Zhou Xin’s first choice was Rick Dalzell, who started working for Wal-Mart in 1990 and single-handedly built Wal-Mart’s data warehouse strategy. He joined Amazon in 1997. After joining Amazon, he worked his way from chief technology officer to vice president, and finally retired from Amazon.
It was too difficult to dig this man out, and Zhou Xin failed to persuade him.
I had no choice but to start Plan B, which was Wang Jian. Wang Jian is definitely capable of building Alibaba Cloud from scratch.
Although when Alibaba was developing cloud services, Amazon's public cloud services were already very mature, and there was a clear replication path that we could learn from.
Amazon has been conducting cloud-related explorations since 2000. In 2008, when Alibaba determined its cloud computing strategy, Americus also had a large number of companies entering the public cloud field.
At least from a future perspective, Wang Jian's execution and ability in building Alibaba Cloud are no problem.
That's enough.
What Zhou Xin likes most is to look for successful experiences in his memory and recreate them. In his opinion, there is a high probability that people or plans that could be successful in the original time and space will have no problem if they are used in this time and space.
Zhou Xin doesn't like to use resumes or recommendations to find people who are unsuccessful in his impression to be responsible for very important strategic planning.
Zhou Xin is more willing to believe that people or plans that have been successful will still succeed under his butterfly effect, and he does not believe that finding people who are not well-known enough can do better.
Wang Jian was surprised when he received the invitation because Zhou Xin personally sent him an email.
I also praised him highly in the email and even named the name of his paper: "A Simple Method for Parallelizing the Floyd-Warshall Algorithm". This is a paper he published in the Journal of Distributed Computing four years ago.
Whether judging from Zhou Xin's email invitation or the remarks of Emerging Investment CEO Wu Shiqiang, the other party seems to have shown an attitude that this matter must be done by him.
You must know that Wang Jian was just an unknown person in the computer field at this time, and he had only joined Microsoft Research Asia for less than a year. Later, when Alibaba poached him, he was already the vice president of Microsoft Research Asia.
Wang Jian was a professor of psychology before joining Microsoft, and his experience with computers was also in cognitive psychology. He was able to enter Microsoft because of his attainments in cognitive psychology, which overlaps with artificial intelligence.
It wasn't until after joining Microsoft that Wang Jian gradually showed his talent and accumulation in distributed computing. Before this, no one knew that he had any achievements in distributed computing.
It's hard for Wang Jian to imagine that he has to do anything. Because he was recruited to start a business in Silicon Valley, Wang Jian knew that there were many more powerful technology experts in Silicon Valley than him.
But Wang Jian still came because what Zhou Xin said in the email was very tempting. Of course, it is really tempting to use Zhou Xin's background and Zhou Xin's description of what they are going to do in the email.
"Mr. Wu, thank you very much for Mr. Zhou's kindness. I would like to ask Mr. Wu, what kind of person do you think Mr. Zhou is?"
Wang Jian didn't ask technical questions or what he wanted to do. Asking Wu Shiqiang on these two points was useless. He waited to ask Zhou Xin directly after going to Amerikan if the next offer came.
Wu Shiqiang thought of the days when he followed Zhou Xin in San Francisco: "He is a person who is easy to get along with and does not expect others to listen to him on anything because of external things such as his wealth and status.
I have worked at Americen for more than seven years. I wonder if Dr. Wang knows that I worked in a bank in San Francisco before. When I worked in a bank, I saw too many wealthy big clients. Because they were rich, they wanted everything in the world to run according to their own will.
Once what you do doesn't match their expectations, they will try to get you to do what they want.
The boss is much richer than all the rich people I have ever met, but except for being very principled at work, he is a very easy-going person at other times.
His persistence at work will prove that his persistence at that time was correct in the end.
I remember the first investment case that my boss and I went to see. It was also an investment that the boss made in his own name before Xinxing Investment was established.
It invested in search engine companies that had no profit model at the time, Google and Baidu. At that time, the boss pointedly pointed out that Baidu and Google were actually advertising companies. They had very good technology and very high investment value.
At that time, everyone's focus was on the portal website, and the boss could see the value that others could not see.
The same is true in other aspects. I believe that working with my boss is a pleasant and interesting journey. During this journey, he can always act as a beacon and guide you when you lose direction.
Including emerging investments, we did not invest a single amount of money in China after our establishment. We waited until the Nasdaq plummeted before we started investing. The boss has long been certain that the Nasdaq bubble will burst sooner or later. "
Wu Shiqiang fell into memories. What he just said was not because Zhou Xin was his boss, so he put on a good show in front of Wang Jian, but because he really thought so.
The days when he followed Zhou Xin around looking at Internet companies in San Francisco were a rare and pleasant time in his life.
