Chapter 753 – Bill Gates’ decision
After leaving Microsoft headquarters, Feng Yu gave Liu Chuanzhi a call, telling him to speed up the development for the browser, platform, office software, etc. All these software had to be suitable for Win95. More importantly, they have to speed up the anti-virus software.
The current system’s firewall was too fragile and had many loopholes. These few years were the years where anti-virus software become popular. If Feng Yu could get half of China’s market share, his profits will be high.
Feng Yu was surprised when Liu Chuanzhi told him that they failed in taking over Kingsoft. Those people at Kingsoft were very arrogant and priced their software development technologies too high. Liu Chuanzhi did not agree to their demands.
But Liu Chuanzhi and his men saw Kingsoft’s potential. They were strong in office software, anti-virus, and browsers. Although Liu Chuanzhi failed to takeover Kingsoft, he invested a sum of money in them to get some shares.
It was too difficult to catch up with Microsoft on PC’s operating systems. But in the future, there will be mobile phone operating systems. The profits from mobile phone operating systems will be higher than PC operating systems.
Currently, Feng Yu want to groom a group of top software engineers, and then tell them what he wanted, and they will go and develop it.
The most significant difference between the PC and mobile phone operating system was the size of the system. Mobile phone operating system does not require ample memory space. However, the size of the operating systems will get bigger in the future.
This was also the reason why Microsoft failed in the mobile phone’s operating system, and Google’s Android and Apple took over the market.
If Feng Yu remembered correctly, the next two years would be Apple’s worst years. Apple suffered massive losses, and Jobs had left Apple. Feng Yu wondered if he could take this opportunity to poach some of Apple’s top developers.
In Feng Yu’s previous life, the elite software developers were working for top firms, like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, etc. The developers from other companies were considered second-rate. This includes a top technology company, Yahoo. Many people said the reason why Yahoo failed was that they do not have the best developers, and could not maintain their lead.
Feng Yu knew the importance of having advanced technologies. If he could apply for some patents in this industry, he could get high profits and stop his competitors. Stopping his competitors was not Feng Yu aim. He only wants to be ahead of the rest in terms of technology developments.
……
“Paul, what do you think of Feng’s request?” Bill Gates had a headache. Feng Yu’s demands were too harsh, but Bill Gates could not reject him.
“Reject them!” Paul Allen barked. “We can still discuss his request to enter the board. But he used China’s market to threaten us? This is unforgivable. How can someone threaten us, Microsoft?”
“Paul, calm down first. I also want to reject his demands. But what he said was right. We need to open up the Chinese market. That is a bigger market than America and have high potential. You don’t want to get this market?” Bill Gates had thought of rejecting Feng Yu, but the returns were too attractive.
“But we are Microsoft. We can make all the hardware companies bow down to us, why can’t we make him give in?” Paul Allen replied unhappily. Although Microsoft was penalized for forcing those hardware manufacturers to do their biddings, it also shows how powerful they were.
“That is China. One of the most powerful countries in the East. Their market is totally different from us. Moreover, Feng had hinted that if he does not want us to enter the Chinese market, we will never be able to take a step into China. Think about India. We are blocked there. If we lose China’s market after India, do you know how much will be out losses? What if China started its own operating system company? We will have one more competitor. A company with the support of its government will develop faster than we imagine!” Bill Gates worrying said.
Paul Allen frowned. Now, the other party had made it clear to them. If they cooperate, Microsoft will get some benefits and the other party will get more benefits. If they do not cooperate, then Microsoft will suffer massive losses, and the other party’s losses will be much lower than them.
“Damn! How about we agree to one of his demands? Like letting him enter the board of directors, under the condition that he must help Microsoft enter the Chinese market. When Microsoft makes money, he will also make money.” Paul Allen said after thinking for a while.
“I had suggested this to him, but he disagrees. He said both requests must be met. He wants to enter the board of directors and also want us to sell our systems to Lenovo at 12 USD!” Bill Gates shook his head. If there was only one demand, he might not hesitate.
“But if other companies know about this pricing, it will affect our reputation!”
After all, Microsoft was charging other companies at a much higher rate for installing their operating systems. If the other companies found out about Lenovo’s prices, they would also want lower prices. This will result in high losses for Microsoft, and their shares would also drop.
“Paul, this is also what I am troubled about. Feng had made use of this. If he enters the board, then he will not let this news leak out. He owns quite a number of shares in Lenovo. He will be able to keep this a secret and will make sure this will not be leaked. If not, he will also suffer losses if Microsoft suffered losses.”
“Bill, you are saying you have already decided? You want to accept his ridiculous demands? What can we earn at such low rates? A few million or tens of millions USD?” Paul Allen retorted.
“I decided to agree to him this time. We will offer him a low rate, but their PC must print our logo and also advertise Microsoft in China. Their product advertisements must also include us. Also, we can make use of them to promote our IE to the rest of the world. We will be able to claim that our IE browser has the most users in the world. This will help when we promote our IE browser in Europe.”
“Then what about his demand for entering the board? His shares are all non-voting shares. If all his shares are converted, he will own 15% voting rights!”
“Exchange. You and I will take out 1% voting shares each to exchange with him. You need money to invest in your new company, right? You can take this chance to sell those non-voting shares.” Bill Gates had made his decision.
“Fine. Since you have already decided, then I will support you.” Paul Allen snubbed out his cigar.
This damn decision!