Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 176: Finalization of the candidates and the start of the project

"Harry Sonnenborn, Jewish, born in 1916, 61 years old, former vice president of finance for Tastee-Freez, an ice cream company in Joliet, Illinois."

"His most famous business achievement was when he contacted Ray Kroc when McDonald's was not very famous and proposed a new business concept to him, that is, McDonald's would buy the land needed for store expansion and then rent the land to franchisees who wanted to join McDonald's. This business model made McDonald's a huge success in a short period of time. As they owned the land, they could continuously obtain loans from banks to continue purchasing land, and the cost and interest incurred by purchasing the land were directly offset by the franchise fees of the franchisees, turning McDonald's from a fast food company into a real estate company."

"Because of this proposal, he became the first president and CEO of McDonald's until 1967 when he fell out with Ray Kroc over business philosophy and left McDonald's."

"Robert Cantera is a Cuban who was born in 1931. He is 46 years old this year. He comes from a wealthy family. He graduated from Yale in 1953 and returned to his hometown. However, as Cuba's identity changed, his family fled to our country. Since he worked for the Cuban branch of Coca-Cola before, he continued to retain the identity of the original company after coming here."

"In 1964, he joined the headquarters of Coca-Cola. In 1966, he became the president of the technical research and development department. In 1975, he became the head of the legal and foreign affairs department. Although he has not achieved any outstanding business success so far, his foreign affairs ability is very strong."

"He solved many of Coca-Cola's business lawsuits."

"Roger Corrine, born in 1944, is thirty-three years old this year."

"He used to be the brand manager of Wheaties under General Mills. In 1971, he moved to PepsiCo to promote Funyuns. He is now the general manager of operations for Cheetos and Fritos. Under his management, PepsiCo's snack products are selling very well, especially the sales of South America and Japan, which have been rising year after year."

"It is rumored that PepsiCo is very satisfied with his work ability and wants him to be in charge of the most important beverage department in PepsiCo next."

Ethan Jones was very excited about Lawrence Rockefeller's layoffs at Venrock, his investment company. He immediately raised his stiff little tail with pride, and it started to turn like a helicopter propeller. He was just about to fly up to the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun. But before he could be happy for a while, Steve Ballmer, who had parked his car, knocked on the door of his office.

Ethan was very dissatisfied with such behavior, but considering that the other party was here to deliver documents, he mercifully forgave the bald man's offense and only punished him slightly, asking him to read aloud the documents delivered by Wenlock's men.

At first, Ethan thought the document contained some project process, such as how to build Apple's sales network in North America, but after Ballmer read it, he found that the information was actually about potential candidates for Apple's CEO. When McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other golden signs in the American consumer goods market appeared one by one, Ethan, who was sitting in the boss chair, directly put the tripod on the table, because - he felt Wenlock's sincerity!
These famous guys are actually not short of money.

It would be a pipe dream for a normal company to poach them.

But for Rockefeller, it was easy.

In this case——

That means I, Ethan Jones, can point my finger at them and curse them when I'm twenty-two, right?

I’m so hot!

Hehe ~
With a chuckle, Ethan asked, "Steve, which of these people do you think is suitable for Apple?"

This question left Steve Ballmer stunned.

The next second, he smiled and said, "Boss, I don't dare to give advice on this kind of thing."

How dare Steve Ballmer make suggestions now!
Although he did come to Palo Alto from Los Angeles for Ethan Jones's reputation and joined the game of fate, no one expected that he would witness his boss kicking Rockefeller's people out of the company just a few months after he started working.

If the scene at that time was a display of passion, it would probably have caused Rockefeller's dissatisfaction.

What about today?
The people from Wenlock smiled and said that their boss fired all the guys who made Ethan unhappy?

MFxxk!

What kind of urban legends are these?

When Rockefeller gave his boss face...

The boss asked him what he thought of the candidates provided by Rockefeller?
Of course he saw with his eyes!

After all, he was just a 21-year-old kid who had just graduated from Harvard and had little social experience!

But you don’t dare to look down on others like your boss!

"It's okay, just talk." Ethan waved his hand, signaling Ballmer to relax.

"Laurence Rockefeller can't hear our conversation anyway."

"You don't have to worry about your choice causing him dissatisfaction."

'...'

"I'm obviously afraid of you!"

Steve Ballmer's face tightened.

However, since the boss had repeatedly asked him to speak, he could not hesitate any longer. After thinking seriously for a few seconds, he said, "First of all, I think Harry Thorne, the former CEO of McDonald's, is not suitable. The reason is simple, because he has achieved financial freedom."

"When he has achieved great success in his career, it is not a big challenge for him to start over. When his fighting spirit cannot be aroused, asking him to be the CEO of a new company is like bringing an old and decadent energy into a new company full of vitality and hope."

"From a sensory point of view, it is not suitable."

“Secondly, I don’t think Robert Canterlot from Coca-Cola would be a good fit either.”

"From his profile, he is a Ph.D. in chemistry and a technical expert. He may have his own insights into chemical engineering, but he probably doesn't know much about physical products like computers. Moreover, he has never been in sales, but what Apple wants now is a salesperson."

"While Steve Wozniak was in charge of technology and Steve Jobs was in charge of products, the new CEO's job was to sell their ideas."

“So, I’m leaning towards Roger Corian of Pepsi.”

“Because he has proven himself repeatedly on different consumer brands.”

Yo——

Steve Ballmer's words made Ethan's eyes light up.

Because the bald man thought the same as him.

