Facing Caroline, who was full of expectation like a doll with her beautiful eyes wide open, Eric was thinking about how to get rid of what he just said, when he saw Carter Moen push open the glass door of the restaurant and walk towards them come over.
As Eric's personal bodyguard, Carter Moen certainly knew Caroline, nodded politely to the girl, then bent down and whispered a few words in Eric's ear.
Eric was a little surprised when he heard Carter Moen's words, but he wasn't surprised at all.
Eric waited for Carter Moen to finish speaking, stood up and said to the girl, "I'm so sorry, Caroline, an unexpected visitor came suddenly."
Caroline immediately stood up from the seat, and asked with a look of reluctance: "Are you leaving?"
Eric originally planned to take this opportunity to leave, but seeing the girl's pitiful expression, his heart softened, and he shook his head and said, "No, he has already come to the door."
Eric walked towards the door of the restaurant, and Caroline quickly followed. The two walked out of the restaurant. Eric saw a middle-aged man and a woman walking side by side in the corridor in front of the restaurant. The woman was wearing a light-colored trench coat, with one head Blonde hair, exuding the intellectual atmosphere common to professional girls. The man was dressed in a gray suit, with curly hair that always looked a bit messy, round black-rimmed glasses, and a habitual confident smile on his face.
Caroline stood beside Eric, and said with some surprise: "It's Bill Gates, why did he come to you?"
"The visitor is not kind," Eric replied softly, and greeted him. Caroline was a little confused by Eric's words, but she still took the initiative to follow.
"Hello, Eric, this is my wife, Melinda," the two parties approached, Bill Gates shook hands with Eric very familiarly, and then introduced Melinda Gates beside him , Although already middle-aged, but Bill Gates and Melinda Gates officially married at the beginning of this year.
Eric shook hands with Melinda Gates. After gesturing to Caroline, she introduced to the couple, "This is Caroline Wilson."
Bill Gates shook hands with Caroline, and looked up and down lightly at the fresh girl in front of him, who was wearing a light pink hoodie, bootcut jeans and white flat shoes. Although she was petite, she only looked about 1.55 meters. But the girl's beautiful blond hair, delicate face and well-proportioned figure gave people a pleasing sense of comfort, like a doll endowed with life by God.
Bill Gates subconsciously regarded Caroline as another Hollywood actress who often appeared beside Eric, and couldn't help but envy Eric in all kinds of beauties.
After introducing each other, Eric pointed to the restaurant behind him and said, "Caroline and I were having dinner just now. Would you like to have something to eat together?"
"Of course, I remember that the ice cream here is good, and I haven't eaten it for many years," Bill Gates nodded.
A few people walked into the restaurant together. They just saw Eric get up and went out. The waiter who almost chased after him to let the other party pay the bill saw Eric who had taken off his sunglasses, Bill Gates and others walked in again. , although there was no gaffe, but the waiters inevitably showed excited expressions.
Eric took Caroline and the Gates couple to a seat in the corner and sat down, asking for some snacks. Carter Moen knew that the boss and Bill Gates must have something to discuss, so he sent away a waiter who wanted to approach him in a low voice. Another bodyguard took the initiative to occupy a nearby seat, and several of Bill Gates' entourage followed suit, separating Eric and others from the other diners.
After a few mouthfuls of ice cream, Bill Gates straight to the point said without any concealment: "Eric, sell me Yahoo Internet Corporation."
Eric is not surprised that Bill Gates already knows the new name after the merger of the three companies. Although Bill Gates' tone is very polite, it has revealed an undisguised strength. Even Bill Gates The curious Caroline couldn't help but frowned.
Since the other party was so straightforward, Eric shook his head decisively and said, "Not for sale."
Bill Gates smiled unchanged, and said: "Eric, Firefly has just issued 8 billion US dollars in bonds. Your financial pressure must be great. I can give you a price of 600 million US dollars and pay in cash."
so far. Eric's total investment in the original three companies was only more than 100 million U.S. dollars. Even according to Bill Gates' asking price, cashing out at this time would be close to 500% profit.
