Chapter 502： opportunity

The emergence of the graphical interface browser, the impact on the Internet habits of ordinary people is absolutely fatal, the previous web browser software to connect to the network through complex operations, this shortcoming will block most people in the network Beyond the ranks of surfers. The IE browser, which is equipped with the Yahoo portal website, allows ordinary people to browse the corresponding Internet information according to their own preferences, and also to search for interesting content through Yahoo's search engine function. A change has greatly facilitated ordinary people who have almost no knowledge of computer technology.

After appropriate advertising campaigns and word-of-mouth communication, IE browsers sold 110,000 copies in major cities in North America in just one week. Although IE did not limit the number of installations per floppy disk, The sales curve of the software has not shown any downward trend, and it has been rising rapidly. Some merchants have even raised the sales price by the software because of the hot sales.

The hot sales of ie not only caused a wave of user application peaks in the online business of several major North American communication companies, but also caused a significant increase in the sales of personal computers of several major brands at the end of the year.

At the same time, both ordinary newspaper media and professional computer magazines are keenly aware of this 'magic software' that suddenly appeared on the market. Almost all North American TV news channels have specialized in the sales of ie software. Reports, and more professional magazines such as the "Computer Society Newsletter" or "Internet News" have greatly praised the IE software, and have used the large space in the latest issue of the magazine to deepen IE and Yahoo. Anatomy of the hierarchy.

Eric, standing by the study window, hung up his mobile phone before he walked back to the sofa in the study room, and Chris pushed a cup of coffee. Curiously asked: "Is Los Angeles?"

Eric nodded: "Warner hopes that I can attend the premiere of "Bodyguard", I turned it off. I have always received a similar call these days, and Spielberg also asked Drew to play for me two days ago. Telephone, test me if I can attend the premiere of "Schindler's List."

Chris smiled and asked: "You must attend the premiere of the "Smiths" with Colombia. Are you a screenwriter?"

"Let's talk about it." Eric took a sip of coffee.

Behind the desk behind him suddenly sounded the voice of Virginia. Eric turned his head and looked at it. Virginia, Joanna and Emily, who came to visit with Chris, put together a computer screen. I whispered before.

The industry's pursuit of IE's pursuit of Eric did not know how to get it, but Virginia has made Eric feel this, because IE and Yahoo's convenience and practicality, Virginia, which was not interested in computers in the past. These days, I am fascinated by the pastime of surfing the Internet. It takes a few hours a day to stay in front of the computer screen, and I often pull Joanna together. If it’s not that the computer screen radiation is too serious this year, face the screen for a long time, there will be a layer of oil on the face, Virginia. I can't wait to be awake when I hold my computer.

Chris looked at Eric's gaze. Looking at the appearance of the three women, I also showed a smile.

"The news from the headquarters of IE has been less than two weeks since its release. At present, the total installed capacity of IE software has exceeded 3 million units, and it is still experiencing rapid growth, as long as there is no competitor. It is expected that within three months, ie will cover all network users in North America and Europe. The access traffic of Yahoo's homepage is also skyrocketing. The company is already expanding the server of the website."

Eric patiently listened to Chris and said, "These are good news, are there other things?"

"Of course." Chris said: "In the past few days, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Oracle and Oracle have been in contact with me, hoping to invest in IE and Yahoo, of which Apple has opened $150 million for the two companies. High price, they obviously hope that Apple's operating system can monopolize the IE software. In addition, several major network service providers have also contacted me. AOL's Steve Case is also planning to come over to talk to me personally tomorrow."

Eric’s total investment in IE, Yahoo and hotmail online email service companies has only been around $30 million in the past year, if IE and Yahoo are sold to Apple, which has the highest price. In the twinkling of an eye, this $30 million investment will be able to earn five times back. However, Ie and Yahoo are now showing strong growth momentum. Only the fools will sell the two companies. If they are other investors, they will definitely choose to go public after a period of operation, but before 1995, Eric will not consider them at all.

However, AOL is a very important piece of Eric's layout in the Internet industry. Steve Case has an interest in the two companies, and Eric is not easy to ignore: "Steve Case's idea What is it?"

"He wants to be able to buy IE and Yahoo, or at least to buy Yahoo," Chris said after looking at Eric. With his knowledge of Eric, Chris thinks Eric will not let go and Yahoo. Any one of them gave AOL, but after investing in AOL at the beginning of the year, it got the investment of fireflies, and the development of AOL this year is also very fast.

In Chris's view, giving IE and Yahoo to AOL is also a good choice.

At this time, AOL has begun to explore the online advertising business. In September, Steve Case also personally negotiated a $1 million online advertising order, although for mainstream media such as TV or paper media, The $1 million advertising fee is nothing, not even the cost of placing a movie trailer in the Super Bowl, but for the Internet, which is still in a baby, it’s $1 million in advertising orders. It is a breakthrough innovation, so you can also see Steve Case's excellent management ability.

Eric can also see some of his thoughts from Chris's expression and think about it: "Chris, do you know why I set up three browsers, a portal and an online mailbox respectively?"

Chris smiled and didn't answer, indicating that Eric went on.

