Neither Microsoft nor Intel noticed the sudden emergence of hundreds of small companies in the industry. After all, with hundreds of small companies being born almost every day, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.
Conversely, they believed their alliance was very strong because everyone in the alliance shared the same interests. They simply couldn't fathom anyone betraying those interests.
Then, news spread through the grapevine: OO Network was about to go public.
This news broke around October 25th, reported sensationally by Wall Street's most renowned financial magazine. The magazine cited an anonymous source working at the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that they had received OO Network's prospectus and financial reports, and were currently reviewing the relevant documents, with results expected within a week.
Upon the release of this news, the entire internet was... undisturbed.
Well, aside from some comments from financial professionals, the internet remained remarkably calm. After all, from 2000 to 2020, it was a period of concentrated listings of Chinese companies on the US stock market, with many Chinese enterprises going public on exchanges like NASDAQ during this time.
Therefore, another Chinese company going public on the US stock market was not something to be surprised about. To expect the entire internet to be shaken by it would be rather self-important.
The entire financial industry reacted with considerable calmness. OO Network had, after all, rarely publicized its performance, and the gaming industry, compared to the broader internet sector, was still a relatively obscure entity. Before the prevalence of electronic payments, it was difficult to generate significant revenue through games. Moreover, OO Network had seemingly never released any high-quality games; they only had a game platform. Thus, even though the vast majority of financial circles regarded OO Network with indifference, there was a reason for this.
Of course, a significant factor behind this was the efforts of Goldman Sachs. Wanting to be the sole beneficiary, they did their best to dampen the enthusiasm and speculation surrounding this stock among their peers, so they could acquire their 10% stake in OO Network at the lowest possible cost.
Then, they planned to acquire the remaining 10% of the shares at an even lower price when OO Network listed, thereby becoming OO Network's second-largest shareholder and securing significant leverage for future operations.
The situation unfolded much as Goldman Sachs had anticipated. Despite the leak from an insider at a regulatory commission, the subdued initial reaction paradoxically proved the widespread calm, with no one grasping the profound significance behind the news.
However, Goldman Sachs had calculated everything except for one crucial detail: while most ordinary people and financial professionals failed to recognize the terrifying power and strength of OO Network, those within the gaming industry were acutely aware of it.
After all, they paid "tolls" to OO Network every single year, day, and second. They were the ones who best understood OO Network's formidable profitability.
So, when a journalist from an entertainment media outlet went to interview a senior executive at Electronic Arts (EA), something unexpected happened.
The journalist's original intention was to interview EA about their newly released game, "Crysis," play it, and then write a preview report – a typical piece of gaming industry news.
However, the process went so smoothly that there was ample interview time left, with no idea what else to ask. Coincidentally, the journalist was an avid stock market investor and had just seen the news about OO Network's impending IPO. So, they casually asked, "What are your thoughts on OO Network going public?"
"What can I say? I'd definitely use all my cash... No, I'd probably have to mortgage my house, my car, and anything else I could. Then I'd take all that money and buy OO Network stock!" The executive, being quite candid, shared his thoughts without reservation.
"Really? That's so extreme?" The journalist was stunned by the executive's words. Buying stocks wasn't unusual, but mortgaging all one's assets to buy stocks was truly extraordinary.
Moreover, stocks weren't a guaranteed profit; what if the stock price plummeted? Wouldn't the executive then be ruined, losing everything?
"It's not that bad. Several friends of mine in the industry have the same plan!" the executive said with a smile. "We've estimated that as long as OO Network's total market capitalization upon listing is less than $100 billion, the stock is a buy. At that point, it could at least double!"
"What!" The journalist was even more bewildered. As someone who also enjoyed investing, they had a clear understanding of the stock market. Only a few companies worldwide had a market capitalization exceeding $100 billion.
This guy was saying that if OO Network's market cap was less than $100 billion, it was a buy, and it could double?
"Uh, don't you guys know how profitable OO Network is?" Seeing the journalist's expression, the EA executive was also baffled and asked somewhat foolishly.
