In the villa on Mercer Island, situated in the center of Lake Washington, Seattle.
Alice Ferguson descended the stairs with a noticeably unsteady gait. Zoey Parks and Isabel Dunn couldn't help but suppress their giggles, tinged with a hint of inexplicable envy.
No longer the housekeeper, Alice cast a glaring look at the two women and proceeded to the dining room, inwardly cursing a certain someone once again.
She vowed to herself never to yield.
It was Tuesday, January 12th.
Simon was in Seattle as a major shareholder to attend a Microsoft executive meeting, primarily to discuss the integration of Internet Explorer into the Windows operating system.
The confrontation with the former housekeeper started with a disagreement.
Over the past week, Ypay, the online payment tool of Egret, had granted six more e-commerce sites the approval to integrate its payment gateway, some of which were direct or indirect competitors of Amazon.
Naturally, Alice opposed this, believing Simon was aiding the competition.
Simon didn't have the patience to argue and instead turned the dispute into a "physical confrontation" the previous evening. And as if that wasn't enough, he forced another round of conflict upon her in the early morning, leading to the scene Zoey and Isabel witnessed.
Moments later, Simon came downstairs, radiating the vitality of someone who had just finished a vigorous workout.
As he entered the dining room and sat down, the maids looked at him with a mixture of reverence and awe while he started his breakfast.
It was already nine o'clock. Zoey and Isabel had finished their breakfast earlier and quietly exited the dining room after ensuring everything was in order for the couple.
Taking a sip of milk, Simon resumed cutting his fried eggs and finally addressed Alice. "The prepaid cards for online purchases can be phased out. You can discuss this with Jeff and the team."
Initially introduced to encourage online shopping, Egret had issued prepaid cards similar to those used for phone services.
A $10 card cost Egret about $2 in various fees.
During Egret's early development, these costs were manageable, but now, with the Internet booming and e-commerce poised for rapid growth, and with major banks already onboard with online payments, customers were increasingly comfortable making purchases directly with their credit cards. Continuing to issue these cards had become a losing proposition for Egret.
Alice responded with a curt "Hmm," still nursing her anger.
She had actually proposed this idea late last year, but it hadn't gained traction.
Now, what was this supposed to be?
A token gesture?
She wasn't that easily placated.
Simon wasn't bothered by her cold demeanor and continued, "As for the ICQ instant messaging tool, it shouldn't be used as a customer service platform for Amazon. I envision it evolving into a pure social communication software. I've tried the page-based instant messaging tool you developed, and it's good. It likely leverages some of ICQ's patented technology, so there's no need to co-opt ICQ itself."
Alice gave another noncommittal "Hmm."
A thought crossed her mind: stick?
Simon remained unfazed and went on, "Regarding Ypay's collaborations with other e-commerce sites, as I've mentioned several times before, the Internet will become a vast industry. No single company can dominate it entirely. Right now, fostering a thriving Internet ecosystem and broad acceptance of the platform is more crucial than any rush to monopolize."
Even at Amazon's peak in the original timeline, it never held more than 50% of the U.S. e-commerce market.
Alice finally retorted, "I never intended to monopolize the Internet."
Simon replied, "But that's exactly what you're trying to do."
Alice fell silent again.
Simon continued, "I've considered this too. It's a natural ambition for any businessman. But it's simply not feasible. Especially in the early stages of an industry's development, a monopoly would be detrimental. Lack of competition leads to stagnation, bloating, and various issues, ultimately resulting in failure. Compared to other companies, Amazon already has ample resources. Now, if you can't handle a bit of competition, you might as well come back and be my warm bed partner."
Alice had been starting to agree with him until his final comment, prompting her to look up and glare at him fiercely.
What did he mean by warm bed partner?
Simon smiled and added, "I recommend you read 'Dream of the Red Chamber.' Janet loves it. And, yes, you might want to pick up some Chinese."
As a former housekeeper, Alice was aware of this.
Outwardly defiant, she secretly noted it down, though she switched the topic, "Are you going to agree to Gates' conditions for preloading the browser?"
During the meeting yesterday, Gates had proposed that integrating Internet Explorer into Windows wasn't out of the question, provided Microsoft could modify the browser's features. Additionally, he wanted authorization to commercialize certain World Wide Web technologies directly.
The public patents of the World Wide Web still had many restrictions.
The most crucial restriction was that companies couldn't use the Web's technologies to seek profits directly. This included developing profitable applications like web browsers and web design software based on Web technologies.
This was Egret's turf.
Last year, Egret sold 23.79 million copies of its browser software worldwide at $10 each, generating $237 million in revenue.
Furthermore, with the explosive growth of web sites, Egret sold 760,000 copies of its web design software, priced between $300 and $500 depending on whether it was for personal or business use. This brought in $280 million, surpassing the browser software in revenue.
The Egret team had considered leasing the web design software instead of selling it outright to ensure long-term revenue. However, taking a cue from Oracle, which had disrupted IBM's monopoly on database software by selling it outright, Simon chose direct sales.
