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Three days after the wedding, Eric and more than a dozen executives of the Firefly system started a three-day meeting in an empty barn on the farm. The theme of the meeting was not too formal. At first, everyone was given a theme of 'Digital Life in the Internet Age', and everyone was asked to prepare a related speech according to the field of the company they were in charge of, and then everyone had an impromptu discussion.
Cisco, AOL, and Yahoo under Firefly Investment have formed a complete industrial chain in Internet technology. The layout of the future mobile Internet era based on companies such as Qualcomm, Sprint, and Nokia has also been initially completed. As long as these companies under Firefly Investment If they can perfectly achieve synergy and maintain a strong market position in the corresponding field for a long time, then the future Firefly will control a huge and terrifying high-tech business empire. Small enough to affect the way of life of ordinary people in all aspects.
However, during the three-day meeting, Eric also discovered the unstable factors in the firefly system.
On May 24, the day after the meeting, John Chambers, Ian Grenier and others all rushed to the White House to attend the banquet at the invitation of Clinton on the wedding day. Eric and Chris didn't join in the fun.
In a small pasture outside the farm, Eric and Chris leaned on the fence outside the pasture and looked not far away.
Jeffrey was leading a pony for a walk on the meadow. Emma was riding on the horse and waving her little hands excitedly. Joanna was carefully guarding the side. Emily and Virginia took Two other little guys stood nearby chatting.
After quietly looking at this warm scene for a while, Eric clapped the thick volume of meeting minutes in his hand. This is the content of the meeting that Eric asked several assistants to record in real time during the previous three days of meetings. Among them, the United States Online CEO Steve Case's speech on "The Advantages of Media Development of Internet Enterprises" was the object of Eric's distress.
In the original layout plan, AOL had to assume the role of network service provider in the original "Information Industry Alliance" plan. The future direction of AOL's development should also be towards comprehensive telecom operators like AT-T. Eric even talked to Steve Case, hoping that AOL will be able to acquire Verizon or Sprint in the next few years. One of the two established telcos could also expand into cable TV, if possible.
Aware of the bubble-like boosting effect of Internet businesses such as portal websites and online mailboxes on AOL’s stock price in the next few years, Eric did not restrict AOL’s development of this business at first, and even spared no effort to provide a lot of technical support. At present, in terms of online businesses such as simple portal websites, Yahoo, which focuses on this field, has a market share of 70%, followed by America Online, with a market share of about 10%, and latecomers such as Microsoft. Share the last 20%.
But perhaps due to the stimulation of the crazy development of the Internet concept in recent years, it can be seen from Steve Case's speech that he is obviously more inclined to let AOL develop towards the content provider, or even the original space-time The "old way" of annexing Time Warner in China has made AOL a comprehensive Internet media group.
Although he has the idea of unifying Hollywood, Eric doesn't want to see this happen at all. No one knows better than Eric that the current booming Internet industry is just a big bubble. In my memory, due to the deviation from the initial development track of the Internet service provider, America Online can be said to be the fastest falling company after the Internet bubble burst. company.
More importantly, once AOL deviates from the established track, Eric will have a terrifying 'fault' in the middle of the industrial chain layout that Eric has carefully built over the years.
In the end, Eric was the first to speak: "According to yesterday's stock price before the close, AOL's market value has exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, right?"
Chris nodded and said: "The stock price at the close of trading yesterday was 138 US dollars, with a total market value of 20.7 billion. The number of stocks we hold is 45 million shares, which is still 30%. Oh, Clover should have absorbed a lot, right? "
Eric thought for a while and said, "There are about 3 million shares over there."
"That's 32%. However, although we are the largest shareholder, we don't have an absolute controlling stake," Chris said, "According to AOL's current market value, it is impossible for us to spend enough funds to pursue an absolute controlling stake. "
Eric also showed a wry smile. It was a mistake not to hold AOL tightly in his hands.
When he first invested in AOL, many things were just getting started. Eric didn't have the ambitions he has now. He just invested with a speculative mentality, hoping that the other party would sell their stocks for arbitrage when the stock price rose sharply. The original decision also has hidden dangers in the current competition for control of AOL.
Right now, Internet-related businesses are clearly more popular with investors than traditional telecommunications businesses. If Steve Case insists on developing the content business if he insists on going his own way, even as the largest shareholder of AOL, Eric can't guarantee 100% that he can drive Steve Case out of the CEO position.
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Three days after the wedding, Eric and more than a dozen executives of the Firefly system started a three-day meeting in an empty barn on the farm. The theme of the meeting was not too formal. At first, everyone was given a theme of 'Digital Life in the Internet Age', and everyone was asked to prepare a related speech according to the field of the company they were in charge of, and then everyone had an impromptu discussion.
Cisco, AOL, and Yahoo under Firefly Investment have formed a complete industrial chain in Internet technology. The layout of the future mobile Internet era based on companies such as Qualcomm, Sprint, and Nokia has also been initially completed. As long as these companies under Firefly Investment If they can perfectly achieve synergy and maintain a strong market position in the corresponding field for a long time, then the future Firefly will control a huge and terrifying high-tech business empire. Small enough to affect the way of life of ordinary people in all aspects.
However, during the three-day meeting, Eric also discovered the unstable factors in the firefly system.
