Chapter 82: Pixar
In Richmond, California, Eric has been here for three days. In the past few days, he hired a professional team in Silicon Valley to conduct a detailed survey of Pixar's assets.
Jobs was anxious to complete the transaction and expressed dissatisfaction with Eric's ‘do more than one move’ behavior, but he could do nothing. Eric can't think about the feelings of Steve Jobs.
Although Steve Jobs's talent is beyond doubt, his character is really flattering. This can publicly claim that he is a sexually incompetent master in order to resist the support of illegitimate women. Therefore, it is impossible for Eric to complete the transaction without a detailed evaluation of Pixar.
Three days later, Pixar was in Richmond's single-story office building, and Eric put a thick dozen evaluation documents on the conference table, tapping his finger on the table, and sitting across from Jobs: "History Tiff, I was very sincere in buying Pixar, but unfortunately, I did not see your sincerity."
Jobs was not affected by Eric's tone. He had a pair of insiders watching the helplessness of the layman: "Eric, if you have any doubts, you can say it, I will answer it for you seriously. Directly accuse me. Without sincerity, this is too serious."
Eric lamented the psychological quality of Steve Jobs, no matter what his inner activities, on the surface, he did not show anything. This calmness is hard to achieve even for him who has lived for two lifetimes.
He was not in the mood to play a psychological war with Jobs. He opened the door and said: "Well, Steve, I said it directly. The reason why I bought Pixar is that I care about Pixar's 3D animation technology, so you have already sold the hardware department. I don't mind this point."
Eric said, turning the information in his hand and looking at it, he continued: "But the data I collected in my hand shows that in the graphics rendering package developed by Pixar, the ownership of the three core software was put in the previous time. Your NeXT computer company, and the most important animation production system, although the core software is in, but the ownership of a coloring software has also been transferred. Pixar can receive the Disney 2D animation outsourcing project, relying on This software can greatly reduce the coloring time. These, you need to give me an explanation?"
Jobs is really not an honest man. The reason why he did this is to rely on luck and want to fool Eric. Once successful, the software can sell millions of dollars. Maybe someone will think about how much software can cost. If you have this doubt, think about Microsoft.
But what Jobs didn't expect was that Eric was indeed a layman, but he knew that he would hand it over to the layman. Therefore, he specifically invited the professional assessment team in Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a place where technology madmen get together, and it is also very good. The area, those people quickly discovered the little tricks of Jobs.
In fact, after Eric made this move, Jobs didn't have much luck in his heart. But with his cheeks, even if it is punctuated in person, it will certainly not be so easy to follow.
"Eric, after taking over Pixar for four years, I invested at least $50 million into Pixar, and the hardware department only sold 16 million. And your offer is only 20 million, which is enough to buy what I left in Pixar. ""
Eric laughed mockingly, closed the folder, put his hands on the conference table, and stared at Steve Jobs: "Steve, it seems that you still don't want to admit your failure. Well, I understand a little. In the purchase of Pixar from Lucas, you have failed. The loser must have the consciousness of the loser, and the loss is inevitable. To save your NeXT computer company, you must complete Pixar. The Pixar software department sold it to me at a low price. So, after returning the software, we can talk about the other."
Jobs’s face changed a little between the blue and white. As a person who is extremely proud and conceited, he has always pointed to other people’s arrogance. Now he is rebuked as a loser by a young man who is younger than himself. Even with his extraordinary psychological qualities, it is difficult to change his face.
Instead, he pretended to be busy in the outside work room, but actually erected his ears to listen to the two people talking about John Rasset and others, and he was so refreshed.
Jobs has never been an amiable boss. Every time he comes to Pixar, he will catch all the masters, criticize the results of their labor, and then leave a check on the condition of taking back part of the management's equity.
In the past few years, with these means, Pixar has completely become the personal property of Jobs, and all the shares in the management's hands have been taken away by him.
Now I finally saw Jobs being jealous of others. Only by this point, the awkward emotions that originally had to work under a young man disappeared.
In the conference room, Jobs stretched his face: "Mr. Williams, you bought Pixar, should you use it for animated movies? You have achieved great success in several consecutive movies. I believe many people will notice yours." Every move, if I reveal your optimistic about Pixar, there may be many people interested in higher prices, what do you think?"
Eric’s right hand ring finger trembled a little, but fortunately this detail was not noticed by Jobs.
Forcing this worry in the happy, Eric did not hesitate to sneer, said: "Mr. Jobs, you are worth 1 million. I don't like others to pinch me, so I decided to compress the offer to 19 million. Pixar is actually like a camera. Under my command, I can shoot "Little Ghosts" and can shoot "Feng Yue Qiao Jia", but in the hands of other directors, it is hard to say anything. So, 1900 Ten thousand dollars, the complete Pixar software department. If you want to be good, call me before I leave Richmond."
After Eric finished, he received the personal items and walked out of the Pixar office. Private lawyer Edward also quickly went out. After a long time, Jobs walked out of the conference room and glanced at the employees who were working or pretending to work. They did not get angry and left the Pixar headquarters silently.
Early the next morning, Eric and Jobs sat in the conference room again.
A lot of commercial negotiations are like this, always going through several rounds of confrontation. Even if the last time was too loud, I almost had to slap my arm and have a big shot. But in the next round, everyone still had to pack up and continue to sit together and then play.
Today, Jobs obviously has a faint black circle: "Eric, I have not done anything wrong before, everyone will do their best for their own interests. But I agree to return those software, but the price still needs to be maintained. The $20 million is unchanged. We are all rational adults. We can't compress $1 million in one sentence. That's what kids do."
Eric also didn't want to force Jobs to be too embarrassed. In case of collapse, he could spend money to set up an animation studio, but develop the corresponding software and accumulate enough technology. These not only need a lot of money, but also need a long time. Year's time. Although Eric is not short of money, he does not have enough time to do technical accumulation.
Everyone in the past knows that 3D animated movies and the surrounding can bring huge profits, but Hollywood has always had several well-known animation studios, because these studios are far ahead of other peers in technology and occupy the market.
It is a very difficult thing for others to catch up. If you have done it for a few years, you have reached a certain level, but others have accumulated more than a few years of technology. In this situation, the latecomers will never be able to keep up with the pace of their predecessors.
In the conference room, the two men clashed for half an hour. Eric couldn't swallow all the words he said yesterday. Finally, both sides made a small concession and reached a price of $19.5 million.
After taking back the ownership of the software, Eric once again confirmed that it was correct, and then signed the contract. Jobs collected the check and looked at the employees who had worked under his own hands for several years. He felt that there was nothing to say, and he nodded and turned away from the Pixar headquarters.