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Chapter 437 The Battle for Alexa

On August 19, 1998, the night rain in San Francisco, carrying the moist air currents of the Pacific Ocean, meandered into streams on the three-story glass curtain wall of the Presidio campus.

The sound of rain hitting the glass was like countless tiny drumbeats, pounding against the still-warm tech startup space late at night.

Brewster Callie sat at his desk by the window, his eyes glued to the constantly changing web crawler logs on the computer screen.

The screen's light reflected on his slightly tired face, and the fine lines at the corners of his eyes still showed the weariness from working overtime for days.

His fingers hovered above the keyboard, tapping occasionally to adjust the data capture parameters.

Suddenly, the silence inside was broken by the sound of a door hitting the wall.

With a loud bang, the heavy solid wood door was pushed open, and Brewster was startled by the sudden noise.

Kapu, who was standing at the door, had his hair soaked by the rain, with strands sticking to his forehead and cheeks, and water droplets dripping from the ends of his hair.

His windbreaker was still dripping wet, but his hands were tightly clutching a piece of tattered printing paper.

"Someone from Amazon just called," Karp said, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

He strode to the table piled high with server parts and slammed the printed paper on it. "Bezos's representative, Blackburn, is coming in person tomorrow. He's offered a valuation of $180 million."

Brewster's gaze slowly swept over the prominent AMZN lettering on the printed paper, his fingertips unconsciously tapping lightly on the table, making a "tap, tap, tap" sound.

One hundred and eighty million US dollars.

This figure is astronomical for Alexa, a relatively new startup that still relies on investment to stay afloat.

In Alexa's server room, hundreds of machines are humming evenly and deeply. These old devices, which use the 286 architecture, support the stable operation of the world's first web traffic analysis system, continuously scraping more than two terabytes of data every day.

Brewster stood up, walked slowly to the window, and looked through the rain-blurred glass at the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, which was also shrouded in rain.

"What did Etoler Investment say?"

Jacqueline Safra, representing Etoler Investments, is key to Alexa's survival to this day.

Etoler has been involved in the company from its seed round of investment to subsequent rounds of funding, and is the largest shareholder with nearly 30% ownership.

Capra pulled up the chair next to him and sat down heavily, the chair scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

He pulled a crumpled hamburger out of his backpack; the packaging was still wet with rain, clearly something he had bought in a hurry to fill his stomach.

He tore open the packaging, took a big bite, and mumbled, "Saffra's assistant just called me back and said that Amazon's stock valuation is too inflated, and they don't approve of this stock-based acquisition method."

At this point, Karp paused, swallowed the food in his mouth, and continued, "But if Amazon can include a board seat in the acquisition agreement, allowing Etoler to participate in some of Amazon's future decision-making, then we can consider accepting the deal."

The acquisition price of $1.8 million seems staggering on the surface, but it is unlikely to be an all-cash acquisition.

Of that, Amazon stock accounted for $160 million, but the actual cash available to Alexa was only $20 million.

Safra, an investor behind Alexa, is clearly unhappy with this deal. They want to sell Alexa to invest in more startups rather than bet on an uncertain future tied to Amazon, and are obviously unwilling to take such a risk.

"What a pipe dream," Brewster said in a low voice, his tone tinged with sarcasm and helplessness.

He didn't even need to send the request for a board seat to Amazon to anticipate their reaction.

What kind of institutions are Amazon's shareholders? Aren't they all well-known financial giants on Wall Street?

Etole?

They're nothing but a fart in their eyes, yet they want a seat on the board? That's just wishful thinking.

"Tell..." Brewster had just opened his mouth when the computer on the table suddenly "dinged," and a notification popped up that a new email had arrived.

His gaze quickly returned to the computer screen, and he reached out to move the mouse and click on the email attachment.

He didn't even have time to read the email carefully; just seeing that familiar name in the signature made his pupils shrink and his heart leap.

James Hamilton.

