I’m in Hollywood

Thanksgiving is coming soon, and the media heat brought about by the New York Times interview has no intention of cooling down.

Under the intense and high attention, if Eric stayed in East Hampton for Thanksgiving, the media attention would likely be shifted to women and children. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Eric flew the woman and children to Maryland with the Chris family.

At the end of November, there was still no snow around Frederick County, Maryland, and the gentle hills and plains had long since lost the vitality of summer. However, looking around, the vast and dreary scene of the sky with high clouds and broad grass and withered trees and trees can make people who live in the city feel a special sense of relaxation.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a group of people, big and small, finally came out of the forest, which is more than ten kilometers west of Jeffrey's farm. Several hounds were still running around happily, barking a few times from time to time.

Jeffrey, who is getting older and stronger, personally carries a wild deer on his back, which is the result of everyone's busy day.

Today is Thanksgiving and the women are already on the farm preparing Thanksgiving dinner. He really enjoyed everyone coming to accompany him for the holiday. Jeffrey decided early in the morning that he must have a roast venison for dinner, so he came to hunt.

Originally, I only planned to take the two nephews, Chris and Eric. When I heard that Grandpa Jeffrey was going to hunt, Emma was the first to shout to come over. Kevin also looked hopeful. Hawaii was obviously not. Maybe interested in this kind of thing, but in order to avoid the 'terrifying Aunt Drew', the little girl also followed.

So the hunting that was originally planned to be out for only one or two hours was a lively tossing for a day, more like an outing.

Joanna and Virginia were originally very reluctant and worried about the safety of the little guys, but after Eric nodded, the two women had to agree, but they still let the twins come over to take care of the three little guys, women always Can be more careful.

The three little guys followed, and Jeffrey naturally refused to do anything, and even wanted to bring his little grandson to see the world together, but it was a pity that Emily was desperate. Daniel, who had just turned one year old, had barely learned to walk at this time.

On the path between the jungles, Jeffrey walked at the forefront with a wild deer on his back, surrounded by three little guys, Kevin, Emma, ​​and Hawaii, and the twins looked after them carefully.

Eric and Chris followed with a few shotguns on their backs. Because the three little guys were there, several shotguns were useless all day, and the unfortunate wild deer was completely the result of a few hounds hunting. With the shotgun on you, you are only worried about encountering ferocious beasts such as black bears.

Looking at the group in front of him, Eric's eyes finally fell on the twins in simple outfits.

The two tall girls had light blonde hair in ponytails, and occasionally a neck that was as white as snow could be seen.

For some reason, Eric always felt that the twins' temperament matched the cold and desolate scene around them. Thinking about it carefully, this is probably because the two women are from Russia, which is always cold.

The wild deer were loaded on the off-road vehicle, and Jeffrey drove the car himself. The twins carried the three little guys into the back row, and the car started to rush to the farm.

Eric and Chris followed behind in another off-road vehicle, and the hounds didn't need anyone's attention at all. Even if they couldn't keep up with the speed of the car, they could follow the path back to the farm.

Turning the steering wheel and speeding up a little, Chris glanced at Eric in the co-pilot and smiled: This kind of life is actually not bad, right?

Yeah, Eric nodded and said, However, it can only be experienced occasionally. It is impossible for us to enjoy this kind of life for as long as Jeffrey. Last time I went to New Zealand, you know, the scenery there Very beautiful, but there is still a saying over there that living in New Zealand for a week is paradise,

Live for a year and it becomes hell. In fact, many places are like this.

Chris nodded and chatted a few words, but the topic turned to work unknowingly: Ian and the others have complained to me more than once in private, and they have achieved an annual profit of 3 billion US dollars in five years, but you have given them a lot of money. A lot of pressure.

