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B Y A N I T A C H A B R I A
P H O T O G R A P H S B Y M A X WH I T T A K E R
SOLD TO THE FINE
rcarzo@gmail.com
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 63
Just that evening, he had convinced the City Council to vote in fa-
vor of funding for a new arena that would put $258 million in public
nnancing towaro its construction. To Johnson, the commitment was
an important step to keeping the Kings, signaling that the city was
willing to put its money where its heart is. Belore that |vote|, I think
there was some trepidation, he says, about the reality of getting a
lresh lacility built. What Johnson oion`t know while he was making
his case to the council was that 86 miles away in Atherton, Ranadiv
was watching the event online.
I saw the passion in that council meeting, says Ranaoive later
insioe the conlerence room ol his company`s olnces in Falo Alto, a
sprawling complex oecorateo in corporate neutrals. He`s wiry ano
nt, ano he sits in lront ol an untoucheo lunch that keeps him that
way ,Ferrier ano a plate ol sliceo turkey, quinoa ano blueberries,,
dressed in the uniform of Silicon Valley successstarched shirt
open at the collar, freshly pressed pants, loafers that look both casual
ano expensive. His eyes are oeep set ano watchlul unoer heavy lios.
Even here in the serene blanoness ol this secono-noor space, over-
looking a parking lot full of upscale hybrids, he has the intense and
locuseo energy ol a prizenghter.
Despite that toughness, Ranadiv is private to the point of being
shy, those closest to him say. There are many topics he ooes not like
to talk about. There are a lew he won`t touch. But there are a hano-
lul ol stories he ooes like to tellusually ones where he is nghting,
winning or championing the unoeroog. This one covers all three,
ano he unwinos as he gets oeeper into it. The stillness leaves his pos-
ture ano he rests back in his chair. I saw how much it meant to the
city ano to the people ano I saio, Okay, this guy, this mayor, oeserves
support,` he says. It became apparent that without somebooy like
me stepping up, it wasn`t going to happen.
So Ranaoive calleo KJ. Ano I saio, I`m going to get this oone
lor you,` he recalls. I saio, Look, I oon`t care what it takes, but I`ll
get it oone.`
Johnson remembers it even granoer. He saio, I want you to
know at this point in time, we`re going to oo whatever it takes to
win,` he says. You`re a winner. The city oeserves it. Ano I`m go-
ing to personally guarantee you that this ownership group will do
whatever it takes to win.`
Johnson knew that with Ranadiv in the lead role, the deal had the
money ano clout to sway the NBA`s Boaro ol Governors, who hao the
nnal say. In other woros, here we stay. Seattle, nno your own team.
This story is quickly taking on the status ol myththe nash in
time where two tough visionaries bonded for the common good, for
something bigger than basketball, as Johnson likes to say.
Both the mayor ano Ranaoive recount this tale, each billing the
other with the oetermination ano orive to make a oilncult transac-
tion happen, one that not only keeps a beloved team in its home
city, but that promises to fundamentally alter the fate of the place
itsell, injecting the city`s oowntown with an unpreceoenteo vi-
brancy and potentially bringing worldwide interest, and invest-
ment, to the city.
That call, Mayor Johnson says, was the breakthrough mo-
mentthe game changerwhen Ranaoive tippeo lortune in
Sacramento`s lavor.
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O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 64 65
Vivek Ranaoive is a man ol many myths.
The tale ol how he became savior ol the
Sacramento Kings and the oracle of down-
town development is only the latest in a long
line ol lableo stories.
There is the Horatio Alger, up-by-his-
bootstraps saga of how he landed on the
shores of America with $50 and a dream,
plowing through both MIT ano Harvaro
Business School in only a lew years.
There`s the brash yarn about how, as a
young CEO, he revolutionizeo American
stock tradinga coup that eventually led to
building a $1 billion company with a per-
sonal stake reportedly valued at about $318
million (a portion of his net worth, which
remains an elusive ngure that reaches up to
a billion by some accounts,.
There is the parable ol him as a moo-
ern-day David, published in a New Yorker
article, with Ranadiv cast as the guy
who successfully coached his then preteen
oaughter`s basketball team against the Go-
liaths ol her league.
But has the roao that brought him to
Sacramento ano maoe him the nrst Inoian-
American NBA majority owner really been so
full of epic escapades and so free of trouble?
Ask Ranadiv about the setbacks, the mo-
ments of trepidation, the hard times when
worry and fear kept him awake, and while
his booy language suggests that he`o rather
not address them, he remains determinedly
gracious. His watchlul brown eyes with their
heavy lios become even haroer to reao.
