American History 1988
Chapter 248 - 241: Delivered to the Door

Chapter 248: Chapter 241: Delivered to the Door

"Byte Company’s debut on the Nasdaq was explosive, with an opening price of 36 US dollars, far exceeding Wall Street financial analysts’ forecast of 20 US dollars."

By the end of the first trading day, the company’s share price had soared to 47 US dollars.

With a total market value of 4.33 billion US dollars, it had surpassed Oracle, a company with a 14-year history, breaking the record for the fastest-growing software company in history..."

"My God, our shares are fast approaching 50 dollars again," Valentine said, arms crossed as he stared intently at the television.

"The rise is only just beginning," Durell boldly predicted.

"So, are you guys planning to sell off a bit any time soon?" Valentine quietly inquired about KeyPoint Ventures’ plans.

"If you want to sell at an extremely low price, go ahead," Durell said, clearly not considering the option.

"Alright, I’ll think about it," Valentine wrestled with his dilemma internally.

He had originally planned to have Sequoia Capital cash out a bit once Byte Company’s stocks exceeded 50 US dollars.

But he was afraid of missing the peak of the surge and thus losing out on a huge profit.

Like Sequoia Capital, KeyPoint Ventures, and Dean, they were all major shareholders of Byte Company, each holding more than 5% of the shares.

According to the regulations of the SEC and federal law, the main issuers’ shares wouldn’t be immediately eligible for sale after their IPO.

Usually, original major shareholders like Dean and Sequoia Capital could only trade publicly after the IPO had been listed for half a year.

Additionally, the number of shares they could sell was strictly limited, such as not exceeding 1% of the similar class of issued shares within three months.

Furthermore, as actual controllers of the company, each time they reduced their holdings, they were required to publicly file with the SEC.

The purpose of this was to prevent a massive sell-off immediately after a new stock listing, which could cause stock market volatility.

It wasn’t just the SEC; Wall Street underwriters also imposed certain restrictions on the lock-up period when signing contracts with Byte Company.

After all, Morgan Stanley and others needed to be responsible to their clients; if major shareholders like Dean sold off, causing the stock price to fall,

then the large investment banks that had bought their stocks in the primary market would also suffer heavy losses. Although the motivations differ, the ultimate goal was to ensure stock price stability.

Of course, as the driving force behind the era, is there any way for venture capital firms to circumvent these lock-up measures?

Without a doubt, for instance, Sequoia Capital could have dispersed their 12.4% stake across several shell companies prior to the listing,

and then cash out through these unaffiliated companies.

Otherwise, how could they exit the scene in time for those startups whose IPOs didn’t go too well?

However, since Byte Company had just completed its listing and the new products hadn’t been released yet,

even an impatient Valentine wouldn’t cash out on a large scale; he would definitely wait until after September or October to decide, based on market conditions.

With profits already comfortably exceeding 100 million US dollars, Valentine didn’t mind waiting a little longer.

"By the way, where’s Dean?" Valentine looked around curiously, as tonight’s celebration was in full swing.

They had returned to the West Coast, and compared to Wall Street, Silicon Valley felt more relaxing.

"Sorry, guys, I’ve had a lot going on these past two days," Dean finally arrived, belatedly escorting Jennifer Connolly by the hand.

"Yo! Just by the satisfied looks on your faces, we can tell," Marcus teased, causing everyone in the hall to burst into laughter.

Dean’s penchant for Hollywood starlets was now virtually common knowledge in Silicon Valley.

As Byte Company’s stock price skyrocketed, Dean’s net worth leaped past 1.5 billion US dollars, which made him living it up a bit seem only natural.

Dean, surrounded by the crowd, was not the least embarrassed; in fact, he wore a slightly triumphant expression on his face.

He had spent the previous night unlocking many new positions with Jennifer Connolly, and he was still savoring the memories.

As for Jennifer Connolly, well, she was blissfully happy.

It all seemed too dreamlike; she had rushed back to the West Coast from filming in Europe overnight.

The director’s complaints were insignificant to her, hadn’t she seen the expression on her colleagues when the news broke?

Hearing the number 1.5 billion US dollars, their eyes bulged like frogs’.

Then Jennifer Connolly received countless envious, somewhat jealous glances.

They envied her, yet they had to plaster on smiles and flatter her.

Alright, Jennifer admitted she relished that feeling.

A woman loves the gaze of envy from others; it’s the treatment reserved for winners.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let’s party hard tonight and celebrate the Silicon Valley shockwave we sent to Wall Street!"

"Yeah!" The men and women in the posh grand hall of the Fairmont Hotel cheered, raising their glasses.

The Silicon Valley shockwave, that’s what the Wall Street Journal had recently dubbed Byte Company’s grand IPO affair.

It was a fitting title, with America’s news media nearly exploding.

The creation of hundreds of new millionaires in a single trading day was the year’s hottest economic news.

Everyone was quick to lavish praise on Dean, calling him prodigy, genius... lavishing on him every kind of accolade as if it didn’t cost a thing.

