Chasing Stars in Hollywood

In 1992, Igreet Corporation's financial report was simply too conspicuous. Even though the entire Westeros system tried to downplay it, they ultimately couldn't keep it under wraps.

Three days after the release of Igreet's annual financial report, Hurst Group's *San Francisco Chronicle* published a front-page article titled "Internet Industry Explodes: Igreet's Annual Growth Rate at 400%."

For companies with revenue in the millions or tens of millions of dollars, an annual growth rate of 400% isn't particularly unusual.

However, for a company with revenue in the billions, leaping from $491 million to $1.937 billion in one year, without any mergers or acquisitions and purely through organic growth, this stands as a miracle in global business history.

To put it into perspective, the revenue threshold for the 1992 *Fortune* 500 list of American companies was only $528 million.

Igreet's 1992 revenue of $1.937 billion would place it around the 200th position if it had applied to the *Fortune* 500 list. Even in the *Fortune* Global 500, where the 1992 entry threshold was $2.329 billion, Igreet was already very close.

Breaking into the ranks of the top 500 companies in the US or the world isn't easy.

For example, the average age of companies on the 1992 list of America's top 500 was 42 years, while Igreet had only been around for four years.

Moreover, four years ago, most of the public barely had any concept of the internet industry.

This means that Igreet Corporation virtually pioneered a brand-new industry.

And that's basically the truth.

Following the *San Francisco Chronicle*'s article, a wave of amazement, skepticism, and criticism from various media outlets ensued.

In recent years, Igreet's exceptional performance in news operations through events like the Gulf War and presidential elections had already made traditional media feel threatened.

Although advertising revenue from Igreet's portal site only accounted for about 10% of its total revenue in this financial report, traditional media still saw it as a significant threat. The *Boston Globe*, a highly influential East Coast paper, unabashedly attacked Igreet's report as sensationalist, accusing it of misleading capital and the public, and even called for federal authorities to investigate this "intentional" article.

No matter how fierce the external doubts and attacks were, the capital market swiftly responded to the US tech stock sector following the article's release.

Though Igreet wasn't publicly traded, Cisco and America Online (AOL), both part of the Westeros system, were.

Moreover, many had noticed that the three companies, through their extensive presence in internet equipment, services, and content, essentially formed a complete internet industry chain.

As a result, Cisco and AOL, which had just surpassed the $20 billion market cap in early February, continued their surge towards $30 billion in market value as their own rapid growth financials emerged alongside Igreet's explosive report.

Amidst the buzz, time moved into March 1993.

And for the internet industry, this was destined to be an extraordinary March.

The aftershocks from Igreet's annual financial report had not yet subsided when, on March 2nd, Bill Clinton, just two months into his presidency, commenced his formal visit to Silicon Valley amid his busy schedule.

During the one-day visit, Clinton toured the headquarters of Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Cisco, AOL, and Igreet. In the afternoon, he delivered a speech on the "Information Superhighway Initiative" at Stanford University's campus auditorium.

Bill Clinton's visit to Silicon Valley, with three out of the five companies on his itinerary belonging to the Westeros system, highlighted the evident close ties between the Westeros system and the new administration, even though a certain young man was conspicuously absent throughout the tour.

Consequently, the day after the visit, the tech stock sector saw another uptick, with Cisco's market value surpassing the $30 billion mark, closing at $31.2 billion.

And this was just the beginning.

In the second week of March, on March 8th, the US Senate passed the much-anticipated "Information Superhighway Initiative" bill that had been under active discussion since the previous year.

As soon as the bill was announced, the world's attention turned to it.

This 20-year, $400 billion plan aimed to build a comprehensive information network comprising communication networks, computers, databases, and everyday electronic products, providing a wealth of information to the public.

The specifics of the bill covered various aspects such as "promoting investment in the information industry," "increasing infrastructure construction," "ensuring information security and network reliability," "relaxing spectrum regulation," and "enhancing intellectual property protection." Overall, it was about mobilizing America's maximum power to drive the development of the information industry.

Historically, the "Information Superhighway Initiative" was introduced in September 1993. At that time, the World Wide Web was not yet widespread, graphical web browsers were just emerging, AOL had not yet risen, and Yahoo was not even on the horizon. Despite the Clinton administration's efforts to promote the bill, it was challenging to convey its importance directly to the public.

This time, however, with the early push from the Westeros system, companies like AOL, Cisco, and Igreet had already emerged. Both capital and the public had felt the clear impact of the information age on society over the past few years.

As a result, when the "Information Superhighway Initiative" was officially announced, the US tech stock sector didn't go through the 1993-1995 incubation period but instead began to soar immediately.

On March 9th, a week after Cisco's market value broke through $30 billion, AOL also surpassed the $30 billion mark.

At the close on March 9th, Cisco's market cap, almost monopolizing the basic network equipment market, reached $35.1 billion, while AOL's market cap hit $30.9 billion.

Other heavyweight tech stocks on the NASDAQ, like Microsoft, Intel, Apple, SUN Microsystems, etc., also saw rapid price increases during these days.

This critical March for the internet industry didn't end with the announcement of a potentially long-term legislative impact.

On March 11th, Microsoft held a press conference in Seattle to announce the release of its new Windows 3.2 operating system.

Historically, Windows 3.2 was released in 1994 and was a minor upgrade over Windows 3.1, primarily adding support for multiple languages, including Chinese.

