There is nothing wrong with monopoly itself, patent protection is a kind of monopoly protection.

Anti-monopoly bills in countries around the world are more about preventing monopoly companies from using their own technological market and other advantages to suppress competitors. In other words, monopoly is right, and using monopoly advantages to suppress competitors is wrong.

However, during actual implementation, the standard of monopoly is never difficult to determine.

The vague definition standards have led to anti-monopoly becoming a tool for political and economic games between enterprises, capital and even countries.

Igrit Company, or the entire Westeros system, has created a new Internet era ahead of schedule through the layout of the entire industrial chain of World Wide Web technology.

To this end, companies such as Cisco, American Online and Igrit have invested a huge amount of billions of dollars in the past few years. Logically speaking, with such a huge initial investment, the Westeros system can fully enjoy the benefits brought by the Internet industry with peace of mind.

The problem now is that the benefits involved in the Internet industry are too huge. Not only can the Westeros system not only not eat it alone, but many people will not allow the Westeros system to enjoy this huge cake alone.

Igrit's three core executives, even Tim Berners Lee, who is not very knowledgeable about human nature, saw the company's 1992 annual financial report, and realized the problem.

With many memories of being a human being for two lives, Simon is even more clear about the situation that Egret Company will face.

In the 1990s, Microsoft was tortured by the antitrust department of the United States to the point of dying. To a large extent, it was not a monopoly of Microsoft's operating system, but rather a few Microsoft shareholders such as Damen's classmates who held too many Microsoft stocks.

When Bill Gates, Paul Allen and others continued to reduce their holdings and Microsoft gradually became a mass-holding company integrated with the US economy, the operating system giant never encountered large-scale antitrust investigations.

After the morning's financial report meeting, Simon discussed with three senior executives, Tim Berners Lee, Jeff Bezos and Carol Butz, in the afternoon, the situation that Egret Company would face if it resolved.

Microsoft's competitors include Apple, Intel's competitors include AMD, IBM's competitors include SUN. For Egret, the problem now is that this new technology company that has created a new Internet era ahead of schedule, and does not even have a decent competitor.

After completing the authorization of email technology, Microsoft and American Online, which have obtained commercial operation licenses, are preparing their own portal business.

However, even if Microsoft and American Online's online business go online and can compete with Igret, in the eyes of outsiders, the three companies are largely in the same camp.

The Sherman Antitrust Act of the United States has a clear definition, and the conspiracy between affiliated companies to control the market is also a monopoly.

Igrit has released a large number of World Wide Web patent technologies for free, and it is impossible to further liberalize the core patents held by the company in the short term.

Without competitors, it is also impossible to create a competitor out of thin air.

In fact, even the powerful Microsoft and American Online will not pose too much threat to Igrit in terms of network business in the short term, let alone build a competitor from scratch.

Then, there are only two ways to avoid the antitrust pressure that Igrit may be subject to. One is to actively split it up. According to Simon's original idea, the major businesses of Igrit Company will be split into several different companies. The other is to carry out external financing as soon as possible, or conduct IPOs, and give up sufficient equity shares to all parties.

The first method is ultimately some treatments for symptoms but not root causes.

The second type is to sell equity and integrate Igrit into the entire US economy, which is the most thorough solution.

In fact, Simon made such plans a long time ago. For companies such as Cisco, AOL, Egret, etc., he only hopes to retain about 30% of the equity after continuous reduction of holdings.

Considering the terrifying market value of these companies in the future, a 30% stake is still a very huge fortune.

When the small meeting of several core management teams ended, the preliminary plan had been finalized.

Igrit Company will conduct its first external financing, with an expected share of 10% and plans to raise US$1.5 billion.

Based on the revenue scale of nearly $2 billion in 1992 and a high growth rate of nearly 400%, if listed, the company's market value will definitely be comparable to that of Cisco and American Online today.

Therefore, the valuation of $15 billion is still very conservative for Igrit.

As long as you have a little understanding of the status of Igret in the emerging Internet field and the financial data for 1992, you should be clear that a 10% stake and a quotation of $1.5 billion is very cost-effective.

If someone thinks that Egret is talking big at the Lion, then the other party is obviously not a worthy partner for cooperation.

Although the offer is as high as US$1.5 billion, these 10% shares are not something that anyone can buy if they want. If it is an Arab tycoon or a Japanese chaebol, sorry, go cool down.

