Back to 1995

Chapter 204
In the past two years, AOL has launched a 19-dollar monthly subscription dial-up Internet service. Although the network speed card is sloppy, it is cheaper than 200 dollars a year, allowing more families to have access to the Internet. , which allowed AOL to sweep tens of millions of users in America.

In terms of scale alone, AOL, with nearly 2000 million users, is the largest Internet service provider in America. The user scale of telecommunications giant Priest is far inferior to that of AOL.

Of course, this is only in terms of scale, because of the high cost, compared to the profit, America Telecom's annual money from the line from Chicago to Wall Street alone can make AOL a second of scum!

But now AOL, to a certain extent, represents the Internet in America, and there are even AOL investors who don’t want Bilian, advocating that there will be no Internet industry in America without AOL. AOL's status in the Internet industry, nearly half of American Internet users belong to AOL.

Especially in the past two years, Infernal Affairs has been staged consecutively. First, it cheated Netscape, and then allied with SUN and Microsoft. In the Internet, technology, and telecommunications industries, AOL is flourishing.

Under the leadership of the head of the company, Case, AOL has continuously launched Internet advertising, online search, chat rooms, e-mail, browsers, and other businesses. Recently, it is also planning to play the latest e-commerce business. Hot spots cannot be broken.

AOL tends to provide these services for free to users who use AOL services. Regardless of whether they make money or not, AOL can play whatever is hot on the Internet. It can be said that it is well versed in the wealth codes of the Internet industry.

Case’s actions have caused AOL’s stock price to skyrocket in the four years since its listing. The stock price has doubled by nearly dozens of times. Wall Street institutions investing in AOL have begun to shout that AOL will be the first Internet company with a market value of more than 500 billion dollars. !

However, today is not a good day for AOL. The soaring stock price, in the case of a collective surge in the telecom industry, has actually fallen. Although the decline is not too much, it is definitely not a good day for AOL. good thing.

"It has been confirmed that Block Tax Company has agreed to sell CompuServe Telecom. KKR Group, Deutsche Bank Investment Bank, Comerica Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch have provided funds and guarantees for America Telecom's waiting!"

At the AOL headquarters, the executive Ted Leonsis, who put down the phone, reported to the leader, Keithhui, with an uneasy expression.

The entire group of AOL companies were a little confused today. It was quite sudden. They never expected that seeing the telecommunications industry become a pot of porridge, AOL just squatted behind and counted the money, but unexpectedly, they suddenly gave Ai a knife. !

American Telecom's sudden attack on AOL, or the dial-up Internet industry, is something that AOL has never thought about. After all, American Telecom and WorldCom and other companies are in full swing. In the blink of an eye, AOL was directly slashed.

Listening to Leon Sith's words, Case just frowned, but didn't say much, just watched the news report of American Telecom on the TV.

Like MFS's acquisition of UUNET, American Telecom also held a press conference for the acquisition of CompuServe. Iger, the head of American Telecom, attended the conference.

Just like the media ridiculed Eiger, Eiger's performance in front of the camera was not outstanding, far less than that of his wife who was born a supermodel.

But Eiger, who has a strict eye, is by no means so bad that he cannot participate in the media conference.

"We acquired CompuServe, this is not a temporary idea, CompuServe plays an important role in the American industry!"

Iger said facing the interviewed media, and when asked by the reporter whether Song Yang knew about this matter, Iger also said bluntly, "This acquisition is the decision of the entire American Telecom board of directors. Bruno Director Song is also among them."

This is self-evident. Hearing this, Case didn't intend to continue watching, and asked someone to turn off the TV.

"Is it possible to stop America Telecom's acquisition and go to Block Tax Company..." A director of AOL said with a bad idea.

Leoncis glanced at Case, and said to the person who said this, "It's not about Bullock Tax Company, even if we snatched CompuServe at a high price, the key is that Wall Street is supporting American Telecom's entry into the dial-up Internet industry! "

AOL and CompuServe are not the only ones who play dial-up Internet service. Companies such as Princeton, UUNET, and Qwest have this kind of service. Enjoy the slag-free internet speed of the card, but AOL plays the largest and harvests the most users.

And now America Telecom, with the support of Wall Street, is suddenly wading into the dial-up Internet industry, and it looks like it is going to do a big job. This is what makes AOL feel uncomfortable.

Seeing that the conference room started to quarrel, Case finally said, "We need to know what America Telecom is going to do, and we need to know what Bruno Song means!"

