Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 288 Getting on the Right Track
"Stop laughing, stop laughing, the corners of your mouth are almost curled up to the moon!"

Ethan knew what Jobs was happy about, so he held up the report and waved it in front of him.

"According to the 1.6 billion valuation, you are indeed a 500 millionaire now, but after we reach a deal with Xerox and Stanford Research Institute, your shares will also shrink..."

"But the value of the stock will also increase accordingly." Jobs was no fool. He shrugged cheerfully and said, "As long as the graphical user interface can be successfully launched on the market, the value of Apple will soar several times! So after the deal is completed, I may become a billionaire!"

"A 24-year-old billionaire?"

"Oh! My! God!"

“Who else in this world could be more legendary than me?”

“I…” Before Jobs could finish his boastful words, Ethan pointed at his nose.

Not only that, he smiled and said, "Steve, don't forget, I was born in 1955, just like you. And when I was 23 years old, I embraced 100 million US dollars in cash and owned 27% of Apple's shares, and this... seemed to be exchanged for tens of thousands of dollars?"

"Oh my... When I sponsored someone, I only wanted to get 20% of the shares~ But I didn't expect that guy to give me 30%?"

"In this case, when Apple's valuation is 1.6 billion, the shares I hold are worth 430 million! More importantly, I have done nothing in the past four years!"

“This money comes too easily!”

When Ethan wagged his tail proudly...

Jobs, who was originally very excited, suddenly became unhappy!

Because Ethan's words reminded him——

Even if he is very awesome, there is still someone above him who is even more awesome than him!

This made him instantly unhappy!
Looking at that smiling face, Qiao became more and more angry and raised his fist as big as a casserole.

"MFxxk!"

"Ethan Jones!"

"Will you die if you let me enjoy the joy of success?"

The violent words and rude behavior made Ethan hide with a smile, and after Jobs's attack missed, he even stuck out his tongue slightly at his classmate Joe who had missed.

This situation allowed Jobs, who was in the cub stage, to evolve directly and rush into the growth stage, but unfortunately...

He still couldn't catch Ethan Jones, who had already reached his complete form.

After a while of chasing and hiding, when Jobs found that he couldn't touch Ethan's clothes no matter what he did, he had no energy and had no choice but to degenerate and become Xiao Qiao again.

He gasped and waved his hands, raising the white flag of surrender.

Ethan laughed happily, panting and asked Ballmer to bring two cups of coffee. After a short rest, he got straight to the point. Of course, the topic was not the valuation of Xerox's graphical user interface and Stanford's corresponding patents, but the stock option reward system within Apple.

Before, when they asked Lawrence Rockefeller to help them recruit Roger Corian from PepsiCo to be Apple's CEO and take charge of Apple's daily affairs, the company set up a stock option incentive plan for him. The original agreement was that if Apple's total revenue exceeded 500 million in the next three years, the company would issue him 5 million shares at a price of one US dollar per share.

Judging from the current situation, Roger Corrine can get the incentive one year in advance.

After Wenlock joined, Apple Computer's total share capital was expanded to 300 million shares. Considering the original price of one dollar per share corresponding to a valuation of 300 million, this incentive was very reasonable at the time. After all, Roger Corien's annual salary was only $200,000 when he signed the contract.

But now...if Apple's valuation is calculated at 1.6 billion, then Roger Corrine's stock options are worth at least 25 million.

This really made him a lot of money.

However, although it seems a bit too much, it is what they deserve.

His appearance did liberate Steve Jobs, allowing him to devote more time to product design. At the same time, his appearance also helped Apple reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve turnover.

So, what Ethan wanted to talk about today was not the issue of whether Roger Corrine took too much, but whether other employees in the company should receive equity rewards.

At present, Apple's approach to employee salaries is like a game of fate, simply satisfying employees' appetites with bonuses. If Apple had never gone public, then this approach would indeed be fine, but with the emergence of Xerox and Stanford, and when there are more and more external shareholders, Apple's listing will become inevitable.

When a growing company is destined to go public, any employee with a little ability will be eager to get the company's stock because it will allow them to gain more.

In this case...

"What do you think?" Ethan hugged his knees and looked at Jobs with a smile.

"Oh Ethan - I have nothing to hide from you, and I don't want to split the stock."

Jobs said frankly, "The three of us are the biggest contributors to Apple's success today."

"Without me, Stephen would not have commercialized the personal computer he invented. Without Stephen, Apple would not have been at the forefront of innovation. And without you..."

"We have long been torn apart by those big capitals. Similarly, if your games had not sold so well, if you had not constantly told the public what our computers could do, how could we have sold so many computers in such a short period of time?"

“You made computers from toys to tools!”

"This transition brings us huge profits!"

"The three of us are irreplaceable in the company, and the others..."

