Facing Caroline, whose eyes were wide and full of anticipation, Eric was thinking about how to put his words on the back when Carter Moen pushed open the glass door of the dining room and walked towards them.

As Eric's personal bodyguard, Carter Moen knew Caroline, and nodded politely to the girl, then bent down and whispered a few words in Eric's ear.

Eric was a little surprised to hear Carter Moen's words, but not at all surprised.

Eric waited for Carter Morn to finish, then stood up and said to the girl, "I'm sorry, Caroline, but there's an uninvited guest all of a sudden. ”

Caroline immediately stood up from her seat and asked reluctantly, "Are you leaving?"

Eric had planned to take advantage of this opportunity to leave, but looking at the girl's pitiful expression, his heart softened, and he shook his head and said, "No, he has already come to the door." ”

Eric said and walked towards the door of the restaurant, Caroline hurriedly followed, the two walked out of the restaurant, Eric looked at a pair of middle-aged men and women walking side by side on the corridor in front of the restaurant, the woman was wearing a light-colored trench coat and blonde hair, exuding the intellectual atmosphere common to professional girls. The man was dressed in a gray suit, with curly hair that always looked a little messy, and he wore round, black-rimmed glasses, and a habitually confident smile on his face.

Caroline stood beside Eric and said with some surprise, "It's Bill Gates, why did he come to you?"

"It's not a good visit," Eric replied softly, greeting him. Caroline was a little confused by Eric's words, but she still took the initiative to follow.

"Hello, Eric, this is my wife, Melinda," the two sides approached. Bill Gates shook hands with Eric very familiarly, and then introduced Melinda Gates next to him, although he was middle-aged, but Bill Gates and Melinda Gates only officially got married at the beginning of this year.

Eric shook hands with Melinda Gates and motioned for Caroline to introduce the couple, "This is Caroline Wilson. ”

Bill Gates shook Caroline's hand, his eyes fluttering up and down at the fresh girl in front of him in a pale pink hoodie, bootcut jeans, and white flats. Although she is petite, only 1.55 meters in appearance, the girl's beautiful blonde hair, delicate face and well-proportioned figure give people a pleasing and comfortable feeling, like a doll that has been given life by God.

Bill Gates subconsciously regarded Caroline as another Hollywood actress who often appeared next to Eric, and couldn't help but envy Eric for always having all kinds of beauties around him.

After introducing each other, Eric pointed to the restaurant behind him and said, "Caroline and I were just dining, would you like to have a bite to eat together?"

"Of course, I remember the ice cream here was good. I haven't eaten it in years," Bill Gates nodded.

Several people walked into the restaurant together, just saw Eric get up and walked out, and almost had to catch up with the waiter who let the other party check out to see Eric and Bill Gates and others who had taken off their sunglasses and walked in again, although there was no gaffe, but several waiters inevitably showed excited looks.

Eric took Caroline and Gates to a chair in the corner and sat down and asked for a few snacks. Carter Moen knew that the boss and Bill Gates must have something to discuss, and whispered away one of the waiters who wanted to get up. and another bodyguard took the initiative to occupy a nearby seat, and several of Bill Gates' entourage did the same. Isolate Eric and the others from several other diners.

After a few bites of ice cream, Bill Gates unabashedly got straight to the point: "Eric, sell me Yahoo Web." ”

Eric was not surprised that Bill Gates already knew the new names of the three companies after the merger, although Bill Gates's tone was very polite, but it already revealed an undisguised strength, and even Caroline, who was originally a little curious about Bill Gates, couldn't help frowning.

Since the other party is so straightforward. Eric also shook his head decisively and said, "Not for sale." ”

Bill Gates' smile remained unchanged and said, "Eric, Firefly just issued $8 billion in bonds, and your financial pressure must be very high, I can give you a price of $600 million." Cash payment. ”

So far, Eric has only invested more than $100 million in the original three companies, and even according to Bill Gates's offer, cashing out at this time is close to 500% profit.

