Chapter 222: Investments Everywhere II

"We really got it..."

Applied Semantics wasn’t just another tech company. This was the cornerstone of contextual advertising. With it, JD could quietly build an advertising empire without anyone realizing what was coming.

"Terms: $27 million in cash. Full team integration. JD holds IP rights to all search, targeting, and semantic engine technologies developed to date."

My eyes scanned the clause. That was the seed of AdSense—one of Google's backbone technologies. Since it was still in its infancy, and its incredible potential was not yet understood, Applied had been ridiculously cheap.

"Since Larry Page and Sergey Brin don’t want to sell us a share of Google, we’ll create JD AdSense ourselves. Let’s see if Google grows as much without its main engine... or if they change their minds next year," I murmured.

And there’s a second thing—we are structuring two major projects for next year: Facebook and YouTube, the sites are already under construction. We might even start poaching engineers from Google.

"We hired Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Wojcicki, Omid Kordestani, and Wayne Rosing to strengthen our team," Pepper commented while sipping her coffee.

"Oye, aren’t those some of Google’s big names?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I had been thinking about poaching engineers, but she went straight for the top.

"They have enormous potential," Pepper said, unfazed.

"You’re worse than me, Peps, when someone says no," I chuckled.

"Pepper, let’s gradually secure exclusivity deals with the largest sites. And register every single variation. If Google tries to use anything of ours, we’ll go all-in with a patent war."

She nodded. "We’ve already made deals with Inktomi and Fast Search. Since we don’t want to enter the search engine fight (for now), we’re not going to try to acquire any."

"Yeah, no need to fight against Yahoo or MSN. They’re giants... Google, however, is still just a little cub," I agreed and continued with the report.

JD acquisition note, stamped at the top: "Glacéau — Confirmed." I looked at Pepper, puzzled.

"It’s the company that makes VitaminWater. We paid $25 million for 100%. The equity will be split as you proposed," Pepper explained.

"Wow, that was fast," I said, astonished.

"And we can already talk about the next one," she continued. "VitaminWater will be distributed by Pepsi, just like Monster, in the areas where we don’t have our own networks."

Yeah, we secured a solid deal with Pepsi (which involved them being our Master sponsor at the Speedway events). And since AMP (Pepsi’s energy drink) basically has no significant relevance in the market, they didn’t oppose Monster’s distribution.

"Monster sales aren’t slowing down. The latest projection shows $250 million in annual global revenue. With normal marketing, that would mean $60 to $70 million in profit per year. But we’re working with a zero-profit goal, reinvesting everything into sponsorships and brand strengthening," Pepper explained.

Well, besides Marshmello, the Patriots boosted Monster enormously.

"Yeah, we got the X Games Master deal—exclusive rights for energy drinks," I read from the report, "and we’re sponsoring several extreme sports athletes—they’re particularly inexpensive. Also, we are gradually placing our mini-fridges with green LED lighting in supermarkets and nightclubs to compete with Red Bull."

"And that brings us to our last part, Pepper," I continued, "the acquisition of a soccer and basketball team."

"Chelsea is already well on track. The owner, Ken Bates, is willing to part with the team due to heavy debt. We’re just working on getting better numbers. We’re already between £60M plus debts—something like $180M total. We’ll close way before the World Cup starts," Peps informed.

"Great! Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Iniesta, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Kaká, Daniel Alves, Sergio Ramos, Michael Essien, Drogba, Philipp Lahm, Čech.

We need to sign as many of them as possible—especially Cristiano and Messi. The only really expensive one right now is Gaúcho; the rest are still just promises," I exclaimed excitedly. "No chance with Real Madrid?"

"Yes. Florentino Pérez wouldn’t even entertain a negotiation. Not for sale, end of story. Even if he wanted to, I doubt the club members would approve, the government could also interfere..." Peps informed.

"Too bad... Sorry, Real Madrid, I was your fan, but since I can’t buy you, I’ll play Master League with Chelsea. But at least I’ll screw Barça. Besides Messi, Iniesta and Gaúcho..." I turned to Pepper. "We’re going strong for Xavi and Puyol too."

"With all these future stars, plus a few heavyweight veterans, and someone like Ancelotti, we can create a new dynasty, Peps."

I knew I’d be cutting short some incredible careers, but that’s life. Maybe the world would only know Messi or Ronaldo.

"Just with the publicity this can bring to Monster, the profit increase, I think the entire team will pay for itself. And that’s only considering Monster," I pondered. "All Stars Chelsea and Patriots—how is Red Bull going to compete?"

"What about basketball?"

"That’s the trickiest one, Peps. I’ve never been a huge basketball fan, so I only know the biggest names. And unlike football, the two top names are guaranteed number one picks. Yao Ming this year, and LeBron James next year," I commented.

"If we want a base here, the Lakers are out of the question. Jerry Buss didn’t even want to consider the idea. The Clippers would be very easy, but they’re considered the joke of the NBA. Among the big teams, the Boston Celtics—I know there have been conversations, and we could join the dispute," Pepper added.

"Hmm, Celtics would be very expensive. I think it’s better to buy the Clippers and use the rest of the money to secure Yao Ming and LeBron James.

We can have the Clippers tank this year (something common under their current management) and already negotiate future picks with the Cavaliers and others. But in that case, we’d only secure LeBron."

Pepper thought for a moment, "After talking with specialists, the best option seems to be to close the deal with the Clippers, but keep it secret—we’ll only announce it next year.

And we’ll let the current owner handle the maximum tanking. Meanwhile, we’ll aggressively negotiate picks with the Cavaliers and some others, without guarantees."

"Okay, we can't have it all," I nodded, "and Pepper, we’re diving into many things. If you see something isn’t working, cut it quickly."

She ruffled my head, "Don’t worry, we have competent people in every area. And we have a financial risk established in each one"