America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 50 Bill, the Grave Digger

In 1986, just 11 years after Microsoft turned 11, it moved to Redmond, Washington, and this land became the starting point for its rapid growth.

Back then, there were only four buildings here, but ten years later, Microsoft has expanded into a behemoth with 17 office buildings and six more under construction, showcasing its unparalleled power.

Inside the conference room, Bill sat in the president's seat, flanked by several senior executives of the group, including the CFO, the legal director, and the head of the investment department.

"Google is still refusing?" Bill broke the silence in the conference room first, his voice low and carrying a hint of barely perceptible dissatisfaction.

My first encounter with Google was through Netscape Navigator.

IE's promising start suddenly came to an abrupt end, and its market share even shrank, which greatly puzzled Bill Gates.

It was only after an investigation that it was discovered that Netscape Navigator had switched to a search engine called Google, which not only greatly improved search speed but was also much more convenient, accurate, and user-friendly than the search engines currently on the market.

When Bill learned that this Google search engine was not developed by Netscape but used technology from another company, his first reaction was to buy it.

For him, the motto has always been to solve problems with money whenever possible.

However, he also knew that Microsoft and he himself did not have a good reputation in the American technology industry, so he kept a backup plan and made two preparations, allowing the IE department to activate Microsoft's great and signature technology, which was to learn from the big picture.

Before any contact was even made, the rapid surge in Google users caught the attention of Wall Street.

This made Bill Gates realize that he had to act quickly; if Google secured funding from Wall Street, acquiring it would be virtually impossible.

Therefore, they showed great sincerity from their first contact with Microsoft, offering a sky-high price of $4.5 million.

In Bill Gates' view, this price was enough to tempt Google and would also fend off all of Wall Street's competitors.

However, reality slapped him hard in the face; the other party rejected the offer without even thinking.

Undeterred by the initial rejection, Microsoft launched a second round of negotiations, raising its offer by a whopping $1.2 million, demonstrating to Google just how deep its pockets were.

However, the result is not satisfactory.

"That's right, they didn't hesitate at all, and they weren't even willing to negotiate with us. Later, I proposed abandoning the overall acquisition and instead seeking financing, but they still refused."

"Why?" Bill Gates roared, slamming his fist on the conference table with a deafening thud. "This price is unacceptable to Wall Street. I believe it far exceeds Google's current value. Are there any other idiots in the world who don't care about money?"

Sandro, the head of the investment department, opened his mouth slightly, almost blurting out, "Don't you have any idea what your reputation is like in the tech industry?" But thinking of his elderly parents and young children, and how he relied on this job to support his family, he swallowed the words back, silently cursing in his heart.

"They might be worried about Microsoft's position in the internet industry and afraid that we would have too much influence on their decisions after the funding. Compared to us, Google probably wants to find pure investors."

"Are Wall Street just pure investors?" Bill Gates looked disdainful. In his eyes, they were a group of bloodsuckers who cared about money more than anything.

Sandro couldn't help but think to himself, "I gave you a way out and you didn't even know how to take it. No wonder you have no friends."

"Tell me about the situation with IE. How long will it take us to develop a search engine at the level of Google?"

Seeing that Bill Gates had changed the subject, Sandro breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Jonari, who was sitting opposite him in charge of the IE department.

"Unpredictable," Jonari replied succinctly and decisively.

"Unpredictable?" Bill's voice suddenly rose two decibels, his brows furrowed, clearly dissatisfied with the answer.

"What are the IE department doing? The group allocates tens of millions of dollars every year, and their number of engineers is seven or eight times that of Google. You're telling me that a small search technology is unpredictable?"

While glancing out the window at the construction site not far away, Bill suddenly wondered if he should consult a feng shui master.

Since construction began on these six office buildings, Microsoft has experienced a period of bad luck, unlike its previous smooth sailing.

Two years ago, the Department of Justice first filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that Microsoft entered into exclusive and anti-competitive licensing agreements with computer manufacturers, preventing them from using operating systems from Microsoft's competitors.

After more than a dozen months of negotiations, the two sides finally signed a settlement agreement, which brought the matter to a close.

Before we could even celebrate, another problem arose with the browser service.

A small company that has only been established for a short time dared to refuse Microsoft, and in such a rude and disrespectful manner.

Rejecting him twice, not even giving him a chance to negotiate, what's the difference between that and slapping his face on the ground and kicking him twice?

Now even the company's internal R&D is having problems; hundreds of engineers have been copying others for half a month and still haven't gotten any results.

Looking at the bulldozer repairing the road, I wondered to myself, "Did they dig up someone's ancestral grave?"

"Google's PageRank algorithm is simple in principle, but it's not easy to develop a similar technology that can bypass it. Not to mention the technical barriers, the sheer amount of code in Google's PageRank algorithm is over 1GB."

"Don't even mention R&D, even just copying takes our engineers several days to copy."

"We need to become familiar with this algorithm, and then organize our thoughts and determine the development direction."

"Don't even mention half a month, even if you give us two more months, I can't guarantee whether we can develop such an algorithm."

"And don't forget that Google is still improving, and its algorithms are constantly being optimized. According to our sources, Sergey Brin has returned to his alma mater, Stanford, and we've heard that Google plans to recruit at least fifty engineers from Stanford by the end of the year."

"And then?" Bill glared at Jonathan, his eyes wide with anger. "Is this the answer you've given me?"

The atmosphere in the office instantly became tense, and everyone's expression turned serious.

After glancing cautiously at the expressionless Bill Gates, Powell hesitated for a moment before speaking, "IE's goal is to win this browser war. I think we should abandon the development of a search engine and just use Google."

"We're not afraid of Google becoming too big. So what if it monopolizes the search engine market?"

"As long as we can also dominate the browser field and form a monopoly, we can replace Google at any time."

In the internet field, platforms always take precedence over technology.

Bill Gates fell into deep thought; in fact, he quite agreed with Powell's idea.

Microsoft's success in entering one internet business area after another is due to its powerful operating system platform.

Many people say that operating systems are simply a matter of technology, which is a big misconception.

At this moment in America, there are operating systems, if not countless, but certainly a considerable number, and some are even more technologically advanced than Microsoft's operating system.

Microsoft's ability to achieve a monopoly stems from the Microsoft platform built upon its various businesses and operating systems.

With the largest user base and the greatest demand, I am qualified to negotiate with computer manufacturers, allowing their computers to use only my operating system and software.

The problem is that Bill Gates is a little too embarrassed to admit it.

He was now a well-known American tycoon. He had just been rejected by Google and lost face, and then he was already eagerly trying to buy their products. He could imagine how the media would ridicule him and make him the laughing stock of the day.

"Let me think about it. Let the IE department speed up the development process."