The next day.
Golden Dawn Entertainment Group.
In his office, Kyle met with his private lawyer, Paul Goodman, and entrusted him with finding someone.
"Your task is to commission relevant service companies to help me find Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. One is Swedish, the other is Danish. They are likely in Europe, and there's a high probability they are in Luxembourg," Kyle said slowly.
Paul Goodman took notes and asked, "Is that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, known as the 'Country of a Thousand Castles'?"
"Exactly."
Kyle nodded and said, "It's the one surrounded by France, Germany, and Belgium, known as the 'Pocket Kingdom' or 'Country of a Thousand Castles' due to its small land area, over 600,000 inhabitants, and numerous ancient castles. It's also the only remaining grand duchy on the European continent."
After a pause, Kyle asked again, "How long will it take to get this done?"
"Five days at most!" Paul Goodman said confidently.
"Uh, that quick?" Kyle couldn't help but be curious.
Paul Goodman smiled, "Boss, if they are indeed in Luxembourg, then within two days... I can tell you the result. Five days is calculated based on the broader European scope."
"Excellent!" Kyle couldn't help but clap.
Kyle was determined to acquire Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. Securing them meant preemptively locking in Kazaa (cloud storage), Skype (internet calls), and (music) three companies.
Niklas and Janus were undoubtedly top talents in the European internet sector!
Not only that, in 2018, the two co-founded Starship Technologies;
Upon its establishment, Starship Technologies became one of the world's largest autonomous delivery service systems, using a robot army to execute a large number of delivery tasks.
Top talent meant immense wealth;
How could a person like Kyle, who wouldn't get up early without profit, miss out?
...Next, Kyle entrusted Paul Goodman with another matter.
Moreover, this matter was the main purpose of meeting Paul Goodman today.
"What?"
"Boss, are you sure you're not joking with me?"
"Oh my goodness, you're actually going to sell your shares in Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco?"
"If this news gets out, it will definitely cause a sensation. Who doesn't know that buying internet stocks is the best way to get rich quickly right now!"
"And you're actually choosing to sell? This is too unbelievable!"
Paul Goodman was astonished!
No! To be precise, anyone who heard Kyle's remarks about selling shares in Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco would be incredibly surprised.
As of June 1999:
Microsoft's market value: over 600 billion US dollars;
Cisco's market value: over 530 billion US dollars;
Yahoo's market value: over 43 billion US dollars;
Which of these three companies on Nasdaq is not a popular stock sought after by many? Many people want to buy shares but can't, yet Kyle wants to sell them.
How could Paul Goodman not be surprised?
"Boss, are you sure?" Paul Goodman asked with emphasis.
Kyle nodded, "I'm sure, and my private financial advisor, Ms. Anna Josephine, will cooperate with you on this project."
"Hiss~"
Paul Goodman took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Boss, 2% of Yahoo's stock is worth over 800 million US dollars, 0.01% of Microsoft's stock is worth over 60 million US dollars, and 0.015% of Cisco's stock is worth nearly 80 million US dollars. The total value of these three stocks is 940 million US dollars. Are you selling a portion, or are you liquidating all of them?"
"Liquidate all of them!" Kyle said loudly.
Paul Goodman couldn't help but gasp again.
"Boss, since you've given me the commission, I will definitely handle this properly with Ms. Josephine, but I have to ask, are you currently experiencing a cash flow shortage?" Paul Goodman blurted out.
"Yes, absolutely!"
Kyle spread his hands and said, "A while ago, I talked with the local government in Seattle and plan to build a new technology park there covering an area of 900 acres (approximately 5,400 mu). The initial investment for the first three years alone is as high as 1.5 billion US dollars, and subsequent investments will not be less than 2 billion US dollars. The total estimated project investment is nearly 4 billion US dollars. Do you think I'm short on money?"
4 billion US dollars?
Paul Goodman immediately blurted out, "Then Boss, your funds are still not enough. You wouldn't be planning to sell shares in Amazon, Apple, HP, Dell, and other companies later, would you?"
"You got it!" Kyle clapped.
At this moment, even the elite lawyer Paul Goodman was dumbfounded.
However... an elite talent is indeed an elite talent. After only a brief moment of thought, he had many ideas.
Paul Goodman said in a deep voice, "Boss, your sale of these shares isn't just for the new technology park plan, is it? As far as I know, Bloomberg published multiple articles about the anticipated dot-com bubble throughout May, arguing that the Nasdaq stock market was overheated and far exceeded its actual value."
Kyle did not deny it and nodded in agreement.
In fact, before the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, many American economists analyzed and pointed out that a stock market bubble was imminent.
Many people agreed with this viewpoint.
But... who would give up a chance to make money?
The stock market was soaring day by day, and the profits gained in just a few months were more than the wealth many people had accumulated over half their lives. Since it was so easy to make money, why bother working hard?
Money moves hearts!!!
Greed consumed everyone.
Moreover, even those experts who firmly maintained the view that "the dot-com bubble is coming" believed that the crisis would erupt in 2002-2003, never expecting it to explode in 2000, several years earlier!
If Kyle hadn't been a transmigrator and known the horror of the dot-com bubble, he wouldn't have been willing to sell his internet stocks.
Think of Yahoo. Before the crisis, its market value was as high as 45 billion US dollars. Just a few months later, its market value was only a few billion US dollars;
The renowned Amazon company, with a share price of over 60 dollars, plummeted to less than 2 US dollars;
Microsoft, the overlord in the system software industry, was almost broken up into a dozen companies;
Sell!
Definitely sell!
"At worst, I'll just buy back the shares at a super low price after a while."
How could a shrewd person like Kyle suffer a loss?
"Lawyer Paul, you and Anna should first handle the Microsoft, Yahoo, and Cisco stocks. I will arrange for the other stocks later," Kyle instructed.
"Alright," Paul Goodman responded.
Dealing with the stocks in hand cannot be accomplished overnight. A sudden large-scale sell-off would only harm Kyle's interests.
During this exchange, Kyle once again had the idea of acquiring Marvel Comics.
New Line Cinema's "Blade" film brought Marvel Comics back into the public eye, and its stock price climbed significantly;
So, when Walt Disney Pictures' "Spider-Man" movie and Fox Pictures' "X-Men" movie are released, Marvel's stock price is bound to surge!
At that time, trying to acquire Marvel Comics at a low price would be a pipe dream.
Moreover, Marvel's Sal Perlmutter and Avi Arad are extremely stubborn. They are the kind of old fuddy-duddies who would rather drag Marvel to hell than sell shares unless faced with a life-or-death crisis.
"Paul Goodman, do you think Marvel's Sal Perlmutter and Avi Arad would want shares in Yahoo and Cisco?" Kyle asked.
"No one would refuse shares in Yahoo and Cisco!" Paul Goodman smiled.
Kyle asked again, "Then would they be willing to exchange Marvel shares for them?"
Paul Goodman was silent for a few seconds.
"It's hard to say. They are extremely stubborn individuals, but I can give it a try," Paul Goodman said in a deep voice.
Kyle nodded.
Acquiring Marvel Comics holds great significance for the construction of Kyle's media empire and entertainment kingdom.
Although Marvel superhero movies lack depth and are purely popcorn flicks, who cares when they make money!