Thus, while the revenues from browser and web design software were largely one-time gains, they were substantial enough to cover Egret's early development costs.
Egret's financials for 1992 were still being finalized, but due to another surge in software sales, the company's losses had significantly decreased, possibly only a few tens of millions of dollars.
This loss was intentionally maintained by Egret's management.
Simon didn't want Egret to become profitable too soon, and Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz shared this vision.
Additionally, under U.S. tax law, current losses can be deducted from future earnings for up to 15 years.
In the original timeline, Amazon used this strategy to avoid paying taxes on its massive annual profits, even receiving rebates from the federal government, resulting in the rare phenomenon of a "negative tax rate" for a federal enterprise.
Considering inflation, using current losses to offset future profits might not seem beneficial.
But from another perspective, today's investments would bolster Egret's position and advantage in the Internet industry, making it a worthwhile long-term strategy.
In the dining room, Simon shook his head in response to Alice's question. "I'm planning to have Jeff and his team negotiate directly with OEM manufacturers for preinstallation. We can leave Gates out of it."
Alice paused and, with a hint of teasing in her voice, said, "Didn't you just say you didn't want to monopolize the Internet?"
Encouraging competition in e-commerce while restricting competitors with the Web technology did seem contradictory.
Simon explained, "It's not about avoiding competition. You must understand, I'm also a major shareholder in Microsoft. Now, I believe I'm the second largest. Microsoft's growth benefits me as well."
Bill Gates and Paul Allen were originally the first and second largest shareholders of Microsoft.
However, after recent stock transactions and Paul Allen's subsequent sales, his stake had dropped to 18.6%, while Westeros' holdings remained at 21.3%, making it the second largest shareholder after Bill Gates.
Alice knew this and pressed further, "Then why?"
"I don't want to see fragmented standards in the Internet," Simon replied. "If we grant more Web technology licenses to Gates, he might use Windows' market dominance to create competing standards, possibly incompatible with Egret's. Imagine if the original power grid had no unified standard, with some networks at 110 volts, others at 220 volts, and others at 240 volts. How inconvenient would that be for users? And how much would it hinder the development of the electrical revolution?"
Alice instinctively nodded but quickly countered, "Aren't you worried the same will happen in e-commerce?"
Simon smiled, "No, e-commerce sites are more like 'appliances' in this analogy. Regardless of the appliance, they all need to conform to the federal 110-volt standard."
"But," Alice hesitated, then continued, "you're nurturing so many 'appliances' to compete with Amazon. If I mess up, you'll have to bear the consequences too."
"If there were no competitors, I'd be more worried about you failing," Simon said. "And frankly, the Westeros system is vast enough now. I have plenty of stakes and am not afraid of one or two failing. For instance, most of the e-commerce sites we've recently authorized have venture capital from the Westeros system."
Alice was immediately frustrated.
She had already realized this from Simon's hands-off approach to Amazon's competition with Blockbuster in video and movie merchandise sales.
Still, she felt disheartened that he didn't have absolute faith in her.
Annoying guy.
How many times?
He kept harping on what if she failed.
As if she were destined to fail.
Simon didn't dwell on Alice's inner turmoil. Having explained everything, they left for San Francisco after lunch.
That afternoon, Simon met with Egret's executives to discuss changing their approach to preinstallation and spent the night in San Francisco before returning to Los Angeles.
At the beginning of the year, Daenerys Entertainment had already set its major film priorities for the next couple of years, but numerous secondary projects were gradually being initiated.
On Wednesday morning, Simon had scheduled a meeting with Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay
to discuss a film written by Emmerich called "Stargate."
Roland Emmerich was still busy with the post-production of "Superman." Although wrapping up, he would move straight into preparing the sequel, leaving no room for other projects.
Thus, Simon planned to assign "Stargate," written by Emmerich, to Michael Bay, who had recently completed the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the end of last year.
In the original timeline, "Stargate" was Emmerich's breakthrough in Hollywood. Its success paved the way for him to create his iconic film, "Independence Day."
This time, if all went well, Simon intended to give Michael Bay the chance to direct both films.
Both movies, especially "Independence Day," aligned well with Michael Bay's style.
As for Emmerich, if the "Superman" series succeeded, his reputation would be just as stellar as in the original timeline. Simon planned to have him produce "Stargate" and potentially "Independence Day."
"Stargate" tells the story of an archaeologist discovering that the pyramids are actually portals to other worlds, leading a team of soldiers through the 'stargate' on a journey where they help the inhabitants of another world overthrow their alien rulers and return to Earth.
Overall, it's a sci-fi action film with a vast imaginative scope.
Sci-fi action is precisely the genre Michael Bay excels in from the original timeline.
The preliminary budget estimate for "Stargate" was $30 million, slightly above Simon's initial expectation. However, for a sci-fi film, this wasn't excessively high, and Simon was confident that Bay could handle the project within this budget.
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