As the Boeing 767 glided into a landing on the runway of Los Angeles International Airport, Simon was still contemplating how to establish Ygritte's portal news channel. In the short term, Ygritte would be best served by collaborating with traditional news outlets.
Simon was well aware of the profound and detrimental impact the Internet would have on traditional print and television media industries. If he was in charge of a traditional media platform, he would likely do everything he could to curb the growth of digital media, making the chance of traditional media sharing content a rather unlikely prospect.
However, the current internet user base was so small that those who could see the future potential were few and far between.
Among Simon's recent contracts, even Rupert Murdoch from News Corporation had expressed willingness to provide some content for Ygritte's portal, albeit at a cost.
As the Boeing 767 came to a halt, the clicking sound of high heels echoed, attracting Simon's attention. He looked up to catch Jennifer's gaze. Smiling, he suggested, "How about joining me for dinner in Malibu?"
The assistant, struggling not to avert her gaze, shook her head and said, "It's been a week, following you home would make Janette explode".
Jennifer had travelled with Simon out of Los Angeles to New York on Monday as Simon headed north to San Francisco. While Janette had returned to the West Coast by Thursday, Simon did not return until Sunday, marking almost a week apart.
Having just married in early March, their recent week long separation had already sparked some media speculation. At breakfast the day before, the assistant showed Simon a newspaper article speculating about a 'suspected separation' between the Westeros couple. Simon didn't care much about it and he knew Janette felt the same. Given their status and wealth, a conventional 9 to 5 life was implausible.
Moreover, relationships that can withstand storms but not monotony might benefit from some time apart.
After leaving the airport and arranging for the assistant's ride home, Simon returned to Malibu with his entourage.
Arriving at his Point Dume mansion as dusk fell, Janette, dressed in a casual long dress, greeted him. After a warm embrace, she held up two marble samples and ask, "Turkish goose feather gold or Indian rainforest brown, which do you prefer?"
They had discussed the marble for the mansion's grand hall the day before over the phone.
Inspecting the irregular patterns on the marble samples, any of which would be intolerable for someone with tendencies toward perfectionism like Simon, he feigned scrutiny and then wrapped his arms around Janette again, coaxing her, "Let's discuss it in the bath, join me for a shower first".
Without waiting for her to respond, he picked her up in his arms and carried her upstairs. She tapped him lightly with the marble samples, joking, "Dinner is being prepared, I need to oversee it".
Simon kissed her and playfully replied, "I'll eat you up first, then dinner".
Subsequently, what began as a 'shower' at seven o'clock ended up extending past nine o'clock before they returned.
The dinner has long since cooled down and had to be reheated, leading them to finally sit down and eat after ten o'clock.
Sitting close to Simon, Janette with cheeks still flushed with colour, chatted about her recent activities; new dresses she bought, how Patrick almost got sent to South Africa by her father, the new hires at Cersei Capital, and teasingly asked whether his little assistant was too unresponsive in bed, leaving Simon to act as if he hadn't eaten for a week. As they ate, they caught up on all the small, detailed aspects of their lives.
Monday was set to be rest day for the both of them. Simon planned to catch up on Cersei Capital's operations, particularly since oil prices had fallen sharply following increase production announcements from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in early March. From a high of $19 per barrel, prices had plunged to $16 so far, a drop of 15.7%.
Cersei Fund Management, a subdivision of Cersei Capital, had built up substantial short positions in anticipation of this decline, continuing to increase their stakes even after the production increase was announced. With over $2.1 billion of its available $3.5 billion hedge funds committed to the oil market, the high leverage had yielded book profits of $2.27 billion as of the last trading day of the previous week.
Meanwhile, the drastic drop in oil prices had exacerbated Iraq's economic woes, due to their economy being massively dependant on oil exports, with Saddam Hussein increasingly pressuring Kuwait and even threatening war.
Simon kept a close watch on these Middle Eastern developments. Planning based on his knowledge of history, he intended to start building long positions on oil a month before Iraq's expected invasion of Kuwait on August 2nd. Establishing long positions while oil prices were still falling was risky; any deviation from his historical knowledge could result in significant losses to Cersei Capital.
However, high risks come with high returns, and Simon's foresight gave Cersei Capital a substantial edge.
In the study of their mansion, as Janette discussed hedge fund strategies and reviewed resumes for potential hires, Simon leisurely perused resumes of tech executives for Ygritte.
After ending a call with a contact in New York, Janette glanced at the clock as it neared noon, stretched languidly, she asked Simon, "Found anyone suitable yet?"
