Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 289 The future? Get√

From the beginning, Ethan had no intention of having friendly business talks with Xerox.

Because Xerox is insincere.

When Xerox said they wanted to exchange the graphical user interface for 10 percent of Apple, they were showing a desire to take advantage of someone else's misfortune.

Since Xerox was joking first, Ethan would not be polite to them and directly put forward the product value that Apple could accept. The rest was up to Xerox itself.

If Xerox had not gone into a crazy approval process, they would have known that acceptance was the best option at the moment. But if Xerox had been kicked in the head by a donkey, there would have been no need to continue the deal.

The most important thing Apple should do is to directly organize people to copy it.

Again, when they hold the patent, all references are original.

After the patent holders are hired by them, all research and development by other companies is infringement.

Eh!
No non-compete agreements in California?

Allowing free flow of high-tech talent?
Allow technology companies to engage in friendly competition in business?

I'll just take the patent and the people!

I want to see how you guys exploit the bug!

After leaving Xerox, Ethan rushed back to California to discuss cooperation with HP on presentations. When he entered HP's office building, he was greeted by John Young, who served as the company's president in 1977 and was promoted to CEO in 1978.

As for the old principal’s students Bill Hewlett and David Packard?
They have officially announced their retirement.

However, as the two of them still hold a large number of HP shares, they are still the actual controllers of HP. Therefore, when Ethan Jones appeared, HP CEO John Young, who knew that his sister Evelyn Johnson was the old principal's last student, directly welcomed Ethan into his office. Not only that, he also thoughtfully offered him a cup of American ginseng tea.

Ethan felt very comfortable with the intimacy of his own people, and the simultaneous business development during the small talk made the negotiations between the two sides unusually brisk, in stark contrast to the confrontation on the Xerox side.

After Ethan said that he wanted to obtain the development and commercial rights of the presentation, John Young thought for a moment and then opened his heart to talk to Ethan.

"Ethan, we all know that presentations have unlimited potential. As long as we successfully promote them to the civilian market, they will surely make huge profits just like the spreadsheets you mentioned. So... we can't license them to you at a very low price."

"I understand." Ethan nodded and said, "So just give me a normal quote."

"Okay."

Ethan's amiability made John Young smile and said, "Of course we will make a normal quotation, but before we make the quotation, I would like to know which company under your name do you want to obtain the commercial rights to the presentation?"

Ethan understood what John Young meant.

On the surface, Microsoft and Apple are both his companies, and he has supreme veto power in these companies, but the only one he actually controls is the Game of Destiny.

The real bosses at Apple Computer are Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

The actual controller of Microsoft is Bill Gates.

These two companies are only part of Ethan Jones' investment portfolio, not subsidiaries of Destiny Games. Therefore, the resources in everyone's hands cannot be truly interconnected.

Since each company needs to account independently, HP can only make a specific quotation based on the resources owned by the company that needs the commercial rights to the presentation.

For example, if Ethan wanted to put the presentation at Microsoft, HP would not be able to allow Western Design, a company under Destiny Game, to use chip technology as a bargaining chip and participate in the transaction.

And now...

"The company that needs a presentation is Apple," Ethan said bluntly.

"Hmm..." John Young thought about this answer for a while, and then asked, "Ethan, are you planning to develop your own presentation project at Apple?"

Perhaps he felt that his description was a little inaccurate, so he added another sentence.

"I mean, is Apple officially going to enter the software business?"

“No—” Ethan shook his head. “After receiving the presentation, Apple will commission Microsoft to develop and research independent software that is compatible with Apple computers.”

"?" This answer left John Young stunned.

After a few seconds, he responded, "You mean, the patent license is placed with Apple, and the software development is given to Microsoft. In the future, if Microsoft wants to sell the presentation to other companies, it must first obtain Apple's consent, otherwise they can only supply Apple?"

"Yes, that's what I mean." Ethan nodded with a smile.

In fact, after discovering that Xerox had already developed electronic documents and HP had already developed presentations, Ethan was thinking about where to put these two important software that would be very powerful in the field of paperless office in the future. According to his memory of his previous life, these were cash cows belonging to Microsoft, and it was inevitable to put them in Microsoft, and Bill Gates was capable of developing them well.

but……

Why should a time traveler respect history?
According to the current relationship, putting electronic documents and presentations at Apple is what Ethan should do most, because his control over Apple is far better than his control over Microsoft.

