American History 1988
Chapter 275 - 266: Trick Two at Once

Chapter 275: Chapter 266: Trick Two at Once

Compensation? Durell was taken aback—he hadn’t expected Dean to have started brokering deals.

"So what do you mean by compensation? Just to be clear, the financial situation at Byte Company is pretty bad."

Ever since Microsoft cut off its only supply chain business, Byte Company had once again found itself in a tight financial spot.

"I’m not one to take advantage of someone in trouble. I just want a little authorization," Dean made a small gesture with his fingers, suggesting something insignificant.

"A little authorization?" Durell looked at him curiously, "An authorization for the Penpiont system?"

"Yes!" Dean nodded firmly, "What I want is authorization, not ownership.

Of course, considering the manpower and resources Byte Company has invested, I’m willing to pay a reasonable fee for this authorization."

"If I remember correctly, just half an hour ago you told me you weren’t interested in Byte Company.

But now..." Durell spread his hands, "you’re right in front of me, eyeing the Penpiont system."

"It’s not the same. I’m just preparing for the future," Dean replied, his tone full of conviction.

"The future?" Durell was even more puzzled.

"Yes, remember when I said I was optimistic about the future of tablet computers?

But that’s the future, not the present. I still stand by this.

Plus, I’m not sure if I’ll enter this business, so this is just a kind of preparation.

I may not need the Penpiont system, but I want to make sure that if I do need it in the future, it won’t be an obstacle."

Dean was a businessman, and he made his purpose for the deal very clear—there was nothing to hide.

"My view is actually the opposite of yours. I think the tablet computer market is already mature.

Just look at IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Casio... all these manufacturers are launching their own tablet computers.

However, this isn’t the focus of our discussion today. Let’s talk about the potential buyers for Byte Company you mentioned."

Durell wasn’t about to change his point of view just because of Dean’s perspective.

He was one of the most reputable venture capitalists on the West Coast, and his vision represented substantial investments.

He had been honing this skill for many years and Durell never doubted his beliefs.

"OK, let’s put the authorization issue aside for a moment," Dean straightened up, "Have you heard of NCR?"

"The NCR 3125?" The first thought that popped into Durell’s head was this model of tablet computer.

The reason it was memorable to him was because last year, the NCR 3125 began to feature the Penpiont system.

Strictly speaking, NCR was one of Byte Company’s clients, although Microsoft had intervened and that deal had fallen through.

"NCR’s design in hardware is noteworthy, but systems and software have always been their weak points.

Take a closer look at NCR’s products, their core products like cash registers and bank computers.

Their systems are either the open Unix system or come from IBM’s system architecture.

From these aspects, it’s clear that NCR has almost no achievements in system design.

So, when they are presented with a tablet system that’s already been launched and is relatively complete, I think they would be interested."

Find a gullible buyer to take over Byte Company? Conveniently, Dean’s little notebook had several names lined up.

"But with NCR’s scale, can they afford to make a high offer?" Durell was skeptical about this.

His ideal buyer was IBM—the blue giant with deep pockets was most likely to bid high.

Unfortunately, IBM was too cunning. They had already got what they wanted and conveniently kicked Byte Company out of the game.

Dean, however, wasn’t concerned about Durell’s doubts.

"Don’t worry, NCR can afford it now—they’ve just cozied up to AT&T."

Durell paused, right, he had almost forgotten about that.

The acquisition of NCR by AT&T was no secret to those in the well-informed venture capital circle.

"All right, NCR is a good potential buyer, but how can we make them bid high?"

"They will," Dean said with a smile, pointing to himself, "I can help you play the role of the buyer again."

Durell’s eyes lit up, "You mean you’ll take the lead in bidding with them?"

"There’s no need for that. Just leak the news that I or Byte Company are interested in this deal.

The people at NCR and AT&T will definitely be keen to see me fail. If it goes well, Byte Company could even be sold in two parts."

"How so?" Durell was intrigued.

Damn it, he couldn’t help wanting to jot everything Dean said into his notebook.

"Didn’t Byte Company previously collaborate with IBM on hardware development? You still have those design documents, right?"

"Of course, but after the shift to operating systems, they have been archived away."

"Ask AT&T if they’re interested in the hardware design documents, and focus the dealings with NCR on the Penpiont system."

"Wait a minute," Durell interrupted Dean, "Isn’t NCR acquired by AT&T?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dean spread his hands innocently, "NCR is just one of the subsidiaries under AT&T.

AT&T has countless departments, some of which even compete with each other.

Don’t forget AT&T has its own hardware business, and one of the core departments is called the Computer Systems Division."

"Oh~" Durell’s face showed a look of realization, "I almost forgot why Ma Bell was broken up."