This time, Windows 3.2, launched a year earlier, was a system specially tailored by Microsoft for the internet era. It significantly enhanced support for networking, graphics, audio, and video capabilities. Moreover, Windows 3.2 introduced the crucial "Start" menu, a key feature for the Windows platform.

Simon had received a beta version of Windows 3.2 three months earlier. In his view, with the "Start" menu included, this system was already very close to the classic Windows 95 in memory.

Next, the significant advancement of Windows 95 would likely be the upgrade from a 16-bit to a 32-bit system.

The day after Microsoft's Windows 3.2 release, on March 12th, Intel began marketing the first-generation Pentium processor, whose basic specifications had been announced last October.

The Pentium era had begun.

In the original timeline, the powerful performance of the Pentium series processors allowed Intel to end the competitive turmoil in the PC processor chip market, establishing x86 architecture as the industry standard.

After these two tech giants released a powerful one-two punch, by the close on March 12th, Microsoft's market value had reached $32.6 billion, making it the third new tech company after Cisco and AOL to surpass the $30 billion threshold.

Due to competition from Apple, Motorola, AMD, and other rivals, Intel's market value, despite being buoyed by the recent tech stock enthusiasm, couldn't match the surge of stars like Cisco and AOL. It closed at $26.1 billion, still some distance from the $30 billion mark.

Yet, as this day concluded, many media outlets couldn't help but focus on the four companies heavily invested in by the Westeros company.

March 12th was a Friday.

Aside from Microsoft and Intel, Cisco's closing market value was $35.6 billion, and AOL's was $31.7 billion.

With Westeros holding 50.1%, 66.1%, 21.3%, and 15.6% stakes in Cisco, AOL, Microsoft, and Intel respectively, Simon Westeros's holdings in these four companies were valued at $17.8 billion, $20.9 billion, $6.9 billion, and $4.1 billion.

Any one of these holdings alone already surpassed the $15 billion personal fortune of Japan's wealthiest man, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who ranked second on the 1992 global rich list.

The combined value of the stock holdings in these four companies amounted to an astonishing $49.7 billion.

In recent months, many media outlets had predicted that Simon's personal wealth would surpass the $100 billion mark in 1993, making him the world's first billionaire.

Initially, many were skeptical.

Even though Westeros's personal wealth reached $65 billion in 1992, crossing the $100 billion threshold seemed like a monumental leap.

Now, just the stock value of these four tech companies owned by Westeros alone was approaching $50 billion. Coupled with the vast assets of Westeros's subsidiaries like Daenerys Entertainment, Cersei Capital, Melisandre Company, and Igreet, it's clear that Simon Westeros's personal wealth likely already exceeded $100 billion.

As some media quietly started tallying Simon's personal wealth to gain attention

 and sales, another significant piece of news broke over the weekend.

Westeros announced that Igreet would be conducting its first external equity financing, offering 10% of its shares for an estimated $1.5 billion.

Many who read this in the media had their initial reaction as, "This is an exorbitant demand."

However, they quickly fell silent.

10% of the shares for $1.5 billion meant that Westeros valued Igreet at $15 billion.

A similarly valued company in the market, with a high price-to-earnings ratio of $3 billion, should have revenue and profit scales around $5 billion and $500 million respectively.

In contrast, Igreet's 1992 revenue was only $1.937 billion, and it posted a loss of $139 million that year.

But clearly, Igreet couldn't be measured by traditional business standards.

It was a hotly pursued internet company.

And it virtually controlled the gateway to the World Wide Web.

Over the past few years, the industry had seen several attempts by other tech giants to develop and promote new network technology standards to circumvent Igreet's comprehensive monopoly over web technology. However, the World Wide Web had developed too rapidly, with over 90% of internet sites using its technology.

For most ordinary users, the World Wide Web was synonymous with the internet.

Thus, any new network technology would have to first ensure compatibility with the World Wide Web.

If a network couldn't connect to and display over 90% of internet sites, its existence would be rendered pointless. Yet, achieving compatibility with the World Wide Web without infringing on related patents was virtually impossible.

Consequently, creating a network standard that could rival the World Wide Web was as challenging as building a direct current system compatible with the world's widely adopted alternating current electrical grid, an impossibility.

Since competing with the World Wide Web was futile, any company wanting to stake a claim in the industry had to join in.

Over the years, Igreet had shown considerable openness. Besides a few key commercial interest patents, it freely offered the core technologies of the World Wide Web, allowing other budding tech companies to develop their businesses.

However, the value created by this open market couldn't compare to the inherent worth of Igreet itself.

As Igreet emerged, many had closely watched its progress, repeatedly probing whether the Westeros system would allow them to invest in Igreet.

Until now, the answer had always been no.

With the profits generated by Daenerys Entertainment and Cersei Capital, the Westeros system didn't urgently need funds. Even if they did, the system's power could easily secure multi-billion-dollar loans from major banks.

As a result, many had thought that Igreet would remain wholly private for a long time.

Unable to partake directly, some had even started contemplating how to "remind" Simon Westeros not to hog all the benefits.

Unexpectedly, amid the series of tech-related milestones this March, the Westeros system announced its intention to finance Igreet externally.

This was news many had long awaited.

But the outcome wasn't as anticipated.

10% shares for $1.5 billion—wasn't that too expensive?

Even knowing Igreet was worth it, $1.5 billion was a hefty sum, far beyond $150 million or even $15 million.

Such a vast amount of money for just 10% of the shares would make any potential investor think twice.

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