The news that Andy Rubin joined Makino Technology gave Apple a huge blow.
Tim Cook finally managed to get the majority of the board of directors to agree on the plan to comprehensively upgrade the next-generation iPod. Even though this plan was only limited to the top management of Apple, Li Mu responded with practical actions.
Makino Technology recruits Andy Rubin with the purpose of comprehensively upgrading Mangi-ME. Although Apple does not know what Li Mu is going to do, from their understanding of Andy Rubin, they have been able to infer that Li Mu The direction chosen is consistent with the direction Apple has just reached consensus on.
In fact, even if Apple executives decided to comprehensively upgrade the iPod and even develop an independent operating system for the iPod and name it IOS, this IOS and Steve Jobs' IOS are just a coincidence in name.
OS means Operating-System. Starting from MacOS, "OS" is the name of the operating system at Apple, and Steve Jobs' "I" refers to the iPhone, but Apple's "I" now refers to the iPod.
Tim Cook is far from the long-term thinking that Jobs did in 2005. He does not yet have an architecture for smartphones and mobile Internet in his mind, and his entire strategic thinking has not yet jumped out of the iPod.
This is not to blame for Tim Cook’s lack of ability. The main reason is that everyone is at a different stage, so the way of thinking is also different. The ancients said that when you are full and warm, you can think about things. The prerequisite is to eat and wear warm clothes first. In his previous life, Steve Jobs used iPod and iTunes have made a wonderful turnaround, allowing Apple to have enough food and clothing, so that it can plan and implement a longer-term strategy. When Tim Cook was in danger, he tightened his belt and only had one thing on his mind. , how to keep Apple fed and clothed? If the pattern is really too big at this time, it will easily lead Apple onto a path of no return that will consume itself.
Nowadays, Tim Cook’s hanging version of IOS is completely stillborn.
Apple would never dare to confront Li Mu again. They wanted to fully upgrade the iPod. They just wanted to temporarily avoid his edge, try their luck, and then come up with a new generation of products to catch Li Mu off guard. But no one expected that Li Mu's reaction speed would be so fast. So fast.
Under this circumstance, the stop-loss faction, which had just suffered humiliation at Microsoft, once again lost confidence in Apple's future, and the counterattack faction also reunited from the split, and unanimously believed that the possibility of counterattacking Makino Technology no longer existed, regardless of By any means.
Tim Cook also lost confidence. After the meeting ended that day, he decided to resign to the board of directors. His excuse for resigning was that he was unable to save Apple, so he hoped that Apple could find a new CEO who could lead Apple out of the crisis.
Everyone can say decent things, just like when a girl rejects a boy's advances, she will say that he is a good person, she will also say that she is not good enough, not worthy of him, and that he deserves better. In fact, she just simply looks down on him. That’s all.
Tim Cook said that he wanted to resign because he felt that he was not capable. In fact, he did not want Apple to fall into his hands. If a professional manager ruined a company with a market value of several billion dollars, this profession Managers inevitably have an uncertain future.
Everyone is just a mess. No one knows what Tim Cook is planning. The Apple board of directors quickly made a summary and told Tim Cook that he could resign, but he must wait for another three months. Three months Within the time limit, they will try their best to find a good buyer for Apple and sell it at a good price. If they cannot sell it, Tim Cook can resign after the expiration of three months.
For Apple's senior management, they were looking forward to getting rid of Apple as soon as possible after being messed with by Li Mu.
However, who to sell it to, or who is willing to take it, has become a bigger problem.
Apple's top management has reviewed almost all the big names and companies in the Internet industry, and believes that there are very few companies that can come up with enough funds to acquire Apple, and that it makes practical sense to acquire Apple. No matter what, the value of Apple's current acquisition is higher than The market value is slightly higher, so it is a multi-billion dollar business. Very few companies have such a big appetite.
Moreover, Apple has considered all first-tier Internet companies, but has not considered Makino Technology. It is not that they are unwilling to sell the company to Makino Technology, but that they feel that Makino Technology will not be too interested in Apple, especially Mango-ME2 is very popular, and since Makino Technology is not planning to make an operating system, it is really useless for Makino Technology to ask Apple.
Apple certainly doesn’t know that what Li Mu wants is not their current mess, but their huge market value worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the future.
…
Louis Martin's news is very powerful. On the night when Apple passed and then abolished the IOS plan, Li Mu got the news from him. Louis Martin believed that the time window to acquire Apple had arrived.
Li Mu felt that it was almost time to formally sit down and chat with Apple, so he asked him: "What kind of offer do you think we can give Apple now that can ensure their acceptance at the lowest cost?"
