Back to 1995

"Mr. Norman, this is Chiguoguo's vicious competition. I have reason to believe that Uber is instigating some media to do this after a lot of public opinion has been launched against the Taxi Association recently!"

In Washington, in the office of the boss of the Federal Department of Transportation, a man was full of justice and indignation, and scolded Uber at the boss of the Federal Department of Transportation, Norman.

The man in front of him is the president of the largest taxi company in San Francisco, Martinez, who came to complain to Norman. In his mouth, Uber is a shameless person who used all kinds of dirty tricks to maliciously talk to taxis. Association competition.

If it wasn't for Norman, he would be the boss of the Federal Department of Transportation, and he might have believed in this evil. What kind of urine is the local taxi association in the Federation? As the boss, how can he not know.

Take the San Francisco Taxi Association as an example. A San Francisco taxi license was fired at a peak of 132 million dollars. The license fee alone is so much. As you can imagine, all kinds of moths have appeared, and there are not too many complaints from users, but the taxi industry, where licenses have always been rare and expensive, is not affected at all, and it is still hard to cut leeks.

It's just that Martinez's taxi company couldn't handle the more rogue Internet taxis.

After all, Uber doesn’t need to pay for the license plate, and it doesn’t need to pay the fee. Compared with the traditional taxi industry, the cost is simply heaven and earth. In addition, it is a user-driven taxi. The driver does not have to wander around the street, and the efficiency is far beyond the traditional one. taxi.

In New York, Uber is just emerging, but in San Francisco, Houston and other places, Uber can only be described as in full swing. Less than a month after it was launched, Uber let Martinez’s taxi The company's revenue fell by 23%, which was so scary that Martinez had to go to Washington to complain.

Because in San Francisco, Martinez's taxi company can't get a bargain. It's Song Yang's headquarters there. Whether it's the San Francisco municipal government or the gang of powerful figures, they are all blind, and they can't see Uber's riots. The operation is so-so, and even the San Francisco Federal Court did not accept Martinez's lawsuit against Uber, so he can only go to Washington.

San Francisco is basically watching a show, and even supports Uber secretly. After all, Uber is headquartered in San Francisco. If Uber can develop, it can earn more than Martinez’s taxi drivers every year. If there are more, there will naturally be more tax payments and more jobs provided. In comparison, it doesn’t matter which side you support.

"Martinez," Norman called to stop the man in front of him, and didn't let him continue cursing at length, "I know all about the competition between your taxi company and Uber!"

"I also want to help you. Your taxi company, as well as companies in other states of the Federation, have contributed to the transportation of America, but...

This does not mean that I can take sides. "

Regardless of the changed face of Martinez, Norman knows that if he does not give a clear response today, it will not be long before the presidents of taxi companies in other states in the federation will come to him to complain and demand that Uber be shut down. of.

Intellectually speaking, Norman is of course aware that the showy operations that Uber is doing now are indeed not about martial arts. The taxi company spent so much money to get a taxi license with great difficulty, but it was blocked by Uber. Does it make sense for taxi companies to let Uber drivers pick up passenger orders without spending any money? !

But expecting Norman to come forward and announce the shutdown of Uber is simply overthinking. Let’s not talk about it. There is indeed no law in the federal government that clearly stipulates that Internet taxi-hailing business is not allowed, and there is no federal law requiring Internet taxi-hailing. have a license.

If Norman dares to shut down Uber, then wait to be sued by Uber's legal team to death. This is a lawsuit that must be lost. Norman will be blatant if he is crazy, and he will support the taxi company. what? !
Even if it takes [-] steps back, there is really a federal law that requires Uber to have a license, and Norman has to weigh whether it is right to use Uber. The relationship between the commander-in-chief and the big benefactor of Uber is well known in the world. He let Uber Wouldn't it be embarrassing for the commander-in-chief to close the door step by step.

With the character of the little cowboy's commander in chief, he doesn't take revenge overnight. If there is a revenge, he will report it on the spot. He doesn't care about face, rules and the like. Norman dares to make the little cowboy look bad. Kicked away by the little cowboy.

"Martinez, your taxi company, can sue Uber in federal court, and I believe the federal court will give a fair judgment.

Regardless of the verdict, the Federal Ministry of Transport fully supports the Federal Court's verdict! "

Listening to Norman's push two-five-six, Martinez turned pale with anger. He really wanted to ask, why do the Federal Taxi Association and the Federal Transportation Association pay so much fees and donate so much every year? Meidao, have you fed the dog? At the critical moment, the six relatives did not recognize each other.

