The next day is Wednesday, September 11.

Simon rushed to San Francisco early in the morning, and at the same time, Tinkobar also held a press conference at 9 o'clock in the morning to officially announce that he had reached a total acquisition plan with Apple for a total amount of $4 billion.

Public opinion was in an uproar.

Apple's current state of decline and quagmire is well known, and in the past two years, it has even become the most favorite company in the industry media to criticize and ridicule, with Microsoft's natural monopoly advantage of the Windows operating system gradually becoming clear, coupled with the increasingly entrenched Wintel alliance, no one now thinks that Apple, which relies on the PowerPC architecture and lags behind the Macintosh system, can still turn around against the trend.

Unexpectedly, Tinkobair, who has risen in recent years, will suddenly come to this trick.

With the press conference and press releases on various platforms, a large number of targeted comments appeared on the Internet, and most professionals and non-professionals were almost overwhelmingly unfavorable about the acquisition of Tinkobar, believing that it was actively soliciting a burden.

You know, although Apple's market value as of yesterday's close has only $2.1 billion, it is after all a 20-year-old American electronics giant, and Apple's annual revenue still reaches $10 billion, in addition to various types of personal computers, it also involves more than 10 product lines such as servers, printers, tablets, and digital cameras.

Even with the success of iRec this year and the continued surge in sales of iCam and iPlayer, Tinkobar's full-year revenue growth is expected to reach 60%, and the company's full-year revenue is only about $20 billion. In terms of market capitalization, the difference between the two companies is more than 100 times, and in terms of revenue, there is actually only a two-fold difference.

Suffice it to say that Apple's emaciated camel is bigger than a horse.

It is widely believed in the industry that Tingkobar's acquisition of Apple is likely to expand its own product line in the shortest possible time.

It's definitely a dumb move.

Because the reason why Apple has come to this day, in addition to the serious mistakes in the core personal computer business, another important reason is uncontrolled expansion. It seems that 'a hundred flowers are blooming', but in fact, most of the peripheral products business that is in a hurry is in a state of loss.

With the decline of the core PC business, other peripheral product lines have become a burden that causes the domino effect.

Of course, there are also smart people who think of the real purpose of Tinkobar or Westeros to eat Apple, for patents, and for the PC industry as a whole. Even though Westeros is one of Microsoft's major shareholders, it is no secret that friction between the two sides is raging.

Therefore, many professionals have also written an article analyzing that Tinkobar's acquisition of Apple is likely to join forces with Igrete to enter the PC industry together to avoid Microsoft's constraints on Internet terminal equipment. Similar discussions have also caused widespread discussion, but most of the tendencies are still not optimistic, after all, Microsoft's advantage in the operating system market at this time is too great.

All of this disruption is directly reflected in the North American stock market.

When the West Coast acquisition was officially announced, it was already noon on the East Coast, and as of the close of trading at 4 p.m. Eastern time, Apple's stock price soared 19% in one day, closing with a market value of $2.53 billion, a single-day market value increase of $400 million, and only $300 million short of Tinkobair's $2.8 billion acquisition offer.

As the market generally did not favor the acquisition, Tinkobair's share price fell 2.7% to close at $272.3 billion. Although the stock price shrank by only 2.7%, because of the huge size of Tinkobar itself, the market value has evaporated by a full $7.55 billion, which is almost equivalent to the three Apple companies according to the closing market value of the day.

At the same time, Microsoft has also been affected by media analysis of the purpose of the acquisition.

At the close of trading that afternoon, Microsoft's stock price fell 2.5% in a single day, closing with a market capitalization of $269.7 billion, and Microsoft shareholders also lost $6.9 billion in one day.

In fact, during this time, Tinkobair's overtaking of Microsoft's market value is also one of the hot topics of discussion in the media, because the market capitalization of the two is similar, showing a state of see-saw, and both are hitting the $300 billion mark.

I have to say that Microsoft, which was supposed to lead the new technology wave in the original time and space, was really robbed of too much 'luck' by the Westeros system this time, so that it is difficult to break through the 60 million mark at the highest point of market value in the future.

Now, although the true intention of this acquisition has not yet appeared, Microsoft has been affected, and it is easier than the outside world to guess that Simon's purpose for this acquisition is located The door classmates suddenly found it difficult to calm down, after lunch on the West Coast, Simon just left the restaurant with Girl C and others, and the other party's phone called.

