Chapter 82 Prediction
Song Yang was indeed not in Houston. After the sudden increase in the number of Hotmail users, Song Yang had a premonition that there would be a lot of people looking for him, so he left Houston in advance and went to San Jose.
Not only Song Yang, but also Wesley and the ICQ development team went to San Jose with Song Yang.
In the future, Houston may be the nominal headquarters of DoubleClick and other companies, but in fact Song Yang is planning to build a base in San Jose.
But what is coming must come. Song Yang had just settled down in San Jose and the ICQ team had just moved into a newly found office building when his phone started ringing.
As soon as Song Yang answered the call, he heard an anxious voice coming from the phone, "Song, where are you?"
Song Yang was not surprised that Netscape could find him here. "It's President Bucksted. You know, I need to report to San Jose University. School has already started!"
Baxted on the other end of the phone was choked. Only then did he realize that Song Yang’s age was really just right for college!
Baxde couldn't understand why Song Yang went to college given his current wealth and assets, but it was too incorrect to say this.
"Song, we need to talk about Hotmail!" Baxde had to make it clear. He remembered that when he first met Song Yang, Song Yang was still a small Internet character who got help from Netscape and was not even qualified to meet Baxde.
But now, only a short time has passed, less than a year, and when Baxde calls Song Yang, he actually has to use the words "request for a meeting". Baxde can only sigh that the Internet is really a magical industry!
"Uh," Song Yang listened to the voice on the phone and asked in a puzzled voice, "President Baxter, Hotmail doesn't seem to be related to Netscape's industry, right?!"
Baxted could tell that Song Yang was pretending not to understand what he said. Baxted couldn't just say that Netscape had taken a fancy to Hotmail and wanted to snatch it away.
Knowing that Baxted couldn't deal with Song Yang, Jim Clark took the phone directly and said, "Song, don't play tricks on me. We are all family. I want to solve this problem in my own way!"
Jim Clark threatened Song Yang viciously, "You know Song, Netscape needs Hotmail. In Netscape's hands, Hotmail will be more valuable. How much do you want? 30 million, 50 million, or 60 million US dollars. You can name your price!"
Song Yang curled his lips and didn't take Jim Clark's threat seriously at all. Before he took it seriously, he said that he still needed to think about it, but now, Song Yang didn't care much. Hotmail and those users were Song Yang's confidence.
"Jim, Hotmail has just been launched. I am still planning the future of Hotmail. I have no plans to sell it for the time being!"
Song Yang rejected the offer immediately. "But don't worry, if Hotmail is willing to sell, I will be the first to notify Netscape!"
After hanging up the phone, Jim Clark shook his head at Mark Anderson and Baxter, "This guy doesn't want to let go!"
"This small farmer in Houston really has no vision!" Mark Anderson couldn't help but curse.
"It puts some pressure on Hotmail, but Netscape can't just count on Hotmail to get the email service. Netscape also needs to develop its own email service."
Jim said that Netscape, which was originally preparing to join forces with SUN to fight Microsoft, suddenly encountered the emergence of Hotmail, which made Netscape a little worried about unexpected changes. If the Internet backyard was unstable, how could Netscape fight Microsoft with peace of mind?
It wasn't just Netscape that could find Song Yang. As soon as he hung up the call from Netscape, Song Yang received a call from Yahoo.
It was Brady who contacted Song Yang. Like Netscape, he wanted to acquire Hotmail at a low price before it was fully developed.
Just like his reply to Netscape, Song Yang also rejected Yahoo and promised to notify them as soon as possible if the company was sold.
In the Yahoo office, after hearing the news of Song Yang's rejection, Yahoo President Kuger said to Yang Zhiyuan, "I know Song's kind of person. He is not the kind of person who is willing to put up chips easily. Yahoo needs to develop its own brand of email!"
The call just now was intended by Yang Zhiyuan to Song Yang. He didn't want Yahoo and Song Yang's Hotmail to fight each other in the email industry, but it was obviously a failure.
Soon after, Internet companies such as Lycos and AOL asked Song Yang for the price of Hotmail, and some even intended to raise the price deliberately. They did not want Song Yang to sell Hotmail to Netscape, lest Netscape's strength would increase dramatically again, bringing them even more pressure!
After Song Yang hung up the phone, he breathed a sigh of relief. If the Hotmail mailbox was sold at this time, it would be a great bargain for Netscape and its company.