Case and Song Yang met once. At last year's Microsoft Developers Conference, Song Yang and Case had a hasty meeting. Case never thought that Song Yang would draw a sword like him one day.

In front of the AOL executives, Case sneered, "I now understand how Jim Clark and Anderson felt about this kid last year. Those cowboys have never been reliable!"

Listening to Case's words, embarrassing expressions appeared on the faces of all AOL executives. Case scolded Song Yang for not following the rules of the world and stabbing the Internet scene, but AOL is not going to be clean, at most, the eldest brother laughs That's all for the second brother.

Moreover, Song Yang is a bright thorn, making it clear that he can't piss in the same pot as Netscape, so he directly listed the Hotmail mailbox for sale.

On the other hand, AOL, Infernal Affairs is called a slippery one. Don't be too quick to be a second-five boy. They have formed an alliance with Netscape. They sold Netscape to Microsoft backhandedly, and let Netscape painstakingly manage the alliance. It fell apart in an instant.

The annoyed president of Netscape Baxter gave Case a nickname of "Chameleon". Today, Case has the face to accuse Song Yang of being dishonest.

"Maybe, we should talk to America Telecom once. AOL doesn't have much competition with America Telecom now!"

Leon Siss said to Case that AOL's focus is still on dial-up Internet services, and it is not very interested in broadband services. Of course, AOL understands that broadband networks are faster. The future Internet era must belong to broadband and optical fiber.

But broadband costs too much money. Looking at American Telecom’s construction of a network cable, it will be used by one or two hundred companies on Wall Street, and it will cost [-] million dollars. To promote broadband services, AOL will either cooperate with the telecommunications company and pay a high price for the telecommunications company to transform it. The line, or laying the line to the user's home, no matter which option is a huge expenditure, this has a great impact on AOL's stock price.

AOL's current plan is to occupy the market by dial-up Internet access, and then gradually upgrade. The telecom companies that play broadband first may not survive to the end, and the broadband market accounts for less than 3% of Internet users in America. AOL believes that the speed of the network has "not a big impact" on the Internet. In the short term, the promotion of the broadband industry is too difficult. It will not be too late to occupy users first, and then gradually grab the broadband market in the future.

But now American Telecom has broken AOL's plan. American Telecom is not the most powerful in the telecom industry, but its strength is first-class. AOL is not afraid of American Telecom, but it does not want to mess with such a madman. If you don't see WorldCom, you can't do anything about it. Who knows what tricks American Telecom will play.

When Keith heard what Leon Sith said, he understood what he meant. This was to ask Keith to have a talk with Song Yang, and ask America Telecom to withdraw from the dial-up Internet business. Play, AOL continues to make a fortune in silence.

After thinking for a while, Case finally nodded. It would be a good thing for AOL if he could "dissuade" America Telecom from the dial-up Internet industry. Who is in charge.

"Call America Telecom and Bruno Song, AOL is willing to talk to them once, but AOL will never be afraid of them, announced that AOL will have more than 3000 million users before the turn of the century, and AOL will not be afraid of any opponent !” Case said to a group of senior executives, ready to fight and talk, and show off his muscles first.

In the open space of an auto repair shop in San Jose, a car quickly drifted across the open space amidst the roar, leaving a deep tire mark on the ground.

Song Yang stood aside, looking at Gallo sitting in the car, constantly stepping on the accelerator, doing various movements and drifting in the open space. The words of Siebel Automobile Club were painted on the car.

I don’t know what level this car is in the eyes of experts, but Song Yang looks at this modified car that can only be regarded as retro in later generations, but it is a trendy sports car. It proves that the Xibel Automobile Club did not waste the money Song Yang invested in, but still made something.

The car on the field was made by the small car design company that Song Yang invested in Houston last year. It is going to participate in the SEMA America, one of the world's three major modified car competitions held in Las Vegas recently. contest.

Standing beside Song Yang, An Dulan, the general manager of the Siebel Automobile Club, and Stewart, the chief designer, looked at Song Yang's face from time to time.

No way, who would have imagined that it was just a small dilapidated stall at the beginning, a half-level car design company, looking for an investor, but in the blink of an eye, the investor became the youngest in America, who may be on the top [-] richest people in America The upstart on the list, for the people of the Siebel Automobile Club, I don't know whether they should be happy or "surprised".

(End of this chapter)