After connecting the mobile phone, Simon did not avoid Girl C and the others, and continued to walk towards a conference room in the Tinkobar headquarters building, and said into the microphone: "Hi, Bill...... Of course, what else would I do if I bought Apple...... Of course, I haven't forgotten that I'm also a major shareholder of Microsoft, but, Bill, do you think it's a good thing that Microsoft has a complete monopoly on the operating system market...... Let's not argue about this, you have to understand that I didn't suppress Microsoft's networking business too much, just because I know that if an industry wants to develop and progress, competition is the best catalyst, so what you have to do is wait for the challenge, not try to get others not to compete with you. ”

Putting away the phone that had been hung up on his own initiative, Simon just smiled, and the group also came to the conference room.

Several leaders of the desktop Linux operating system development team on Igret's side also arrived at the same time, and everyone sat down in the conference room to start the afternoon topic: to develop the Linux version of the personal computer of the Tinkobar brand by combining the operating system research and development achievements accumulated by Apple and Igrete for several years.

Simon sat down at the conference table, naturally grasped the initiative of the meeting, and spoke first: "Everyone already knows the content of this meeting, about the development plan of Tinkobar personal computer after the acquisition of Apple, tentatively named iMac series, which is one of the many trademarks that Tinkobar has applied for. I'll just say two things, first, the iMac series will use Igret's Linux desktop operating system, and second, this PC will abandon Apple's original PowerPC architecture and use Intel processors. ”

Simon's voice fell, and more than a dozen executives from Tinkobar, Apple, and Igrete in the conference room immediately began to talk, and buzzing voices rang out around them.

Knocking lightly on the table a few times to attract everyone's attention, Simon looked at the people around him, and said in an unquestionable tone: "This is the final decision, and besides, you only have 7 months between now and next year's Tinkobar spring conference at Easter, I don't want to hear your objections, this meeting, I just want to hear you discuss how to complete this matter." ”

"But, Mr. Westeros," said an Apple executive, "it's impossible to have a PC with a new operating system and a new processor architecture in seven months." ”

Simon glanced at Peter Bakar, Apple's vice president in charge of R&D in the PC department, shook his head and said: "Not just 7 months, to be precise, 5 years and 7 months, because Igret's research and development of the Linux system can be said to have started 5 years ago, and the desktop operating system version of the graphical interface is based on the X86 architecture from the beginning. ”

"Mr. Westeros, I still think you're thinking too simply," Peter Bakar still shook his head, and said: "If you want, a senior computer engineer can spend a few years developing an operating system from scratch to design a prototype, but this is two concepts from a personal computer that can be sold to the market, and the research and development of a mature personal computer is a systematic and huge project, for example, how to solve the software, Mr. Westeros, have you considered it?"

It was not for nothing that Apple's chairman and CEO did not attend the meeting, but instead invited Peter Bakar.

The other party is a candidate for internal promotion who has been carefully screened on the side of the C girl and then submitted to Simon personally.

Therefore, Simon showed patience to Peter Bakar, nodded again, and smiled: "Of course I have considered, Peter, also since a few years ago, Igrete has quietly cooperated with SUN to develop the JAVA software platform, planning to be used for the development of Linux system software, the advantages of the JAVA language I think you are very clear, and next year, at the same time as the launch of iMac, the mainstream application software on the market, especially the Internet-related software under Igret, will launch the Linux version." ”

Peter Bakar was speechless for a moment when he heard Simon say this.

And suddenly a little sad.

If...... The recent heads of Apple can have the vision of this young man on the other side, and how could Apple, which he has served for more than a decade, fall into this situation.

Thinking of this, this middle-aged man in his forties with thick rimless glasses suddenly couldn't help but want to say something from his heart, so he said, "Okay, Mr. Westeros......"

"Peter, you can call me Simon. ”

"Well, Simon, I actually mean to say, though, it's not timely, but, Microsoft has thrown us too far away, and it's not ...... Maybe it's better to use Microsoft's Windows system directly. ”

"From a purely commercial point of view, this is of course the best choice," Simon nodded slightly, and said, "But, Peter, I bought Apple to open up an operating system platform that belongs entirely to the Westeros system in addition to the Windows system." In order to avoid possible constraints from Microsoft, it is necessary to preserve the platform position of the user terminal, which is something that both Egrete and Tinkobar must do. ”

Peter Bakar, although he is obsessed with technology, is not ignorant of corporate strategic considerations, Simon explained, and it quickly became clear. Since the young man had taken this level into account, he said no more.

