American History 1988
Chapter 159 - 153: Cashing Out

Chapter 159: Chapter 153: Cashing Out

The live video of Byte Company and Bell attending the interpretive hearing in the federal court of the Northern District was given prime coverage by various television media in the Bay Area.

After all, this was the recent hot topic event in Silicon Valley, and of course, people were also very curious about that young Stanford student who had founded Byte Company.

Americans admire heroism, a student who started from scratch and built a company worth tens of millions of dollars.

This is seen as a story of inspirational struggle, as well as a typical representation of the American Dream in reality.

And the last part of Dean’s speech at the hearing undoubtedly further confirmed people’s speculation.

This is the story of a country boy’s counterattack, and Dean’s background is even worse than that of most people in front of the TV.

In the impression of most Americans, the Rust Belt is synonymous with backwardness, conservatism, and poverty. A young man born in such a small town might never make it out in his lifetime.

They might drop out of high school and then enter the perpetually dark factories until one morning when they go to work only to be told they’ve been laid off.

Or drop out and do nothing, then quickly join the local street gang. In the end, they might get arrested or get shot in some gang conflict.

They are ignorant and rude, and might never hear about Silicon Valley from anyone’s mouth, let alone vacation in California.

Generation after generation, they repeat this life, never to turn over a new leaf.

For the Rust Belt, the flyover country, people are even stingy with their attention to it.

But now, people living in the Bay Area have a slight change of perception because they saw Dean on TV.

He didn’t succumb to fate’s arrangement; he broke free from the mire-like environment; he became a Stanford student.

Now he’s starting to control his own fate, he founded a tech company valued at tens of millions of dollars.

If the American Dream really exists, it must be like Dean’s.

Although the outcome of the hearing hasn’t come out yet, Dean has already gained significant recognition and affirmation in the Bay Area.

Byte Company also received people’s predisposed support, as it seemed so innocent.

But Valentine thought it was not enough, "Dean, we should strike while the iron is hot!"

Valentine walked excitedly around the office. He hadn’t expected Dean’s personal charm to win favor with the general public.

"The more people pay attention to the lawsuit, the more cautious the court and the jury will be.

Especially when the public overwhelmingly supports one side, the judges also need to consider the impact of public opinion.

Dean, did you see Judge William’s performance earlier? It’s clear their leanings are not with us."

During the hearing, Dean was on several occasions targeted by Judge William with questions. While all this was in line with procedure, few would believe there was no push from AT&T behind it.

If Dean were to make a mistake in his answer, or show impatience, or openly defy the judge,

then regardless of the subsequent ruling, just the media’s sensationalizing alone would cause Byte Company to squander the advantage it had gained in public opinion.

So although it was an interpretive hearing, not as serious as a congressional hearing, the process was equally perilous.

It was a gamble with Bell, the judge, the media, and even Dean himself, but luckily the outcome was positive in the end.

Now Byte Company has not only maintained its previous advantage in public opinion, but Dean’s image on television has continued to amplify that advantage.

"I should have thought of it..." Valentine pointed at the television on the wall, "It’s easier to be received than newspapers and magazines, it’s more vivid and more interesting.

You may not have the habit of reading newspapers, but you certainly have the habit of watching TV.

I need to think, what resources Sequoia Capital has in this area..."

Valentine quickly became absorbed in his own mutterings, pacing back and forth in the office as if he had forgotten that he was in a meeting.

Shrugging at the other directors, Dean spoke with ease, "At least for now, it seems the situation is in our favor."

"The court is the key, I’ll contact some of my military connections to see if they can help." Perhaps sensing a chance at victory, David Morgentaler was ready to up the ante, prepared to mobilize even more of his network resources.

Durell, who rushed back from Tokyo, knew this was the right time to put effort into the matter, "In a few days, I’ll take you to meet some people from MCI, litigation is our short-term response, but a complete alternative is the safest approach."

"MCI?" Dean was somewhat surprised by this outcome; it was another telecom giant.

"Don’t let AT&T’s propaganda blind you," Durell said, shaking his left leg with confidence, "Not all phone companies see Teams as a threat, we can consider the problem from a different angle."

Alright, the development of things was a bit beyond Dean’s expectation. He had a feeling that the number of people getting involved in the lawsuit was going to increase.

"OK, after the hearing, we expect to receive a notice from the court in a month. During this period, Byte Company’s expansion plan continues."

The funds from Sequoia Capital and KeyPoint Ventures had been received, and 14 million dollars was enough for Byte Company to carry out the expansion plan in all 51 states of America as Valentine had initially envisioned.

Additionally, thanks to the recent work of the Bay Area media, Teams 2.0’s sales volume reached 50,000 in May. Including the initial 1.0 version, Teams has sold 130,000 copies.

