August 9, 2007, was a Thursday, a workday.
Because London and Los Angeles had an eight-hour time difference, when Isabella, who was in London, contacted Barry Meyer in Los Angeles at eight in the evening, Barry Meyer happened to be free when he received the call.
After all, twelve noon to one in the afternoon was lunch break. Any normal person who hadn't run into some unexpected accident would use that time to have lunch and recover their energy.
However, when Barry Meyer learned that Isabella had called him at this moment because she wanted him to bring the knife down on Facebook, he, who had originally planned to leave the company and go out for lunch, immediately leaned back into his office chair.
A smile also appeared on his face. However, the emotion on his face at that moment wasn't the joy of finally getting revenge, but helplessness filled with hesitation.
As for the reason?
It was simple.
The matter Isabella raised was a little difficult to handle. In fact, as early as several months ago, Barry Meyer had already learned from Isabella that Facebook seemed to have infringed on Time Warner's rights. Then, after an investigation, they'd also confirmed Facebook's infringement.
Since Facebook had really crossed the line, Time Warner would definitely take action to defend its rights.
However, the way Time Warner wanted to handle the matter was different from the attitude Isabella wanted them to take.
The way Time Warner, or rather Barry Meyer, wanted to handle it was to deal with the matter, not the people. In other words, they'd send the people currently infringing on Harry Potter's rights on the market to prison, and then the matter could end there.
The attitude Isabella wanted was to deal with both the matter and the people. In other words, not only did she want the people currently infringing on Harry Potter's rights sent in, she also wanted those people to confess who was behind them, and who had instructed them to infringe on Harry Potter's rights.
To put it more plainly, Isabella wanted Time Warner, while defending its rights, to make those infringers voluntarily state that the mastermind behind everything was Facebook, that it was Zuckerberg, and that they were merely the ones carrying out the work.
Honestly, Isabella's demand was actually a little hard on people! Because even if Zuckerberg's hands weren't clean, he couldn't possibly have infringed on Isabella's personal rights under Facebook's banner. So even if Time Warner arrested all of Zuckerberg's underlings, those people wouldn't be able to give up the big boss.
But—
Cough.
The "truth" of many things didn't require the criminal suspects to have "experienced it personally" in order to "confess," right?
This was like Musk saying every once in a while that he would never choose to commit suicide.
When Epstein was arrested and said that he was very afraid of death and wouldn't commit suicide, Musk had even laughed at him for being cowardly.
But after Epstein died, Musk immediately became the clown he'd once looked down on.
Because only at that moment did he truly understand that Warren Buffett hadn't been bragging to him before. The greatest meaning of the Forbes list was to fool the masses. Some people really could stand above them and wantonly control their life and death.
But this kind of operation, Barry Meyer didn't want to do it.
There were two reasons.
First, he'd already completely taken control of Time Warner. Their transactions with Carl Icahn and Richard Parsons had all been completed. As early as the beginning of this year, Richard Parsons had announced that he'd leave Time Warner at the end of the year, after his term ended. And the person who'd take over Time Warner after him was Barry Meyer's former good disciple, Jeffrey Bewkes.
When both the chairman and CEO positions of Time Warner were in their hands, the thing Barry Meyer wanted to do most was peacefully make money for a few years, because he'd retire by 2010 or 2012 at the latest.
So, if something carried too much risk and might affect him making money, he wasn't very willing to do it.
Second, Facebook's current structure wasn't as simple as it looked from the outside. There was indeed no one above Zuckerberg, but Sean Parker and Peter Thiel, who stood on the front stage, were only one part of Facebook's backing. Aside from them, Facebook's second-largest shareholder was named James Breyer. His public identity was a manager at the venture capital firm Accel Partners.
His hidden identity was—
His father was named John Breyer, and he was a friend of Patrick McGovern. The two of them had worked together on International Data Corporation, IDC.
At first, this company worked in databases, similar to Oracle. But because ordinary people in the 1960s had very limited understanding of computers, as they worked on it, they gradually moved into popular science.
The globally known Computerworld was made by them.
And because they controlled first-hand information in the computer industry during an era when information transmission was underdeveloped, Adobe, Palm, VMware, Netscape, Salesforce, all of them had their investment.
And the name they used when investing in these companies was IDG.
Yes.
The globally known investment group IDG was created by them.