This part of the equity will only be sold to capital forces in the United States that have a significant influence on the federal political and economic sector, so as to provide assistance when Igrett is under pressure from antitrust and other aspects.

People's hearts are always greedy.

Simon also knew that 10% of the equity would definitely not satisfy the outside world, and this part of the financing was just a prelude.

Igrit will also launch the IPO plan as soon as possible.

Including the equity rewards from senior executives such as Tim Berners Lee and the option incentives for many employees, Westeros' holdings in Igret will be quickly reduced to below 70% in the next few years.

San Francisco, Palo Alto.

At the headquarters of Egret, when the financing plan was finalized, Tim Berners and Li thought more about the equity reward plan they had.

According to the original agreement, each of them can receive a maximum 5% equity reward of Igrit Company for a five-year contract.

With the current development momentum of Igret, unless Simon regrets breaking the contract, the 5% equity is basically a foregone conclusion.

Then, even at the valuation of US$15 billion raised this time, the 5% equity will be worth US$750 million.

$750 million.

Just this wealth is enough for them to occupy a relatively prominent position on the 400 richest man list in the United States.

When I first joined the company, none of the three felt that they could get so much.

So, for the rest of the afternoon, Simon could clearly feel that Jeff Bezos was clearly feeling that when he explained to himself the upcoming Igrit Advertising Alliance Plan for Igrit Company, his tone was obviously a bit high.

No one can predict their future.

The current US$750 million has already satisfied this Cuban immigrant descendant who is from the bottom of the class.

If Jeff Bezos knew that he would become the world's richest man with a net worth of over 100 billion US dollars in another time and space, I don't know what he would think.

Of course, if forever is just if.

"We have tested the advertising distribution system on more than 20 cooperative websites. I think that precise automatic advertising delivery is not the best solution at this stage. We should adopt a customized advertising strategy to customize special advertising packages for different advertisers."

In another conference room at the Igrit headquarters, Jeff Bezos explained the technical details of the advertising alliance plan and began to introduce specific implementation plans.

The advertising alliance plan was naturally formulated by Simon based on the advertising alliance plan of major Internet giants in memory.

When it was initially proposed, not every senior executive of Igrit Company agreed with this plan. Many people believed that the advertising alliance plan might lead to a large number of Igrit Company competitors. Therefore, compared with the advertising alliance plan, Igrit Company should focus more on its own expansion in the content field.

At this stage, the news, online forums, microblogs, emails and other businesses of the Igrit Portal are developing rapidly, which also provides sufficient content support for the Igrit Portal's advertising business. Because of the company's strong position in the content field, some management teams inevitably believe that only Igrit Company is enough to support the entire Internet content supply.

This obviously goes against Simon's initial positioning of Igrit.

In Simon's plan, Egret will be a high-tech company that focuses on building Internet platforms, and will definitely not become an Internet media company that focuses on producing content.

With the popularity of the Internet, the differentiated demands of hundreds of millions of Internet users for online content are not something that an Internet media company can provide.

Through search engines, microblogs and online forums and other services, providing Internet users with a content display platform, allowing more content providers and Internet users to produce content on their own is the way for Igrit Company to survive.

In the past 1.0 era, Internet media companies such as Yahoo and American Online competed to capture land, but they seemed to be prosperous, but they all quickly declined after the arrival of the 2.0 era of the Internet.

The current Igrit portal is just an exaggeration for Igrit Company.

The Google search engine and Facebook microblog that Igrit has already started to operate independently, as well as the Amazon online mall that has quickly emerged in the past year, are the fundamental reason why Igritte can become an Internet super giant in the future.

However, Simon certainly would not promote this fundamental development strategy everywhere.

Within Igrit Company, only a few core management teams knew his specific ideas, so many different voices were inevitably seen in the process of carrying out advertising alliance plans.

With absolute control of Igrit Company, Simon will naturally not be disturbed by such objections, but will unquestionably require management to implement this plan and know Simon's long-term plan for Igrit Company. Jeff Bezos and others also support this plan very much.

Through the Igrit Advertising Alliance Program, many websites that cannot independently develop commercial business have a clear profit channel, which can accelerate the prosperity of the Internet field. Only when the content in the Internet field is richer can the various businesses of Igrit Company develop faster, which is actually a mutually beneficial relationship.

