The Hollywood Playbook

After checking on his animation studio, Zane didn't leave Silicon Valley. He went to his other big company in the same building: LinkedIn.

LinkedIn had been around for over a year. Zane had spent $45 million of his own money to build it from scratch. That was way more money than most new internet companies ever saw!

And it was working.

Under the leadership of Jeff Weiner (a true genius in Zane's old life), LinkedIn was growing fast.

11.72 million users in America.

600,000 users in Mexico and Canada.

And, according to the big bank Goldman Sachs, the company was now worth $620 million!

For a brand-new company, that was amazing. LinkedIn was the 6th most valuable new internet company in the world.

Of course, it wasn't as big as giants like Microsoft or Amazon. But it was doing great.

"Boss," Jeff Weiner said, looking a little worried, "our user numbers are good, but they've stopped growing as fast. We need to expand overseas to get more people."

Zane shook his head.

In the late 90s, most internet companies only cared about one thing: getting as many users as possible. They would borrow money, sell pieces of their company to new partners, and burn through cash just to get more people to sign up.

"Boss," Jeff hinted, "if we have more users, more investors will like us. We should bring in some powerful partners."

"I disagree!" Zane said firmly.

"Jeff, I understand what you're saying," Zane explained, his voice calm but serious. "But you're missing something big."

"What?" Jeff frowned.

"Don't you think the internet market is... a little too excited right now?" Zane asked.

Jeff looked confused. He was smart, but he couldn't see the future like Zane could.

"The market is crazy," Zane said gravely. "People expect internet companies to be worth billions, even if they don't make any money. It's dangerous. One wrong step, and the whole thing could crash!"

Zane gave an example. "Look at E-Toys. It's a website that sells toys. It doesn't make any profit, but people say it's worth $10 billion! Now look at R-Toys, a real store that makes billions of dollars a year. People say it's only worth $4.2 billion. That doesn't make any sense!"

The big banks weren't stupid. They knew it was a bubble. They just wanted to make a quick profit before it popped. But regular people were going to get hurt.

"Jeff," Zane said, "this market is not normal. I would rather grow slowly and be safe than grow fast and collapse when the crash comes."

"But boss," Jeff argued, "this is a rare opportunity! If we don't..."

"Stop," Zane said, cutting him off gently. "I don't care what everyone else is doing. Our job is to build a strong foundation right here in America. We wait for the right time. Just like Bezos at Amazon."

"Okay," Jeff sighed. He had to agree.

Jeff Bezos was different from everyone else. While Yahoo and other companies were spending money like crazy to go global, Amazon was focused on being steady and making a profit.

Zane knew that when the big crash happened in 2000, giants like Yahoo would lose almost everything. Amazon's stock would fall, too (from $45 to $2!), but because Bezos was smart and focused on profit, Amazon would survive and become the biggest company in the world.

"Jeff, look," Zane said with a smile. "Even a smart guy like Bezos isn't rushing to go overseas right now. So we don't need to be anxious, either. Play it safe!"

Right now, LinkedIn was worth $620 million, but it was still losing money every month.

"Your job right now," Zane said, "is to get more users here and make the company profitable. Build a strong base."

"Okay, boss," Jeff said. He finally agreed. (And even if he didn't, Zane was the boss!)

As Zane left, he whispered to himself, "It's definitely not the time to bring in new partners. Not until the bubble bursts. Otherwise, it'll be a disaster."

The next day...

Zane went to visit his very first "SpongeBob's House" store. He looked at the sales numbers from last month.

He now had 19 stores all over California!

Last month, those 19 stores made $23 million in sales. After paying all the bills, the profit was $4 million.

But the best news was the online store.

Because Zane had been smart and made a deal with Amazon way back in 1996, his online store was huge. Last month, it made $17 million in sales and $4.5 million in profit!

It was making even more profit than the real stores.

"Taro Hashimoto, you have done a good job!" Zane praised the Japanese man who ran the stores. He bowed respectfully to him. Taro was much better at this than Zane's old friend James had been.

"Thank you for the compliment, boss!" Taro said, bowing back deeply.

After they chatted, Taro had a request.

"Boss," Taro said, "I went to a toy exhibition a few days ago, and I met a man named Bryant Ben. He is a very talented person."

"Oh?" Zane asked, his interest piqued. "Tell me more."

The name Bryant Ben sounded very familiar...

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