After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 424: Conflict
That night, the two stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Even if it's not a presidential suit.

A luxury suite costing $4500 a night is certainly extravagant.

This made Qiao Suiqing sad again, feeling it was such a waste.

Zhou Haoran asked with amusement, "How much money do we have in our bank account right now?"

"More than 2600."

Qiao Suiqing felt a little embarrassed.

“Exactly, why not enjoy it if you have the money?” Zhou Haoran picked out a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet. “These wines were brought to the room, so why not drink them?”

Qiao Suiqing chuckled, "You're staying in such a nice room just to drink red wine?"

"It's about saving money."

Are you giving a speech tomorrow?

"Yes, I want to make an open statement about the papers I've written over the past year, so that developers all over the world can use them without restrictions, thus promoting the open source process."

Zhou Haoran had this plan in mind long ago.

However, this was once broken.

The two doctoral students at Stanford want to use the ideas from his paper to develop a search engine and apply for a patent... To apply for a patent, it can't be open-source for the time being.

Now that the patent application has been successful, Google has been established.

With the benefits secured, it's time to move on to the next step: protecting Google's equity stake to prevent being sabotaged. Just like Facebook's founder, who initially held 30% of the shares, only to have Zuckerberg strip him of 0.03% overnight.

To protect one's rights, one must improve one's industry standing.

Many people are bullied because they lack protection of their identity.

Zhou Haoran should actively promote the open source process, stand at the pinnacle of the academic field, and become a globally admired industry role model.

This makes Google afraid to offend them.

the next day.

Zhou Haoran gave a speech at an important academic conference at Stanford.

His decision was announced.

From this day forward, all his publicly published papers will be open-source, shared free of charge with developers worldwide. Anyone can use his papers for academic research and project development without his permission.

And called on more peers to participate.

All parties should collaborate to build up the OA (Open Access) paper community.

Let's work together to build an open, fair, free, and classless academic environment.

Wei Jie, vice president of Zhongbo Bookstore, was also present to listen to the speech.

"Your English is so good!"

Wei Jie was surprised.

Being able to speak English and being able to give a speech in English are two completely different things.

Zhou Haoran smiled and asked, "Why haven't you returned to China yet?"

"Just finished!"

Wei Jie has resigned from his job at Cisco and is currently busy signing books.

Zhou Haoran sat next to him, uninterested in listening to the other speakers, and whispered, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you signed it?"

"Yes, we got it! It was much easier than Harry Potter, and the terms of the contract are better too."

Wei Jie really enjoys working in the cultural field.

Zhou Haoran asked, "What about the terms?"

“There are three main terms.” Wei Jie leaned towards him and lowered his voice. “First, the first print run must be no less than 3 copies; second, the royalty is 6%; and third, the contract is for 7 years.”

"Year 7?"

Zhou Haoran raised his eyebrows.

"not enough?"

Wei Jie couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhou Haoran stated frankly, "I guarantee that 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' will be a bestseller. When I first flipped to the first lesson of this book and saw that 'rich people don't work for money,' I knew this book would be good."

"Because this is you, right?"

Wei Jie could sense it.

"Ok?"

Zhou Haoran glanced at him.

Wei Jie slowly said, "Many people don't work for money because they have a broader vision and a deeper understanding. Like you, you work at the TV station, surely not for the money, right? You work there to accumulate experience, improve your skills, and expand your network, focusing on long-term returns. It's the same principle as when you open-sourced your thesis this time."

Zhou Haoran did not deny it, "So you only signed a 7-year contract for this book?"

Wei Jie laughed and said, "Like Harry Potter, there are also additional terms. As long as annual sales exceed 2 copies, the contract will be automatically renewed for another year."

"That's alright, there aren't many bestsellers of this caliber." Zhou Haoran then remembered something, "By the way, while you're in the US, have you heard about Microsoft's recent activities?"

Wei Jie asked, "What happened to Microsoft?"

"Clinton was quite capable; he sparked a global technological wave!"

Zhou Haoran has been in the United States for two days and has already seen many similar news reports.

Right now, tech stocks around the world are surging!
The stock market boom will inevitably drive a comprehensive restructuring of industries, resulting in a series of mergers and acquisitions. Many of the tech giants that will shine globally in the next two or three decades will have benefited from this wave, establishing their industry dominance.

“Oh, I’ve actually been paying attention to that.” Wei Jie previously worked at Cisco and is also in the IT industry. “Many media outlets have reported that Microsoft is in talks with the Hotmail team, and it seems they want to acquire it.”

"really!"

This was exactly what Zhou Haoran had guessed.

"what happened?"

Wei Jie was very strange.

Zhou Haoran frankly stated, "One of the most important things I did during my trip to the United States was to discuss cooperation with Microsoft. Microsoft wants me to provide technical support to improve their email product."

