The emergence of IE graphical interface browser,The impact on the Internet habits of ordinary people is absolutely life-threatening,The previous web browser software has to be connected to the network through complex operations,This shortcoming will block most people from the ranks of Internet surfers。 The emergence of the Internet Explorer browser, equipped with the homepage of the Yahoo portal, enables ordinary people not only to browse the corresponding Internet information according to their preferences, but also to find the content of interest in a more directional way through the search engine function launched by Yahoo, which greatly facilitates the ordinary people who almost do not understand computer technology at all.

After appropriate advertising campaigns and word of mouth from users, IE browser was released in just one week in major cities in North America sold 110,000 copies, although IE company did not limit the number of installations per floppy disk, but the sales curve of the software did not have any downward trend, has been rising rapidly, some merchants because of the hot sales of the software, and even raised the sales price sharply without authorization.

The hot sales of IE not only caused a wave of user application spikes in the Internet business of several mainstream telecommunications companies in North America, but also caused a significant increase in the sales of personal computers of several major brands at the end of the year.

At the same time, both ordinary newspapers and professional computer magazines have keenly paid attention to this 'magic software' that has suddenly appeared on the market, and almost all the news channels of North American television stations have made special reports on the hot sales of IE software, and more professional magazines such as "Computer Society Newsletter" or "Network Transactions" have praised IE software, and have used a large amount of space in the latest issue of local magazines to conduct a deeper analysis of IE and Yahoo.

Standing by the window of the study, Eric hung up his mobile phone before walking back to the sofa in the study's reception area and sitting down. Chris pushed the brewed cup of coffee over. Curious, "From Los Angeles?"

Eric nodded, "Warner wants me to be able to attend the premiere of 'The Bodyguard.'" I pushed it off. I've been getting similar calls these days, and Spielberg asked Drew to call me two days ago to see if I could attend the premiere of Schindler's List. ”

Chris smiled and asked, "You always have to attend the premiere of the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Columbia, are you the screenwriter?"

"Let's talk about it," Eric took a sip of his coffee.

Virginia's chuckle suddenly sounded at the desk behind him, and Eric turned his head to see that Virginia, Joanna, and Emily, who had come to visit with Chris, were whispering in front of a computer screen.

The industry's pursuit of IE Eric didn't really understand, but Virginia made Eric feel it. Because of the convenience and practicality of IE and Yahoo, Virginia, who was not interested in computers at all in the past, has become obsessed with the pastime of surfing the Internet these days, spending hours a day in front of the computer screen, and often pulling Joanna together, if it weren't for the fact that the radiation of the computer screen is too serious in these years, and a layer of oil will come out of her face when facing the screen for a long time, Virginia can't wait to hold the computer still when she is awake.

Chris followed Eric's gaze, looked at the appearance of the three women, and smiled knowingly.

"The news from IE headquarters has been less than two weeks since its release. At present, the total installed base of IE software has exceeded 3 million units, and it is still growing rapidly. As long as there are no competitors, it is expected that within three months, IE will be able to cover all Internet users in North America and even Europe. Traffic to Yahoo's homepage is also skyrocketing, and the company is already expanding the site's servers. ”

Eric listened patiently to Chris's words before asking, "Is this all good news, is there anything else?"

"Of course," Chris said, "In the past few days, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Oracle, which are software and hardware giants, have approached me in the hope of investing in the acquisition of IE and Yahoo, of which Apple has offered a high price of $150 million for the two companies, and they obviously want Apple's computer operating system to monopolize IE software." In addition, I have been contacted by several major Internet service providers, and AOL's Steve Keys plans to come and talk to me in person tomorrow. ”

Eric's total investment in IE, Yahoo and Hotmail is only about $30 million this year, and if IE and Yahoo are sold to Apple, the highest bidder, the $30 million investment can be recouped fivefold in the blink of an eye. However, with the strong expansion momentum that IE and Yahoo are now showing, only a fool would sell the two companies, and if it were other investors, after operating for a period of time, they would definitely choose to go public and raise funds to cash out, but before 1995, Eric would not consider these at all.

However, AOL is a very important pawn in Eric's layout of the Internet industry, and Steve Keys became interested in the two companies, and Eric could not ignore them: "What is Steve Case's idea?"

"He hopes to be able to acquire IE and Yahoo, or at least be able to acquire Yahoo," Chris looked at Eric after speaking, with his understanding of Aric, Chris felt that Eric would not let go of IE and Yahoo to AOL, however, after taking a stake in AOL at the beginning of the year, he received investment from Firefly, and AOL's development this year is also very rapid.

In Chris's opinion, handing over IE and Yahoo to AOL is also a good option.

AOL has begun to explore online advertising business at this time, and in September, Steve Case personally negotiated a $1 million online advertising order, although for TV stations or print media, these mainstream advertising carriers, $1 million advertising is nothing, and it is not even worth the cost of a movie trailer in the Super Bowl, but for the Internet that is still in its infancy, getting a $1 million advertising order is definitely a breakthrough, so it can also be seen that Steve Case's excellent business ability.

Eric could also see some of his thoughts from Chris's expression, thought for a moment and said, "Chris, do you know why I set up three separate companies for the browser, the portal, and the online mailbox?"

Chris smiled and didn't answer. Motioning for Eric to continue.

