The "American Dream" was a concept proposed by American historian James Truslow Adams in his 1931 work The Epic of America. It refers to the idea that in America, everyone can obtain opportunities for advancement based on talent and achievement, without being restricted by birth or social status.
After this concept emerged, America became the promised land in the eyes of the world. Countless people exhausted themselves trying to reach The United States, longing to embrace their dreams and ascend to the paradise they imagined. And honestly—
For a long period after the "American Dream" was introduced, The United States really was a land of opportunity. At that time, America's class structure had not yet solidified, and its technology led the world. When every industry could ride the wave of its era, ordinary people really could use their own hands to realize their dreams.
For example, McDonald's founder Ray Kroc truly was an ordinary man. He only found success in his fifties, and his rise really was the result of decades of relentless hard work.
Another example would be Apple legend Steve Jobs—
While Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple, definitely wasn't an ordinary person, that still doesn't change the fact that Steve Jobs started from nothing. And it certainly doesn't change the fact that he was still able to succeed after leaving Apple.
Then there's Disney CEO Robert Iger—
Sure, his backer was Warren Buffett, but if he lacked ability, how could Warren Buffett have taken a liking to him? Rising from humble beginnings through relentless hard work was undeniably the core of his story. Fair enough, right?
But as time passed and society developed, once every industry and faction in America established its own entrenched hierarchies, the light of the American Dream gradually dimmed under the weight of class solidification.
By 2024, even official American data showed that nearly half of Americans no longer believed in the American Dream. Among young people, over sixty percent believed the whole thing was a lie.
Still, the explosion of doubt and collapse of faith were matters for ten or twenty years later. At this point in time, the internet boom was still producing countless overnight fortunes. One billionaire after another kept appearing. And now another new elite had emerged?
This was simply—
This was simply—
This was simply—
"Oh! Isabella should be the youngest billionaire in history, right? She's not even an adult yet!"
"So she broke another record? The first person to become a billionaire while still a minor?"
"No, no, no—I don't think she broke the record—I'm not saying there are tons of underage billionaires in the world or anything. Even wealthy families usually wouldn't hand over their fortunes to underage heirs. What I mean is, before Isabella, The United States already had two underage billionaires."
"Hm? Who?"
"The Olsen twins! Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen! Did you forget about them?"
"Oh—them! They really were billionaires! Their Dualstar Entertainment Group was already worth a billion dollars before they became adults! If I remember correctly, they were already driving Rolls-Royces as minors!"
"But even if the Olsen twins made history, I still think Isabella shattered everything. She definitely became worth hundreds of millions earlier than the Olsens did. The Voice is her own IP, don't forget that! And Dualstar only surpassed a billion dollars in valuation after the twins became adults, while Isabella's net worth already exceeds one billion now—and she's only sixteen, almost seventeen! Besides, can Dualstar even compare to Google? No matter how strong Dualstar was, they only sold Olsen twins merchandise. But Google? This is the world's biggest media company—stronger than Disney and Time Warner by who knows how much! Once Isabella owns Google shares—Dualstar? Hah!"
"I think you're right. No matter how valuable Dualstar is, it's not worth a single hair on Google's head."
"But how do you know Isabella will own Google shares?"
"Because Google is acquiring YouTube entirely through stock, you idiot!"
"Oh, so Isabella became a Google shareholder?"
"Exactly!"
"If that's the case, then her achievements really aren't comparable to the Olsen twins!"
"Hey, do you think YouTube will still be the same YouTube after Google buys it? Will Isabella still upload videos? I only use YouTube because of her."
"Probably. Otherwise, why would Google buy it entirely with stock? They probably don't want her leaving."
"I think so too! Maybe Google will even give Isabella some kind of special consultant title in the future!"
"They definitely will! The most valuable videos on YouTube are all hers. When someone can create YouTube overnight, Google would never let her walk away—so just keep using YouTube without worry!"