Eric shook his head and smiled: It's obviously because of their misunderstanding, or they didn't read the interview carefully. I mean it only takes five years for Yahoo to match its current market value, not five Achieve the annual profit target of 3 billion US dollars. That is what Judith Miller said. In fact, as long as Yahoo can continue to maintain the current high growth rate, the market can accept the price-earnings ratio within 100 times. Many investments In fact, there is no lack of long-term vision.”

Chris nodded slightly and added, Then how long do you think it will actually take for Yahoo to achieve its annual profit target of $3 billion?

I really don't know about this, Eric shook his head and said, However, it doesn't take too long. Yahoo's annual revenue this year has been able to reach more than 1.6 billion US dollars, and the revenue of the first two years. The growth rate is far more than 100%. Then, in the next few years, as long as Yahoo's annual revenue growth remains above 100%, in five years, Yahoo's revenue should theoretically reach about 50 billion US dollars. According to 20 At a % profit margin, Yahoo's annual profit should be $10 billion by then.

$10 billion, that's impossible, right? Chris shook his head and smiled and said, According to the Forbes 500 data last year, there are few companies in the federation that can achieve an annual profit of $10 billion.

Eric smiled: It's really unlikely.

In fact, the reason why Yahoo was able to achieve a huge revenue figure of more than 1.6 billion US dollars this year is that, on the one hand, in the face of the upcoming listing, in order to make Yahoo's financial report look better, the affiliated companies of the Firefly system are within the scope of the rules. Yahoo made the appropriate benefit transfer.

On the other hand, the surging wave of new technology has made the entire industry throw money like crazy.

At present, the most important and most mature channel for online promotion is the Yahoo advertising platform.

In order to promote their own websites, many Internet companies put great efforts in advertising on the Yahoo platform. With the increase in demand, the promotion price of Yahoo's advertising platform has naturally risen. The combination of these two factors has already led to Yahoo's booming revenue data this year.

If history does not change much, this good situation will continue next year.

However, once the Internet bubble bursts and the entire industry enters a period of cold winter for several years, capital investment in Internet companies shrinks sharply, and countless Internet companies go bankrupt. At that time, whether Yahoo's short-term revenue data can maintain its current state will not be known. Certainly, let alone continue to increase revenue by 100% every year.

In Eric's memory, the ice age after the burst of the Internet bubble was actually not long, only about two or three years.

With the rapid popularization of global broadband networks and the substantial growth in the number of Internet users year after year, the Internet industry began to recover rapidly around 2005.

However, even if the Internet industry has entered the cold winter period, the huge user base that continues to grow is in sight. As long as Yahoo does not make fatal mistakes in its development direction, by 2005, even if it cannot achieve the scale of annual profit of 3 billion US dollars, Should be about the same.

After a pause, Chris suddenly laughed again: Actually, if I wasn't very familiar with your long-term plans for Yahoo, I couldn't help but think that your statement about the importance of portals in the interview was very reasonable. Years, many people will definitely develop according to your theory, but they just don’t know how it will turn out.”

A few years ago, Eric and Chris privately formulated Yahoo's development strategy of understanding the plank road and crossing the Chencang. On the surface, Yahoo will focus on the portal business and publicize the importance of the portal business.

However, in private, Eric is still most concerned about the two business sectors of search engines and social networks.

In my memory, in addition to e-commerce, or an online game can be added, only these two major businesses in the Internet industry can bring very stable large-scale revenue.

Although the separate Google search engine has been launched, due to the established development strategy, Yahoo will not publish the relevant user and revenue data of the Google search engine separately in the next few years, but will be incorporated into the overall financial statements of the Yahoo portal.

No one knows what will happen in the future, but judging from the growth rate of users of Google's search engine in the past six months, the strategy I formulated is actually not wrong. According to the differentiated needs of billions of users, there will definitely be a more refined development trend in the Internet content market in the future. Automobile websites are dedicated to automobile information, and electronic websites are dedicated to electronic information. We only need to provide users with information so that they can easily tools to find these.”

