Blockchain rental store in Long Island, New York.
Standing behind the counter, Arthur was busy with his work, handling leases for customers. Tonight, there were so many people renting films, and the long line was about to reach the shelves.
""The Bourne", the lease time is one week. Arthur finished the formalities and said with a smile: "Thank you for your patronage."
The male customer picked up the disc and walked straight out of the store.
The customer at the back came to the counter and put the selected discs on the counter. Arthur quickly began to scan the code, and the computer system quickly recorded the relevant information.
Arthur read the name of the disc silently while scanning the code, so as to check it with the name that appeared on the computer screen: "The Mummy 2, "Jurassic Park 3", "Hannibal", "The Bourne "......"
Tomorrow is probably the weekend. This customer rents all the popular movie discs of this year, as if he is going to hide at home and watch the movie on the weekend.
"Thank you for your patronage." Arthur sent away another customer.
Two female customers followed, all renting romance and comedies, and a black customer at the back rented a large stack of horror movies.
Two more young men came over, and Arthur repeated his previous work.
Both of them only rented one film, and the name displayed by scanning the code was-"The Bourne".
Repeating the same work continuously, Arthur quickly became numb, but still maintained a serious and responsible attitude, constantly reciting the name of the disc, and checking it with the results of the computer scan code.
After more than a dozen customers left behind, the title of "The Bourne" was recited to him seven times.
When the time was approaching nine o'clock in the evening, the shop finally calmed down. Arthur stretched his head and looked between the shelves. Seeing that there was no one empty, he stretched out quickly.
"I'm exhausted," Arthur muttered.
The shopkeeper elder York came over and said, "I'm ready to leave work."
Arthur and another clerk cheered: "Okay!"
Old York reminded: "Don't be happy, remember to pass today's data to the head office statistics department, check the latest list released by the head office, we need to update the list and recommended positions in the store in advance."
Arthur quickly made a list of statistics and said: "Today is the same as yesterday. The largest number of leases is "The Bourne", with a total of 63 leases.
Old York nodded: "Since the release of the disc, this film seems to be more popular in the rental market than in movie theaters."
Another clerk reminded: "The shop manager, there are only forty copies of the disc inventory of "The Bourne". Are we applying for a new batch of discs? Otherwise, after tomorrow, there will be no movies in "The Bourne". Available for rent."
Old York had already thought about it and said directly: "Arthur, send an email to the channel department for another 300 copies of "The Bourne" disc."
"So much?" Arthur was a little surprised.
Old York said: "The discs were just on the market last week, and the peak rental period has not yet arrived. These 300 copies plus the previous 200 copies, totaling 500 discs, should be enough to support the rental cycle."
While busy with the work at hand, Arthur said: "The film "The Bourne is about to explode in the rental market."
Another clerk answered: "It doesn't seem to be bad in the theater."
"The North American box office is 178.62 million U.S. dollars." Old York said eloquently: "This year's top 15 box office is absolutely no problem."
Arthur asked: "How much is the global box office?"
The clerk replied: "It's almost 350 million dollars, right?"
Old York obviously paid attention to the film and said: "Some areas overseas are still showing, and the final global box office of 350 million US dollars is definitely no problem."
"This company posted it again." Arthur said.
The clerk said: "I watched the news on the Internet a few days ago. It is said that the TV premiere of this film sold for 7 million US dollars!"
"It's more than that." Old York has been in the business for decades, and the news is quite well-informed: "I attended a regional channel meeting last weekend and listened to the people above. The Embassy Pictures, which released "The Bourne," in the first round of TV broadcasts, There is also a 15% advertising share."
Arthur was speechless for a moment. As a practitioner in the film industry, he was only jealous.
How good would he be if he were the owner of this movie? How many luxury cars can he buy with such a high-income movie? How many beauties do you have?
Throw a bunch of checks out, let those beautiful models lie on the ground in a row, and then go over and take turns.
This wonderful life can only be imagined.
"What are you thinking?" Old York saw Arthur's hand stopped, knocked on the counter, and reminded: "Hurry up! We get off work on time today!"
Arthur quickly recovered, after uploading the data, he opened the mailbox and downloaded the files issued by the head office.
"Okay!" Arthur said quickly: "The store manager, the latest statistics of the head office's rental list, the first place is "The Bourne Shadows"!"
