Claire Lee never saw fundraising as a bad thing. Sure, it diluted his shares, but those shares would only grow in value.
As the saying goes, "It takes a village to lift a sedan chair"—everyone benefits when you work together. Claire knew he couldn't crack open the capital market alone, and Steve Chen agreed. "Merrill Lynch's investment can pave the way for an IPO. Having a securities firm backing you makes going public much smoother," Steve said.
Claire nodded, fully on board.
But Google investing in him? That caught Claire off guard. Since going public, Google had mostly acquired tech companies to boost its market value. Claire's revamped Claire Ticketing didn't seem like an obvious fit for Google's portfolio.
"What about Google and Goldman Sachs?" Claire asked, raising his wine glass with curiosity.
Steve didn't answer right away. Instead, he pulled a Goldman Sachs evaluation report from his jacket pocket. Claire initially thought it was about Claire Ticketing, but it turned out to be a semi-public international financial environment report. The numbers and indexes were a jumble to Claire, but the conclusion hit him like a ton of bricks: Economic crisis.
"The U.S. housing market might take a hit, though they haven't pinpointed why," Steve explained. "To avoid their cash losing value, they're casting a wide net. Your internet-based ticketing and tourism company, tied to the UK economy, caught their eye. Claire Ticketing isn't fully formed yet, but you've already got a profitable business feeding into it."
Steve laid out the context calmly, and though he didn't say it outright, Claire pieced it together. Goldman's investment was a pleasant surprise, but it also reminded him of the economic crisis looming by late 2007. Goldman's only miscalculation was thinking it would be limited to U.S. real estate—it would spiral into a global financial meltdown due to poor containment.
"How's your health lately?" Claire asked Steve. "If you're up for it, I'd like to authorize you to negotiate with them. You've handled big acquisitions before."
Steve nodded in agreement. But before he could strategize, Claire dropped a bombshell: "After the Series A round, we go public. Time's not on our side. Once the funds are in, I'm launching a ten-million-dollar subsidy plan to burn through the money fast. We've already got a plan for driving traffic. If all goes well, I want the whole UK to know about our website in a single day."
Steve eyed Claire's confident demeanor, a flicker of unease crossing his face. "Ten-million-dollar subsidy plan" sounded like a money pit.
---
When Megan Fox returned to London, she was no longer the unknown actress from before. Sporting a black baseball cap and scarf, dubbed "Vixen" and "Bombshell" by the press, she slipped out of the airport through a private exit.
Once in the car, she tossed aside her cap and scarf. Her new agent, Chris Silbermann from ICM Partners—a strong contender for the agency's next CEO—greeted her. Megan, ever polite, asked, "Mr. Chris, what's next on our itinerary?"
"Wow, two days away, and our Miss Megan's looking even more stunning!" Chris teased.
"Chris, everyone at the company says you're a mood-lifter. I didn't believe it at first, but that comment just brought back a lot of memories!"
With an orchid-finger gesture and a ladies' cigarette in his mouth, Chris offered Megan one before continuing. "Transformers is a hit! It grossed $110 million at the UK box office, not counting France and elsewhere. You've gone from a nobody to a star. And we've secured you a lead role in Jonah Hex at Warner's film studio."
Megan was speechless with excitement, eagerly flipping through the script to find her character. Chris, seeing her reaction, gave a satisfied smile. Jonah Hex was part of Warner's DC Universe. If it matched Transformers' box office success, the ICM CEO seat was practically his. Then he added, "Do you remember why you're really here in the UK?"
Megan's hands froze on the script, her joy fading. She recalled singing One Day at the Transformers roadshow. Her performance wasn't great, but the studio let her sing because she held the live performance rights. With One Day and Transformers blowing up, Megan had basked in true celebrity treatment, even guest-performing at several concerts in Los Angeles thanks to the song's licensing.
But in quiet moments, or after fights with her fiancé Brian over the phone, her thoughts drifted to that day on the pitch when she reunited with Claire after years apart.
Seeing Megan fall silent, Chris chimed in, "Beyoncé saw the sheet music for that song. Your childhood sweetheart's musical talent is unreal. If I hadn't witnessed his journey from an ordinary footballer to a famous UK singer, I'd swear he had a massive songwriting team behind him. But that female-vocal song he's put up for sale through Warner? It's perfect for Beyoncé. If you can talk to him and smooth things over, I'm sure he won't say no."
"You know Claire got into a fight with that French rookie Benzema over you," Chris added. "Don't drag this out. While he's chilling at home, be proactive. If you and Claire could go back to how things were, maybe it's time to ditch that fiancé of yours."
Megan's hand instinctively touched her cheek at Chris's words.