"What do you think of this place? It should be more than enough for you and your team, right?"
Michael Moritz took in the bright, spacious office, along with the neatly arranged desks and equipment, then smiled and nodded. He was clearly pleased with the care and attention Bruce had put into everything. Being valued felt good.
"From what I've heard, Phoenix Investment Management has already acquired 10 percent of Google for 25 million dollars. So does that mean my team and I are finally free to make the jump?"
He had been holding himself back for a full week, purely to avoid disrupting Bruce's effort to finish buying up Google stock. Now he was done waiting.
"Of course. I've been looking forward to bringing one of the venture world's sharpest minds onto my side."
Bruce smiled.
"So tell me, once you're in, what's the plan?"
"I want to split the 30 million dollars you've committed into two funds. One will focus on the internet sector, the other on broader high tech. Those are the industries I know best, and they're the ones I believe in most."
Bruce nodded in agreement.
"But wouldn't that spread your firepower a little thin?"
Moritz gave a faint smile.
"Boss, I've been in venture capital a long time. I know plenty of wealthy people. I'm confident a good number of them will be willing to let me manage their money."
"As long as you're confident, that's enough for me. I already told you, unless losses exceed 20 percent, I won't interfere with operations." Bruce paused, then added with a small smile, "That said, if I were you, I'd set up a third fund for biotech and pharmaceuticals."
He patted Moritz lightly on the arm, then turned toward the door.
"I've got to run. Call me if you need anything."
Moritz watched him leave, thoughtful now, clearly turning over that last suggestion in his mind.
Two days later, the news broke across the Valley.
Michael Moritz, head of Sequoia Capital Fund III, had resigned and taken his full team with him, all 23 of them, to a newly established venture firm with 30 million dollars in registered capital: Phoenix Capital.
Phoenix Capital was a subsidiary of Phoenix Holdings, a Cayman-registered holding company. Under the same umbrella sat another arm, Phoenix Investment Management.
In Bruce's design, Phoenix Capital would serve as the VC platform, while Phoenix Investment Management would handle private equity. Both would focus on the U.S. and European markets.
At the moment, Phoenix Capital had no active projects yet.
Phoenix Investment Management, on the other hand, already held some very real assets.
It now controlled 59.95 percent of Google.
After investing 20 million dollars, it held 60 percent of Guo Commercial Group.
After investing 15 million, it held 30 percent of LinkedIn.
Once those deals were accounted for, Bruce still had 135 million dollars left from the betting windfall and related financing. With that money, he had already established three additional firms in Hong Kong:
Hanhua Holdings, plus two subsidiaries beneath it, Hanhua Capital and Hanhua Investment Management.
Just like the Phoenix structure, Hanhua Capital would be the VC arm, and Hanhua Investment Management would be the PE arm. Their target market, naturally, would be China and eventually the broader Asian region.
Bruce made that distinction largely to reduce political risk as much as possible. He knew very well how fiercely Washington and Beijing would end up competing across politics, business, military affairs, and culture.
On top of that, both Hanhua and Phoenix were still missing two critical pieces. Add an angel investment arm and a securities firm, and either system would be able to cover the full path from early stage funding all the way to IPO. That was how he could squeeze maximum value out of everything he knew from the future.
For now, though, aside from Phoenix Capital, none of the other firms had the right leadership in place yet. He still had no qualified managers for Phoenix Investment Management or the two Hanhua companies. As for the angel arm and especially the brokerage side, he did not even have a real lead yet. A securities house required capital, talent, and deep relationships. That part of the financial ecosystem was not something he would patch together anytime soon.
"Boss, I've made up my mind. I want to lead the executive assistant team."
Wendy Solo stood across from him, calm and serious.
Bruce nodded, opened a drawer, and handed her three separate documents.
"Everyone who joins that team signs a lifetime confidentiality agreement. Anything they learn through this job, about me personally or about any company under me, stays locked down forever."
The executive office would eventually become the nerve center connecting him to every business he controlled. The people inside it would be exposed to his most sensitive information. The strictest confidentiality standards were not overkill. They were common sense.
"Understood."
"You can head out for now. On your way, let George know I want to see him."
Wendy nodded, but before she could leave, Bruce stopped her again.
"One more thing. Any word yet from Korn Ferry?"
"Nothing so far."
Bruce nodded.
A pity, but not a surprise.
Both Korn Ferry and firms like Heidrick and Spencer Stuart operated at a completely different level from LinkedIn. LinkedIn was growing fast, but for now its influence was still concentrated in the middle and lower layers of the talent market.
No use forcing it.
You could not eat a steak in one bite.
"Step by step," he murmured.
After Wendy left, George Davis arrived not long after. Bruce mostly wanted to discuss building out a dedicated legal team.
In America, whether you were broke, middle class, or sitting at the top of the pile, the one thing everybody needed sooner or later was a lawyer.
Once the internal company matters were handled, Bruce left LinkedIn's office, which had now tripled in size, got in his car, and drove to Google headquarters.
Looking at the now familiar logo, he realized how much his mindset had changed since the last time he stood here.
Last time, he had been a high risk speculator, forcing himself to act calm while gambling on whether his plan would even work.
Now, after spending nearly 120 million dollars all in, he held 59.95 percent of Google's equity.
True, only 39.95 percent of that carried voting rights, which meant he still could not break Larry Page and Sergey Brin's control over the company.
But the economic interest was real.
And it was in his hands.
As long as Google followed roughly the growth path he knew was coming, then even after dilution from an IPO, management incentives, and future financing events, his stake would still be worth an astonishing amount a decade later.
Three hundred billion dollars, minimum.
Just thinking about it gave him a surge of energy.
Since the day he was reborn, this had been his first truly major strategic objective, and now it was finally secured.
When he entered the Google office this time, the front desk no longer looked at him with curiosity.
Now it was respect.
Because of the side agreement tied to the option fee contract, his appointment as Chairman and CEO had still not been formally announced to the staff. But the two monetization models he had brought in were so powerful that they had already changed Google's trajectory. Out of gratitude, and more importantly because Larry wanted to keep him close, Page had quietly hung the title of Executive Vice President of Operations on him. Even if the 80 million had somehow failed to materialize at the deadline, Larry still wanted Bruce inside the company.
Bruce crossed the office floor, went straight to Larry Page's office, knocked, and entered after getting permission.
"Bruce?"
Larry looked genuinely surprised.
Bruce grinned.
"What's with that face? Not happy to see me?"
With the constant emails back and forth over the last few weeks, Bruce, Larry, and Sergey had already grown much closer. They had discussed the mechanics of both monetization systems in detail, along with a number of operational questions. The distance that had existed at the beginning was mostly gone.
Larry set aside what he was working on and stood up with a smile.
"Of course I'm happy. Come sit."
Bruce nodded, and the two of them moved to the seating area.
As host, Larry poured two cups of coffee before sitting down opposite him.
"The 80 million is already in. Finance confirmed it. And we've also received the share transfer documentation from Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Andy. So now that you finally got what you wanted, are you ready to actually come work at Google?"
"Absolutely."
Bruce answered without hesitation.
Larry's face lit up.
"That's great. I can't wait to see what happens once both of those business models are fully rolled out here."
Bruce took a sip of coffee, then shook his head.
"Larry, I don't think it should be public yet."
Larry frowned.
"Why not?"
Read up to 50 chapters ahead right now on Patreon! 🔥
patreon.com/YATOOOO
Shout-out to TK8_dop! Thanks for your support.