But unless Eric goes crazy, he will sell Yahoo Network, which has just completed a merger and has a promising future.

"Bill, I'm definitely not going to sell Yahoo, so let's talk about something else. ”

$600 million is far from Bill Gates's bottom line price, Bill Gates thought that Eric thought his offer was too low, so he made such a gesture and said: "How about 650 million, Microsoft is very sincere." ”

Caroline, who was sitting next to Eric well-behaved, couldn't help but chuckle when she heard that Bill Gates was only willing to raise the price by $50 million, and that she had the face to say that she was very sincere, but the girl immediately realized her gaffe and hurriedly said to Bill Gates: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, I, I ......."

Although Caroline looked sincerely apologizing, Bill Gates was still slightly annoyed by the 'little vase' that Eric was carrying, and he even felt that Eric should not continue to keep his little love by his side on such occasions. However, Bill Gates felt that Caroline was Eric's woman after all, and it was not his turn to teach him a lesson anyway, so he smiled politely and said, "Miss Wilson, is there anything wrong with my words?"

Caroline looked cautiously at Eric, who still hadn't figured out what was going on, and would be guilty if that chuckle had ruined Eric's business negotiations with Bill Gates.

Eric, of course, didn't mind Caroline's sudden interruption, and encouraged, "If you have anything to say, Caroline, I'm curious too." ”

Caroline relieved herself a little, looked at Bill Gates again, and said softly: "Our mentor noticed the three companies in Eric's hands since last year, and he said that the three companies are almost one, and he specially asked us to do a case about them earlier, although we couldn't get detailed data. But in terms of the number of potential users and development potential, the overall value should be around $1 billion, Mr. Gates, your ...... Your offer is too low. ”

Perhaps because she felt that her last sentence was too direct, after finishing speaking, the girl's face was slightly rosy. But he still looked at Eric expectantly.

Eric nodded approvingly at Caroline, looked at the girl looking like a kitten looking forward to the reward, suppressed the urge to scoop up a spoonful of ice cream and handed it to the small mouth, and said to Bill Gates: "Caroline is studying for an MBA here, I think the professional judgment of Harvard University should be more accurate, so, Bill, I think we should not talk about the acquisition anymore, it is better to cooperate?"

As Microsoft's position is becoming more and more solid. Bill Gates is already a king-like existence inside Microsoft, even outside Microsoft, almost everyone is polite to him, so Bill Gates was a little annoyed by Caroline's words, and when he heard Eric say the words of cooperation, he asked with a faint mockery: "How do you plan to cooperate?"

"Yahoo Browser can be Microsoft's pre-installed browser software, and I know Microsoft is coming up with a brand new operating system next year. Doing so can be a win-win situation. If Microsoft is willing to pay an exclusive fee, Yahoo doesn't mind for a while. Stop Yahoo Browser's technical support on operating systems such as Linux and MacOS, and direct more users to the Windows operating system. ”

In Bill Gates' view, only Microsoft's application software has encroached on other operating system platforms, and there has never been a precedent for external applications to be used as Microsoft's pre-installed software, let alone the other party's bullshit monopoly fee from Microsoft, which is simply a dream.

In the face of such a 'naïve' proposal from this young man. Bill Gates shook his head with a smile and said, "Eric, you're doing so well in Hollywood, why don't you focus on the media industry?"

Eric smiled and retorted, "Isn't Microsoft also looking at this new field of the networking industry?"

Bill Gates was silent for a moment, retracted his expression, stared at Eric and said in a deep voice, "Eric." While your browser software is pretty much the market right now, it's not like Microsoft can't make browser software, and don't forget, I have the world's most widely used operating system platform, and I make all the rules on this platform. ”

This statement is absolutely a naked threat, and Bill Gates is clearly suggesting that Eric will not mind doing anything to prevent Yahoo's browser software from running on Microsoft platforms if he does not agree to sell Yahoo Web to Microsoft. However, when Eric heard the threat from Bill's classmates, instead of being angry, he was aroused by a high fighting spirit.