"Oh, that's a relief. We'll still have videos to watch! Right now I really want to know when the animation is coming out—Isabella's animation. The final Prada poster was unbelievably cute!"
"I don't think we should be worrying about whether Isabella will keep making videos. The real concern is whether she'll keep acting. Her net worth should be at least four billion now! Someone worth four billion continuing to work as an actress? That doesn't seem realistic—"
"Hiss—that actually sounds like a huge problem. OMG—she won't stop filming, right? Harry Potter hasn't even finished yet! It won't just end like this, right?!"
"…"
"They might replace her with another actress. Warner Bros. is definitely capable of something like that."
"Oh—no—I can't accept a replacement! I can't accept someone else playing Hermione Granger!"
"I can't accept it either. If that really happens, I'm going to burn Warner down—"
"…"
"…"
The core of the "American Dream" was, in the end, the pursuit and craving for wealth. Pure capitalism.
So the moment the possibility emerged that Isabella had made four billion dollars in half a year, American audiences instantly lost their minds.
The British were equally excited.
As for the rest of the world? They became even more convinced that America was the center of the universe—the symbol of democracy and freedom, the beacon of civilization for humanity.
Discussions exploded everywhere.
But for those outside the general public—
Isabella's former rivals—Edgar Bronfman Jr., Michael Eisner, Ted Turner, Steve Ross, and the others—all chose silence after hearing the news. Not only because their grudges with Isabella had long since ended, even if lingering discomfort remained. But also because they clearly understood that they were no longer qualified to oppose her.
As for Isabella's current partners—Barry Meyer, Robert Iger, Howard Stringer, and Sumner Redstone—after seeing the deal, all let out long sighs almost simultaneously.
Because in the past, they already couldn't control Isabella; working with her simply brought too much profit. In the future, Isabella would be able to effortlessly control them in return. Everyone knew the internet was the future, and Google, which controlled the public's gateway to information, could crush them with ease.
As for the mysterious Roy Disney Jr. and the others in the tech industry?
After reading the news, Roy Disney Jr. picked up the phone and called Dick Cook.
At the time, Dick Cook was chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group—essentially the core of Disney itself. He had joined Disney in 1970 and was the last old retainer of the Disney family within the company. The relationship between them was somewhat like that of the Ross family and Barry Meyer: Dick Cook's existence within Disney was to serve the Disney family.
Roy Disney Jr. called him now mainly to carefully discuss reclaiming power.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"No."
"You think the situation is difficult?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"Isabella's wealth and influence have already surpassed ours."
Dick Cook's words plunged Roy Disney Jr. into silence.
Because it was true.
At this point, Isabella's wealth and influence had already exceeded that of the Disney family.
The former required no explanation—her seventy percent stake in YouTube alone was already worth more than the Disney family's total fortune combined.
As for influence: sure, someone in the Disney family could surpass Isabella Haywood in influence. That person was Walt Disney.
So if Isabella firmly supported Robert Iger, Roy Disney Jr. could retire on the spot—because the largest individual shareholder of Disney was currently Steve Jobs, and in terms of voting power, the Disney family couldn't beat Steve Jobs alone. In terms of revenue, Isabella Haywood alone could beat every single one of them.
"I understand. Go back to work. I won't disturb you further."
Roy Disney Jr. chose to hang up.
When two armies face off and one side realizes it has no chance of winning, standing down before the battle even starts is the wisest course of action. When you can't solve a problem, at least avoid creating new ones.
But while Roy Disney Jr. could choose to disappear, others could not—
Amazon.
Jeff Bezos closed the newspaper in his hands.
When Amazon's market value lagged far behind Google's and they couldn't offer a better deal, all they could do was admit defeat—especially since Bezos knew Google's founders personally and had been one of Google's angel investors.
And Microsoft?
"I already announced my retirement plans two months ago, so—"
Bill Gates turned off the television. CNBC's coverage irritated him.
His words made Steve Ballmer nod.
