Los Angeles.
After Kyle returned to Los Angeles from his New York trip, the first thing he did was call his two top advisors.
Personal attorney: Paul Goodman;
Private chief financial consultant: Anna Josephine;
"I summoned you for two main reasons!"
Kyle raised a finger and said gravely, "First, I want to set up a professional think-tank. Lawyer Paul Goodman, I'd like you to engage head-hunters for this."
Paul Goodman and Anna exchanged a look.
Paul Goodman asked, "Mr. Page, understood. However, recruiting a truly top-tier think-tank will take time."
"Three months."
Kyle answered at once, "I know it's difficult, so I'm giving you three months."
"Then we're good." Paul Goodman exhaled in relief.
Assembling a professional, world-class think-tank is anything but easy. Until now Paul Goodman and Anna had advised Kyle on law and finance only; when it comes to strategic planning and industrial layout, they can't match dedicated policy strategists.
Scan the Forbes list—every name on it is backed by a professional brain trust.
"Two heads are better than one" is an old truth for good reason.
As time passes Kyle is ever more certain his companies will keep expanding and diversifying; relying on himself alone would be beyond his strength.
Take the present:
He must steer every subsidiary of Golden Dawn Entertainment, watch over LinkedIn Corporation, Google Company, California Standard Bank and more, and soon prepare for the Dot-com Bubble burst. A transmigrator he may be, but no god!
Going solo, he'd drop from exhaustion—or drop dead—long before covering every front.
A dedicated think-tank is urgent.
"Mr. Page, what's the second matter?" asked Anna Josephine.
After scribbling in his notebook, Paul Goodman also fixed his gaze on Kyle.
Kyle said solemnly, "The second item is the share sell-off I mentioned two months ago."
Over the past two months Kyle had unloaded small stakes in six firms—HP, Dell, Oracle, Cisco—cashing out 170 million USD.
Remember, he'd originally bought those shares for a mere 30 million.
In short, he'd made a killing.
"Mr. Page, here're our recent gains; your signature is all that's needed." Anna pulled a stack of powers of attorney and sale intention contracts from her briefcase.
[0.01% of Microsoft, valued at 62.25 million USD.]
[0.02% of America Online, valued at 73 million USD.]
[2% of Yahoo, valued at 940 million USD.]
"Sir, the shares you hold in Microsoft, America Online and Yahoo have all appreciated in the last two months, especially AOL stock," Anna explained.
AOL shares surging?
"Heh."
Kyle smiled. "I know AOL announced a cash-plus-stock deal worth over 180 billion to swallow global media empire Time Warner; the news is everywhere."
After a quick review he signed without hesitation.
Microsoft's 0.01% fetched 66.6 million—7% above market.
America Online's 0.02% brought 80.3 million, a 10% premium thanks to the impending Time Warner takeover.
Yahoo's 2% sold for 1.02 billion, a 9% premium—another billion-plus cash inflow.
In other words, these divestments would net him 1.167 billion USD.
Would net?
Yes, for now he had only signed letters of intent; the final sale contracts still needed notarization.
But given current market sentiment, the 1.167 billion was virtually guaranteed.
"Mr. Page, your 8% stake in Amazon Marketplace has been cleared by the SEC and Amazon's board; you're free to trade it anytime," Anna said.
"Mm."
Kyle nodded. "I won't sell the entire 8%; just 2.9%, enough to keep my board seat."
Off-loading part of Amazon didn't pain him at all.
"The bubble's around the corner; in a few months I can buy back cheaper and still come out ahead."
The 2.9% slice was worth 1.392 billion on the open market.
Buyers were lining up.
Sure enough, within a week he unloaded the 2.9% at a 5% premium, pocketing another 1.46 billion USD.
Apart from 3.72% of Apple and 5.1% of Amazon, Kyle had now exited every U.S.-listed stock he personally held.
1.167 billion + 1.46 billion = 2.627 billion.
In short, he was now a prize cash cow; his reserves alone could drive people wild. Add the cash and gold sitting in his bank accounts and the figure was mouth-watering…
Days later.
On the same day Kyle received two major updates.
One good;
One not so good.
"Mr. Page, Marvel Company just contacted me. They're willing to sell a stake, though it won't exceed 20%," Paul Goodman reported.
Kyle grinned. "Good news indeed—those two old fogeys at Marvel are finally talking. But 20%? They want me to work for them? Dream on. Keep pushing; I want at least 40%."
"Will do," Paul Goodman replied.
The good news delighted him.
The bad news… not so much.
Meladande—booted from Fox Pictures, future founder of Illumination Entertainment and the minions—had been ready to join Kyle's camp, but now got cold feet.
They backed out.
"So they played us? Ingrates!" Kyle fumed.
Paul Goodman explained the whole turn of events.
From the start Meladande never intended to sign on; with Waterworld Animation already in Kyle's stable he simply used the flirtation to attract other studios and investors.
Sure enough, bandying about "Kyle" and "Waterworld Animation" won Meladande's team fresh capital interest.
And so they ditched Kyle without a second thought.
"Shameless," Kyle growled.