The suddenly appearing iPod made Isabella feel a little sentimental.
Even in the current timeline, it had already been several years since its release in 2001.
But Isabella had never actually used one.
That wasn't because she disliked music. In her previous life, she had practically lived with a music player in her hand. Unless someone's personality undergoes a complete transformation, their hobbies don't simply vanish. Human beings are irrational enough already.
The main reason she had never touched an iPod was that this life had been far too busy. Ever since transmigrating, she had barely rested. When a person has very little free time, time available for hobbies naturally gets compressed.
Of course, it also had something to do with her improved standard of living in this life.
When someone can be like Mundo and go wherever they want, whenever they want—
Actually visiting Northern Europe in person feels far better than lying in bed scrolling through short videos.
Right?
After quietly sighing to herself, Isabella decisively returned Steve Jobs' compliment with a warm smile.
"Oh, Steve, being liked by you is truly a rare thing. Your aesthetic sense is recognized worldwide. Everyone loves Apple's designs — people think everything you make is art."
"Hahahaha, Isabella... compared to most people, maybe I do have some artistic sense, but compared to you and Steven and George... mine really isn't worth mentioning. Whether it's the design of SW or ET, both completely amazed me."
In the eyes of the general public, Steve Jobs might have seemed arrogant and obsessive.
But in front of Isabella—
Maybe because it was their first meeting?
Or maybe because both sides had mutual acquaintances nearby.
In any case, the "Apple tyrant" people talked about was remarkably easygoing while dining with Isabella.
His humble attitude made Isabella shake her head and insist she was only speaking the truth.
After exchanging pleasantries, Isabella continued:
"Uh... Steve... I'm really happy that you like my songs. But if I remember correctly, I don't think I've ever collaborated with Apple before? So..."
"My songs shouldn't be on the iTunes Store, right?"
"Oh, of course not. I added them myself."
Steve Jobs understood what Isabella meant and explained with a smile:
"I bought your album, imported it into iTunes, and transferred the songs onto the iPod."
"To be honest, it's fairly simple, but compared to purchasing and downloading songs directly, it's still a bit inconvenient."
"And that's also one of Apple's regrets — to this day, we still haven't obtained the digital licensing rights to your music."
"And..."
"Judging from the current situation, we may never obtain the digital rights to your songs."
Isabella's music career was managed by Warner Records, but Warner's rights covered only physical distribution, radio, and television — not digital distribution.
Because of that, none of the digital music platforms on the market carried Isabella's songs.
The reason Isabella had signed such a contract with Warner was simple: she viewed her music's digital copyrights as an extremely valuable asset. She wanted to negotiate directly with major platforms herself, rather than letting others take a cut.
The logic was straightforward:
At the time, songs on the iTunes Store sold for 99 cents each. Apple, as the platform, took 29 cents, while the content owner received 70 cents. If a song sold 10 million copies, the content owner would earn 7 million dollars.
If the content owner was an independent artist, the artist kept all the profits.
But if the content owner was one of the Big Five record labels?
Well, sorry.
Even with the most generous 50-50 split contract in the industry, the Big Five could still siphon away 3.5 million dollars.
Capital had never once behaved like a human being.
There was no way Isabella would allow that.
But unexpectedly, as time passed and her career expanded, that income became insignificant.
A song had to sell 10 million copies just to earn 7 million dollars?
Compared to her other businesses, that kind of money simply wasn't worth mentioning.
So Isabella stopped caring about it.
Of course, over the past few years, no digital music platform had approached her for licensing rights either.
On the surface, Isabella's casual attitude seemed like it would hurt her income.
A few million dollars might not be much, but money is still money. Humanity built entire civilizations around shiny rocks and imaginary numbers in bank databases. Magnificent species.
But judging from the current situation—
Her casualness had accidentally made her an enormous fortune.
By not signing distribution agreements with digital music platforms, she was free to upload her songs onto the internet however she pleased.
As a result, YouTube received massive amounts of traffic.
Fundamentally, this was Isabella spending several million dollars to buy traffic for YouTube — but internet traffic is notoriously difficult to acquire. If spending several million dollars could bring in tens of millions of users, that was an absurdly profitable deal.
Now that Isabella possessed a "wealth amplifier" capable of multiplying her earnings severalfold, dozens of times over, or even hundreds of times over—
Then perhaps every digital platform currently on the market—
Would never obtain the digital distribution rights to her works.
"Oh, Steve, what you're saying really is a little regrettable."
Isabella acknowledged Steve Jobs' point.
Because as long as she controlled YouTube, she would never enter the digital music business again.
And her response allowed Steve Jobs to continue smoothly:
"So, to avoid future regrets, I'd like to discuss a collaboration. From what I understand, you're positioning YouTube as an internet media company? Are you interested in bringing YouTube into the living rooms of every household in North America — or even around the world?"
"Like ABC, CBS, and NBC."
Steve Jobs smiled and said:
"If you are, then we can cooperate."
"?"
Isabella didn't follow what Steve Jobs meant.
At the moment her confusion showed, Jobs pulled an enormous box from the briefcase beside him.
It was an Apple TV.
That's right.
While Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were locked in their endless love-hate corporate rivalry, Bill Gates wanted to use the Zune to attack the iPod and steal Apple's music business.
But did Steve Jobs not also want to strike back at Microsoft?
Of course he did.
So while Bill Gates used the Zune to snipe the iPod, Steve Jobs used Apple TV to challenge the Xbox and encroach on Microsoft's console business.
For Steve Jobs, this move was actually quite simple.
Because Apple had already made a home console before.
Apple TV was essentially an upgraded Apple Pippin.
Speaking of the Apple Pippin, many people are probably unfamiliar with it.
It was a home console Apple released in the 1990s in collaboration with Bandai.
At the time, the console wars were brutal. Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were all trying to crush each other. Since Bandai and Apple couldn't compete with those three in terms of content and could only barely outperform Nintendo technologically, the project failed catastrophically.
The two companies poured hundreds of millions of dollars into R&D and marketing.
Yet the Apple Pippin's total worldwide sales amounted to only 42,000 units.
When Apple was pushing the Pippin, Steve Jobs had not yet returned to the company — but the damage landed after he came back.
So once Jobs realized the Apple Pippin was a disaster, he killed the project.
That was, in fact, the very first thing he did after returning to Apple.
However, Jobs did not conclude from the Pippin's failure that the home console route was wrong. He still believed home entertainment devices were the future — a future of interconnected everything.
So when he recognized that the living room, the most-used household space in America, might generate entirely new business opportunities through streaming media, he decided he wanted to dominate it.
To put it plainly—
Jobs believed Apple TV could become the next iPod.
As long as he could change the way people watched television the same way he had changed how people listened to music.
In the past, North American audiences had to subscribe directly to paid FOX, NBC, or ABC channels. But in the future, they could simply open Apple TV and choose whatever they wanted.
If that happened, all the money in the global media and entertainment industry would flow straight into Apple's pockets.
"In our plans, we'll unveil Apple TV at this September's fall product launch event."
"The official release date will be early next year."
"We'll have two versions — one with a 40GB hard drive and another with a 160GB hard drive. With an HDMI cable, users will get 720p resolution."
"Once they log into the iTunes Store, users can purchase shows."
"Just like buying songs. Very convenient."
"Our content library is also extremely rich — actually the richest of all, because neither Amazon, Microsoft, nor Netflix hold Disney's content rights."
"But—"
"I do."
"Because I'm now Disney's largest individual shareholder. Compared to the institution with the largest stake, I'm only 1.5% behind. That's Apple TV's greatest advantage over every other company."
At that, Jobs' face filled with pride.
His detailed explanation left Isabella genuinely impressed.
It wasn't that she didn't know about Apple TV — she had even used one in her previous life.
Rather, when she had previously analyzed the streaming media industry, she had completely overlooked Apple TV as a streaming device.
And she truly hadn't known Apple TV was born in the 2006–2007 period.
But none of that really mattered.
Once she had already secured a seat at the streaming media table — or rather, once the world's largest streaming company was already under her control — a few gaps in memory no longer mattered at all.
Because absolute strength compensates for every oversight.
And so—
"Okay, Steve, I think I understand what you mean now."
After Jobs pushed aside the plates and fully displayed the Apple TV, Isabella — feeling as though she were watching a product launch event — smiled and said:
"So what exactly are you proposing?"
"Do you want to acquire YouTube? Or do you want YouTube to appear on Apple TV?"
"The latter, obviously."
Perhaps Steve Jobs had already learned a great deal from his friend Steven Spielberg.
Or perhaps Robert Iger had told him everything about his years of collaboration with the girl.
After all, when Isabella could come up with The Voice at twelve, navigate racial tensions at fourteen, and publicly confront MODOK — the supreme leader of A.I.M. — at sixteen, Jobs was not about to treat her like a child.
In any case, Jobs didn't ask how Isabella had immediately figured out he had no intention of acquiring YouTube. Instead, he smiled and said:
"Isabella, I invited you here because I want YouTube to appear on Apple TV."
"Personally, I think this partnership would be a genuine win-win."
"First, let me explain what this means for Apple."
"Although Apple TV supports the iTunes Store, home internet speeds are still limited, so users can't instantly watch the movies or TV shows they purchase. While content downloads, we need something to keep them engaged."
"The content on YouTube is perfect for that."
"Before meeting you, I spent a lot of time studying YouTube. The videos are in 480p format, and since most are only a few dozen megabytes, real-time streaming is very easy to achieve."
"Second, YouTube contains a large amount of third-party content clips."
"If a user browsing YouTube on Apple TV discovers a film or series they like, they can immediately open the iTunes Store and purchase the full version. That's instant promotional marketing."
"And now for the benefits to YouTube—"
"Although the internet is already widespread in North America, not every family can afford a computer or internet access. But the vast majority of households own televisions."
"So as long as YouTube appears on Apple TV, your user base will surge in a very short time."
At that, Jobs stopped talking.
He looked at Isabella with a satisfied smile, as though silently declaring that his idea was brilliant.
But—
"Okay, Steve — can I interpret your proposal as Apple not intending to pay anything for this partnership?"
