Ed Woolrad, who has known Jobs for many years, is not at all surprised by Jobs' reaction now, which is why he did not propose the deal himself, but instructed Jain Doherty to make a proposal on the board.

Jobs also knew this, so he didn't save face for Ed Woolrad at all, and opened his mouth to spray.

Ed Woolrad knocked on the table and said sternly, "Steve! As Apple's CEO, you know Apple's current situation better than any of us!Apple bought your NeXT to launch a new system within the year, but where is the new system now?Has your NeXT team made a promise fulfilled!?I'll just ask you, when will a new system based on the NeXT Step kernel be available?"

The development of the new OS system is indeed progressing very slowly, far behind the established schedule.

"Amelio's R&D department is full of waste! They have delayed a lot of development time, I have to reintegrate resources, and we have to postpone the release of OS 8.0 in order to give consumers a better user experience. Jobs shrugged and said disapprerovingly.

"That's because you've fired all the capable developers in order to install your own cronies!" Ed Woolrad's words were just as sharp and to the point.

Although Steve Jobs was a great manager, he had a strong factional mentality, and instead of being on the basis of meritocracy as people think, he valued the purity of the organization more, and when he took over a company, he always carried out a large-scale purge of the company. As a result, many of those who hated him called him a Nazi.

This management philosophy is not right or wrong, although it will lose a lot of talent, but it will also improve organizational efficiency and enhance team cohesion. But at this stage, it is true that because of Jobs's intolerance, many of Apple's originally capable developers have lost on a large scale, which has seriously slowed down OS8.x and Google have recently hired a lot of engineers who have jumped from Apple.

Steve Jobs's forehead burst into the fold: "This is my company! I will not allow people with different ideas from me to exist at Apple!"

In the absence of a choice, Ed Woolrad was able to accept Jobs' domineering, but now that he has a choice, he can't bear it.

Ed Woolrad said coldly: "No, you are just the temporary CEO of this company, and your last million and a half million shares in the company were also sold by you." In other words, you're just a professional manager hired by the board. ”

Jobs laughed angrily: "Ed, what do you mean? Are you going to remove me as interim CEO? OK, let's start voting, now Ed Woolard is going to remove Steve Jobs as CEO, who is for and who is against?"

Jobs pressed his hands on the heavy conference table, and a pair of eagle eyes stared at all the board members, many of whom were furious by him, and unconsciously turned their faces away from his gaze.

"Steve, we don't want to remove you, and there's a lot of pressure on the board right now, and there's been a succession of 25 shareholder lawsuits lately, all of which are lawsuits against you for backtracking your options. At the very least, you should give us hope for a turnaround, don't you?" said Joga Moore, a prominent barrister who succeeded Bill Campbell as outside director.

Jobs looked around for a week, and couldn't help but shudder, secretly regretting that he hadn't pulled Larry Ellison into the board in the first place. If Larry had been on the board, he wouldn't have been so passive in his current situation.

In addition to Jobs and Ed Woolrad, the seven directors, although they all joined the board after Jobs agreed, but now it seems that the ability of the Edra gang is really too strong, these people have previously expressed their unconditional support for themselves, but now it seems that at least four directors are a little weak-minded, which is an unstable factor in the board.

If you add Ed Woolrad, then there will be more than half of the directors who oppose him.

The main reason why he hesitated not to let Larry Ellison join the board in the first place was that Jobs was worried about Larry Ellison's coveting of Apple. Ellison has repeatedly proposed a hostile takeover of Apple before, although the other party is his good friend, but he can't be unguarded.

Now it seems that it is better to let Larry Ellison buy Apple, at least it will not be cheaper for that hateful Chinese kid.

What a damn one!

Thinking of Zhang Chen, Jobs couldn't help but feel a little itchy at the root of his teeth.

"Well, since you guys want to see Apple's new products so much, come with me, and hopefully you won't be scared into peeing your pants. Jobs was mean in his words, but he still made a compromise.

After three security checks, a group of directors came to the third floor of Apple's No. 5 R&D center, where the confidentiality measures are stricter than the three security lines outside, dozens of people in black patrol around, and even the larger vents are guarded by special personnel. At every gate, you have to swipe your card, even a combination of cards.

"That's how the $7.8 million in additional security costs per quarter was spent. Jayne Daherty muttered, still haunted by Jobs' rudeness.

Jobs glanced at Jayne Daherty, who had already hated Apple's vice president of finance to death with his careful eyes, and sentenced this guy who betrayed him to Ed Woolrad in his heart.

"I really miss Fred Anderson, and if I made a mistake, it was indeed my biggest mistake to let him leave Apple, otherwise I wouldn't have to put up with you as an idiot today. IN 1973, MOTOROLA OBTAINED THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF ITS RIVAL TELCON THROUGH COMMERCIAL ESPIONAGE AND PREEMPTIVELY RELEASED THE DYNA TAC, WHICH WAS AN UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS. And TELCON, can only go bankrupt. Still, maybe that's what a betrayer like you wants. Jobs snorted contemptuously in his nostrils.

Fred Anderson was Apple's former CFO and had also contributed to Jobs' return, but had to resign from Apple's job due to family problems, and Jayne Daherty had the opportunity to take over the CFO position.

Jayne Doherty's face was swollen and red, he was able to enter Apple's board of directors, and he was naturally not an ordinary person, he had previously served as an executive in many of the world's top 500 companies, and he was also a senior financial adviser to Cargill, the largest private company in the United States, how could he swallow this breath when he was so humiliated by Jobs.

