Hollywood Zenith

Samuel's other companies were not profitable at the moment. It took a lot of work to convince competent people to join the helm of those entities.

He initially set an annual salary of 500,000 to 800,000 for those positions, but the other party was not satisfied. Not to mention that the compensation of the original company where they previously worked was much higher than what he offered them.

This was also why only a few people were willing to jump ship. And the problem for the president of the Alphabet group is that if only a fixed annual salary was given, the enthusiasm for work would be much lower.

Samuel needed to be more thoughtful. For high-level talents, it is difficult to attract them with only a fixed salary. Thus they decided to go the other route.

Companies wanted to motivate executives, retain talent, and improve performance. Therefore, granting executive options and stock awards had become the norm. But, as Ludivine stated, they only vet the candidates on talent, not their loyalty.

Giving them too much outright would make them complacent, and there was also the worry about information being leaked. It was a crucial stage, and they needed help to afford such things, or the building would fall down even before being built.

Samuel deployed Night Owl for the task, he also asked David for support, and soon, there was a detailed report about every candidate on the table. Even before meeting them, he eliminated people with a shady backgrounds. With his firm's name on the rise, some rats were bound to be among them.

After careful consideration with Alastair and his team, he shortlisted ten people. Few had great potential, while the others were rising stars in their industry. But he only needed five people, so he decided to hold a meeting as the final hurdle.

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Fredrick got the call late afternoon about his hiring. Previously he was not happy with the terms, but after a detailed chat with Alastair's team, he was delighted. He changed his mind and wanted to meet to discuss this further.

Fredrick Allen Wagler was an American businessman who was the Chief Executive Officer of a medium size media company. He had little media presence, so when he got the offer, he was surprised to learn the identity of his soon-to-be boss.

He had a good tenure until the board of directors forced him out of the company. He had no choice but to contact head-hunting organizations to put his name out in the open.

During his initial 10-year stewardship of the company, Fredrick broadened the company's roster of intellectual properties, expanded its presence in international markets, and oversaw an increase of the company's market capitalization from a hundred million to about a few billion dollars. He also led significant acquisitions for his previous company, which made his resume stand out among the others.

But he learned major lessons during those years; despite giving his best for the company and working non-stop, they still decided to fire him on bogus pretences. So, going forward, he wanted to work for someone different.

After the phone interview, he carefully analyzed Alphabet's market prospects and the possibility of going public. After getting the analysis results, he was satisfied with the result.

His family is well-spent, but who didn't want to develop higher and achieve financial freedom earlier.

Now there was an opportunity for his development; of course, he didn't want to miss it.

He also found that the deal was reasonable; there were few shares given in the contract which were not to be cashed out at the current moment. He would be suspicious if he was given a lot of money to run a skeleton company.

These types of companies were doomed to fail, or worse, was a front for illegal activities. He didn't want to involve himself with either of them. Next, he decided to do some research.

On public accounts, several listed companies fall under the large group. To understand it better, he took it upon himself to visit the listed addresses.

But it was an unfruitful effort. All he could find was a single investment firm which was functional; all the other subsidiaries needed to be established.

After acting as an ordinary investor for a few days, he tried to visit Achilles's firm. He had heard about the rumour, but there were not taking any outside investors at the moment. But nonetheless, he analyzed the work environment and another competitor just in case.

He was relentlessly queuing up to buy a few shares in the company and disguising himself as an Angel investor. Nothing worked. He was also unaware that his movements were being monitored by Samuel's men, which he would later find out.

In the end, he made an assumption to himself that after becoming the person in charge, how he could help out in future despite being a novice in this sector. It came with the territory; he had to familiarize himself with different aspects of the company to prepare for the future.

At ten o'clock the following day, He met up with Samuel for the in-person interview. He was surprised when they dropped off the invitation directly to his hotel room. He then learned that he was not as well hidden as he expected.

For the interview, he wore professional attire today, with short hair and a confident smile, making him look capable and decisive.

Before arriving in London, he knew very little about the organizational structure and high-level personnel. Still, he knew that the company's boss was young and a member of the Rothschild family.

But after seeing the natural person, it was a little too young! He was practically a child.

Moreover, this child was very energetic and handsome, and looking at the female companion next to him walking a step behind him confirmed his suspicions.

"Hello, Mr Fredrick, please take a seat; this is Ms Marilyn, the general assistant, but she is still studying, and there are not many opportunities for her to deal with things in the company.

I still have other companies which are still in their initial stage. We need a vice president who can manage the company in an all-round way, not just a few affairs." Samuel went straight to the topic.

"Hello, Mr. Samuel, Ms. Marilyn, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity for this interview." Frederick shook hands with the two of them.

After the two sides shook hands, they sat opposite each other. Samuel first asked about his past work experience and opinions and chatted as a friend.

It was surprisingly smooth. Frederick never felt like he was talking with a kid; it was quite the opposite, like talking with his equal. It was bizarre because he probably had the same number of experiences as the kid's age.

Samuel briefly explained the company's current situation, both good and bad, and asked him how to deal with it.

He talked eloquently, described the plan and listed some of the problems and how he could deal with them. She also just guessed some of Samuel's issues and made a solution.

" You did your research." Samuel asked.

" Well, I didn't know that I was being followed." Frederick said.

" Don't worry, it was natural for you to do so. I would have done the same. It shows that you are serious about the job."

Fredrick knew very well that the interview had already begun from the moment she stepped into the country.

Half an hour later, they finished their discussion, and both parties were delighted.

When we started talking about salary, it was still as promised in the phone interview. The annual salary was set at half a million USD and one month's year-end bonus. There was also a probation period which was set at two months.

Alphabet's business model has been formed and has achieved some profitability. There was no shortage of money, so there was no such thing as a seed round and an angel round investing.

Every penny came from Samuel's pocket, and he was the sole owner of everything except the few shares he had given to Abigail and Alastair. But those were not the primary company shares.

Samuel's plan was that after completing specific expansions, He would form a powerful empire that would be outside the influence of others. The deal that he gave Frederick came with certain conditions.

The Alphabet was bound to go public, but the shares would be minimal.

If the A and B financing rounds were completed and the company's valuation reached 10 billion USD, he would receive 0.1% of the non-voting shares.

After completing the C round of financing and the company's valuation reaching 40 billion USD, he would obtain another 0.1% of the non-voting shares.

After going public successfully and reaching a market value of more than 60 billion USD, he would receive another 0.3% of the non-voting shares, for a total of 0.5% of the claims.

The 0.3% of the shares awarded after listing had to be cashed out in three years, 0.1% could be cashed immediately after successful listing, and 0.1% would be cashed out in the next year and the third year, respectively.

It sounded very little, but if done right, these shares would be worth a lot of money in the future.