7 months is 7 months, it's nothing more than a fight.

In the hours that followed, the crowd began to talk freely about the iMac plan, such as the R&D budget, the size of the team, the product positioning, and so on.

When the meeting ended, everyone realized that it was past six o'clock in the afternoon, and the meeting lasted more than five hours.

Simon simply invited everyone to dinner again, and then took the two girls, A and C, out of the Eagle Park in Mountain View and to the mountain villa in Woodside on the other side of the city.

Inside a black Mercedes Benz.

The two girls, A and C, sat on both sides of Simon, one left and one right, and the C girl affectionately held Simon's arm, leaning against the man, with a little coquettish expression: "Boss, you haven't congratulated me all along." ”

Simon felt the fragrance of the woman coming from beside him, and asked with a smile, "Congratulations on what?"

Claire showed a half-truth: "Congratulations on becoming the third richest person on the Forbes list last month!"

"Well, congratulations, super-rich Miss C. ”

"Hmm. ”

Girl C was immediately very satisfied, her head was still pillowed on Simon's shoulder, and she quickly said: "Boss, I also went to B's wedding last Saturday, and D." ”

"Did you grab the bride and throw flowers?"

Claire moved her head, but did not leave Simon's shoulder, and seemed very dissatisfied: "Boss, do you want me to grab it?"

"Yes, there are too many women around, and I want to get rid of some so that I can find a new little girl. ”

Claire finally raised her head again and looked at Simon, "Boss, do you want to drive me away?"

Simon reached out and patted the girl's waist: "As long as you are all good, and remember, when you find a boyfriend in the future, you must take care of your wallet, don't be deceived, and remember to sign a prenuptial agreement if you get married." I don't want to see you make so much money and get scammed out of it by another man, it's maddening. ”

Girl C pouted slightly: "Boss, you still don't believe in people's hearts." ”

Simon nodded: "Yes, I don't believe it, so I don't force it." ”

Girl C leaned back on Simon's shoulder and said carefully, "So, boss, what about you and Madame?"

"Me and Jenny," Simon didn't shy away either, with a smile on his face, "Actually, I'm the passive one, very passive." ”

Girl C blinked, and suddenly smiled again: "I see." ”

Simon, of course, knew what Claire was thinking, shook his head slightly, and smiled: "No, you don't understand. ”

"Of course I do. ”

"Nope. ”

"Of course. ”

“......”

On the other side, Girl A, who was quietly listening, unconsciously hooked the corners of her mouth.

Back at Woodside's mountain house, in addition to the waiter team who arrived in advance, Girl D also rushed over after work, and Simon just got out of the car and pounced on the little Jenny, who entered Stanford in 1991 and not only completed her undergraduate and master's studies in only five years, but also became Girl D's right-hand man on Instagram in the past two years.

It's just that a 23-year-old girl, who was only 155 cm tall when they first met, is still such a small person.

Simon easily held little Jenny in his arms, picked it up and checked it, and teased: "I still haven't grown taller, it's just like, I'm fat." ”

Jennifer Bray put her hands and feet around Simon like a little koala, and kissed Simon's face while coquettishly: "It won't grow any longer, and my type can also make Simon change your taste, and besides, a little fatter, it's actually more feeling." ”

Simon pretended to be disgusted and dodged the girl's little mouth that kissed him on the cheek and leaned over for a kiss, and went to the living room, leaving the girl on the couch before greeting Girl D.

Leaving the United States for more than half a month is a long absence.

So the night was a little ridiculous.

Although he pretended to be disgusted, Simon still felt more about the women who had been with him for many years. In the middle of the night, he also depicted teaching the women a small Chinese poem on the white and naked back of the C girl.

The white rabbit looks around. The clothes are not as good as new, and the people are not as good as the old.

After some explanation, there is also a small apocryphal story, after listening to the story, the tearful little Jenny said that she wants to tattoo on herself, Simon recommended the soles of the feet, saying that the other areas belong to Westeros, and scribbling is prohibited.