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Chapter 660 The Law of True Fragrance
"I wonder if Bruno Song is deliberately raising the price for Netscape!"

Leon Sis, the confidant of AOL President Keith, couldn't help but said after seeing ICQ's quotation for Netscape.

Case flipped through the data in his hand, and after a while, "Now we have to see whether the acquisition of Netscape is beneficial to AOL!"

Lyonsis knew his boss's ambitions, and he wanted to be the leader of the Internet and technology industry. It was Case's long-cherished wish for more than a year to punch Microsoft and kick ICQ.

The saying that the more you lack something, the more you mention it. This point is absolutely applicable to AOL. When fighting against Microsoft, AOL has no advantage. In the Internet industry, the AIM instant messaging software launched by AOL is also suppressed by ICQ. , Dial-up Internet access also fell into a bottleneck, and more and more users were robbed by American Telecom.

At this time, Case urgently needs to open up the situation for AOL. Even if the acquisition price is expensive, as long as he can help AOL break the situation, Case is willing to act as a victim.

Leon Sith said to Case, "Netscape is still ahead of Microsoft IE in terms of browser technology. Netscape plans to launch a new generation of high-speed browser "Raptor". It is rumored that it will adopt a free strategy. Some users return to the scene..."

What troubled Netscape was never any technology. Netscape has always been outstanding in browser technology, but it couldn’t stand Microsoft’s hooliganism.

Microsoft doesn’t use this method every day. Occasionally, it will make people miserable, and ordinary users will be disappointed, let alone those software companies that develop plug-ins for browsers. What they want is stability. "Crash" Netscape is naturally kept at a respectful distance.

"If Netscape is acquired, AOL will indeed be able to directly obtain a complete set of browsers and technologies, which can directly provide services for AOL users, without relying on Microsoft's IE browser, and can use Netscape to promote AOL's portal website, News and more!"

Leon Sith said that AOL's acquisition of Netscape will naturally be like a tiger with wings added, and it can get a lot of benefits for AOL. Netscape's patents and its technical personnel are enough for AOL to have a full meal.

It seems to be very good, but Leon Sis also had to remind his boss, "But if you buy Netscape, the purchase price may be very high, probably more than 40 billion US dollars. In addition, you need to face the competition from Microsoft. Antitrust lawsuit!"

The acquisition of Netscape means that everything in Netscape has been inherited. In addition to the browser and technical personnel, there is also a lawsuit with Microsoft. Keith knew that was not Keith's character.

Sure enough, after hearing what Leon Heath said, Case sneered, "Will AOL be afraid of Microsoft?!"

It is estimated that Keith himself could not tell how deep the grievance between AOL and Microsoft was, and when did it start? Maybe it was Bill Gates who talked about AOL and humiliated Case. Not to mention, the Bill Gazilla hatred in the early years did have a set.

Back then, Bill Gates threatened to buy AOL and let AOL go to God, which made Keith talk about Microsoft. In addition, both AOL and Microsoft wanted to control the computer desktop.

AOL wants users to use AOL's dial-up Internet access, and then log in to AOL's portal and social software to listen to music, watch movies, check stocks, learn online, etc. on the platforms provided by AOL. Similarly, Microsoft also If you really want to do it, it would be strange if the two sides don't fight.

"AOL needs to take down Netscape to show our "ally" Time Warner the strength of AOL!" After some calculations, Case said to Leon Sis.

The acquisition of Netscape could not satisfy Case's appetite at all. What Case wanted to do was an earth-shattering event that would drive the entire Wall Street into a frenzy and include Time Warner in his pocket!

Originally, AOL wanted to find a media giant to cooperate with to obtain the needed media, news, movies, TV, music, publishing and many other contents, but Bertelsmann, News Corp., and Disney all had a bad nose. Those media Giants don't like AOL at all. Only when they came into contact with Time Warner, the head of Time Warner, Jerry Levine, didn't immediately reject AOL's proposal. Instead, he seemed quite interested. This gave Case hope.

The acquisition of Netscape can drive up the stock price of AOL, and then launch a shocking acquisition of Time Warner. This is a routine that everyone is playing. WorldCom is playing, and Song Yang is also planning to play...

Seeing Case, he made up his mind, Leonsis got up and said, "I will make an offer to Netscape, and buy Netscape at all costs!"