"To be cruel, there are many capable people in this world."

“But there are so few people who get the opportunity.”

“We gave them the opportunity.”

At this point, Jobs paused and looked at Ethan very frankly.

Ethan nodded repeatedly after hearing the ruthless words, or perhaps he had guessed that Jobs would say that before asking. Because in his previous life, Jobs really didn't want to give a penny to his employees. The myth of Apple's wealth creation was created by Steve Wozniak. Before the company went public, the fat guy gave ordinary employees stocks worth 10 million yuan.

After the company went public, these shares were worth more than 50 million.

But this is normal. After all, Jobs grew up in poverty, and Wozniak...

To put it bluntly, as long as the United States exists, he will never starve to death.

The important national defense equipment his father researched can ensure that he will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life.

"But this is not a reason for our company to give up employee incentive clauses, right?"

Ethan looked at Jobs.

“Of course.” Jobs nodded. “I know what you mean. Stephen has also told me about this. So has our CEO Roger Corian.”

"They say that giving employees proper incentives can better motivate them. Because none of us knows whether an employee in the company will come up with an idea that will change the world the next moment. Equity incentives can also keep mature talents in the company, rather than being easily poached by other companies."

"So?" Ethan pursed his lips.

"How about 6 percent?" Jobs thought for a while and said, "18 million shares. Based on the valuation of 1.6 billion, there are about 95 million here."

“That’s the highest number I can accept.”

Jobs shrugged and threw out his decision in a nonchalant manner.

"Oh Steve—" His choice also made Ethan laugh, "It's hard right?"

“Yes.” Jobs nodded and said, “I feel bad when I think about giving money to ordinary people. But if I change my mindset and tell myself that these stock incentives can make Apple, like the Destiny game, attract technology giants like Edgar Cord and Bill Mensch, and allow Apple to snatch people from Motorola and IBM, then I will feel much more comfortable.”

"Of course, when I give up my interests, I also have conditions."

"Not everyone can get equity incentives, so we need to set up an assessment plan."

“Only employees who meet the standards can get it.”

"At the same time, employees' shares do not have voting rights, and they cannot sell their shares within two years of obtaining them. In addition, if the lock-up period expires and employees want to sell their shares, the company has the right of first refusal. If employees leave, they must sell their shares to the company at the share price on the day of their resignation."

"I will not allow these 18 million shares to circulate in the market."

"No problem." Ethan nodded with a smile.

This is to ensure their control over the company, so Ethan would naturally not refuse.

When even Steve Jobs, a tough guy, gave in, the only thing left for the official implementation of the employee incentive plan was Lawrence Rockefeller's nod.

And the old lord had no objection.

After receiving the inquiry letter from Apple, the old man directly replied with an approval, and the matter was over.

But this is normal. After all, Ethan and the other three control 90% of the company's shares. Even if Lawrence Rockefeller disagrees, he cannot stop the implementation of the plan.

With his consent, Apple spent a day copying a reward and punishment plan, and then the employee incentive plan was officially launched, which also meant that Apple was finally on the right track. Before, it was a barbaric development led by the three major drivers and no one cared about anything else.

Now, that is to motivate employees to work together. Starting from today, we will continue to introduce R&D experts.

After four shareholders contributed 6% of their shares as incentives, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs' shares were reduced from 94.5 million shares to 88.83 million shares, accounting for 29.61% of the total share capital; Ethan Jones' shares shrank from 81 million shares to 76.14 million shares, accounting for 25.38% of the total share capital; and Wenlock's shares dropped from 30 million shares to 28.2 million shares, accounting for 9.4% of the total share capital.

The remaining six percent are undistributed shares waiting to be rewarded to employees.

Since these six percent of shares do not have voting rights, the power of the four in the company remains unchanged.

When the latest equity structure was determined, Ethan discussed the purchase price of the graphical user interface with the two Steves. In the eyes of the two, Xerox's "defective products" that did not have all the patents were worth at most three to five million. If Xerox promised not to enter the personal computer industry and not to produce personal computers with graphical user interfaces in the next five years, then the price could be raised to eight million.

More?

forget about it.

After all, Douglas has accepted Ethan's invitation and will bring the laboratory to the Game of Destiny.

This price was in line with Ethan's expectations, but for Xerox...

"Mr. Jones, isn't your proposal too insincere?"

On August 5, in Stamford, Connecticut, Xerox CEO Charles McCollough looked at the documents in his hand and shook his head. "A graphical user interface is only worth four million dollars to you?"

"At the same time, you guys gave Apple a self-valuation of 1.6 billion?"

"Oh my God!"

"If you weren't sitting right in front of me, I would even suspect that this document was fake!"

"My employee just made something up to fool me!"

"The company we want to work with is Apple! Not your destiny game!"

