[Chapter 605: A Good Idea]
A few years later, when the internet industry began to explode and countless companies burned through hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars each year, yet still couldn't shake the internet empire that the young Eric had built with such a casual touch at just twenty-five, Tina Brown finally realized how visionary Eric's decision truly was.
However, in a chic cafe in Manhattan, when Tina Brown first heard Eric's crazy plan, she only felt hesitation in her heart.
Tina Brown's status and reputation in the media world had reached a personal peak. If she accepted Conde Nast's invitation to take over the New Yorker, with nearly two decades of experience in magazine operations, she felt ninety percent confident she could revive the already declining magazine. But switching to a completely unfamiliar field, even if it was just for a year, would pose a significant risk. If she couldn't achieve remarkable results in that time, returning to her original circle a year later wouldn't be easy. At only forty years old, she didn't want to jeopardize her flourishing career over a single risky venture.
When Tina heard Eric mention Columbus and the Age of Discovery, she didn't feel particularly inspired. She just smiled lightly, almost as if in agreement. People remembered the glory of the Age of Discovery, but hardly anyone explored how many adventurers perished at sea due to storms, pirates, and disease over the centuries.
Tina had expected Eric to continue persuading her to join Yahoo or to offer her irresistible conditions. Given her impressive credentials from over twenty years in the media industry, she thought he would definitely go this route, as truly successful leaders often spared no effort to attract talent for their endeavors. However, after Eric finished his last sentence, he fell silent, picked up his coffee, leaned back in his chair comfortably, and patiently awaited her decision.
Eric's unexpected reaction calmed Tina, who had originally been anxious and uncertain.
The two observed the flow of traffic outside the glass window in silence for a moment before Tina finally steeled her resolve and asked, "Eric, if I join Yahoo, what would I receive in return?"
Eric replied, "I won't offer you a high salary. Your personal salary will probably be on par with what you received at Vanity Fair. However, at Yahoo's inception, the company drafted an equity incentive agreement. Before the IPO, Yahoo plans to allocate up to 20% of the equity as rewards divided among management and significant contributors. If you join Yahoo and can meet my requirements in a year, you'll be included in this rewards plan."
Tina shook her head in confusion. "Eric, you're being too vague. I don't know if you'll follow through with this promise. If Yahoo truly grows, 20% of the equity is a significant amount. Plus, you haven't laid out any standards. I have no idea how I can meet your expectations."
Eric smiled, "You don't need to worry about that. The equity incentive agreement before the IPO was drafted by a good friend and partner of mine, and it's extensive -- dozens of pages long -- and has been agreed upon by everyone. Once you join Yahoo, you can sign this agreement."
In the case of Firefly -- a media giant with an established industry position -- the operational system was well-developed. While an excellent management team could bring more profits, it didn't determine the company's survival and death. Thus, shareholders didn't need to offer many equity rewards to management. In the past few years, although Firefly had reported substantial profits, Eric's equity rewards for management amounted to less than 1% of the total equity.
But in the rapidly rising internet industry, experienced technical and management talent was crucial for the company's development. During periods of rapid growth, these incentives were necessary to prevent management from striking out on their own or being poached by competitors. Losing these essential talents could result in catastrophic outcomes, much like a fast-moving train discovering suddenly that a section of the tracks had been removed.
The reason so many young billionaires emerged in the early days of the internet was that many investors understood this principle, rather than foolishly pinning their hopes solely on passion and loyalty. However, over a decade later, as the oligopoly of the internet industry formed, the door leading to overnight wealth would close, and most companies that could innovate would have to submit to the oligarchs.
After addressing Tina's first concern, Eric pointed to his IBM laptop, which still displayed the Yahoo homepage, and said, "Additionally, your individual work results aren't without evaluation standards. For instance, Yahoo's server back-end maintains detailed records of user access data, with a crucial metric known as PV -- page views. This data best reflects users' recognition of Yahoo's content. The ratio of PV to user counts indicates each user's average pages visited. This ratio will, to some extent, represent your individual work results. The higher the ratio, the better your performance."
After listening to Eric's patient explanation, Tina suddenly laughed. "I just realized, I seem to have run out of reasons to refuse this job. At least, you're far more upfront than my previous boss."
Eric knew that when Tina said this, it essentially meant she was agreeing, and he smiled back. "In that case, I need to be candid about another thing. Compared to your role as editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair, your workload at Yahoo will increase significantly, because Vanity Fair only requires one issue a month, but Yahoo's news content needs to be updated every day -- sometimes even every hour -- and you'll need to coordinate more content sections and sub-sections."
Tina paused, then asked, "How many people will I have at my disposal?"