Eric didn't sell off. He continued: "Because the computer and network information industry is very different from the film and television industry, which has developed for nearly a century. This is an emerging sunrise industry, many aspects are still in the embryonic period, at this time rashly began to diversify the integration is a very unwise move, once the company has too many product types, it is difficult to concentrate on a business to the extreme, the development of computer and network technology is quite rapid, you are a little behind, it is likely to be far away from the opponent. ”

"So you want these three companies to be able to operate separately. Even rejecting the Yahoo team's suggestion to bind to the IE homepage is in the hope that they can maintain their own position and keep their aggressive spirit, right?"

Eric saw that Chris guessed his intentions, and said with a smile: "Yes, my plan is to wait for these companies to achieve undisputed hegemony in their respective fields, and then start to expand horizontally, so that it is a safe development idea, rather than spreading the spread at the beginning, and finally any business can not compare to more focused competitors, which will eventually lead to total failure." ”

"And what am I going to say to Steve Keys when he comes over tomorrow?" asked Chris again.

"If I really want a reason. Just tell him what I just said, both IE and Yahoo can cooperate with AOL in some businesses at a deeper level. It's definitely a win-win situation, but it's certainly not a good thing to do with mergers and acquisitions. ”

The two were chatting, and there was another soft laugh behind them, and Eric turned his head and said, "Hey, ladies, what do you see interesting, share it with us?"

"It's nothing, Vicky flipped to a joke site," Emily said, looking up.

Virginia also looked away from the screen and said to Eric, "Eric, I found something. ”

"What?" asked Eric as he leaned back on the couch with his coffee, turned and leaned back on the couch.

Virginia pointed to the computer screen and said: "Although the information on these websites is varied, there are a lot of interesting things, but many of them are a little behind, we just saw a fashion website that introduces clothing brand information, and some of the information on it is even the same as I saw in the magazine last year, and the news on those news websites is also very lagging behind." ”

Eric's heart moved slightly, but he continued to ask quietly, "Then what do you think should be done?"

Virginia wondered, "What's the matter with me, they made these old pieces of information, I just won't read it in the future." ”

Emily, who was sitting next to Virginia, saw Eric's eyes flickering and said, "Eric, you must have thought of something, right?"

"yes," Eric nodded, looking at Chris sitting diagonally across from him with a surprised expression, "Chris has figured it out too." ”

Virginia clicked a few times on the keyboard, but her eyes looked at Eric and Chris: "Then say, it's boring to hide it." ”

Chris looked at Eric and said, "I think Yahoo can do its own content, I wonder if Eric thinks the same way." ”

Portal development to later, can be roughly divided into the portal to provide search engine services and provide news information type of portal, although the first one is more promising, but the current Internet scale has not yet reached the level of development of large-scale search engines, Yahoo currently provides search technology is sufficient, then to provide news information services as the main business of the portal is undoubtedly a more secure choice.

Eric nodded: "It's almost, but there are so many content sections on Yahoo's main site, it's impossible to do all of them, you can choose the aspects that Internet users are most interested in trying first." ”

"Isn't it ......" Chris glanced at the few people sitting behind the desk, and lowered his voice slightly, "Isn't it possible to cooperate with traditional print media, so that it should be more convenient to obtain content?"

Eric looked at Chris's sneaky appearance, and immediately thought that he was referring to News Corp., and his relationship with Elizabeth was no secret to the few people present, and Chris made such an expression, obviously wanting Eric to come out himself.

News Corp.'s business scope covers Australia, Europe and North America, covering almost the entire Western world, with dozens of newspapers and magazines of various types around the world and a large number of TV stations.

But now, if nothing else, just Yahoo, the huge news corp like a giant whale is unlikely to take a fancy to this little loach that has just made a splash on the Internet, let alone cooperation.

Eric didn't immediately dismiss Chris's thoughts, saying: "I'll take the time to talk to Mr. Murdoch, but I don't have much hope, and letting Yahoo set up its own content editorial department is the right way, and at the moment Yahoo doesn't need to cooperate with a huge media group like News Corporation, as long as it cooperates with some single newspapers and magazines on content." ”

"Then I'll go back and let the Yahoo team come up with a plan as soon as possible," Chris nodded.

Eric thought for a while, and then said: "One more thing, since IE and Yahoo have been launched, now is also the time, about the equity incentive, I plan to give each company up to 20% of the equity as a reward, but the time to cash out is 1995." Of course, these are certainly not unconditional gifts, and the specific level of how much equity you will get depends on the negotiation between the management teams of the three companies, and the main indicators are, of course, the market share of the company's products, the number of users, the turnover, the number of patents, the company's valuation, etc., when the company developed to 1995. ”

It is common for investors to give equity incentives to management teams that have made significant contributions to the company, which not only keeps the team motivated, but also increases the cohesion of a company.

Although Chris feels that Eric's direct 20% equity share is a bit too generous, he also knows that this can stimulate the expansion enthusiasm of the three companies' teams to the greatest extent, not to mention that Eric also said that it is a maximum of 20%, not necessarily 20%, if the teams of the three companies do not meet the expectations of the parent company, then it is certain to reduce the equity incentive share, if they can maintain the leading position in the industry for the three companies, pay 20% It is also very cost-effective to retain such an excellent team.

With this in mind, Chris had already begun to ponder the details of the contracts with the management of the three companies. (To be continued......)