Seattle, in the villa on Mercer Island in Lake Washington.
Seeing Alice Ferguson almost stumble down the stairs, Zoe Parks and Isabel Dunne almost wanted to laugh, their emotions tinged with a strange envy.
The former housekeeper, who was no longer a housekeeper, glared at the two women and walked to the dining room, while once again feeling a bitter resentment towards a certain man.
In any case, she would never give in.
Today is Tuesday, January 12th.
Simon, as a major shareholder, came to Seattle to attend a high-level Microsoft meeting, primarily to discuss the pre-installation of the IE browser on the Windows system.
The matter with the housekeeper actually began with some arguments.
In the past week, *Ygritte*'s online payment tool, YPay, had continuously authorized payment interface applications for six more online e-commerce websites, many of which were direct or indirect competitors of Amazon.
This naturally met with the housekeeper's opposition, who believed that Simon was doing someone else's bidding.
Simon wasn't in the mood to reason too much with the housekeeper, so this argument turned into a direct 'physical conflict' last night. Not only that, but after waking up in the morning, the housekeeper was forcibly 'conflicted' again, leading to the scene Zoe and Isabel witnessed.
A moment later, Simon followed downstairs, looking refreshed and invigorated, as if he had just exercised.
He arrived at the dining room, sat down under the respectful gazes of the two maids, and began to eat breakfast.
It was already nine o'clock. Zoe and Isabel had already eaten breakfast, and after arranging things for the two of them, they quietly exited the dining room.
Simon took a sip of milk, picked up his cutlery again to cut his fried egg, and finally said to the housekeeper, "The consumer point cards can stop being issued. You can go back and discuss this with Jeff and the others."
Initially, to encourage internet users to try online consumption, Ygritte Company issued consumer point cards similar to prepaid phone cards.
For a $10 point card, Ygritte had to bear various costs of no less than $2.
This was fine in Ygritte Company's early development, but now, with the accelerating explosion of the internet and the rapid growth of e-commerce, and with Ygritte Company having already opened up online payment channels with several major US banks, users were increasingly accepting direct online consumption by linking credit cards. Continuing to issue point cards would be somewhat uneconomical for Ygritte Company.
The housekeeper simply hummed softly, indicating she was still angry.
In fact, she had first brought up this matter at the end of last year, but it hadn't been acted upon.
What did the man mean by saying it now?
Was he offering a small treat?
She wasn't that easily bought off.
Simon didn't mind the housekeeper's feigned coldness and continued, "Also, regarding the ICQ instant messaging tool, it still cannot be used as a customer communication tool for Amazon. I hope it can develop into a pure instant social software. I've tried it myself, and the in-page instant messaging you developed is pretty good. This must also utilize ICQ's patented technology, so there's no need to drag ICQ into it again."
The housekeeper hummed again.
A thought flashed through her mind: a carrot and stick approach?
Simon still didn't care and continued, "Also, regarding YPay's cooperation with other e-commerce websites, I remember saying more than once that the internet industry will be enormous, and no single company can completely dominate it. Moreover, at this stage, promoting the greater prosperity of the internet and making this platform accepted by more people is more important than your impatient ideas of monopolization."
Even Amazon at its peak in the original timeline only held less than 50% of the US online e-commerce market share.
The housekeeper finally said, "I never thought of monopolizing the internet."
Simon said, "But you are trying to do just that."
The housekeeper fell silent again.
Simon continued, "Actually, I've also thought that this is an ambition every businessman possesses. However, it's simply unrealistic. Especially in the early stages of an industry's development, if a monopoly forms directly, it's not necessarily a good thing for that monopolistic company. Lacking competition, it will stagnate, become bloated, and encounter various problems, ultimately leading to its elimination. Compared to other companies, Amazon already possesses ample resources. Now, there are just a few distant pursuers. If you can't even handle this much competition, then obediently come back and be my bed warmer."
The housekeeper had almost agreed with the man's words, but upon hearing the last sentence, she finally looked up and glared at him fiercely.
What in the world was a bed warmer?
Simon smiled and said, "I recommend a book to you, *The Tale of Genji*. Jenny loves to read it. Hmm, you'd best learn some Japanese too."
As a former housekeeper, Alice actually knew about this.
Outwardly, she remained unconvinced, but she silently took it to heart, while changing the subject with her mouth, saying, "Will you agree to Gates' terms for browser pre-installation collaboration?"
At yesterday's meeting, Gates proposed that pre-installing the IE browser by Microsoft was not impossible, but Microsoft needed to obtain permission to make corresponding functional adjustments to the browser. Not only that, Gates also requested authorization for the direct commercialization of World Wide Web-related technologies.
The previously disclosed World Wide Web patents actually had many restrictions.
The most crucial point was that other companies were not allowed to directly profit from World Wide Web technology. Simply put, this meant that they were not allowed to use World Wide Web technology to develop related application software for profit. World Wide Web browsers, web design software, and so on, were all included in this category.
Because this was Ygritte Company's reserved territory.
In the past year alone, Ygritte Company sold 23.79 million copies of its browser software, priced at just $10 each, generating a huge revenue of $230 million.
Additionally, with the exponential explosion of World Wide Web sites, web design software, which varied in price between individual and corporate purchases but averaged between $300 and $500, also sold 760,000 copies, bringing this portion of revenue to easily surpass the originally most profitable browser software, reaching $280 million.
The Ygritte Company operations team had initially considered leasing web design-related software instead of direct one-time sales, which would ensure more long-term sustained revenue. However, considering how Oracle had directly disrupted the monopoly of traditional IT vendors like IBM on database software through one-time software sales, Simon ultimately chose direct sales.
Therefore, both browser software and web design software would largely be one-time revenue.
However, even so, the revenue brought by these two simple software programs alone was enough for Ygritte Company to cover most of its early development budget.
