"Just release the financial report?" John asked.
"No. An official announcement is too formal, it leaves no room for the imagination," Donald replied, his eyes glinting with a veteran's cunning. "The news needs to leak through unofficial channels. The more clandestine it feels, the more those traders will believe it."
That night.
In an ICQ financial chat group with five hundred members, the group owner was a somewhat well-known independent analyst. The group was crawling with junior traders from hedge funds.
At 11:00 PM, an account that rarely ever spoke posted a screenshot.
There was no text, just the image.
It was a rough screenshot of Silicon Valley Online's internal operations backend.
It clearly displayed: "Total Clicks Yesterday: 124,500,890," accompanied by a staggering figure for "Estimated Monthly GG Revenue."
The screenshot remained for less than a minute.
The account then deleted the image, sent a message saying, "Posted by mistake, sorry," and immediately left the group.
One minute was all the opportunists in the group needed to save the image.
Someone "quietly" leaked go.com's daily click-through rate and GG's revenue into an ICQ group chat. By the next day, the news had already reached the ears of retail investors.
Richard was sitting at his computer, drinking beer, when he saw the image.
He zoomed in on the picture, staring at GG's revenue figures for a long time. After years in the financial world, he had developed a keen sensitivity to numbers.
"Even a money printer isn't this fast," Richard muttered.
He grabbed the phone and called his broker.
"Sell all my Apple Inc. stock at tomorrow's open," Richard ordered. "Jobs and his Pixar might be making a fortune, but as long as he's away from Apple, the company isn't worth holding onto. Go all-in on Silicon Valley Online. I don't care what the opening price is—just sweep the market."
Similar calls were flooding the customer service centers of major Wall Street brokerages that night.
The news spread through the financial circles with lightning speed via ICQ, email, and private phone calls. No one questioned the source of the image; they only trusted the confidential data they saw with their own eyes.
The next morning.
Manhattan, New York, Nasdaq Trading Floor.
Fifteen minutes before the opening bell, the market maker's desks were packed. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and coffee.
"SVOL! Buy orders are piling up!"
"What's the price?"
"Market price! Take them at market!"
9:30 AM. The opening bell rang.
Numbers on the electronic ticker flashed wildly.
Silicon Valley Online had closed at $52.50 yesterday. Today, it gapped up to $54.00.
No pullback. No hesitation.
A massive wave of buy orders overwhelmed the meager sell-side liquidity. The $55 level was breached within ten minutes of the open.
The frenzy for Silicon Valley Online stock had barely subsided before a new wave surged.
Wall Street fund managers watched the climbing chart and abandoned all resistance. Traditional valuation models were tossed into the trash. In this new Internet era, traffic was everything, and data was gold.
Tokyo, Minato Ward.
The executive conference room on the top floor of the Sony headquarters building.
The air conditioning was cranked low.
At opposite ends of a massive redwood conference table sat several of Sony Group's core executives. Oga Norio flipped through a market research report from North America, the rustle of paper exceptionally clear in the silent room.
The report's cover bore a logo with white letters on a black background: G0.
Nobuyuki Idei sat beside him, idly twirling a Montblanc fountain pen in his hand.
The report's contents focused entirely on the traffic miracle created by Silicon Valley Online.
With daily clicks exceeding one hundred million and user profiles accurate down to the individual, every multinational giant needing to place GG ads was on edge.
Sony, as a cross-industry giant, could not afford to miss out on such a fervent opportunity.
"Sega's shadow looms too large," Oga Norio said, pushing the report to the center of the table. "Word from Wall Street is that Silicon Valley Online's success is orchestrated by Takuya Nakayama of Sega. They even hold a significant stake and have provided critical strategic guidance for its growth."
Idei stopped his movements, tapping the pen twice on the table.
"We're locked in a fierce battle with Sega in the console market. PlayStation has finally gained a foothold in North America. Now, paying GG fees to go.com would be like handing bullets to Takuya Nakayama."
The Honda executive responsible for North American marketing cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
"President Idei, Chairman Oga. The competition in the gaming business is a reality. But Sony is more than just a gaming company." Honda stood up, walked to the projector, and switched to a new slide.
A bar chart appeared on the screen.
"This is the conversion rate data for Ford Motor Company and Coca-Cola after placing ads on go.com. Through Silicon Valley Online's Passport System, ads can be precisely targeted to the computer screens of high-net-worth users." Honda pointed to the data, his tone steady. "Our Trinitron TVs, Walkman portable players, and the new generation of Handycam camcorders all have target customer profiles that overlap significantly with go.com's users. If we don't seize these ad slots, Matsushita and Samsung will fill the void."
Business logic was always more pragmatic than a clash of egos.
Nobuyuki Idei understood this perfectly. Sony's electronics line needed exposure, but traditional TV ad rates were skyrocketing while their effectiveness was plummeting. Netizens were spending all their time on that black-and-white portal site.
"Where will the ad link lead?" Idei asked.
"Back to Sony's official North American homepage," Honda replied, having already prepared for the question. "We've integrated showcases for our core product lines on the homepage, along with a dealer locator. Once a user clicks the banner on go.com, they can directly see our latest products and find the nearest physical store."
Oga Norio said nothing, merely lifting his teacup for a sip.
As a cross-industry giant, Sony couldn't afford to be absent from the Internet wave.
Giving Sega money was infuriating, but missing out on sales in the North American market was far more fatal.
"Go negotiate," Nobuyuki Idei decided. "Allocate one-third of the July electronics line's GG budget to Silicon Valley Online. Keep the Game Division's GG budget intact, but move it to the England European Championship. We must draw a line in the sand: no advertising on their platform."
Game consoles could never be advertised on a competitor's turf, but various home appliances, Walkmans, and even Columbia Pictures were all fair game.
Redwood City, California.
Frank Marshall burst out laughing as he looked at the new contract Bill Campbell handed him.
"Sony?" Frank pointed to the name in the client column. "They actually came to us. I thought Tokyo would issue a strict order to blacklist us."
Bill sat on the sofa, sipping the coffee his assistant had just brewed.
"No one will say no to money," Bill spread his hands. "Sony's Marketing Department is being driven crazy by Matsushita. Matsushita just bought the sidebar on the sports section last week. If Sony doesn't follow suit, this quarter's home appliance sales report will look terrible."
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