351 Overestimated
Around February, KiShin has been able to successfully collaborate with Japanese universities and research labs leading in robotics, haptics, and VR technology development.
The same could be said for the USA as well. KiShin has a good and strong presence in the country, and KiShin was able to collaborate with prestigious American universities and research institutions with strong neuroscience and engineering programs.
Since KiShin has headquarters in Silicon Valley, it also has access to cutting-edge research facilities and talent pipelines in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs.
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In the year 1997, the internet was booming with the "dot-com" explosion. Capitalists were throwing money with a ".com" suffix, leading to rapid startup growth and skyrocketing valuations. IPOs were celebrated like sporting events, with Netscape's 1995 debut setting the record.
Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and others were still in the process of defining their business models, but their impact was already undeniable. Online shopping was gaining traction, email was replacing traditional mail, and the sound of dial-up modems was the backdrop of the era.
Moore's Law continued to propel rapid advancements, ushering in faster processors, smaller transistors, and more affordable memory, thereby paving the way for powerful PCs and the onset of the laptop revolution.
Meanwhile, in the preceding year of 1996, KiShin not only funded a research project for university students but also emerged as the major investor supporting their endeavors.
KiShin researchers and scientists actively contributed to a research project called "Backrub," providing resources and influence to students whom Shin foresaw as future tech giants. One of these students would go on to become the founder of "Google."
In the year 1997, the research project "Backrub" transformed into "Google," and with KiShin's assistance, the website of the "Google" search engine graced the internet.
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In Tokyo, Japan.
Shin reviewed the report on the internet boom, a smile playing upon his lips.
Shin almost couldn't believe it when he finally handled and looked at the progress KiShin has made in the internet industry...
As the internet surged in popularity, KiShin, holding key patent rights related to internet protocols and technologies, began generating substantial revenue through licensing fees paid by various internet players.
Considering KiShin receives average dividends and royalties from major internet players, a significant portion—55%—of the World Wide Web, unbeknownst to the public, holds valuations in the tens of billions of dollars.
However, those shares were merely overvalued stocks that skyrocketed due to investor speculations...
Shin anticipated the arrival of the dot-com bubble around 2000, understanding that the internet market capitalization would likely crash.
However, Shin remained unperturbed. With the foresight of the impending dot-com bubble burst in a few years, he planned to ready his company. If the company could effectively monitor internet irregularities, Shin intended to gradually short-sell overvalued stocks before the crash, especially in internet companies where KiShin had invested, thereby profiting from the ensuing decline.
With foresight, Shin could discern overvalued sectors and companies before the bubble burst, allowing him to gradually redirect their dividends and royalties into more stable industries or emerging technologies outside the internet. This strategy minimized his company's exposure to the crash.
As KiShin operated as a private company, it could execute moves and investments discreetly, avoiding public scrutiny and making strategic decisions with agility.
Despite the public's limited awareness of KiShin's influence in the internet industry, even if disclosed, the profits made remained obscured. While people might speculate on the estimation, the accurate figures would elude them.
Being a private company, KiShin wasn't legally obliged to publicly disclose its investments to the same extent as public companies. Unless involving publicly traded companies through stock exchanges, certain investments typically entailed publicly available records that might reveal KiShin's involvement.
Currently, with KiShin having genuinely profited in the internet industry, its current net worth stands at 28 billion dollars.
This reflects KiShin's true net worth, distinct from the 270 billion dollars representing 55% of the World Wide Web, which was merely a market capitalization influenced by investor speculations. The actual net worth is considerably lower.
A notable example is Yahoo!, with a market capitalization of 110 billion dollars in the year 1997. However, Shin was aware that Yahoo!'s actual net worth was significantly lower, around 4-5 billion dollars.
Despite this, just a few days ago, Shin came across a report revealing that Yahoo! pursued aggressive acquisition strategies and partnerships during this time, driven by their market capitalization of 110 billion dollars.
Shin could discern Yahoo!'s ambition to dominate the market. The company sought to capitalize on its market capitalization, utilizing a high stock price for acquisitions through stock-for-stock deals. This involved offering their own shares in exchange for the target company's assets, effectively leveraging market confidence to "buy" beyond their actual cash reserves.
In addition, Yahoo! took on debt to finance these acquisitions, using future profits or the acquired assets as collateral. While this approach bolstered their immediate purchasing power, it also introduced financial risk and necessitated interest payments.
In fact, KiShin has been approached by Yahoo! representatives with an offer to acquire KiShin's intellectual property, particularly popular video game or anime characters.
Yahoo! was quite insistent, especially showing a strong desire to acquire Pokémon and Sailor Moon.
Moreover, Yahoo! expressed interest in the video game industry and successfully partnered with Tora.
Impressed by Yahoo!'s remarkable growth and recognizing its potential, Tora, with a market capitalization of 38 billion dollars, willingly embraced collaboration with Yahoo!, whose market capitalization stood at an impressive 110 billion dollars.
As other corporations, including Tora, witnessed Yahoo!'s success, they realized the internet held the key to the future—a gold mine that had been overlooked.
Tora Corporation's board shifted their focus to the internet, leveraging their video games to willingly partner with Yahoo! The board members and investors saw a bright future ahead, believing that Yahoo! possessed significant potential and growth, potentially surpassing even the previously rising global market presence of KiShin.
