April arrived.
Both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Radiance premiered around this time.
The Harry Potter series was already a household name, and Radiance had gained considerable popularity due to the Cuban Missile Crisis the previous year and Katherine's $20 million investment. The current box-office record was held by Ben-Hur at $15 million—a record that Katherine had now surpassed.
At that moment, Katherine was uncharacteristically sitting in her office, preparing to meet someone—someone Bruce had discovered.
Strictly speaking, it shouldn't have been called an interview. Katherine simply wanted to confirm whether this person matched her memories. After all, she only knew his name.
A man with a flattened nose walked in. He was fairly handsome, but the scars on his face and that nose diminished his looks.
"Jerry Sanders?"
"Yes, Sister Edson."
Sanders was born in Chicago in 1936. His parents divorced when he was in preschool, and he was raised by his grandfather. He was a gifted student with excellent grades and even skipped a grade in high school. However, he had a strong tendency to stand up for the weak and often got into fights. At the University of Illinois, he studied engineering. Once, a classmate named Jim got into a fight with a group of thugs. Seeing Jim about to be beaten badly, Sanders stepped in and drove them off. Jim escaped, but Sanders was seriously injured and permanently disfigured. His nose was deformed, his forehead caved in, and several ribs were broken—he nearly died.
Years later, in Silicon Valley, Sanders would become a prominent figure, earning the nickname "the Ugly Prince."
But not yet.
He worked at Motorola, but he was never satisfied with his job.
Then Bruce extended an olive branch.
At that time, Sanders's talent was only just beginning to emerge, and Motorola had yet to notice it.
"I'd like to hear your thoughts on the electronics industry. I've heard you've always had a unique perspective on this field."
Sanders was extremely capable and had foreseen the direction of the electronics industry early on.
"I believe the development of personal computers shows that computers are becoming more accessible and industrialized, no longer limited to top-tier corporations. In the future, supercomputers will exist only in certain research institutions; for ordinary companies, they'll be unnecessary. I think our company should focus personal computers on 'individuals.' We should make people depend on our products. Profitability should be secondary for now—we need to expand the industry first and capture the market."
He didn't look down on Catherine for being a woman and spoke eloquently about his ideas.
Catherine smiled.
"Mr. Sanders, congratulations. As of today, you are the president of NEL Corporation."
Sanders was stunned. Previously, he had been a general manager—now he had suddenly become president of NEL Corporation.
Bruce lacked sufficient experience, and Catherine felt someone needed to share the responsibility. Moreover, Sanders was highly capable. If not him, then who else?
Catherine signed a contract.
She hired Sanders with a 25% stake in NEL and an astonishing salary of $500,000, increasing by $100,000 each year until it reached $1 million.
Because of this discussion, Catherine also decided to develop the second generation of Microsoft-style computers.
This time, she made a bold decision: to open up the hardware standards.
In other words, she would allow third parties to configure components for her computers.
Just like in the future, motherboards, processors, and graphics cards would be manufactured by a limited number of companies.
Catherine decided to open this standard.
However, she would take a commission on every product sold by manufacturers. After all, she owned the product patents, and the standard itself belonged to her company.
Even so, Catherine wasn't fully confident that this idea would succeed.
That said, Company B had already recognized the personal computer market, and other companies also seemed to be preparing to enter the field. Catherine didn't want to "die on the beach," so opening her standards would greatly increase her market share.
The Microsoft-style computer was her big move.
Catherine opened standards for memory, CPUs, and graphics cards, and also reserved several ports so other companies could add components like sound cards to their products.
Her current computers used 8-bit memory, which had originally been integrated into the motherboard. Now, Catherine decided to make it modular. At the same time, the original display output device was also modified.
Previously, Catherine had used single-E and color-E graphics cards. Although color-E supported color output, it was still very expensive. As a result, Catherine only used single-E displays in the functional version of her Microsoft-style computer.
However, she did not open the motherboard standard. Every piece of hardware had to include one of Catherine's protocols in order to be compatible with her computer.
If someone wanted to develop their own motherboard and standards… sorry, that would mean a lawsuit.
That said, the electronics industry was still in its infancy; it would take time before it truly flourished.
Now, with tens of thousands of dollars on hand, Catherine immediately invested them into NEL Corporation. Fairchild Semiconductor was a veteran of the semiconductor industry, but even at its peak, internal conflicts were beginning to surface. Catherine was waiting for the right opportunity to recruit the era's top semiconductor engineers. Even if she couldn't hire them all, she hoped to bring in a large portion of them.
Catherine wrote a project proposal outlining her vision for the Microsoft-style computer and handed it to the technical department. To maintain secrecy, she also required the department to sign a confidentiality agreement ensuring there would be no leaks during the research phase.
Catherine believed the new computer would appear within two years at most.
While the electronics industry was in a lull, the film and television industries were booming, and GameTV—owned by Catherine—was rapidly gaining market share.
The growing popularity of television fueled the prosperity of the TV industry.
Thus, Catherine founded her own television network.
Angel Beat.
Abbreviated as "B-TV" or "Angel TV."
If everything went smoothly, Catherine's network would launch on July 1, 1964—and the TV adaptation of Radiance would be her flagship program.