"Please?" Wei Jie didn't react. "Weren't we going to acquire Hotmail?"

"That gives you a choice."

Zhou Haoran knew very well that Microsoft's email service was terrible in his previous life. It only improved after acquiring Hotmail and became one of the world's top-tier services. However, it was still far behind Google Mail and Yahoo Mail.

Wei Jie suddenly realized and said, "It must be that Hotmail's offer was too high, and Microsoft needs to evaluate it. If the acquisition cost is too high, they may give up on the acquisition and instead cooperate with you, asking you to provide technical support to improve their email products."

Zhou Haoran nodded. "That's roughly the idea."

“I heard…” Wei Jie glanced at him, “I’ve seen many media outlets predicting that acquiring Hotmail would cost no less than $3 million.”

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "That's right, it's more cost-effective to cooperate with me."

What's your quote?

Wei Jie couldn't resist his curiosity.

Zhou Haoran didn't hide anything, "One price, 2000 million US dollars."

"Cough...cough..."

Wei Jie almost choked on his own saliva.

Zhou Haoran said with a smile, "Writing applied papers has advantages over writing theoretical papers. You can get a lot of collaboration invitations from commercial companies. I've received more than a dozen invitations, but I only accepted two from Microsoft and ICQ."

"Isn't this price too high?"

Wei Jie was a little flustered.

I thought to myself, is this how rich people make money?

He wasn't sure if he could earn that much money in his lifetime.

“I said a fixed price of $2000 million, and that can’t be changed.” Zhou Haoran said meaningfully, “I’ve already said it before, I’m not providing this technical support for the money.”

"That is?"

"I'm going to Seattle tomorrow to see Bill Gates."

"Oh!"

Wei Jie suddenly realized.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Bill Gates has some skill, but compared to me, he's still a little bit lacking. I said $2000 million, and that's a fixed price. If I back down, wouldn't that be admitting defeat?"

"Are you going against Bill Gates?"

Wei Jie opened his eyes wide.

I finally understand the big boss's purpose.

Bill Gates is currently the world's richest man and one of the most influential businessmen.

Looking at the world, the only person who can rival him is Oracle's CEO, Larry Ellison. Larry Ellison isn't particularly well-known, and Oracle isn't a company geared towards the general public.

However, because he went against Bill Gates, Larry Ellison also gained a celebrity aura. Wherever he went, a bunch of media reporters followed him and reported on his dating young models and Hollywood stars every day.

When Bill Gates visited China several times, the pomp and circumstance were astounding... Not only did businessmen fawn over him, but even high-ranking officials in suits lined up to greet him.

If I had the chance to face him head-on and arm wrestle with him...

This hidden value is truly immeasurable by money!

Especially since I heard that this Mr. Zhou is a master of the Honglou Teahouse, a place of intangible cultural heritage. Wanting to achieve such a significant position at such a young age, "蹭热度" (蹭热度 means to piggyback on someone else's fame) with Bill Gates is indeed a clever strategy.

Even if we lose?

Zhou Haoran said calmly, "Who will win or lose is still uncertain! When you worked at Cisco, you were in charge of marketing, right?"

Wei Jie hummed in agreement.

"You're familiar with the American media, aren't you?"

"I have some friends."

"You can take this opportunity to make a little money."

Zhou Haoran winked at him.

Wei Jie understood and chuckled, "Why don't you sell the secrets and details of your face-to-face confrontation with Bill Gates to the media? I'll be rich! An exclusive report like that will fetch at least $10!"

“You can contact him first, and then send it when I tell you to.” Zhou Haoran cleared his throat. “If I really get completely defeated by Bill Gates, then don’t send it. I can’t afford to lose face like that.”

Wei Jie couldn't help but laugh.

Another day passed.

Zhou Haoran, along with Qiao Suiqing and Wei Jie, headed north to Seattle.

Headed straight to Microsoft headquarters.

The offer they gave was also very generous.

The vice president received them.

Then I met with President Ballmer.

Ballmer, a businessman with a strong presence, immediately started discussing the price, reducing the asking price of $2000 million to $200 million.

Zhou Haoran remained calm.

He would fall silent every time the other person mentioned money.

This is especially true for high-level business negotiations.

It's not about who's the most eloquent or persuasive; the one who can remain calm and collected has the upper hand.

The talks ended without result.

Then I met Bill Gates.

Bill Gates, being a technician, didn't talk about business; instead, he enthusiastically discussed technology, the future, and the prospects of the internet. This week, Haoran was much more talkative, engaging in lively conversation with him.

Time flies.

The communication went very well.

"Come over here and help me set up my email. I'm genuinely inviting you."

Bill Gates is eager to work with him.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "As long as the price is right."

"You can talk to Ballmer about the price."

Bill Gates is very confident.

I felt that being able to cooperate with Microsoft was an opportunity, and who could refuse it?
(End of this chapter)