In the original time and space, the reason why Netscape failed, although Microsoft's binding strategy accounted for part of the reason, but the most important point is that Microsoft and Netscape all use a browser kernel called Mosaic, therefore, whether users choose IE or Netscape browser, they can achieve good compatibility with most websites on the Internet, which solves the biggest problem of Microsoft to promote IE on the Windows platform. But in the air, because Eric took the lead in launching a new IE browser in a year and quickly occupied the browser market in a free way, the Mosaic kernel browser did not appear again, and, even if Mosaic appeared again, because it is completely different from IE two browser kernels, and in the past two years, many websites have adapted to many technical standards of the new IE, and a new kernel browser may even cause a large number of websites to not be displayed, so it is difficult for Mosaic browser to be promoted again。

This is the kind of problem that Microsoft has encountered since then, unless it completely ignores the legal risks and adopts a large number of new IE registered technology patents, it will be difficult for Microsoft to launch a full-fledged browser in a few years.

Eric glanced at Bill Gates, who seemed to be waiting for his final reply, smiled lightly, leaned forward slightly, pressed his fingers on the desktop and said: "Bill, when I checked the cumulative list of browser companies' technologies a few days ago, I found that before I knew it, they had accumulated 337 patents on browser software and related technologies. If Microsoft really plans to develop its own browser, be sure to check the patent list carefully before making plans. Actually, we can say that we are the type of people who don't mind sharing their stuff with others, but they have to get my consent. Moreover, Yahoo is not one of those small companies that can only consider themselves unlucky even if they are infringed upon or excluded from bankruptcy. If I find out that someone wants to take something that belongs to me for themselves, even if it is only worth a dollar, I don't mind spending a billion dollars on a lawsuit if someone else dares to take it. You should know very well that I can easily do this, Microsoft's current market capitalization of $20 billion is not as much as my personal assets. ”

Although it has evolved over millions of years, there is an instinct to cling to the strong deep in the genes of any woman. Caroline listened to Eric's strong declaration, feeling dizzy in her little brain, and there seemed to be countless little stars in Eric's eyes.

Melinda Gates, who had been silent, looked at her husband with a tense expression and an indifferent expression Eric, and sighed in her heart. Although Bill Gates was gentle with her during her relationship, she also encountered Bill Gates's irascible side of throwing documents to his subordinates more than once, and Microsoft's success has made Bill Gates more and more like a tyrant. Eric Williams's public wealth is more than twice that of her husband, according to her understanding, the other party's personality may be more powerful and arrogant, but at this time, it seems that the cultivation of the two men next to him is really too bad, this young man who is not yet twenty-five years old has never had any gaffes from beginning to end, as if he has reached the realm of pampering and humiliation after going through the world. Even the words that were tougher than her husband's words just now were as light as chatting between friends.

Seeing that the two men next to him were completely at a stalemate, and the little girl opposite was staring at Eric without saying a word, Melinda Gates had no choice but to take the initiative to break the deadlock and said softly: "Eric, it's better for everyone to forget what they just said and talk calmly, we are really sincere in cooperation." ”

"Of course that's fine," Eric nodded, smiling and reaching out his hand, squeezing it on the little face next to him. This little woman sells cuteness unconsciously in all kinds of ways, and frantically hooks the uncle, which is really hateful, too unbearable, why is the common people angry if they don't punish it!

Feeling the touch of Eric's slightly rough fingers, Caroline screamed, and finally reacted, hanging her head shyly and not daring to look at the faces of the others.

His wife helped him break the ice, and Bill Gates calmed down, realizing that while Yahoo Networks was nowhere near as big as Microsoft, Eric wasn't one of those tech starters who was left to Microsoft's control. Although he was reluctant, Bill Gates, who had regained his senses, also realized that he had to make the most beneficial choice for Microsoft in order to ensure the company's absolute leading position. (To be continued.) )