Chapter 179 Steve Jobs Returns to Apple
In addition to the major strategic decision of acquiring Marvel, Gilbert Jr.'s other loss-making investment in Apple has seen a major turnaround.
After years of struggling, Apple finally planned to file for bankruptcy in May, but Gilbert Jr. blocked it.
In recent years, Gilbert Jr. has continued to purchase Apple shares from major Apple shareholders, despite the puzzling eyes of investor David, bringing his own shares to about 6.4%.
This share is truly a major shareholder of Apple, but now Apple has shrunk severely and has completely negative equity.
Little Gilbert's behavior is somewhat confusing to the outside world. What does it mean?
Is there something else about Apple that we haven’t discovered yet? Otherwise, how could Gilbert, a super investor who single-handedly founded two promising companies, Facebook and Banana, continue to invest in Apple?
After some research, many investors still believe that Apple is just a puddle of mud and worthless!
There is only one explanation. Little Gilbert is sick, otherwise there is no explanation.
Under such circumstances, Apple held another board meeting in June, and Gilbert Jr. once again said at the meeting: "Invite Mr. Jobs back. Only he can save the company now."
When Gilbert Jr. proposed this idea a few years ago, shareholders did not support it. After all, many of the shareholders who drove Jobs out of Apple are still present today.
But now the situation has changed. With the listing of Pixar animation, Jobs's net worth has reached one billion US dollars, while Apple's market value has plummeted towards one billion US dollars.
More importantly, because of the development of many products and businesses, Apple also owes a large amount of debt.
Based on this year's losses, Apple will not be able to repay its debts before they mature, and will eventually be liquidated by creditors.
At this time, Apple's board of directors began to seriously consider Gilbert Jr.'s proposal.
In the end, with most shareholders agreeing and a small number opposing, Apple reached a consensus and invited Jobs back.
After the resolution was passed, Gilbert Jr. went to Pixar Studios and met with Steve Jobs.
"Steve, I just attended the meeting of Apple's board of directors and passed a resolution asking you to go back and take charge of Apple again." Gilbert Jr. said.
Jobs had anticipated this and had been waiting for this opportunity to return to Apple.
Hearing this, he nodded and said: "Thank you, little Gilbert, thank you for your support."
"You're welcome, Steve." Little Gilbert patted Steve Jobs on the shoulder and said, "Get ready. I look forward to you bringing Apple back to life."
The matter was decided in this way. In order to facilitate Jobs' return to Apple, Apple once again accepted a cash investment of US$200 million from Gilbert Jr. and received another US$150 million in cash from Microsoft.
With cash flow, Apple did not rush to repay its debt. Instead, it acquired NeXT Computer, a company founded by Steve Jobs, making Jobs one of Apple's shareholders.
After this, on the eve of Little Gilbert's birthday, Apple held another meeting.
Through the resolution, Steve Jobs officially took office as CEO of Apple, returning to Apple after an absence of ten years.
After Jobs returned, he did not immediately make drastic reforms. Instead, he first understood the situation and every product sold and developed by the company.
He has been preparing for several years and has an extremely clear grasp of the market.
After observing the company's internal situation, he put forward several plans to cut off unprofitable product lines and stop R&D operations that are now mainstream in the market.
He emphasized at a high-level meeting: "Apple must focus on the future and develop products that are needed in the future, not what is needed now.
We need to build our own Apple ecological chain and develop our own system so that all products are developed based on the Apple ecological chain.
The idea of the ecological chain was proposed by Gilbert Jr. I think it is very constructive and will be used as a strategic plan for the company's development in the future. "
Perhaps it was the Apple ecological chain proposed by Little Gilbert that attracted Little Gilbert. Jobs believed that Little Gilbert had a vision for electronic products and the Internet, so he went to the Cantaloupe Manor to meet Little Gilbert.
"Steve, you know what's scariest?"
"what?"
Little Gilbert played with the Nokia mobile phone in his hand and said, "That's it, a mobile phone."
Steve Jobs wondered: "What's so scary about a mobile phone? It's just a communication tool."
“A few years ago, someone said something similar, what’s so scary about a mobile phone? It’s just a bulky mobile communication tool, heavier than a brick.
But now, mobile phones can be held in one hand. It can make calls and send text messages, and the number of mobile phone owners is constantly increasing. "Little Gilbert said.
He threw the Nokia phone directly into the trash can, faced Steve Jobs's surprised gaze, and continued: "But in my opinion, the future of mobile phones is not only a communication tool, but also a mobile entertainment terminal.
Can you imagine? If the camera functions, game consoles, music playback, and video playback functions are all integrated into a small mobile phone, and at the same time, it has the advantage of accessing the Internet anytime and anywhere, what changes will happen to such a mobile phone? "
Jobs was a true super genius with a keen sense and judgment for electronic products. He concluded in an instant that the sci-fi mobile phone that little Gilbert said would definitely come true.
"You mean, Apple will focus its business on mobile phones in the future?" Steve Jobs asked.
"I'm just describing a prospect to you. As for how to do it, you are better than me." Gilbert Jr. said with a smile: "I believe you can lead Apple to develop to unprecedented heights."
