Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

It was the first time that Yu Dong and Steven Case had such face-to-face communication. A few years ago, they probably would not have imagined that they would sit together for breakfast like today, and it was still in Atlanta. Under such an opportunity .

In fact, Yu Dong doesn't know much about Steven Case. Although America Online is huge, Yu Dong has never regarded America Online as an opponent, nor has he seriously studied Steven Case. people.

In such an era of rapid Internet development, unless AOL has a warrior who can revive AOL, AOL can only decline slowly. The combination with Time Warner will only make their decline a little faster. They I want to use the Internet to combine traditional media, but in this model, traditional media will only overwhelm them.

And Steven Case is obviously not the kind of warrior who has the perseverance to cut off his wrist and rebirth. It brought AOL into the pit of traditional media.

Yu Dong asked with a smile, "Mr. Keith, did you come to Atlanta this time to participate in the telecom exhibition?"

"It's just a way to attend the Telecom Equipment Exhibition." Steven Case smiled and continued, "The main purpose of my coming to Atlanta is to meet you."

Yu Dong held the milk without speaking, waiting for Steven Case's next words.

Steven Case didn't say his purpose of meeting Yudong, but started to drag the topic away: "When did you come into contact with... or became addicted to the Internet? I have studied your and Jimmy's resumes, and the two of you seem to be None of the relevant experience... other than your status as a science fiction writer."

Before Dong could answer, he added, "I studied political science at Williams College, but after graduation I became a salesman. At first I wanted to work in an advertising or media company. I sent out a lot of resumes. That included Time Inc.'s cable TV and home theater, but they didn't work out."

"Then I went to Procter & Gamble and became a brand manager after a lot of thinking, but it was a failed experience. For two full years, my career didn't make any progress. After that, I went to Pizza Hut and sold pizza there. I became obsessed with computers in 1982, exactly 20 years ago, and bought a kaypro home computer for a few thousand dollars."

Yu Dong said with a smile, "You have been exposed to computers earlier than most people. At that time, I was still in junior high school, and most Chinese people didn't even have a TV at home, not to mention a computer."

Steven Case nodded, "Even in the United States, many people didn't know what a computer was at that time. Later, things became logical. I first joined Control Video Company as a marketing consultant, and then the company closed down. I Quantum Corporation was established from scratch, which later became America Online. In the ten years since then, we have developed well.”

Although what Steven Case said was an understatement, Yu Dong knew the hardships involved. It is not an easy task to develop a small company from scratch to the current scale of America Online. In just 600 years, AOL's market value reached more than 50 US dollars, its annual revenue reached [-] billion US dollars, and its profit was [-] million US dollars.

When talking about this, Steven Case laughed again, "Seeing you now, I think of myself back then. When AOL was listed in New York, I was about the same age as you now, but then At that time, America Online was far from the current scale of Deep Space, and the company only had more than 100 people, but now it has doubled by a hundred times.”

Yu Dong said with a smile, "Jimmy owes the most to the success of Deep Space. I spend most of my time in China and rarely ask about the company's affairs."

"Really?" Steven Case asked with great interest, "Do you mean that the acquisition of companies such as Amazon, pets, and paypal was decided by Jimmy alone? And those functions of the Deep Space Tribe, also Was it all developed by him?"

Yu Dong said with a smile, "I may have made some trivial suggestions."

"Insignificant..." Steven Case shook his head, "Although I know that you are being humble, such words are very uncomfortable. It is your insignificant suggestions that made our chat room, community and icq completely lost Competitiveness. It is your insignificant proposals that make you kill all sides in the Internet industry."

"Our development has a lot of luck. The cooperation between your company and Time Warner deserves more attention. Perhaps your combination will be the ultimate answer to the Internet."

Steven Case waved his hand, "YU, let's not say such things, the real answer should be in your hands."

Hearing this, Yu Dong was taken aback, but he still said without changing his expression, "Mr. Keith, stop joking."

"I've been observing you for a long time. Although I don't know much about technology, I have an advantage, that is, I am good at learning. I have seen every step you take, including your previous operations on pets."

Yu Dong stared at Steven Case earnestly. The man in front of him was only in his forties, slightly fat, and dressed more casually than at the signing ceremony yesterday. Associate him with the boss of a $[-] billion company.

They chatted face to face for a while, but Yu Dong still didn't know what Steven Case wanted, and his attitude didn't look like he came as an opponent. Looking for cooperation?

Yu Dong seriously thought about this matter last night. Of course, Deep Space and America Online have a lot of opportunities for cooperation, but the question is why Steven Case wanted to cooperate with them, and even if he wanted to cooperate, why didn’t he seek cooperation? Jimmy, instead of going all the way to Atlanta to find him?
The only thing that is certain is that there must be a special reason for Steven Case to behave so strangely.

After drinking the milk and wiping his mouth, Yu Dong didn't plan to play around with Steven Case any more. He said directly, "Mr. Case, why did you come to me this time? You also know , I’m very busy today, I’m going to attend the Telecom Equipment Exhibition after breakfast, I still have 15 minutes at most, and I’m about to leave.”

Steven Case smiled and said, "15 minutes is enough. We will walk together later. Actually, I came to you this time because I have a question to ask you."

Yu Dong nodded and said, "Mr. Keith, if you have any questions, just ask, as long as I can answer, I will definitely know everything and say everything."

