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Chapter 441 The Final Choice

Inside Alexa's server room, the mechanical roar of the high-speed cooling fans mingled with the rich aroma of coffee, a scent tinged with the weariness of an all-nighter.

Brewster rolled up his sleeves, revealing several faint scars on his forearms. His face showed no joy at the soaring market value resulting from the acquisition of the two companies.

Not far away, Klass was bending over, inspecting a malfunctioning server. His eyes were bloodshot, indicating that he had been working on it for quite some time.

Garp, who was standing, appeared restless, and the clattering sound of his leather shoes on the ground as he paced back and forth was particularly jarring.

He raised his left hand and glanced at the watch on his wrist. The hands on the dial clearly pointed to 9:40. His brows furrowed instantly, and his face showed anxiety.

"Google's negotiation team is almost here. Will they make it in time?" Karp's gaze swept back and forth between Brewster and Claes, filled with worry and unease.

The sale of Alexa is a done deal, but whether it will be sold to e-commerce giant Amazon or internet behemoth Google has caused huge disagreements among the company's shareholders. The two sides hold their own opinions and argue endlessly, unable to reach a consensus.

It's unclear what agreement Safra and Amazon reached, but Etoler, Alexa's biggest investor, seems more inclined to sell the company to Amazon.

It wasn't just Etoler; many minority shareholders shared this view because Amazon offered a higher valuation.

The acquisition, valued at $2.38 million, was completed through a stock purchase, allowing Alexa to remain an independent entity.

This is the final offer given by the Amazon delegation after their visit yesterday.

Today, they will be receiving a negotiating team from Google. If Google's offer remains the same $2.1 million cash acquisition proposal, Alexa will make the final decision between the two offers, determining the company's ultimate fate.

But no one expected that at this crucial moment when Google's negotiation team was about to arrive, Alexa's servers suddenly crashed without warning. Nearly half of the servers experienced serious malfunctions, with red error codes flashing on the screens and data transmission that was originally running normally being completely interrupted.

If this causes Google to question Alexa's technology, or even cancel the offer, Amazon will definitely lower its price after learning the news.

Although such a situation is unlikely to occur, what if it does?

"Our servers haven't had a system upgrade in three whole months." Brewster didn't look up, his screwdriver moving precisely across the circuit board.

This is the main reason for the server crash. As the amount of data being scraped increases, the amount of data the server needs to process also grows exponentially, and the server, which has not been upgraded for a long time, is already overwhelmed.

Like a string that has been stretched taut, it finally snapped at this crucial moment.

However, such a large-scale failure is clearly not just a server overload issue; it indicates serious flaws in the company's technical architecture and inadequate protection mechanisms and risk management systems.

This also tells Karp that in order to solve the problem quickly, he needs to add a server; otherwise, even if it is fixed, it may crash again in an instant.

"I've already spoken with Amazon on the phone, and they've said they're willing to immediately send over a batch of servers for our temporary use to alleviate our immediate crisis."

Brewster did not respond to Karp's words, but Claes, who had been silent and focused on checking the server, visibly paused in his work.

Clearly, Karp has completely sided with Amazon, which is helping Amazon win over its supporters.

However, since Karp has always been in charge of Alexa's administrative work, no one can find fault with what he's doing.

Just as the atmosphere in the computer room was slightly heavy, with everyone busy but with different thoughts in mind.

Brewster suddenly stopped what he was doing, straightened up, stretched his stiff neck, and looked at Karp. "Have you ever seen any companies that Amazon has acquired?"

Amazon's agreement to let Alexa operate independently was very appealing to him as the founder, but he still maintained his rationality and skepticism.

Amazon has acquired companies before, but the employees of those companies all ended up with only two outcomes.

Either it is completely broken up, with the company's employees and business being split up and merged into various departments within Amazon, losing its original independence.

Either they are ruthlessly optimized after the acquisition because they do not fit Amazon's strategic plan or their performance does not meet expectations.

"But our Alexa is different, Bezos promised us..."

With a "bang," the door to the server room was pushed open, interrupting Garp's speech.

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to the doorway.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin stood side by side in the doorway, followed by several Google employees.

Both were dressed in simple white T-shirts and blue jeans, with casual sneakers on their feet, and each was carrying a black laptop.

"Sorry, we heard your server is experiencing a malfunction. I think we might be able to help," Brin said first, while Page walked straight through the crowd to the main server, bending down to carefully examine the device's model and interface.

Then I opened my laptop and started typing rapidly on the keyboard to connect to the Alexa server room's internal network.

"The data is too large; we can't handle it," Klass warned.

For programmers of their caliber, one sentence is enough.

Upon hearing Kras's reminder, Sergei Brin immediately made a phone call in front of everyone.

After hanging up the phone and putting it down, he looked up and said, "We can provide you with twenty of the latest IBM workstations. These devices will be delivered here in less than an hour."

"Your server's underlying architecture has problems, or more accurately, it has serious vulnerabilities. The entire system lacks robust self-protection mechanisms and a mechanism to isolate risks, which means that once a node fails, it quickly spreads to the entire server group, causing widespread paralysis," Larry Page continued, his fingers flying across his laptop without turning his head.

The two didn't seem like they were there to negotiate at all; they looked more like technical experts hired by the company to help solve problems.

Their approach won the favor of many Alexa technicians present.

The technicians from both sides worked in the computer room for more than an hour, barely even having time to drink water.

The red error code on the server screen finally disappeared after the twenty IBM workstations provided by Google arrived, were installed and debugged, and successfully connected to Alexa's existing server group.

A long-suppressed cheer erupted in the entire server room, and everyone's face lit up with a relieved smile.

Correspondingly, Amazon's servers are still on their way.

Brewster wanted to treat the Google team to dinner as a thank you, but Sergey Brin declined.

"We have a very important meeting in Mountain View this afternoon, and we have to rush back to attend it, so our time is limited."

"It's alright." Brewster smiled and waved his hand. "I'll remember this meal for now, and I'm sure I'll have a chance to express my gratitude in the future."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two sides proceeded with formal negotiations.

There was no lengthy opening or heated bargaining; the discussion focused on key issues such as the acquisition price and employee resettlement.

$2.15 million—that was Google's final offer, along with a promise that a portion of the Alexa technical team would become a group within the Google Chrome browser to continue developing the technology.

The remaining technical team members will be reassigned to various business units.

After Google's negotiation team left, Brewster slowly walked to the window, watching the car carrying the Google team drive away. He took a deep breath, turned around, looked at Karp with a firm gaze, and said, "Notify Amazon to thank them for their attention and support of Alexa."

His voice was very soft, but Garp's body visibly stiffened for a moment, his face filled with shock and confusion.

He simply couldn't understand why Brewster would make such a decision when Amazon offered a higher valuation and a more generous commitment to independent operation.

His statement undoubtedly means that the scales of this dispute have completely tipped in Google's favor.

Because he is the company's largest management shareholder, his attitude and choices will greatly influence, and even determine, the final acquisition outcome.

"Why?" Garp asked, puzzled.

Brewster gave a complex smile and patted the other person on the shoulder. "I have to think about the other staff at Alexa."

Garp fell silent after that.

For a company founder, high returns are certainly important, but it is also very important to provide employees with a stable platform for development, so that their hard work and efforts are respected and continued.

Compared to Amazon, Google is definitely the more stable and has a better future.