August 6, 1997 Microsoft invests 150 million into an Apple on its last legs. <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WxOp5mBY9IY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Aug. 6, 1997: Apple Rescued â by Microsoft 1997: Microsoft rescues one-time and future nemesis Apple with a $150 million investment that breathes new life into a struggling Silicon Alley icon. In a remarkable feat of negotiating legerdemain, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs got needed cash â in return for non-voting shares â and an assurance that Microsoft would support Office for the Mac for five years. Apple agreed to drop a long-running lawsuit in which they alleged Microsoft copied the look and feel of the Mac OS for Windows and to make Internet Explorer the default browser on its computers â but not the only choice. Microsoft got to look like a noble competitor, for a change, for what amounted to a rounding error on their annual revenues. Timing mattered: The company was in the midst of an image-tarnishing antitrust fight over its heavy-handed promotion of IE during the height of the browser wars with Netscape. The Apple faithful had already been conditioned to expect the unexpected when Jobs was in the house. But this surprise announcement, at Macworld in Boston, was pure Jobs theater. And it came with an oddly juxtaposed (satellite!) video feed of then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates piped into the auditorium, dwarfing Jobs on stage. The imagery may have been unintentional but the metaphor was entirely accurate: Apple had a tiny share of the desktop computer market, had not yet revolutionized the music industry with the iPod and couldnât possibly dare to dream it would disrupt the smartphone market with the iPhone â because there was no such thing as a smartphone. And while the fanboys didnât exactly know what to make of the new friendship between the corporate equivalents of a mongoose and a cobra, their instinct was, of course, to be against it. As reported at the time by The Seattle Times, âThe unexpected revelation ⦠prompted gasps of disbelief and loud boos from the audience of thousands of Mac users and software developers.â Jobs, the Times reported, âattempted to soothe the audience, saying: âWe have to let go of a few notions here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft needs to lose.ââ Neither company (or executive) lost, but the world has changed in unpredictable ways and both have new competitors to worry about â in particular, a little company that was founded a scant year later. In little more than a decade Google has become the leader in search and an emerging power in cloud computing, both vital to Microsoft, as well as a player in the smartphone platform, which horns in on Apple. But in this simpler time the deal gave Jobs the running room to make Apple a 21st century powerhouse, which, after 18 months of losses, was hardly a forgone conclusion. On the strength of the deal Jobs â still a mere adviser to the Apple board â got himself hired as âinterim CEO.â Fired in 1985, Jobs would return at Top Dog. He would receive no pay, and he could quit at any time. âThe message was clear,â Frank Rose wrote in a new introduction to his 1989 history of Apple, West of Eden. âApple needed him more than he needed Apple.â And Jobs set out to prove it, with a rapid dismantling of virtually everything predecessor John Sculley had done. As Rose recounts: Check out an apple stock chart, august of 97 was the bottom!
Poster: China can field an army of 200 million men China has had a long history of being the economic trading superpower of the world, perhaps they are attempting to rule the world economically again. Can we stop it? We do have a large army but we are already sick of these resource wars and the Chinese have an unlimited surplus of young fighting age men with no wives to be able to send anywhere in the world it is fact that they have boasted that they can field an army of 200 million men. World leaders and financial people always think that China is 1.3 billion or 1300 million people economy and they say China is very important for the world economic growth. World people forget that a country with 1300 million people can build an army of 300 million or 400 million soldiers. Country with high population will have military ambitions and desire to rule the world financially or militarily. Look on both sides of the road/street before you cross it. World leaders and businessmen (not all) biggest idiots. Grade one idiots If China has 700 million men and China loses 300 million men and 100 million women in big wars then China will have 400 million men and 400 million women. This is perfect for future population explosion. China will remove/abolish one-child policy. No need for logistics. China will start conquering countries close to its border and they will keep moving ahead for the world. Similar to what Hitler did in year 1939.
Microsoft has been hiring many thousands of Indian programmers. Indians have a desire to rule the world financially and buy/acquire all world compnaies and take away all the world's money. There are reports that Microsoft latest softwares/products are having problems because microsoft is hiring alien/foreign programmers.
they already made over a billion $ on facebook http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...-could-have-meant-5-billion-for-microsoft.ars they sold all
Hundreds of billions. The investment was necessary to keep Microsoft intact. They needed AAPL to have 6% market share to prove that there was true consumer choice and to continue to justify the $200 price tag for Windows. If Apple had gone under, Microsoft probably would have been broken up and Windows ultimately open sourced.
I agree. If Apple would have gone belly up back then MS would have been busted up like Ma Bell. I doubt Windows would have gone open source though.