Chapter 232
On the afternoon of December 7, 1998, the three founders of Google—Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and their first employee, Craig Silverstein—arrived in Los Angeles. They had driven for four hours from their little garage office.
They were met by a man named Terrence. He was 26 years old and worked on Zane Blackwood's team.
"You can call me Terrence," he said with a friendly smile. "I'll be taking care of your trip."
Terrence was very smart. He had a PhD from Harvard University. He reported to Alexander, Zane's chief assistant.
The Google team was smart, too! Larry and Sergey had PhDs in computer science, and Craig had a doctorate in math.
"What a coincidence," Terrence joked. "We're all PhDs here!" (Of course, Terrence already knew this because he had done his homework.)
Since the big meeting with Zane wasn't until the next morning, Terrence had a fun idea. "Why don't I take you on a tour of downtown Los Angeles?"
The three men, who had been working day and night in a garage, were thrilled. "Yes, please!"
Their first stop was a fancy five-star hotel in the city center.
Sergey's eyes went wide when he saw the price. "Three hundred and thirty dollars a night?" he whispered. "For three rooms, that's almost a thousand dollars! That is not cheap!"
Craig nodded in agreement. "With that much money, I could buy a new color analyzer for our computer lab!"
Larry turned red with embarrassment. "Guys, shhh!" he hissed. "Keep your voices down. You're embarrassing us in front of Mr. Terrence!"
Terrence just smiled kindly. He knew they were just regular guys who weren't used to spending money.
The second stop was the Staples Center to see a basketball game: the Lakers vs. the Clippers.
Larry, who loved basketball, went crazy! He cheered and yelled the whole time. Sergey and Craig were much quieter.
"Mr. Terrence, please don't mind him," Sergey explained, looking a little shy. "Larry is a huge basketball fan. He used to play on his school team."
"It's quite alright!" Terrence laughed. "I love the energy."
The third stop was a fun bar to experience the Los Angeles nightlife.
The three founders hadn't been out to have fun in a long time. With Terrence treating them so well, they finally relaxed. They had some drinks, enjoyed the music, and had a great time. They were overwhelmed by how exciting everything was.
The Next Morning...
The three men woke up in their hotel rooms, feeling a little groggy from the late night. Soon, Terrence picked them up and drove them to the Blackwood Films building in Burbank.
While they waited, Terrence went to give a report to Zane.
"Sir, I have a clear picture of them now," Terrence told Zane.
"Go on," Zane said eagerly.
Terrence nodded. "They are classic 'tech guys.' They aren't used to partying. After the game and the drinks, they were like open books. They answered every question I had honestly."
Zane was impressed. Terrence was known as the "Nightlife Prince" of the company because he was so good at making people feel comfortable and getting to know them. Zane had sent him to hang out with the Google team just to see what kind of people they really were.
Zane hadn't expected to learn so much in just one night!
"Sir," Terrence explained, "Larry and Sergey are the owners. They really want us to invest. They welcome it. But... I learned last night that they are very firm about one thing: they will not give up control of their company. They want to stay in charge. That is their bottom line."
Zane nodded thoughtfully. He respected that. They were passionate about their creation.
"In that case," Zane said with a smile, "I won't ask them to give up control. We can work with that."
Not long after, Zane walked into the meeting room.
"Mr. Blackwood!"
The three young men jumped up, visibly excited.
Zane Blackwood wasn't just a Hollywood boss. He was a legend in the internet world. He had invested in ICQ, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Yahoo. To these three founders, meeting him was like meeting a superhero.
Chapter 233
In the Presentation Hall...
Larry Page took the lead, showing his new Google search engine to Zane. He was very passionate.
"Our Google search engine is better than anything else," Larry said, waving his arms with excitement. "It can find exactly what you're looking for by analyzing the 'keywords' on websites. It's a ground breaking idea!"
He explained how it worked. "We look at the text people use in links. If a website uses the right keywords, it ranks higher. And if a popular, trustworthy website links to your site, you rank even higher!"
"This is how we make money," Larry added. "Companies will pay us to bid on keywords so their ads show up first."
Larry kept talking about "Hypertext Transfer Protocol" and other complicated computer stuff. His partner, Sergey Brin, jumped in with even more details.
Terrence, Zane's assistant who knew a lot about computers, was impressed. He could tell this technology was powerful.
Even Kevin Fitch, the movie producer, was impressed. "Sir," Kevin whispered to Zane, "I don't know if this will make money, but the technology sounds amazing!"
Uncertain if it will make money? Zane thought, hiding a laugh. Kevin, stick to movies. This company is going to be worth a trillion dollars!
Zane knew the future. He knew that Google would soon handle 200 million searches every day. He knew that Yahoo would pick Google to be its search engine, making it the biggest in the world.
But did Zane actually understand all the technical stuff Larry was saying?
Not really!
Zane was a movie guy, not a computer genius. He knew what Google would become, but he didn't know how the code worked.
But he didn't need to. As long as he knew it would make money, he was happy.
So, while Larry talked, Zane just nodded his head wisely, pretending to understand every word. He had to keep up his reputation as a "genius investor"!
Kevin noticed Zane nodding. "Sir," he whispered again, "I don't understand a word of this. Do you actually follow it?"
"Of course!" Zane said with a confident, charming smile. "Kevin, you need to study more! Learn from me. How else do you think I built LinkedIn?"
"Yes, sir!" Kevin said, looking at Zane with awe.
The boss is incredible!
...
A Few Days Later...
Surrounded by a team of lawyers, Zane signed the big contract with Larry and Sergey.
Zane paid $1 million in cash. In return, he got 30% of Google.
Larry still owned 36%, and Sergey owned 34%.
To be honest, Zane was a little greedy. He wanted to own 90% of Google! He knew how valuable it was. But Larry and Sergey were smart. Even though they were young, they refused to give up control of their company. 30% was the most they would sell.
Zane had to compromise.
"30% is still huge," he told himself. "In a few months, other big investors will pay $25 million for just 31%. I got a steal!"
Zane had a positive attitude. He knew that as Google grew, he could invest more money later to keep his share big. Even a small piece of Google would be worth billions in the future.
"A public company?" Zane thought. "Well, I don't plan to ever take Wald Pictures public."
He had plenty of money now. Wald Pictures was his personal project, and he wanted to be the only boss, without anyone else telling him what to do.
...
As Christmas got closer, Zane was relaxing at home. He was working on some new movie scripts.
Since he had spent so much money buying companies, he decided to focus on writing some low-budget movies. He picked projects that would cost less than $10 million to make but would still be great hits.
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