Kyle was not in a hurry to sell his internet company shares.
Amidst the internet boom, he wasn't worried about these shares not selling. He cashed out $172 million from small stakes in six companies, including HP, Dell, Oracle, and IBM.
It was only the beginning.
The next phase, of course, was to sell shares in Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco.
Currently, these shares were worth $940 million on the market, but the sharks who had caught wind of this and wanted to get these shares from Kyle would inevitably have to bid higher than $940 million.
A billion dollars?
1.1 billion dollars?
No! Kyle clearly told the buyers that without $1.2 billion, they shouldn't even bother!
A lion's maw!
That's right, Kyle was clearly poised to make a huge profit, yet those buyers were extremely eager to acquire these shares. After all, the market was optimistic about the stocks of Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco; it was a seller's market.
The next phase after that:
Kyle planned to short a batch of Amazon shares, but holding more than 5% of shares required reporting to the SEC, which would take time.
And there were also the $200 million worth of shares held in America Online.
Kyle was waiting for news of America Online's acquisition of Time Warner Group. This deal, involving over $180 billion and dubbed "the largest merger and acquisition in history," was bound to cause a surge in both companies' stock prices, and Kyle naturally wanted a piece of the pie.
Barring any surprises, Kyle would hold between $4 billion and $6 billion in cash within a few months.
If he added the cash and gold reserves in Kyle's original personal accounts, the total cash amount would definitely be an astronomical figure.
On this day, Kyle was working at the Golden Dawn Entertainment Group headquarters, handling multiple tasks one after another.
1. "Finding Nemo," the animated film produced by Waterworld Animation, officially set its nationwide release date in the US for August 6, 1999, after three rounds of fan screenings and two rounds of cinema previews.
In the contracts signed with various cinema chains,
An initial 2,780 cinemas were tentatively planned, with a maximum of 3,100 cinemas.
"The release date isn't bad."
"This year's July release schedule is also a death slot!"
"Paramount's 'Runaway Bride,' Warner's 'Deep Blue Sea,' Universal's 'American Pie,' Disney's 'Inspector Gadget,' DreamWorks' 'The Haunting,' and others like 'Deep Blue Sea' and 'Eyes Wide Shut'... none of them are easy opponents!"
"Hmm, the August schedule, while also having a few strong competitors, is clearly less stressful compared to July."
2. Golden Dawn Music Company planned to release several albums by Eminem, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, and Linkin Park in the second half of this year.
Among them, Britney Spears and Linkin Park were the most anticipated.
Because it would be Britney Spears' debut solo album, and Linkin Park's first heavy metal rock album after joining Golden Dawn Music.
"Look at this list~"
"I'm going to win by just lying down!"
"Eminem, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Linkin Park—just one of them could make a lot of money for the company, but I have four!"
Knock knock knock~~~
Just then, Kyle's office door was knocked.
"Hi, Kevin, you actually came in person?" Kyle was delighted but also a little curious, not understanding why Kevin Feige, the vice president of Page Pictures, had come in person.
That's right, the person who came was indeed Kevin Feige!
"Come, have a seat first."
Kyle gestured for Kevin to sit down and arranged for his secretary to pour two cups of coffee.
"Boss, I'm here for 'The Blair Witch Project' movie," Kevin said.
"Oh?" Kyle's mouth curved into a smile.
Kyle certainly knew about "The Blair Witch Project."
It was a DV film that Kyle had personally bought for $130,000 at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kevin Feige said, "The viral marketing plan for 'The Blair Witch Project' has already begun, and the main actors and directors are also properly arranged. Even if the ticket-buying audience discovers they've been tricked afterward, it won't affect our Page Pictures."
Kyle nodded: "That's right, that's how it is. Viral marketing is, after all, deceptive and walks the line of legality, so we need to be cautious. Don't the directors and lead actors want to be famous? Give it to them! All we want is to make money!"
In the original timeline, "The Blair Witch Project" created a box office miracle!
It was a film with a production cost of only $60,000, known as the originator of "found footage" films, shot entirely with a handheld DV, with camera shakes that could make one dizzy.
Calling it a trashy, no-name film would not be an exaggeration.
But... after its release in 1999, it achieved a North American box office of $140 million and a global box office of $248 million.
The profit ratio was incredibly astonishing!
It could practically be called a myth!
Of course, it's undeniable that its success wasn't due to the film itself, but rather the success of a thorough "deceptive" and "scam" marketing campaign.
With a production cost of $60,000, its marketing cost was nearly $20 million.
"Genius director Daniel, brilliant director Eduardo!"
"The progenitor of found footage!"
"Let's give them all this fame. Then, the audience's anger will be directed at them, and it will have nothing to do with our production and distribution company."
"They get the fame! We make the money!"
"Isn't that harmonious?!"
Kyle smiled.
Deceptive and scam-like marketing will eventually be exposed. If he didn't shed these reputations, Kyle would have to bear the audience's anger after they felt cheated.
How cunning was Kyle!
Kevin Feige understood perfectly and smiled, "Boss, I understand. For 'The Blair Witch Project,' we are just a distributor. As for anything else, we don't know, and it's not our business!"
"That's right," Kyle clapped his hands.
Capital is always dirty!
...Not long after.
Lawyer Paul Goodman, far away in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Europe, also sent good news.
Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the future founders of Kazaa (file-sharing), Skype (internet phone), (music), and Starship Technologies, accepted Kyle's invitation and agreed to work for him.
However... they had one condition!
"We are unwilling to go to America; we only want to work in Europe!"
Facing this request, Kyle generously agreed!
Kyle was extremely tolerant of top talent.
"Paul Goodman, tell them that I will invest $2 million to establish my first overseas company in Luxembourg and let them both take charge of the company," Kyle said on the phone.
"Boss, Niklas and Janus have no management experience. Are you really so confident in giving them so much power?" Paul Goodman asked in surprise.
"Haha!"
Kyle laughed, "It's only $2 million. If it's lost, it's lost. What I want is their talent!"
Soon after.
Kyle's first overseas technology company was thus established.
Named—Starship Technologies!