Chasing Stars in Hollywood

The immense potential profits involved made the tremendous success of "Happy Farm" naturally spark internal debates within Igreat about whether to open up their platform to third-party game developers.

Even if the success of "Happy Farm" had an element of being a phenomenon, the current explosive growth of the internet led Igreat's internal forecasts to predict that this could very well become a burgeoning field with an annual output value of no less than tens of billions of dollars.

Igreat Company currently monopolizes the online social sector with services like Facebook and ICQ. The difficulty of developing web games using Flash animation technology is very low, and the costs are negligible compared to the returns. "Happy Farm" is the most direct proof of this, which means Igreat can completely form its own game development team.

Even if cooperation with external parties is considered, it should preferably be within the family, like with EA, to keep the benefits within the system.

Otherwise, it would be overly generous, and even foolish, to hand over a significant portion of the platform's user-generated profits to unrelated game developers.

It wasn't until Simon arrived in San Francisco that the matter was settled.

The decision was to continue open cooperation.

Not just in the field of online games, maintaining an open attitude towards external cooperation should be the fundamental development strategy for the entire Igreat Company.

The internet is destined to be an open information platform.

If it were to choose a closed approach, the result would only lead to companies and users continuously leaving the Igreat ecosystem, eventually causing it to wither and die like a tree lacking nutrients.

In the early days of China's internet, many major portals eventually transformed into online gaming companies.

For Igreat, the tremendous success of "Happy Farm" clearly pointed out a more distinct path for monetizing users. However, Simon was adamant that Igreat should not end up becoming an online gaming company. Given its vast current layout, it would be a waste to reduce it to a gaming company.

On the other hand, despite placing great importance on search engines and social networks, Simon also didn't want Igreat to become an advertising company.

Simon's core vision was for Igreat to always maintain its positioning as a technology company, driving sustainable long-term development through continuous technological innovation.

For example, this time with "Happy Farm," the game was primarily realized through Igreat's newly developed Flash web animation technology. While this technology might seem commonplace to future generations, becoming as ubiquitous on the internet as air and water in the real world, it represents a huge innovation for the current internet.

This seemingly uncomplicated innovation has created a new industry worth tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, showcasing the ultimate power of technological innovation.

"Of course, I'm not opposed to us benefiting from the gaming industry. You can discuss the specific terms yourselves. However, I want to emphasize that everyone should have a broader perspective for Igreat. Our goal is the entire internet, and we should not be blinded by the interests of a single field, hindering our continued innovation and exploration."

In a small conference room at Igreat Company's headquarters in Palo Alto.

Simon faced Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, Carol Bartz, and Alice Ferguson, who had recently been promoted to the fourth giant of Igreat. After finishing his speech and seeing no one voicing objections, he directly shifted to another topic. "The IE browser's free plan needs to be advanced, Jeff. Which companies are we still negotiating with?"

Originally, after completing the renegotiation with major pre-installation manufacturers and network operators, the IE browser was scheduled to officially announce its free status by early May, meaning the plan would be implemented by the end of April.

Due to recent market and public opinion, Simon decided not to wait any longer and to execute the plan promptly.

The few people in the conference room exchanged glances, and Jeff Bezos spoke up, "Mainly IBM and some Japanese PC giants like Toshiba. On the operator side, AT&T's stance is also quite firm."

IBM and other manufacturers were within Simon's expectations. As for AT&T, as a telecommunications giant that maintained nationwide coverage after the 1984 breakup, AT&T had also chosen to outsource its emerging internet access services to local small operators due to its underestimation of the market.

It wasn't until last year that AT&T realized its mistake and began reclaiming the rights of these outsourced operators, personally joining the fight for internet users.

Although AT&T had already fallen far behind AOL, which had a 70% market share, no one dared to ignore this old giant.

Simon did not want to know if there were other power plays involved, whether manufacturers or operators were trying to secure better deals, whether several large companies within the Westeros system were plotting against AT&T, or whether some executives were deliberately delaying to extract more benefits from the IE browser. He quickly said, "For both PC manufacturers and network operators, give those still hesitating three more days to consider, referencing the deals already made with Compaq and AOL. After three days, they either sign the agreement, or they won't be able to use our software in the future. I want you to officially announce the IE free plan next Friday."

Carol Bartz couldn't help but say, "Simon, isn't this a bit too hasty? The litigation pressure we're facing isn't that serious, is it?"