"Enemy. Google is our enemy. Therefore, YouTube will also become our enemy. Not to mention Apple has been our enemy from the beginning."
His old friend's words made Bill Gates laugh softly. He nodded slightly and said nothing more.
Since the tech world consisted of more than just Microsoft and Amazon, another company was also closely following the news: Facebook, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Google's all-stock acquisition of YouTube shocked almost everyone. But Mark Zuckerberg wore a serious expression as he shared his thoughts:
"Personally, I think that as long as we remove Facebook's registration restrictions, user growth will enter a high-speed phase. We don't need to seek investment from Isabella."
"And personally, if we approach Isabella right now, we'll become public enemies in the eyes of other companies in the same field—because now everyone knows that on the internet, Isabella might actually be invincible."
"When she can single-handedly end the competition in online video, her entry into other industries will make the other tech giants wary. At that point, a brutal battle may break out."
"I'll admit that this kind of battle might allow us to complete our growth overnight—but it might also turn us into sacrifices in the game between two giants."
"Because Isabella sold YouTube to Google. Now that she has embraced Google, companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL will never let her go, and they definitely won't watch her develop freely the way they did with YouTube."
"Lastly—Isabella Haywood has a record. When she was able to kick Sequoia Capital out of YouTube—can anyone sitting here beat her?"
Mark Zuckerberg's words made everyone in the conference room avert their gazes. After exchanging glances, company president Sean Parker—founder of Napster—and board member Peter Thiel immediately nodded. They felt Zuckerberg's words made a great deal of sense.
Earlier, at the beginning of the year, Facebook had already considered embracing Isabella and gaining massive traffic from her. Peter Thiel had even mentioned this to YouTube's founders. But now, they had thrown all those thoughts aside.
The reason was simple.
First, Isabella was too formidable. When she could kick Sequoia Capital out of YouTube—everyone invested in Facebook because they believed in its model. Even if they wanted to cash out, that would be after the company went public. No one wanted to fall in the darkness before dawn.
No one wanted to be casually pushed out during a funding round by someone else.
This wasn't them underestimating themselves or being afraid to clash with Isabella. It was because Sean Parker, when working on Plaxo, had been cleared out by Sequoia Capital. In their eyes, Sequoia Capital was a colossal entity—yet in front of Isabella, Sequoia Capital was just a minor obstacle she could brush aside.
Was there even any need to fight?
Second, everyone had gathered to build Facebook to make money. They didn't want to fight giants to the death. When everyone knew that Google's acquisition of YouTube would make countless giants unhappy—
Microsoft didn't dare attack Google's founders because Sergey Brin had an extraordinarily powerful father-in-law. Microsoft didn't dare forcibly acquire YouTube because they couldn't play dirty tricks on Chad Hurley and Isabella. Microsoft behaving properly in the current situation wasn't because they were truly proper—it was because everyone involved could also behave improperly.
So what did Facebook have? If they actively embraced Isabella, wouldn't a frustrated Microsoft have a reason to come after them directly? And don't assume Isabella would protect them just because they embraced her. Startups had winners and losers. If someone used legitimate methods to squeeze you out ahead of time and you fell, that couldn't be blamed on anyone else.
To be fair, their inability to embrace Isabella made everyone somewhat regretful.
However, after a moment's thought, Peter Thiel said, "Although we can't open our arms to Isabella right now, I think our future is still very bright. As long as we grow our user numbers, we can attract investment from Microsoft. Microsoft has already missed YouTube—I don't think they'll miss the next promising social platform."
"As for how to quickly increase our user numbers—what do you think about adding a batch of exclusive cartoon beaver stickers to Facebook? Or groundhogs and capybaras? Aren't these the animals in Isabella's new animation? And she once said she highly respects the internet's spirit of sharing."
Peter Thiel's words were somewhat abstract, but after a moment, everyone's eyes gradually lit up.
