Eighty-Five Apple Godfather

"Don't live for others", this is a classic Steve Jobs saying, the biggest irony of Gu Luobei's last life, and what Gu Luobei is doing in his life.

Mention Steve Jobs and put a string of dots in front of his name, inventor, entrepreneur, co-founder of Apple, world-changing genius. Steve Jobs single-handedly brought Apple to the top of the world, profoundly changing the way modern communication, entertainment, and even life are done. He not only led Apple to create d, ne and other appliances that are closely related to life, but also entered the Pixar animation studio, ushering in a new era of animation.

Gu Luobei did not expect that he would meet Steve Jobs. To be precise, he did not expect that the commercialization of digital music would attract Steve Jobs' attention. From this, it can be seen that this Apple Godfather's keen observation.

Steve Jobs, who is over forty-five years old, has gray hair that is only the length of his head, and his mottled beard looks slovenly. He wears a black pullover sweater and washed blue jeans, just like an ordinary middle-aged man. Young people don't even feel the "overlord's spirit" of the superiors, but have a casual intimacy. However, through those wise eyes, through the round glasses lenses, a powerful light of self-confidence is flickering, and at the corners of his mouth, Gu Luobei read a kind of persistence called "arrogance" , Perhaps, this is the character of Steve Jobs in his bones.

"I met my wife here, it must have been the late 1980s. But 20 years later, the scenery here has not changed much [dzi change], the old iron gate, the heavy brick wall, and the There's ivy tangled in buildings, walls, flower stands...even the bookishness in the air hasn't changed [dzi change]." Steve Jobs didn't look like he was here to talk business at all, but rather Old alumni return to campus for general tours.

After receiving the call from Andy Rosen, Gu Luobei walked out of the dormitory and saw Steve Jobs and Andy Rosen, and the three of them walked around the campus. Gu Luobei and Steve Jobs walked side by side, and Andy Rosen followed less than two meters behind.

"Do you mean the smell in the old classroom that I don't know if it's a musty smell or a scent? We prefer to be a pedantic, an old pedantic smell." Gu Luobei passed the surprise at the first meeting, but calmed down. After all, Steve Jobs can't eat people, so there's nothing to be nervous about.

On the campus of Harvard University, students can be seen hurriedly passing by with books in between. On the riverside and on the lawn, young people in twos and threes are either concentrating on studying or having heated discussions. The atmosphere of learning is indeed very strong. Looking around, Harvard is like a sea of ​​red walls and green shades, and each building is like a boat, representing each college or school with all kinds of clock towers, like the masts of ships, Directly pointing to the blue sky, shining brightly.

"Harvard has indeed produced a lot of talents, and this kind of pedantry is the dream of countless students." Steve Jobs said with a smile, looking at the students on the lawn thoughtfully, but Gu Luobei would not take it seriously. Everyone knows that Steve Jobs dropped out of college, but still created the miracle of Apple. Reading and career will be linked, but not absolutely related. The benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom. "You are from the medical department? It is estimated that you will have very good prospects in the business school. Why didn't you consider it at the beginning? The talents of Harvard Business School are very sought-after."

When Gu Luobei heard this, he remained calm, and just replied lightly, "Because I like it.

"This sentence led to the second meeting of eyes between Steve Jobs and Gu Luobei. The first time was when they said hello to each other at the door of the dormitory.

Speaking of the business school, the group of three passed by the business school. The dome of the clock tower of the business school shone with a golden brilliance in the afternoon sun, which was also dubbed by the students from other schools, "This is the richest business school. symbol", in fact, this is just a color used by various colleges to show their differences.

Steve Jobs looked at the splendid brilliance of the dome of the clock tower, and the smile on the corner of his mouth was calm and confident, "Mr. Bell, how do you think the value of a plan should be judged?"

This is a difficult problem for Gu Luobei from the medical school, but he seems to have expected this problem for a long time, and he said without hesitation, "As a layman, the value of a plan should depend on Regarding the company or person who implements the plan, for the same plan, some companies can create a value of hundreds of millions, but some companies will bankrupt themselves. The plan is dead, but how to operate it is alive. In the hands of people, there is enough value.

sly guy. This was Andy Rosen's first thought. After several confrontations, Andy Rosen had to admit that this young man who had never set foot in the business field had insufficient professional knowledge, but his vision and means were sufficient, the most important thing. The thing is, he is very clear where the bottom line is, which allows him to always make the most reasonable judgments.

