Facing the personal interview broadcast live on the n TV network on the huge TV screen, Vice President Stephen Ballmer waved his arms angrily and shouted;
"Bastard! This is a nasty little liar. He wants to steal success from Microsoft's pocket. We must be wary of this Red Hat company. He poses a great threat to us."
"But he is indeed excellent and has made remarkable achievements." Bill Gates' evaluation was quite fair.
Technical Director Satya sneered and said;
"Since they launched the Linux operating system, it has been widely praised in enterprise-level server applications. The key is that the Linux operating system is licensed for free use, which poses a great threat to us.
Although Microsoft occupies the mainstream of operating systems in the PC personal computer field, it can and must not ignore the enterprise server market.
Nowadays, many European and American companies have changed their ways under the temptation of free services, which has a great impact on the company.
I have been following this company.
Now, they have launched a web browser product, which will greatly enhance the strength and valuation of Red Hat and gain a firm foothold in Silicon Valley.
One day it will grow into a strong rival for us, giving us an advantage in misaligned competition. It will continue to erode our foundation on the main battlefield of our operating system and cannot be ignored."
CEO Bill Gates thought about it and asked, "Can we bypass each other's patent barriers and develop our own browser products?"
"I'm afraid this is unrealistic. The most convenient way for browser software to crawl the Internet has been patented by the 'Netscape Navigator' browser and has been analyzed by the technical department. If we want to bypass the patent pool, it will take a lot of effort.
Increase server costs and pressure exponentially.
After all, a detour is always more time-consuming and labor-intensive than a straight line, and is uncompetitive from a cost perspective."
Technical Director Satya shook his head helplessly. The United States is a country that attaches great importance to intellectual property rights. Infringement of intellectual property rights is tantamount to stealing. Once you take it to court, you will definitely lose.
"Then you can find the opponent's weaknesses, threats, pressure, mergers and acquisitions, or the temptation of huge amounts of money. I don't believe that this young man has no weaknesses. He always has to have something he wants. Go and spend money to investigate it for me. No matter how much money you spend,
Can."
Bill Gates finally showed off his big boss style and set the tone with a wave of his hand.
The Netscape Navigator browser launched by Red Hat has many unique technologies, all of which have applied for individual patents, forming a complete patent pool.
It includes an incredibly powerful email tool and the world's premier instant messaging service, AOL Express Messenger.
Netscape Browser is a pure browser software that does not include a mail client and web page editor. It mainly includes:
Interface design, automatic correction of URL input, link notepad, plug-in extension, sidebar mini browser, instant restart function, customizable text box, label memory, support for OPML, etc.
If you want to bypass such a patent pool, you can imagine what kind of huge price you will have to pay?
In this early summer of 1992, was Microsoft the most popular Internet company?
wrong.
It is Red Hat that makes a shining debut. Its Netscape Navigator browser is very popular on the global network. In just over a month, it has swept 2.3% of the market for server web browser software. There is a huge market gap waiting to be filled. The market share
The rate is still increasing rapidly.
The third batch of 2 million software packages are on sale, and the fourth batch of 2 million software packages are ready for shipment.
In the first half of 1992, the world's total personal computer sales reached 15 million units. This huge market will be completely open to the Netscape Navigator browser. There is no competitor. This is the real reason why Silicon Valley is crazy.
Red Hat
in the office,
Huo Jiaguang and Mo Yuxuan were sitting on the sofa. When they saw Wang Yaocheng walking in quickly, they quickly stood up.
"Sit down, you two have had a hard time flying around. What's the news from Fuso?"
Deputy General Manager Huo Jiaguang just flew back from Osaka. He shook his head;
"The Japanese side is very arrogant and unwilling to talk to us. The negotiations with Sing Tao have also reached a deadlock. Sing Tao's negotiation team also knows that they are desperate and deliberately ignores them. Basically, there is no progress."
"Okay, this isn't an urgent matter. It's normal to talk about it for a year or two. Let's leave them alone. These little notebooks are a little too inflated and deserve to be taught a lesson."
When encountering difficulties from the anchor at n TV network, Wang Yaocheng was not as angry as he showed, but leisurely poured red wine for Huo Jiaguang and handed another glass of red wine to Mr. Mo Yuxuan;
"Haha! Boss, I was a little worried when I saw you so angry before."
"This is for outsiders to see, otherwise these bastards will think that I can be manipulated at will and will not respect my rights at all. There are traps everywhere in the topic. Future interviews must be outlined in advance and will be reviewed by the legal team.
