Everyone, and welcome to Let's Do Shots this incident and have a really interesting shot to do. Back in the 90s, Apple was a struggling brand pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. They were losing in their war against Microsoft and they were just not able to get people to buy their products. Apple barely had any money left to continue running the company until Microsoft, the fiercest rivals, came to the rescue and saved them from shutting down. But why did Microsoft do that?

That's exactly what we'll be talking about today. So let's do shots.

In the early 90s, Apple wasn't really doing too well. This was a time when Steve Jobs wasn't even part of the company because he was removed by the board in 1985. And on the other hand, Bill Gates was taking Microsoft to new heights at every new launch. Back then, Apple's iconic iPhone and iPod hadn't even launched yet. Apple was simply selling computers, but these were so expensive people weren't able to afford it. While Apple was struggling, Microsoft almost had 90 percent of the market share.

So with declining sales and bankruptcy literally knocking on the door, in 1997, Apple brought back Steve Jobs and made him the interim CEO. Now, one of the first things that Jobs did was strike a deal with Bill Gates, the CEO of Apple. Microsoft spent one hundred and fifty million dollars on Apple, saving them from going bankrupt. This move shocked the world. Steve Jobs had made a deal with Bill Gates. It was unimaginable. You're all aware of the popular keynotes that Steve Jobs used to do, right?

It was met with so much fanfare.

I want to take you to some moments from the keynote where he made this crazy announcement when he first announced that Apple was partnering with Microsoft. The crowd just did not know how to react. Some thought it was a joke and he was met with laughter while the biggest fanboys responded with absolute silence. And listen to this one in particular. This is how the crowd reacted when he announced that Internet Explorer would be the default browser on all Macs. Next, we have taken a look at browser's out there and Apple has decided.

Apple has decided to make Internet Explorer its default browser on the Macintosh. Since we believe in choice. Since we believe in choice, we're going to be shipping other Internet browsers as well on the Macintosh and the user can, of course, change their default should they choose to, but.

We believe that Internet Explorer is a really good browser and we think it's going to make a fine default browser. Steve Jobs applauding Internet Explorer, came as a shock to the entire world, and it was almost looking like the great man was accepting defeat to save his company from dying. Here's how the crowd reacted when he invited Bill Gates on stage virtually, and he appeared on the screen behind Steve Jobs. And I happen to have a special guest with me today via satellite downlink and if we could get him up on the stage right now.

But why did Bill Gates do this? He could have just gotten rid of Apple and created a monopoly. Well, that word right there, a monopoly is the exact reason why Bill Gates saved Apple from shutting down 25 years ago. Bill Gates had a very notorious reputation. The government was planning a case against him investigating Microsoft's monopolistic practices. Remember the 90 percent market share we spoke about? No government enjoys that. So what better way to prove to the world that you are not a monopoly and neither are you looking to create one then by investing money in your own competition and helping them grow.

This worked for Microsoft and Bill finally got the government off his back. But what did he do with his Apple shares? He sold it in 2003. Unfortunately for him, these shares were at an all time low because of the dot com bubble.

Had he kept those shares, their value today would be more than one hundred billion dollars. That's it for today. And I'll leave you with the same words that Steve Jobs left his audience with on that crazy day in nineteen ninety seven. And if we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose.

Hey. You have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if. And if others are going to help us, that's great because we need all the help we can get and if we screw up and we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault. It's our fault.

So I think that's a very important perspective. I think if we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we better treat the company. That puts it out with a bit of gratitude.

We'd like this software, so. The era, the era of of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I'm concerned, this is about getting Apple healthy. This is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry to get healthy and prosper again.