Jobs snapped his fingers, and two men in black sent a non-disclosure agreement to each of the directors.

"Before anyone can enter here, they need to sign a non-disclosure agreement. After Jobs finished speaking, he turned around and left, and said to the black-clothed security guard: "After they sign it, bring them in." ”

A kind of director looked at each other, although Jobs's personality was so arrogant, but everyone was somewhat curious about such a secret new product.

What's more, this is the first product that Jobs has led the development of since his return to Apple!

Although Jobs is not yet a god, he is already a demigod. Everyone has to admit that Apple under the leadership of Steve Jobs was the period when Apple's creativity was at its peak, and any product had infinite charm. After Jobs' departure, although Scully brought Apple's turnover from 800 million to 8 billion, Apple gradually lost its charm and its products began to become mediocre.

What did Jobs' first product look like after his return?

After everyone signed a non-disclosure agreement, and after two more layers of security, the eight directors entered Macman's core laboratory.

The lab was not large, only about twenty square meters, and the walls were surrounded by various tools, among which a one-meter-square aluminum alloy cube was placed on the workbench.

Jobs fiddled a few times under the aluminum cube, and the cube automatically opened from it, and the newly developed Macman prototype appeared in front of everyone.

"Guys, what you're seeing is a new product that Apple will bring to market in May, the Macman, a new Mac that has been the brainchild of 379 top engineers. Jobs said to this group of business elites with a proud face, and as he spoke, he pressed the power supply with his hand, and the screen lit up.

This line of scribble appears in the center of the "Hello Orld" screen.

Every Apple fan will know that this is the text that appeared on the screen when Macintosh first appeared in the world. But what many people don't know is that this is actually a meme of programmers, which appears in almost all programming languages.

Naturally, the group of board members didn't understand the romance of this tech nerd, but they were still attracted by Macman's outstanding appearance and let out a cry of amazement.

"How's it going?Ed?" Jobs smirked at the silent Ed Woolrad, "After the Macman is launched, it can beat all competitors in the market in terms of appearance and performance, iCom? That's a joke." ”

"What is the expected selling price, and what is the profit margin?" said Ed Woolrad quietly.

Jobs paused and laughed again: "About two thousand dollars, that's a great price, isn't it。。。。。。? In the early stage, I did not have any expectations for profits, the most important thing is to occupy the market, expand the market base, and quickly amortize the cost, and it is expected that after half a year, the profit will increase by more than 50% compared with the initial stage of listing. ”

Jobs never answered the question of profit margin head-on, and Ed Woolrad smiled, "In other words, this product will hardly make any money in half a year, right?"

Jobs showed an incredulous look: "How can you be so short-sighted? As long as the product is on the market and the sales volume is enough, our current difficulties will naturally be solved, and the stock price will rise, untying our cash flow." Half a year later, the abundant profits will allow us to regain the trust of investors. ”

Ed Woolrad sighed softly and pulled out two stacks of boxy printer paper from his bosom.

"You see, this is a new product coming out of Matrix, which will also be available in May. ”

Jobs opened two pieces of paper, glanced at them, and snorted: "It's just a few more colors, and it doesn't pose a threat to us." ”

Ed Woolrad raised an eyebrow: "In the middle of the second page, you look carefully. ”

Jobs fixed his eyes and his face changed greatly: "Optional operating system based on the OS system? How is it possible? They are infringing!"

Ed Woolrad shook his head: "A month before Amelio's departure, four new OS system licensing units were added, including Matrix. In addition, Amelio sold the license to the graphical interface patent, giving Apple $45 million in cash at the time. ”

If you win the hero by success or failure, Amelio's approach is of course a failure, but at the time of Amelio's sale, Apple's system has fallen far behind the entire era, and even the interface is still 16 colors, not even 256 colors are supported, the market share is less than one percent, and at that time saving lives was the most important, and authorization or something was not a problem at all.

Moreover, this is not the first time that Apple has sold licenses, as early as the early nineties, Apple licensed its own systems to dozens of computer manufacturers. It's just that the quality of the Mac-compatible phones made by these manufacturers is too poor, and Apple gradually withdrew the license, but until now, Motorola still holds the right to use Apple's system.

"Stupid!" Jobs said madly, tearing the paper in his hand to shreds, his eyes red, "Look at the good things you did! This is the CEO you found? Is his head full of poop?"

Ed Woolrad was silent, equally surprised when Amelio had given Matrix the OS.

"It's too late to say that. Ed Woolrad said, "Steve, you have to admit that the merger of Apple and Matrix is a win-win business, and there is nothing good to continue fighting. We must be responsible for Apple's hundreds of thousands of shareholders, and it is unacceptable for you to harm the interests of Apple's hundreds of thousands of shareholders for your personal likes and dislikes. ”

Ed Woolrad paused and continued: "What's more, Apple can't stop Matrix's hostile takeover at all, and if we don't agree to this proposal, they can just get what they want, just with a little more effort." ”

Jobs's chest heaved and heaved, and he suddenly let out an angry howl, full of remorse and unwillingness.

Jobs asked with red eyes, "What if I just don't agree?"

Ed Woolrad was silent for a moment: "I will raise a no-confidence in you in the board of directors, and if necessary, raise a general meeting of shareholders, and Matrix will issue a direct takeover offer to shareholders." ”

Among them are fictional characters

16 colors in 16 true colors are two concepts

Close to 3800 words

(End of chapter)