Everyone knew that the reason Microsoft wanted to acquire YouTube was its enormous traffic—just like their offer for Yahoo the previous year. They wanted to use traffic to grow their search engine's market share. Therefore, as long as Facebook built up its traffic, it would naturally gain Microsoft's favor—and with it, Microsoft's endorsement.
As for how to build that traffic—
"Would making stickers count as commercial use?" Sean Parker's eyes flickered.
"Who said we're going to make them ourselves?" Peter Thiel shrugged.
"You mean—" Sean Parker frowned slightly.
"Find a company to make them," Mark Zuckerberg said. "Then license them to us."
A knowing smile immediately appeared on Peter Thiel's face.
Once the news of Google acquiring YouTube broke, the first world-class headline of the second half of 2006 was born. And while people around the world were speaking freely and sighing endlessly, the instigator behind it all—Isabella—was no longer paying attention to any of this.
Because with the arrival of the second half of the year, Lionsgate had made an official decision: they were willing to sell Lightstorm as a package to Beaver Entertainment, meaning they would transfer James Cameron's previous contract with Fox to Isabella. Since Digital Domain—the visual effects company Cameron had founded—was also under Lightstorm, that too would belong to Isabella after the transaction.
The price was reasonable. The entire company was valued at 150 million dollars. Since Fox only owned thirty percent of Lightstorm's shares, Isabella spent just fifty million to obtain the operating rights to Avatar.
With Avatar now in hand, investing in and pushing forward production was inevitable. Isabella had only one instruction: let Anne Hathaway play the blue-skinned lead.
"Uh—Isa—are you sure?"
On the other end of the phone, Susie Figgis—in California, having just finished signing the contract with Lionsgate—sounded confused.
"Yeah? What's wrong?"
"Avatar has a huge budget, and Margot has already finished filming Transformers."
Susie explained.
Understanding what she meant, Isabella laughed. "Oh, that? If Transformers is done, let her rest. If she doesn't want to rest, she can be my assistant. Avatar isn't right for her—give it to Anne."
"I already told her about this before."
Yes. The project Isabella had previously mentioned to Anne Hathaway was Avatar. Since Isabella herself would not be acting in it, and Margot Robbie could not—Avatar had significant romantic plotlines, and Margot wasn't yet an adult—handing it to Anne Hathaway was keeping the best roles in the family.
Since her boss had already thought it all through, Susie didn't dwell on it further.
Avatar's arrival signaled that Isabella's career focus would return to film—
Well.
Fine.
That was actually self-deception.
After Isabella held Google shares, her career focus would never truly return to film. At present, her attention to film was about managing her entertainment empire. Identities such as actress and producer were simply tools to maintain her influence and continue attracting fans.
She might still approach all of this seriously—but she admitted she could no longer embrace acting with the same intense focus as before.
Prepare for other projects the way she prepared for The Philosopher's Stone? Don't joke.
She didn't have the time, the energy, or the inclination.
Because the current Isabella was already very different from before, the matters she handled were relatively broad and strategic.
The split-shooting script for Order of the Phoenix had already been written? As long as Chris Columbus said there was no problem, everything was fine. The production of Iron Man was progressing steadily? As long as Susie had found no issues and Kevin Feige was in charge, Isabella would only appear at the premiere.
And after Warner fulfilled its promise and handed over DC—Isabella had Susie contact Christopher Nolan to prepare production for Batman: The Dark Knight. Then she had Susie call Kevin Feige and ask him to determine where the DC cinematic universe should go next, now that Superman Returns had flopped and The Dark Knight was definitely moving forward.
"Isa, Kevin Feige wants to meet with you."
"Why?"
"Because he has two questions he wants to discuss face-to-face."
"What questions must be discussed in person?"
"He wants to know your goals and your acting career plan. He said these two questions concern the development of the DC cinematic universe—and even the Marvel cinematic universe."
Since Kevin Feige had framed it so seriously—
Isabella pushed up the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose. Gazing at the penguins coming ashore in front of her, she said, "Then have him come to Chile."