To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (13996 ) 11/10/1997 9:50:00 AM From: Daniel Schuh Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Defying a Juggernaut, Netscape Looks For Place in Microsoft's World nytimes.com Barksdale, of course, is also an intense, relentless competitor. To Barksdale understandably takes a different view of his company's antitrust appeals. "Microsoft is a great company," he said, "and it would be even better if it did it legally." With Barksdale known to be leaving, Netscape was not the only company interested in him. In the summer of 1994, Barksdale says he was approached twice about becoming the president and chief operating officer of Microsoft. The more serious proposal came in the summer of 1995, Barksdale says, when during a meeting with Microsoft executives at Netscape's offices, one Microsoft executive pulled Barksdale aside in a hallway and said Gates wanted to buy a stake of more than 15 percent in Netscape. In return for its cash, Microsoft wanted a board seat and rights to license Netscape technology. As a start-up company about to go public, Barksdale was told, Netscape could benefit enormously from "the Bill effect," the endorsement of Gates. "Fool that I was, I was quite optimistic that we could do something together," said Myhrvold, the chief technology officer. "But there were people inside Microsoft who thought Barksdale was taking advantage of me, just trying to gain knowledge of our Internet plans."
