In Richmond, California, Eric has been here for three days. In the past few days, he hired a professional team from Silicon Valley to conduct a detailed investigation and evaluation of Pixar's assets.
Jobs was eager to complete the transaction, and expressed his dissatisfaction with Eric's "extravagant" behavior, but there was nothing he could do. Eric didn't care about Jobs' feelings.
Although Jobs's talent is unquestionable, his character is really unflattering. This is the master who can publicly declare that he is impotent in order to deny the maintenance of his illegitimate daughter. Therefore, it was impossible for Eric to close the deal hastily without conducting a detailed evaluation of Pixar.
Three days later, in Pixar's single-story office building in Richmond, Eric put a dozen thick evaluation documents on the conference table, tapped the table with his fingers, and said to Jobs who was sitting opposite: "Scholar Tiff, I originally bought Pixar with great sincerity, but unfortunately, I didn't see your sincerity."
Jobs was not affected by Eric's tone at all, with a helpless look on his face: "Eric, if you have any doubts, you can tell them, and I will seriously answer you. Just blame me . There is no sincerity, this is too serious."
Eric lamented Jobs' psychological quality, no matter what his inner activities were, he never showed any timidity on the surface. This level of composure is hard to achieve even for a person who has lived two lifetimes.
He was not in the mood to play psychological warfare with Jobs, and cut straight to the point: "Okay, Steve, I'll say it directly. The reason why I bought Pixar was because of Pixar's 3D animation technology. So, you have already sold the hardware department. I don't mind that."
As Eric said, he opened the information in his hand and looked at it for a few moments before continuing: "However, the information I collected shows that in the graphics rendering software package developed by Pixar, the ownership of the three core software was placed in your next computer company, and the most important animation production system, although the core software is still there, the ownership of a coloring software has also been transferred. The reason why Pixar was able to receive the outsourcing project of Disney's 2D animation is that This software can greatly reduce the time for coloring. Do you need to explain this to me?"
Jobs is indeed not an honest person. The reason why he did this is to rely on luck and want to fool Eric, a layman. Once successful, those few pieces of software can be sold for millions of dollars. Some people may wonder how much a few pieces of software are worth. If you have this doubt, think about Microsoft.
But what Jobs didn't expect was that Eric was indeed an outsider, but he knew that he would leave the matter to insiders, so he specially invited a professional evaluation team from Silicon Valley. In the area, those people quickly noticed Jobs' little tricks.
In fact, after Eric made this move, Jobs no longer had much luck in his heart. But with his face, even if he was punctured face to face, he would definitely not give in so easily.
"Eric, in the four years since I took over Pixar, I have invested at least 50 million US dollars in Pixar, and the hardware department only sold 16 million. And your asking price is only 20 million, which is only enough to buy what I left at Pixar. .”
Eric smiled mockingly, closed the folder, put his hands on the conference table, stared at Jobs and said, "Steve, it seems that you still don't want to admit your failure easily. Well, let me make it clearer. , buy the Pixar business from Lucas, you failed again, losers must have the consciousness of losers, losses are inevitable. In order to save your next computer company, you must complete Pixar The Pixar software division sold it to me at a low price. So, return that software so we can move on to other things.”
Jobs' face changed from blue to white a few times. As an extremely proud and conceited person, he was always the only one who pointed at others and yelled at others. Now he was reprimanded as a failure by a young man who was more than ten years younger than himself. , even with his extraordinary psychological quality, it is difficult to remain calm.
On the other hand, John Lasseter and the others, who pretended to be busy working in the outside workshop, actually listened to the conversation between the two, felt very relieved.
Jobs has never been an amiable boss. Every time he came to Pixar, he would arrest all the main creators, criticize their labor results as useless, and then throw a check as a charity on the condition that they take back part of the management's equity.
Over the past few years, with these means, Pixar has completely become Jobs' personal property, and all the shares in the management's hands have been taken away by him.
Now I finally see Jobs being scolded by others. Based on this alone, the awkwardness of working under a young man disappeared immediately.
In the conference room, Jobs said with a sullen face: "Mr. Williams, you bought Pixar, you should use it to make animated films, right? You have achieved great success in several consecutive films, and I believe many people will notice you. Every move, if I reveal the news that you are optimistic about Pixar, many people may be interested and offer a higher price, what do you think?"
Eric's right ring finger trembled slightly. Fortunately, this detail was not noticed by Jobs.
Forcibly shaking off the worry in his heart, Eric sneered without hesitation, and said: "Mr. Jobs, your words are worth 1 million. I don't like others to judge me, so I decided to compress the asking price to 19 million. Pixar is actually like a camera. Under my command, it can shoot "Home Alone" and "Pretty Woman", but in the hands of other directors, it's hard to say what can be shot. So, 1900 $10,000, full Pixar software division. Call me before I leave Richmond, if you can."
After Eric finished speaking, he packed his personal belongings and walked out of Pixar's office. Private lawyer Edward also hurried out. After a long time, Jobs walked out of the conference room, glanced coldly at the employees who were working or pretending to be working, abnormally did not get angry, and left the Pixar headquarters in silence.
Early the next morning, Eric and Jobs sat in the conference room again.
Many business negotiations are like this, and there are always several rounds of confrontation. Even though the quarrel last time was so intense that they almost started fighting with their arms, and there was a posture of breaking up, but at the beginning of the next round, everyone still had to pack up and continue to sit together and continue the game.
Today, Jobs obviously had dark circles under his eyes: "Eric, what I did before was not wrong. Everyone will do their best for their own interests. But I agree to return those software, but the price still has to be maintained." $20 million remains the same. We... are all sane adults, we can't squeeze $1 million just because of one sentence, that's what kids do."
Eric didn't want to push Jobs too hard. If the game crashes, he can spend money to set up another animation studio, but developing the corresponding software and accumulating enough technology will not only require a lot of money, but also a long period of time. time of year. Although Eric is not short of money, he does not have enough time to accumulate technology.
Everyone in the previous life knew that 3D animation movies and peripherals can bring huge profits, but there have always been a few well-known animation studios in Hollywood, because these studios have been far ahead of other counterparts in technology and have occupied the market at the same time.
It is very difficult for others to catch up. You have worked for several years and finally reached a certain level, but other people's technology has accumulated more than you for several years. Under such circumstances, the latecomers will never be able to keep up with the predecessors.
In the conference room, the two argued with each other for half an hour. It was impossible for Eric to swallow all the words he said yesterday. In the end, both parties made a small concession and reached a price of 19.5 million US dollars.
After taking back the ownership of the software, Eric signed the contract readily after being confirmed again. Jobs collected the check, glanced at the employees who had worked under him for several years, felt that there was nothing to say, so he nodded, turned and left the Pixar headquarters.