After Eric finished speaking, the conference room fell into silence. Although the prospect Eric described was very encouraging, Ian Grenier and the others still couldn't help but feel that it's great that this plan succeeds, but what if it fails
After a while, Chris seemed to think of something suddenly, and said lightly: "The Firefly Group was just a small production company six years ago."
The silence was broken, and Steve Mitnick, who had been paying attention to the laptop in front of him, seemed to be a little absent-minded from the beginning to the end, raised his head and said: "I agree with Eric's plan, if you catch up with Microsoft by one-third in five years I don’t even have confidence in the market value, why don’t you leave now, I’ll go back to Dallas tomorrow and continue to help my old man sell junk bonds.”
This speech without any jokes made several people in the meeting room chuckle.
Afterwards, Jeff Locke, who was the most restrained and stable in the original trio, also raised his hand and said, "I agree too."
The remaining Ian Grenier and Tina Brown looked at each other and nodded one after another.
"So, let's talk about the specifics now. I had hoped that the IES scripting language and the YCR chat software could be launched as soon as possible, but the launch of these two projects will once again change the industry's assessment of Yahoo's value, and it may also stimulate Microsoft to change. Therefore, all promotion plans for these two projects are temporarily put on hold until the negotiations with Microsoft are concluded. In addition, do you have any ideas that you can speak freely?"
Ian Grenier said: "Compared to the benefits brought by the Yahoo browser technology priority agreement on the Windows platform to the promotion of Microsoft's operating system, it is definitely not enough to restrict Microsoft from launching browser software within five years. I think we should not Microsoft licenses browser patents."
"If you don't authorize anything to Microsoft at all, Microsoft will definitely not agree," Eric thought for a while, and said, "When you negotiate, try to make the terms involving patent licensing as difficult as possible, and let Microsoft share more It is good to focus on this aspect. However, as long as we consolidate the position of products such as Yahoo website and online mailbox on the Internet, the interface function of the browser will no longer be so important. Therefore, browser software patents do not need to be applied to Microsoft is on the defensive.”
"Let's ask for another low-interest loan." Steve Mitnick looked at Eric with a little cunning in his eyes and said, "I know you are not short of money, but the more we ask, Microsoft will definitely The more you despise Yahoo and let the enemy despise you, it should be able to bring a lot of benefits."
Everyone went through all the cooperation intentions reached by Eric and Bill Gates last night, and determined the bottom line of Yahoo's cooperation. It was already approaching noon, and Eric set off to the airport to meet John Chambers and Steve Case, who happened to arrive in Boston at the same time.
…
Although the Internet industry in the United States has always been at the forefront of the world, because Internet service providers such as AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner, which monopolize the market, have never been motivated to increase Internet speed in pursuit of higher profits, this has led to the The average Internet speed of Internet users is basically ranked outside the top ten countries in the world. Therefore, the Internet speed of the United States even once became an obstacle to the development of the Internet industry. In the original time and space, Internet giants such as Google and Facebook were aware of this problem, so they launched high-speed broadband services one after another, which triggered the catfish effect. Forcing those industry monopoly giants to choose to speed up.
In 1994, the Internet industry had just emerged, and the most critical issue restricting the development of the Internet was still the speed of the Internet. At this time, the Internet service was charged by the hour, which was not only expensive, but the Internet speed of users was generally below 256Kbps, because the fixed line did not pass through The dial-up bandwidth of the modem is only 256Kbps, and it takes several minutes to download a 1MB file when the network condition is not good. The slow network speed at this time is still not due to technical constraints. ADSL broadband technology has already appeared. But the network service providers who monopolize the market have no intention of upgrading. Because of network speed limitations, Yahoo Portal had to artificially reduce content provision in order to ensure a good user experience.
Although the Clinton administration strongly supports the development of the information industry, if it cannot see the actual benefits. Those giants who have monopolized the market simply ignore any policy documents issued by the White House. The explosion of the Internet industry at the end of the century was ultimately driven by profit. Eric's main purpose for inviting John Chambers and Steve Case to Boston is to join forces with Cisco and America Online to push the Internet industry into the 'fast lane' ahead of schedule. Eric's current status and wealth also ensured that he had enough strength to promote this matter.
Picked up John Chambers and Steve from the airport and had a simple lunch together. Eric took the two of them to visit the Yahoo headquarters. Except for some projects and information that needed to be kept secret, Ian Grenier personally showed John Chambers and Steve Case that Yahoo! Most of the technological achievements in products such as browser software and online email service.
When he walked out of the Yahoo headquarters, it was already dusk. Steve Case looked back at the still brightly lit Yahoo headquarters office building, with mixed feelings in his heart.
When IE and Yahoo emerged, Steve Case hoped that Eric could sell these companies to America Online. After being rejected, Steve Case was not only not discouraged, but started to compete. Thoughts, America Online launched its own portal website AOL last year, but the number of users is far from that of Yahoo, Steve. At first, I thought it was mainly due to the advantage of the IE browser here, but after visiting After a series of technological achievements of Yahoo Internet Corporation far ahead of AOL at this time, Steve Case realized that there was no possibility for AOL to surpass Yahoo in the Internet business.
In comparison, John Chambers is much more relaxed. When he was confirmed as the CEO of Cisco, Eric, the major shareholder, publicly expressed his support for him at the shareholders meeting, which helped him secure the position of CEO. And the smooth implementation of his own development strategy has played a big role. Although he has not met many times, John Chambers is still full of affection for Eric. Although Eric did not clearly state the intention of this invitation on the phone, John Chambers still rushed over from San Francisco despite his busy schedule.