Steve Jobs seemed to have expected Gu Luobei's answer, and he didn't find it strange, but went on and said, "In your opinion, the commercialization of digital music, as for Apple, should be worthwhile. What about geometry?"

Gu Luobei knew that the answer to this question would not be "1% of iTunes music sales", but asked him to answer a specific number, "10 million dollars." Gu Luobei gave his answer very succinctly.

Steve Jobs laughed twice, "Mr. Bell has a good eye. No wonder he won't budge on the 1% figure." high. Therefore, Gu Luobei wisely chose a long-term investment, taking 1% of iTunes music sales. Apple doesn't need to spend a penny, but it will unconditionally distribute dividends for Gu Luobei every year in the future.

"If there is no other plan, then I am afraid that we will not be able to make this deal. I think Sony will be very interested in this plan." Steve Jobs was really old-fashioned and quickly denied this possibility.

This is the fourth negotiation between Gu Luobei and Apple, and both parties have already had relatively mature negotiations on various conditions. Steve Jobs also had a clear understanding of his bottom line, so he didn't make this decision rashly.

But Gu Luobei didn't panic at all. If Steve Jobs just listened to a "10 million dollar" figure and refused to cooperate, he didn't need to come to Boston to find Gu Luobei in person. This refusal is just telling Gu Luobei that Apple's bottom line is not iTunes music sales dividends, nor ten million dollars.

For this "ten million dollars", Gu Luobei was indeed open to the lion, but it was not without strategy.

Gu Luobei remembered reading in an official Apple statistical report that from January 2003 to January 2006, iTunes music retailing brought in $160 million in sales for Apple, This is only in the early days of the development of the digital music business model. By 2008, the sales of music singles had increased fivefold compared to 2006, and the revenue had doubled exponentially.

1% of the $160 million is 1.6 million, and that number will certainly continue to rise in the time to come. Ten million dollars, in the next ten years, is actually not too much, or even a small amount, but as a plan, it cannot be used to calculate the value, this is just used by Gu Luobei to test Steve- Jobs' bottom line numbers.

Gu Luobei knew that although he had the plan, he had the initiative, but it was not an absolute advantage, so he did not insist on it any longer, but said with a smile, "Then, let's buy and sell in one shot, but I want to replace it with an equivalent one. Apple stock."

All in all! Steve Jobs looked at Gu Luobei's eyes for the third time, and the light flashed through the lens, even more dazzling than the sunlight behind him. Gu Luobei's true purpose finally revealed his face, what he wanted was always Apple's stock, not iTunes dividends, nor cash!

"Why?" Steve Jobs was more interested in this teenager. Before today's meeting, he made several assumptions, but there was no conjecture about stocks. "Hehe, I think you didn't read last year's year-end summary. Report it, you are actually interested in our company's stock."

Gu Luobei smiled, a big bright smile, with a young man's arrogance and debauchery, which reminded Steve Jobs of the time when he founded Apple. Youth is always remembered.

"Mr. Jobs, are you losing confidence in your company?" Gu Luobei said with a smile, those azure blue eyes shone with confidence, and in the depths of the eyes, there was a touch of playfulness, the old-fashioned Steve Jeff - Jobs keenly caught it! "As an investor, I am optimistic about Apple's prospects and decided to invest in a plan, but Mr. Jobs has no confidence in his company, which is really rare."

Apple experienced an unpleasant year in 2000. After making small profits in spring and summer, it suffered large losses in autumn and winter. While its market share declined, its stock price plummeted. This situation was not relieved until D was launched at the beginning of this year, and the stock price recovered slowly in January and February, but after entering March, the recovery momentum weakened, and there was some downward momentum.

Under this circumstance, Gu Luobei's plan to realize the commercialization of digital music has appeared. Although there is no effective means of maintaining digital music copyright, if the digital music download mode can be launched and run successfully, it will be very important to Apple. said, is undoubtedly crucial.

At this time, Gu Luobei actually proposed to exchange the plan for stocks. Steve Jobs found the clues sensitively. Could it be that Gu Luobei is so confident in Apple? As a company leader, Steve Jobs has exhausted his energy in order to run the company. Of course he has confidence, and he must have confidence. But as an outsider, a little-known independent musician, to have such confidence, it is worth pondering!

First update today.

Huh, it's on the shelves, please ask for a monthly pass, hehe.