"Prior to this, although various personal websites have appeared on the Internet, all of these require sufficient professional computer technology foundation to be realized. Yahoo's personal homepage business will break this limitation, whether you are a student , chef, painter, singer, model, plumber, housewife, as long as you want, you can set up a personal homepage through Yahoo and show yourself as much as you want.”
While Jeff Locke said these words, he pressed the remote control in his hand one by one, and personal homepage users from all walks of life appeared on the big screen behind him. These people were all users who had been invited to participate in the experience during the testing phase of Yahoo’s personal homepage. , many of whom are social celebrities from the political, business, Hollywood and technology industries.
After briefly describing the general concept of the personal homepage, Jeff Locke switched to the big screen and continued: "Yahoo's personal homepage closely connects users from the United States and all over the world through the two major classification methods of interest and region. Invisible big network, in this network, you can not only show yourself to everyone, but also allow us to find all like-minded people in other corners of the world only through a personal computer, without having to travel far or participate in frequent social activities friend… "
It was only when thunderous applause sounded in the auditorium that Bill Gates recovered from his contemplation again. He glanced at Jeff Locke who was nodding to everyone on the stage, and he had already made up his mind.
Although it has missed the last chance to enter the browser software, Microsoft can still develop the portal website, an online media business that is relatively easy to imitate. These days, Microsoft has already tested most of Yahoo's top management, Bill. Gates also knows that some other technology companies interested in getting involved in the Internet industry have also made similar moves.
Among the four main executives of Yahoo, eo Ian Grenier is in charge of the overall situation and is responsible for the formulation of Yahoo's overall corporate development strategy. Jeff Locke is responsible for the operation of the Yahoo portal and related software products. Steve Mitnick is in charge of Yahoo technology research and development, and Tina Brown, the last to join Yahoo late, is in charge of Yahoo's information department.
Now that they have decided to develop the portal business, among the four, recruiting Jeff Locke, who is familiar with the operating rules of the portal, to Microsoft will undoubtedly achieve twice the result with half the effort. and. In the early trials, Bill Gates also found that among several high-level executives, Jeff Locke was the one who had the most sympathetic attitude towards Microsoft's poaching behavior. The share of equity reward received is dissatisfied.
At the end of the press conference, the guests went out one after another, and then Yahoo will hold a reception banquet in a nearby hotel. Bill Gates got up and beckoned the assistant who was sitting nearby to come over, and whispered to him to make an appointment with Jeff Locke. Then he walked towards Eric and the others with a smile on his face.
Yahoo's network product release conference aroused strong response in the form of televised broadcast, and the Technology Alliance and Advertising Alliance conferences held successively in Boston in the next two days also attracted more media attention.
While attending related activities, Eric's other time was also occupied by dense affairs.
Yahoo's scale is getting bigger and bigger, and the original office space is becoming more and more crude. Moreover, due to the need for confidentiality, it is not suitable for Yahoo to continue to stay in the original office space.
Both Yahoo executives and Eric hope that Yahoo can build a proprietary corporate park, but this kind of thing can't be done overnight.
Selected. Eric finally settled on a thirty-story office building on Massachusetts Avenue that had just been completed. It has not yet been sold and rented out, so Eric decided to rent the entire building and temporarily use it as Yahoo's headquarters, and then move out after the completion of the Yahoo Enterprise Park in a few years.
In addition, although Yahoo has temporarily canceled the listing plan, Steve Case hopes that AOL can start the listing plan. Jorma Ollila also wants Nokia shares to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to raising some of the funds, this behavior also helps Nokia break into the US market. Eric had to find time to discuss these issues in detail with them one by one.
In addition to these, Eric also conducted interviews with several senior executives of Yahoo on the results of the equity reward plan. Although some people have shown a tendency to leave Yahoo, Eric still hopes to retain these people as much as possible.
in the process. The one who caught Eric off guard the most was Jeff Locke.
In the initially drafted equity incentive plan, the four main executives, Ian Grenier and Steve Mitnick, will each receive 3 million Yahoo shares, Jeff Locke will receive 2 million shares, and Tina Brown will receive 3 million Yahoo shares. 1 million shares.
As the manager of the three companies before the merger, Jeff Locke's share of equity rewards was 1 million shares less than Ian Grenier and Steve Mitnick's. It is not difficult to predict dissatisfaction in his heart.
However, Eric doesn't think this plan is unfair. Ian Grenier controls the overall development of Yahoo, and is personally responsible for the establishment of the Yahoo Technology Alliance and the Yahoo Advertising Alliance. Many of Yahoo's current advertising partners and Clients are negotiated by Ian Grenier himself. In addition, Steve Mitnick, as the chief technology officer, is responsible for the technical research and development of all Yahoo products, and he also has genius technical talents. The work results of these two people are undoubtedly better than Jeff . Locke is much better.
After all, the current Yahoo is different from its previous life. It is not just a separate portal, but owns multiple businesses such as instant messaging software and browsers. Although the portal website is undoubtedly the most dazzling department of Yahoo, but in terms of importance to Yahoo, Jeff Locke has fallen behind Ian Grenier and Steve Mitnick.
The five days passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was already July 14th.
Yahoo's annual meeting officially ended this afternoon, and most of the guests had already left Boston.
Eric originally planned to leave this afternoon, but because some things were not resolved, he had to postpone it until tomorrow morning.
It was already 7:30 in the evening. Eric and Chris left the Yahoo headquarters and walked side by side on the sidewalk of Massachusetts Avenue, followed by a few figures not far or near. It's their assistant and bodyguard.
"So, he has decided to go to Microsoft?" Chris kicked a small stone to the side of the road and asked Eric.
