America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 557 The Founder of the Live Streaming Industry

Ernst naturally looked over curiously, thinking it was Bill Gates who had come and made a bigger commotion than himself.

However, upon seeing who it was, his expression turned strange.

Almost at the same moment, Jobs' deep voice rang out beside him, his tone a mixture of confusion and undisguised displeasure: "Why is she here?"

It wasn't just him; the reason for such a strong reaction at the scene was due to dissatisfaction.

Those invited to attend this California Internet Summit are all people of high status and prestige. They are either experts in various sub-fields of the Internet, or pioneers whose Internet concepts have been widely discussed. Alternatively, they are people like him and Jobs, who have personally built Internet companies and are already well-known and wealthy business tycoons.

Their presence is a testament to both their strength and reputation, and a guarantee of the high quality of this grand event.

The woman who appeared at the entrance at that moment shattered this tacit consensus among the elite circle.

It doesn't occupy any aspect, but you could also say it occupies all aspects.

"Jennifer Linley." Ernst's gaze lingered on her briefly before returning to his lips, uttering her name softly, then adding, "Her boyfriend isn't as good as me."

Upon hearing this, Jobs immediately rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "Doesn't he know what kind of occasion this is? How can he say such inappropriate things?"

However, he immediately realized what was happening and looked at Ernst with disbelief in his eyes. "You watched her live stream too? No way!" Something was wrong. Jobs frowned slightly and gave Ernst a meaningful look.

"I've seen some," Ernst said calmly, without denying it.

Jennifer Linley is the world's number one live streamer on the internet, which is why Ernst thinks she excels in every aspect.

She wasn't an expert in any specific niche of the internet, but she created one.

She didn't propose the concept of the Internet, but the Internet model she created became one of the most powerful concepts of the Internet twenty years later.

She is not an entrepreneur, but live streaming has brought her a lot of income, so in a way she can be considered an entrepreneur, albeit a one-person company.

Back in 1996, Jennifer Linley, then only 19 years old, created a personal website called Watch Jenny in her college dorm room to stream live.

This website broadcasts her daily life to the world, including her classes, studies, entertainment, and other mundane activities, attracting a large following, with a peak of 400 million hits in a single day.

In today's internet age, this is already an incredibly exaggerated figure.

It's important to know that due to current internet technology and equipment limitations, her live streams can only be presented in low-frame-rate black and white, and they're not even smooth; they need to be refreshed every 15 minutes to retrieve the previous segment of the live stream.

Even so, the fact that it could achieve such a large number of viewers shows that live streaming had already shown signs of becoming a huge hit in this era.

However, these weren't the reasons why the others in the room were so agitated. It wasn't that they looked down on her status, but rather on her as a person. In order to continuously gain popularity, her live stream content had become increasingly shameless and vulgar.

Just two months ago, something astonishing happened during her live stream.

Her boyfriend made many intimate gestures with her in front of the camera. Although there was no actual sex, the scene was still quite explicit, like a scene from an adult film.

This incident caused a huge uproar at the time, and made her a controversial figure who was despised and rejected by many people.

This is also why she is so disliked.

However, Jennifer Linley's arrival was just a minor incident, and Jobs and Ernst continued their meal selection journey.

"You don't seem to like desserts." Jobs' gaze fell on Ernst's plate.

A medium-rare steak, two roasted chicken wings, a vegetable salad, and a small spoonful of fruit salad with blueberries and strawberries—that was all the food on his plate.

Throughout the entire visit, Ernst never glanced at the dessert section, which featured chocolate mousse and cheesecake.

This discovery piqued the curiosity of Steve Jobs, who was standing next to him.

For Westerners, dessert has long been an indispensable part of their eating habits. Even if it is not a must-have at every meal, Jobs had never seen anyone completely avoid it like Ernst did.

Thinking back, he realized they had dined together quite a few times, and he couldn't recall ever seeing Ernst touch any dessert, which was quite different from typical Western eating habits. Ernst responded calmly, "I have no interest in eating industrial garbage that's been beautified and packaged by capitalists."

Americans' love for sugar is in no way inferior to that of the Middle Easterners, who are known for their sugar addiction; in fact, one could say they are addicted to sugar.

Even more than 20 years later, in an era when milk tea and carbonated drinks are rampant in China, Americans still consume more than eight times the amount of sugar per day on average.