On May 24, the day after the meeting, John Chambers, Ian Grenier and others all rushed to the White House to attend the banquet at the invitation of Clinton on the wedding day. Eric and Chris didn't join in the fun.
In a small pasture outside the farm, Eric and Chris leaned on the fence outside the pasture and looked not far away.
Jeffrey was leading a pony for a walk on the meadow. Emma was riding on the horse and waving her little hands excitedly. Joanna was carefully guarding the side. Emily and Virginia took Two other little guys stood nearby chatting.
After quietly looking at this warm scene for a while, Eric clapped the thick volume of meeting minutes in his hand. This is the content of the meeting that Eric asked several assistants to record in real time during the previous three days of meetings. Among them, the United States Online CEO Steve Case's speech on "The Advantages of Media Development of Internet Enterprises" was the object of Eric's distress.
In the original layout plan, AOL had to assume the role of network service provider in the original "Information Industry Alliance" plan. The future direction of AOL's development should also be towards comprehensive telecom operators like AT-T. Eric even talked to Steve Case, hoping that AOL will be able to acquire Verizon or Sprint in the next few years. One of the two established telcos could also expand into cable TV, if possible.
Aware of the bubble-like boosting effect of Internet businesses such as portal websites and online mailboxes on AOL’s stock price in the next few years, Eric did not restrict AOL’s development of this business at first, and even spared no effort to provide a lot of technical support. At present, in terms of online businesses such as simple portal websites, Yahoo, which focuses on this field, has a market share of 70%, followed by America Online, with a market share of about 10%, and latecomers such as Microsoft. Share the last 20%.
But perhaps due to the stimulation of the crazy development of the Internet concept in recent years, it can be seen from Steve Case's speech that he is obviously more inclined to let AOL develop towards the content provider, or even the original space-time The "old way" of annexing Time Warner in China has made AOL a comprehensive Internet media group.
Although he has the idea of unifying Hollywood, Eric doesn't want to see this happen at all. No one knows better than Eric that the current booming Internet industry is just a big bubble. In my memory, due to the deviation from the initial development track of the Internet service provider, America Online can be said to be the fastest falling company after the Internet bubble burst. company.
More importantly, once AOL deviates from the established track, Eric will have a terrifying 'fault' in the middle of the industrial chain layout that Eric has carefully built over the years.
In the end, Eric was the first to speak: "According to yesterday's stock price before the close, AOL's market value has exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, right?"
Chris nodded and said: "The stock price at the close of trading yesterday was 138 US dollars, with a total market value of 20.7 billion. The number of stocks we hold is 45 million shares, which is still 30%. Oh, Clover should have absorbed a lot, right? "
Eric thought for a while and said, "There are about 3 million shares over there."
"That's 32%. However, although we are the largest shareholder, we don't have an absolute controlling stake," Chris said, "According to AOL's current market value, it is impossible for us to spend enough funds to pursue an absolute controlling stake. "
Eric also showed a wry smile. It was a mistake not to hold AOL tightly in his hands.
When he first invested in AOL, many things were just getting started. Eric didn't have the ambitions he has now. He just invested with a speculative mentality, hoping that the other party would sell their stocks for arbitrage when the stock price rose sharply. The original decision also has hidden dangers in the current competition for control of AOL.
Right now, Internet-related businesses are clearly more popular with investors than traditional telecommunications businesses. If Steve Case insists on developing the content business if he insists on going his own way, even as the largest shareholder of AOL, Eric can't guarantee 100% that he can drive Steve Case out of the CEO position.
But perhaps due to the stimulation of the crazy development of the Internet concept in recent years, it can be seen from Steve Case's speech that he is obviously more inclined to let AOL develop towards the content provider, or even the original space-time The "old way" of annexing Time Warner in China has made AOL a comprehensive Internet media group.
Although he has the idea of unifying Hollywood, Eric doesn't want to see this happen at all. No one knows better than Eric that the current booming Internet industry is just a big bubble. In my memory, due to the deviation from the initial development track of the Internet service provider, America Online can be said to be the fastest falling company after the Internet bubble burst. company.
More importantly, once AOL deviates from the established track, Eric will have a terrifying 'fault' in the middle of the industrial chain layout that Eric has carefully built over the years.
In the end, Eric was the first to speak: "According to yesterday's stock price before the close, AOL's market value has exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, right?"
Chris nodded and said: "The stock price at the close of trading yesterday was 138 US dollars, with a total market value of 20.7 billion. The number of stocks we hold is 45 million shares, which is still 30%. Oh, Clover should have absorbed a lot, right? "
Eric thought for a while and said, "There are about 3 million shares over there."
"That's 32%. However, although we are the largest shareholder, we don't have an absolute controlling stake," Chris said, "According to AOL's current market value, it is impossible for us to spend enough funds to pursue an absolute controlling stake. "
Eric also showed a wry smile. It was a mistake not to hold AOL tightly in his hands.
When he first invested in AOL, many things were just getting started. Eric didn't have the ambitions he has now. He just invested with a speculative mentality, hoping that the other party would sell their stocks for arbitrage when the stock price rose sharply. The original decision also has hidden dangers in the current competition for control of AOL.
Right now, Internet-related businesses are clearly more popular with investors than traditional telecommunications businesses. If Steve Case insists on developing the content business if he insists on going his own way, even as the largest shareholder of AOL, Eric can't guarantee 100% that he can drive Steve Case out of the CEO position. (To be continued.)