Eric did not sell off. Then said: "Because the computer and network information industry is very different from the film and television industry that has been developed for nearly a century, this is an emerging sunrise industry, and many aspects are still in its infancy. At this time, it has begun to diversify. The integration is a very unwise move. Once the company has too many types of products, it is very difficult to concentrate on one business. The development of computer and network technology is quite rapid. If you are behind, it is very likely Far away from the opponent."

"So you want these three companies to be able to operate separately, or even reject the Yahoo team's suggestion to bind the IE homepage, that is, they hope that they can maintain their position. Is it always strong and enterprising?"

Eric saw Chris guess his intentions and said with a smile: "Yes, my plan is to wait until these companies have achieved undisputed dominance in their respective fields and then start to expand horizontally. This is safe. The development idea. Instead of spreading the stalls from the beginning, any business in the end is better than a more focused competitor, which ultimately leads to a total failure."

"When will Steve Case come over to me tomorrow, how can I tell him?" Chris asked again.

"If you really want a reason, let me know what I just said. Both IE and Yahoo can cooperate with AOL in some business, which is definitely a win-win situation, but the merger. Certainly not."

The two were chatting, and there was a soft laughter behind them. Eric turned his head and said, "Hey, ladies. See what fun things to share with us?"

“Nothing, Vicky turned to a joke website,” Emily said, looking up.

Vegniya also looked away from the screen and said to Eric: "Eric, I found one thing."

"What?" Eric asked with a coffee and leaned back and leaned against the back of the sofa.

Virginia pointed to the computer screen. Said: "The information on these websites is varied and there are many interesting things. But many of them are falling behind. We just saw a fashion website that introduces clothing brand information. Some of the above information is still in the magazine last year. As I have seen, the news of those news websites is also very lagging."

Eric’s heart moved slightly, but the surface continued quietly and asked: “What do you think?”

Vignia wondered: "What is going on with me? They give me the old information. I won't see it later."

Emily, who was sitting next to Virginia, saw the flash of Eric’s gaze and said, “Eric, you must have thought of something, right?”

"Yeah," Eric nodded, looking at Chris, who was sitting diagonally opposite, and said: "Chris also came up."

Virginia slammed on the keyboard a few times, but her eyes looked at Eric and Chris: "That said, it’s boring to hide."

Chris looked at Eric and said, "I think Yahoo can do the content by itself. I don't know if Eric is thinking that way too."

After the development of the portal, it can be roughly divided into a portal that provides search engine services and a portal that provides news information. Although the first one is more promising, the current Internet scale has not yet reached the level of developing large search engines. Yahoo's current search technology is enough, so the portal that provides news and information services as the main business is undoubtedly a safe choice.

Eric nodded: "Almost, but there are so many content sections on Yahoo's main station that it is impossible to do all of them. You can choose the most interesting aspects of Internet users to try."

“Is it...” Chris glanced at the few people sitting behind the desk, slightly lowering his voice: “Is it possible to work with traditional paper media, so it should be more convenient to get content?”

Eric looked at Chris’s sneaky look and immediately thought that he was referring to News Corp. His relationship with Elizabeth was not a secret to the few people present. Chris made such an expression, obviously I want to let Eric go out in person.

News Group's business covers Australia, Europe and North America, covering almost the entire Western world. There are dozens of newspapers and magazines and a large number of TV stations around the world. If you can cooperate with News Corporation on content, then Yahoo is not a tiger, it is simply a tiger flying.

But now, if you ignore the other, just in the case of Yahoo, the news group, which is as big as a whale, is simply not able to look at this little muddy that has just smashed a splash on the Internet, and cooperation is even more difficult to talk about.

Eric did not immediately dismiss the idea of ​​Chris, saying: "I will take the time to talk to Mr. Murdoch, but hope is not big, let Yahoo set up its own content editing department is the right way, and currently Yahoo does not need to The huge media group of News Corporation is cooperating, as long as it can cooperate with some single newspapers and magazines on content."

"Then I will go back and let Yahoo's team come up with a plan as soon as possible," Chris nodded.

Eric thought about it and said: "There is one more thing. Since both IE and Yahoo have been launched, it is time. With regard to equity incentives, I plan to use up to 20% of each company as a reward. However, the cashing time is 1995. Of course, these are definitely not given unconditionally. To determine the extent to which you can get the equity, you have to negotiate with the management team of the three companies. The main indicator is the company's development to 1995. Product market share, number of users, turnover, patent holdings, company valuations, etc. at the time of the year."

It is common for investors to issue equity incentives to management teams that have made significant contributions to the company. This will not only keep the company's team motivated, but also increase the cohesiveness of a company.

Although Chris thinks that Eric’s direct share of 20% of the shares is too generous, he also knows that this will maximize the enthusiasm of the three companies’ teams, not to mention Eric’s 20%. Instead of having to issue 20%, if the team of the three companies does not meet the expectations of the parent company, then the share of equity incentives is affirmative. If they can keep the three companies in the leading position in the industry, pay 20% to stay. The excellent team is also very cost-effective.

Thinking about this, Chris’s mind has begun to ponder the specific contract details with the management of the three companies. (To be continued)