However, Eric, have you ever thought about what will happen to the huge registered user base accumulated by Yahoo if we turn to the search engine business in the future? According to the calculation of 300 million Internet users worldwide in 2000, Yahoo is confident that the scale of registered users will grow to More than 200 million, in the future, this scale will definitely be larger? It would be a pity to simply abandon it.

Of course it's leading to social networks, Eric said without hesitation: Since we have enough development funds now, we don't have to wait until a few years later to expand our social network business. development goes hand in hand.”

According to Eric's original plan, the development of social networks will not reach its peak until the advent of the mobile Internet era.

However, the rapid growth of Yahoo's blog business in recent years has also allowed Eric to see other possibilities.

After all, the market is made. In the past, the outbreak of social networks was actually a stable business model formed after many years of development in the Internet industry.

But at this time, since it knows which way is right from the beginning, Yahoo can also develop a new exclusive social network model for the PC era.

What's more, as long as Firefly's tablet computer is launched smoothly, according to Eric's plan, it is not too difficult for social networks to realize mobilization ahead of schedule.

After chatting like this, the two cars quickly returned to Jeffrey's farm.

Joanna and several women from Virginia greeted them out of the villa together, and they felt relieved when they saw the three little guys jumping around Jeffrey.

Just comparing the dirty looks on some of the three little guys and Eric's still meticulous dress, Virginia still gave Eric a grumbling look.

Jeffrey dragged the deer and planned to peel and wash it himself, and both Emma and Kevin followed excitedly.

However, Hawaii, who found Drew's figure, was clinging to her father, and the little girl didn't relax until the girl followed Joanna and the others back to the villa to prepare dinner.

Over the years, Drew has become a deep shadow in Hawaii's heart. The poor little girl is extremely smart, but she just doesn't understand why Aunt Drew is so scary. What's even more frightening is that Mom and Dad, even Aunt Vicky, actually liked seeing themselves being bullied by Aunt Drew.

God, how can something so illogical happen in the world?

Everyone was busy, but Eric and Chris, the two idlers, had nothing to do. Eric simply picked up his precious daughter, and walked with Chris to the fireplace in the living room of the villa and sat down while heating the fire. Continue the topic just now.

Chris said: I think it's still a pity to just lead to social networks. A large number of people actually don't have much interest in online social networking.

Interests are cultivated, and even, we can further develop the social network into an indispensable tool in people's lives, just like a search engine, Eric recalled the information in his memory, saying: Do you want to Want to see, if one day, people can send party invitations through social network friends circle, and even become a trend, then, if a person does not want to be excluded from the surrounding people, he must have a social account. As long as you have a social account, This person will definitely not just focus on practical functions such as invitations, they will definitely interact with the people around them involuntarily, which is determined by the deep-rooted group biological instinct of human beings, as long as they start to interact, Over time, there will inevitably be a dependence on social networks.

Chris listened carefully to Eric's words, nodded, and suddenly smiled again: The invitation to the Internet party, this is indeed a good note, but you didn't seem to have said it before, if you tell Ian this idea They, now they may have made it.

You can discuss this with Ian and the others when you have time. You can even do some raffle promotions for party invitations. Hollywood can still provide many movie fans' dream party opportunities. Eric will want to get together The daughter who went to the fireplace to study something hugged her arms and said, However, although I have a lot of fantastic ideas in my mind, it is impossible for me to put too much energy on these trivial things. Yahoo now has it. The huge scale of more than 6,000 employees, these talents are the main body of providing various ideas. If I need to do everything, what do I pay to hire so many people for?”

What you said is very reasonable, but it is undeniable that even if Yahoo's ordinary employees and even lower-level management can come up with similar ideas and even make detailed project plans, there is no word from you that can arouse Ian and the others more. Pay attention to.

It's unavoidable, Eric thought for a while, and said, Well, I let my assistant's office open up a special channel to accept creative proposals from Yahoo employees, and I try to spare a few hours a week as much as possible. Time is on this.