Hearing Carol's obvious pause in her words, the others couldn't help but smile.

Clearly, Bartz wanted to say "antitrust pressure," but because of a previous penalty from Simon, this straightforward female executive had become somewhat sensitive to the term.

The issue stemmed from an email.

In a work email to Simon, Carol Bartz detailed the current monopoly advantages of Igreat's basic tool software and how to maintain these advantages in the recent market and public opinion environment.

Simon agreed with Bartz's views but penalized the executive with a deduction of one-tenth of her annual salary.

The reason was that Bartz used the term "monopoly" too many times in the email.

Simon subsequently emphasized in a small meeting with Igreat's core executives that the term "monopoly" should be strictly avoided in future emails, phone communications, high-level meetings, and even private conversations, as such terms could be used as evidence in future antitrust investigations against Igreat.

This was not without precedent.

In the 1970s, when Buffett acquired a newspaper called "The Buffalo Evening News" in Buffalo, New York, he launched a Sunday edition to drive out the competitor, "The Courier Express," which survived solely on its exclusive Sunday edition. At the time, Buffalo had only these two slightly powerful newspapers left.

To avoid being squeezed out, "The Courier Express" sued "The Buffalo Evening News" for unfair competition, attempting to monopolize Buffalo's newspaper market.

The lawsuit was initially baseless since the core of federal antitrust law encourages competition rather than suppresses it. "The Buffalo Evening News" launching a Sunday edition increased competition, theoretically improving news service quality and retaining customers, giving them full eligibility to launch a Sunday edition.

However, Buffett lost the lawsuit.

The reason was that the investment tycoon had publicly expressed a "bridge toll" analogy, saying that owning a newspaper that monopolizes a local market is like owning a bridge toll station, where the operator can raise prices at will.

Due to this clearly monopolistic statement, a lawsuit that should have been easily won was lost.

Although the judge did not stop "The Buffalo Evening News" from launching its Sunday edition, the ruling imposed a series of very strict restrictive measures on Buffett's newspaper, which almost caused the once-leading "The Buffalo Evening News" to fail.

Buffett's $35 million investment in acquiring "The Buffalo Evening News" was his largest investment at the time, and his personal fortune was only $70 million. If "The Buffalo Evening News" had gone bankrupt, Berkshire Hathaway as we know it might not exist today.

The disaster was caused by Buffett's careless words.

Therefore, not just Buffett's case but the combined experiences of several lifetimes ingrained a crucial principle in Simon: many things can be done, but never spoken.

Like Igreat's real monopoly.

Like the deep-seated racial discrimination in the USA.

And many other issues.

Western countries have many politically correct principles, which, in Simon's view, are essentially "cannot say" principles. Doing them might not cause trouble, but saying them out loud would be a big mistake.

Simon was pleased that Bartz, this straightforward executive, had promptly stopped herself. Otherwise, he would have deducted another tenth of her annual salary. Although the core executives, who had already signed stock reward agreements and were almost guaranteed to be billionaires upon contract execution, did not care about their current base salaries of tens of thousands of dollars, the young boss's attitude could not be ignored.

Sharing in everyone's smile, Simon quickly regained his serious demeanor and said, "Carly, this has nothing to do with recent public opinion or government investigations. If keeping IE as a paid product were crucial for Igreat, I wouldn't abandon it easily, even if it meant a decade-long lawsuit. However, the IE free plan is not only about facilitating Igreat's immediate push of our latest technology. More importantly, it's about fundamentally establishing the global market position of this browser software. Everyone now realizes the importance of browser software interfaces. In the federation, we already have an absolute advantage and don't have immediate concerns. But globally, some countries are considering using government authority to force us to give up exclusive rights to IE to avoid having their internet interface controlled by Igreat. You should know this better than I do. The free plan ensures that even if we lose exclusivity, we still maintain a strong market position. So, just one week. I want results by next Friday. I don't want to hear any excuses for delays. Understood?"

Simon looked sharply at Bezos and the others, and after they all nodded, he shifted his gaze back to his memo and looked up at his housekeeper, "Alice, regarding Wisconsin

 Senator Craig Ames' accusation that we should voluntarily give up the tax breaks for our logistics distribution center under construction, just ignore him. However, the recruitment plan for the distribution center needs to be advanced. Someone will contact you for the specific operation. You know why, so I need your full cooperation, okay?"

