Chapter 1068 The Success of Two Losers

A few days after resigning, Jobs founded NET Computer Company and continued his career journey.

In December 1996, almost all major computer newspapers and magazines around the world published on their front pages the news that Apple acquired NET and Jobs returned to Apple. At this time, Jobs was famous for his company's successful production of the first computer animation "Toy Story", and his personal net worth had soared to one billion US dollars. In contrast, Apple was on the verge of collapse.

Appointed in a time of crisis, Jobs boldly exercised the authority of the CEO and carried out drastic reforms. He first reorganized the board of directors, and then did something that shocked people. He abandoned old grudges and shook hands with Apple's arch-enemy Microsoft to reach a strategic and comprehensive cross-licensing agreement. Jobs thus became the cover character of Time magazine again.

Under Jobs' reforms, Apple finally... achieved profitability. When Jobs first took office, Apple's losses were as high as one billion US dollars, but a year later it miraculously made a profit of 300 million US dollars.

Jobs became a miracle, and he always gave people constant surprises. The genius computer talent, approachable style of dealing with people, wonderful creative ideas, and calm leadership style have built the core content of Apple's corporate culture. The reverence of Apple employees for him is simply a religious fanaticism.

When the fourth generation came out of nowhere, some people had predicted that Jobs would appear on the cover of Time magazine for the third time.

One of Jobs' famous sayings is, I am a genius, I will definitely succeed.

For such a talented and outstanding person, Fan Wubing also admires him very much.

Although Jobs' visit to China was received by government departments this time, as the main body inviting Jobs to visit China, the employees of Fan Investment Group provided various services along the way, allowing Jobs to easily understand China's development in recent years in a short time.

Feeling the attraction brought by the huge changes in China, Jobs immediately raised his attention to the Chinese market to a new level. After visiting the major companies under the Fan Investment Group and the scale of the Koujiu Club, Jobs also felt that it was not unreasonable for Fan Wubing to become a big name in the world financial world at the age of twenty, so he was more confident in the cooperation between the two sides.

After visiting China for five days, Jobs was invited to give a speech at Peking University, and Fan Wubing also appeared in the lecture hall of Peking University on time to support Jobs.

The lecture hall, which can accommodate 500 people, was crowded, and there were obviously more people standing in the aisle than sitting. Media reporters also seized the advantageous terrain, set up their long guns and short guns, and planned to live broadcast the speech activities here.

Fan Wubing sat in the front row,

smiling as the leaders of Peking University introduced the recent development of Peking University to him sideways, and expressed their concern and greetings for Fan Ting who graduated from Peking University.

"This is the benefit of power and wealth. Before rebirth, I had to work so hard to go to a third-rate fake university, but now I can sit here and listen to the performance report of the leaders of Peking University. It's really incomparable." Fan Wubing thought of this situation and shook his head with some emotion.

After a short speech, the host invited the protagonist of this speech, Steve Jobs.

Fan Wubing had never seen Steve Jobs before. When he saw him appearing on the podium, he estimated that his height was about 1.85 meters, which was about half a head taller than himself.

Seeing Steve Jobs. Fan Wubing couldn't help but think of Shi Yuzhu, who had just turned over in China.

It should be very interesting to compare Steve Jobs and Shi Yuzhu, two iconic figures in the business world of their respective countries.

Both of them are outstanding among the educated youth in their own countries. Not only are they smart, but they are also fearless. They started their own businesses in the high-tech field early and reached the first peak of their careers at the age of about 30.

Both of them are used to despising conventions and have a unique style. One always wears a black pullover with jeans. The other has a bald head and a red and white sportswear.

Both of them have innate business sensitivity and are true cross-border masters. Jobs has proved his ability in many fields such as competition, music, movies, and mobile phones, while Shi Yuzhu has been active in software, real estate, health products, financial investment, and online games.

They are both perfectionists who demand details and can make a product amazing. Melatonin, which has been sold for many years, is still the best-selling health product in China, and Shi has occupied 70% of the digital music player market. In addition, both are marketing geniuses who understand human nature. It's just that one makes money by digging for the beauty of human nature, while the other makes money by exploiting human weaknesses.

Perhaps because success came too quickly, they both directed self-destructive high falls, and after waking up. Relying on the amazing self-correction ability, they re-painted a new business that keeps moving forward.