"The question I want to ask is, do you think it's time for us, America Online, to get into the broadband market?"

Hearing this question, Yu Dong raised his eyebrows in surprise, he had no idea that Steven Case would come to ask him this question.

This is a question related to the future direction of the company. Is it really suitable to ask an outsider?And this outsider is also a competitor.

Yu Dong couldn't understand Steven Case's brain circuit at all.

Seeing Yu Dong's expression, Steven Case said with a smile, "You should know our current situation. Nowadays, broadband services are on the rise. If we don't enter at this time, we may miss the opportunity, but if we rashly Getting in, it would dramatically impact our dial-up service, and it would get us deep in the mud."

Yu Dong pondered for a while, then said, "Mr. Keith, why do you think you can get the answer from me?"

"Because I believe in your vision." Steven Case said very simply.

Yu Dong waved his hand, "I don't mean that, I mean, why do you think I will tell you the answer...even though I really have the answer here. Our two companies are competitors. Although there has not been much friction, but An opponent is an opponent, and as an opponent, I should now hope that you will go further and further down the wrong path, instead of showing kindness to help you."

Steven Case shook his head and said with a smile, "YU, you should also understand that there are no permanent opponents in this world. Our goal is only to make money. As long as the conditions are sufficient, we can also fight side by side."

Yu Dong also laughed, "Then I want to listen and give you the answer, what good will it do me."

"I know that your company is going to launch a video website. We, America Online-Time Warner, can cooperate with your new website to provide you with content and traditional media interfaces."

Yu Dong smiled, "Mr. Keith, do you think our new website will lack content after it goes online?"

"You really don't lack content, but do you think there is less content? With our support, your future road will go smoothly. In addition, we will close our tribe, so that your deep space tribe will have one less competition opponent."

Yu Dong chuckled, "Your tribe was meant to be shut down. I heard that there are no people in your tribe. Some netizens call your tribe a ghost town."

America Online's Tribes lagged far behind Deep Space Tribes from the very beginning. They didn't have their own technology, and the user experience of the two websites was very different.

Just a search engine, the tribe of deep space will kill the tribe of AOL in seconds.

In order to attract users, AOL tribes used many methods, spent a lot of manpower and material resources, and found many celebrities to endorse them, but the effect was minimal, and the number of users of their tribes has been unable to increase.

With the weakening of the propaganda, the popularity of their tribe has become lower now, and there is basically no need to continue to operate, so Steven Case and the others are going to close this website, which has nothing to do with deep space relation.

After being debunked, Steven Case was not embarrassed at all, he said with a smile, "If you want, I can also give you all the user data in our tribe, I think there must be Some are what you need. In addition, besides tribes, I can also sell ICQ to you at a low price. Maybe your dd has developed very well in the past two years and has surpassed ICQ, but the number of ICQ users is still very large for you Importantly, if icq can be directly incorporated into Dongdong, the dominance of Dongdong’s instant messaging software can be assured. As for the purchase price, we spent more than 4 million US dollars to get it at that time. You can add some That's it, how about it?"

Yu Dong squinted his eyes. Not to mention, Steven Case's proposal was quite tempting. It would definitely be a good thing for them if they could win ICQ.

If icq can be won, Yu Dong is not going to merge icq users into Dongdong, but is going to hand over icq to Ma Huateng to do it. In this way, the function of drifting bottle can be grafted directly to icq Go ahead and make it bigger and stronger.

In the future, icq will be specially used to add those messy functions, while Dongdong will try to keep it as simple as possible, and the two software will walk on two legs.

Steven Case saw that Yu Dong was a little moved, so he struck while the iron was hot and said, "If you have any difficulties with funds, we can make interest-free installments for you. You don't need a dime in interest within three years, as long as you transfer it every month." A part of the account is enough, and in this way, there will be no pressure on your funds."

Yu Dong glanced at Steven Case, "We don't have any financial pressure."

Steven Case raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, I thought you guys were going to buy Huawei. It would cost a lot of money to buy them, which is much more expensive than ICQ."

Yu Dong did not talk to Steven Case about the acquisition of Huawei. He said back to icq, "We are still interested in icq. As for the price, we may need to discuss it in detail."

Steven Case waved his hand and said, "YU, it's okay to want ICQ, but you have to help us solve the immediate problem."

Yu Dong noticed that Steven Case only asked him for an answer at first, but now he asked him to solve the problem. He squinted his eyes and pointed to tap on the table. After a while, he said , "If you want to solve your current problem, it is not enough to say a few words. You are like a giant ship that has gone on the wrong course. First of all, you need to find out where the correct course is, and then you need someone to help you. You straighten the hull and walk into the correct channel."

Steven Case laughed, "The person who helps us straighten the hull, can it be you, or the Deep Space Company?"

Yu Dong nodded and said, "Yes, but an icq is not enough for me."

Steven Case was not surprised at all, he asked with a smile, "Whatever you want, just ask."

Yu Dong pointed to his feet and said, "What I want is on this land."

"On this land?" Steven Case frowned, with a puzzled look on his face, "What do you want? Does it have anything to do with today's telecom equipment exhibition?"

Yu Dong stared into Steven Case's eyes and said slowly, "What I want is your Turner Broadcasting Company."