earnings
spending
Nova Tech growth
Nova Investments
Asian Financial Crisis profits
dot-com strategy
Apple and Nvidia shares (larger stakes)
political influence
written in proper novel narrative style
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Interlude – Ryan's Empire (Year 2000)
By the time the year 2000 arrived, Ryan Giri was only fifteen years old, yet the empire he had quietly built had already reached a scale most businessmen would spend their entire lives chasing.
To the outside world Ryan was simply known as the young founder of Nova Tech, the gaming company responsible for the Nova Handheld and several popular game franchises.
But Nova Tech was only one part of Ryan's growing influence.
Behind the scenes he had built two powerful pillars that supported his rise: Nova Tech and Nova Investments.
Nova Tech was the foundation of everything.
What had once started as a small startup with barely ten employees had grown into a professional company employing more than two hundred developers, engineers, artists and designers.
The company now operated with ten different development teams, each responsible for separate game projects.
Some teams focused on handheld games, others worked on large-scale console titles.
The success of the Nova Handheld had been the turning point.
After its launch in 1995, the console quickly became popular among gamers thanks to Pokémon and several innovative multiplayer features.
Over the following years the Nova Handheld series sold more than 12 million units worldwide.
Game sales were even more impressive.
Across Pokémon titles, Nova's own games and third-party releases, more than 85 million game copies had been sold on the platform.
Because Nova Tech charged 15% royalties on third-party games, every developer who released a game on the Nova ecosystem contributed to the company's growing revenue.
At the same time the Pokémon franchise expanded far beyond gaming.
Through Nova Tech's partnership with Hasbro, Pokémon toys and merchandise were distributed across the United States, Japan and Europe.
Nova Tech received 12% royalties on all Pokémon merchandise, and by the end of the decade Pokémon products had generated more than $500 million in global sales, bringing Nova Tech over $60 million in royalty income.
The gaming industry quickly realized that Nova Tech was no longer a small company.
Yet gaming was only part of Ryan's strategy.
In 1997, Ryan established Nova Investments, a financial firm designed to manage his growing capital.
Using his knowledge of global markets, Ryan began trading in stocks, commodities and futures contracts.
His first major opportunity came during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.
While most investors were caught off guard by the collapsing Asian currencies and financial markets, Nova Investments had already positioned itself to profit from the downturn.
By aggressively short selling several vulnerable currencies and financial instruments, Ryan's firm generated nearly $600 million in profit.
Instead of spending that money, Ryan reinvested it.
He began quietly acquiring shares in technology companies he believed would dominate the future.
One of the most important investments was Apple.
During the late 1990s Apple struggled financially, and many investors believed the company would fail.
Ryan saw the situation differently.
Using Nova Investments, he gradually accumulated shares while the price remained low.
By the year 2000, Ryan controlled approximately 32% of Apple, making him the largest individual shareholder in the company.
Ryan also invested heavily in Nvidia, recognizing that graphics processors would become essential for both gaming and computing.
Nova Investments eventually accumulated 35% ownership of Nvidia, giving Ryan enormous influence over the company's direction and creating a strong partnership between Nvidia's hardware and Nova Tech's gaming systems.
These investments alone represented billions of dollars in future value.
Of course, building such an empire required enormous spending.
Between 1995 and 2000, Ryan reinvested heavily into Nova Tech's growth.
More than $300 million had been spent expanding development studios, hiring talent, researching hardware and funding large game development projects.
Despite these expenses, Ryan's total wealth continued growing rapidly.
By the year 2000, Ryan's combined assets through Nova Tech and Nova Investments exceeded $4 billion.
But Ryan's influence extended beyond business and finance.
Over the years Nova Tech had quietly built relationships within political and regulatory circles.
Ryan understood something many entrepreneurs ignored: technology companies could not grow without navigating government policies and regulations.
Through Nova Tech and Nova Investments, Ryan supported several technology initiatives, educational programs and political campaigns during the late 1990s.
Officially these were donations to research programs, technology education funds and innovation initiatives.
Unofficially they helped Nova Tech build strong relationships with policymakers and regulatory agencies.
The company also funded university research projects and technology programs in public schools, strengthening its reputation as a company supporting technological progress.
Ryan himself rarely appeared publicly in these matters.
Instead experienced advisors and legal teams handled the relationships carefully.
By the year 2000, Nova Tech had established connections with several influential figures involved in technology regulation and economic policy.
These relationships ensured that Nova Tech faced fewer regulatory obstacles as it expanded its gaming ecosystem and hardware development.
To the public, Ryan Giri remained a brilliant young entrepreneur.
But behind the scenes, he had already built influence across gaming, finance, technology—and even politics.
And he had done all of it before he even turned sixteen.
Yet despite this growing empire, Ryan knew that the most important changes in his life were still ahead.
Because somewhere in San Francisco lived a shy girl named Mia Thermopolis…
A girl who had no idea that she was destined to become the Princess of Genovia.