There was a time when Shi Yuzhu seemed to be the Chinese Jobs. At that time, Giant Group launched a self-developed product every year and quickly grew into a high-tech group company with an annual output value of 1 billion and profits of tens of millions.

Almost at the same time, Jobs only had tens of millions of dollars in cash and two companies facing layoffs and restructuring. He could have become the American version of Shi Yuzhu, such as doing real estate in California, opening a casino in Las Vegas, dealing in oil and arms in the Middle East, or becoming a savvy equity investor. But he did nothing, just continued to support two long-term money-losing companies with his own and others' pockets, stubbornly waiting for them to grow up.

But in the end, A is A and B is Mao

To some extent. Jobs was lucky. In the United States, his idealism always found the right admirers, so he gritted his teeth and refused to compromise with reality.

Senior entrepreneurs like Ross Perot were willing to write checks and share risks with him, and big companies like Disney also agreed to invest in small companies to make animated feature films and participate in the profit sharing.

The reason why Shi Yuzhu has become the Shi Yuzhu of today is that he now wants to make a comeback with a huge debt of 200 million. As for the two projects at hand, although software is very profitable, the market is relatively limited. If the 200 million yuan is to be repaid, it will take ten years, but the market for health products is not only large but also just starting out, so it will only take five years at most to make Melatonin.

Later, it turned out that his choice was right.

Daniel Kottke, a close friend of Jobs in his early years and who once went on a pilgrimage to India with him, once said, "Steve always has his Apple computer in his heart. From a deeper level, his success is due to a deep sense of insecurity in his heart, which forces him to go out and make a living to prove the value of his existence."

And the young man from a small town in Anhui who ventured into the big city alone has a very similar heroic complex. In 1990, Shi Yuzhu, who was 1.8 meters tall and weighed less than 60 kilograms, gave his company a very loud name, Giant. He announced that Giant would become China's four strong and the giant of the East. After Xiaoping's speech during his southern tour, the top leaders visited Giant one after another, and there was an inscription saying that China should be a giant.

In the end, Shi Yuzhu was overwhelmed by this self-given and externally imposed sense of mission.

Since then, he has become a thorough pragmatist, doing only what a businessman should do.

But Jobs continued to play the role of an idealistic tyrant. Under his authoritarian rule, Apple ran efficiently like a small kingdom.

If Jobs was born in China, a traditional subject society rather than a civil society, his arrogance would spoil him, and people would succumb to his authority until he destroyed the company, just like Mou Zhongqi, Tang Wanxin, and Sun Hongcheng. But he was born in the United States, and American capitalism has a kind of hedging power. The board of directors, shareholder representatives, and institutional investors constrain him like a tight ring.

In the end, Jobs and Apple achieved a win-win situation.

What is rare is that neither of them became a slave to past failures.

Jobs learned tolerance and knew how to trust and empower excellent people, such as John Lasseter, the president of Apple, and Jonathan Iver, a British man who originally designed white toilets and later served as vice president of design at Apple. He also learned cooperation and openness, allowing Microsoft to invest and use Intel chips. He established an open platform for mobile phones.

And Shi Yuzhu knew that it is necessary to maintain a sense of crisis at all times to ensure that the company always maintains sufficient cash flow. He only does business with high profit margins and no connection with the government. Such business is often in a gray area. He invested in Huaxia and Minsheng Bank, cashed in the company in time and sold Shanghai Jiante and Giant to raise nearly 1 billion US dollars through listing, keeping a sufficient distance from the media.

The only regret is that he is no longer interested in innovation.

American biological historian Jared Diamond asked in his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Society". Why are cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs in Eurasia, rather than alpacas in South America and zebras in Africa, becoming livestock that are eventually widely distributed around the world? His answer is the environment.

Fan Wubing thought about this. For a moment, his mind was a little dazed. He thought that if Jobs went to China, or Shi Yuzhu went to the United States, or the endings of the two people would be exactly the opposite of now?

It can be seen that the ancients said that if a child was born in the south of the Huai River, he would be Nan, and if he was born in the north of the Huai River, he would be Ji. The different environments really have completely different effects on people's development.

At this time, Jobs, who was sitting in the podium, was in the middle of a lively conversation. He was an expert in the art of language, and his glances were full of omissions.