"Mr. Willis King, welcome to Luxembourg!"
At the arrivals gate of Luxembourg Airport, Niklas, the former CEO of Starship Technologies, was incredibly excited.
The delegation from Barclays Bank's investment division, who accompanied Willis King, showed little emotional fluctuation, but Willis King himself responded with great enthusiasm.
"Niklas, trust me, by leaving Starship Technologies, you will gain a much larger platform to fully showcase your talents."
Willis thought highly of Niklas, especially the recently launched Kazaa P2P file-sharing network, whose peer-to-peer transfer technology was absolutely world-leading.
Willis had almost single-handedly orchestrated Niklas' departure from Starship Technologies!
Before long, the group left the airport.
They arrived at a local five-star hotel, where a series of suites were arranged for them.
In the largest presidential suite, Niklas worried, "Mr. Willis King, although I have left Starship Technologies, it's undeniable that when I signed the contract with them, a non-compete clause was included. From what I know of Kyle Page, he will definitely sue me."
"Don't worry."
Willis King smiled, "You should trust that our Barclays Bank has the strength. Kyle Page is indeed the most dazzling capitalist of the last decade, but his base is in America. In Europe, haha, it's not that I look down on him, but even if you give him another 20 years, he won't be a match for Barclays Bank."
"Let me tell you something else!"
"Before the internet boom in 2000, Barclays Bank targeted internet and tech stocks on Nasdaq, investing over 4 billion US dollars."
"But what was the result?"
"The dot-com bubble suddenly burst!"
"Under the rolling tide, Nasdaq's collapse in a single day resulted in losses of up to 3 trillion US dollars!"
"Barclays Bank wanted to quickly sell those stocks to cut losses in time, but a group of Wall Street speculators, led by Kyle Page, severely shorted the market, causing Barclays Bank heavy losses."
"Not to mention myself, many senior executives at Barclays Bank headquarters also have strong opinions about Kyle Page."
After these words, Niklas breathed a huge sigh of relief.
He had worked for Kyle for several years and knew Kyle's immense power. Relying solely on Willis King, or even the power of Barclays Bank's investment division, would not be enough to withstand Kyle's wrath.
Now, things were different!
With Barclays Bank headquarters involved, they would definitely have a significant advantage to overwhelm Kyle!
Willis King suddenly added, "You shouldn't worry too much. Starship Technologies, to put it plainly, is just a negligible asset under Kyle Page's name, with a current valuation of only 8 million US dollars. Well, as long as Kyle Page doesn't personally get involved, I alone can resolve these issues."
Niklas nodded, "You're right, perhaps I was overly worried."
Since Starship Technologies was founded several years ago, Kyle had only visited twice.
Moreover, compared to Kyle's other ventures, whether it was LinkedIn, California Standard Bank, or even the newly established PopCap Games, which one wasn't far superior to Starship Technologies?
Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
Just then, there was an urgent knocking on the hotel suite door.
The person at the door was a man named Tofor, Willis King's most trusted assistant.
"Bad news! Kyle Page, all the way in Los Angeles, has personally intervened and is currently holding a press conference!"
At these words, both Niklas and Willis's expressions changed.
Willis: "..."
Niklas exclaimed, "How is this possible?! Starship Technologies is just a small company valued at only 8 million US dollars. How could a billionaire super-rich Kyle Page personally intervene?"
Willis's face was also very grim.
"This shouldn't be happening!"
...Meanwhile.
In Los Angeles, USA, after Kyle concluded discussions with his private team, he immediately chose to hold a press conference.
Since he had decided to fight this international lawsuit, Kyle didn't mind making a big deal out of it.
From another perspective, Kyle also didn't want this attention-grabbing international lawsuit to end too soon. He wanted to use the non-compete agreement to its fullest extent to delay Niklas and prevent him from paying too much attention to Skype.
In the original timeline, the famous Skype internet phone was indeed primarily developed by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.
However!
Niklas Zennström mainly developed the Kazaa P2P file-sharing network;
The most important contributor to Skype was Janus Friis, who is currently the Vice President of Starship Technologies;
"My personal intervention will inevitably draw Barclays Bank headquarters into this as well."
"I want to send a signal... to tell them of my Pay attention to (emphasis) on Starship Technologies. More accurately, my emphasis on Kazaa's peer-to-peer technology."
"I must make them overlook and underestimate Skype!"
"Although Kazaa's peer-to-peer technology has wide applications in the future, it is destined to be a thankless and money-losing endeavor. I want to guide them in this wrong direction!"
"Skype, an entity worth at least 3 billion, can only be mine."
Of course, Kyle also knew that he couldn't deceive or conceal things for too long.
Both Niklas himself and Barclays Bank were smart people; he could only fool them for a while. Trying to hide things for too long was simply unrealistic.
"There are too many smart people in this world! Hmm, very unfriendly!"
...At the press conference.
Kyle stood at the podium, facing numerous media reporters, and announced loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the content of today's press conference is not about me making another movie, nor acquiring another company, but about announcing an international lawsuit."
"At the same time, it will be the first international lawsuit I've fought since starting my business in 1995!"
As soon as his voice fell, the media reporters present immediately erupted.
"What?"
"Is that true or false?"
"My goodness, although Kyle Page is very young, he has always acted quite tough. How could anyone dare to provoke him?"
For a moment, many media reporters whispered among themselves, their faces showing expressions of disbelief.
In film, television, music, finance, the internet, and other fields, Kyle could be said to be invincible. Even Time Warner, a fellow media giant, had been defeated by Kyle several times.
To describe Kyle with the word "dazzling" is not an exaggeration in the slightest.
"Barclays Bank!"
"Everyone, you heard correctly!"
Kyle's face was stern as he announced loudly, "The CEO of my Starship Technologies company, Niklas, resigned and took with him as many as 60 core members to join Hottafee Information Company, a subsidiary of Barclays Bank. These departing individuals all have non-compete agreements in their contracts."
"This is going too far!"
"Just now, my legal team has submitted lawsuits to the governments of Luxembourg and the UK, and also submitted an official letter to the International Court of Justice. I am determined to fight this international lawsuit!"
Barclays Bank?
The second-largest bank in the UK, the seventh-largest bank globally, managing over a trillion US dollars in assets—a veritable giant in the financial industry.
For a moment, many media reporters present gasped.
"Oh my God! This is great, this is huge news!" Many reporters became agitated.
In the time that followed, the speeches given by the various legal representatives on stage excited these reporters even more.