After dinner, Chris, John Chambers, Steve Case, and Ian Grenier gathered again in Eric's suite at the Cambridge Hotel.
"You can take a look at these materials first, and we will talk later," Eric distributed the prepared materials to several people, although Chris had already read them in advance. At this time, I looked again.
Eric went to the small bar in the guest room to make coffee for several people, and said in a very casual tone: "In the 1980s, the alliance combination of Microsoft, IBM, and Intel can be said to be a golden triangle. Microsoft is responsible for the operating system software platform. Research and development. IBM provides the best PC equipment, while Intel is committed to processor chip technology. It can be said that the rapid popularization of PC is closely related to the close cooperation of the three companies. Now, they have also obtained a commercial position ahead of other peers in related fields ...I think the next few years will be an important opportunity for the development of a new Internet industry, so why don't we form an alliance similar to Microsoft, IBM and Intel?"
After years of development, Cisco has confirmed its leading position in the field of network solutions, equipment and related software. As the helm of Cisco, John Chambers also felt the budding and rapid development of the Internet industry in recent years. For a while, he also occasionally considered how to take the opportunity to make Cisco go further. At this time, the information industry alliance plan in his hand made his recent thoughts suddenly brighten up.
Cisco, America Online and Yahoo represent network equipment providers, network service providers and network content providers respectively. The business fields of the three companies cover the entire network software and hardware industry. It is conceivable that if they can really cooperate closely, the alliance formed by the three companies will definitely become an unrivaled behemoth in this new high-tech industry field.
Carefully read the seven or eight-page information industry alliance plan twice, John Chambers opened another document, this one is about the application prospect assessment of ADSL broadband technology, John Chambers Of course, he is no stranger to ADSL technology, but there are still differences within Cisco on whether to focus on this technology and develop corresponding products. At the same time, John Chambers is also very puzzled. How could Eric pay attention to such a technology with a very strong professionalism but not a wide range of applications. Looking up curiously, Eric was personally bringing a cup of coffee to him, thanking him, but John Chambers still didn't rush to ask his doubts. He opened the document in his hand and continued to read.
Of course, Eric could also feel John Chambers' doubts, and he didn't mean to explain. Anyway, there are enough differences in him from ordinary people, and it doesn't matter if there are more.
After more than ten minutes of silence in the living room, John Chambers and the others closed the files in their hands, except for Steve Case. Everyone else had a little excitement on their expressions.
Eric also looked at Steve Case first, and said, "Steve, what do you think of this alliance plan?"
Steve Case showed a wry smile. At this time, America Online already had millions of fixed users. Although it could not be compared with traditional Internet service providers such as AT&T, it was already the most popular among emerging peer companies. of a family. Before seeing the plan of the Information Industry Alliance in his hand, although Steve Case had already realized something, he was still a little unwilling in his heart. But at this time, he found that if AOL did not join the alliance Plan, Eric will definitely choose another partner. At that time, although Eric holds 30% of AOL's shares, compared to Eric's complete industrial layout plan, hundreds of millions of dollars of shares are basically Not worth mentioning, Eric will definitely choose to suppress AOL without hesitation.
After hesitating for a moment, Steve Case asked, "Eric, besides America Online, have you considered other partners?"
Eric didn't mind the other meanings contained in Steve Case's question, and said with a smile: "Traditional network service providers such as AT&T and Comcast boast that they have monopolized the market, and they don't have much aggressiveness. It is almost impossible for them to proactively carry out large-scale technical upgrades, so it is not within the scope of Yahoo's partner consideration. Among the second-tier Internet service provider companies, only AOL currently meets Yahoo's requirements."
Steve Case's expression was slightly relaxed. However, seeing Eric's more relaxed appearance, he suddenly thought that America Online's rapid development in the past two years relied on the 6,000 yuan provided by Firefly two years ago. million dollars of investment, and then look at the side of Cisco CEO John Chambers, and the timing of the emergence of Yahoo Networks. Although Steve Case didn't want to admit it, he still realized that Eric had probably been laying out the plan for today since two years ago.
Since this legendary young man has already started planning for today two years ago, it is impossible for him not to consider today's situation.
The main difference between Eric and Steve Case is in the online business such as the portal website of America Online. The alliance plan clearly stated that once he joins the information industry alliance plan proposed by Eric, America Online will It is necessary to withdraw from online businesses such as portal websites and focus on the role of network service providers. However, seeing the development prospects of Yahoo Portal, Steve Case is a little hard to give up online business.
Eric certainly considered the situation today. However, AOL only owns about 20% of Internet users in the United States at this time. Compared with Yahoo’s large-scale promotion relying on IE browser, the number of users that AOL Portal can influence by relying on its own client software promotion is only more than 300 million, but the total number of Yahoo users worldwide has exceeded 20 million. Therefore, Eric believes that the possibility of Steve Case refusing is very low.
However, even if Steve Case chose to refuse, Eric did not have a backup plan.
YCR instant messaging software will be launched in the near future. Eric can imitate the strategy of Microsoft MSN in the original time and space, and let Yahoo personally enter the field of network service providers. Just like MSN, integrate the dial-up Internet module into the YCR chat tool. In the future, YCR's market advantages will rapidly promote Yahoo's network access business.
However, in this way, Yahoo's business scope will expand again, and Ian Grenier and others will not be able to concentrate on implementing the "Yahoo Technology Alliance" and "Yahoo Advertising Alliance" plans. This is not Eric Hope to see results. (To be continued.)