Who Would Win It All

Back then, the internet was still in its infancy. People mainly went online to read news, send emails, search for information, and so on.

The most popular sites were search engines and portal websites.

The prevailing internet philosophy was "free sharing." All websites were free, and aside from online games, other sites required hardly any spending.

Under those circumstances, websites naturally had very limited ways to make a profit. Other than advertising, there was almost no other source of income.

Likewise, there were very limited ways to promote websites.

Besides placing traditional TV commercials and ads in magazines and newspapers, the only option was advertising on other major websites.

There were not many tricks to it.

Things like holding lotteries for users were extremely rare.

Especially someone like Wang Ye, offering up a luxury car for a lottery aimed at individual users—this was simply unprecedented.

As a result, it caused an enormous stir across the Russian internet, and the advertising effect was exceptionally good.

A week later, Wang Ye's personal Facebook account had surpassed three hundred thousand followers!

That number might not have seemed impressive twenty years later. After all, there would be countless so-called "million-follower influencers" and "ten-million-follower internet celebrities."

Anyone working in self-media as a blogger or content creator would be too embarrassed to greet people outside if they did not have over a million followers.

But twenty years ago, three hundred thousand followers—and genuine ones with no inflated numbers—was truly a little frightening.

In Wang Ye's office, he was bent over handling documents. Although he did not personally manage those group companies, there were still quite a few documents delivered to him every day that required his approval.

Beside his desk, a smaller L-shaped desk had been newly placed. That was Rosiana's workstation.

After all, she