January 6, 1997.
Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, had cut his holiday break short and returned to the office earlier than usual. Sitting at the head of the conference table, he frowned and spoke with restrained irritation.
"So you're saying Hotmail wants to postpone the meeting?"
The low, clipped tone of his voice barely concealed his annoyance. It was only two days before the scheduled acquisition meeting—having it suddenly canceled at the last minute didn't sit well with him.
Patrick Ryder, Microsoft's COO and the company's second-in-command—also an old college friend of Gates—nodded grimly from the sofa.
"Yes, that's right."
"And their reason?"
"They just said something urgent had come up and asked to delay the meeting. They didn't offer any specifics."
Gates's expression twisted into a scowl.
"You're telling me they didn't even bother to explain what it was?"
His irritation spilled into his voice. Sitting beside them, Alvin—the company's heavyset CFO—glanced between the two cautiously, then spoke up in a tentative tone.
"Perhaps it's not a real scheduling conflict."
"What do you mean?" Gates narrowed his eyes.
"I'm wondering if they're deliberately dragging things out to put pressure on us—maybe trying to shake our confidence or raise the stakes."
Leaning forward, Alvin lowered his voice as if sharing a secret.
Gates crossed his arms, thinking quietly for a moment before turning his gaze toward Ryder.
"The one representing Hotmail in the negotiations—that was Park Seok-won of Eldorado Fund, right?"
"Yes. He was an early investor and currently holds the largest share. The founders delegated full negotiating authority to him for this deal."
Gates, who had met Seok-won a few times—partly because the man held 5% of Microsoft stock—remembered being struck by the young investor's sharp insight and poised demeanor. Despite his age, Seok-won didn't come off as someone you could easily underestimate.
"Mmh. Looks like we've got a tricky one to deal with."
Even without knowing Seok-won, anyone in the room would've agreed—it was far easier negotiating with starry-eyed young tech founders than with a seasoned Wall Street player.
"This delay? It's probably just a tactic to push us for a higher price."
"I can't think of any other reason," Alvin added.
Gates clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair, annoyed.
"So what—our $300 million offer isn't good enough for them? Then what's the upper limit we're willing to bet?"
Alvin, the CFO, shook his head in disbelief.
"Frankly, offering three hundred million dollars to a startup that's only been around for two years already feels like a massive overpay."
Gates responded, one leg crossed over the other.
"Of course it's expensive. But to get ahead in the internet space—which is going to explode—we need to integrate Hotmail into MSN. It's essential."
MSN (Microsoft Network) was Microsoft's ambitious attempt at launching a portal service alongside Windows 95, sensing the vast potential of the internet. It offered internet access, news, weather, email, chat rooms, message boards—basically everything one would expect from a portal.
But despite its grand launch and heavy investment in resources and manpower, the results had been underwhelming.
In their eagerness, Microsoft had loaded MSN with a flashy, resource-intensive interface. But the average computer specs and internet speeds of the time simply couldn't handle it. The experience was sluggish—pages took far too long to load. Naturally, users became frustrated.
No matter how great the features were, if switching between pages took several minutes, people weren't going to stick around.
And that was exactly what happened. After trying it once or twice out of curiosity, most users never came back. User growth remained stagnant.
"But don't we already offer email through MSN?" Alvin pressed.
Ryder frowned slightly.
"Yes, technically. But do you know how many active users MSN has?"
"I believe it's just under five million."
"Correct. And that's with MSN being automatically installed on every Windows machine. The fact that we still couldn't get more than that is the real issue."
It was hard to argue with Ryder's point. With such an unfair advantage, they should have had more users.
"Now look at Hotmail. They don't offer a full portal experience like we do—just email. And yet they've got over nine million users, most of them active. Just like Windows dominates operating systems, we need to push Netscape and Yahoo aside and lock down the internet market. Hotmail is the missing puzzle piece."
Alvin still felt the price was steep, but he couldn't deny Hotmail was a strategic acquisition.
Ryder turned to Gates.
"With Park leading the negotiation, we should be prepared to go up another ten to twenty million, just in case."
Gates stroked his chin in thought, then gave a slow nod.
"Alright. Let's set that as the ceiling. Go ahead with the negotiation."
Just then, a knock came at the door, and the Head of Strategic Planning, Emil, rushed in with an urgent look on his face.
"Sir! There's something you need to see immediately."
A sense of unease crossed Gates's face as he narrowed his brow.
"What is it?" he asked sharply.
Emil hurried over and handed him a printed sheet.
"Please, take a look at this first."
The moment Gates glanced at the page, his eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Netscape Considering Acquisition of Hotmail to Strengthen Email Services
Tom Harper, founder and CEO of Netscape, revealed in a press interview following his lecture today at the University of Illinois that his company is considering acquiring the wildly popular Hotmail as part of its strategy to enhance its web browser offering.
