The struggle for the pinnacle of power in the USA—its presidential election—has historically seen more than one occasion of controversy and deadlock due to closely matched votes. However, this time, the enormous electoral vote gap of 370 to 168 left no room for contention.
When the election results were finally announced, George Bush had no choice but to publicly acknowledge his defeat, extending his congratulations to Bill Clinton from the White House.
The Clintons were in Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas.
As soon as Bush conceded, Bill Clinton promptly delivered his victory speech, reaffirming his campaign promises and emphasizing that his first priority as president would be to revive the American economy. This stance sharply contrasted with Bush's perceived indifference to economic issues.
The following morning, with media outlets saturated with news and commentary on the presidential election, the North American stock market experienced a noticeable upswing.
Despite the clear outcome, the dust of this election was far from settled.
In the final tally, Bill Clinton's popular vote stood at 43%, George Bush at 38%, and the independent third-party candidate Ross Perot, despite not winning a single electoral vote, garnered a substantial 19% of the popular vote, accumulating 19.74 million ballots.
Perot's abrupt withdrawal from the race in July, after the two main candidates had been firmly established, left them ample room to maneuver. His sudden re-entry in October, with a campaign strongly targeting Bush, could hardly be dismissed as mere coincidence.
Unlike the significant electoral vote difference, Clinton's lead over Bush in the popular vote was only 5%, which wasn't particularly wide.
Had it not been for Ross Perot siphoning off a significant 19% of the vote, much of which came from the same conservative base as Bush's, the outcome of this election might have been much more uncertain.
This election highlighted the disruptive potential of independent candidates in U.S. presidential elections, a lesson that both major parties would heed for many years to come.
In fact, they would eventually learn to actively exploit this disruption. Simon recalled the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, where the Republicans similarly leveraged an independent candidate to split Gore's vote, leading to Bush's narrow and contentious victory.
On another front, the burgeoning influence of internet media in this year's U.S. presidential election became a force potent enough to sway public opinion.
The Hearst family, the Newhouse family, and other established media dynasties were coveted by the federal elite precisely because they controlled extensive media networks and had the power to shape public discourse.
Over the years, the landscape of traditional U.S. television and print media had become well-established. Many believed that these legacy media empires would continue to dominate the nation's narrative for years to come. However, the sudden rise of internet media caught many off guard.
Although giants like ABC and the Hearst Group had started to venture into the internet industry in recent years, their investments and promotions were cautious to avoid undermining their core traditional businesses. Consequently, they couldn't compete with Egret's information services.
Most critically, Egret controlled the gateway to the entire World Wide Web.
For the average person, the World Wide Web was practically synonymous with the internet itself. With the dominance of their browser software, every time a user accessed the internet, Egret's portal was the first page they encountered.
Like the ubiquitous navigation websites in Simon's memory, the Egret portal might seem easy to replicate on the surface. However, Egret's suite of core technologies, such as email services, search engines, and online payments, presented formidable barriers, protected by patents, just like their browser software.
Egret had embedded its portal as the unchangeable homepage in their IE browser, and for most users, this was a given. Few questioned the absence of an option to change the homepage in IE.
Any new portal would face daunting challenges, not only in matching Egret's core offerings but also in navigating the competitive landscape where Egret's control was seen as justified.
In summary, although the number of websites was increasing exponentially, Egret's portal had established itself as the unchallenged leader of the internet. Other websites, even those using technology from Egret, had to strive to be listed on Egret's navigation pages to gain traffic.
This emerging power of internet media was, in essence, concentrated in the hands of Egret. More precisely, it was under the control of the Westeros system.
In the final month of the election, Egret's portal exhibited a clear bias towards Bill Clinton. While the company did not release specific data on the impact of this coverage, outside observers could only speculate.
Nonetheless, on election day, Egret's real-time reporting from the first polling town in New Hampshire even influenced the London oil futures market. While CNN and other media might have played a part, the immediate impact of Egret's control over public opinion was undeniable.
Simon had just watched Clinton's victory speech in San Francisco. Clinton had also sent a message indicating that once he assumed office, he would promptly arrange a visit to Silicon Valley.
The Clintons had a knack for navigating American politics for decades, largely because they were known for keeping their promises and delivering on commitments. Unlike political dynasties like the Kennedys or the Bushes, which took generations to reach the pinnacle of power, the Clintons, in just two decades, transformed themselves into a formidable force in American politics, nearly becoming the first couple to both serve as President.
During the latter stages of the election, faced with Egret's alignment, the White House took an aggressive stance, even announcing through the Justice Department a potential antitrust investigation into the IE browser software.
However, with Bush's defeat, the situation began to shift subtly.
The Bush family, with their deep-rooted political acumen, understood that antagonizing Simon Westeros could be detrimental to their long-term interests. Bush's loss did not spell the end for the family's political life, and they knew better than to alienate Simon entirely.