Isabella immediately spotted the gap in Jobs' plan.
Yet this didn't embarrass Jobs in the slightest. He simply shrugged and replied:
"Isabella, if this partnership benefits both parties, why should payment even enter the conversation?"
"And from what I understand, you want to sell YouTube?"
"But so far, only Jeff Bezos and I have approached you."
"Trust me. Even if Apple doesn't acquire YouTube, the moment the outside world learns we're cooperating — or even merely considering it — everyone still waiting on the sidelines will immediately jump in."
"You'll receive a flood of offers and aggressive acquisition proposals."
"And when that happens—"
"You'll be able to get exactly what you want most."
As he said this, Jobs picked up his wine glass and gestured toward Isabella.
Before she could respond, he tilted his head back and drained it in one gulp.
That carefree manner—
Made Isabella laugh.
She understood exactly what Jobs meant.
On the surface, it looked like Jobs was profiting without investing anything.
But in reality, he was helping Isabella drive up YouTube's price.
Because the entire world knew that iTunes Store + iPod was a proven business model.
So if Jobs wanted to use the already successful iTunes Store to support Apple TV—
There was a very good chance he'd succeed again.
And if he also used YouTube's traffic to feed the iTunes Store + Apple TV ecosystem—
Holy shit.
Could competitors possibly tolerate that?
If the iTunes Store + Apple TV model absorbed YouTube's traffic, every other company in the industry — Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix — might as well stop developing their own products entirely.
There would be no winning.
So destroying the partnership between YouTube and Apple would become every competitor's top priority.
And Isabella already wanted to sell YouTube.
Wasn't this perfect?
Once things reached this stage—
All initiative would rest in Isabella's hands.
Her real goal was to sell the company without surrendering control?
Everything could be negotiated.
Of course, some readers might think Jobs was practically doing charity work.
Because if YouTube were acquired by Amazon or Microsoft, Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos would immediately terminate YouTube's partnership with Apple.
Which would mean Jobs had worked for nothing.
But Jobs wasn't an idiot.
First, as long as Isabella retained controlling power over the company, the partnership with Apple would remain intact — regardless of who acquired YouTube.
YouTube would appear on Apple TV.
After all, Jobs had just helped raise her valuation.
Second, in Jobs' eyes, neither Microsoft nor Amazon would actually obtain YouTube.
The reason was simple.
Both were already in the search engine business.
Microsoft had MSN Search.
Amazon had A9.com.
That's right — A9 didn't just handle advertising. It also operated a search engine.
So if either company gained control over a massive traffic pool—
Google would implode.
Just imagine: a Microsoft or Amazon search engine appearing inside YouTube's search bar?
Boom.
Google's market share would collapse overnight.
YouTube was genuinely, insanely valuable.
Seriously.
Insanely valuable.
And just as the troublemaking Jobs predicted—
Less than twenty-four hours after industry insiders learned Isabella had met with him, two invitations arrived.
Steven Spielberg called to say that Paul Allen had greatly enjoyed her films and wanted to invite her to his estate.
Paul Allen had his own film company, Vulcan. Julianne Moore's Far from Heaven had been financed and produced by him, and Martin Scorsese's The Blues was also his investment. His stake in DreamWorks was essentially a peace offering — a way to settle earlier copyright tensions without prolonged legal battles. Corporate friendship, sealed with stock options and catered dinners.
After receiving the invitation, Isabella gladly accepted.
At Paul Allen's Canadian estate, she met Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and received Microsoft's offer for YouTube:
25 billion dollars.
That package included YouTube plus U.S. Broadband together.
The acquisition would proceed as a black-box deal — Microsoft would not audit the books at all. They would wire the money blindly.
Isabella could choose any payment structure she wanted.
If she wanted all cash, Microsoft would transfer the full amount within seven calendar days of signing.
If she wanted all stock, Bill Gates guaranteed her at least one seat on Microsoft's board of directors.
And if she wanted a mix, she could decide the proportions herself.
Honestly, the offer was extremely sincere.
A Microsoft board seat alone was not godhood.
Microsoft stock alone was not godhood either.
But combining the two — entering Microsoft as a shareholder while participating in real operations—
That genuinely was godhood.
But—
After leaving Paul Allen's estate, Isabella received another call from Chad Hurley.
He explained that his father-in-law wanted to meet with her, because his former colleague — Sergey Brin's father-in-law — wanted to discuss keeping YouTube in Silicon Valley.
They met on July 23rd.
The meeting wasn't long, but the conversation went smoothly.
No surprise there.
Google's offer was equally sincere.
Isabella barely sat down before Google's terms were already on the table.
A board seat was standard.
Sergey Brin's group also promised that after the acquisition, as long as Isabella did not sell her Google shares, YouTube would remain under her management.
Regardless of whether YouTube ultimately partnered with Apple, Google would support Isabella's decision.
They required only two changes to YouTube:
Integrate Google Search. Integrate Google's ad network.
As for the price?
YouTube: 20 billion.
U.S. Broadband: 1.5 billion.
Total: 21.5 billion.
Google also wanted U.S. Broadband.
And just like Microsoft, they chose a black-box acquisition.
No auditing.