Back To 1995

   Chapter 204 Fifty steps with a hundred steps

In the past two years, AOL has launched a monthly dial-up Internet service of 19 dollars. Although the network speed card is slag, it is cheaper. The annual fee is less than 200 dollars, so that more families can get access to it. Internet, which made AOL swept millions of users in America.

  In terms of scale alone, AOL with nearly 20 million users is America's largest Internet service provider, and the user scale of telecom giant Prince is far less than that of AOL.

   Of course, this is only in terms of scale, because of the high cost, compared to profits, America Telecom alone can make money every year from the route from Chicago to Wall Street, and it can make AOL seconds scum!

But now AOL, to a certain extent, represents the Internet of America, and there are even AOL investors who do not want Bilian. They all know that there is no Internet industry in America without AOL, but it also shows that at the moment AOL's position in the Internet industry, nearly half of America's Internet users belong to AOL.

  Especially in the past two years, the Infernal Affairs has been staged in succession, first pitting Netscape, and then allying with SUN and Microsoft. In the Internet, technology, and telecommunications industries, AOL has been mixed.

Under the leadership of its head Keith, AOL has launched a series of businesses such as Internet advertising, online search, chat rooms, e-mails, browsers, etc. Recently, it is also preparing to play the latest e-commerce business. Hot spots cannot be interrupted.

  AOL tends to provide these services to users who use AOL services for free. Regardless of whether they make money or not, AOL will play whatever the Internet is popular anyway.

Case's actions have caused the stock price of AOL, which has been listed for four years, to skyrocket, and the stock price has increased by nearly dozens of times. Internet company!

However, today is not a good day for AOL. The soaring stock price has fallen despite the collective rise of the telecommunications industry. Although the decline is not too much, for AOL, this is by no means a coincidence. good thing.

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

  AOL headquarters, the executive Ted Lyonsis, who put down the phone, reported to the head Keith Hui with a bad face.

The whole group of people in AOL was a little confused today. It was quite sudden. I never expected that, seeing the telecom industry become a pot of porridge. !

America Telecom suddenly started to AOL, or the dial-up Internet industry, which AOL never thought about. After all, America Telecom and WorldCom and other companies are in full swing, and they are ruthless. They want to win UUNET at all costs. In the blink of an eye, it gave AOL a knife.

   Listening to Lyonsis's words, Case just frowned, but didn't say much, just watched the news report of America Telecom on the TV station.

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

   Just as the media ridiculed Iger, in front of the camera, Iger's performance was not very good, far less than that of his wife who was a supermodel.

   But the straight-forward Iger is by no means so bad that he cannot attend the media conference.

   "We acquired CompuServe. This is not an impromptu move. CompuServe plays an important role in the industry of the Americas!"

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

   These words are self-evident. Hearing this, Case did not intend to continue watching any more, and directly turned off the TV.

   "Is it possible to stop the acquisition of America Telecom and go to the Brock tax company..." An AOL director said with a bad idea.

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

AOL and CompuServe are not the only ones who play dial-up Internet business. Princeton, UUNET, Qwest and other companies all have this kind of business. Enjoy the slag-free network speed of the card, but AOL plays the most 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 make a big fight. This is what makes AOL feel uncomfortable.

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

  Case had a relationship with Song Yang. At last year's Microsoft Developer Conference, Song Yang and Case met in a hurry. Case never thought that Song Yang would draw a knife to him one day.

   In front of the executives of AOL, 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, AOL's executives showed embarrassed expressions on their faces. Case scolded Song Yang for not following the rules of the world and backstabbed Netscape, but AOL couldn't get much clean. Just brother.

   And Song Yang is a bright thorn. He made it clear that he couldn't urinate in a pot with Netscape, so he directly listed the Hotmail mailbox for sale. Whoever got the highest price got it. Netscape didn't have as much money as Microsoft, so who could blame him?

On the AOL side, the one who plays Infernal Affairs is called a slipper. Don't be too quick to be a second or fifth boy. They have formed an alliance with Netscape. They sold Netscape to Microsoft and let Netscape work hard to manage the alliance. Disintegrated in an instant.

The angry Netscape president Baxder gave Case the nickname "Chameleon". Today Case has the face to accuse Song Yang of being inauthentic.

   "Maybe, we should talk to America Telecom. AOL does not have much competition with America Telecom now!"

  Lyonses said to Case that AOL's focus is still on dial-up Internet business, and there is not much interest in broadband business. AOL certainly understands that broadband network speed is faster, and the future Internet era must belong to broadband and fiber optics.

But broadband is too expensive. Look at Telecom Americas building a network cable and supply it to one or two hundred Wall Street companies. It costs three hundred million dollars. To promote broadband business, AOL will either cooperate with telecom companies and ask telecom companies to transform them at high prices. No matter which option you choose, it is a huge expenditure, which has a great impact on AOL's stock price.

AOL's current plan is to rely on dial-up Internet access to occupy the market, and then slowly upgrade. Telecom companies that play broadband first may not survive to the end, and the broadband market is less than 3% of Internet users in America. AOL believes that network speed does not have a large impact on the Internet. In the short term, the broadband industry will be too difficult to promote. It is not too late to occupy users first, and then slowly grab the broadband market in the future.

But now America Telecom has broken AOL's plan. America Telecom is not the most powerful in the telecommunications industry, but its strength is first-class. AOL is not afraid of America Telecom, but it does not want to mess with such a lunatic. Seeing that WorldCom is helpless about it, the ghost knows what tricks America Telecom will play.

Case heard Lyonsis's words and understood what he meant. This is to ask Case to talk to Song Yang once, and let America Telecom withdraw from the dial-up Internet business. Play, AOL continues to make a fortune in silence.

After thinking for a while, Case finally nodded his head. If he could "dissuade" America Telecom, it would be a good thing for AOL. To block America Telecom from the dial-up Internet industry, show his muscles and tell the outside world that this line of business is in the end. Who has the final say.

"Go and call America Telecom and Bruno Song, AOL is willing to talk to them once, but AOL will never be afraid of them, announced to the public that AOL will have more than 30 million users before the turn of the century, and AOL will not be afraid of any Opponent!" Case said to the group of executives, ready to talk while fighting, and then flex his muscles first.

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

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

I don't know what level this car is in the eyes of connoisseurs, but Song Yang looked at this modified car, which can only be regarded as retro, and it is now a trendy sports car. At least this is to let Song Yang see the car. , to prove that the Siebel Automobile Club did not waste the money that Song Yang invested in, and still made something.

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

   Standing next to Song Yang, Anduran, the general manager of the Siebel Automobile Club, and Stuart, the chief designer, looked at Song Yang's face from time to time.

No way, who could have imagined that it was just a small stall, a half-baked car design company, trying to find an investor, but in the blink of an eye, the investor became the youngest in America and may be on the list of America's top 100 richest people. The newcomer in the list, this is for the people of the Siebel Automobile Club, I don't know whether to be happy or "surprise".

   (end of this chapter)