The journalist certainly didn't know much about OO Network, so the EA executive began to calculate in front of the reporter. "I'm not entirely sure about other companies, but our company received about $700 million in revenue sharing from OO Network last year. If they take a 30% commission, they would have earned around $300 million in intermediary revenue!"
"This is all disclosed in our company's public financial reports; you can check it yourselves. As for other companies, while I'm not very familiar, I've seen some of their financial reports, and their capital is substantial. I estimate that from single-player games alone, OO Network could be collecting over $15 billion in intermediary fees annually!"
"And OO Network isn't just about games. They also have software programs, and most importantly, a mobile game store. Furthermore, OO Network has directly acquired several renowned game companies and studios in the industry, such as Blizzard and Rockstar Games, which are essentially subsidiaries of OO Network. This listing will definitely be a bundled affair!"
"However, all my current data is just guesswork. But I believe at the very least, OO Network's market capitalization after listing should not be less than $200 billion. Considering its profitability, the company ranks almost second in the world! The top-ranked company, Shell, is already at $400 billion, so it's perfectly normal for the second-ranked company to have $200 billion!"
"I'm really looking forward to seeing OO Network's prospectus and their disclosed revenue figures. Who knows, it might even exceed $300 billion."
"In any case, I'm just waiting for OO Network's roadshow to get a chance to buy some shares cheaply and strike it rich!" The EA executive finished speaking as time was up and concluded the interview.
Meanwhile, the journalist was utterly stunned by the executive's words, though unsure of their veracity.
However, with the principle that truth or falsehood wasn't important as long as it generated buzz and became a quality news piece, the journalist immediately drafted their interview notes into two articles.
One article was a standard interview and preview of the game, while the other was the complete content of the conversation with the executive, titled "Is a Future $300 Billion Company a Gaming Company? Industry Insider Reveals Explosive Details, the Biggest Dark Horse of 2007 Arrives."
Because the content was indeed sensational and had come from a senior executive at EA, the editor-in-chief enthusiastically granted it an extra spread for publication.
The article itself didn't generate much immediate reaction. After all, the gaming magazine was just an ordinary publication with a limited readership. Gamers generally cared only about games and were completely indifferent to the stock market. Many skimmed the title and then dismissed the article.
Or, some copied the article and posted it on gaming forums, starting threads with mocking remarks like, "How exaggerated have gaming media become? A $300 billion company, and they actually dare to spout such nonsense."
Initially, the players who replied to these threads joined in the mockery, cooperating with the original poster.
Then, at comment number six, a player posted, "While I don't look at other companies' financial reports, our company did indeed receive $120 million in revenue sharing from OO Network this year. I'm an employee at Capcom."
Following that, at comment number seven, another player added, "Although I don't look at other companies' financial reports either, our company received $360 million in revenue sharing from OO Network this year. I'm an employee at Ubisoft."
The thread then completely veered off course. As this was the world's largest gaming forum, it naturally had many employees from major game studios.
Seeing the posts formatted in such a uniform manner, many employees from major game studios couldn't resist chiming in to showcase their companies' revenue sharing from OO Network.
There were even employees from many companies that were not publicly traded and whose financial reports were unavailable, but these internal staff members still managed to impressively disclose their companies' financial income.
As the influence of these posts grew, some people with ample free time began to tally the data disclosed in the comments. The more they tallied, the more shocked they became.
OO Network's annual revenue from games wasn't just $15 billion; it had reached a terrifying level of $20 billion!
Then, some busybodies went to check the financial reports of those companies. They discovered that for companies that had disclosed their financial reports, the data was largely accurate, which was truly alarming. Could OO Network's earning power really be this terrifying?
Consequently, this thread immediately became the most popular on the entire forum, dominating the homepage and reaching more people, including financial media professionals who also enjoyed gaming.
These media professionals possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to numbers. Upon seeing the terrifying revenue figures disclosed in the thread, they began to tremble.
Then, they immediately searched for all the latest financial reports of game companies available on the entire internet. When they cross-referenced this data, a gaming industry giant with incredibly terrifying earning power slowly began to emerge before all the financial circles.