Rebirth of the Tech Madman

The reason why we invite everyone to come here this time is because we need a joint battle. Tang Huan glanced at the crowd, That is to say, bring out your favorite products for the Fangyuan computer platform, and let our entire system The value is becoming more and more prominent.

Speaking of this, Tang Huan specifically named the leading software products of subsidiaries such as pothoshop, autocad, etc., In the final analysis, we want to use the most powerful functions to defeat all competitors and finally win the battle for personal computer standards. victory.

In the warm applause, Tang Huan ended his speech, and the specific work was arranged by John Chambers, Charles Simeone and others.

...

Tang Huan returned to the office and just took a breath when Jobs pushed the assistant and barged in muttering, Tang, are you avoiding me? It's really not easy to see each other.

Do I need to hide from you? Tang Huan shrugged, Everyone can see how busy I am.

Then you should know why I'm looking for you, right? Jobs sat down boldly, still in the arrogant manner that the world revolves around him.

Tang Huan laughed dumbfounded, I really don't know.

In fact, he was pretending to be confused while pretending to understand.

Jobs is currently looking for venture capital for next, and he has harassed Zheru's office a lot, making everyone stay away.

In just over a year, Jobs, who was kicked out of Apple, created the next company, which has burned through 7 million US dollars, and the results of his work are just products on the desk, which is far from the commercialization of the market. The degree is still far away.

This result is not surprising at all. Without any operating income, Jobs let his mind fly and tossed willfully in the next company. The R\u0026D progress has been reset countless times.

Moreover, in addition to the luxurious office environment, Jobs also took his carefully selected research and development team out from time to time for brainstorming meetings and brainstorming sessions. The most recent time he played a lap at Tang Huan's Pebble Beach Golf Course.

No matter how much money you have, you can't afford to be so extravagant!

Under such circumstances, the shrewd Jobs didn't want to continue to pay out of his own pocket, but used his brains for financing—based on his wishful thinking, he valued next at $30 million.

It is conceivable that venture capitalists are of course unwilling to buy it, and Tang Huan's assistant in the San Francisco office is also afraid to avoid it. Until now, Jobs has not fooled a penny.

Sure enough, Jobs began to talk about investing in next, and touted the advancement of next.

The highlight of Jobs' previous masterpiece, mac, is the graphical user interface; now the highlight of next is the object-oriented operating system.

After patiently listening to Jobs nagging for a long time, Tang Huan then asked, Then how much do you plan to raise from me?

Jobs pulled out a document and handed it over, This is the prospectus. You can buy 10% of the shares of Next Company for only $3 million.

Tang Huan took the prospectus, but did not read it, and put it aside, then filled out a check for 3 million US dollars, and pushed it in front of Jobs along the smooth desktop.

It's only $3 million! Jobs, who glanced at it, couldn't help being a little dumbfounded.

Is there any problem? Tang Huan asked back: Didn't you just say that you can buy 10% of Next's shares for only 3 million US dollars.

What I mean is that the subscription amount starts from 3 million US dollars. With your financial resources, isn't it easy to invest 10 million at random! Jobs showed dissatisfaction, But now, aren't you sending beggars away? ...

Just because I became a shareholder of Next Company, the advertising effect played is more than the 30 million US dollars that Next Company is valued at.

After Tang Huan said lightly, he stretched out his hand as if to take back the check.

Let's count as much as we can. The depressed Jobs muttered, but he quickly put away the check in his hand.

Don't forget, I bought 10% of the shares of Next Company. Seeing that Jobs took the money and left, Tang Huan reminded a few words, Also, don't try to break into my R\u0026D center anymore. If you are messing around, be careful that I will turn you into the most common minority shareholder among philosophers.

Jobs strode out of the office as if he hadn't heard of it, but he didn't go far and met Gates oncoming, and he suddenly became more and more upset.

However, although there were many pimples in his heart, Jobs, who was asking for help, still resisted the attack, and asked nonchalantly: How are you thinking about developing proprietary software for the next computer?

You guys should take out the prototype as soon as possible, and then discuss other things. Gates answered casually, with a hint of teasing in his tone.

This time Jobs hit a sore point, and he immediately settled the score in a strange way: Don't forget, the spreadsheet software Excel that helped Microsoft make a lot of money relies on the big tree of Mac.

My cooperation with Apple is now recognized by both parties. Besides, does it have anything to do with you? Gates argued unceremoniously.

When the two were arguing, the security guard who was called by the impatient assistant politely stepped forward and said, Gentlemen, no loud noises are allowed on this floor.

Jobs and Gates hummed to each other, turned around and walked in opposite directions.

A short and lean man in his fifties noticed this scene not far away. After thinking for a while, he strode towards Jobs and caught up with him in the parking lot. Say hello, Hey, Jobs.

Do we know each other? Jobs asked angrily.

You don't know me, but I know you. The person introduced himself with confidence: Perhaps, you have heard of my name. My name is Ross Perot——Ross Perot, who is now the sole proprietor of PeopleSoft The second largest individual shareholder after Tang Huan. He previously ran a computer service company called Electronic Data Systems, but it was sold to General Motors the year before last.

Although Jobs often messed up, it also depends on the person. For those who are valuable, he often shows himself very restrained. The enthusiastic Ross Perot in front of him is within this range.

Don't think that Ross Perot took the initiative to come over, so you underestimated others. He is a veritable big man, full of legends.