Though they could not immediately retract their antitrust threats, the day after the election, the White House abruptly approved Egret's long-sought press credentials for the White House briefing room. Previously, as an emerging media platform, Egret had faced numerous rejections for these credentials.
Securing a White House press pass symbolized a media outlet's status and influence in the U.S.
While Simon sensed that this approval might be a tactic to stir up tensions between Egret and traditional media, he admired Bush's decisiveness.
With the election settled, withholding the press pass would only have delayed the inevitable by a few months.
The approval now served dual purposes: testing the waters for a possible rapport with Egret and sowing potential discord.
In response, Egret's portal published a favorable piece on the outgoing President, reflecting a nuanced acknowledgment of the situation.
With the election over, Simon anticipated that the coming year would see an even more significant boom in the internet industry.
Simon's intervention had fast-tracked the development of the internet by several years. Technologies like graphical web browsers had debuted three years earlier than they would have otherwise. Egret's portal, upon launch, already operated at the efficiency and sophistication levels expected at the turn of the century. From email services to content delivery, Egret's lavish investments had quickly built a platform that attracted the general public.
For the average American, spending around $30 per month for internet access was akin to subscribing to a couple of newspapers but with much more expansive content and services. It was an enticing value proposition, especially given America's strong consumer culture.
America's robust economy and high consumer spending were key drivers behind the internet boom. In contrast, in Simon's original country, the adoption of technologies like VCRs and DVDs had been limited throughout their lifecycle. In the U.S., however, these technologies had seen household penetration rates exceeding 80%.
The same trend applied to personal computers and the internet in America.
In the original timeline, graphical web browsers emerged in 1993, Yahoo was founded in 1995, and the internet's explosion followed soon after. Between 1995 and 2000, the number of internet users in the U.S. skyrocketed to 110 million, vastly outpacing other countries. By comparison, China, with a much larger population, had only 6.5 million internet users in the same year, a mere fraction of the U.S. number.
With the technological groundwork laid and Simon's aggressive investments, he had effectively advanced the internet industry's growth by three to five years.
By the end of 1992, Simon expected the World Wide Web to have 28 million connections in the U.S., covering over 40 million users.
This rapid growth, from 1990 to 1992, mirrored the original timeline's expansion, but in a condensed timeframe.
America's immense consumer power underpinned this rapid adoption. By 1995, Simon anticipated that U.S. internet users would likely reach the levels originally seen in 2000.
However, the capital markets had yet to fully catch up with this industry surge. In the original timeline, the period between 1998 and 2000 saw an irrational and massive explosion of tech stocks. This time, although tech stocks were beginning to attract attention, they had not yet hit their peak.
Simon believed that this peak would come next year.
The recent European monetary crisis played a significant role. Just the British government's attempt to maintain the pound's exchange rate had cost over £20 billion, money that didn't just vanish. Countries like Italy, France, and Spain had suffered heavily in this crisis, and the funds lost had largely been absorbed by international capital, predominantly U.S.-based.
Just as the Asian financial crisis of 1997 had funneled substantial capital into North American tech stocks, this time, the funds gathered by international investors would naturally seek high-potential growth opportunities.
With Europe entering a new economic downturn and Asia under Japan
's shadow, the newly resurgent U.S., set to emerge from the bond market crash recession and enter an economic upswing with Clinton's presidency, offered the most promising investment opportunities.
North America's rapidly growing tech industry was the perfect target for international capital looking for growth.
As the year drew to a close and the election wrapped up, Simon stayed in San Francisco to discuss Egret's plans for the coming year with the company's top executives.
The first priority was to further open up the World Wide Web technologies.
Agreements for licensing email technologies with Microsoft and AOL were already in place, but finding a completely independent third party remained a challenge.
At this point, most significant new internet technology companies were linked to the Westeros system. Licensing to a weaker third party risked immediate acquisition by established giants like IBM. Even if restrictions were placed in the licensing agreements, granting such technologies to a minor player was less effective than not licensing them at all.
Thus, for now, only Microsoft and AOL would receive these licenses.
As for public opinion, there was little Simon could do but let others speculate.
Moreover, Egret decided, after several high-level discussions, to contribute some of its more basic web patents to the Web Alliance Foundation, making them freely available to the industry.
Simon was also contemplating shedding some of Egret's non-core businesses to provide room for other internet companies to grow.
However, given that Egret currently supported the bulk of internet services—from email and forums to software stores and blogs—relinquishing any part was not yet viable.
Any divestment would ideally occur post-IPO.
More precisely, it would be best timed with the aftermath of the inevitable internet bubble burst. Then, Egret could rationalize shedding non-core businesses under the guise of streamlining operations.
For now, more business units meant a higher future stock valuation.
The issue of potential company splits was also tied to the future IPO.
Despite frequent clashes between strong-willed leaders like Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz, both opposed Simon's suggestion to split Egret into separate entities.
Egret's core services and network offerings were deeply intertwined.
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