Louis Martin said: "Apple's biggest pain point is where the iPod business will go. This part of the business no one wants now, and it will face huge losses. In fact, judging from the current situation, no one will be willing to acquire the iPod business. Now if Someone has made it clear that they are willing to take over the iPod business and ask all Apple shareholders to sell all their shares immediately and leave. They will definitely agree without hesitation."
Li Mu nodded and said, "Let's do this. I'll ask my vice president to contact Apple's core leadership tomorrow and let them meet as soon as possible."
"Okay!" Louis Martin said with a smile: "I think the acquisition of Apple this time may be much simpler than we imagined. Microsoft has indeed indirectly helped us a lot."
"Yes." Li Mu sighed and said with a smile: "Microsoft is really a godsend this time. It is precisely because of their unscrupulous bargaining that they gave us a good opportunity to grab the bargain!"
…
When Tim Cook received a call from Lin Qingya, he was stunned for several seconds before he gradually recovered.
Lin Qingya is the vice president of Makino Technology and the head of the U.S. branch of Makino Technology. She is the most influential female executive in Silicon Valley. With the continuous development of Makino Technology, Lin Qingya’s reputation in Silicon Valley has also become more and more famous. It was getting older, but this was not the reason why Tim Cook was stunned. The reason why he was not shocked and took a long time to react was because he roughly guessed the actual secret of Lin Qingya's call to him.
So Tim Cook asked with great respect: "Ms. Lin, I wonder what your instructions are for calling me?"
Lin Qingya smiled slightly and said, "Tim, I heard that Apple wants to find a powerful individual or group to take over. Is there any such thing?"
"Yes." Tim Cook said without hesitation: "We are indeed looking for a strong buyer for Apple."
Tim Cook is not surprised by this. The entire Silicon Valley knows that Apple wants to rush to cash out and stop losses. It is even less surprising that Lin Qingya knows.
However, Tim Cook is very curious. Is Lin Qingya interested in Apple
At this time, Lin Qingya said: "Tim, Makino Technology is somewhat interested in Apple. If you have time, we can sit down and chat."
Tim Cook was immediately overjoyed. Although Makino Technology is Apple's mortal enemy, from a business perspective, Makino Technology is the most suitable company to acquire Apple.
However, Tim Cook thought about it carefully and said after a moment: "Ms. Lin, please remind me in advance that what we are looking for is the full acquisition of the core shareholders' shares. This is not financing or sub-licensing of part of the shares. You need to accept this first before we can move forward.”
Lin Qingya said with a smile: "Of course, we don't want to simply invest in Apple. That would be meaningless to us. There is still some room for maneuver in a wholly-owned acquisition."
"Wholly-owned acquisition?!" Tim Cook asked. His voice sounded calm, but his heart was already in turmoil.
Makino Technology wants to fully acquire Apple. This is really something Tim Cook did not expect, because he feels that Li Mu has no use for Apple at all, so why spend money to buy a defeated subordinate that he can't use
Moreover, why did Li Mu buy Apple’s operating system and complete machine business? These two sections have no practical significance for the current Makino Technology. As for the iPod, it is easy to explain. Li Mu may be like Microsoft in clearing obstacles for its own products.
At Li Mu's request, Lin Qingya was too lazy to keep going around in circles with Apple people, so she went straight to the point and said: "Tim, our chairman believes that Apple is a company with certain potential. Out of recognition of you and our He decided to acquire your company because of some needs of his own business line, and he heard that you were insulted by Microsoft because of this matter, including that he also felt that Microsoft went too far, so he asked me to talk to you. After the negotiation, if an agreed price can be reached, then he will pay, and then all the technical personnel in your company will be incorporated into Makino Technology. If the negotiation fails, you can accept Microsoft's split agreement and only sell the operating system to Makino Technology. them."
As soon as Lin Qingya mentioned Microsoft, Tim Cook felt particularly depressed. Microsoft has really hurt the self-esteem of all core Apple employees this time. In their view, the software and hardware they have worked so hard to create, I dare not say that it ranks first in the entire industry, but at least it ranks extremely high. But now, in the eyes of Microsoft, these efforts have no actual value at all. Apple's only value to Microsoft is to ensure that Microsoft will no longer be controlled by antitrust laws, just like a tool, nothing more.
After thinking for a moment, Tim Cook asked Lin Qingya: "Mr. Lin, if we sell Apple to Makino Technology, what kind of quotation can Makino Technology give us? In addition to the quotation, regarding our company and team, he Do you have any other ideas?"
Lin Qingya smiled slightly and said: "I don't know exactly what Mr. Li has in mind, so we can make an appointment to have a chat and see what you both want, and then I will talk to Mr. Li."
Tim Cook immediately agreed and blurted out: "Then choose tomorrow, I will be available at all times tomorrow!"
(End of chapter)