"Your fate game can earn 100 million a year. If you value it at 1.6 billion, I can totally accept it. But what about now? In your opinion, Apple is also worth 1.6 billion?"

"This……"

"Are you really not kidding?"

"Of course not." Ethan shook his head and said, "Apple is only worth 1.6 billion."

"Because our revenue this year can easily exceed 400 million."

“The gross profit can be close to 80 million.”

"As a company that has only been established for three years, isn't it worth 1.6 billion?"

"If you don't think it's worth it, then there's no need for us to talk about it."

"As for the four million dollars that you mentioned for the graphical user interface... If I remember correctly, I clearly marked it on the document I gave you. If Xerox is willing to give up the personal computer business with graphical user interfaces in the next eight years, we can add another two million dollars."

"If you don't give up..."

"Then we can only offer 4 million."

"After all, you don't have a complete patent."

"Okay?"

Ethan raised his eyebrows at Xerox CEO Charles McCollough.

The unflinching words made the old man put down the documents and look at Ethan seriously.

Charles McCollough was born in 1922 and is 57 years old this year. He joined Xerox when he was 31 years old. At that time, Xerox was still a small company that didn't even make copiers.

This situation made his wife persuade him to change his career and go home with her, because Charles McCollough's situation was the same as Steve Ross of Warner, although he had an ordinary family, he had a super rich wife.

His wife is the daughter of the CEO of JJ White, one of the largest family-owned businesses on the East Coast of the United States. This company is a well-known construction contractor in the United States. They built the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Boeing's Pennsylvania base, and the Delaware Refining Company's industrial projects. Not only that, more than 40% of the public facilities, energy storage equipment, power plants, water plants on the vast East Coast... are theirs.

As long as Charles McCollough and his wife go home, it will be easy for him to make tens of millions a year.

And that was the fifties.

But Charles McCollough did not go, and took root in Xerox. Then, he became the president of Xerox in 1966. No one knows whether there was any PY transaction. His ability was not the most outstanding at Xerox at that time, but it didn’t matter, because in the next four years...

He increased Xerox's revenue from more than 40 million to 3 billion.

That's right, after he came to power, he introduced the world to the world's most advanced photocopier.

After that, Xerox's revenue continued to soar along with its market share. In the first two years, its annual revenue even reached 6 billion US dollars and it earned a net profit of 500 million US dollars.

Faced with this exaggerated and unacceptable fact, Charles McCollough instantly became another American operations star after Ray Kroc, the father of McDonald's.

Everyone who communicated with him always greeted him with a smile. He was also invited by many giants such as Bank of New York, New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, Dow Chemical, etc. to become an independent director of these companies.

In the past ten years, it had been a long time since anyone had asked him for his opinion using the words 'Okay?', but now... the 24-year-old figure made him smile.

"Okay."

He nodded slightly and said, "Mr. Jones, although this is the first time we meet, you have given me a surprise, because I never knew how Steve Ross and his group lost. I find it hard to believe that companies like Philips and Warner can continue to lose money in front of you."

"But now..."

He stared at the document in front of him and said, "Is this your final offer?"

"of course."

"Aren't you afraid that I'll ask you to get out of here and then go and cooperate with Komodor and Rockwell?"

"Why should I be afraid?" Ethan shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "I told you that you don't have all the patents, and you can't take those patents away from me."

"So, if you can't accept this offer and think you can work with Comodor and Rockwell, go ahead. I will put those patents into Apple and then call Mr. Lawrence Rockefeller to tell him that Apple's patents have been stolen."

"Then you will have two choices."

“First, stop infringing.”

"two……"

"Under the prosecution of Laurance Rockefeller's personal legal team, stop the infringement."

When Ethan stretched out his voice and gave two identical results, Charles McCollough laughed out loud, "Hahahaha——"

The next second, he leaned back and gave Ethan a playful look.

"Ethan Jones, are you this straightforward when you discuss business with other people?"

"Of course." Ethan nodded with a smile, "Because from the beginning, I will show my utmost sincerity to my partners. "Unless others refuse and want to threaten me to give them benefits that they should not get, I will not show uncivilized rudeness."

"I suppose you are one of those people, too, Mr. McCollough?"

"Oh - you're right." Charles McCollough nodded and said, "Leave this document with me first. I need to discuss it with other people in the company."

"Please go ahead." Ethan did not refuse and stood up to say goodbye. "Then I'll wait for your good news."

"Okay." Charles McCollough nodded goodbye.

As Ethan left, the old man picked up the documents in front of him again.

When Apple's offer came into his sight again...

He raised his head silently.

"We've made 400 million in three years!"

“The computer industry…”

"too crazy!"

After muttering twice, he suddenly laughed again.

Recalling the scene just now, he shook his head and said, "Ethan Jones?"

"interesting……"

(End of this chapter)