Geek Mafia Read Online Free PDF

"No, that's not even right. Paul wants out. He wants to go bye-bye and leave you behind him like a bad dream. Thus, he's willing to sell what's his to you."
    "You want us to buy out his stock?" asked Greg.
    "Yep."
    "Why would we do that? It's not worth anything yet," said Greg.
    "Is that what you tell your investors, Greg?" asked Chloe.
    "I tell them that it's not worth anything yet . It has potential value."
    "But you sure paid a lot for it, didn't you Greg?" said Chloe, looking at the piece of paper she'd fished out.
    "You paid two and a half mil for your shares."
    "That's because I'm an investor and I believe in this game," he said. Greg had made money - a lot of money, selling his first startup to a much bigger conglomerate. He and Paul had been friends in high school and, when Greg said he was interested in maybe getting into computer games, Paul suggested doing one based on his comic book series. Thus, the company had been born.
    "You're not the only one," said Chloe. "Didn't PC Gamer rate it the most anticipated online game of next year?"
    "Yes, one of the most anticipated. I think we were number three."
    "And didn't GameSpot.com just last week do a glowing, four part preview of the game, calling it the most innovative game world to come along in years?"
    "Yes," agreed Greg.
    "What's your point with all this?" said Frank.
    "Just that the game is looking like it could be a big hit," said Chloe, "Which in large part because of Paul's ideas. So, the way we see it..."
    "Listen." Now it was Greg's turn to interrupt. "None of this is why we're here today. There's no way we're going to buy Paul out. We've got no reason to. We've made a fair offer, and if the company ever does get sold, then Paul will probably do very well for himself."
    "Yes," said Chloe. "In the long run that may be true, but who the hell cares about that? We're talking the short run here. We're talking about Paul getting fired for no real reason at all."

    CHAPTER 4
    18
    "We don't need a reason," said Frank, which was true, and the smart thing to say. Chloe had hoped to get them to say something - anything she could use against them to show discrimination or lack of cause. But they didn't need a reason and they were smart enough not to give one.
    "Yeah, you just don't like him. Fine, we can handle that. Paul doesn't like you much either, but that doesn't matter. The truth is, if the game does well, or even just ok, there are going to be bonuses and raises around here, right? Probably tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars each. But bonuses only go to those of you still drawing paychecks. You could pay out all the profits like that and Paul would never see a dime. His stock would be worthless to him."
    "There are limits too how much..." said Marie, finally trying to get in on the conversation.
    "I know, I know. There are limits. But we both know that good lawyers and CPA's or whatever can find loopholes and shit." Chloe went back into her briefcase for another document. "You guys don't like Paul. You probably like him even less now that you've met me. So I'm betting that if you get a chance, you'll screw him."
    She tossed a stack of stapled documents out onto the table.
    "What's this?" asked Greg, picking up one of the packets of papers.
    "It's our proposal." Chloe just stood and watched as the four board members and their lawyer took a moment to read it over.
    "No fucking way," said Frank. "You want us to pay him $850,000? Even if we had that kind of money -
    which we don't - there's no fucking way we'd give it to him." He turned to talk directly to Paul. "What do you think you've done to deserve this, huh? You go home at five - or earlier - every day. You don't have any technical skills. You don't have any experience. You're a pain in the ass..."
    "C'mon Frank," said Greg. "Calm down a second." Then he turned back to Chloe, shaking his head. "As I said, Paul's gotten plenty out of his time here and..."
    "No Greg," Chloe insisted. "We don't think he