Chapter 28: The Cash Cow

Faced with such a situation, the reporters were quite frustrated. They were genuinely scared; several of their peers had been taken to court. The outrageous content made them hesitant to fabricate stories. When regular folks found themselves in lawsuits, newspapers didn't care much. They had plenty of resources to deal with that. But for the wealthy, such lawsuits could lead to bankruptcy. ... Meanwhile, the IT industry had become quite lively. The once-overlooked microcomputer suddenly gained a lot of attention. Apple's shipments in May approached twenty thousand units, and estimates for this month suggested continued growth. That number was staggering. If they maintained this momentum, they could hit thirty thousand units by the end of the year. With such sales figures, Apple's revenue surpassed a hundred million dollars. Although profit margins weren't huge, investment banks remained cautiously optimistic. After all, they were pouring money into developing new products, making the company a worthwhile long-term investment. Fund managers wanting to invest in Apple doubled. Morgan Stanley had to adjust its initial price target. If they clung to their original figures, they risked being left behind. ... White Software received even more attention. Initially, when that company started building office buildings, the IT world mocked them for being upstarts. But now, they weren't laughing anymore. Other versions of White Office Software were released and achieved remarkable sales. Third-party surveys indicated that White Software's shipments exceeded fifty thousand copies in June. That was a conservative estimate. The logic was simple: previous clients had only purchased the bare machines without any pre-installed software, so they naturally needed those software products now. Thus, White Software embarked on its cash cow journey. Fund companies didn't see any costs involved. If software could sell for millions, the profits were astounding. It was no surprise the office buildings were so fancy -- they clearly had money to burn! If this growth continued, next year the company's revenue could hit fifty million dollars. That was still a cautious estimate; the market even expected future microcomputer sales to surpass one million. Considering the current software installation rate, this was a company on its way to a hundred million in revenue. For a company with only a few dozen employees, that figure was truly remarkable. Few employees meant high added value. Even more frustratingly, their boss seemed to have foreseen this outcome and wouldn't initiate the A-round funding until next year. The initial valuation of twenty million dollars had been a hard-fought estimate. In hindsight, that seemed ridiculous. It was incredibly difficult to value a software company capable of generating a hundred million in revenue in just one year. It now appeared to be a case of sheer luck. The difficulty in compiling a software suite was minor; imitation held little challenge. The issue was that White Software obviously had plans in place, with patents that were impressively formidable. Individual attempts at imitation lacked commercial value, and if a large company tried it, they would likely get dragged into lawsuits. This leading advantage was very uncertain, hence there wasn't any reasonable way to price it. Of course, William White didn't care. He never planned to go public anytime soon and didn't want anyone else to take advantage of him. From a fund manager's perspective, their boss was rather unfocused, unexpectedly diving into film production. After writing a novel, going into film was a whole other level of unconventional. Wasn't it time to focus on growth? Shouldn't they be establishing a leading edge? Apple had already begun developing their third-generation machine. What about your next software? And that damned CEO -- this guy was nothing more than a salesman. How could they let someone who didn't understand computers take such a vital role? What a gamble! ... Setting aside the disarray among those fellows, William White began post-production. That step wasn't easy; it involved not just editing, but also handling the film's score and voice-over issues. Fortunately, money made things smoother. Thanks to his financial clout, the post-production process moved along swiftly. The hardest part was editing. William White worked quickly; the two assistants helping him were bewildered by the pace. They had no clue editing could go this fast. One had to admit, they shot the film without any extra footage, so it made sense that editing would be efficient. And so, the alternate universe version of Police Academy hit the scene ahead of schedule. William White believed this film far surpassed the original. The original movie was nothing more than a small production meant for quick cash. The sequels were forced to stretch a thin premise, and although they drew decent box office numbers, the plots ran dry. This was typical of Hollywood; every studio was overexploiting IP value. James Bond had been run into the ground, and Spider-Man suffered a similar fate. For films of this caliber, a sequel every two years was the max before they ran out of ideas. James Bond ended up in a casino, and his car turned into a generic model. Making jokes about the British economy's woes would have helped a bit, but they claimed the government was pinching pennies, and that's why they settled for less. Sadly, Ford had paid a hefty sum and wouldn't tolerate being portrayed that way. In their eyes, that model was a prestigious European car. Henceforth, no more Bond films followed; audiences were thoroughly disappointed and chose to cast their votes with their feet. William White was different. He embedded several Easter eggs; dedicated film buffs would certainly notice. But it wasn't necessary to pay close attention; after all, it was just a popcorn movie. As long as it didn't lead kids astray, that was good enough. ... While he busied himself with post-production, the IT giants weren't too relaxed either. Analyzing the personnel William White had hired suggested their next software would likely be database-related. Larry Ellison was furious. His company had lost at least five senior engineers, all pivotal to database development, and now they found themselves reporting to William White. He was a bit of a maverick in Silicon Valley, famously known as a Silicon Valley wildcard. Nobody wanted to provoke him. He had a loose tongue and usually didn't hold back in conversation. Clearly, there was some exciting drama ahead. William White seemed unbothered, and neither did the headhunting firm he retained. As long as the talent was suitable, the boss was quite generous. They had always been indifferent about where talent was drawn from. There was only one requirement: real skill. If someone could snag talent from a federal prison, they'd still pay the fee. Oracle was a server-based database software supplier that had struggled in recent years but still enjoyed playing the big shot. With William White snatching his folks, it was evident he aimed to penetrate the database market, predictable given his stance on microcomputers. In that era, not a single tech giant openly supported microcomputers; it was all driven by self-interest. The booming sales of microcomputers clearly impacted the sales of mini-computers. They couldn't hide their feelings on the matter. ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.