Simon, picking up a resume said, "Well there is this woman, but I think she'd only be right for Ygritte's web software operations. The portal and other online products would need someone else".
Janette, curious, moved to lounge on Simon's lap and took the resume to take a look herself.
Carol Bartz, 42, currently the Global Operations VP at SUN Microsystems, had two decades of experience in the computer industry.
After a brief review and confirming that Bartz was not Simon's type romantically, Janette put on a professional tone and remarked, "I think she's excellent. Her experience and qualifications are more than sufficient to manage Ygritte".
Beyond the resume, Simon knew Bartz would, in the future, lead Autodesk and transform it into a leading software company and that her tenure as CEO of Yahoo from 2009 to 2011, despite her vigorous reforms, ended with her dismissal due to the company's inevitable decline.
Contemplating this, Simon added, "Carol's experience is enough, which is why I hope she'd handle the web software sales operations. But the portal and other online businesses are different, they are uncharted territories that require innovation and risk-taking. Carol's lengthy experience may make her too set in her ways, potentially a limitation".
Janette, nestling comfortably on his lap, listened and responded, "Finding the right person might be very hard then".
"We'll find someone eventually", Simon admitted somewhat helplessly. "I need an efficient executor unfamiliar with fixed patterns, someone who understands new technologies but won't impose traditional business models from companies like IBM or Intel onto Ygritte".
As Janette looked up at him, an idea seemed to strike her. "I think I saw someone who might fit what you need".
Simon, intrigued, prompted, "Oh? Show me".
"You need an outsider," Janette proposed, fetching a resume from the desk and handing it to him, "Here".
Simon, reading the resume, felt an almost fantastical sense of fate, the name read Jeff Bezos.
Nestled in Simon's arms once more, Janette didn't catch his bemused expression. She highlighted, "He's perfect. A Princeton graduate in computer science, just like you were going to be at Stanford. He interned briefly at Intel and Bell Labs and now works in the investment department at Citibank. Though he is only 26, he was made the youngest VP there last year, very capable. I thought about bringing him into Fink's team, but now, you can have him".
As she chattered away, Simon marvelled at how small and strange the world could be. Placing Bezos' resume aside, he appreciated the woman in his arms with several, he asked, "What do you want for lunch, darling?"
Caught mid-sentence, Janette playfully suggested, "How about me?"
Such wishes should always be fulfilled.
Simon carried her towards the bedroom, and as he opened to the door, Janette exclaimed in mock surprise "Really, now? It's lunchtime!"
Simon, undressing, made a fierce face and declared, "I'll devour you completely".
With Jeff Bezos now in the picture, Simon wouldn't pass up the opportunity. Ygritte's portal operation was currently a blank slate, not needing a paintbrush because he was the paintbrush. He needed another blank slate on which to create, then transfer than creation to Ygritte's canvas. Jeff Bezos was undoubtedly the right blank slate for this task.
Despite Bezos's young age of 26, this was hardly an issue since Simon himself was merely 22.
Moreover, Simon believed the years before turning 30 were the golden years for entrepreneurial creation, making Bezos's age just right.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos felt his recent experiences were somewhat surreal.
Rising quickly in his career since graduating from Princeton four years ago, he had also heard whispers of interest from Cersei Capital.
Compared to the nearly century-old Citibank, the miraculously ascendant Cersei Capital was much more appealing.
When Westeros Corporation's president, James Raybould, invited him to lunch, Bezos thought it was a job interview for Cersei Capital.
After all, everyone knew Westeros was the parent company of the 'Four Women'; Daenerys, Ygritte, Melisandre, and Cersei.
Then, to his surprise, he discovered the invitation was not for a role with Cersei, but with Ygritte.
What was going on?
After lunch with James, who left him a thick briefing document, Bezos, completely puzzled, read through Simon Westeros's extensive plans for Ygritte and the broader internet industry. After gathering some emergent internet industry data himself, he quickly decided to join the company.
Meanwhile, Simon wouldn't hand over running Ygritte entirely to Bezos, who would initially be just an executor, while Simon provided the directions. Thus, Simon also invited Carol Bartz to handle Ygritte's web software operations, having secured an understanding from SUN Microsystems, Bartz soon opted to join Ygritte.
After some adjustments, Simon took the helm as chairman of Ygritte to oversee the big picture, Tim Berners-Lee continued as CEO focussing on technical development, and both Carol Barts and Jeff Bezos served as presidents of Ygritte, responsible for web software and portal operations, respectively.