In America, the sophistication of a banquet can be judged simply by looking at its buffet table.

At lower-end gatherings, drinks and pastries are often the fastest consumed and the first to be devoured.

However, at truly high-end banquets, these foods with extremely high sugar content are often the ones left over the most.

Because wealthy people know that eating too much sugar is bad, they try their best to restrain themselves.

Upon hearing the words "industrial waste," Jobs' expression changed drastically, and he instinctively asked, "Do you have evidence?"

Ernst looked at him, feeling somewhat speechless.

He is, after all, one of America's top billionaires. In this day and age, with a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he definitely belongs to the top 0.1% of the world's elite.

Besides technology, do you really not care about anything else?

"What's so difficult about investigating this? Just give us a million dollars, hire someone to do the research, and you'll easily get the results." Ernst looked at him seriously. "I'm serious about you buying a rural property. If possible, homemade food is the safest."

He had told Jobs many times that they could invest in a ranch and be as self-sufficient in all their food as possible.

"How dare they?" Jobs said in a low, resentful voice.

Ernst gave a mocking look. "Has the lead pollution problem from back then been solved?"

I didn't know before I traveled through time, but I understand now that I live in America.

If you tell an American that you can drink tap water straight from the tap, they'll definitely ask you, "Where is that kind of America? I want to go there too."

At the beginning of the 20th century, as capitalism in the United States had gradually matured, the first major problem facing American society was urbanization.

Due to the rapid growth of the urban population, various infrastructure projects were naturally put on the agenda, and lead was discovered at that time.

Because it is corrosion-resistant, has good ductility, and is very cheap, lead is used as the raw material for all buildings in the United States, especially for pipes.

Then, over time, lead poisoning develops.

Scientists have shown that the root cause is the all-lead water pipes through which their drinking water is supplied.

However, these studies prove that they were all suppressed by real estate developers. At that time, America was experiencing a period of rapid growth, and real estate was the biggest economic pillar, undoubtedly backed by the most powerful capitalists.

However, in the 1960s, the United States experienced large-scale social unrest. The age of criminals was getting younger and younger, and the police found that these people did not drink alcohol, but were extremely irritable.

After further investigation, the issue of lead resurfaced.

It was only then that the entire United States took it seriously and revealed the truth.

The results of it?

The rich are naturally not afraid, but the government doesn't help the poor.

There are still nearly 80 million people in the United States who cannot solve their drinking water problem and are still using lead pipes.

It's not that the US government doesn't care, it's that capitalists won't let them care.

Because medical giants saw the potential for profit, and so did many capitalists.

For example, there is an increase in demand for new housing, an increase in demand for bottled water in supermarkets, and an increase in patients in hospitals.

"In America today, sugar poisoning is unavoidable."

Seeing that Jobs seemed somewhat skeptical, Ernst said, "I had someone research it, and the sweets we eat don't actually contain cane sugar." Jobs knew this because sugar was very expensive.

Before the 60s, Americans couldn't afford sugar; it was extremely expensive.

However, corn syrup was developed in the 1970s, and later fructose syrup was also developed. These two products reduced the price of sugar by at least five times.

"Everyone knows that sweets can make people happy, so since the 70s, American food has become sweeter and sweeter, and consumers have liked it more and more."

"But corn syrup is garbage, and high-fructose corn syrup, also known as high-fructose corn syrup, is an industrial product."

"The experiments I had conducted proved that after high-fructose corn syrup enters the human body, it bypasses an enzyme and goes directly to the liver."

"When the liver can't metabolize it, it secretes more insulin, which then produces antibodies."

"Although detailed results are not yet available, it is certain that long-term use of high-fructose corn syrup increases the risk of developing diabetes by six to eight times compared to consuming sucrose."

"Don't forget who's behind those food giants."

Jobs was instantly horrified, because behind these food giants stood the pharmaceutical alliance.

Coming to his senses, he silently put the small cake back on the plate.

"Tell me more about it?" Jobs felt he should think of the child, if not himself. Ernst, however, just pursed his lips. "No time."

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving behind the words, "I'll send you the data I got later."

Jobs didn't know what Ernst meant by "not available," and then he stared wide-eyed as Ernst sat down next to Jennifer Linley amidst the incredulous gazes of the entire room.