With the large number of users using QQ's group function, the traffic of online chat rooms in the United States is shrinking rapidly day by day, and the number of users is seriously lost, not only those sparsely populated chat rooms are dying rapidly! Even those paid chat rooms have seen a sharp drop in traffic! The number of new paying chat room users every day has dropped by as much as 80% after three days! The number of old users renewing their subscriptions has dropped by as much as 50% Almost all of the remaining users have chosen the one-month short-term renewal method, and only a very small number of users are willing to continue to choose the long-term renewal of the annual subscription.

These days, countless users in the AOL chat room to form a gang, constantly announcing a new QQ group number, a huge stream of traffic is forever waving goodbye to AOL, to the vast world of QQ group chat, AOL's chat room has become an advertising room for countless QQ groups, from time to time someone in the advertising room.

"Dungeons & Dragons Long Island players, please add QQ No. 1 group 2255745, No. 2 group 2777181, No. 3 group 2912217, we organize offline card duel activities once a week, the meeting place is in the Long Island Community Center, all event notices will be released in the group in the future, please join the group as soon as possible. ”

"The Boston Red Sox veteran fan group is recruiting, and veteran die-hards with season ticket stubs for more than 10 years from 84 to the present can apply to join, and the group number is 3015231"

"IBM server technical exchange chat room is about to be disbanded,This chat room has stopped renewing,Old friends, please add QQ group,Group number 2551873"

"Dr. Suss psychological counseling users, please add the QQ group, the group number is 3015547, Dr. Suss will not answer any emotional questions in the chat room in the future, everyone is welcome to join. ”

……………………

For a time, AOL's chat room business was cloudy! A chiffle of rain was everywhere in the company! The high-level personnel of the chat room business were fluctuating in the wind and rain, and a large number of technical personnel submitted resumes to other companies one after another, intending to jump ship and escape from the sky.

In just two weeks, AOL's stock fell from $35 to $22, and its market value shrank from more than $110 billion to $70 billion, almost a dive! Investors began voting with their feet to leave the worthless company, which was scolded by shareholders who had lost a lot of money overnight.

If it weren't for the support of the four major sectors of Internet access business, server leasing business, portal business, and VISA credit card online payment business, AOL's stock price would have fallen even worse. Investors in Silicon Valley have commented, saying that in the long run, the era of rapid growth of the chat room business has passed, and the general trend in the world has gone, AOL can no longer use the business as a high-speed growth point of performance to support the previous optimistic valuation, as for the stock price, I am afraid that it will not be able to return to the previous high of $35 in two or three years, and any investor in Silicon Valley will undoubtedly take the most stupid money burn in the future.

At the same time, Chongguang Software Company has become the focus of investors in Silicon Valley, although many venture capital companies have come to the door to ask for shares, but they have been rejected, and those large investment companies know that Chongguang Microelectronics' profits are so high, it is absolutely burning money, and it can support the promising QQ business under their command. So I don't have to bother to hit the wall at all.

Microsoft's MSN program has also suffered a heavy blow, this year's MSN has not yet had the prototype of the later generation of QQ operation, but called NETMEETING, which requires users to enter each other's IP addresses in the computer, and the two computers can only communicate in the dialog box after the two computers are officially connected, which is very troublesome to operate!

But even such a primitive Internet communication software,It's actually later than QQ listed,Under the blow of QQ,The NETMEETING function bundled in indos is not cared for at all,Many people don't know the existence of this function,Even if someone tries to use it,It's immediately disdainful and abandoned。

Microsoft's MSN project department was hit hard, and it was going to continue to upgrade and renovate with the goal of copying QQ's model, but when QQ launched the group function, the MSN project department had to announce a reformulation of the development plan again, and the new plan will include the group communication function, as for the release date, it was naturally postponed indefinitely......

Bill Gates was helpless about this situation, and after consulting with market experts, he also gave up the idea of acquiring the software business unit as a whole. And this idea was originally put forward by President Paul Allen after the COMDEX exhibition, and Bill didn't take it seriously at the time, but then this idea has been haunting his mind, and with the launch of the QQ group function, this idea has gradually materialized, becoming a daily burning **, and more and more intense.

According to the estimates of Silicon Valley experts who advised Bill Gates, the current valuation of QQ software alone is currently more than $20 billion! This is still the most conservative analysis! You must know that Microsoft's current total market value is just over $150 billion, how can it come up with so much money to acquire just one Internet communication software! With this money, it is better to invest in research and development by itself! At present, no matter how bad and crippled MSN is, it is also its own product, and as long as it is willing to continue to spend money on research and development, it will be able to have the same functions as QQ sooner or later.

As for the number of users, Bill Gates is not worried, he thinks that with the monopoly position of the indos operating system, as long as any software of Microsoft is built-in and bundled in indos, then even if it is a piece of, it can be loaded into any PC on the planet with the big thick legs of indos!

Bill thought about it, and played with the new product that Chongguang had just provided to Microsoft, this gadget called U-PAN, which can provide a storage capacity of up to 64M on the USB interface of the PC, like a small-capacity low-rate external hard drive, which is really a very good invention.

At this time, President Paul Allen knocked on the door and entered Bill's office, and when he saw the USB flash drive that Bill was playing, Paul Allen also turned his head sideways and said: "Genius invention, isn't it? Although there are no products on the market now, I think this thing can become popular in the global computer market within a month."

