Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3031 Exit

Bill Gates looked at Zhou Buqi with a somewhat helpless look in his eyes.

Zhou Buqi suppressed his laughter and asked in a confused manner, "What's wrong? Do you want to subscribe for the shares?"

Bill Gates said: "Well, I subscribed for 300 million shares."

The issue price was set at $22.42, and the price of these 300 million shares was less than $7000 million, which was a drop in the bucket for Gates. His investment style was different from Buffett's. He understood technology and was willing to invest in technology stocks.

"So little?" Zhou Buqi looked at him strangely, "Don't you have any quota? How about I make emergency arrangements and give you some?"

Bill Gates said: "No, that's enough."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is an opportunity to make a lot of money. Don't blame me if you miss it. Especially after I merge with LinkedIn, the stock price will have more room to rise."

Bill Gates laughed and said, "I knew it was you who was causing trouble!"

"How did I mess up?"

"Have you talked to Reid Hoffman?"

"what!"

Zhou Buqi laughed and pretended to be stupid.

Bill Gates said: "Originally, he and I had agreed to set a time to talk. Then, for some reason, his attitude suddenly became rude, and he said he would not do business with me for even a dollar."

Zhou Buqi said: "LinkedIn and Microsoft are not genetically compatible. It is not surprising that he rejected Microsoft for the long-term benefit of LinkedIn."

"You're still saying it wasn't you?" Bill Gates had basically understood. "Ballmer also contacted me."

Zhou Buqi remained calm, "Oh, what did you say?"

Bill Gates said: "There are three main things. First, he said he wants to withdraw from Microsoft's board of directors. Second, he said he opposes the plan to acquire LinkedIn. Third, he said he is working with you to acquire an NBA team. The connection is very strong!"

Zhou Buqi said solemnly, "Yes, I think so too. Microsoft is in a turbulent period now, so we should focus on stability."

Bill Gates sighed and said with some emotion: "When we were at Harvard, we were best friends. Later, when we founded Microsoft, Paul and I had a disagreement and he left. I invited Ballmer to come over. Looking back, it has been 20 years."

Zhou Buqi said: "I'm sorry, I don't feel the same way as you do."

"No way?"

"My partners who started the business with me are now in senior positions. We often have disagreements on business matters. However, if I make a decision, every one of them will be convinced. Whether it is right or wrong, they will do it with me without hesitation."

"how did you do that?"

Bill Gates looked at him strangely.

This actually bothered him a lot.

In college, he and Ballmer were best friends. When they first started at Microsoft, they worked well together. But later on, things started to get worse, and their differences became more and more frequent. As a result, their personal relationship became cold because of disagreements over company matters.

Ballmer never considered himself to be an "old man from the old days" of Microsoft. His conclusion on Microsoft's failures in the past few years was mainly due to the lack of execution and internal factional struggles.

Ballmer said to do this, Gates said to do that.

This leads to confusion in internal decision-making.

In particular, Bill Gates was dissatisfied with Jobs and wanted Microsoft to create a complete software and hardware ecosystem to compete with Apple's iPhone, iPad, iMac and other products. This can be regarded as the biggest decision-making mistake in the past few years.

But for Zhou Buqi, these ideological conflicts do not exist.

Unless Zhou Buqi hasn't thought it through.

As long as he decides on something, everyone will rush forward and the team will appear sharp and aggressive.

In such an occasion, Zhou Buqi could not have a deep analysis with him, and said with a smile: "It's actually very simple, it's nothing more than winning all the time. Every failure is a blow to morale. If there are too many failures, it's not surprising that the generals fall out and the soldiers mutiny. If you keep winning, you will always be invincible."

Bill Gates didn't believe that someone would not make mistakes when running a business, but he didn't refute him. "Well, you are indeed a rare business genius. Everyone who mentions your business achievements will sincerely admire you."

"What about the LinkedIn matter?" Zhou Buqi had no intention of letting him go.

Bill Gates said angrily: "I thought it was just Hoffman and Ballmer. Just this afternoon, I received a message from Nadella, saying that he wanted to withdraw from the acquisition of LinkedIn. Is it still you?"

Zhou Buqi laughed. Bill Gates asked curiously, "How did you do it?"

Zhou Buqi asked: "You haven't told me your attitude towards LinkedIn yet!"

"What can I do?" Bill Gates sighed. "This is Ballmer's last board proposal before he leaves office. I hope we can part ways in peace. For the last time, I hope we can reach a consensus and I will respect him."

It's not okay to disrespect.

Even the new CEO Nadella doesn't want to acquire LinkedIn.

Zhou Buqi also spoke the truth: "I didn't do anything, but... well, you know, I have always been a fan of Microsoft, and I have a lot of Microsoft stocks. I hope Microsoft can get through the current trough as soon as possible, and then create stock profits for me. If Microsoft cannot stabilize as soon as possible, then I think Microsoft's stock may remain at a low point for a long time, and I may look for new investment targets."

It's a bit threatening actually.

Nadella has just taken office, and what he needs is political achievements and stable stock prices.

If Boss Zhou sells a large number of Microsoft shares in his hands on the stock market now, Microsoft's stock price will cause a long-term decline, or even a sharp drop in a short period of time.

This will put Nadella in a passive position.

He will be under great pressure in internal management.

Therefore, what listed companies fear most is that their arch-rivals hold a large number of their shares and they will be controlled by them in every way.

Bill Gates was annoyed: "This is not good at all!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "I am also an investor in Microsoft, and I also hope that Microsoft can help me make money."

"You succeeded."

Bill Gates really couldn't argue with him.

Zhou Buqi assured: "If Microsoft withdraws from the competition with LinkedIn, I think Microsoft can quickly get out of the trough period, at least there won't be any big fluctuations in the stock price. I still say that LinkedIn and Microsoft are not suitable!"

Bill Gates nodded and said, "Well, quit."

……

Zhou Buqi was in a good mood.

The day has finally come.

Following Ziweixing, another core enterprise of his, Ziweixing International, is also about to be listed.

For such a big happy event, we should indeed celebrate it with good fortune.

That night, when Zhou Buqi returned home, he found that Wang Langli and Huo Hua had not rested yet. They were both clean and rosy-cheeked, sitting on the sofa in the study waiting. It seemed that Ning Yaxian, Sun Wanran, Ning Lu and the others had already made arrangements.

Zhou Buqi didn't say a word, he just came up and took Wang Langli's hand and left.

Tears welled up in Huo Hua's eyes.

Zhou Buqi didn't leave, but stood at the door and whispered to Wang Langli: "If you are not impatient, let's talk about it later? We can slowly work it out. It seems that you and I don't understand each other now, right?"

Wang Langli's face flushed and she nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Zhou Buqi whispered, "Then I'll take the painting back to my room?"

"Ah."

The loud and beautiful voice is as loud as a mosquito or a fly.

Zhou Buqi came over and kissed her on the forehead, then stretched his head to look into the study and said with a smile: "Okay, stop pouting and let's go!"

"what?"

Huo Hua was still wiping her eyes and was really frightened by the boss.

Zhou Buqi waved to her, "Come on! Don't waste your time on this night, I have to get up early in the morning!"

"Oh!" Huo Hua wiped the corners of his eyes carelessly, then forced out a brilliant smile, "I'm here!"