The idea of one day owning a crumbling old giant like MGM was... intoxicating. But it was just a fantasy for now. Zane slammed back to reality, his good mood evaporating as he looked at his bank balance.
He was facing a much more immediate and very, very real problem: he was running out of money.
Oh, he was a multi-millionaire on paper. He owned a studio, a mansion, and an office building. But liquid cash—the money you actually use to do things—was dwindling. Fast.
After setting aside a huge chunk for the tax man (a thought that made him physically wince), he was left with a dangerously thin operating budget. It wasn't enough to properly market Static, it wasn't enough to grow Wald Pictures, and it was a joke compared to the nine-figure sum he'd need to even think about making a Spider-Man movie.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. "System, you there?" he muttered to the empty room. "Any billion-dollar opportunities you forgot to mention? Now would be a great time."
Silence. The system remained a frustratingly passive, silent partner.
Zane ran his hands through his hair, his mind racing, clicking through options.
The profits from Static would help, but he was a realist. A low-budget horror movie, even a hit, wasn't a gusher of cash. It was a strategic asset, a way to build his studio's reputation. It was a statement, not a solution.
His mind immediately jumped to the high-risk, high-reward world of finance. Soros had made a billion on the British pound in '92. The next big one he knew about was the Asian financial crisis... but that was still over a year away. He needed capital now.
That left the stock market. It had made him his fortune. He knew the dot-com boom was just getting started. A list of tech giants scrolled through his mind.
Netscape? No. Dead. Microsoft's Internet Explorer was about to crush them in the "browser wars." (He made a small, cunning mental note: Maybe I'll short their stock next year.)
Cisco? Microsoft? Both were solid, long-term buys, but their fastest rise was still a couple of years away. They wouldn't give him the explosive growth he needed right now.
Apple? Not yet. It was still a "rotten apple" before Steve Jobs's triumphant return in '97.
Amazon? Still a private company. It wouldn't go public until next year.
After running through every major player he could remember, a heavy, frustrating conclusion settled on him. The stock market was a gold mine, but in early 1996, the obvious, explosive opportunities he knew about were either in the past or still on the horizon.
"How can it be this hard to make money?" he sighed, the weight of his own ambition pressing down on him.
The next morning, running on little sleep and a lot of frustration, Zane sat in the Alice Cafe. He was listless, barely paying attention. It was the monthly business review for his stores, and he was just... not there.
The reports were great.
"Boss, the Toy Story hype is still going strong," James said, leading the meeting with his usual, infectious energy. "After all expenses, the flagship store's net profit for the month was $70,000!"
"The second store brought in $63,000," Victor's replacement added, sounding proud.
One by one, they went through the numbers. The total net profit for all seven stores was $345,000. It was a slight dip from the holiday-fueled high, but it was still a phenomenal, steady stream of income.
Normally, Zane would have been pleased. Today, the numbers just felt... small. He gave a half-hearted "Good work" and let his mind drift. His lack of energy was so obvious it cast a pall over the entire meeting.
As they left the cafe and stepped onto the bright sidewalk, James clapped him on the shoulder, his brow furrowed with genuine concern.
"Hey, man, you with us? You looked like you were a million miles away in there."
Zane sighed, running a hand through his hair. He couldn't be dismissive, not to James. "Sorry, man," he said, trying to force a smile. "Just... a cash flow thing."
James stopped dead on the sidewalk and stared at him, completely baffled. "A what? A 'cash flow' thing? Zane, we just made $345,000. In a month. From our side business. What on earth kind of problem are you having that that doesn't fix?"
Zane couldn't help but give a small, wry, exhausted smile. "A bigger one, apparently."
James just shook his head, looking like he was trying to understand a complex math equation. As he was about to reply, a couple walked past them, deep in their own conversation.
"Jenny, are you really planning to buy Yahoo stock?" the man asked. "I heard that company isn't even profitable. You could lose your money."
"It's okay," the woman replied, her voice floating back to them. "It's the future. I'm not investing much anyway."
The word hit Zane like a physical blow.
Yahoo.
His head snapped up.
Yahoo. How... how did I...
In his frantic analysis, in his search for the obvious giants like Microsoft and Apple, he had completely, stupidly, forgotten about it. The search engine. The web portal. The perfect, explosive, quintessential stock of the mid-90s dot-com bubble.
In a single instant, all the listless frustration, all the weary exhaustion, vanished. It was replaced by that familiar, electric thrill. The cold, sharp focus of a predator that had just caught the scent of its prey.
He had found it. He had found his gusher.
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