Bill sighed: "It would be nice if Chongguang was just an IC company, they have endless creativity in hardware, but they still have ace software like QQ, which is really enviable, even in Silicon Valley there are few companies as good as them, whether it is technology or creativity, they are good enough." ”

Paul Allen raised his eyebrows and said: "I have notified the driver department to include the driver of the USB flash drive in the next version of IN95 driver-free upgrade patch, in the future, users do not need to install additional drivers to achieve plug and play, for this cutting-edge electronic products we must support." ”

Bill smiled slightly, he didn't care about this kind of hardware support routine, but he was really worried about the existence of QQ.

"Paul, you're right, it would have been nice if we had contacted Chongguang during the COMDEX show to negotiate the acquisition of QQ. ”

Paul Allen spread his hands: "Even so, it may not be possible to acquire cheaply, mature P2P technology can not be completed in a few months of research and development, Chongguang software must have spent several years on Internet communication technology, in order to continuously come up with products that are admired by the industry." ”

Bill nodded in agreement: "Well, it seems that they have been developing P2P technology for a long time, I estimate that next, Chongguang Software will eat all the valuation of the chat room business that originally belonged to AOL, you must know that AOL has lost nearly 40 billion US dollars in market value, even if only half of it is reflected in the valuation of QQ, it is also a terrifying growth!"

Paul Allen smiled bitterly: "Don't mention the acquisition of QQ again, according to the inside information I have gotten, AOL has gone crazy, the management is completely out of control, almost half of the shareholders on the board of directors have suggested the acquisition of QQ, and now the management of AOL intends to propose an acquisition plan worth up to 30 billion to Chongguang!

Bill Gates was dumbfounded: "$30 billion? Are they crazy!"

Paul smiled: "Of course it's the US dollar, is it in RMB? But I don't think it will be cash, but a share exchange, using the additional shares and a part of the cash to buy Chongguang Software and turn China Chongguang Group into one of the shareholders of AOL." ”

Bill smiled elegantly: "I'll make a bet with you, I guess Chongguang won't sell QQ." ”

Paul said cheerfully: "Bet! With the Ferrari F355 Challenge you bought last year, I'll give you my Porsche 911GT if I lose." ”

Bill nodded in agreement, "Now you can talk about your basis." ”

So Paul said quickly: "I got the news from the business intelligence company, Cyrix has reached a joint venture plan with Chongguang to build a flash memory chip factory in Puhai, Cyrix will provide technology, Chongguang will pay money, the total investment of the project is about one billion US dollars, and Chongguang can't come up with a mere billion, more than half of this money needs to rely on loans from the Chinese government, doesn't this mean that they are short of money?" Although Silicon Valley valus Chongguang's microelectronics and software businesses at a very high level, with a combined valuation of more than $30 billion, they are an unlisted company, so there is a common problem of unlisted companies right now, which is a lack of cash, at least for now. ”

Bill opened his mouth slightly like a fish starved of oxygen, gasped for a moment, and said, "Damn! You already know the news, this gamble is so unfair." ”

Paul bared his white teeth: "It's too late for you to regret it, I don't like Ferrari anyway." ”

Bill shook his head and said, "I don't regret it, I don't think Chongguang will sell QQ." ”

Paul was surprised, "Why?"

Bill laughed, "Intuition. ”

"Intuition?" Paul frowned slightly.

Bill explained: "I still remember Hu Yiting, his name is Hu Yiting, right? I hope my pronunciation is correct, he said at the COMDEX exhibition, he promised that the number of QQ users will exceed 1 million this year, and 10 million within two years, QQ will provide group chats, Internet video and voice communication in the future, and be able to send local pictures and files in the chat, and contribute to telemedicine and other fields." ”

Bill said, looking out the window at the big lawn, facing the fresh green, and said leisurely: "Hu Yiting is a dreamer with a plan, when I look at him, I feel like I saw Apple's Steve Jobs, his promises, the group chat function has now been realized, and then he will definitely push QQ step by step to complete the remaining goals, 1 million users! 10 million users! video communication! voice communication...... People like Paul and Hu Yiting are doers, not short-term speculators who see money. ”

Paul was silent, pondering, and felt that there was some truth in what Bill had said.

Bill turned his head and smiled at Paul, and said, "And I can see how much he loves QQ!" The whole speech except for the first mention of integrated circuits, and then he has been talking about QQ, and the light in his eyes at that time is like a mother looking at her infant child, full of love and hope.

I think he's the kind of person who has just been born and has already planned for his baby's future college and career! This kind of person you expect him to sell companies and projects with high hopes to others? I don't think it's possible!

You also know how successful Chongguang's chips are! The sales volume is millions, he is now a billionaire, just like you and me, rich, just as successful, now money still makes sense to him?

It's like if somebody asks me to buy all the Microsoft shares in my hands, but I won't be tempted even if he gives me more money, because I don't know what I'm going to do after I leave Microsoft?

If I had sold Microsoft, my life would have been empty like an addict, and I wouldn't have invested in a new business, because I knew that I would never have found a greater investment than Microsoft, and the probability of rebuilding a business that was more valuable than Microsoft was lower than the probability of being killed twice by a meteorite. ”

Paul Allen listened to Bill Gates' analysis. Applauded in admiration: "Brilliant analysis! Even though I think I am likely to win, I can't help but applaud your speech! What you say is very reasonable, almost more convincing than my intelligence evidence, Bill, you are a natural leader! You have great intuition!"

Bill Gates smiled shyly like a child: "You drive carefully these two days, don't break my Porsche 911!"

Paul grinned helplessly and said with a smile: "Let's see, that's 30 billion US dollars, and Hu Yiting is from China, it's a third world country, don't media like CNN often report that at least half of the people in that country are starving, living on tree bark and mud! The other half are greedy savages! So Bill, don't underestimate the allure of money for him!"

Bill laughed, "CNN, hehe......"