Martinez gritted his teeth and came out of Norman's office with a livid face. This time, he thought that even if Norman didn't help the taxi company, at least he would have to save face and suppress the following advantages a little. step company, giving traditional taxi companies a chance to breathe.

But who knew that Norman was so ruthless, but he didn't dare to make Martinez really upset. Norman can't clean up Uber, and he can't clean up his broken taxi company, as long as he stops his car. The license plate, causing a little trouble for the local traffic police in San Francisco, is enough for Martinez to drink a pot.

In the industry, there is no secret. After Martinez came to Washington to seek help from Norman to no avail, the news spread quickly. After knowing that the federal transportation agency would not do anything to Uber, the Wall Street organization that first received the news was the first to give In response, a number of institutions claimed to adjust Uber’s valuation to an astonishing $55 billion. Martinez never dreamed that his trip to Washington directly raised Uber’s valuation by one billion dollars. There is more than one dollar knife, otherwise there will be a myocardial infarction on the plane.

Several major federal banks, General Motors, and other local American and overseas auto groups have once again offered Uber a bigger olive branch. Uber has started a new round of explosive growth in the American states.

Institutions wanting to invest in Uber have come to them in an endless stream, but for Ballmer, happiness came too suddenly.

“Uber wants Microsoft to invest in it?!”

After Ballmer received Kalanick's call, he was surprised at first, and then a somewhat inexplicable expression appeared on his face.

Microsoft is qualified to invest in Uber, and Ballmer certainly knows that Song Yang promised Ballmer when he bought Skype.

But it is one thing to promise, but it is another thing to be willing to keep the promise. If Song Yang insists on it, and Uber is not the company he said that Microsoft invested in, what can Ballmer do? !

For Uber, Ballmer is of course envious. From Bill Gates to Ballmer, they have tried their best to expand Microsoft's influence to other fields besides computer systems.

For the so-called "living room strategy", Microsoft has been tossing for many years. In the past life, it has paid tens of billions of dollars in tuition fees to gain a firm foothold in the game console industry. Now relying on the cooperation with Alcatel Group, although Microsoft has not paid There are so many tuition fees, and the host business is much more prosperous than in the previous life, but the beauty is not in vain.

With the hardware support of Alcatel Group, coupled with the game support of Sierra, and the attitude of making friends with Microsoft, Microsoft’s Xbox consoles are sold to users at low prices. The latest sales volume has surpassed Sony’s game consoles. Challenging.

In addition, as a teacher from the same school, Sega just launched a motion-sensing game console, and Microsoft here took the initiative to "learn". This function has been added to the latest Xbox game console, and the sales are quite good.

Now there is another opportunity in front of Ballmer to enter the Internet consumer market. It depends on whether Ballmer will take over.

"President Ballmer, inviting Microsoft to invest in Uber is a decision made by director Bruno. He believes that Microsoft is the most suitable investor for Uber!"

Kalanick moved Song Yang out, and upon hearing Song Yang's name, Ballmer was silent for a moment, then laughed, "This is a good choice, and I will convince the board of directors to accept this proposal!

You tell Song, I will go over in person and talk to him about it! "

In the hands of Ballmer, Microsoft has slowly recovered over the past few years. Especially recently, relying on the concept of smartphone systems, Microsoft’s stock price has continued to soar. Microsoft's stock price is about to soar a lot.

But for some people inside Microsoft, when they heard that Microsoft was going to invest in Uber, their mentality exploded directly.

"Who built Uber?!"

"I can't figure it out, President Ballmer, how could such a decision be made?!"

In Redmond, Seattle, in a coffee shop in a town where Microsoft is headquartered, Terry Myerson spoke angrily to the man sitting in front of him sipping coffee.

But the man, when he heard Melson's complaint, was indifferent. After a while, seeing that the man didn't speak, Melson could only stop.

Raising his head, Bill Gates took a look and looked out of the coffee shop. After so many years in this Microsoft town, Bill Gates seemed to be thinking about it at this time, looking at the scenery in front of him.

After so many years of construction, Microsoft Town has become the best headquarters in the world, with cafes, banks, bars, restaurants, sporting goods stores and other living and entertainment facilities. Bill Gates didn't care about it before, but now he doesn't I know, I can still sit here and watch the scenery for a few years.

From giving up the position of Microsoft president, in just a few years, Bill Gates has gained a lot of glory. Looking at Melson, the former confidant general, Bill Gates said lightly, "Ballmer's decision is not wrong. , Microsoft should indeed invest in Uber, but he can't take advantage of Song's hands, and if he can't get a controlling stake in Uber, it will be a failure for Microsoft!"

(End of this chapter)