The reason James Breyer could do venture capital in the tech industry was because his father was already doing this exact thing! And then, his mother was also a senior executive at Honeywell. She managed Honeywell Automation, one of Honeywell's three major divisions.
It was still the same saying: the social status of parents determined where a child's starting line in life would be.
So, when the second-largest shareholder of Facebook also had people above him, Barry Meyer also didn't want to take Facebook down.
But—
"Nathan, tell me, how many difficulties does a person have to go through in this life before they can gain true ease?"
"To be honest, right now, I just want to quietly wait for retirement."
"But—"
"It seems I have no way to quietly wait until retirement."
After the call ended, Barry Meyer once again started playing with the apple in his hand. After turning it around twice, only then did he realize that the apple he was holding seemed to belong to Nathan Bailey. So he decisively used loud laughter to cover up the awkwardness and handed the phone back.
Nathan Bailey didn't care about such small things. While smiling apologetically and putting away his phone, he took over the conversation and said, "Boss, we have to fight this war right now. The reason is simple. First, Facebook really did infringe on our rights. Second, we and Isabella are people on the same boat."
"When Isabella has helped us many times, and now she wants to send Facebook to its death?"
"Then we can only help her send Facebook to its death."
"Finally, I want to say that Isabella has already decided to throw several billion dollars into this battle."
"According to the information we received, negotiations between Robin and Take-Two are already nearing their end. Right now, both sides are only tangled over one issue, which is that Take-Two's executives hope Robin can allow them to retain the equity they hold after acquiring Take-Two. In other words, they want Take-Two to continue being listed on NASDAQ. But Robin, meaning Isabella, is unwilling."
"She only accepts full privatization."
"In the future, after Take-Two's executives and project teams produce excellent works, what they can receive will only be dividends."
"Not shares."
"On the surface, Isabella's attitude seems a little ruthless, but personally, I think Take-Two will accept Isabella's conditions in the end, because the current Take-Two no longer has much cash on its books. After suffering the fire, they've even already laid off 20% of their employees and shut down their European distribution department."
"Right now, they've put all their funds into the development of GTA 4, hoping to use one great victory to change their fate. But GTA 4 won't be released until next spring at the earliest."
"If they can't get enough money before then—"
"Then the silence period lasting as long as a year may cause a large number of people to lose their jobs."
"Including executives."
"So, when Take-Two has already run out of ammunition and food, embracing Isabella, who seems to have unlimited money, is clearly the best decision. And when Isabella is bound to throw out 2.5 billion dollars, and in order to maintain Take-Two's operations, she'll also throw even more money into it, if we reject Isabella's request, then—"
"We may retire tomorrow."
At this point, the smile on Nathan Bailey's face suddenly grew even stronger.
He sighed and shook his head. "Boss, although Isabella doesn't hold Time Warner stock, she can interfere in our operations."
"And—"
"Our shareholders can only support her interference in our operations."
"Isn't that right?"
"Hehehehe—"
The moment Nathan Bailey's rhetorical question appeared, Barry Meyer immediately laughed! He understood what Nathan Bailey meant.
When there were still six Harry Potter films yet to be released!
When DC's development plan was controlled by Isabella!
When the distribution of Iron Man belonged to Time Warner!
When the music rights for The Voice were all in Isabella's hands!
She, Isabella Haywood, was the true master of Time Warner! She didn't hold Time Warner stock! But she could freely use Time Warner's power!
"Okay, okay, okay—"
"So Hollywood, the Big Six? Two of them already belong to her, right?"
"Wow—"
"She has grown so quickly—"
"If I remember correctly, she'll only officially become an adult next March, right?"
Perhaps because he'd already made his decision, Barry Meyer suddenly became relaxed.
However, just as he crossed his legs and sighed with emotion, Nathan Bailey shook his head and said, "Boss, all of this is because of you."
"If you hadn't given her YouTube the year before last—"
"And sold her the dark fiber network inside AOL—"
"I don't think she would have flown this fast."
"But this is also a good thing for you, right?"
"We've known Isabella for so many years. We can tell that she treats her own people pretty well."
"So—"
"Your grandsons and granddaughters are about to graduate, right?"
"I think they won't have to worry about work in the future."
"Hahahahaha—"
Nathan Bailey's words made Barry Meyer slap his thigh wildly! At the same time, as a happy smile appeared on his face, he also gave Nathan Bailey a thumbs up!