Not only AOL, Yahoo is also thinking about it, but it is not as determined as Netscape, and has been hesitant about whether to make an offer to Netscape.

"The risk is too high, and the purchase price is too high. Yahoo got Netscape. If Netscape cannot be brought back to life, it will be a big blow to Yahoo, and it will affect Yahoo's stock price!"

"The key is Microsoft. Is Yahoo going to war with Microsoft in the browser industry?"

Inside Yahoo's board of directors, there are different opinions. Yahoo CEO Cooger is hesitant. This is a really big deal for Yahoo. Whether to fight Microsoft or not.

To be honest, since Yahoo's debut, it has not experienced any major battles. It has been advancing all the way, and has never encountered a decent opponent. It is suddenly necessary to challenge Microsoft, and Coorg has no idea.

"Yahoo can't give up this opportunity. Now that Microsoft's MSN has entered the portal site, if Yahoo doesn't acquire Netscape, will Microsoft let Yahoo go?"

Yang Zhiyuan was determined to acquire Netscape. He wanted to let Yahoo show off its muscles. It would be another matter if it could beat it.

Coorg wants to support Yang Zhiyuan. He also believes that Yahoo cannot be content with the status quo. Portals do not have much moat, and it is not impossible to be replaced.

But looking at several Wall Street board representatives in Yahoo, they seemed very reluctant, which gave Coorg a headache.

"Yahoo should make an offer to Netscape, but the purchase price should not be too high. If it exceeds $40 billion, Yahoo will withdraw. After the acquisition, Yahoo can withdraw its lawsuit against Microsoft and avoid conflict with Microsoft!"

Cooger suggested that shrinking because of the price issue is already an old tradition of Yahoo. Not only now, but in the future, they will miss Google and Facebook because of the price, and even sell themselves. It is almost a Yahoo routine The operation is nothing less than because this is a company completely controlled by Wall Street.

When buying, they would be afraid to make a bid because they were worried about losing money. When selling themselves, they would feel that the selling price was too low and would not be willing to sell. Naturally, they would get nothing afterwards.

Coog also knew the urine of Wall Street, so he proposed such a four-dimensional proposal.

Yang Zhiyuan opened his mouth. He didn't want to. Naturally, he wanted to buy Netscape at all costs. But at this time, Coorg had already started to vote.

Seeing that the directors of Coorg and Wall Street had raised their hands in agreement, Yang Zhiyuan looked at the largest shareholder of Yahoo, and the representative of Softbank's director of Yahoo, and raised his hand expressionlessly when he saw the Japanese benzene devil.

Although Softbank is Yahoo's number one shareholder, Softbank obviously doesn't want to offend Wall Street, for fear of being driven out of America. He will not be on Yang Zhiyuan's side.

Seeing that all the directors raised their hands, Yang Zhiyuan and another Yahoo chief Fei Luo looked at each other, but they still raised their hands helplessly.

There are not a few companies that have ideas about Netscape. In addition to AOL and Yahoo, Lycos, another major portal site, as well as Disney and News Corp., are also eyeing up. However, ICQ's starting price is too high, and it is 35 The $[-] million dollar price makes it a little daunting for those who want to pick up the leak.

And after ICQ made the quotation, it was unexpected that before AOL had time to make a quotation, the jaw-dropping news spread that Microsoft made a quotation to Netscape for US$38 billion, threatening that as long as Netscape was willing to sell, Microsoft could buy it in cash!
One stone stirred up thousands of waves, and once Microsoft's quotation came out, who would dare to say that Netscape was worthless?

For Microsoft, this is definitely not a loss. Buying Netscape with billions of dollars can end the anti-monopoly lawsuit against rights protection. .

Netscape’s response to Microsoft was very simple. Jim Clark himself declared, “Microsoft’s offer will not be considered. No matter if Microsoft pays 40 billion, 50 billion or 100 billion dollars, Netscape will not sell to Microsoft!”

Jim Clark's attitude is very clear, he and Microsoft are feuds, even if Netscape goes bankrupt, it goes bankrupt, and it will not accept Microsoft's offer, and it will not sell for $100 billion, which is comparable to Wang's True Fragrance Law up.

When Song Yang saw this report, he couldn't help complaining to Irene, Greg, Iger and others, "Jim Clark really dared to raise the price, 100 billion US dollars in cash, let alone Netscape Now, ICQ can be sold to Microsoft!"

(End of this chapter)