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.

currently 9:30 a.m. in the United States, and Jasper knocked the wooden hammer against

Ring!

of the bell rang

cameras flashed maddeningly as they tried to commemorate

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

Its ticker—SENA!

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

A senior executive sucked in a deep breath and felt

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

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 price would

was not a 10% rise limit

formidable enough, its prices could rise instantly

difficult would

Impossibly hard.

market was no longer as crazy as it used to be before the burst

development slowed, trade also decreased in large exchange centers like Nasdaq, the Dow Jones Index, and the Nikkei

proved that investors were getting less enthusiastic and there was

rational and no longer rushed to one

Jasper’s calm facade was immense

bustling exchange center, Jasper

of ways to interview Sena’s senior executives, and traders had already begun receiving phone calls while starting

the scent

to

had to grow at least five times to

would dare to make such a bet,

with the long face?” Celine interrupted Jasper’s deep

see Celine’s relaxed expression and laughed. “And here I am, worried about whether the share price will meet the requirements when you’re acting like it

Celine 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