Alice nodded.

The housekeeper, who had been closely following recent events, clearly understood that there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

For the past month, Wisconsin Democratic Senator Craig Ames, who proposed a nearly personal "asset tax" plan targeting Simon, had continued to attack the Westeros system, recently targeting the tax breaks and other incentives for a large logistics distribution center Amazon was building in Wisconsin.

As one of the seven most important logistics distribution centers in Amazon's next phase of development, once operational, it would directly bring about 1,500 long-term jobs to Wisconsin, with countless indirect job opportunities.

Moreover, unlike the high-barrier professional skills required for Silicon Valley engineers, the recruitment requirements for the distribution center were very relaxed in terms of age and education, making it ideal for the many unemployed blue-collar workers in the traditional Rust Belt, offering rare, long-term stable job opportunities with comprehensive retirement and medical benefits.

Fifteen hundred long-term stable jobs could almost support fifteen hundred families.

However, although the senator did not ignore all this, he still insisted that the Westeros system should pay more, such as voluntarily giving up the tax breaks and other incentives provided by the local government for this project. This was clearly unreasonable and more annoying than those who habitually demand donations from the wealthy from a moral high ground.

Tax break plans for new enterprises and large projects are very common in US states. The incentives Igreat received were just routine. If they voluntarily gave them up, it would increase Igreat's operating costs and reduce its competitiveness, considering other companies still enjoyed such breaks.

Simon could cancel the Wisconsin distribution center construction plan, even if it meant wasting the millions of dollars already invested. He could afford the loss. However, such impulsive actions were just fantasies. Simon was not a rash person, and the locations for Amazon's seven distribution centers were carefully considered, so abandoning one would even impact the next phase of Igreat's e-commerce business development.

After discussing this, Simon looked at his memo again and moved on to the next topic.

After a busy day, it was past six in the evening when Simon left the construction site of Igreat's headquarters in Mountain View and returned to his villa in the hills of Woodside, west of the Bay Area, with A Girl.

The villa was quite lively.

Nadja Auermann and Yasmin Ghauri, who had been scared on Monday, had gone shopping in Tokyo to relax, arranged by Simon. They returned from Japan today and, knowing Simon was in San Francisco, flew directly there.

Besides the two big fairies, Claire also came over for dinner with a little fairy.

Along with A Girl and Arya and D Girl Deborah, who were currently in charge of Simon's daily life, there were seven women in the main villa.

One man and seven women.

If this scene got out, it would certainly stir up a commotion in the media.

When Simon arrived home, the seemingly harmonious women were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, chirping and bustling around.

After a long day, Simon went upstairs to take a shower and change clothes. Without any instructions, Arya followed him upstairs, quietly accompanying him into the master bedroom.

Only planning to take a shower, Simon didn't need to fill the bathtub. He asked Arya to prepare some clean clothes and then entered the bathroom.

About ten minutes later, Simon, wiping his wet hair and wearing only a large towel around his waist, walked out of the bathroom and found that Arya, who had prepared his clothes, hadn't left. She was bending over by the bed, repeatedly folding and unfolding a shirt, pretending to be busy.

Due to her long practice of yoga, her figure, wrapped in a fitted white blouse and black pants, displayed a particularly delicate and seductive charm.

Seeing Simon come out of the bathroom, Arya quickly straightened up, still holding Simon's shirt, and walked over, saying, "Boss, um, here."

Realizing it was inappropriate, she quickly turned back to the bed, found the prepared men's shorts, and handed them over, her gaze involuntarily scanning Simon's muscular chest, her cheeks flushing.

Though not indifferent to the exquisite vases around him, Simon refrained from indulging them to avoid changing their work attitudes, as maids who climb into the master's bed often find it hard to avoid seeking further advancement, even coveting the mistress's position.

This leads to domestic discord.

Noticing Arya's reaction, Simon realized that although she wouldn't refuse if he asked, this wasn't a seduction. He asked, "Do you have something to tell me?"

Arya seemed guilty at his words but instinctively nodded.

It appeared to be serious business.

Simon smiled, took the shorts from Arya, and casually grasped her delicate chin, saying, "Turn around first. We'll talk in the study later."

Arya obediently turned around, waiting until Simon put on his shorts before turning back to help him put on the rest of his clothes.

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