Because the moment Nathan Bailey opened his mouth, he'd spoken directly to Barry Meyer's heart!
Wasn't a person's life all about fame and profit? And after gaining fame and profit, passing them down was something everyone would do!
So—
"Notify our people and have them get ready."
"Move first thing tomorrow morning. Arrest everyone cleanly for me."
"And then—"
"I want the whole thing to become tomorrow night's top story on CNN."
"Okay?"
Barry Meyer raised his eyebrows at Nathan Bailey.
Nathan Bailey, who had received the task, made an OK gesture, then turned and left.
With his departure, time also arrived at August 10, 2007.
Friday was a very magical day, because it carried both the busyness of a workday and the leisure of a rest day. So it was the day of the week most likely to make people feel lazy.
Precisely because of that, when Aaron Wicks, who was in Miami, entered the company right at the start of work hours, the thing he wanted to do most was open his computer, put on his headphones, browse YouTube, and eat Subway.
And reality? That was exactly what he did!
After logging onto YouTube, he quickly scrolled through his subscriptions. He found a blogger who specialized in making funny videos, then treated that person's works as a side dish to go with his meal. Every time a funny scene appeared, he'd stop chewing his sandwich and laugh along with it.
What? Someone was asking how he dared to eat at work during company hours? Wasn't he afraid of being fired by his boss?
Dear!
The land beneath his feet was America!
The country he was in was the United States!
This was a heaven on earth that emphasized democracy, freedom, and humanistic care!
Once the bosses here discovered that their employees were eating during work hours, their first reaction would be to blame themselves, because only if they'd set the workday too early would employees choose to eat at the company!
They were guilty!
Their second reaction would be to apologize sincerely, offer compensation, and ask for forgiveness!
Because if a company lacked humanistic care, once word got out, it would be condemned by all of society!
If the matter blew up, they might even become the true sinners who damaged the glorious image of the beacon of human civilization!
Cough, cough, cough, fuck!
Writing in this style is really disgusting!
I can't keep making this up!
In short, the main reason Aaron Wicks could browse YouTube and eat Subway during work hours was that their company wasn't short of money, and the boss was very easygoing. When he applied for the job, he'd heard that the shareholder behind the company was Warner.
The purpose of their company's existence was the same as Disney's Mickey Mouse Club: to help Warner maintain fan groups for major IPs.
Aaron Wicks didn't understand the specific operations, because his job was simply to create some IP spin-off content.
The work he did every day was drawing all kinds of random memes.
Either something like "Iron Beaver," or something like "Green Otter."
Either something like "Flashbara," or something like "Aquabeaver."
Uh, the first one was "Iron Man" plus "Beaver Bella." The second was "Green Arrow" plus "Marmot Atu." The third was "The Flash" plus "Capybara Api." If one followed the combination pattern of the first three, the fourth should have been a pure "Beaver Bella," but in reality, the fourth was actually "Aquaman" plus "Bella."
Honestly, ever since Aaron Wicks joined the company, he'd never understood why Warner was so obsessed with developing these strange pieces of merchandise. But there was one thing he did know: the things he drew spread pretty well online. No matter what kind of meme he released, the downloads within twenty-four hours would always, without exception, break the one-million mark.
This fact was simply—
Too terrifying!
"Isabella's fanbase really is enormous—"
"And the loyalty is ridiculously high—"
However, just as Aaron Wicks was watching videos, chewing on his Subway sandwich, and letting his thoughts wander, a call suddenly entered his ears. "Aaron~ what are you doing?"
"Huh? I'm eating breakfast."
He looked toward the voice.
Aaron Wicks saw the pretty finance lady from the company.
"Oh, looks like you were late today?"
The young lady frowned slightly.
"How is that possible! I'm never late, okay!"
Aaron Wicks widened his eyes and said, "Besides, you don't manage attendance, right? So, do you need something from me?"
His fierce tone made the young lady curl her lips. "Yes, I don't manage attendance, but I handle salary payments."
"Today is Friday. It's payday again."
As she spoke, the young lady raised her right hand. The light check made a crisp sound in the air.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
The sudden appearance of his wages instantly made Aaron Wicks change his expression.
"Dear! You know I didn't mean to offend you!"
"Really? But your tone just now was very harsh!"