Following Jobs and Gates, Dean became Silicon Valley’s third icon.

Even the White House came out with a few comments, implying everything was accomplished under the Old George Government.

Look, as the election day drew nearer, the Republican Party was also eager to gild itself.

They even invited Dean to attend a meeting at the White House, and Dean had agreed.

It was Regis’ advice; as a "Silicon Valley nerd," he could, to some extent, play both sides.

"Not bad, Dean. Byte Company even surpassed Oracle," Ellison said sourly as he held his wine glass in a toast.

"Ha ha, it was just luck, we all know that." Dean’s face beamed with pride as Byte Company’s stocks broke through 50 US dollars again.

"By the way, Oracle is fine now, right? Need any help?"

He and Oracle’s Ellison, Silicon Graphics’ Jim, Sun Microsystems’ Andy were all friends.

"We’re okay," Ellison’s face showed no change of emotion, "Oracle has secured a hundred million US dollars revolving credit deal, and Neon’s Nippon Steel is also set to invest eighty million US dollars."

"That’s good, I believe Oracle will reach its peak again," Dean could only offer such words of comfort.

Recently, Oracle’s situation had been the complete opposite of Byte Company’s; they had been suffering losses for several quarters in a row.

In last year’s financial report, they even reported a financial loss of 12.4 million US dollars for the first time ever in a fiscal year.

The market immediately reacted, and after several rounds of plummeting, Oracle’s stock even hit a low of 4.88 US dollars.

To manage the crisis, Oracle had no choice but to lay off employees and adjust their management team.

Some top talents were forced to leave Oracle, like Thomas Siebel, who Dean now had scooped up.

This year was a low point in Ellison’s career, not only facing the risk of being ousted by the board but his third wife also left him.

"Worktitle is about to be released, I think we could start some cooperation between us?" Dean started to test the waters quietly.

"Cooperation?" Ellison showed a hint of interest, as Oracle was now in desperate need to turn their business around.

"Yes, like opening up our API interfaces to each other, achieving software compatibility." This was something Dean had been wanting to do.

If he wanted to build a software ecosystem for Byte Company, they still needed to link up and be compatible with more software companies.

But Dean knew that Ellison had always planned to enter the application software market with Oracle.

From a long-term perspective, there was an underlying competitive relationship between them.

So, Dean’s suggestion, to some extent, touched on Oracle’s sensitive areas.

But he knew this was a rare opportunity. Once Oracle recovered from this setback, such an opportunity would no longer present itself.

As expected, after hearing Dean’s suggestion, Ellison was somewhat tempted.

Byte Company was now a star enterprise. If Oracle could establish a strategic partnership with them, perhaps it could restore the market’s confidence in Oracle.

"I’ll consider it," Ellison decided to call a board meeting after returning.

...

"Cheryl, is the stuff I asked you to prepare ready?" Looking at the luxurious Fairmont Hotel, Hillary’s expression was unusually calm.

"Do you need me to help you get rid of the people around him?" A small box was handed to Hillary.

As her confidant, Cheryl Mills didn’t ask any unnecessary questions.

"No," Hillary took the item, and then, with a smile, she opened the car door and stepped out.

She had come all the way from Arkansas to attend Dean’s party, or rather, this victory celebration.

In fact, they had already called Dean before and congratulated him over the phone.

But when Byte Company’s market value surpassed 4.5 billion US dollars, they decided Hillary would make the trip herself.

4.5 billion US dollars! Clinton was quite sure Dean would be his biggest donor in the future.

One could never pay too much attention to their donor, and if not for being tied up with official duties, Clinton himself might have come.

When Dean saw Hillary show up at the party, he was both surprised and slightly unnerved.

"I didn’t expect you to come." Dean greeted her with a cheek-to-cheek.

For some reason, Dean’s mind was filled with that news report he had seen recently.

"Congratulations, Dean, you’re now a superstar," Hillary said enthusiastically, passing him a wine glass.

"Thank you, to be honest, I’m also surprised," Dean said, clinking glasses with her.

"You’re a genius, everyone is going crazy over you," Hillary made a profit as well, thanks to his hints.

After a short conversation, Hillary joked, "If you need any help later on, just let me know.

And of course, if there are any similar good projects, don’t forget to let us in on the action."

"Umm~" Dean raised an eyebrow and nodded, "I’ll take a close look after some time."

There’s actually something? Hillary’s face lit with joy; her trip today was not in vain.

If Dean were to create another Byte Company, then...

Well, thinking about Byte Company’s current market value, Hillary couldn’t calm down at all.

"Oh~..."

"Dean"

Before Hillary could continue, Durell, holding his wine glass, came over.

"Sorry, miss, I need to talk to Dean for a moment."

"Of course, go ahead," Hillary said with a smile, indicating it was fine.

"I’ll talk to you later," Dean said to her before walking off to the side with Durell.

"What’s up, Durell?" Dean was curious; he wondered what Durell wanted at this time.

Interested in GO Corporation?" Durell’s opening remark left Dean stunned.