When Hotmail has firmly established itself as the largest email service in America and even the world, it will be a good opportunity to notify Netscape, AOL, Yahoo, and even Microsoft, IBM, etc., and let them compete to offer prices for Hotmail!
However, Song Yang also knew that companies such as Netscape, Yahoo, and AOL would definitely not wait for Hotmail and would definitely develop their own brand of email.
But Song Yang didn't care too much. He was not prepared anyway. He just wanted to fight to the end with Yahoo, Netscape and others with Hotmail. Moreover, with the Matthew effect of the Internet, as long as he was one step ahead and gained the market and users, he could basically be ahead for several years or even more than ten years!
It was easy to refuse Netscape and Yahoo, but it was not so easy for Song Yang to refuse some people's calls.
Looking at the calls from WPP Group and Martin Solow, Song Yang also had a headache.
"President Martin, how did you find time to call me?" After Song Yang received a call from Martin Solo , he immediately asked the king of the advertising industry with a smile.
However, Martin Solo obviously didn't buy it today. He asked Song Yang in a very unfriendly tone, "Song, is this how you treat your partners?"
Song Yang does not want to fall out with the WPP Group, at least not in the next one or two years, until Double Click Company goes public. There is no benefit in offending Martin Solow at this stage. Instead, he will have to spend all his energy to be vigilant against him.
"President Martin, I don't understand what you mean. We are in DoubleClick Company, so we should be having a pleasant cooperation, right?!"
Song Yang complained, and then he suddenly realized, "As for Hotmail, it was just a 'small project' that we collaborated on unintentionally. Wang Laboratories wanted to develop a new generation of email, and I collaborated with Joe Tus on this project, that's all!"
Song Yang put all the blame on Qiaotusi. It was Qiaotusi who was the bad guy, not him, Song.
After hearing Song Yang's words, Martin Solo couldn't tell whether it was true or false for a moment. Even if he asked Joetus, he might not be able to get the truth.
In fact, the reason why Martin Solow paid attention to Hotmail was because of the British media reports that WPP Group lost Hotmail and Martin died on the Internet.
Martin was not sure how much a Hotmail mailbox was worth, but he was quite dissatisfied with the fact that Song Yang bypassed him and WPP Group and cooperated with Joe Tucci. He always felt like the cabbage he grew in his own home was planted in the field of Joe next door. Regardless of whether he made money or not, he always felt that he was losing money.
As a leader in the global advertising industry, whether to invest in Song Yang's new project or not and whether Song Yang should bypass him and cooperate with others on the new project are two different concepts. Martin felt like he had lost face.
"Song, we are partners. You know, I support you. I hope this is just an 'accident'. If there are new projects, the WPP Group Board and I are absolutely willing to support them!"
After hanging up the phone with the emperor of the advertising industry, Song Yang breathed a sigh of relief. The Hotmail issue was finally resolved. However, he didn't know what Martin's attitude would be after the America Movil and ICQ projects came out. But by that time, Song Yang should no longer need to consider Martin's attitude!
However, Martin felt that the loss was right, because the investment in Hotmail made Joe Tucci, who led Wang Laboratories to rebirth, even more famous. It is foreseeable that once Hotmail is successful, it will be no surprise that Joe Tucci will win the title of the best professional manager in America.
Song Yang came to the new office building in San Jose, and Wesley was already waiting there. Hotmail had just become popular, and Wesley came to San Jose. He felt quite regretful about this.
But the ICQ project could not be delayed any longer, so Wesley had to come to San Jose and start the development of ICQ.
Facing Song Yang, Wesley was still a little excited when talking about Hotmail in Houston. "According to the current growth rate, Hotmail will have more than 500,000 global users by the beginning of next month, becoming the fastest growing product in the history of the American Internet!"
Song Yang nodded. "If it weren't for the ICQ project, I should be holding a celebration party for you in Houston. But I believe it's all worth it, and you will get everything you deserve!"
As he spoke, Song Yang took out a document that he had prepared long ago and placed it in front of Wesley.
Wesley opened the document and saw the ICQ equity reward on it, which made him shudder. Not to mention that ICQ will be the world's first instant messaging software , the current performance of Hotmail has made Wesley no longer have any doubts about ICQ, a project that Song Yang values more!