AT&T had voluntarily disintegrated into eight companies in an effort to enter the computer industry.

They had always held a sustained interest in computers and software, and Teams had once made them drool with desire.

"Of course, to spark enough interest from AT&T, you could say that this handwriting computer comes with personal communication features.

They’re more interested in that, anyway you decide how to play it."

Dean remembered very clearly the encounter in Ohio during Christmas.

Charles from NCR and AT&T behind him had always been on his mind, so Dean decided to return the favor.

Would one sucker be enough? For such an easy mark, naturally, it was best to round up two at a time.

"Dean, I suddenly have a better idea." Durell felt that Dean’s recent strategy was still too conservative.

He had an even bolder idea, which, if handled well, might even settle the accounts for Go Company.

Dean shrugged his shoulders; that was Durell for you. As long as he still had chips in hand, he would never easily admit defeat.

"Alright, let’s talk about licensing issues, shall we?" Dean still had his own business to discuss.

"Friends and family price, 500,000 US Dollars." Durell made his offer quite readily.

"Deal!" Dean agreed just as readily.

...

Dean wasn’t too surprised by the unexpected turn Go Company had taken; he was just amazed at how short the time had been.

It had been just over half a year since Durell left with great ambition.

Back then, the other party had harbored the ambition of becoming "the next Microsoft" and was ready to build Go Company.

But Gates did not disappoint; before Go Company could even spark a flame, he had promptly snuffed it out.

Durell might have had a deep-seated hatred for Microsoft, but business must go on.

He had already given up hope on Go Company; now, he needed to do his best to recover the losses.

From Dean, he had obtained another set of brilliant strategies, and even opened up his own thinking.

The fate of Go Company was already sealed, but that did not mean he had given up on the handwriting computer.

After leaving Byte Company, he immediately began maneuvering the next set of transactions without pause.

He needed to use his network to create the illusion that the Penpoint system was in high demand.

For a somewhat conservative company like NCR, Durell had plenty of strategies.

Of course, he didn’t skip AT&T either, although the former required meticulous planning, and maybe even some extra chips.

He wanted to make Go Company’s failure into a business deal; top-tier venture capitalists never dwell on adversities.

After obtaining the license for the Penpoint system, Dean was also planning to find an opportunity to talk with Kaplan.

As a pioneer in artificial intelligence, many of Kaplan’s ideas were worth thoroughly discussing with him.

But that was a story for later; for now, he had refocused his energy back onto Byte Company.

No, or rather more appropriately, Intuit.

By May, the latest version of Quicken had finally been introduced to the market.

The biggest change was the addition of the online backup system and the feature that binds customer accounts with financial accounts like bank cards, credit cards, and checks.

It goes without saying, the server support for the backup system came from Byte Company.

And the feature that links accounts to bank accounts was also thanks to Byte Company introducing many Wall Street banks.

With this feature, Quicken could now display the income and expenditure information of the user’s bank accounts.

On top of this, the improved budget planning and reminder services would be more accurate and convenient.

Intuit did have partner banks before, but obviously, not on the scale they do now.

Only by supporting more banks, can they attract more users.

Data syncing services, expense categorization, budget planning, and bill reminders – these were some of the highlights of this version of Quicken.

Of course, in addition to Quicken, Intuit also updated the QuickPay software they had released last year.

This was a software program aimed at helping small businesses handle payroll, and with banks tied in, it could simplify and speed up salary settlements for businesses.

These two software products were Intuit’s staples, priced at 60 US Dollars each. One was mainly for home users, and the other was for small and medium-sized businesses.

With staples, of course, there were new products. According to plan, TurboTax and QuickBooks would also be launched in the latter half of the year.

The former is a tax filing software aimed at large companies and professional accounting firms, while the latter is a full-featured bookkeeping program for small businesses.

Put simply, QuickBooks is a simpler, cheaper alternative to TurboTax.

With Byte Company’s channel support, Intuit temporarily didn’t have to worry about marketing.

So it focused all its energy on product development, which led to this year’s explosive launch of products.

Thanks to the reputation built over the previous years, Quicken and QuickPay were quickly accepted by old users.

According to Intuit’s statistics, within a month of release, 85% of old customers chose to upgrade the software.

Reflected in the financial reports, this meant that Intuit’s sales skyrocketed to 65 million US Dollars in the first half of the year.

The enthusiastic response from the market finally put Intuit in the view of many West Coast venture capitalists.

Venture capitalists began to mobilize and hand out their business cards.

But it seemed a bit late, as Intuit temporarily didn’t need funding.

Nevertheless, news of this blew all the way to Seattle, where the behemoth that is Microsoft, under the influence of the seasonal winds, gradually opened its copper bell-like giant eyes.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.