The work schedule of Egret Company was over, and it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

Simon's day's work was not over yet, so he left the headquarters of Igret and rushed to the Tinkobaier company founded by C girl Claire Gain.

According to Simon's vision, Tinkobaier has recently developed the prototype of the first digital music player. While there is still some time, Simon plans to go over and take a look.

When we arrived at the headquarters of Tincobaier, not far from Egrit, Girl C and Tincobaier's other partner, Neil Brantley, were already waiting for Simon, and also saw the petite Jennifer Bry behind Girl C.

After saying hello to the C girl and the others, watching Little Jenny step forward, Simon couldn't help but reach out and rub the girl's head, and smiled and said, "Don't you need to have class today?"

There is no way, the little girl is only as tall as Simon's chest, which is really suitable for rubbing her head.

Jennifer did not resist Simon's movements, but instead shrank his neck cutely, with long eyes narrowing slightly, like a cat that was only touched by his master. While responding to Simon, "It just happened to be no class in the afternoon."

Although she is very clear about the girl's age, Simon still feels like teasing her underage.

After looking at it again, Claire, Neil Brantley and others were all professional suits, but the little girl was wearing very casual light yellow sweatshirts and jeans, and a pair of white flat shoes on her feet. She looked even more out of place when standing in the crowd. It seemed that some parents brought their children to the company when they were at work.

Simon actually understood that Jenny was arranged by Janet to Stanford University. Because of the events at the concert, Girl C and others naturally regarded her as their own woman, so they were so "indulgent".

Smiling, Simon didn't say anything more and walked into the interior of the office building with everyone.

Jennifer Brie followed the crowd obediently, her beautiful eyes quietly looking at it.

She had discovered something just now.

The one who followed Simon as an assistant this time turned out to be the A-skin Alison Norris. The "Big Jenny" who used to be very alert to them, did not come with Simon this time.

Although I was not sure about the reason, the little girl realized that this seemed to be a good opportunity.

Simon didn't care about Little Jenny's thoughts and came to a laboratory in the office building. He soon saw the recently developed prototype of the digital music player.

According to a series of trademarks applied for by Tinkobaier in advance, the machine will be named iPlayer.

Simon thinks iPlayer is more suitable as a digital music player than iPod. As for the iPod that also applies for trademarks, it may be used on other electronic products in the future.

Neil Brantley first showed Simon the basic construction of the prototype.

The prototype in front of me is the size of the current tape walkman, and it is still a big gap from Simon's memory of the matchbox size standard, but it is also the limit that technology can achieve at this stage.

You should know that the core storage device of the iPlayer player, a 1.5-inch miniature hard drive, is already the size of a matchbox.

The 1.5-inch, 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch mechanical hard disks are standard, which specifically refer to the size of the disk disk inside the hard disk. The entire hard disk is often much larger.

In Simon's memory, the 1.5-inch miniature hard drive was once the size of a piece of "bubble gum", rather than the current "match box", mainly because the internal mechanical structure has not yet achieved maximum optimization and compression. The current 3.5-inch hard drive is also much larger than the 3.5-inch hard drive in Simon's memory.

Moreover, although it is very large, the capacity of micro hard drives is very small at this stage.

The prototype developed by Tinkobaier uses a mini hard drive that IBM has not yet produced, with a capacity of only a pitiful 20M. According to the MP3 audio format developed by Igret, at a high compression level, each song is about 3M in size, and a mini hard drive can only accommodate six or seven songs, which is not as good as a record.

However, with the rapid growth of the computer industry, it is only a matter of time before the capacity of mechanical hard disks can be multiplied.

Neil Brandley said that as long as the market demand is sufficient, major hard drive manufacturers have accumulated over the years in technology and are fully capable of rapidly increasing the capacity of micro hard drives.

In the short term, only one or two hundred megabytes of capacity is enough for current digital players.

In terms of storage media, Simon has certainly considered flash memory.

However, the current flash memory chips are usually only a capacity of several hundred K due to the development of semiconductor technology and the limited market demand.

Although flash memory has many advantages in terms of storage stability, reading speed and energy consumption compared to mechanical hard disks, because the capacity is too small, in the next five to ten years, if you want to develop digital music players, you can only use the micro hard disk solution.
Chapter completed!