Richmond, Calif., Mr. Eric has been here for three days, and over the past few days, he has hired a team of Silicon Valley professionals to conduct a meticulous investigation and assessment of Pixar's assets.

Jobs was anxious to complete the deal, expressing his dissatisfaction with Eric's 'over-the-top' behavior, but he was helpless. Eric didn't care about Jobs' feelings.

Although Jobs's talent is unquestionable, his character is really not flattering. This can be used to deny the maintenance of his illegitimate daughter, and openly declare that he is a sexually impotent master. Therefore, it is impossible for Eric to complete the deal in a hurry without a detailed assessment of Pixar.

Three days later, in Pixar's single-story office building in Richmond, Eric placed a thick dozen evaluation papers on the conference table, tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and said to Jobs, who was sitting opposite: "Steve, I was very sincere in buying Pixar, but unfortunately, I didn't see your sincerity." ”

Jobs was not affected by Eric's tone at all, and his face showed the helplessness of an insider looking at a layman: "Eric, if you have any doubts, you can say it, and I will answer it for you seriously." Directly accusing me of insincerity is too harsh. ”

Eric sighed at Jobs's psychological element, no matter what his inner activities were, he didn't show any timidity on the surface. This composure is difficult for even a person like him, who has lived two lifetimes, to achieve.

He was not in the mood to play psychological warfare with Jobs, so he got straight to the point and said, "Okay, Steve, I'll just say it." The reason why I bought Pixar was that I valued Pixar's 3D animation technology, so I don't mind that you've already sold the hardware division. ”

Eric said, opened the information in his hand and looked at it a few times, before continuing: "However, the information collected in my hand shows that in the graphics rendering software package developed by Pixar, the ownership of three core software was placed in your computer company some time ago, and the most important animation system, although the core software is there, the ownership of one coloring software has also been transferred. The reason why Pixar was able to take on the outsourcing project of Disney's 2D animation was because of this software that can greatly reduce the time it takes to fill in the color. Do you need an explanation for me?"

Jobs is indeed not an honest man, and the reason why he did this was because he wanted to fool Eric, a layman, by luck. Once successful, those software can sell for millions. Some people may wonder how much a few pieces of software are worth. If this is in doubt, think about Microsoft.

But what Jobs didn't expect was that Eric was indeed a layman, but he knew that he would leave things to insiders, so he specially invited a professional evaluation team in Silicon Valley, which is a place where technology maniacs gather and is also an area where fraud is very strong, and those people quickly noticed Jobs's small moves.

In fact, after Eric made this move, Jobs didn't have much luck in his heart. But with his face, even if he is pierced in the face, he will definitely not be so easy to comply.

"Eric, in the four years since I took over Pixar, I have invested at least $50 million in Pixar, and the hardware department has only sold 16 million. And your offer is only 20 million, which is only enough money to buy what I left in Pixar. ”

Eric smiled mockingly, closed his clip, put his hands on the conference table, stared at Jobs, and said, "Steve, it seems that you still don't want to admit your defeat lightly." Well, I'm going to make it clear, if you buy Pixar from Lucas, and you fail again, the loser must have the consciousness of the loser, and the loss is inevitable. In order to save your computer company, you have to sell me the entire Pixar software division at a low price. So, get those software back and then we can move on to the rest. ”

Jobs's face changed a few times from blue to white, as an extremely proud and conceited person, he has always been the only one who pointed at others and scolded him, and now he was reprimanded as a loser by a young man who was more than ten years younger than himself.

John Lassett and others, who were pretending to be busy working in the outside studio, but in fact pricked up their ears to listen to the conversation between the two people, felt a lot of relief in their hearts.

Jobs was never an amiable boss, and every time he came to Pixar, he would catch all the main creators, criticize the fruits of their labor for nothing, and then drop a check on the condition of taking back part of the management's equity.

Over the years, with these means, Pixar has become completely Jobs' personal property, and all the shares in the hands of the management have been taken away by him.

Now I finally see Jobs being scolded by others. Based on this alone, the awkward love that was supposed to work under a teenager directly disappeared.

In the conference room, Jobs said with a stiff face: "Mr. Williams, you bought Pixar, it should be used to make animated films, right? You have achieved great success in several movies in a row, I believe many people will notice your every move, if I reveal the news that you are optimistic about Pixar, maybe many people will be interested and offer a higher price, what do you think?"

Eric's right ring finger trembled slightly, but fortunately this detail went unnoticed by Jobs.

Forcibly shaking off this layer of worry in his heart, Eric sneered without hesitation and said, "Mr. Jobs, your words are worth 1 million. I don't like people to pinch me, so I decided to compress the offer to 19 million. Pixar is actually like a camera, under my direction, it can shoot, but in the hands of other directors, it's hard to say what is filmed. So, $19 million, the complete Pixar software division. Call me before I leave Richmond, if you think so. ”

After Eric finished speaking, he directly packed up his personal belongings and walked out of Pixar's office. Edward, a private lawyer, also hurriedly followed. It was a long time before Jobs walked out of the conference room, glanced coldly at the employees who were working or pretending to work, and left Pixar headquarters in silence without getting angry.

Early the next morning, Eric and Jobs sat down in the conference room again.

A lot of business negotiations are like this, and they always have to go through several rounds of confrontation. Even if the last time there was a lot of quarrel, almost arm-to-arm fighting, there was a big fight of two knocks, but at the beginning of the next round, everyone still had to pack up their mood and continue to sit together, and then game.

Today Jobs obviously had a faint dark circle under his eyes: "Eric, what I did before was not wrong, everyone will do their best for their own interests." But I agreed to give the software back, but the price would remain the same at $20 million. We...... They are all sane adults, and they can't compress $1 million just because of a sentence, that's what children do. ”

Eric didn't want to push Jobs too hard, and if he collapsed, he could have spent money to set up another animation studio, but developing the corresponding software and accumulating enough technology would not only require a lot of money, but also up to several years. Although Eric is not short of money, he does not have enough time to accumulate skills.

In the past, everyone knew that 3D animated films and their peripherals could bring huge profits, but Hollywood has always had a few well-known animation studios, because these studios are already far ahead of other peers in terms of technology, and at the same time occupy the market.

It's a very difficult thing for other people to catch up, you have been doing it for a few years, and you have finally reached a certain level, but other people's skills have accumulated more years than you. In this situation, it will never be difficult for latecomers to keep up with the footsteps of their predecessors.

In the conference room, the two exchanged words for half an hour, and Eric could not swallow back all the words he had said yesterday, and in the end both sides made a small concession and agreed on a price of $19.5 million.

After taking back ownership of the software, Eric once again confirmed that it was correct, and then happily signed the contract. Jobs put the check away, glanced at the employees who had worked under him for several years, and felt that there was nothing to say, so he nodded and turned to leave Pixar headquarters.