Especially in this year, Steve Jobs still listened to advice and did not become paranoid and deserted by his friends like in his previous life. In this case, leaving the office suite to Apple would better control Microsoft.

As for why not put it in the game of destiny?

Very simple.

Businessmen who can develop a company from scratch into a world-famous enterprise are not stupid.

As long as Ethan takes out the Game of Destiny, these people's goal can only be company shares.

When video games are the best cash cow in all industries now and in the future, Ethan is unlikely to share the benefits with others. In this case, not putting them on the negotiation table from the beginning is the only option to avoid trouble...

"Okay, then what we at HP need is pretty simple."

John Young said: "We brought out the patent for presentations, and Apple brought out the patent for external disks. The two sides signed a patent interoperability agreement. In the future, Apple will not have to pay us patent fees when using presentations in any form, and HP will not have to pay Apple patent fees when using Apple's external disk patent to produce HP disk products."

"Ethan, what do you think?"

"I'll have Apple's CEO come talk to you about this."

Ethan thought it was okay, but he wouldn't make the decision on his own.

And as he responded, John Young also laughed, "Okay, I'll wait."

Negotiations in business are both simple and difficult.

The reason is simple: if there is a shareholder with absolute say in a company, then his personal will is the will of the company. As long as he feels that his input and output are proportional, the deal will be done.

The difficulty is that even if the shareholder controls the overall situation, many details still need to be handled one by one by the subordinates in the company, for example...

When Ethan brought HP's sincerity back to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, even though Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak thought the deal was a good deal, Apple CEO Roger Corian still had no intention of signing the contract immediately because he wanted to first understand a series of details about the HP presentation, including the patent term, scope of patent protection, and the chances of success in being borrowed.

"The expiration date of the patent can help us determine who has the upper hand in the deal, the scope of patent protection is the basis for judging whether the deal is fair, and the probability of being copied can let us know whether the deal is necessary... Only after reviewing these things can we discuss whether the deal can really be carried out and whether the other party needs to supplement their shortfalls with cash in the deal."

"Similarly, HP will review our patents from these aspects. If they feel they are at a disadvantage, they will ask us to add cash to the transaction, and what we have to do is to refute it."

Ethan and his team felt assured by Roger Corrine's expertise, so they handed the matter over to him directly.

After finishing the task of obtaining the patent for the presentation, Ethan only had one last item left on his to-do list, which was to purchase the institute's patent from the old principal.

This job was actually the simplest. When Ethan appeared in front of the old principal with Apple's financial report, Fred Terman directly quoted the most fair price after reading the report.

"Thirteen patents for a total of three million dollars."

"According to the 1.6 billion valuation, 300 million shares would be 560,000 shares?"

"One hundred and eighty thousand of the shares belong to the research institute, and the remaining three hundred and eighty thousand belong to the school."

"Add a supplementary agreement. We are not allowed to sell the stock within ten years."

"At the same time, if there is a sell-off, the top ten shareholders have the right of first refusal."

"Are you okay?"

"Of course." Ethan shrugged. "This is a very good offer. I naturally have no problem with it."

Whether it is the three million patent package price, the ten-year lock-up period, or the shareholders' right of first refusal, they are all things Ethan likes. The former offer is simply too cheap, and the latter terms clearly tell Ethan that in the future, if Stanford wants to sell its shares, you will definitely be the first choice buyer.

Since the old principal had already done so much, Ethan naturally would not mention anything else. After he presented the deal to the two Steves, the two Steves naturally saw through the old principal's intention. Unfortunately, the fact that he could buy all the patents at a price of 0.19% of the total share capital was too tempting, so they signed the agreement without hesitation.

Perhaps it was because the goddess of luck was smiling, or it was also possible that the fact that Apple and Stanford had reached a deal could not be concealed from well-informed people. When Apple CEO Roger Corien signed a contract on behalf of Apple and Stanford Research Institute and donated 380,000 shares of Apple stock to Stanford University, Xerox contacted Ethan again and made a latest offer that they thought was reasonable.

"Ethan, after careful internal discussion, we at Xerox are willing to contribute our Graphical User Interface and WYSIWYG products to the transaction."