Only then can I be interviewed.”
"The boss handled this kind of public appearance very well. I have nothing to add."
Wang Yaocheng smiled bitterly and shook his head;
"But I have lost a lot of brain cells. Let's not talk about these annoying things. Brother Yuxuan, now that you are here, my pressure will be reduced a lot. These investment banks will have to rely on you to deal with it, because you are a professional."
"Boss, I think Netscape is too hasty to go public now. If we go public a year later, we can produce better financial statements and win better offers."
"Yes, I have the same view. The valuation of the company may increase by 1/3 or more."
From the perspective of corporate development, the suggestions of the two deputies are reasonable.
If we delay the listing for one to two years and produce beautiful financial statements, Netscape's valuation may double, which is worth billions of dollars.
However, the focus of Wang Yaocheng's consideration is not here.
Netscape's glorious time will not exceed three years, because such an idea is too simple to implement and the threshold is too low.
When a pack of wolves joins the market competition, this market will become unprofitable, not to mention that Microsoft, the dominant player in desktop PCs, is eyeing this market. They will never let this market go.
Once the free-to-use killer software bundled with the desktop operating system becomes available, Navigator Browser has no power to resist it.
Desktop PC consumers have the Internet Explorer browser bundled with the operating system, which has all the functions. Why do they need to download the Navigator browser separately?
This is just taking off your pants and farting, it’s unnecessary.
What's more, the Navigator browser is not free to use, but has to be purchased. Which consumer is willing to spend this wasted money?
Therefore, we must seize the time to attract a wave of hot money in the market, and then leave sufficient room for operation, and be ready to leave at any time.
There is no way to explain these little calculations, which are related to the core secrets of business operations.
Wang Yaocheng spread his hands; "I also know the benefits of delaying the listing, but I am short of money. We still discuss how to maximize the value of Netscape and maintain the pace of listing as soon as possible."
"Okay, you are the boss, you have the final say."
Deputy General Manager Mo Yuxuan looked at Huo Jiaguang and asked, "With the people I brought along with Manager Huo's team, there is no problem in negotiating with the investment bank, but we need to know the boss's bottom line."
"How much are they asking for now?" Wang Yaocheng asked.
"Through our contacts, in the first round of Netscape's IPO, Lehman Brothers offered $650 million, Sequoia Capital offered $700 million, Goldman Sachs offered $580 million, and Blackstone offered $720 million. These are the four highest prices.
, the others are all below US$500 million, Citibank quoted US$460 million.”
Deputy General Manager Huo Jiaguang has been in contact with major investment banks and venture funds, so he knows the situation very well and reported it immediately.
"In this way, we need friends most now. These four companies are included in the first round of independent negotiation for IPO, and all others are eliminated.
This includes Citibank. Since it cannot set a price, business means business and must be out of business.
You can tell these four investment banks that Netscape only has one IPO round and will start the listing process after the negotiations are completed.
As expected,
Netscape's sales in the second quarter of 1992 will reach 17 million U.S. dollars, and will be even higher in the third quarter. There is no doubt about the company's bright future, and it is the only profitable Internet company in Silicon Valley, with solid and reliable profitability.
Netscape is issuing 100 million shares. My bottom line is that the valuation is US$1 billion. This round of IPO will sell 20% of the equity, the employee stock option pool will be 2%, and Red Hat will hold 78% of the shares. Let’s talk based on this bottom line first.
We have a lot of time, and the longer the negotiations are delayed, the better it is for us."
"Okay, boss."
in the original historical period
Netscape issued a total of 50 million shares, with a listing price of $28. On the first day of listing, it reached $76 per share, with a total market value of $3.8 billion. At its peak, the market value reached $12 billion.
At that time, the biggest rival of Netscape browser;
It is the Internet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft. Internet Explorer is the half-brother of Netscape browser and comes from the same family.
Originally developed from the National Supercomputer Applications Center in Illinois, the mosaic browser has the same mother.
Through the National Supercomputer Application Center, Microsoft was authorized to develop the Internet Explorer browser, and then bundled it for free, completely defeating the Netscape browser and ushering in an era of free browser use.
Netscape was tortured to death and disappeared into the long river of history.
Today, these fatal risks do not exist. The Navigator browser product under Red Hat is more mature and has avoided the biggest flaw of destruction. Naturally, its market value is higher.