"During its first two years, Yahoo focused most of its resources on website development. Right now, there's just a simple editing team of fifty people. The former editor-in-chief was a regular newspaper editor from Boston, and I was dissatisfied with his work, which is why I'm inviting you," Eric said, glancing at the Yahoo homepage on his laptop. He counted, then said, "You'll be responsible for eight content sections. Once you start, you can adjust based on the popularity of these sections. Personally, if you average five sub-columns per section and five editors for each column, you could expand the editorial team to 200 people. Yahoo certainly needs its own news content, so a reporter team is essential. There will also be support departments that will require additional hires. Of course, these are things you'll need to consider after joining. If you believe you need to expand the editorial team to 500, as long as you provide a convincing reason, I can approve your plan."
Tina instinctively felt that five editors per sub-column seemed a bit too few, but since she hadn't officially started yet and didn't know the precise situations, she didn't make any immediate demands.
"One last question," Tina asked. "Firefly is currently the largest media group in North America, with rich information resources. I want to know how much support Yahoo can expect from Firefly."
Eric smiled, "Anything you can think of, I can provide, from priority movie and television information to celebrity interviews and ESPN sports news, along with the latest Hollywood updates. But the condition is that you need to make the departments under Firefly feel that you have the qualifications to collaborate with them. When they hear about a collaboration with Yahoo, their first reaction should ideally be, 'Oh, Yahoo, that's a great website,' not a confused 'What's Yahoo?'"
"You've built a logical deadlock," Tina laughed. "If Yahoo can't first secure enough support, how can I make others regard the site in a different light?"
Eric replied, "Although you're somewhat shifting the concept, fair enough. I just happen to have a great opportunity that, like when you captured the Reagans' twist at the Fox Trot and revived Vanity Fair, this could possibly be another big event that would make headlines. If managed correctly, Yahoo's visibility will receive another significant boost."
Tina remembered last year's blockbuster hit Jurassic Park, curious, "Is it your new movie?"
"Not quite," Eric shook his head. "But it is another project that I'm personally directing -- a grand fashion show."
Tina wanted to ask more, but Eric simply smiled and shook his head. "That will be at the end of the year; there are many things I cannot disclose in advance. But trust me, the news from this fashion show will be enough for Yahoo to operate for several months, and I'll do my best to provide you with all the primary materials."
"Then I can only wait and see," Tina smiled slightly, reaching her hand across the coffee table to Eric.
Eric shook her hand briefly and said, "I have a flight the morning after tomorrow; let's go take a look at where you'll be working in Boston, shall we?"
"Of course, no problem," Tina replied. "Even if you hadn't invited me, I would still make a trip there before starting the job."
...
In Eric's plan, this trip to Boston was crucial for his layout in the internet industry. He originally hoped Chris would accompany him, but Chris needed to fly to Finland for a Nokia board meeting. As Eric's investment representative, Chris held director positions at several companies, including Nokia, Cisco, and AOL. Eric's own schedule was quite packed, so the plan for him to travel together had to be abandoned. In the end, Eric only took two attendants and boarded the flight to Boston with Tina Brown.
Before departure, Eric personally called and invited two others: John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, and Steve Case, CEO of AOL, both of whom readily accepted.
Firefly Group's small Gulfstream business jet slowly descended at Boston's General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport. After disembarking, Eric and Tina Brown saw three men of varying ages approaching them. The three were Ian Gurney, the head of the browser company; Jeff Locke, head of the Yahoo website; and Steve Mitnick, the online mail company leader who occasionally chatted with Eric online.
Ian Gurney had previously been a product development manager at Oracle, the database software giant. He was in his early forties, tall but slightly balding, dressed in a sharp gray suit.
Jeff Locke was appointed as the Yahoo portal head through a recommendation from Tim Berners-Lee. He was around thirty, held a master's degree in computer science from MIT, and had previously worked at Sun Microsystems for two years.
Steve Mitnick, the online mail service head, was a contemporary of Chris during their days at the University of Pennsylvania. Although following his parents' plans and studying finance like Chris, he was deeply passionate about computer technology. In the end, he didn't obtain his finance degree but excelled in computer science and information technology to the point of impressing professors at Penn. One professor even wanted Steve to be his student, but he declined, stating there was nothing the professor could teach him. According to Chris, Steve had previously been killing time in a small company run by his father in Dallas until hearing that someone was willing to invest heavily in computer technology, leading him to drop everything and come to Boston.
After everyone introduced themselves, as they were leaving, Steve brought Eric over to his unassuming black Buick. Tina Brown seemed eager to talk directly with Yahoo's head, so she joined Jeff Locke in his car, while Carter Moen and Eric's other bodyguard settled into Ian Gurney's Mercedes.
"Eric, I've got another great idea that you'll definitely be interested in," as soon as the Buick hit the airport expressway, Steve Mitnick eagerly began, "Now that IE has to develop several different versions to accommodate Windows, Unix, Linux, and Apple's operating systems, why don't we create a network operating system based on IE? With our browser software advantage, we might even surpass Microsoft in the future. I've already drafted a simple system kernel, and if you approve this plan, I can deliver a brand-new system in a year and a half."
Eric shifted his gaze from the Hilton Hotel's red building near the expressway back to Steve Mitnick, taking note of his ill-fitting suit, and replied, "You must have discussed this plan with Ian, right?"
*****
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