Gates's expression tightened.
"Is this true?"
"Yes, sir. It just came in as a breaking report from Bloomberg. I printed it as soon as I saw it."
Gates let out a groan, pressing his fingers to his temples.
Ryder looked over in confusion.
"What's going on?"
Instead of answering, Gates simply handed him the sheet.
Ryder's eyes scanned the page—and then widened in shock.
"Netscape's trying to buy Hotmail? You've got to be kidding me!"
Alvin, the CFO, who had been watching with growing curiosity, couldn't hide his surprise either as Ryder's exclamation echoed through the room.
Ryder placed the sheet flat on the table and rested his hand on it, his face grim.
"If Netscape really does acquire Hotmail, we're going to fall even further behind."
"No doubt about it," Gates said with a heavy nod.
Microsoft was already trailing Netscape in the browser wars. If Hotmail were to join their side, it would be a strategic disaster.
"Could this be the reason they suddenly postponed our meeting?" Alvin asked quietly.
Ryder's eyes narrowed.
"You think they're meeting with Netscape behind our backs?"
"Well, the deal hasn't been signed yet. If Netscape offered a better proposal, there's no reason they wouldn't at least hear them out."
The image of Hotmail weighing offers from both tech giants hung in the air. Tension rose fast.
Ryder turned to Gates urgently.
"If that's the case, we can't afford to sit on our hands."
Gates clearly shared the sentiment. His brows furrowed deeper.
"Looks like we'll have to raise our bid."
Even Alvin—who had been concerned earlier about overpaying—couldn't bring himself to object now. The moment he heard that Netscape was in the picture, his reservations were drowned out by the gravity of the situation.
***
A few days later.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse balcony overlooking Central Park, now blanketed in pure white snow, Seok-won was on a call with Tom Harper, the founder of Netscape.
[I heard Gates was so anxious he flew all the way to New York himself?]
With one hand casually tucked in his pocket, Seok-won replied with calm confidence.
"They thought the acquisition would go smoothly, but now that a competitor has suddenly entered the picture, they must be panicking. Especially since that competitor is Netscape—the very company Microsoft is desperately trying to catch up to in the web browser market. That's bound to rattle them."
[I kind of feel sorry for Gates, rushing to New York in a frenzy without realizing it might just be a bluff to raise the price.]
"In any negotiation, it's only natural to use every possible tactic to gain the upper hand."
Seok-won shrugged nonchalantly.
[You're not wrong. But seriously—how much are you trying to squeeze out of Microsoft to go this far?]
Tom asked, curiosity in his voice.
"At least four hundred million dollars."
[What! Wasn't the original offer three hundred million?]
"It was."
[And now you're planning to bump it up by another hundred million?]
While Tom sounded stunned, Seok-won responded as if it were no big deal.
"Competition always drives up the price. That's just how things work."
[My god. You do realize you're sounding like a total villain right now, right?]
"I'm just trying to sell the company I built with sweat and tears at a fair price."
[Sounds more like you're trying to milk them for all they're worth.]
"The more Microsoft spends on acquiring Hotmail, the better it is for you too, isn't it?"
[That's exactly why I'm going along with your little act.]
Seok-won gave a slight chuckle, but his expression quickly turned serious.
"But tell me honestly—are you really not planning to acquire Hotmail yourself?"
[Yeah. I believe our own email service is more than enough.]
Tom expressed strong confidence and pride in the company he had built with his own hands.
But knowing how the future would unfold, Seok-won couldn't help but show a faintly regretful expression.
Having already sold all his shares in Netscape, he was no longer a stakeholder and had no right to force his opinion on someone who didn't want his help. He swallowed his disappointment quietly.
"It's a shame, but it is what it is."
[Roy's going to become a real billionaire thanks to you. If the company sells at a high price, I get a share too—so don't forget to treat me to something nice later.]
"Of course. I'll take you to the most expensive and delicious restaurant in all of New York—so get ready."
"Alright. Talk to you later, then."
When Tom ended the call, Seok-won tucked his phone away with a satisfied smile.
At that moment, Manager Han Ji-sung approached from behind and spoke in a quiet voice.
"Sir, it's time to head to the meeting."
Rolling up his sleeve to check the time, Seok-won gave a small nod.
"Can't keep the guests who are about to make us rich waiting. That would be rude."
With that, he turned and began walking.
Crossing the spacious penthouse living room, with Manager Han quickly catching up behind him, they approached the front door where Baucus, the burly bodyguard, was standing. As they neared, Baucus opened the solid wood door for them, and they stepped out into the hallway together.