This name is known to everyone in Silicon Valley and even the global technology industry; he is a true big shot standing at the top of the industry pyramid.

Brewster was surprised that the other party would actually send him an email personally.

After carefully reading the email, he became completely lost in thought.

Sitting in the chair, leaning slightly forward, his eyes were fixed on the screen, filled with shock and disbelief.

Seeing his appearance, Garp was puzzled and asked in a low voice with concern, "Are you alright?"

Brewster slowly shook his head. When he turned to face Karp, his eyes were still somewhat vacant. He had not yet fully recovered from the shock he had just experienced, and his brain was still trying to process the information he had just seen.

"Do you know who just emailed me?"

"Could it be Zipperton?" Seeing Brewster's serious expression, Karp tried to ease the tense atmosphere in the room with a joke.

"Shit," Brewster muttered under his breath, his voice filled with frustration and agitation.

Then, his voice suddenly rose, "It's Hamilton, Hamilton from Google!"

Upon hearing the name, Karp's eyes widened instantly, and he pressed, "Google's CEO Hamilton? Are you sure?"

Forget Hamilton, they couldn't even get a meeting with Google Search CEO Sergey Brin.

Who would have thought that instead of the minor boss, the major boss would suddenly show up at their door?

In the game world, this is like a windfall; they'll chase after you and make you drop their equipment.

"What did they say?" Karp's voice trembled with excitement as he stared intently at Brewster. Was he really going to lose his equipment?

Brewster took a deep breath, trying to calm his excitement, swallowed hard, and then reached out to move the monitor towards Karp so that the other person could clearly see the contents of the email on the screen.

Hamilton stated that Google is also very interested in Alexa and has offered to acquire our company.

"Equity acquisition?" Karp blurted out almost without thinking.

Brewster glared at the other person, annoyed, as if to say, "Have you been eating too much fart and ruined your brain?"

Do you think it's possible?

"That's Google! Countless investors would kill to own its stock. How could they possibly acquire a tiny company like Alexa, which they consider insignificant, through a stock buyout?"

Brewster's words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly sobering up the somewhat overly excited Karp.

The difference in treatment between Amazon and Amazon is quite obvious.

Amazon wanted to acquire Alexa through equity, but Safra, the capital backer behind it, disagreed.

If you told her that the acquiring company is Google, she probably wouldn't even need to put on her underwear; she'd just get out of bed, throw on some clothes, and head straight to the airport.

Let alone $1.8 million, even if it were reduced to $1.5 million, she would agree to acquire Alexa without batting an eye, as long as Google agreed to pay half of the cost in equity.

If she even entertained the thought of returning the board seat, she would be committing a crime.

"Why is Google suddenly interested in our company?" This is what Brewster wants to know most right now.

"Ernst?" Karp suddenly spoke, uttering a name that surprised Brewster.

"Huh?" Brewster looked at Karp, not understanding how this was related to that super tycoon.

Karp, however, found it increasingly plausible and excitedly analyzed, "Even if Google wanted to acquire us, they could just send a representative to contact us. Sergey Brin's involvement is already giving us a lot of face. Why would Hamilton need to contact you personally?"

Karp paused, took a sip of the cold water on the table, and continued, "Do you remember the retail industry conference we had a while ago? Didn't a lot of media outlets report that Ernst was making moves into the e-commerce sector?"

"I've also heard that Bezos and Ernst have never had a good relationship. It's said that Amazon employees often hear Bezos yelling at Ernst in his office."

"If Ernst really wants to enter the e-commerce field, and Amazon now wants to acquire Alexa, wouldn't it be reasonable for Ernst to interfere and get Google involved as well?"

Brewster thought about it and realized it was true.

Compared to Google, Alexa is much more helpful for e-commerce.

"So how do we reply to Hamilton?" he asked.

Garp didn't know what to do either. After a moment of silence, he said, "Looks like we still have to wake that bitch Saffra up and discuss it with her first."