But unless Eric is crazy, he's not going to sell Yahoo! Networks, which has just merged and is promising.
"Bill, I definitely won't sell Yahoo, why don't we talk about something else."
600 million US dollars is far from the bottom line price of Bill Gates. Bill Gates thought that Eric thought his asking price was too low, so he made such a gesture, saying: "How about 650 million, Microsoft is very sincere."
Caroline, who was sitting obediently next to Eric, heard that Bill Gates was only willing to raise the price by 50 million US dollars, and had the face to say that she was very sincere, so she couldn't help but chuckled, but the girl immediately realized her Losing his composure, he hurriedly said to Bill Gates: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, I, I..."
Although Caroline looked sincerely apologetic, Bill Gates was still slightly annoyed by the 'little vase' that Eric carried with him, and he even felt that Eric should not continue to show himself My little lover stays by my side. However, Bill Gates felt that Caroline was Eric's woman after all, and it was not his turn to teach him a lesson anyway, so instead he smiled politely and said, "Miss Wilson, is there anything wrong with my words?"
Caroline looked at Eric carefully, she still didn't understand what was going on now, and she would definitely feel guilty if the chuckle just ruined the business negotiations between Eric and Bill Gates dead.
Of course Eric didn't mind Caroline's sudden interruption, and encouraged him, "Just say anything, Caroline, I'm curious too."
Only then did Caroline feel relieved, looked at Bill Gates again, and said softly: "Our mentor has noticed the three companies in Eric's hands since last year, and he said that the three companies are almost one. In the previous paragraph, we specifically asked us to make a case about them. Although we have not been able to obtain detailed data, judging from their potential number of users and development potential, the overall value should be around 1 billion US dollars. Mr. Gates, yours …Your asking price is too low."
Perhaps I felt that my last sentence was too direct. After finishing speaking, the girl's face was slightly rosy, but she still looked at Eric expectantly.
Eric nodded approvingly at Caroline, looking at the girl looking like a kitten expecting a reward. Resisting the urge to scoop up a scoop of ice cream and handing it to that small mouth, he said to Bill Gates: "Caroline is studying for an MBA here, I think Harvard University's professional judgment should be more accurate, so, Bill. I I think we should stop talking about the acquisition, why not cooperate?"
As Microsoft's position became more and more stable, Bill Gates was already a king within Microsoft. Even outside of Microsoft, almost everyone was polite to him. He was a little annoyed at the top of the speech, and when he heard Eric say the words of cooperation, he asked back with a touch of sarcasm: "How do you plan to cooperate?"
"Yahoo browser can become Microsoft's pre-installed browser software. I know that Microsoft will launch a new operating system next year. This can achieve a win-win effect. If Microsoft is willing to pay an exclusivity fee, Yahoo does not mind. Within a short period of time, stop the technical support of Yahoo browser on Linux, MacOS and other operating systems, and redirect more users to the Windows operating system.”
In Bill Gates' view, only Microsoft's application software has ever invaded other operating system platforms, and there has never been a precedent for external applications as Microsoft's pre-installed software, let alone the other party asking Microsoft for some bullshit exclusivity. , This is simply a dream.
Faced with such a 'naive' proposal from this young man, Bill Gates laughed and shook his head, "Eric, you are doing so well in Hollywood. Why don't you focus on the media industry?"
Eric smiled and retorted: "Isn't Microsoft also interested in the new field of the Internet industry?"
Bill Gates was silent for a moment, then withdrew his expression, stared at Eric and said in a deep voice: "Eric, although your browser software has almost occupied the market at present. But Microsoft is not unable to make browser software. And don't forget, I have the most widely used operating system platform in the world, and on this platform, I make all the rules."
This sentence is definitely a naked threat, and Bill Gates is obviously implying Eric. If he didn't agree to sell Yahoo.com to Microsoft, Microsoft wouldn't mind doing something to stop Yahoo's browser software from running on Microsoft's platform. However, when Eric heard the threat from Bill's classmate, not only was he not angry, but he was aroused with high morale.
