A restaurant on Venice Beach.
Bill Gates had come straight here after landing at Los Angeles International Airport. It was nearly noon, and the well-known place was packed, but Simon still hadn't arrived.
Led by a waiter to the reserved table, Gates sat down with his thoughts on what came next, until he noticed a couple walking in, chatting and laughing softly. He looked up and immediately recognized them: Hollywood star Richard Gere and his supermodel girlfriend, Cindy Crawford.
Richard Gere had faded from the spotlight in recent years, but his girlfriend was every bit as dazzling in person as she was on television and in newspapers.
Gates couldn't help glancing at Cindy Crawford a few extra times. Women were always sensitive to certain kinds of attention. She felt his gaze, turned her head, and looked over. Seeing a man in black-rimmed glasses who seemed vaguely familiar, she didn't linger, just calmly withdrew her eyes.
Realizing he'd been all but ignored, Gates withdrew his gaze, pretending to survey the room. No one in the restaurant seemed to care that a billionaire was sitting there.
As he sat there feeling oddly deflated, a sudden commotion rose at the entrance.
He looked again. Simon Westeros had arrived. His bodyguards were blocking reporters who tried to push forward, and the restaurant staff, catching the disturbance, hurried over and pulled open the glass door for the young man.
Simon Westeros stepped inside, and instantly every head in the place turned. A few diners made as if to stand, looking like they wanted to go over and greet him, but in the end stayed where they were.
Gates hesitated, then stood up and took a couple steps forward.
Simon came closer and warmly extended his hand. "Hi, Bill. Good afternoon."
At last Gates felt a few more eyes on him. His emotions were complicated, but he still smiled as he shook Simon's hand. "It's good to see you again, Simon."
They were about to sit when Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, who had just come in, walked over. They greeted Simon with unmistakable eagerness, all trace of their earlier detached celebrity air gone, like two entirely different people.
"Paramount's I.A. Files, I think I've seen the outline..." Simon said easily. Then, turning to Cindy, "Cindy, you were really great in The Gucci Documentary. Maybe you should try heading into Hollywood... Heh, alright, I'm kidding. No need to cling to me like that."
After a few light exchanges, Richard and Cindy returned to their seats.
Simon and Gates sat down as well. Gates watched as a pretty waitress, abandoning her professional composure the moment Simon finished ordering, asked for an autograph and very deliberately left a card behind, too. Thinking about the Boeing 767 Simon had so generously loaned him for this trip, Gates felt his envy stack higher.
He was always the center of attention in the IT world, but in front of this young man, in this city of glitter and fame, he couldn't compete for even a sliver of notice.
He remembered how, on the flight, he'd wanted to take a look at the front cabin, only for a flight attendant to refuse him on the grounds that it was Westeros's private space. Gates quietly made up his mind: one day, he would own a private jet that didn't lose to this young man's ride.
At last the social bustle died down and things settled. Gates thought for a moment, then took the initiative. "Simon, I saw Ygritte's World Wide Web technology in San Francisco. I have to say, the potential here is enormous."
Ygritte Web technology had already tightly linked together companies Westeros held stakes in, Cisco, AOL, SUN, and others.
For now, though, Simon had no intention of making Ygritte's graphical browser the built-in browser for Windows. He planned to keep a low profile for another year or two, letting the technology develop further until it was fully mature and became the industry's one-and-only standard, then push it on a large scale.
Instead of picking up Gates's topic, Simon simply smiled. "I've tried the Windows 3.0 beta. Compared to the previous versions, Microsoft's made huge progress this time. Once it launches next year, it'll definitely earn even more market recognition."
Since Simon had steered the conversation there, Gates went along. "So you've started buying Microsoft stock again?"
"Yeah," Simon said. "You know me, Bill. I've got a lot of cash on hand lately. If there's a company I like, of course I'm going to invest as soon as possible."
Gates couldn't help thinking of the reports from recent months.
The young man in front of him might not be the richest person on the Forbes list, but he was probably the billionaire with the most cash in the world. The ever-misty, hard-to-pin-down Cersei Capital supposedly had eight billion dollars in cash alone, and it seemed half of that belonged to this young man.
Just that four billion in cash exceeded the entire net worth of most of the world's super-rich.
Thinking that, Gates said, "But Simon, I don't think you should keep buying. Westeros's stake in Microsoft is already over ten percent. Because you've been buying, a lot of institutions have started holding tight to what they have, too. The free float out there is getting smaller and smaller. You know what that means, less float will strongly suppress the stock's upward movement. I think Westeros already holds enough. You should consider buying into other companies."
Simon had more or less guessed that was why Gates had come.
When the proportion of freely traded shares shrank and trading activity fell, it really could restrain a stock's rise.
"Still, I want to buy more Microsoft shares," Simon said anyway. He seemed to think for a moment, then added, "Bill, how about this. I suggested it before, why don't you sell me some of your Microsoft shares? I'll buy at ninety percent of market price. You're at forty-five percent. Sell me ten percent and you're still Microsoft's largest shareholder. And I have zero interest in control. As long as you sell me some shares, I can also authorize you to vote the Westeros stake. Westeros will be a purely passive shareholder."
Gates's mind flickered back to the Boeing 767 he'd flown down in.
After Microsoft went public, he'd shot onto the Forbes list almost immediately. This year, on Forbes's North America rich list, his net worth, one and a half billion dollars, put him near the top. But because almost everything he owned was Microsoft stock, his actual lifestyle still didn't match what a billionaire's should look like.