Old York came to the counter opposite the store and adjusted the discs and posters of "The Bourne" slightly to ensure that they were in the most conspicuous position for customers to see when they entered the door.
"My thirty years of experience will never go wrong!" Old York said again: "Look at it, "The Bourne" will create a miracle in the disc sales and rental market.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, a dusty chestnut Volvo station wagon drove into a commuter parking lot in California's Silicon Valley, which is the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
After the Nasdaq crash in 2000 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks last month, the Internet industry was in depression.
There are more than 20 men and women waiting in the parking lot. There is still a downhill road from entering Silicon Valley. These young computer geeks have to carpool and finish together.
On the canvas bags carried by geeks, there are various logos representing Silicon Valley companies such as Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle.
These people are all dressed up as typical Silicon Valley people, wearing beach pants or Levi's jeans, a crumpled long-sleeved sweater or woolen jacket, and sneakers or canvas shoes. Several people don’t know how long they haven’t taken a bath. They look unkempt, and staying up all night makes them look sleepy.
The Volvo station wagon drove to the empty side of the parking lot, where a shiny steel blue Toyota Avalon was parked alone.
The Toyota driver was sitting in the driving seat, and when he saw Volvo coming, he immediately jumped out of the car.
This man is in his forties, tall and thin, wearing blue Levi's jeans, a slightly outdated button-collar shirt, and bright white sneakers.
Before Volvo stopped, the driver shouted, "Reid!"
Reed Hastings put his hands in his pants pockets, pacing eagerly, watching Volvo approaching with his dark blue eyes, the car stopped diagonally, and moved a few more times to adjust the position.
Mark Randolph, who was driving the Volvo, finally got out of the car with satisfaction, bypassing the Volvo station wagon and greeted Reed Hastings: "Morning, Reed."
Reed Hastings was a little anxious and said, "You are late!"
"It's not late." Mark Randolph is nearly forty years old. Unlike Hastings, he is a communicative genius, the ideal marketing manager for many companies. He smiled and said to Hastings, "The time is right."
Reed Hastings shook his head, not caring about this trifle.
Although they are not the same type of people, there is no lack of harmony, trust and friendship between the two: they both have the self-confidence brought by superior education and the enthusiasm for integrating their own ideas into the enterprise.
"How is it?" Mark Randolph asked.
He walked around the car and stood beside Hastings.
Reed Hastings replied: "It has arrived."
While talking, he leaned into the Avalon car, rummaged in the briefcase on the co-pilot, and took out an oversized rose-colored envelope.
Mark Randolph saw the envelope and said, "Open it."
Reed Hastings took a quaint knife from his jacket pocket, slashed open the envelope, took out a silver compact disc from the envelope, took it in his hand and checked it carefully.
The CD is intact!
"Good condition!" Reed Hastings handed the CD to Mark Randolph: "It took 16 hours to mail it from New York."
Mark Randolph looked at the CD and said, "A quarter faster than before."
As the nation's largest online movie rental company, the speed and safety of mailing CDs are the key to the company's business development.
Reed Hastings leaned on the door of Avalon and said: "Now the speed and safety of the mail are very guaranteed."
Mark Randolph understood the meaning of the words: "Our business is growing slowly." He also leaned in the car and said, "Reid, the environment is not good now."
Netflix is indeed the largest online movie rental company in the United States, and that's because there are so few competitors.
Reed Hastings did not answer, but instead asked, "Mark, what do you think we lack."
"There are too many things missing." Mark Randolph told the truth: "Funds, technology, talents, customers, film sources, etc."
Reed Hastings continued to ask: "What is the most lacking?"
Mark Randolph considered and said: "Customers. If we have hundreds of thousands of members, financing is easy. With funds, we can promote the website and purchase more content to attract To new customers."
Reed Hastings sighed: "In the final analysis, it is actually a matter of funding and content." He looked into the distance: "The funds cannot be resolved for a while. We can try to get content that can attract new customers."
"What's the content?" Mark Randolph asked.
"It's in your hands." Reed Hastings said: "This is a disc of "The Bourne". The hottest film in the offline rental market has been ranked on the Blockbuster rental list for ten consecutive days. First place."
Mark Randolph picked up the CD and looked at the sealed side carefully: "We don't have the right to sell or rent this film."
"If the user development is still like now." Reed Hastings said: "Maybe we should get rid of it."