In the original time and space, the reason why Netscape failed miserably, although Microsoft's binding strategy accounted for part of the reason, but the most important point is that both Microsoft and Netscape used a browser kernel called Mosaic, so users Whether you choose IE or Netscape browser, you can achieve good compatibility with most websites on the Internet, which solves the biggest problem for Microsoft to promote IE on the Windows platform. But in this time and space, because Eric first launched a new IE browser for a year and quickly occupied the browser market in a free way, the Mosaic core browser did not appear again, and even if Mosaic appeared again, because It and IE are two completely different browser kernels, and many websites have adapted to many technical standards of the new IE in the past two years. A browser with a new kernel may even cause a large number of websites to fail to display, so the Mosaic browser also It is difficult to promote it again.
Microsoft has encountered this kind of problem since then. Unless it completely ignores legal risks and adopts a large number of technical patents that have been registered for the new IE, it will be difficult for Microsoft to launch a mature browser within a few years.
Eric glanced at Bill Gates who seemed to be waiting for his final answer, smiled slightly, leaned forward slightly, pressed his fingers on the table and said: "Bill, when I checked the browser company's technology accumulation list a few days ago , found that they have accumulated 337 patents on browser software and related technologies without knowing it. If Microsoft really plans to develop its own browser, please check the patent list carefully before making any plans. Actually, we It can be said that I don't mind sharing my stuff with others, but only with my permission. Moreover, Yahoo is not one of those small companies that can only think that they are unlucky even if they are infringed or squeezed out of bankruptcy. If I find out that someone wants to take something that belongs to me, even if it's only worth a dollar, I don't mind spending a billion dollars in a lawsuit if someone else dares to steal it. You should know that I can do it easily Get this point, Microsoft's current market value of 20 billion US dollars is not as much as my personal assets."
Although it has been evolved for millions of years, deep in the genes of any woman there is an instinct to cling to the strong. Caroline listened to Eric's loud and strong declaration, and felt her little head was dizzy, and countless little stars seemed to appear in Eric's eyes.
Melinda Gates, who had been silent all this time, looked at her husband with a tense expression and Eric with a calm expression, and sighed inwardly. Although Bill Gates was very gentle to her during the relationship, she also encountered more than once the irritable side of Bill Gates throwing documents to his subordinates. The success of Microsoft has made Bill Gates more and more like a tyrant . Eric Williams' public wealth is already more than twice that of her husband. According to her understanding, the other party's personality may be more powerful and arrogant, but at this moment, it seems that the two men beside her are really poor in self-cultivation. Too much, this young man who is less than twenty-five years old has not shown any gaffes from the beginning to the end, as if he has reached the state of not being surprised by favor or humiliation after going through the world. Even the words that were tougher than her husband's words just now were spoken as lightly as a chat between friends.
Seeing that the two men beside him were completely at a stalemate, and the little girl on the opposite side was staring at Eric without saying a word, Melinda Gates had no choice but to take the initiative to break the deadlock, and said softly: "Eric, how about Everyone, forget what you said just now, and talk about it calmly, we really cooperate sincerely."
"Of course it's okay," Eric nodded, then stretched out his hand with a smile, and squeezed the little face next to him heartily. This little girl is acting cute unconsciously and seducing the uncle frantically. It is really disgusting and unbearable. Why are the people angry if she doesn't punish her!
Feeling the touch of Eric's slightly rough fingers, Caroline yelled, and finally came to her senses, she lowered her head shyly, not daring to look at other people's faces.
His wife helped him break the deadlock, and Bill Gates also calmed down. At the same time, he realized that although the scale of Yahoo Internet Corporation was far from being comparable to that of Microsoft, Eric was not one of the entrepreneurs of technology companies who let Microsoft handle it. Although unwilling, Bill Gates, who regained his sanity, also realized that he had to make the most favorable choice for Microsoft in order to ensure the company's absolute leading position. (To be continued.)