The president of Coca-Cola who was in charge of chemicals was the first person he eliminated, because Apple was not in the chemical industry, it was that simple. Ethan, the former CEO of McDonald's, didn't like him either, because when Ray Kroc, the father of McDonald's, couldn't control him, introducing such a guy into a nascent company was simply asking for trouble. In this case, the president of the Pepsi project who was in charge of products was very suitable.

Young, energetic, and with overseas experience...this is simply tailor-made for Apple!
If this guy wasn't from Pepsi, Ethan would have chosen him directly.

As for why?

That’s because he clearly remembered that in the previous life, Apple was led into a ditch by the people from Pepsi!
Of course, he was actually judging people through the cracks in the door.

After thinking for a while, Ethan made a decision.

“You give these documents to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.”

"You let them choose."

"If they draft Roger Corian from Pepsi, they'll just use him."

"If they hadn't..."

"Then let Wenlock's people recommend a new group of CEO candidates."

"Rockefeller has connections everywhere, so it's a good idea to use this resource."

Ethan's idea is very good, that is to pass the ball to Apple's biological parents. When your child grows up and wants to go to school, you as parents have to decide which school to go to.

Wozniak and Jobs were also very decisive. After hearing Ballmer's inquiry, they directly kicked the ball back and said that as the child's godfather, it was your turn to make the decision on this matter.

The former went straight back home under the pretext of continuing to polish the company's new products this year.

The latter said that he wanted to design an excellent appearance for the new product and also slipped back home.

Ballmer was scratching his head at the situation. He really couldn't understand why no one wanted to manage a company with a valuation of hundreds of millions? How could such a company become so big? It was so unfair!
When the bald guy came back with the ball helplessly, Ethan, who learned about this, immediately scolded Xiao Qiao and Xiao Pang. After thinking it over again and again, he decided to use the man from Pepsi.

"You can contact Wenlock's people directly..."

"Stop bothering me."

Ethan wanted to be alone for a while, but the idea was beautiful and the reality was very cruel. After confirming the new CEO of Apple, a new round of negotiations with Wenlock began again.

Because before officially investing in Apple, Wenlock needed to see Apple's new products this year. When Wozniacki asked his father and knew that Rockefeller would not commit plagiarism, the two Steves decisively took out the new weapons that were being secretly developed -

"We are planning to introduce a new product this year called the SA-390, which is a five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disk drive to replace slower magnetic tape storage."

"Our floppy disk system can store 20 percent more storage space than any other drive on the market, and it can read and write at more than twice the speed."

“At the same time, users have full control over the encoding and format and can create anything they want on it.”

"Although Stephen still doesn't know what kind of changes this product will bring to the market, I believe that after using this floppy disk, we will no longer need to use code books to spread games as before. It can allow countless programs to be spread at will..."

"So far we have only one problem, which is to build a Doc operating system specifically for this product. Stephen doesn't have the time or energy to deal with these things, so we will cooperate with an external company. As for which company, we can't say for the time being."

When Jobs showed the products in his hands to Wenlock's people and Ethan in Apple's conference room and opened multiple game softwares directly, the former's eyes widened, and the latter...

Ethan knew that the era of computers had truly arrived.

As he said before, the real reason why computers entered the masses' households was that people could use this tool without any barriers, and the rampant spread of software was the real key to open the door.

Better, bigger and faster floppy disks. That's the real reason why Steve Wozniak was inducted into the American National Inventors Hall of Fame, because this little fat man gave the world the opportunity to play with computers.

The Wenlock staff, who also noticed something was wrong, left California immediately after the meeting.

As for where they went?

"You two are about to take off."

Ethan smiled and patted Wozniak and Jobs on the shoulders.

"One billion is just around the corner."

His face was full of emotion.

When the fat boy Wozniacki came up with the greatest invention of his life, good news came from Los Angeles. Gary Kurtz of Destiny Pictures called and said that the script of "Alien" had been officially revised and had received a production subsidy from John Bull.

In fact, the production process of a movie is very complicated. Where to shoot and where to produce are actually knowledgeable. Take Ethan's upcoming "Alien" as an example. If Columbia Pictures uses John Bull's film production company to undertake the production and shooting of this movie, then it can apply to John Bull for local film tax relief benefits.

For example, if the film budget is not less than one million pounds, and at least 10% of the expenditure is incurred in John Bull, which promotes employment and economy in John Bull, then a tax refund of up to 25% can be obtained according to different levels.

Of course, other countries also have similar policies, and this is why Hollywood movies are shot all over the world. Many times it is not because the scenery there is really suitable, but it is done purely to obtain subsidies, and sometimes the script will be modified for this reason.

Although they were planning to film Alien at John Bull from the beginning, they would not hesitate to give the subsidies they deserved. After dealing with these matters, they had some mature ideas about the director - Richard Attenborough, who had directed the horror film The Puppet Killer starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret, was the first person they discussed; Nicolas Roeg, who had directed the thriller The Venetian and the science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, was also the candidate they wanted to invite.

As for who to choose in the end?

That will have to wait until Steven Spielberg and George Lucas go to John Bull to find out.

After deciding on the director, the entire crew will really get going and start casting in New York with John Bull. As for the time, the earliest it could be done was in the summer of 1978.

Ethan had no idea about this arrangement. The best people in Hollywood who were good at making commercial films were already personally involved in it, so he could just let them do it.

When good news keeps coming...

A huge snowstorm also swept across America in early 1978.

Note: ① The real Apple also used a person from Pepsi, named John Sculley, who worked with shareholders to get Jobs fired.



(End of this chapter)