A man as arrogant as Steve Jobs was a little embarrassed to hear little Gilbert say: "I think you are more suitable to lead Apple than me."
"I can't," little Gilbert shook his head and said, "I'm a film director. I may have wonderful ideas, but I can't turn them into reality, but you can."
Steve Jobs also smiled: "It seems that I need to communicate with you from time to time, little Gilbert. You have creativity and ideas, and I have the ability to turn ideas into reality. We are a perfect match."
"Maybe!" Little Gilbert also laughed. Before Steve Jobs left, little Gilbert handed Steve Jobs a beautifully hand-drawn pattern.
A beautiful girl is listening to music with headphones, and more importantly, she is holding a small thing in her hand that looks like a kind of player.
"Is this a Walkman?" Jobs asked.
"You can also say that," little Gilbert shrugged and explained: "I think it can also be called MP3. It was inspired by my movies.
You can use this as a starting point to grow Apple's business. "
Steve Jobs solemnly collected this picture and expressed his gratitude to Little Gilbert: “Apple’s ability to survive today is all thanks to you, Little Gilbert.
I will definitely live up to your expectations and lead Apple back to the top. "
"It's not about returning to the top, it's about creating a higher peak."
"Yes, create a higher peak..."
Steve Jobs felt like he had found a treasure. After returning to Apple, he immediately locked the picture given by Gilbert Jr. into a safe and classified it as the company's top secret.
He then convened the R&D department to come up with the idea of designing a compact music player.
"Is it a Walkman?" an engineer asked.
"No," Jobs shook his head and said, "The Walkman also needs to be inserted into a cassette, tape, etc. to play it. It is bulky and very inconvenient to carry.
What I want is a music player that removes the cassette, stores the music in digital form on a chip, and also has a playback function. "
"What's the name of this music player?" asked another engineer.
"Hmm..." Jobs thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it MP3iPod!"
After the decision, Apple quickly invested in research and development and soon launched an experimental product in October.
Then this experimental product began to be evaluated, and after getting good response, it immediately invested in the research and development of the first generation MP3iPod.
The experimental product was discontinued, but as a shareholder, Gilbert Jr. also received the first experimental product given to him by Jobs as a souvenir.
As the first product led by Steve Jobs after his return to Apple, Apple gradually relied on this product to come back to life, and its stock price began to rise, bringing Apple back from the edge of bankruptcy.
However, the technical difficulty of MP3 is not high, and other similar products soon appeared on the market.
In addition to continuing the development of MP3, Apple has also begun to establish its own system and ecological chain in accordance with Steve Jobs's vision.
Jobs, on the other hand, set his sights on the mobile entertainment terminal mentioned by Gilbert Jr. - the mobile phone. He gave it a more convenient name, called a smartphone.
When this series of major events happened in Apple, Little Gilbert's investor David gradually acquired about 11% of the shares from Marvel's major shareholders after several months of patience, making Little Gilbert become One of the company's major shareholders.
Currently, those with higher shares than Gilbert Jr. are Perelman, who still holds 30% of the shares, and the other is ToyBiz, a toy company that relies on Marvel to survive.
ToyBiz also wants to get shares from Perelman to fully control Marvel.
Now, Perelman was not in a hurry. He held the shares in his hands and watched the bidding from both parties. He will sell to whoever bids the highest price.
When he learned about this, little Gilbert was on vacation in New Zealand.
"The scenery here is really nice. It retains a lot of original features and is very suitable for filming." Little Gilbert made a gesture like a viewfinder and looked around.
Charlize Theron, who had finished filming "The Devil's Advocate", also went on vacation with her. After hearing this, she asked: "Little Gilbert, don't you have any ideas?"
"I do have an idea," Gilbert Jr. asked Charlize Theron: "What do you think about putting the filming location of "The Lord of the Rings" here?"
As little Gilbert's bedfellow, Charlize Theron has long known that little Gilbert had obtained the copyright to "Lord of the Rings" for several years.
However, this series is known as the most difficult epic masterpiece to adapt. Charlize Theron was worried: "Do you really want to adapt "The Lord of the Rings"? Can it be successful?"
"Have faith in me, Sally, and I will succeed," said little Gilbert.
Such a huge project cannot be handled by little Gilbert alone. Little Gilbert plans to discuss it with producer Kane Waxman after he returns.
Let him stay in New Zealand starting next year and start preparing for the "Lord of the Rings" series.
At the same time, Gilbert Jr. will also work with the studio's screenwriters to begin the script adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings."
With Peter Jackson's original version as a reference, Gilbert Jr. planned to perform an operation on the original film and delete some unnecessary scenes and story lines.
The original trilogy is good to watch, but it is too long, which seriously affects the movie theater schedule, and then the box office. Surgery is a necessary choice.
It is worth mentioning that when Peter Jackson learned that the copyright to "Lord of the Rings" was in the hands of Gilbert Jr., he strongly requested that he be allowed to be the director and responsible for the "Lord of the Rings" project.
But this request was ruthlessly rejected by Gilbert Jr. He got the copyright to film it for himself, not to give it to others.
After returning from New Zealand, Gilbert Jr. officially submitted his seventh feature-length film script, "The Sixth Sense."
(End of chapter)