Tom Cruise's business advisor reacted swiftly.
The very next day, they contacted Martin's acquisition team.
That same day, a share transfer agreement was signed.
Three days later, the CRGI fund finalized a transfer of 10.47% of Netflix shares to Martin.
At this point, Martin had amassed 36.28% of Netflix's shares.
Just as he prepared to keep going and acquire more, he suddenly hit a wall—he couldn't buy any more.
The remaining shares were mostly concentrated in the hands of Vanguard, BlackRock, and the FRM fund—three major institutions—as well as Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings, and a few other shareholders who valued Netflix's transition strategy.
No matter how persuasive Martin's team was, neither these institutions nor the individual shareholders were willing to sell.
Thus, Martin's ownership in Netflix plateaued at 36.28%.
But even so, he had become Netflix's largest shareholder—not just the largest individual shareholder, but the largest overall.
The first thing Martin did after becoming the top shareholder was to reorganize the board of directors. He kicked out every board member who didn't support Reed Hastings, and publicly declared his full support for Hastings' efforts to reshape Netflix.
With Martin's backing, Hastings gained even more momentum.
This man—widely considered a visionary with leadership and influence rivaling even Steve Jobs—was about to begin his legendary mission of taking Netflix to the skies.
And just to note: Reed Hastings was also a shareholder and board member of MicroSoft.
In the future, many business schools and universities would analyze Netflix's strategic behavior from 2006 to 2020, concluding that every move it made either closely followed or outpaced emerging trends.
Hastings greatly admired Martin—especially the internal "Company Culture Handbook" Martin had drafted for Netflix.
1. Know where you're going: Mature employees have clear career goals. They understand what achievements they want in their roles.
2. Be willing to work hard: Ambition must translate into action. What companies value most is execution. A goal with no effort is just a fantasy.
3. Embrace challenges: Overcoming difficulties together is vital to a company's growth. If you fear pressure, you can't lead a company to success.
4. Motivation should be about solving problems and achieving success: People's work motivations vary. Some seek material rewards; others value recognition. Netflix recognizes those who strive for success. Since success is the best motivation, traditional reward systems and benefits become secondary.
5. ...
When Martin compiled this handbook, Hastings felt as if someone had transcribed his very thoughts. Each principle made him think, "Yes! That's exactly what I believe too."
And rightly so—because Martin had simply adapted the real-life Netflix Culture Deck, which was made public in the future, and published it as the Netflix Culture Handbook.
Martin's focus on Netflix ended in September.
His attention returned once more to the world of film.
"Wanted" began production.
Martin wasn't directing this time—just starring.
He played the male lead, Wesley. The female lead, Fox, was played by Jessica Alba—not Angelina Jolie, who played the role in the original.
It wasn't that Martin didn't want the wide-mouthed bombshell for the part—but ever since she'd worked with him on a foundation project, she'd leveraged Martin's influence to gain major traction in both business and politics. She didn't even want to make films anymore.
Truth be told, she was never all that passionate about acting. It was more of a means to an end.
If we're being honest, Jolie was far more interested in politics.
Her idol was none other than… Hillary.
...
Speaking of Hillary, the powerful political figure had recently made headlines—this time with Leonardo DiCaprio.
It all revolved around the Epstein case.
Just a week ago, a few tabloid outlets suddenly reported:
"Leonardo was one of the guests on Epstein's Island. Allegedly, he received $6 million in appearance fees to serve as a male model... for Hillary Clinton."
As soon as the news broke, major media outlets picked it up and ran with it.
Even though every headline included words like "allegedly", "possibly", and "rumor has it", the story still made waves.
On one hand, you had a Hollywood megastar and heartthrob.On the other, a political powerhouse idolized by millions of career women.
A scandal involving the two? It was juicy gossip gold.
Even though official statements quickly came out denying the rumors—
"Leonardo and Hillary are not mentioned in Epstein's testimony"—
The general public continued to eat it up and spread the rumors like wildfire across North America.
Martin was shocked when he first saw the story.
He immediately called his good buddy.
"Is it true? The news says it's true!"
"Fuck no! Do you think I need that $6 million? Goddammit—if I ever find out who started this rumor, I'll sue them into the ground!"
"So… it's not true?"
Martin's voice held a trace of disappointment.
"...The hell's with your tone?" Leo caught on instantly and was visibly annoyed.
Martin quickly changed the subject: "HAHAHA, I'm just saying—it smells like a setup. Someone's using your and Hillary's fame to cover something up."
Leo's interest was piqued. "You think they're using this scandal to distract the public?"
"Exactly. I'd bet good money that someone powerful was about to be exposed in the Epstein case. Someone from D.C., most likely."
"Bush? Didn't they already say he was on the island?"
"Haha. There's a big difference between being on the island and what you did on the island. Maybe Hillary volunteered to be the face of the scandal—because it would draw huge attention, and if the rumors turn out to be false, all that attention becomes political capital. And don't forget—next year is 2008. Election year."
"What the fuck!" Leo's voice over the phone was full of frustration. "So Hillary chooses to shield her husband's zipper problems by sacrificing herself—and I'm the poor sucker who takes the fall?!"
Martin silently thought: Well, maybe she's not protecting Bill…
From Martin's perspective—thanks to memories from Other Martin—in the original timeline, the timing of the Hillary-Leonardo scandal was incredibly suspicious. It broke just three days after news surfaced that Chelsea Victoria Clinton, Hillary's daughter, had appeared on Epstein's Island.
The moment the scandal with Leonardo hit the headlines, people stopped paying attention to Chelsea's involvement.
In this altered timeline, however, the news about Chelsea hadn't come out—perhaps because Hillary and Bill had caught wind of it early and decided to preemptively drop a bigger bombshell to bury their daughter's scandal.
Martin chuckled and said, "Honestly, it might've been Hillary herself who chose you for the story."
"Fuck that—why not pick you?" Leo shot back.
"Because she doesn't dare cross me."
Martin said that last line with complete confidence—swagger oozing from every word.