in a blink of an eye he realized that the problem was not that simple.
What Judith Miller asked was obviously Eric's opinion on the meaning of this huge wealth itself, rather than his inner feelings at this time.
After hesitating for a moment, Eric still shook his head with a smile and said, "Sorry, I don't know how to answer your question."
In fact, it's not that I don't know how to answer, but that the question itself is too sensitive.
As Judith Miller said, $265 billion already exceeds Russia's current gross national product. Although the background of a superpower like Russia is absolutely impossible to measure only by pure GDP figures, but also, 265 billion US dollars, and the larger social capital related to this wealth, has also touched the most important part of the United States. Fundamental issue of control.
Back then, the Rockefeller family's wealth only accounted for 1.6% of the GDP of the United States, and it was already considered to be in control of the entire United States. Eric has owned wealth since then, and the proportion of GDP in the United States has far exceeded that of the Rockefeller family in its heyday.
The Rockefeller family almost controlled the lifeline of the American energy industry after the second industrial revolution. Similarly, the industry under Eric's name also involved the most core electronic information field after the third technological revolution.
At this time, Yahoo, Cisco, Amazon, Qualcomm, Nokia and other core companies in the Firefly system have all shown signs of rising, and Eric is also very confident that several of these companies will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Then, in the next ten years, after these companies further consolidate their foundations and continue to expand, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Firefly system controls the lifeline of the information industry in the United States.
On the other hand, in order to ensure that the overall interests of the Firefly system will not be affected by the direction of the US national policy in the future expansion process, Firefly must also strengthen its influence in the political field, and even try to control the highest level of power in the United States replacement.
This matter is definitely not something Eric can avoid because he is not interested in politics. If Firefly does not do this, he will only face merciless and strong suppression by his competitors using political means. At the same time, Eric's huge wealth is enough to support the expansion of the Firefly system in the political field.
Then, finally, plus the strong layout of Firefly in Hollywood.
then.
Political, economic and cultural.
Complete.
These three words stacked together, sound familiar? Usually, the capital of most countries is called the political, economic and cultural center of a country.
If a consortium can demonstrate strong control over the political, economic, and cultural aspects of the country where it is located, it is obvious that the consortium controls the entire country.
Although all countries have ruling classes behind the scenes, it is clear that most ordinary people are reluctant to directly confront this topic. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for Eric to discuss this issue in depth in front of Judith Miller, and he didn't want to be perfunctory, so he simply refused.
At the same time, Eric also realized that the female reporter in front of him would definitely not be too polite with the next question, so he secretly cheered up.
Judith Miller didn't expect that the first question he carefully prepared would be directly rejected by Eric, without even an ambiguous answer.
After a little stunned, she showed a polite and understanding smile, looked down at the notepad, and continued: "Mr. Williams, according to yesterday's closing stock price, Yahoo's price-earnings ratio has reached 530 times, what do you think? A serious bubble problem in Yahoo's stock price?"
You're really welcome.
Eric sighed in his heart, and then said: "Yahoo's stock price increase on the first day of listing did exceed our expectations, but I don't think there is too much bubble element in it. From the continuous high growth of revenue in the past two years According to the data, Yahoo has gradually developed a very mature business profit model, and all we need is time to fully stimulate the commercial potential contained in the Internet media industry."
Judith Miller couldn't find any faults in Eric's answer. She thought it was a 'standard answer' prepared by Eric in advance, so she chased after him: "Then how long do you think it will take? How could Yahoo generate annual profits to match his current $90 billion valuation?"
Eric thought for a moment and said, "Five years."
Judith Miller said: "Even with a price-to-earnings ratio of 30 times, within five years, Yahoo can achieve an annual profit of 3 billion U.S. dollars. Do you think it is possible?"
"In 1995, the number of global Internet users was only about 40 million. In three years, this number has grown to 160 million. According to various data predictions, in 2000, this number will increase to 300 million. The number of Internet users will reach 1 billion. At the same time, these 1 billion Internet users undoubtedly belong to the middle class and above with strong spending power," Eric stared at Judith Miller and asked: "So, Ms. Miller, what else do you think is impossible in a massive market with a billion prime consumer user base?"
Judith Miller felt the pressure in Eric's eyes when he asked himself back, but he didn't show timidity.
The entire "New York Times" is paying close attention to this interview. If she lets this interview become a mediocre dialogue, even if she has deep seniority and background inside the "New York Times", she may face forced The fate of resignation. You must know that the reason why she came to conduct this interview today is also the result of fierce competition among various forces within the New York Times.
"Mr. Williams, the population of North America is only 300 million. In other words, the focus of Yahoo's future development will be the global market. But as far as I know, more than 70% of Yahoo's business is currently in North America, and overseas expansion is not smooth , what do you think of this issue?"