"At the same time, we promised that within ten years after the transaction was completed, Xerox would not release a personal computer with a graphical user interface. The entire team would be transferred to Apple. We would not continue to develop WYSIWYG electronic documents, nor would we commercialize them to the market."

"For this, we need 10 million worth of Apple shares."

“As for Apple’s valuation…”

"After our detailed investigation, we feel that the 1.6 billion you proposed is acceptable."

"According to this valuation, Apple only needs to pay 1.87 million shares to obtain the patents for the two products. As long as you agree, I can come to California today to sign the contract with you."

When this offer came out, the word "reasonable" instantly entered Ethan's mind, but he did not agree immediately. Instead, he passed it to Jobs and asked him and Wozniak to discuss it on their own.

And what do they both think?

Of course I agree!
You have to know that this is buying two monopolies with 10 million!

Xerox simply packed up and sold its own laboratory!

Anyone would do this business!

As a result, Apple CEO Roger Corien received a new arrangement to negotiate a deal with Xerox. When unexpected tasks arose one after another, Roger Corien was suddenly as busy as a top, but these had nothing to do with Ethan anymore.

Because he has to run around for his own business.

While he was working hard for Apple, Evelyn also dealt with Douglas, and the old man decided to sell his company to Destiny Games for two million US dollars. From then on, Destiny Games would enjoy all of Douglas' personal patents, and the company's headquarters would also move back to Palo Alto from Atherton.

After a simple name change, the previous company disappeared, and in its place was the Engelbart Lab, which was similar to Edgar Codd's SQL Lab and was affiliated with the name of Destiny Game.

With the completion of the deal, Ethan finished all the urgent work in his hands. Looking at the brand new sign in Stanford Research Park, he turned around proudly with his hands in his pockets.

I returned to the company humming a little tune.

Once he had a firm grasp of the graphical user interface and office software...

All the problems encountered before were solved!
Komodor wants to plot?

Then let him plan it!

Anyway, he doesn't have much time to show off!
"Want to plot against me?"

"Ah--"

"childish--"

"I am a man with all the fog open!"

"All the plans are useless!"

While Ethan was bragging that in two years at most, he would be able to push the heads of his competitors into the toilet and make them taste the bitterness, everything that happened in Palo Alto had been seen and remembered by the members of the Avengers.

There is no way, because these transactions cannot be concealed.

Patent transfers need to be registered, company acquisitions need to be changed, and donations to schools need to be publicized.

Even if Ethan Jones did not make it public, these actions would be witnessed by those who were interested.

But when they found that Ethan Jones did not get angry after being hammered this time, but instead bought patents in Palo Alto, countless question marks suddenly came to their minds.

After several years of contact, everyone knew that Ethan was a petty person.

No matter who hits him, whether it is intentional or unintentional, he will retaliate.

But now?

Sony and Philips have collaborated, but he is indifferent;
Cassio and Commodore united, and he remained motionless;
Ron Miller began to fight back to seize the company, but he turned a deaf ear;
He was completely unaware that Goldman Sachs was secretly bullish on Hollywood and helped Disney stabilize its stock price;

Many Japanese game manufacturers have released copycat games to impact the market, and he...

Doing serious business in California.

In the eyes of the Avengers, Ethan Jones' behavior was extremely abnormal!
But the crazy acquisition also made them a little uneasy!
Because according to Ethan Jones's character, this sudden purchase is definitely a big move!
no way……

Who made Ethan Jones do this kind of thing before?

After he held back his words last time, “Starry Sky” appeared.

The last time he was playing dumb, it was with Star Wars.

And when everyone felt that in the next second, a black hole might appear in the air, and Ethan Jones would stick his hands out from it with his fangs bared, and fiercely strangle their necks...

The captain of the Avengers, Steve Ross, has picked up the receiver on his desk and called the members of the alliance, "Do you have time? We..."

"Have a meeting?"

Note: ① In reality, Xerox was indeed very greedy. When they first discussed cooperation with Apple, they only offered the graphical user interface and wanted to sell the mouse themselves, and the price for the mouse was 300 US dollars. This offer made Jobs feel outrageous, so he went directly to Stanford Research Institute to buy patents and develop it himself. Xerox gave in because it found that Jobs was difficult to control. ② In reality, Xerox's graphical user interface team was integrated into Apple, which was part of the deal.

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(End of this chapter)