The premiere of Toy Story 2 was, naturally, a massive success, earning high praise from representatives of all parties. Many American media reporters also wrote articles, publishing a series of reviews on the animated movie sequel.
Warmth, fantasy, dreams, and emotion... under the application of Pixar's many talented designers, these elements were brought out to their fullest potential.
As the boss of Waterworld Animation and with his assets recently skyrocketing by hundreds of millions of dollars, the reporters on the scene were definitely not going to let Kyle off the hook.
What could Kyle do?
He could only graciously accept the interviews from the gathered media reporters.
"It is an animated work full of adventure, comedy, family, and fantasy. At the same time, Toy Story 2 introduces a new character, 'Miss Jessie' the cowgirl, and many of the creative segments in the film are even more outstanding than the first Toy Story," Kyle said with a smile.
A reporter immediately followed up around the world with another question: "Then Mr. Page, do you think Pixar Animation's Toy Story 2 can surpass the global box office of over 9000 million dollars set by your company's Finding Nemo?"
This topic was somewhat sensitive, but it must be said that it was something many people cared about deeply.
Kyle pondered for a few seconds and then smiled: "Comparing the box office of these two works is, in fact, meaningless. If you really want to make a comparison, it should be between Toy Story 1 and 2 themselves."
Without a doubt, Kyle played it smart and dodged the question.
The media reporters didn't make things too difficult for Kyle and had to let it go.
Kyle added: "Toy Story 2 is much better in terms of plot than the first one; therefore, reflecting that in the box office, I believe it will achieve an excellent result."
After finishing his answer, Kyle chatted for a few more moments with director John Lasseter before leaving under the gaze of the crowd.
In the car.
"Stephen, after watching Toy Story 2, did you feel an immense pressure coming at you?" Kyle asked.
"Yes!"
Stephen Sollenberg said seriously: "It's not wrong to say Pixar Animation is the best animation company in the World today. The level of technology they possess and their storytelling ability..."
"...are both top-tier. Especially the orchestration of colors and the extremely delicate handling of hair, water ripples, sunlight, and shadows—they are much more excellent than us."
Stephen was indeed feeling the pressure.
When Waterworld Animation was producing Finding Nemo, many of the technical methods came from the support of Pixar Animation; otherwise, completing the final film would have taken at least eight months longer.
"Their level is truly stunning. Well, how should I put it? I feel they get stronger every day and more excellent every year. That is quite terrifying."
Speaking of this, Stephen became somewhat wary.
Kyle also echoed: "Their talent reserve is too strong; almost every movie is better than the last. Of course, A Bug's Life doesn't count. But even so, the technical standard of A Bug's Life is at the top of the industry."
Stephen Sollenberg had pressure;
Kyle was also under great pressure!
How many 'cheat-level' geniuses were there in Pixar!
There was one more point that both of them tacitly did not mention, and that was the production cost!!!
The production cost of the Toy Story 1 animation was 30 million dollars;
Whereas the production cost for the second part of the series had already soared to 90 million dollars;
In the future, the production cost of Toy Story 3 would climb even further to 200 million dollars;
For Pixar Animation's other films, such as WALL-E, The Incredibles, Cars, and Inside Out, not a single one had a production cost lower than 150 million dollars.
"Without high investment, how can there be high returns!"
Kyle said in a deep voice: "Stephen, haven't the budget results for the two animated films we are preparing, kung fu panda and up around the world, come out yet?"
"The results will be out soon," Stephen responded.
Kyle nodded and said: "Increase the investment. Benchmarking against Pixar Animation, the standard for each animation will be no less than a 100 million dollar production cost."
Hearing this, Stephen's expression changed, but it was mostly excitement.
For these animators, when would they ever complain about having too much money? With more funding, they could better utilize their talents.
What was a 100 million dollar production cost?
Waterworld Animation definitely didn't lack money now!
Speaking of high-investment animated films, who could compare to Disney's Tangled in 2010? That film's production budget alone was as high as 270 million dollars, making it the most expensive animated film in history. Well, alright, Disney lost money on that one.
However, without the bold initiative started by Tangled, there wouldn't have been later films like Frozen.
Large-scale investments could also maximize investor confidence.
Waterworld Animation wasn't playing small games anymore; it was a listed company!
...The next day.
Kyle arrived at Apple.
Today was the day of Apple's shareholders' meeting. Kyle, who owned 3.72% of Apple's shares, had not yet become a member of Apple's board of directors, which was starting to seem a bit unreasonable.
One must know that Kyle was currently Apple's largest individual shareholder!
Even the founder, Jobs, currently held less than 0.6% of the shares in Apple.
Don't think for a moment that this percentage was small.
If you looked at the number of shares held by Apple shareholders in 2020, you would realize this was already a lot.
What did 1% of Apple stock mean?
In 2020, 1% of Apple stock was worth 13 billion dollars!
Even 0.1% of Apple shares in 2020 would mean you were Apple's third-largest shareholder and the largest individual shareholder.
Therefore, even though it was 1999 and Apple's stock wasn't as diluted as it would be later, Kyle's 3.72% ownership already made all of Apple's shareholders extremely wary.
When the time came, the board meeting officially commenced.
Chairman Jobs first stated: "Those who support Mr. Kyle Page becoming a member of the Apple board, please vote by a show of hands."
Immediately, the scene became noisy.
Apple's current market value was only a bit over 5 billion dollars. It had not yet become the company with the highest market value in the World or a giant with a 1.3 trillion dollar market cap, but... the number of shareholders was quite large.
All in all, hundreds of shareholder representatives attended this general meeting.
"I support it!"
"Agreed!"
"I also agree. Although Mr. Page is still very young, his abilities are obvious to everyone. The recent successful listing of Waterworld Animation is enough to prove Mr. Page's talent."
"Mr. Page is Apple's largest individual shareholder. If he cannot become a member of the board, wouldn't that be very embarrassing for us?"
More than 79% of the shareholder representatives on site cast their votes in favor.
Kyle naturally became a member of the Apple board, but... Kyle did not request to hold a position within Apple, which also allowed many shareholders to breathe a sigh of relief.
One must know that the internal struggles and infighting within Apple had only just begun to ease. If Kyle were to join the fray, it would inevitably cause great damage.
"I hope Apple does well; this aligns with everyone's interests and my own goals. After all, I am very busy," Kyle said to the crowd with a smile.
Today, besides selecting board members, Jobs had two major things to do.
1. Decide to develop Apple's new operating system, which would later be Mac OS X;
2. Start the research and development of the iPod digital music player;
Without a doubt, these two topics were the ones that would decide Apple's future.
"A new operating system, is it necessary?"
One shareholder representative countered: "Microsoft is so strong right now, practically without a rival in the World. Isn't it a waste of money for us to invest heavily in the operating system field again?"
Jobs did not answer directly but shifted his gaze to Kyle. "Kyle, you are now a member of the board as well. Do you think developing a new operating system is necessary?"
For a moment, the eyes of the hundreds of people in the room all gathered on Kyle.