"Even from a Wall Street perspective, the current development of AOL Time Warner is definitely not optimistic, Steve. Carl Icahn, who hadn't spoken much, spoke.

His words finally caught the attention of Steve Case, whether it was Carl Icahn or Sid, they were both momentary heroes, although the ups and downs of AOL Time Warner last year made many people in the company uneasy.

But AOL, represented by Steve Case, was not the one that lost the most, and even at the end of last year, he personally removed Jerry Levine, the group's CEO who presided over the merger with him.

It's just that as Sid just said, Richard Parsons, who took over later, was very capable and quickly integrated the forces on Time Warner's side, which made his original plan to take advantage of Time Warner's leaderless group to completely control AOL Time Warner's plan to go bankrupt.

Therefore, although AOL Time Warner has fallen as a whole, Steve Keys is not too worried, at least there is a backing Time Warner lying underneath!

But when Steve Keys saw Sid and Carl Icahn with the old gods there, he couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?"

"Quite simply, AOL's share price is falling and falling mainly because of AOL's stock value since the bursting of the Nasdaq dot-com bubble. Carl Icahn said with a faint smile.

Then Sid took over and said: "And Time Warner itself is recovering, whether it is "The Lord of the Rings", "The Matrix", or HBO, Time Warner, which looked poor and weak before 2000, is constantly recovering. ”

After Sid, Carl Icahn spoke again: "If this trade-off continues, then even if AOL's management can take advantage of the momentary prestige, it will not escape the accountability of shareholders in the end." After all, AOL Time Warner is still a publicly traded publicly-owned company. ”

Carl Icahn and Sid's words sounded like a wake-up call in his ears, causing Steve Keys to frown as he began to see his own situation for the first time.

It doesn't matter if you don't think about it, as soon as you think about it, Steve Keys immediately realized that his situation was not good, which made him quickly break out in a cold sweat, and the little alcohol he had just drunk at the party immediately disappeared.

When he looked up at Sid and Carl Icahn, the thought in his mind had already turned dozens of times, and by the time he looked at Sid again, the look in his eyes seemed to have changed.

Steve Keys curled the corners of his mouth for a long time: "Then I think you two are not just here to give me a 'lesson' today." ”

Seeing Steve Case, who had transformed so quickly, Carl Icahn couldn't help but nod secretly in his heart, and even Sid had to admit that the man who founded AOL was really not an ordinary person.

In fact, the previous Steve Keys was like a gambler who lost red-eyed, and went all the way to the black on the road of infighting in the company, completely falling into a dead end in thinking, and he didn't reflect on how he and AOL Time Warner were beaten into a mess by them.

Now that he has been awakened by Sid, although he can't completely sort out the complicated situation for a while, it doesn't prevent him from talking to Sid.

"Of course, as I said earlier, we've always wanted to work with you, Steve. Sid smiled indifferently, still with the same expression.

"How? What cooperation?" asked Steve Case.

"Carl [Icahn] is known to have always been interested in helping large companies in crisis. Sid wasn't done yet.

Steve Keys opened his mouth and asked, "Do you mean the 'good things' of violently invading large companies and deliberately manipulating and selling off the company's assets? If this is what you want to talk to me about, then it is better to avoid it, although I am not good, but I am also the chairman of AOL Time Warner! I will not sell my company." ”

"Really?" Facing the aggressive Steve Case, Sid asked lightly: "Do you really think that the management and employees of AOL Time Warner are so supportive of you?"

"Corporate governance is not a politician's election, it is about real performance, if the performance is not good, even if it has experienced great credit, it will be swept away by the shareholders. What's more, nearly half of the people in Warners in AOL Times now hate you to the core. ”

"Some of them may hate me in their hearts, but as long as I'm at the helm of AOL Time Warner for a day, what can they do with me?" Steve Keys asked rhetorically.

"Of course they can't do that. Sid shrugged and smiled, "But now that AOL has completely become an integral part of the new group, if it really comes to that point, then where can you go then, Steve?"

Sid's words hit the nail on the head, making Steve Keys stunned.

Yes, as Sid said, Steve Keys spent the first half of his life founding AOL and making it one of Silicon Valley's largest companies, not under Microsoft.

In order to go further, he chose the path of capital expansion, using AOL itself to raise funds, and then ate the big brother of traditional media, Time Warner Group, in one fell swoop, achieving a three-jump evolution.

If they can really open up the channel between the new Internet media and the old Hollywood media as they imagined, then AOL Time Warner will not only lead the times, but also grow into a unique giant in the world.

But it backfired, and the merger of two companies, which were themselves leaders in their respective industries, was far more tortuous than most people imagined.

The year-long merger was a tortuous one, with not only Warner Records abandoning the acquisition of EMI Records, but AOL also making a number of open agreements to the Federal Trade Commission to finally make the merger happen.

But even if it passes the audit, it will not be easy for two very different giant companies to merge into one, and the biggest trouble is the lack of a strongman who can say the truth.

Among them, Time Warner itself is a large enterprise with many mountains, and there is a natural contradiction between the Warner Group, which is engaged in media, and the Times Group, which is engaged in entertainment, and on top of them is a larger, more incompatible Internet company, AOL, and the complexity of the situation is comparable to the legendary "Gerdios Knot".

But neither Steve Keys nor Jerry Levine had the courage of Alexander the Great, and in the end they could only make this mess more and more erosive.

So Steve Case, the founder of AOL, really fell into a situation where there was no way out.