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Megaupload STARTED TO enjoy true success during 2009, attracting the notice of the international business press simply for the size of the bandwidth it was hogging. When Forbes wrote in October 2009, wanting to talk about copyright infringement, it was with questions about the involvement of Kim Schmitz or Tim Vestor. Dotcom, perhaps trying to escape the trouble of the past, replied saying:

“I can confirm that nobody by the name of Kim Schmitz is associated with our company. We have a policy not to disclose details about our business performance. But I can tell you (off the record) that we are a small and humble business trying to earn enough to pay the bandwidth bill. Our site has grown to be popular but it is not easy to monetize the traffic in this economy. The vast majority of users is uploading home videos, web cam captures, content they own or have the right to copy and other legitimate content.”

He sent the email in the name of a staff member, writing to let the staff member know. He copied in Ortmann, saying: “The larger we get the more people want to know more about Mega. Let's stay below the radar.”

BY THE Megaupload team's measure, Rapidshare was the larger website until about mid-2010. About then, Rapidshare's focus shifted to securing paying customers. Foot traffic to Rapidshare dropped as revenue spiraled upwards.

At Megaupload, the year was also bringing success. Dotcom had moved to Hong Kong, where the business was headquartered, as had Ortmann. Van der Kolk had shifted to the Netherlands with new bride Asia Agcaoili two years earlier but was starting to cast about for an alternative.

References later to the site generating $175 million gave an impression it was a money factory. Van der Kolk says the figure overlooked the cost of bandwidth, salary payments for the 200-plus staff working for the company — designing and selling ads, dealing with customers, generating content for a range of blog sites — or the other significant overheads.

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