After the trial phase in late March 1970 Simon and all employees of Atari spent the next two months producing and selling arcade machines with the game 'Snake' across all of New York and many other cities on the east coast. The rapid success and growing cash flow was soon noticed by Citibank. But they were already well aware of Simon's family and background. On June 14th 1970 Atari had already sold 5500 arcade machines. Every machine represented roughly 2000 dollars in pure profit, with wages already deducted. This resulted in pure profit for the Atari company of 11.000.000 dollars. Simon was not only able to repay his loan but also use an additional 4 million dollars to hire more engineers and increase the production capacity. Every employee of Atari could feel the enthusiasm and future possibilities of the company. Dennis and Tanja were rapidly growing alongside the still young Atari and handled the company affairs very well, which left a lot of freedom for Simon Smith. As the seven founding members were already promised a certain amount of shares in the future, they handled the company very well. The company's increase in production capacity and the new game, that Woz and his team were already starting under Simon's guidance, was making everybody excited.
To be absolutely sure though, as money really can turn people very bad, Simon additionally hired his family's law farm and Deloitte, an audit company, to check the finances of the company on a regular basis.
His parents and grandparents were extremely proud that their son/grandson could achieve such a great career. They wanted to hold a celebration party in their villa on Long Island and invite many friends of the family, important figures of the East Coast and business partners of Simon.
The party was very grand and Simon got to meet many people. The New York finance circle is quite small and closed. EVen though Citibank tried to hide the immense increase and cash flow and the future potential of Atari, it was not really possible, especially due to the fame Simon Smith already had in New York. Just the fact that he was the youngest son of the famous Smith Parker law firm and finished his master's degree at the age of only 16 made Simon quite famous in New York and an ideal object of marriage for many young noble daughters of the East Coast families.
Unfortunately Simon didn't know many of those young noble daughters, as his knowledge about future celebrities really only started in the 80's. He didn't mind having a casual relationship with them though, but would never consider marrying at such a young age with so much still to do and so many dreams for the future. This was also an age without smartphones and mobile phones still looked like literal bricks, so the communication was still a lot different than in the 21st century. When he was surrounded by at least ten young female guests his mother finally couldn't stand it anymore and forced his brother to capture him back. Caroline was very amused by all of this.
"Simon I am getting quite jealous about your recent success. I would have never believed it before, but it really seems like you found a goose that will lay a lot of golden eggs for you in the future. Maybe you will have to buy your smart and lovely sister a new car in the future. Or how about hiring me as the CEO of your company." Caroline joked around with Simon. Even though she would never need him to give her money, she was still a little jealous of the great success of her little brother, which put a lot of pressure on the always competitive Caroline and Alexander. But the jealousy was definitely more on the playful side, as she only had love for her little brother.
Simon already expected such reactions when he first thought about how successful Atari was gonna be and how much money this company would earn. He knew for sure that the only reason large investment banks were not already pressuring in buying shares of his company was the protection of his family, especially his mother and siblings. He didn't want to sell to many shares of Atari yet, as this company would have to make many risky decisions, at least risky without his foresight, and having many shareholders would increase the opinion within the company against large and risky investments in technology, like developing home game console or handheld consoles.
But he knew that he owed his family and siblings a lot for their protection and care, even though they would never ask him for something in return. In the last few weeks, as he had more time to relax and let Dennis and Tanja handle the company's affairs, he finally found a new way to include his family into his business. He chose a field that would be innovative but more of a traditional industry. After combining the future knowledge in his mind and the information collected over several months, in the end he decided to develop from the electronic field to the beverage and food field. A project in which the Smith Parker family could invest in and even include some of their family's allies and friends.
This new idea was somehow related to Atari and the gaming market. Simon wanted to found a beverage company called RedBull. Red Bull had not yet been born in 1970.
You must know that Red Bull beverage is the second largest beverage brand in the future after the two major colas. Discovering this vacancy, Simon naturally wanted to seize this opportunity. But developing a brand like RedBull needed a lot of investment and ties to the media around the world. He wanted to present this idea in front of his family and the close friends that were invited to this celebration party. Of course he would wait for a moment where only people he could trust would be present and this opportunity just arrived now.
"Sister I can't hire you for Atari, but I do have a new idea for a product and want to found a new company, after Atari is already on the right track and doesn't need too much of my daily attention. Would you like to become the CEO of this new company?" Simon asked playfully, while observing the surprised faces all around him.