Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 114 - 113: Reed’s Ambition

A few days ago.

In a luxurious mansion in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Reed Hastings was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the television.

As a member of the technology elite who had been immersed in Silicon Valley for years, his goal had always been Bill Gates. freeweɓnovel~cѳm

Just as he was targeting a gap in the market and had spent a great deal of manpower and resources to design office software, and was about to see his dream realized,

Unluckily, the software caught the attention of the blue giant, IBM.

First, they proposed a full acquisition, and after being refused, they lowered their aim and requested a partial stake.

But Reed, having completed the most challenging stage of development, naively chose to ignore them.

As a result, he felt the profound malevolence from a large corporation.

IBM started by reverse-engineering the software and, using its powerful channels, began to promote it.

The result, naturally, was the complete collapse of the original creator, and Reed’s dreams were shattered from the clouds to the dirt.

Filled with reluctance, he filed a patent lawsuit in court.

However, IBM’s legal department skillfully used various tactics to request a postponement of the trial.

And the enormous attorney fees were rapidly crushing Reed.

At this time, IBM came forward with crocodile tears, offering a high-price acquisition bid.

This time, defeated by reality, Reed could only reluctantly accept.

The moment he signed the contract to give up the patent lawsuit and agreed to the full acquisition, he felt an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

Indeed, in the face of capital, dreams were as fragile as soap bubbles.

Reed, having lost his dreams, rented various Hollywood blockbusters that promised the triumph of good over evil, much like a true nerd, and watched them at home.

As if in doing so, he could fill the void in his heart.

But when things go awry, they all do – many videotapes were either unavailable or rented out.

Unable to even self-soothe, he was forced to face reality reluctantly.

Born in 1960, he had just turned 35 years old.

Was he to live on like a parasite, merely existing?

He forced himself to snap out of it and started looking for a new business venture.

Shortly thereafter, Reed identified the significant gap in the video tape market.

Influenced by the mature film and television technology industry, the United States produced a massive number of movies and TV shows every year.

But only a small portion made it to the big screens of movie theaters and the small screens of television.

Most of these productions flowed into the video tape market, hoping to recoup their costs.

The Hollywood giants also took advantage of video tapes, extracting the last bit of profit from some hit films.

But these profits were obviously not enough to warrant the media moguls’ substantial efforts.

Therefore, aside from the Bestar chain stores, the American video tape market was quite disorganized.

After reviewing a lot of information, Reed finally made up his mind to dip his toes into the video tape market.

On one hand, he reached out to as many film and television companies as possible, hoping to obtain the rights to sell their video tapes.

On the other hand, he was considering how to stand out in the video tape market.

That would be by using mailing to capture the market that Bestar hadn’t covered, as well as offering something unique of his own.

But to cooperate with the big media giants and get exclusive selling rights, he had to be prepared for a fate similar to being carved up alive by IBM.

Like how Jobs’ Pixar Animation was becoming increasingly dependent on Disney.

And smaller film and television companies, they couldn’t produce works that were compelling.

This posed a dilemma.

During this period, Reed was distracted, and his wife hadn’t noticed at all.

"Reed, are you watching TV?" His wife patted his shoulder, startling Reed from his thoughts.

"If you’re not, remember to record ’Prison Break’ for me on CBS," she said, putting on her coat, ready to leave, "I have to go to a parents’ gathering for the kids."

Reed looked at the time, it was just ten in the morning.

"What’s there to watch at this hour?"

"Of course, that ’Prison Break’ is really worth watching."

"I record every episode, and when I have time, I rewatch them," his wife said as she went to the VCR and started setting it up, "I just don’t know what the film companies are thinking, not releasing the previous episodes on video tape."

"No video tapes?" Reed was puzzled when he heard this.

"Mm-hmm," his wife said as she turned and walked towards the front door, "make sure you have some lunch, I might not be back at noon."

Once his wife left, Reed watched "Prison Break" for a while with some curiosity.

Uh...

It’s hard to put into words!

But it seems like his wife really likes it.

This made Reed marvel at how precisely the production company targeted its audience.

But they hadn’t followed up with releasing the videotapes of the aired episodes...

What’s going on with that?

Curious, Reed turned on his computer and logged onto the CBS official website.

The production companies for "Prison Break" were Goldman Sachs Investment and wangwen.com?

So Goldman Sachs, always eager to break into the media industry, was finally seeing some color?

Then, how would the media giants face this fierce dragon from Wall Street?

Reed, ever the fan of chaos, searched for related news.

But shortly after, he realized things weren’t as he had thought.

Could the unexpected factor be this site called wangwen.com?

He picked up the phone, asking for help from a friend in finance to inquire further.

Then he entered the web address and logged onto the site with the peculiar domain name.

Hmm?

It’s a literary website?

Reed, a seasoned IT professional, clicked through the site casually.

And then, he found it somewhat interesting.

In an environment where internet companies use free services to boost user numbers for a quick public listing and a cash-out,

this website was actually charging?

He thought for a moment, picked up the phone again, and called a broker in the IT industry.

"Have you heard of wangwen.com?"

"Don’t talk nonsense; I’ve handled so many of their deals," the hacker leader on the other side replied.

"Can you help me get some information about the site?" Reed asked, slightly startled by the response, "at the current market rates."

"We’ve already said we’re partners!" the hacker retorted loudly.

"Double the price!"

"Oh, within half an hour." The call was disconnected.

At that moment, his friend in finance called and recounted the details of Goldman Sachs and the website.

Reed listened attentively, simultaneously comparing the differences between the website and his own software company.

Sigh, he should have just accepted IBM’s capital injection offer.

After hanging up, he pondered while sighing.

Suddenly, the phone beeped.

The hacker leader had faxed over the information Reed wanted.

Reed picked up the fax and started reading it carefully.

Hmm?

The number of paying users was unexpectedly high!

And the website also held some of the peripheral rights to their works?

He clicked through the website, looking at a vast number of works and fell into deep thought.

This...

It amounted to a huge, diverse pool of intellectual property (IP)!

And these were the most popular, innovative, and intriguing IPs in the videotape market!

Reed looked back down at the fax, murmuring softly, "Currently, the website is earnestly seeking partners, hoping to co-produce a ’Prison Break’ prequel."

He put down the fax, walked to the kitchen, and brewed a large pot of coffee.

After slowly sipping the coffee, Reed picked up the phone and called a friend who had also left the software company.

"Hey, interested in being a producer, entering the entertainment circle from the videotape market?"

"Alright, then I’ll see you in New York."

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