Page 245 - James Caan - The Real Deal

Chapter 24

A New Beginning

(1999–2000)

‘ You only have to look at Mike Tyson, or Michael Jackson,

to see how a vast fortune can simply be spent. I wasn’t about
to let that happen. ’

y father’s passing added to the sense that I was ready for
M something new. We were about to start a new millennium
and, like everyone else, I was thinking about the future. I realised
I had everything I wanted in terms of health, family, wealth and
status. If nothing were to change, any outsider would have looked
at me and thought I led a charmed life. I could even have employed
a chairman and effectively retired. However, I knew I didn’t want
that. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted other than the fact that I
was looking for a change.
I felt this even though business had never been better. Our two
biggest sectors – technology and finance – were buoyant with the
dotcom frenzy, the Y2K panic and the fact that entire banking
systems were being redesigned to cope with the EMU (the
European Monetary Unit, which would become the euro). We had

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