“At the time... it was right after I found out that all my investments had the shadow of my family secretly helping behind the scenes. I felt very angry, furious, and thought my family looked down on me. So when my assistant handed me a list of newly established companies available for investment, I remembered what you said, so I picked this company and invested all my funds into it.” While recounting this past, Carter looked extremely uneasy.

“You lunatic!” Upon hearing Carter’s reason, Leon Thompson could only come to this conclusion.

“By the way, this company is doing quite well. Although they haven’t gone public yet, the company makes a large profit every year. I’m planning to transfer my shares for cash, which also aligns with the agreement I made with them back then.”

“No way!” As soon as Leon Thompson heard Carter’s plan, he immediately objected without even thinking.

“What’s wrong?”

“You can transfer all your other shares, but not Google!” While ‘talking’, Leon Thompson had already finished reading almost all the documents. Other than Google, there weren’t any other companies that would become very famous in the future.

“Oh? Why?” Carter was very interested in his friend’s suggestion, since he knew Leon Thompson had no real talent for business.

“Trust me! Saul! Google’s value is far more than what it is now! You should wait a while longer—the returns then will be a thousand, even ten thousand times greater than now!”

Although Carter thought his friend was exaggerating, he was indeed optimistic about Google’s future prospects, so he decided to follow his friend’s advice. However, he also needed to let Leon Thompson know some things he should be aware of. “But, my agreement with them is to transfer my shares within a few years. Also, Google doesn’t play by the rules at all—there are no shareholder dividends, and holding the stock is basically useless. According to the agreement, I can’t join the board of directors.”

Listening to Carter, Leon Thompson realized that what he was doing was essentially venture capital: putting up money to help new companies grow, then transferring his shares at market value after a certain period. During this time, he wouldn’t participate in any company operations; it was simply about making money with money.

And from the information Carter had ‘revealed’, the shares in his hands, apart from being cashed out after appreciation, brought no other benefits. “I didn’t expect Google to not pay dividends! Damn, I was really fooled by those people back then!” He grumbled inwardly, while also feeling grateful that so many people used Google as an example, making even someone clueless about finance realize that holding Google stock was like holding a giant gold mine.

Moreover, by coincidence, because Google appeared in so many books, Leon Thompson happened to know exactly when to cash out those shares for maximum benefit. “Does the agreement specify exactly how long you have to transfer your shares?” Before anything else, he needed to confirm a few things.

Without even thinking, Carter replied, as this company was deeply imprinted in his mind. “I invested at the end of ’98, then added more funds in ’99. Back then, we agreed that within eight years, I would transfer out all my shares, and Google’s board members have the right of first refusal.”

“Eight years... that’s enough!” He pondered Google’s IPO date, while calculating how to squeeze the maximum value out of those shares. “Negotiate with Google and tell them you’re not planning to sell your shares for now, nor will you transfer them. If possible, you’d better ask if they need more funding—if they do, try to ‘get’ more shares for yourself.”

Carter nodded but didn’t speak, waiting for Leon Thompson to continue. “Then make it clear to them that you’ll sell your shares one year after Google officially goes public on NASDAQ. But not all at once! I’ve even got an excuse ready for you: say that dumping a large number of shares on the market would cause price ‘fluctuations’, and if it’s an internal transfer, they might not be able to absorb such a large amount in a short time. So, you’ll sell a portion, then sell more each year until you’ve sold them all.”

After finishing, Leon Thompson spread his hands. “I think they have no choice but to accept your suggestion!” After all, Google was still a relatively weak company compared to an investor like Carter with a strong background—fragile like a newborn baby. And Leon Thompson’s suggestion didn’t violate the original investment contract, nor did it harm Google in any way, so they really had no other option but to accept.

“Anything else?”

“That’s it! The rest should be handled by your financial advisor or by yourself. Those things have nothing to do with me anymore!” Leon Thompson thought carefully and felt he hadn’t missed anything.