There is no clear work content, you can come into contact with different companies and different people, and you can hear the operating logic of Internet companies from Zhou Xin. Such days are much happier than Wu Shiqiang doing business in a bank.
"Newman, the Internet winter is finally over.
The news I got from the Ministry of Finance is that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike is over. After this interest rate hike ends, there will not be a seventh interest rate hike. "
When Wu Shiqiang was working as a lobbyist to persuade Wang Jian, Bill Gates came to Zhou Xin for dinner and chat after attending an event in San Francisco. He said with relief.
“The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates a total of six times in the past year, raising the federal benchmark interest rate from 4.75% to 6.5%.
There is no bigger downside to risk assets than this. "Bill Gates complained: "In addition, Microsoft is being sued by damn federal officials. The combination of the two makes Microsoft's life really difficult. "
The Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes around the turn of the millennium began on June 30, 1999. The first five rate hikes were at a rate of 25 basis points each time.
The last time, which was the day after the launch of the TFT server, there was a one-time interest rate increase of 50 basis points.
Raising interest rates will cause funds to flow back, and the liquidity in the market will dry up, which will cause the bubble that was blown up to lose the wind and continue to blow it even bigger.
The Fed's interest rate hike is the most important reason why the Nasdaq bubble burst.
Zhou Xin thought to himself, if it hadn't been for the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, how would he have had the opportunity to acquire so many high-quality assets.
Zhou Xin not only acquired most of the shares of Nvidia and ARM, but Emerging Investment also purchased a large number of stocks of high-quality technology companies during this period.
Like Microsoft, Cisco, Amazon, Apple, etc.
Especially Apple, since the Nasdaq bubble burst, its market value has dropped from US$16 billion to US$4 billion.
Zhou Xin started buying Apple shares from the secondary market when Apple fell to US$6 billion.
In the process, Apple, which was originally going to fall to US$3 billion in time and space, began to stop falling when it fell to US$4 billion.
Because in the U.S. stock market, when investors purchase 5% of the shares of a listed company, they need to raise a sign and submit a 13D application form to disclose their ownership and intentions.
In some special circumstances, investors need to submit a 13G application form when their purchase ratio exceeds 5%.
Both forms are the reporting formats required by the Amerikan Securities and Exchange Commission. The 13D application form symbolizes investors' attempts to influence the company's management, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, etc.
The 13G application form is aimed at investors who do not seek to actively influence corporate management. For example, institutional investors, investors holding less than 10% of shares, pension funds, etc.
Jobs had returned to Apple in 1997 and led Apple out of financial crisis with the iMac.
This is just out of the crisis, far from a revival. The current Apple is far from the Apple that struggled with Microsoft on personal operating systems.
It is precisely because of this that Zhou Xin had the opportunity to acquire Apple shares at such a low price.
Originally, Zhou Xin planned to submit the 13G application form because he actually did not intend to interfere too much in Apple's business management.
In addition to exerting influence on Apple's future mobile phone chip foundry, it has helped SMIC become one of the suppliers in the fruit chain.
What he wanted to achieve was that simple.
Because in his prediction, with the matrix mobile phone in front, Apple is unlikely to have the same impact as in its previous life.
However, he thinks that Apple's valuation is too cheap, and he predicts that it will be impossible to stop buying only 5% of the shares from the secondary market. No matter what, the 10% line will be exceeded.
So Zhou Xin chose the 13D application form. After Wall Street learned about Zhou Xin's acquisition of Apple, some investment institutions that had originally planned to sell Apple stocks hesitated. They planned to wait and see for a while.
Because of this, Apple's market value has not fallen far from its original low.
There are very few non-tradable shares of Apple on the market, because Apple was listed as early as 1980, and both founders left Apple. Apple has experienced a decade of undervaluation. The percentage of insider ownership (that is, shares that are not publicly traded) has dropped to a very low level.
Apple’s outstanding shares in the secondary market account for 99.5% of its total share capital.
In other words, as long as Zhou Xin wants to, he can easily achieve relative control of Apple. As for absolute control, it depends on whether he will encounter resistance from investors.
He plans to slowly purchase Apple shares from the secondary market this year. Whether he can achieve absolute control depends on the feedback from the capital market.
If the price is too high, there is no need.
Because the success of Apple in later generations was the result of Amerikan’s years of technological accumulation, concentrated on Apple.
If Zhou Xin achieves absolute control of Apple, it is entirely possible that a new company will produce similar products and replace Apple's original position.
Rather than competing with unfamiliar companies, it is better to compete with familiar companies. In addition, with most of Apple's stocks and board seats, he can not only enjoy the dividends of Apple's future development, but also intervene in Apple's business strategy.