"That's because I didn't sleep well last night!"
"Really?"
"Of course!"
"Then can you tell me why you didn't sleep well?"
"Uh, mainly because, because, oh, because my new work is too difficult! On Wednesday, the boss told me that the next batch of memes I submit has to be combined with Transformers! My god, that's an idea that can drive a person crazy! Because the explosion of Transformers is related to its extremely refined special effects! How am I supposed to draw that—"
His resentful words made the finance lady smile. Putting away her teasing thoughts, she handed him the check.
After Aaron Wicks saw his weekly salary—
"Wow~"
The figure of 2,000 dollars made him very satisfied!
Uh, his monthly salary was actually only 4,000 dollars. The extra amount was all bonuses, subsidies, and overtime pay. So, when his weekly salary this week reached as high as 2,000, that proved the boss really liked the things he drew!
This was simply!
Too great!
"Mua~"
He kissed the check!
Once that delightful income appeared, Aaron Wicks suddenly regained his motivation to work! He felt that he could get another 2,000 dollars next week!
However, just as he quickly finished the sandwich in his hand, opened his drawing tablet, and prepared to work—
"Sorry to disturb you."
"May I ask where the person in charge of your company is?"
A polite but mechanical question suddenly filled his office. It was a standard cubicle area.
The sudden voice made Aaron Wicks raise his head. Immediately after that, a group of people wearing FBI uniforms entered his field of vision.
The group looked around. They seemed to be seeking an answer to their question. But hidden in their somewhat casual gazes seemed to be the ease of hunters who had already captured their prey.
This fact made Aaron Wicks frown deeply. Just as he was staring at the crowd, watching his colleagues communicate with them and trying to figure out why these people had come, one FBI agent suddenly met his eyes.
Then that FBI agent walked toward him.
At first, Aaron Wicks thought he'd been rude and wanted to apologize first. But when he discovered that the FBI agent constantly approaching him seemed to have been staring at the drawing tablet and computer in front of him the whole time—
"Wow~ did you draw all of these?"
The FBI agent arrived in front of Aaron Wicks in just a few steps. First, he glanced at the drawing tablet on the desk. After finding that it was completely blank, he immediately looked at the computer screen at Aaron Wicks' workstation. Then the fan-made drafts placed directly on the desktop immediately entered his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah—"
Aaron Wicks nodded nervously. He didn't understand why the FBI agent was asking that.
The FBI agent didn't waste words with him either. He signaled for Aaron to raise his hands and stand up.
"All right, then you're under arrest."
"Huh?"
"The FBI received a report from Warner. Warner says your company has long infringed on their legal rights and has been externally selling various products related to Warner IP without Warner's authorization. And judging from your own statement, you're the producer?"
"What???"
The FBI agent's words stunned Aaron Wicks! He widened his eyes! He was somewhat at a loss!
But his mouth seemed to have been enchanted! It instantly became faster—
"Officer! I think I don't understand what you mean! I'm just a draw—"
"If you don't understand, then don't speak! Because my body camera is currently recording! If you say the wrong thing, then even if you hire Simpson's lawyers afterward, they won't be able to save you!"
The sudden shout made Aaron Wicks decisively shut his mouth. He looked at the other man with panic on his face.
Perhaps the FBI agent felt that he was being too slow? Or perhaps he wanted to protect the evidence. Seeing that Aaron Wicks was unwilling to get up, the FBI agent immediately reached out with both hands, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him out of his workstation. Then, with a leg sweep, he pressed him to the ground.
Click—
After a crisp sound, Aaron Wicks had an extra pair of silver bracelets on his wrists.
At the same time, in other places across North America, many similar arrests were also taking place. Since these people had no combat ability, in just one morning, the recharged FBI speedran the entire game.
And since this kind of large-scale operation couldn't be completely kept secret, by noon that day, Facebook had already heard the related news.
Then—
Whoosh.
Mark Zuckerberg instantly sprang up from his chair! He stared at the person delivering the news with eyes that looked as though they were about to split open! His face was flushed red! His Adam's apple moved!
He roared wildly, "What did you say?"
"Our people were arrested??"
"All the people doing ground promotion were arrested???"
"And they were arrested by the FBI????"
"What the hell is going on?????"
"Why would the FBI arrest our ground promotion team????? Are they insane?????"