In terms of scale, Byte software already had its own stable customer base.

80% of the enterprise users among those 130,000 have chosen the annual subscription model, which means Byte software will have a fixed annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars.

As the expansion continues, this figure will keep rising. Compared to the troublesome lawsuit, these data are much more endearing.

After finishing the board meeting, Dean immediately convened a high-level corporate meeting without a moment’s delay.

It happened to be a period of rapid expansion for the company, and coupled with the influence of litigation, everyone at Byte Software was extremely busy.

"Boss, there is news about the matter you asked me to keep an eye on." As soon as he returned to his office, Anna handed him a newspaper.

Dean casually flipped through it, "The Washington Post"—could it be...

"Ever since the National Science Foundation office announced the pilot privatization of the NSFNet, the discussion about the liberalization of the internet has been the focus of attention.

Now, it seems that this process might be faster than we thought, just yesterday the Compuserve company, based in Ohio, proposed a network interconnection plan.

The plan aims to unite all private online service providers to establish a joint entity to provide reliable and secure technical support for the interchangeability of user data on the network.

SPI, UUNET, and AOL have all expressed support for this initiative, unanimously agreeing that connectivity and sharing are the future main themes of internet service.

There’s no doubt, this is a grand and unimaginable plan..." Dean put down the newspaper. He was right, this was good news.

Although the National Science Foundation office has not yet made a statement, this report from The Washington Post undoubtedly broadened people’s horizons.

IBM had already established its own ANS network operations department, and just as it had claimed, ANS refused to allow data from other network service providers to connect.

The tech community, especially Silicon Valley, loathed this deeply because they saw another Bell gradually being born.

But now, there was a twist. In the face of this blue giant, the smaller private service providers were not entirely without the power to fight back.

If things went as expected, Silicon Valley would certainly be jubilant about this news.

But Dean’s concern was not these matters at the moment; he picked up the phone and quickly dialed a string of numbers.

"What’s the stock price of Compuserve right now?... $9.6? Start buying when it exceeds $11, keep our shareholding around 0.6%."

Dean had been waiting for this peak moment, and not to mention whether the interconnection plan could be realized, but the title itself was imposing.

Apart from IBM and the National Science Foundation office, both Silicon Valley and the general public hoped this plan would succeed.

Thus, the news from The Washington Post effortlessly helped American Online double its market value.

But even so, American Online’s total market value was just over 600 million dollars. This was quite lower than that of most software companies, so Dean believed there was still room for growth.

As long as the stock price of American Online exceeded $11, then Dean’s initial investment would have nearly quadrupled.

After all, when he first acquired American Online shares, their price was $4. Dean even got a 30% discount on that, so the actual purchase price was $2.8.

$11 minus the $2.8 cost, the difference is $8.2.

There was no need to aim too high, this was already enough. Dean planned to cash out some of the shares, and then improve his lifestyle.

Byte Company wouldn’t bring him any revenue for the time being, with going public at the earliest next year.

Therefore, plans to improve his lifestyle could only rely on these shares; money never ends, Dean was clear on that, when it’s time to enjoy life, do it without delay.

Cashing out half of the shares would be worth about 6 million dollars. Even after paying some taxes, Dean’s initial investment of 3 million dollars was fully recouped.

Taking into account the value of the remaining shares, Dean’s small fortune instantly tripled or even quadrupled.

Motherfucker, indeed, insider trading is the fastest way to make money.

But Dean only dared to dabble on a small scale; with his current foundation, getting too big would easily attract predators.

This was also why Dean didn’t cash out all at once; large transactions were too conspicuous. The longer the stock was held, the more normal it seemed on the books.

Tsk, my wallet’s about to fatten up soon. What should I buy for myself?

Ding-a-ling... Just as Dean was stealing a rare moment of leisure in his busy schedule, the phone in front of him rang.

"Hello~ This is Dean Price."

"Dean, is that you?" A deep and weathered voice came from the receiver.

Dean’s expression became stunned; he recognized this voice...

...

At five o’clock in the evening, Bill Dreaper left the Lockheed facility as usual, driving along Highway 101 toward his home in Sunnyvale.

He gently turned the radio knob, accustomed to clearing his mind during this time and randomly listening to some local radio stations.

"It’s unbelievable, Byte Company’s founder Dean Price isn’t even 20 years old yet.

Crap, at that age, the only thing I was better at than him was probably distinguishing the different kinds of leaves by taste."

"Yeah~ This guy even comes from the Rust Belt of Ohio, honestly, I feel a lot better about my jealousy now.

That place is too miserable; I heard the streets are full of people protesting unemployment every day."

Dean Price? Ohio? Bill frowned slightly.