Chapter 61 I Really Don’t Want to Be Famous
No matter what, Enron is a giant company in America and even the world, so when Enron announced its entry into the Internet industry and its plan to build the world's largest e-commerce platform, the impact can be imagined.
The slogan "Build another Enron!" was also launched by Enron. The slogan was so inflammatory that it caused Enron's stock price to surge 7% that day. The stock price broke through US$40 per share, setting a historical high since Enron was founded.
This kind of performance made all those who had previously questioned Kenneth and Jeff Skilling shut up. The stock price was the best reaction. On that day, the net worth of those who invested in Enron increased by more than 7%!
"This is not the end. Looking back in the next few years, this may just be the beginning of Enron's stock price!" Wall Street institutions are also cheering for Enron. They like this kind of story.
Throughout America, including Texas and Tennessee, media in several states that have placed their pension funds on Enron have also been fanning the flames, shouting the slogan "New Enron."
Before the construction of the Enron Online website began, the media touted it as the world's largest business website, with a valuation of over 30 million US dollars. That means that Enron Online, which only had a domain name, had a valuation of over 10 million US dollars.
This made a certain bald founder, who had just established the company for a year and changed the company name to Amazon less than a month ago , sigh when he saw this news. Amazon's online bookstore has been struggling for a year, and now Wall Street has given Amazon a valuation of no more than 30 million US dollars, because no matter how you look at it, Amazon is now a money-losing company...
Influenced by Enron Online, the Nasdaq was also affected that day, and the index directly broke through 1,000 points. It has more than tripled from more than 300 points at the beginning of the year. The entire Nasdaq and Silicon Valley have begun to show an atmosphere of frenzy.
Also taking this ride was the little-known DoubleClick company. Although Enron only announced that DoubleClick would serve as Enron Online's technical partner, analysis agencies in Wall Street and Silicon Valley still raised DoubleClick's market value again to over 100 million US dollars!
A company that was established only half a year ago has a valuation of over 100 million US dollars, which has overturned countless people's impressions of the Internet .
According to current estimates from Silicon Valley and Wall Street, after Netscape goes public next month, it will basically become the world's number one Internet company by market value. If ranked based on the current valuations of Internet companies in the United States, DoubleClick will also be in the top 20, although it is at the tail end!
Song Yang's net worth has skyrocketed again in nominal terms. The founder of a company valued at tens of millions and the founder of a company valued at hundreds of millions are two completely different treatments. Although for Song Yang, these are of no use at all, and he cannot cash out unless the company goes public.
But now America's Internet industry has begun to flourish.
Today, Devers School is crowded with people. Song Yang, Jenny and other graduates are all in graduation gowns. Greg, Daana, Gallo and others are also here to attend. The whole Devers School is in a state of excitement today. Today is the graduation ceremony for Song Yang and his classmates at Devers School.
The entire street was decorated. Not only students and parents, but also well-known figures in the community near Devers School, pastors, and district councilors, all came today. Originally, not so many people came, but with Song Yang's presence, Adrian and others came to show their support. A founder of a company valued at over 100 million would be touted in any city in America!
As soon as he entered the scene, a lot of people gathered around Song Yang. After seeing Adrian, Song Yang walked over first.
"Councilman Adrian!"
"Good job, Song. I heard about your collaboration with Kenneth!"
Adrian leaned close to Song Yang's ear and said with a smile that in his opinion, he had contributed a lot to the cooperation between DoubleClick and Enron. If he hadn't invited Song Yang to his party, Song Yang would never have met Kenneth. Adrian felt that the tens of thousands of US dollars in campaign funds donated by Song Yang to him were definitely worth the money.
Song Yang could only nod his head and reluctantly accepted Adrian's "good intentions". When the construction of the Chicago to New York line started, he would still need to rely on Adrian's connections in various federal states.
"Song, let me introduce you to some friends, Harris County Attorney Chuck Rhodes," Adrian pointed to a tall, thin middle-aged man and said to Song Yang with a smile, "He's the guy who keeps countless people in Houston awake at night!"
Song Yang looked at Chuck. Although the latter had a smile on his face, he always felt uncomfortable being stared at by Chuck. Although Adrian was joking, Chuck was indeed a powerful figure in Houston.
He can directly decide whether to prosecute a person, that is, whether to send a person to federal prison. Especially now that the Attorney General of the American Federation has more and more power, some powerful figures can even suppress federal detectives. For example, in a case, federal detectives have become bystanders and are only responsible for collecting evidence. The rest of the evidence review, prosecution, trial, etc. are all handled by the Attorney General's people!
