Chapter 82 - Pixar

Eric had been in Richmond, California, for three days. In the past few days, he hired a professional team from Silicon Valley to conduct a detailed investigation and evaluation of Pixar's assets.

Steve Jobs was anxious to complete the transaction and expressed his dissatisfaction with Eric's 'excessively paranoid' behavior. But he was helpless as Eric didn't care for Jobs' opinions.

Although Steve Jobs' talents were unquestionable, his character was really unflattering. This can be seen by his public claim of sexual impotence, just to avoid the child support payments for his illegitimate daughter. Therefore, Eric would never complete the transaction without a detailed evaluation of Pixar.

Three days later, in Pixar's single-story office building in Richmond, Eric placed a thick stack of evaluation documents on the conference table. Tapping his fingers gently on the table, he said to Jobs: "In our past meetings, I was very honest about acquiring Pixar, but unfortunately, I see that you are not honest."

Jobs was not affected by Eric's tone at all. He was an experienced insider watching the helplessness of a layman: "Eric, if you have any doubts, you can ask me. I will seriously answer all of your questions. Directly accusing me of being dishonest is going too far."

Eric lamented at Jobs' psychological quality. No matter what he thought or felt, he didn't let it show on the surface. This calmness was too difficult for even a person like him who has lived for two lifetimes.

He was not in a mood to play a psychological war with Steve Jobs. So, he came straight to the point: "Well, Steve, I'll say it directly. The reason I wanted to buy Pixar is that I care about Pixar 's 3D animation technology. So, I don't mind the fact that you have sold the hardware department."

Turning the data in his hand to the correct page, he continued: "However, the information I collected shows that in the 3D graphics rendering software package developed by Pixar, the copyrights of the three core software were recently transferred to The NeXT computer company. As for the most important animation production system, although the core software is here, the copyrights of a coloring software have also been transferred. The only reason why Pixar could receive Disney's 2D animation outsourcing project was through this software that can greatly reduce the coloring time. Care to give me an explanation for your actions?"

Jobs was really not an honest person. The reason he did this was that he hoped to swindle Eric, who he thought was a layman. Once successful, the software can be sold for millions of dollars. Some people may wonder how much a few pieces of software are worth. If you have this doubt, just think about Microsoft.

But what Jobs didn't expect was that Eric was indeed a layman, but he knew that the matter should be handled by experts. So, he specifically invited a professional evaluation team from Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley was a place where technology maniacs got together, and they were experts in this field. As such, those people quickly discovered Steve Jobs' little tricks.

In fact, after Eric made this move, Jobs did not have much hope anymore. But with his shameless character, even if he was slapped in the face, he would certainly not give up so easily.

"Eric, after taking over Pixar for four years, I invested at least $50 million in it. The hardware department only sold for $16 million. And your offer price is only $20 million, which is only enough to buy what I left in Pixar."

Eric laughed mockingly and closed the folder. He put his hands on the conference table, and stared at Jobs: "Steve, it seems that you simply don't want to admit your failure. Well, let me make it clear for you, you acquired Pixar from Lucasfilms, and you failed. The loser must have the awareness, that upon failure, a loss is inevitable. To save your NeXT computer company, you must sell me the complete Pixar software department at a low price. So, you must return the software first before we can talk about the rest."

Steve Jobs' face changed a few times between blue and white. As an extremely proud and self-confident person, he was always the only one who pointed at others to swear, but now he was called a loser to his face. Even with his superior psychological qualities, it was difficult to keep his face from changing.

John Lasseter and others who were actually listening with perked ears to the conversation between the two people inside, while pretending to be busy in the workroom outside, felt refreshed.

Jobs had never been an amiable boss. Every time he came to Pixar, he would grab all the main creators and criticize the results of their hard work. Then he'd give them a cheque on the condition of taking back part of the management's equity.

Over the past few years, with these methods, all shares in the hands of management have been taken away by him, and Pixar had completely become Steve Jobs's personal property.

Now they finally saw Steve Jobs being scolded by someone. Based on this alone, the awkward mood of having to work under a young man disappeared directly.

In the conference room, Jobs said with a drawn face: "Mr. Williams, if you are buying Pixar, it should be to make animated movies, right? You have achieved great success in several consecutive movies. I believe many people would be tracking your every move. If I reveal that you are optimistic about Pixar, there may be many people who would be interested and pay an even higher price. What do you think of that?"

Eric's right ring finger trembled slightly, but fortunately, this small detail went unnoticed by Jobs.

Forcibly tossing away this worry from his mind, Eric sneered and said without hesitation: "Mr. Jobs, your sentence just cost you $1 million. I don't like others threatening me, so I decided to reduce the offer to $19 million. Pixar is actually just like a camera. Under my command, it can shoot movies like Home Alone and Pretty Woman, but in the hands of other directors, it is difficult to assume anything. So, $19 million, for the complete Pixar software department. If you accept, call me before I leave Richmond."

Eric finished speaking and packed his personal belongings directly and walked out of Pixar's office. His private lawyer Edward quickly followed. It was a long time before Jobs walked out of the meeting room. He glanced coldly at the employees who were pretending to work, and unusually, did not lose his temper and left the Pixar headquarters silently.

Early the next morning, Eric and Jobs sat in the meeting room again.

This is the case with many business negotiations. They always go through several rounds of confrontations. Even if the last quarrel was loud, and though people almost came to a fistfight, at the beginning of the next round, everyone still had to be in a good mood to continue sitting together and negotiate.

Today, Steve Jobs obviously had faint dark circles under his eyes: "Eric, I did nothing wrong earlier. Everyone would do their best for their own benefit. I agree to return all the software, but the price will remain unchanged at $20 million. We... are all sensible adults, and we cannot decrease the price by $1 million just for one sentence. That's what children do."

Eric also did not want to embarrass Jobs too much. If the negotiations fail, he could spend money to set up an animation studio, but developing the corresponding software and accumulating enough technology would not only require a lot of money but also require several years. Although Eric was not short of money, he does not have enough time to accumulate technology.

Everyone in his previous life knew that 3D animation movies and their surrounding market can bring huge profits. But Hollywood has always had few well-known animation studios because these studios are far ahead of other peers in technology and occupy the market.

It's a very difficult thing for others to catch up. If you keep at it for a few years and finally reached a certain level, but others have accumulated more and more technology over those few years. In this situation, the latecomer can never catch up with his predecessors.

In the conference room, the two had been talking to each other for half an hour. Eric couldn't simply swallow the words he said yesterday. In the end, both parties made a small concession and reached a price of 19.5 million US dollars.

After receiving the copyrights of the software, Eric once again had everything verified before signing the contract readily. Steve Jobs collected the check and glanced at the employees who had been working under him for several years. He felt that there was nothing to say, so he nodded and turned away from the Pixar's headquarters.