[Chapter 864: A Peculiar Investment]
Watching William White walk away, Monica lost her focus. This guy was trying to hold two positions--wanting to be a player while also keeping up appearances.
She thought to herself how superficial his reasoning was. Even if he had the physique of a lion, he couldn't be too overt about it. Dining together and making a scene was one thing, but going off to rest together crossed the line. He wasn't Howard Hughes, after all, capable of flirting with hundreds of actresses at once.
William White actually admired the guy for his memory. How could he remember all those women's names? If the same thing happened to him, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep track. And if he accidentally called someone by the wrong name at a crucial moment, he wouldn't want to end up on the receiving end of a cold shoulder.
"Ugh, don't touch me, you smell!"
"Come on, I'm not even doing anything! You can check for yourself."
"You're a creep to be so exposed," he said, catching a pillow that flew in his direction, shrugging it off nonchalantly.
"Nicole, that movie isn't right for you. You said it yourself--you want to hone your acting skills, and all those Bond girls are just eye candy, you know."
William White knew that the big sheep was feeling a crisis. She was just acting spoiled on purpose.
He didn't care much about the jealous rivalry between women. If it got out of hand, he could just let them deal with it themselves; it wouldn't hurt him too much. It was said that comrades who fought in the same trench had better relationships, but he didn't know how true that was. If given a chance, he wouldn't mind testing that theory.
A bunch of old guys on Wall Street were frustrated. They had pretty much figured out that William White truly enjoyed the thrill, rather than putting on some facade. With capital on the rise, it seemed he didn't really have any particular reaction.
Was there a bubble in internet companies?
Maybe, but before judging, it was best to first understand what the internet really was. Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffett were feeling awkward lately. William White mentioned that if you didn't understand, you'd better not invest. The stock market was risky--it wasn't good for the hearts of the elderly.
That remark was somewhat cruel, but it wasn't the most important part. The key issue was that no one dared criticize him.
Because they didn't understand, it was easy for them to crash, so it was best not to invest. At their age, a misstep could be fatal.
Of course, if they needed to explain it that way, William White couldn't care less; he wouldn't admit it, anyhow. He was merely concerned for the old folks; they were reading too much into it.
"So, Andy, this Netscape IPO is going to be successful?"
"Yeah, according to the consulting firm's report, the market is highly receptive."
"Oh, by the way, what's Bill Gates up to? That browser you mentioned, wasn't it the one William White sold to Microsoft? Ha! This kid makes mistakes sometimes too," an old guy from Morgan Stanley chimed in, pleased as punch whenever someone else stumbled--especially when it was William White.
It didn't mean he had issues; after all, it was human nature. Whenever those around you fared worse, it created a sense of happiness within.
"Don't feel ashamed; it's just human nature. If you have candy, and others don't, you feel happy. Conversely, if they had it, you would feel miserable."
Undoubtedly, a guy that every girl dreamed of marrying was bound to earn some resentment, and that was simply a fact. The more who loved you, the more who would hate you; that's how it worked.
"Right, boss. If the browser was still in William White's hands, Netscape wouldn't have much of a chance. From what we've learned, Bill Gates made his big moves after talking to William White. Unfortunately, they had been too complacent for quite a while."
"Really, Andy? Is there that big of a difference? The competition in the internet space is just too fierce. By the way, what's the deal with Yahoo? Aren't they supposed to be a rival of William White?"
"Sir, legally, it doesn't count. You know that guy's private life isn't exactly squeaky clean. Many internet firms aren't even under his name."
"That guy is really out there."
Andy thought about it--others might be able to talk, but he really had no place to judge. William White wasn't some illegitimate child; those were heirs with rights. He was just making a joke of it.
As for him, he couldn't even name his own illegitimate son; how could he dare criticize someone else? It was like a crow standing on a coal pile and not seeing its own blackness.
What baffled the old man the most was the internet payment platform. He had consulted a lot of people about it, including those from Sequoia Capital. The most optimistic reports only suggested that it held a slightly vague value. Essentially, it was something you could take or leave without a care.
Profits wouldn't be high, and investments wouldn't be small either; simply put, it was a pretty idle affair.
So the question arose: if the outlook was so poor, why had William White invested? He even went for unreasonably high valuations.
In his view, William White cared more about the payment platform rather than Amazon; that was his real target.
Didn't they forget about Bell Labs?
Thinking of Bell Labs made him feel ill. That damned antitrust issue was a disaster. A golden goose was taken away just like that. Now, even with tenfold or hundredfold costs, you couldn't get it back. Research needed cash, but it also needed time.
Taking over a lab entirely was totally different than building one from scratch. The time and cost investment were just incomparable.
The problem was, even if they recognized this issue, they had no way to invest. The spun-off Bell companies had zero interest in research.
All the CEOs were professional managers, and no matter how high their salaries were, it was pointless if there were no stock options to attract talent.
What else is there beyond profit to assess a CEO's value?
That was the most important and only standard of judgment. They wouldn't get involved with anything that didn't show results within a year.
The Galvin family business wasn't doing well, yet after they were ousted, did Motorola have any future?
The founding family was, of course, more focused on the long-term development of the business. Meanwhile, the elites of Wall Street only cared about the short-term.
There was no right or wrong in it; everyone had different perspectives and interests. It was best to maintain a balance, but if not, the one with the most cash was the boss.
It was said that people feared fame like pigs feared being fat, and William White was now experiencing that firsthand. Every investment he made was scrutinized. Some needed careful consideration, while others just blatantly demanded further investment.
Come on, could they still be reasonable? Even if he were willing to reopen the investment window, Jeff Bezos wouldn't agree. Regardless of profit, there was a threshold for registered users to reach before one could talk about valuation.
NBC Online and Yahoo played the attention economy, but Amazon wasn't about that. Sales volume and user count were the core issues; profitability didn't have to be overly important.
The stock market in America was different from that in China; no three-year profit requirement was necessary. You could sustain three years of losses, as long as someone was willing to buy.
The plan was to pour money into scaling up user numbers first--this was William White's strategy. As for how they would accomplish it, he didn't care one bit.
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