"This is Harris from the Coast Guard..."
Adrian introduced several people to Song Yang, who were obviously all from his camp. This was also an "inadvertent" way of showing off his strength and connections to Song Yang. The Attorney General of Houston, the Coast Guard and the like were all his people.
In this situation, Song Yang and Adrian and his gang could only say a few words quickly, and then they were pulled aside by Dana.
“Song, Pastor Andrew hasn’t seen you for a long time!”
Dana pulled Song Yang to a man dressed as a pastor. Song Yang knew that this was Andrew, the pastor of this community in Houston.
Song Yang didn't have a deep impression of Andrew. In fact, he had only been there a few times. However, facing Andrew, Song Yang would not say that. "Pastor Andrew, I have always wanted to go with Aunt Dana, but you know I am too busy!"
"I see!"
Andrew seemed to be very "considerate" too, "But I still hope that Song, you can come to the church with Gallo and the others to listen..."
"Of course. I want to donate some money to Pastor Andrew and the church through the Bruno Foundation to repair the church and do some charity activities!"
Bruno Foundation is a charity foundation established by Song Yang. It is now managed by Daana. It actually donates money to schools, hospitals, charities and other places in Houston. It also buys some food and clothes to help the slum communities. Now Daana has a reputation as a philanthropic lady in Houston. Many Houston newspapers have reported on this. This is also a common routine...
When Andrew heard that Song Yang was going to donate another sum of money to him, there was no smile on his face, but he was happy in his heart. If he, as a pastor, wanted to go further, he also needed more supporters. In America, all of these cannot be achieved without US dollars!
Amid the noise, Song Yang walked to the makeshift stage and took out the speech he had prepared long ago. Song Yang even asked Irene, an MBA from the University of Houston, to polish the manuscript.
"I never thought I would be standing here. My greatest hope was to stand on the baseball field, to win the game for the jersey I was wearing, but..."
Hearing this, Stanton, who was sitting in the audience , covered his face in pain. He didn't know why Song Yang kept bringing this up. Stanton, who had already received an invitation from a baseball team at a not-so-famous university in Texas, felt that he would probably become famous in America in the future. The one who teased him the most was probably that without his baseball bat, Song Yang wouldn't be where he is today. But Stanton said that he really didn't want to become famous in this way!
"But Pastor Andrew often told me that when God closes a door for you, he will definitely open a window for you. Of course, we must be well prepared to discover the sunlight shining into the room from the window. For this, I want to thank Uncle Greg and Daana..."
Andrew, who was mentioned by Song Yang, slowly turned his head with a solemn expression and gestured to the eyes cast around him, with the demeanor of a master. Although Andrew could not remember when Song Yang, who had only visited him a few times since he was a child, had ever heard him say this.
"Thank you Devers School and thank you Congressman Adrian for all you do for Devers School and Houston!"
After Song Yang finished speaking, there was applause from the audience. This bowl of thick chicken soup fully demonstrated Song Yang's experience of being forced to leave the baseball field after being injured, and then going through untold hardships to get everything he has today. This experience of falling to the bottom as a genius baseball player, and then getting up again as a technological genius, and building all this from scratch, isn't it more exciting than Boruto: Naruto Next Generations?
After Song Yang came down, he still felt a little unsatisfied. Not to mention other people, Song Yang himself was quite excited after listening to it. In the future, when he gives speeches in public, this version will be the basis, and at most he will make some minor upgrades and patches or something.
Song Yang knew that Adrian came today to build momentum for the upcoming election, so after coming down, he directly invited Adrian to the stage to give a speech.
"Song, I didn't know you'd been through so much!"
After Song Yang came down, he was hugged by Dana who was wiping her tears. She used to think that Song Yang did not come back in the middle of the night because he was fooling around outside, but she did not expect that Song Yang was teaching himself code and programming all night long, and that in order to find the first customer of Double Click Company, he waited outside the Telephone and Telegraph Group for three days and three nights, and waited outside the Wired magazine in zero-degree temperature just to meet Kevin Kelly, etc. Dana and the other women at the scene wiped their tears after hearing this.
Greg and Gallo looked at Song Yang with strange faces. Why did they feel that Song Yang's experience was not the same as theirs? Moreover, Song Yang, with his Hollywood pretty boy face, was rejected by Kayla who had the key to the Wired magazine office building? !