"Your description of the problem is not accurate. It is true that more than 70% of Yahoo's business is concentrated in North America, but this does not mean that Yahoo's overseas expansion has failed. It is just because Yahoo has been working hard to consolidate its presence in North America over the years. The foundation of a large market. If a company cannot achieve an absolute leading position in its own country, its overseas expansion will be out of the question. Moreover, under such a corporate development strategy, Yahoo still easily obtained 30% of the Overseas market share, which is enough to prove Yahoo's strong global expansion capabilities. After the IPO, Yahoo's main development goals in the next few years will focus on the development of overseas markets. I believe that Yahoo's business scale in overseas markets will soon catch up and even overtake native North America."
Judith Miller nodded slightly, and seemed to agree with Eric's words, but when Eric's voice fell, she immediately asked a sharp question again: "Mr. Williams, I just met you I heard the term 'absolute leading position' in my speech, in fact, Yahoo has become the dominant player in the field of Internet media, have you considered the possible negative impact of this situation on the entire industry?"
"I understand your subtext, Judy, once every industry forms an industrial structure in which giants monopolize the market, there will often be a situation in which the leaders enjoy their success and do not think about making progress, and the latecomers are hindered in innovation and unable to grow. But the Internet industry is different. This is a newly emerging industry that is growing rapidly and explosively. Moreover, due to the global nature of the Internet, it is destined that the most outstanding new technology companies in the future will be global behemoths. According to this standard, Yahoo is actually just a Toddlers, although we do learn to walk earlier than other babies, if we don't think ahead, we are destined to be eliminated in this new wave of technology. At the same time, I don't think the federal government should be in a new Technology companies can't wait to restrict them when they show market leadership. As I just said, the future Internet industry will be global, which is different from any traditional industry. If the federal government cannot control this industry The reform has shown a sufficiently open and inclusive attitude. The leading position that the Federation has just achieved in the field of new technology is likely to be overtaken by Europe or even Asia. In the future, we will have to face the siege of the Eurasian Internet giants in North America. "
The "New York Times" did not communicate with Firefly about the specific details involved in this interview in advance. Several questions just now were even performed by Judith Miller on the spot, but the young man in front of her was in her series of tricky questions. He did not show any hesitation in the questions, nor did he talk about him like some other interviewees. Instead, he gave very clear and convincing answers. Judith Miller has interviewed countless social elites, and it is clear that the series of data and insights that Eric just confided casually cannot be the result of doing homework in advance, it can only be that the other party has a long-term understanding of the entire Internet industry. deep thinking.
If Eric's initial impression of Judith Miller was only superficially mature and calm, but after a series of conversations just now, Judith Miller also had to feel sorry for the young man in front of him. He is impressed by his knowledge and foresight.
Judith Miller had learned about Eric's personal background in detail beforehand, and she was even more curious at this time, how such a young man who only graduated from high school did what he is today.
However, because of the prior agreement, Judith Miller did not ask the doubts in her heart, and she also knew that it was impossible for Eric to answer such questions.
After digesting what Eric said just now, Judith Miller also changed to a slightly more relaxed question, saying: "Mr. Williams, Microsoft is also a new technology company. Everyone knows that Yahoo and Microsoft It has a very close cooperative relationship, such as the 30% forward equity transfer agreement, and the Yahoo browser pre-installed in the Windows system. Microsoft has been under the antitrust investigation of the Ministry of Justice for these years, so, according to what you just said , Is the federal government's series of investigations of Microsoft too harsh?"
Eric showed a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, and said: "Although I know that arrogant guy Bill won't appreciate it, my answer is yes. Microsoft is still in the most important stage of global expansion. If the federal government Microsoft's restrictions are too severe, and the United States is likely to lose a global corporate giant. Although North America is one of the largest markets in the world, it cannot be compared with the even larger global market after all. I think a company with global A corporate giant with a leading position in the industry should be in the fundamental interests of the Federation. Of course, I also hope that Microsoft can show a more open corporate attitude. In this regard, I am only confident enough to use Yahoo as an analogy. Yahoo is at its core technologies such as web browsers, instant messaging software, and e-mail, all uphold a very open attitude towards licensing, and most of the technologies are licensed to our direct competitors, such as America Online, or Microsoft's MSN portal. But It did not affect Yahoo's market position, but encouraged Yahoo itself to be more active in scientific research."
Judith Miller nodded slightly, and said: "Speaking of America Online, Mr. Williams, although Firefly Investment has already explained in detail about giving up a large amount of shares in America Online, I am still very curious. As far as you are concerned, In other words, I would like to know, what are your considerations for giving up the shares of AOL?"
"You know, Firefly has invested in a lot of new technology companies, and most of them are very successful, including America Online." Eric thought about it, and said slowly: "My criteria for choosing companies That is, everyone can reach an agreement on the concept of enterprise development, so that I can invest in it with confidence, and I can also safely hand over the management of the enterprise to the original management."