Eric nodded. Although he finally raised the price to 2.2 million shares, he still failed to keep Jeff Locke.
The other party insisted on 3 million shares equivalent to Ian Grenier and Steve Mitnick before they would continue to stay. It is impossible for Eric to pay the other party so much, and he smiled helplessly. Eric said: "Actually, this is also good, let Microsoft have a direction to work hard, and Gates will not jump out and mess with us."
Although strong technical and patent barriers have been formed, Eric's fear of Microsoft has not diminished in the slightest.
After all, many of Yahoo's software will need to run on the Microsoft operating system platform in the future, once Microsoft is pushed into a hurry. Forcibly tearing its face apart, Yahoo will definitely get into big trouble. Although this possibility is not high, it exists after all. In the memory of the previous life, after dominating the operating system field, Microsoft's attitude towards competitors in the same industry has always been utterly destructive.
Chris could also understand Eric's worry, nodded, and said, "Now that the matter is done, what do you think of the effect this time?"
There has been so much commotion in Boston these days. It was just to lead other competitors astray, although Eric had explained some things to him. But Chris still wasn't sure if it was working.
"Didn't you already see it?" Eric said with a relaxed look on his face, "Since Microsoft has chosen to poach Jeff Locke, at least he won't cause us too much trouble in the next two years." threatened."
According to previous life experience, later Yahoo and Google. In fact, they are two Internet companies with completely different concepts.
Yahoo is not so much a technology company as it is a media company. Google, which focuses on search engines, is an authentic technology company.
In reality, media companies still have various thresholds, but in the Internet world, such thresholds are terribly low, even later. A single individual can operate an Internet media business, which is the so-called self-media.
In the case of extremely low barriers to entry, websites that focus on media information will become more and more flooded in the future, and it is almost impossible to become an Internet giant simply by virtue of content advantages. The search engine business that focuses on the integration of huge Internet information like Google will be the mainstream of Internet companies in the future.
The main reason why Yahoo in the previous life failed to get rid of the fate of doomed decline after many reforms was that it has never been able to make a decision on its own media attributes and technological attributes. After suffering for more than ten years, he still couldn't escape his final fate.
Eric's series of actions in recent days is to guide other competitors to focus on the development of Internet media business, that is, portal websites.
For this reason, Eric deliberately talked nonsense at an industry exchange meeting two days ago, making a vivid analogy between the portal website and the three major TV networks in reality, and describing the relationship between the portal website and its advertising alliance partners. For the cooperative relationship between the TV network and the franchised TV stations, and to publicize its development prospects, it is predicted that as long as the number of Internet users reaches half of the real TV users, then the revenue scale of the portal website will exceed the real TV network.
Judging from the reaction at the scene, many people obviously believed it. Even after the exchange meeting, Steve Case communicated with Eric, hoping to increase investment in the AOL portal business.
Although under Eric's persuasion at the beginning, Steve Case had determined that AOL would focus on the role of an Internet service provider, but Eric did not ask AOL to give up the portal business. In the post-Internet bubble, it can greatly boost the stock price of America Online.
Eric didn't hit Steve Case at the time, and readily agreed to the other party's request, and was willing to provide some technical support to the other party.
When many people are concentrating on researching the doomed portal website, in fact, everyone may not know that what Eric cares most about is the seemingly inconspicuous Yahoo search tool on the top of the Yahoo portal page. Over the past few years, he has been intentionally or unintentionally inviting Steve Mitnick, who is in charge of technology research and development, to increase the development of intelligent search engine technology.
The two chatted, and soon walked outside the hotel where they were staying. Chris looked up at the brightly lit restaurant on the second floor, and said to Eric: "Jeff Bezos should already be there , You suddenly broke the appointment two days ago, he was very upset, I spent a lot of effort to negotiate the terms with the other party."
Eric originally planned to meet with Jeff Bezos the night before yesterday to talk about increasing investment in Amazon, but was delayed by other things at the time. He originally planned to return to the hotel at 8 o'clock, but it was actually delayed until 8:30. The meeting with people naturally came to naught, and there was no time for these two days. Eric could only entrust Chris to contact Jeff Bezos. Fortunately, the effect was good.
According to the agreement reached between Chris and Jeff Bezos, in the next few years, Firefly Investment will be directly responsible for the financing of Amazon’s e-commerce website. Firefly promises not to participate in Amazon’s operations. In order to show sincerity, Firefly Investment will inject funds into Amazon. In exchange for Amazon's convertible preferred stock.
The so-called preferred stock is a stock that has no voting rights but has preferential dividend rights.
Amazon's convertible preferred shares held by Firefly Investment will be automatically converted into common shares with voting rights after Amazon's IPO.
This kind of agreement can prompt Jeff Bezos to delay the time of Amazon's IPO as much as possible, and Firefly Investment can also obtain more Amazon shares in the process. Chris predicts that before Jeff Bezos decides to list Amazon, Firefly Investment will be able to obtain about 40% of Amazon's shares. After the listing, Firefly's shareholding will also be maintained at more than 30%.
The two walked into the hotel and came to the restaurant on the second floor. Although Eric was not late this time, Jeff Bezos was already waiting here.
The reason why Eric delayed leaving until tomorrow morning was to take the opportunity to meet Jeff Bezos.
Now that the agreement has been reached, the two sides did not talk too much about cooperation, the atmosphere was quite pleasant, and they chatted casually for about an hour to get acquainted with each other, and then the two parties dispersed separately.
Before walking into his room in the hotel, Eric said to Kelly: "Let's go to New York tomorrow morning, and then go back to Los Angeles. I always have to see the two little guys, and there are also "America's Next Top Model" and "Flyover." The production progress of "Proud Son"." (To be continued.)