Rebirth 79: I opened a bank in the United States

"Carter?! I'm a little surprised that you actually called me. Are you looking for us for something?"

Paul Allen's voice was a little surprised and a little nervous.

When he thought about it, Carter's sudden phone call probably meant that he wanted to talk to him about something. But Carter, a rich man, at least in the eyes of Allen now, what the two brothers could not solve was something that even a wealthy banker could not solve.

Solved?

"No, I just suddenly thought of you. I've been home for so long and I haven't even had a phone call with you. By the way, how are you doing recently? Is the company developing smoothly?"

"Ah, that's it. Well, I want to say it's very good, thank you for your concern, but in fact, it's not very good... In other words, our current situation is very bad."

Just as Carter had confessed his concerns about the current situation of the bank to Julian before, Paul also rarely revealed his true feelings to Carter, a friend across the United States.

"The big customer we had stable cooperation with has gone bankrupt. Now it is difficult to collect money from individual users. In addition, the current economic environment is not good, and many people are not willing to spend extra money on interpreters. We have been under pressure recently

Big, Carter..."

A lot of pressure?!

Carter almost laughed out loud, but luckily, reason finally prevailed.

"Hey, Paul, I can understand you. In fact, I'm not as cool as you seem, you know? The environment in recent years has been difficult for everyone. My bank also... well, maybe it's okay for the time being.

I am not as embarrassed as you, but in the future, once the environment continues to deteriorate, I may also be in trouble with my current financial reserves."

"Really? Sorry, I don't know. I thought you wouldn't open a bank like us..."

"It's okay, Paul. No matter what, my situation should be better than yours. I still say the same thing. Friends, do you need help? How about 20,000 US dollars? 10 points of interest, I will lend it to you for one year."

Carter hesitated for a while, but ultimately did not mention buying a stake in Microsoft.

On the one hand, as Gulfstream's Paulson said, I cannot directly help Microsoft's development. On the other hand, even if it is money, I am indeed not rich now.

Providing loans to commercial companies is the business area of ​​commercial banks in the United States these days. Savings banks are not allowed to make commercial loans according to regulations, but in a small place like Douglas.

The business scale is not large, and some small factories are almost the same as workshops. There is not much difference between personal loans and commercial loans. The boss usually lends in his personal capacity, and the review is okay. But if you want to lend to Microsoft in Seattle,

, the bank’s own funds will definitely not be available.

Because funds are transferred to Seattle, they must go through an intermediary bank. Once the intermediary bank intervenes, transfer fees and the like are trivial matters. The key is that a savings bank in Georgia conducts business with a commercial company in Washington state.

I can't hide it anymore.

Although you really need to use bank money to borrow money, it is not impossible to borrow money. As long as you have more identity and make a personal loan, you can get the money to your personal account and then transfer it. But this is too troublesome, isn't it? Secondly, just borrow money

Said, Carter just wanted to do a favor, the favor was so great

It would be great if they can think of themselves before the public offering in the future. It is enough for them to get involved. More borrowings are really unnecessary. Carter himself has never thought about controlling Microsoft, let alone whether he can afford it.

If you can eat it, you can eat it in the future. Is there any benefit?

It’s hard to say whether the Microsoft that I run will be the Microsoft of the future! It’s just like Gang Leader Qiao’s Apple, with him or without him, it’s the same. Some things are better left to them. If you have something to do, come on, boss.

If you don't have anything to do, you can make money by yourself, and you can just lie down and pick up money behind the big guys of these times. Isn't it delicious?

"You...Carter, I don't know what to say. Sorry, I need to calm down. I also need to discuss with Bill whether to borrow this money. Can you wait for me?"

As Carter expected, Paul's voice changed with excitement when he heard the figure of twenty thousand dollars.

20,000 U.S. dollars! It’s enough for them to sell 4,000 copies of the interpreter, and it has to be guaranteed to get the money back. If you include those who can’t get the money back, they have to sell at least 8,000 copies to get 20,000 U.S. dollars.

income.

"Of course, this is your brothers' company, and any decisions should be made through discussion. Then I'll wait for your news, Paul!"

Carter smiled and hung up the phone, then frowned and sighed.

The construction of its own highway business district is still in the stage of burning money, and there is still no hope of getting the money back. Here Microsoft has posed another problem for itself...

At the same time, in Seattle, inside Microsoft Corporation, Gates, who had been frowning since he heard Paul telling outsiders on the phone that the company's situation was not good, finally waited until Paul hung up the phone.

He didn't say anything, just frowned and looked at this good friend quietly.

"It's Carter, the guy from Georgia two months ago!"

Paul, who is ten years older than Carter, is fully qualified to say that Carter is a young man.

"I know, I remember him. But why did you tell him about our unhappiness?"

"Because that's how we are now, isn't it? Look what we're all eating?"

Paul Allen spread his hands, pointed at the cheap fast food in front of him, and continued to explain:

"Besides, Carter didn't mean any harm. On the contrary, he was very willing to help us. Do you know what he just said on the phone? He said, 'Hey, friend, do you need help? Twenty thousand dollars, ten points a year.' Ten

12 points, haha, our local bank now charges 12 points of interest!"

"Wait a minute, you mean, he's talking about lending us 20,000 US dollars? Are you sure you heard correctly? Isn't he trying to take advantage of the opportunity to buy shares?"

Gates was a little surprised. He thought he understood Carter's purpose. But he really didn't expect the loan, and he couldn't help but be a little stunned when he heard this.

"Yes, it's a loan. Only if you regard this company as a treasure, Bill. Let's not mention that he is far away in Georgia and is still engaged in the banking industry. Let's just say that even if he wanted to invest in some computer programming companies, he would not look at it.

Are you going to join us? Let’s not talk about DRI, even Seattle Computer Products Company is more valuable than us, right?”

DRI, the full name is Digital Research Inc. Translated is Digital Research Co., Ltd. Many people may have never heard of this company. But now, it is Microsoft!

The operating system installed on almost all CPUs is their cp/m. Whether it is Intel chips or moto and nec chips that will disappear in the future, the adapted operating systems mainly come from this company.

In addition to DRI, Seattle Computer Products also customized an operating system for Intel's newly launched 8086 chip. This system later became the famous DOS, but now it is also called qdos or 86-dos, although it is not as famous as it was later.

But right now.

With the rapid sales of Intel 8086 chips, depending on market expectations, investing in Seattle Computer Products Company, which makes QDOS systems, is better than investing in your own small company and small workshop that is still struggling with basic interpreters, right?

Thinking of this, Paul felt even more grateful to Carter, and even said directly to Gates:

"Even if Carter wants to invest in us, I think it is a good thing. First of all, he has money to help us tide over the difficulties. Secondly, he opens a bank and can know a lot of people. In the future, we can hand over the products to him and let them pass through the bank's customers.

It’s quite good if we only focus on R&D through sales channels. In addition, since we are all young people, we are relatively good at negotiating. At least it is much better than accepting investment from some old men with outdated ideas and having to listen to their instructions!”