So Zhou Xin is not that enthusiastic about acquiring Apple.
This is just like if someone has a large portion of BTC on the surface and can directly interfere with its price fluctuations, then capital will naturally select another hyped virtual currency to replace BTC.
"Bill, congratulations to you." Zhou Xin said.
Microsoft has been having a hard time recently, or it could be said that their life in the past ten years has been too good.
Its business has spread all over the world, and it has no rivals in the field of home operating systems. Apple, which was originally the only rival, is dying.
Relying on its substantial monopoly business, it has captured excess profits from around the world, and its market value has soared to US$600 billion. This was US$600 billion in 2000.
And its direct competitor in the past, Apple, which spans operating systems and personal PCs, only had a market value of tens of billions of dollars even under the Nasdaq bubble.
Such a stark contrast makes the old moneymen of Amerikan always want to break up Microsoft. Microsoft's rise was too fast, and they didn't enjoy any dividends at all.
Only a few Wall Street investment institutions have enjoyed the development dividends of Microsoft over the past ten years.
Therefore, in the second half of the 1990s, there were constant voices within Amerikan that wanted to break up Microsoft.
Monopoly is just an excuse, and striving for profits is the essence under the excuse.
The same is true for quora. If Zhou Xin had not paid taxes honestly and did not take any risky tax avoidance measures, he would certainly not have been able to escape the fate of being prosecuted.
"How's the Microsoft appeal case going?" Zhou Xin asked.
The end of the Fed's interest rate hike only means that the macroeconomic negative impact on Internet stocks has ended.
The end of the negative macro environment does not mean that confidence will be rebuilt soon. It takes time for the bubble to burst and for the market to return to prosperity, and it requires a landmark event.
In the eyes of investors and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, the Microsoft split is a landmark event.
Microsoft's monopoly is the result of market competition. If Microsoft is broken up, it means that other Internet companies will not be able to escape the fate of being broken up, even if they have achieved relative monopoly in this field.
Then the valuations of Internet companies will still remain low, and more companies will adopt the same strategy as Intel and deliberately allow competitor AMD to survive.
Bill Gates whispered: "There will be a result soon. It is estimated that at the beginning of next month, the court will issue a verdict on the Thomas ruling."
"We intend to overturn Thomas' conviction on the basis that he engaged in inappropriate discussions with the news media while the case was still ongoing.
Thomas' conduct was a serious violation of the Judges' Code of Conduct and was clearly unethical. "
He continued: "Actually, does Microsoft have a monopoly? Of course it does, but trying to break up Microsoft goes against the principle of free competition.
This will severely impact innovation and is a serious infringement of property rights.
We hope to seek lighter antitrust penalties, such as fines, or other provisions. "
Zhou Xin concluded while Bill Gates was drinking coffee: "In short, Microsoft can accept all punishments except splitting up."
Bill Gates shook his head: "It's not so absolute, it's just that we can't accept the split.
If Microsoft is broken up, it will not only affect the interests of Microsoft, but also the interests of other consumers and Internet companies.
There are multiple operating systems, and our software must be adapted to different operating systems.
The operating system is the infrastructure of the computer, just like the railroad tracks have different standards, and different states have different widths of railroad tracks. When passengers take interstate trains, they need to constantly change trains.
This is a bit too unreasonable. "
Zhou Xin can understand Bill Gates's thinking, but this is not the reason why Microsoft forces the IE browser to be bundled with the operating system.
The most critical evidence in the federal prosecution of Microsoft is that Microsoft forcibly bundled the IE browser and manipulated its software programming interface to benefit IE instead of third-party browsers.
As a witness, the vice president of Intel directly accused the vice president of Microsoft, saying that he wanted to extinguish and strangle competitor Netscape Communications. The vice president of Microsoft also claimed that he would cut off Netscape's user sources by giving away the IE browser for free.
Even in the process of providing evidence later, the videotape provided by Microsoft was forged, and some clips were cut out to make it appear that the Netscape browser could be quickly installed into the Windows operating system.
In reality the process is lengthy and complex.
During the whole process of being sued, Microsoft made too many tricks and was caught on too many grounds.
That is to say, Bill Gates continued to sell Microsoft shares and share the benefits with Wall Street investment institutions, which saved Microsoft from being split up.
If Zhou Xin were the founder and actual controller of Microsoft, even if he sold his shares to Wall Street, Microsoft would still be broken up.
Zhou Xin saw that Bill Gates seemed particularly confident: "It seems that Microsoft has taken care of everything.
A federal court would soon throw out Thomas' conviction. "
Bill Gates: "Nothing has been determined yet, I just have faith in the federal courts.
I believe they will not make an unreasonable verdict. "
(End of chapter)
