Life at the Top

Time ticked by and it was now only three more minutes until the market opened and Sena went public. Jasper had been invited onto the temporarily built stage.

The stage was right under the largest main screen in Nasdaq Exchange Center, which was at the center of the room.

Under everyone’s attentive gaze, Jasper and Jack got on stage.

In the middle of the stage was a large bell.

Since Nasdaq Exchange’s founding, every business that went public would have its legal personality ring this bell.

It was a tradition as much as it was a symbol.

The electronic screen continued to display worlds of welcome like ‘Nasdaq welcomes Sena’ while hundreds of traders had already gotten into position. There were a few dozen reporters holding their cameras, waiting to take a picture of this historical moment.

Jasper accepted a wooden hammer from a manager in the exchange center and was just about to invite Jack to ring the bell with him when he saw the other shake his head with a smile.

“You should ring the bell yourself, Mr. Laine,” Jack spoke.

Although he was stunned, Jasper saw the shine in Jack’s eyes and did not insist. “Alright then.”

Everyone looked up and focused on the electronic screen that covered the entire wall. It displayed both Nasdaq’s and Sena’s logo, as well as an analog clock.

The second hand of the clock ticked continuously until it was almost racing to 9:30 a.m.

“5…

“4…

“3…

“2…

“1…”

Hundreds of people counted down at the same time in the exchange Center.

in the United States, and Jasper knocked the wooden hammer against the bell, signifying the opening

Ring!

deep and strong sound of the bell rang throughout

flashed maddeningly as they tried to commemorate

Somerland had moved on from the bursting of the dot-com bubble

Its ticker—SENA!

down from the stage after they rang the bell. They began to pay attention to the

senior executive sucked in

was rather relaxed as he smiled and said, “The share market in the United States has different rules compared to the markets back home. New shares here normally pay more attention to the pre-IPO on the first day of trading and the more shares bought pre-IPO make for a higher share price. It’ll take some time before the data is confirmed.

States, most investors tended to buy

started with an issue price of 25 US dollars with 96 million US dollars worth

more shares bought by investors through pre-IPO, the higher the

most important thing was that there was not a 10% rise limit when it came to buying shares

Sena was formidable enough, its prices could

difficult would

Impossibly hard.

as crazy as it used to

exchange centers like Nasdaq, the Dow Jones Index, and the

enthusiastic and there was

more rational and

Jasper’s calm facade was immense

center, Jasper watched

were still thinking of ways to interview Sena’s senior executives, and traders had already begun

filled with the

added to the pressure

price of 25 US dollars had to grow at least five times

dare to make such

long face?” Celine interrupted Jasper’s

here I am, worried about whether the share price

pinched Jasper’s shoulder and beamed at him. “Don’t worry about it. So what if it doesn’t hit the target we set? The point of Sena going public was to help contribute to your cash flow. From the hype we’ve garnered over the past few days,