For example, he didn't even have a private jet.
Compared to the young man across from him, it was even more glaring.
Back when they'd first met, this young man had suggested buying Microsoft stock directly from him. Gates had refused without hesitation, he believed Microsoft's price still had a lot of room to climb.
Now, though, selling some shares to improve his life didn't sound so bad.
He could sell a chunk of stock and yet gain voting rights over all of Westeros's holdings. That wouldn't just preserve his control, if anything, it might even give him absolute control.
But selling ten percent in one go? That was out of the question.
Westeros believed in Windows 3.0, and Gates believed in it just as much.
Microsoft's market cap had hovered around three billion dollars all year, but Gates was certain that once the operating system launched next year, the stock would surge again.
"Simon, ten percent is too much," Gates said after a moment. "And if you want to buy, it has to be at market price. I won't sell at a discount."
Apparently, his earlier little maneuver had worked.
Simon didn't show any particular delight. He stayed patient. "Bill, think about it. Sell me ten percent, and you get voting rights for Westeros's twenty percent stake. That would let you completely control the company."
"Five percent, at most," Gates said, ignoring the temptation in Simon's pitch. Then he added, "But I can talk to Allen. Maybe he's interested in selling, too."
At Microsoft's current valuation, selling five percent would let Gates cash out more than one hundred and fifty million dollars.
In this era, that kind of money went a long way. A brand-new Gulfstream still cost only a bit over ten million. And with that cash, he could make other investments, too.
In recent years, Bill Gates and Paul Allen still held a combined seventy percent of Microsoft.
Back then, Gates had tried every way he could think of to squeeze down his partner's stake so he could hold tight control. He hadn't "forgotten" about him now, either, even when selling stock.
Simon naturally didn't object. "In that case, I can talk to Allen as well."
Gates still caught a certain excitement in Simon's tone and added instinctively, "Simon, I can sell you some shares, but you have to authorize me to vote Westeros's holdings permanently."
"That's impossible," Simon said. "Bill, you'll definitely keep reducing your Microsoft stake in the future. It can't be that you sell off most of your shares and still keep voting rights over Westeros's holdings. But I truly have no intention of taking control of Microsoft. You're the best person to run this company. So, the authorization term will be ten years. Of course, during that period I may also reduce my own holdings as appropriate. Westeros will still have its freedom there. But for those ten years, no matter how many shares Westeros still holds, the voting rights are yours."
Gates nodded slightly. "And after ten years?"
Simon shrugged. "Ten years is a long time, Bill. Who knows what happens ten years from now?"
"Fine," Gates said, nodding. "One more thing, you have to stop buying Microsoft shares on the open market."
"No problem."
As they spoke, the waiter soon brought their lunch.
Once he got Gates's five percent, Simon felt confident that getting another five percent from Paul Allen wouldn't be difficult.
To be honest, Simon had only hoped to gain an additional five percent in total, bringing his Microsoft stake up to the planned fifteen percent. Now Westeros's stake might rise to twenty percent. Considering Microsoft's future growth potential, this deal was practically printing money.
But then Simon couldn't help thinking about the funding.
His planned increases in Microsoft and Intel had been meant to stretch over several months, with cash raised gradually while buying.
Westeros had a lot of moves happening lately. If he wanted to take ten percent of Microsoft in one shot, he needed more than three hundred million dollars in cash.
If he didn't pull money from Cersei Capital, then he'd have to borrow from banks again. Fortunately, this year he'd already repaid more than two hundred million in principal and interest to various banks, cutting his debt from nine hundred million at the start of the year to just over seven hundred million now. Adding another three hundred million would still keep his total liabilities within a bearable one billion.
They finished lunch pleasantly. To help Gates commit to selling with a steadier heart, Simon was generous enough to loan him the Boeing 767 again for the flight back to Seattle.
The days that followed were still filled with endless work.
Daenerys Entertainment's slate of key projects for next year were all in various stages of production, and the plan for those ten films was moving forward steadily.
With Batman's Los Angeles premiere coming soon, Simon decided not to leave the United States. He simply agreed with Janet that after the premiere, they would fly to Australia to spend Christmas with family.
On Microsoft's side, news came two days after Gates left: Paul Allen had also agreed to sell five percent of Microsoft to Westeros. Simon immediately instructed James Rebould to drop everything and take direct charge of negotiations, ensuring the acquisition went smoothly.
The news leaked quickly.
Compared to Intel, which had already broken six billion in market cap, Microsoft's stock had not risen much over the past year. Its valuation had stayed around three billion, and after that minor crash in October it had dipped noticeably.
Now, with word spreading that Westeros would increase its Microsoft stake by ten percent, the stock immediately jumped sharply.
Thankfully, the price had been agreed in advance. Neither Gates nor Allen tried to gouge him because of the temporary rise. With a block trade of this size, being able to buy at market price was already rare enough.
At the same time, Westeros swiftly began discussing a new three-hundred-million-dollar loan package with Citibank.
Given the risk, it was usually very difficult for other companies to get bank money for borrowing to buy stocks.
For Westeros, it wasn't a problem at all.
No one doubted Westeros's ability to repay. Everyone knew that if transferring funds back home from Cersei Capital didn't incur enormous tax costs, Westeros wouldn't need loans at all.
With Cersei Capital as a financial backstop, Westeros's borrowing carried almost no risk.