Financial information for Ygritte Company for the just-concluded 1992 fiscal year was still being compiled, but due to another surge in software sales, the company's deficit this year also significantly decreased, possibly ending up at only a few tens of millions of dollars.
Moreover, this loss was deliberately incurred by the Ygritte operations team.
Simon did not want Ygritte Company to become profitable too early, and Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz also shared this foresight.
Not only that, according to the loss deduction clauses in US tax law, current losses can be converted into income tax deductions within the next 15 years.
Amazon in the original timeline used this method to avoid paying taxes on annual net profits of tens of billions of dollars, and even received some tax refunds from the federal government, ultimately resulting in the rare phenomenon of a 'negative tax rate' for a federal enterprise.
If elements like inflation are considered, deducting future profits with current losses is actually not cost-effective.
However, from other perspectives, current investments will actually accumulate into Ygritte Company's strength and advantages in the internet industry. In the long run, this is very cost-effective.
Inside the dining room at that moment.
Hearing the housekeeper's question, Simon quickly shook his head and said, "I plan to let Jeff and the others discuss the pre-installation with OEM manufacturers directly. Let's skip Gates on this one."
Alice paused, then said with a hint of playful teasing in her tone, "You just said you didn't want to monopolize the internet?"
Deliberately fostering Amazon's competitors in e-commerce, yet restricting the emergence of other competitors in World Wide Web technology, this indeed seemed somewhat contradictory.
Simon said, "Those are two different things. I don't want to authorize Microsoft, and it's not because I'm worried about competition. You have to understand that I'm also a major shareholder in Microsoft—well, now, I should be the second-largest shareholder—and Microsoft's development can also benefit me."
Bill Gates and Paul Allen were originally the first and second largest shareholders of Microsoft.
However, after the equity transactions of the past two years, coupled with Paul Allen subsequently selling some of his shares, his stake in Microsoft has now dropped to 18.6%. Westeros Company's stake in Microsoft remains at 21.3%. Therefore, Westeros Company is now Microsoft's second-largest shareholder, trailing only Bill Gates.
Alice naturally knew all this and pressed, "Then why?"
"I just don't want the internet standard to split," Simon said. "If I authorize more World Wide Web technology to Gates, Bill might use Windows' market advantage to create other different technical standards to compete with Ygritte, and it's very likely they would be incompatible with Ygritte's standards. Can you imagine the inconvenience to users and how much it would hinder the development of the electrical revolution if the early power systems didn't have a unified standard, with some grids being 110 volts, some 220 volts, and others 240 volts?"
The housekeeper nodded instinctively, but immediately retorted, "Then aren't you worried that e-commerce will also see such a situation?"
Simon smiled and said, "Of course not. E-commerce websites, to put it more figuratively, are more in the position of 'home appliances.' No matter what kind of appliance it is, it needs to adapt to the federal 110-volt voltage standard."
"But," the housekeeper hesitated this time, saying, "you're allowing so many 'appliances' to come out and compete with Amazon. If, if I mess up, you'll have to take responsibility too."
"If there were a lack of competitors, I think your chances of messing up would be even greater," Simon said, then added, "And, frankly, the Westeros system is already very large, and I have enough leverage that I'm not afraid if one or two of them fail. For example, most of the e-commerce websites that received authorization this time have venture capital from the Westeros system."
The housekeeper immediately felt depressed again.
In fact, she had already understood this point from his allowing Amazon and Blockbuster to compete in video tape and movie merchandise sales.
However, she was still a little disappointed that he hadn't had such strong confidence in her originally.
That hateful guy.
How many times has it been?
Always harping on about what would happen if she failed, if she failed.
It's as if she's destined not to succeed.
Simon didn't pay attention to the housekeeper's little thoughts; he had explained everything that needed explaining. After lunch, the two left Seattle together and flew to San Francisco.
After discussing the change in pre-installation strategy with Ygritte's senior management in the afternoon and staying in San Francisco for one night, Simon returned to Los Angeles.
---
At the beginning of the year, the key films for Daenerys Entertainment in the next one to two years had already been determined, but many secondary projects were still being gradually initiated.
On Wednesday morning, Simon met with Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay to discuss a film written by Roland Emmerich, titled *Stargate*.
Roland Emmerich was still busy with the post-production of *Superman*. Although it was nearing completion, as soon as the first *Superman* was finished, he would almost immediately have to start preparations for the sequel, leaving him no time to take on other projects.
Therefore, Simon intended to entrust *Stargate*, written by the director himself, to Michael Bay, who had just completed the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the end of last year.
*Stargate* was Roland Emmerich's breakout film in Hollywood in the original timeline. It was the success of *Stargate* that allowed Roland Emmerich to direct his defining Hollywood work, *Independence Day*.
This time, if all went well, Simon planned to give both opportunities to Michael Bay.
Both films, especially *Independence Day*, were actually very well suited to Michael Bay's personal style.
As for Emmerich, as long as the *Superman* series was successful, the fame it would bring to the director would not be much less than in the original timeline. Simon's plan this time was to have him serve as the producer for *Stargate*, and potentially for *Independence Day* as well.
*Stargate* tells the story of a human archaeologist who discovers that the pyramids are actually "Stargates" to an alien world. He leads a team of soldiers through the "Stargate" on an expedition, and then leads the humans of the alien world to rebel against alien rule and return to Earth.
Overall, it is an imaginative sci-fi action film.
Sci-fi action films were precisely the genre Michael Bay excelled at in the original timeline.
After an initial estimate, the budget for *Stargate* was $30 million, slightly higher than Simon's expectation. However, for a sci-fi film, such a production budget was not too high, and Simon believed that with Michael Bay's abilities, he was fully capable of completing the film within the $30 million budget.