Ross Perot was born in Texarkana, Texas, the United States. His father was a commodity broker specializing in cotton contracts. His performance at the Sri Lanka Naval Academy was outstanding, especially when he was working as a salesperson in IBM. He once completed the annual sales task in just two weeks.

To some extent, Ross Perot has a distinctive personality, which is a bit similar to Jobs at this stage, or it is more appropriate to describe it as a Texas cowboy.

For this reason, in the bureaucratic IBM, Ross Perot's future is just to be a top employee.

By 1962, Ross Perot decided to go solo, creating Electronic Data Systems, Inc., which served IBM mainframe customers.

Daring to compete with Big Blue for business, Ross Perot certainly had no good fruit to eat. He was in a difficult situation at first. After being rejected seventy-seven times, Electronic Data Systems got his first contract.

Fortunately, things have gotten better since then, and Ross Perot has won a large number of contracts from the government and made huge profits.

When Electronic Data Systems went public in 1968, the stock price soared from $16 to $160 in one day, and Ross Perot was put on the cover of Fortune magazine as the fastest and richest man.

It is undeniable that the rise of Electronic Data Systems and the sudden wealth of Ross Perot are closely related to the success of IBM's system/360 and the prosperity of mainframes at that time.

Take General Motors as an example. By the 1980s, it already had hundreds of IBM mainframes, and the annual expenditure on internal data processing and office automation alone was as high as 2 billion US dollars. If it cooperates with Electronic Data Systems, the contract value is about 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars.

The management of General Motors thought that instead of doing this, it might as well just buy Electronic Data Systems.

In this way, in 1984, Ross Perot sold Electronic Data Systems to General Motors for $2.4 billion. In this transaction, in addition to a large amount of cash, he also got a lot Less shares of General Motors, into the other side's board of directors. .

There is no doubt that this transaction is quite shrewd-General Motors saves costs and has an additional source of income, while the development situation of IBM mainframes is going from bad to worse. Seeing this, Ross Perot felt that it was time for him to The battlefield has been shifted.

During PeopleSoft's IPO process this year, the billionaire actively subscribed and became the second largest individual shareholder. It can be regarded as stepping from the field of mainframe computers to the field of microcomputers.

However, this is not enough to make up for the regret hidden in Ross Perot's heart.

It turned out that as early as 1979, Gates had visited Ross Perot in Texas, but he didn't take it seriously at the time. After Microsoft was listed on Nasdaq this year, its market value quickly swelled to $1 billion.

Ross Perot, who saw this scene, let alone the regret in his heart-if he had known today, he would have acquired Microsoft at the beginning, and he missed an opportunity to deliver it to his door.

As for the IPOs of several companies under Tang Huan, Ross Perot also caught up with the PeopleSoft bus by accident.

Regrets are regrets. Because of this, Ross Perot realized the bright prospects of the great development of microcomputers led by personal computers, so he rushed to catch up in this investment direction. Now, Jobs came into his field of vision.

To be honest, this IT star who was kicked out by the company he created doesn't have a good impression on Wall Street, and venture capital doesn't like him.

But Ross Perot was different. He admired Jobs, felt that he had hit it off with him, and was willing to become his angel investor, thus showing great goodwill.

On this side, Jobs, who had already realized what kind of a powerful local tyrant the guy suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, also began to show his most attractive attributes, and started to deal with him.

However, when Ross Perot said bluntly: I heard that your next company is looking for investment. If you need it, just ask. I will help you and your team to complete the idea.

Jobs was not as eager as Tang Huan showed, but put up his airs calmly and answered, Thank you. I just got an investment from Tang for next company.

Obviously, Jobs really needs money now, very much, otherwise he would not complain that Tang Huan only gave 3 million US dollars like a beggar, but at this time his reservedness to Ross Perot is a reflection of his cunning and cleverness place.

Sure enough, Ross Perot was fooled by Jobs who was pulling Tang Huan's banner. Seeing that the other party was very cautious, he said generously: It turns out that Tang is also optimistic about your company. Anyway, if you need it, you can Call me anytime.

In this way, Jobs took the initiative to contact Ross Perot after a week, Hey, Ross, are you interested in coming to Redwood City and visiting my next? ℃≡miào℃ ≡bi℃≡Ge℃≡

Ross Perot, who thought that he might lose another opportunity, immediately accepted the invitation and brought his analysts to the headquarters of Next Company to conduct an evaluation.

Compared with the $30 million next company he had previously advertised to those uninterested venture capital firms, this time Jobs was even darker and directly tripled the conditions.

The final result was that Jobs paid another $5 million into Next Company, and Ross Perot used $20 million to get 16% of Next Company's shares.

In other words, after a week of work, Jobs blew up Next, which had no revenue, from $30 million to $125 million.

For this reason, Jobs went to Las Vegas specifically, and said to Tang Huan, who was busy with IBM on Comdex, saying: Hey, Tang, my next company is now worth 125 million US dollars. Your 3 million US dollars , can no longer occupy 10% of the shares. If you want to maintain this position, you need to pay another 10 million U.S. dollars.

Tang Huan, who was so busy, immediately stretched out his hand impatiently, Since you have succeeded in financing, then return the 3 million US dollars to me.

Jobs was choked for a moment, and after a long time, he said resentfully: If you are cruel, ten percent is ten percent.