"Happy to be working with you, Mr. DiCaprio!"
"Happy to be working with you, Mr. Blackwood!"
Two days later, Leonardo DiCaprio signed his name on the contract. Just like that, he was one of the new faces for the SpongeBob SquarePants stores for the next five years.
"Mr. DiCaprio... oh, I'd better just call you Leonardo, if you don't mind," Zane said with a friendly smile.
"Of course I don't mind," Leo replied with a big smile of his own. But Zane, who was good at reading people, could see a little bit of sadness behind his eyes.
It was all because of Titanic.
Leo had spent three whole years making that movie. He had even taken a big pay cut to be in it, making only $300,000. He was betting that Titanic would make him a bigger star.
But the hard truth was... the movie was failing.
After a so-so opening day, the box office had dropped fast. It was only making a little over $10 million a day. Compared to its giant $200 million cost, this was terrible. The bosses at Paramount and Fox were probably throwing up!
Just yesterday, the big, big boss of 20th Century Fox, a famous billionaire named Murdoch, was at a fancy dinner. Reporters asked him what he thought of Titanic.
Mr. Murdoch just said, "You're asking me about that big ship? Can I say that Cameron is a... well... a not-so-nice word?"
Even a giant billionaire like him was furious about losing so much money.
Zane looked at Leo, who was still looking a little down, and gave him a warm, encouraging smile.
"Leonardo," he said, "I know the box office for Titanic isn't great right now, but who knows? Maybe it will pick up! Buddy, you have to have confidence. You're Jack! You're the man who shouts, 'I'm the king of the world!'"
Hearing that, Leo's face brightened right up. The sadness went away.
He suddenly realized... as bad as he felt, Zane was in an even worse spot. Zane was the guy who had jumped in and spent tens of millions of dollars on the movie when everyone else was running away. He was probably going to be the biggest laughingstock in town.
It's funny how people are. When you see someone who is worse off than you, it somehow makes you feel a little better.
The contract was for $1.5 million. That was $300,000 a year for five years. It was a fair price, and maybe even a little high for Leo right now, since he hadn't had a movie out in years.
Of course, Zane knew a secret. He knew that if he had waited until afterTitanic became a huge, global hit, this price would have been way higher. And Leo probably wouldn't have even answered his phone call.
Zane knew that in a few months, car companies like Mercedes-Benz and Chevrolet would be in a huge fight to get Leo's endorsement. Chevrolet would win, paying him $7.5 million for just three years! That was $2.5 million a year.
In 1998, Leo would sign almost 20 endorsement deals, making him $80 million. He was about to become the most popular (and handsome) star in the world.
"Oh my god," Zane thought to himself, "I'm such a clever devil!"
He loved this. Making billions in the stock market was cool, but making these smart, fun deals felt even better.
"Being the richest man in the world isn't my main goal," Zane thought. "My goal is to live a fun life, like that Larry Ellison guy from Oracle. I want to have nice houses, fancy cars, be surrounded by amazing people, and just... enjoy everything!"
He thought about the bald guy from Amazon, Jeff Bezos. "That guy spent the first half of his life working all day and not spending any money. But later on, he's going to change completely! He's going to get divorced, get a girlfriend, and just enjoy his life even more than Larry."
For a moment, Zane was lost in a happy daydream.
"Wait a minute..." he thought. "Since I've got Jack... wouldn't it be perfect to get Rose, too? I could have both of them as spokespersons!"
Two days later, the new boss of the SpongeBob stores, Taro Hashimoto, made a deal. Kate Winslet, who was still a mostly unknown actress, was so excited to sign her contract. She got $1.2 million for eight years.
(Zane had tried to get Leo to sign for 8 or 15 years, but the actor was too shrewd and would only agree to five.)
So, just like that, the SpongeBob stores had three star spokespersons: Jack (Leo), Rose (Kate), and Charlize Theron!
...
A little while later, Charlize asked Zane if they could sign a new endorsement contract, now that she was becoming more famous.
For the sake of their friendship...
Zane said "NO"
"Friends are friends, but business is business!" This was a basic rule in America, and Zane wasn't afraid to hurt her feelings a little. If she couldn't understand that, then they weren't very good friends.
It was the same with his best friend, James. James wouldn't be getting any stock options next year. Why? Because, as much as Zane loved him, his work hadn't made a huge contribution to the company. And in business, you had to be fair to everyone.
...
One day near the end of December, right after Christmas, Zack Snyder came to see Zane.
"Boss," Zack said, his eyes full of excitement, "can we start making 300 Spartans? I've been waiting for this day for a long time."
Zane was delighted. "Of course!" he said. He had already promised.
"You can be careful with money," Zane always said, "but you can't break your promises."
...
Time passed, and suddenly it was mid-January.
And a very strange thing started to happen.
Titanic—the movie that all the newspapers and critics had called a "dud" and a "disaster"... was suddenly the only thing anyone was talking about.
"My God!" a theater boss exclaimed. "The box office for Titanic just passed $100 million in North America!"
Suddenly, all the newspapers, studios, and critics noticed the very, very strange and wonderful performance of Titanic.
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