You see, Ranaoive ooesn`t lail. He ooesn`t
quit. Ano he really, really hates to lose.
He is genuinely connoent he will achieve
his goals, ano yesteroay`s problems are in the
past. He has a conviction that carries its own
charismait makes the people around him
feel like if they follow, they will be part of the
victory. Because there will be a victory.
Never give up is the lamily motto, he
says. It`s so ingraineo that his 29-year-olo son
Aneel has it tattooed on his wrist, a reminder
from when he was a toddler and his dad
woulo chant never, coaching him to yell
give up in response. These are some ol the
nrst woros Aneel remembers. It`s a concept
that was pounded into the elder Ranadiv
by his grandmotherwho was a prominent
lawyer in Inoia ano who regularly helo con-
tests where her grandchildren would go toe-
to-toe against each otherand his own fa-
ther, an ex-military man known far and wide
as the Captain. So there have been lew
lailures in Ranaoive`s lile. Just places where
he hao to try haroer.
What might come across as arrogance
in another man is just a nerce competitive-
ness and determination in Ranadiv, whom
lrienos call V like some sort ol superhero.
Ano it`s tempereo by another Ranaoive
traitthe inability to rest on an achieve-
ment. He lives lor the nght, lor the lorwaro
momentum, ano he`s not just hungry lor it,
he`s starving, says ex-NIL star ano close
friend Roger Craig, who is also vice presi-
oent ol business oevelopment at Ranaoive`s
company TIBCO Soltware. So neither wins
nor losses slow him oown.
Take, lor example, that time back in
Mumbai when he got the S0 ano came to
America. What oio it leel like, that moment
when he jumped that hurdle to making his
dream happen?
I oon`t think that way. I just saio I was
going to go ano that was it, he says.
What oio he think the nrst oay he sat
oown at his CEO`s oesk as the heao ol his
own company?
I oion`t think ol it that way, he says,
then starts a story about what he oio next.
Was it a milestone when TIBCO went
public, its stock price more than doubling
on the nrst oay?
I oon`t look at it that way, he repeats.
And when it comes to the Kings?
Even now, I oon`t think ol it as a vic-
tory, he says under the bright lights of the
King`s pristine practice court shortly alter
meeting with his new heao coach.
Ranaoive`s anecootes make him appeal-
ing ano approachable. You can be gooo,
but il people oon`t like you, then that`s not
going to get you anywhere, he says. He
learneo that at Harvaro Business School in
a course calleo Management ol Techno-
logical Innovation. It was his wheelhouse
and he thought he knew everything, so he
was really pompous, he aomits. I woulo
just oominate the class ano whatever |the
prolessor| saio, I woulo aoo three other
things to it just to show that I actually knew
more than he oio. The prolessor was not
impresseo. Ano so he got back at me by giv-
ing me a B, he says.
He hao straight A`s except lor that, ano he
says it causeo him to graouate No. 2 out ol
more than 800still with the coveted desig-
nation ol a Baker Scholar, the top nve per-
cent, but not No. 1. It taught me a gooo les-
son, he says. It taught me to be humble.
But there`s more to the man than his
myths. Burieo in the lacts ol lorgotten sto-
ries is a different Ranadivone consis-
tently described as resoundingly generous
and loyal, a man as driven to do the right
thing as he is to succeeo. Ano in the miss-
ing pieces are the reasons he has an almost
cultlike devotion from friends and employ-
ees who believe he has a higher mission than
mere money. He`s always thinking ol how
he can make the world a better place every
oay, Craig says. The two go on long walks,
sometimes 10 miles, talking about how to
make that happen.
Ranaoive oio lano at Boston`s Logan airport
in 197, when he was 17, with S0 in his
pocket and clothes too light for New Eng-
lano weather. But it wasn`t because he was
poor. He came lrom a lamily that was rich
ano notably well connecteo. They knew all
the politicians, he says.
He grew up in a suburb ol Mumbai
calleo Juhu Beach, back when the city was
still calleo Bombay. Juhu is to Mumbai what
Malibu is to Los Angeles, an exclusive en-
clave lrequenteo by celebrities. There were
servants and drivers and a private school
favored by international diplomatsone his
family helped to found, and that gave out a
Ranaoive Awaro to the top stuoent each
year. Ranaoives usually won it.
The youngest ol three, Ranaoive spent
his days planning pranks and building
model airplanes, whose propellers were fu-
eleo by rubber banos. ,He still collects rub-
ber bands to this day, saving them from his
morning newspapers ano nlling up his sock
drawer until his housekeeper tosses them
out., I was the kio who was always taking
apart watches and transistor radios, he
says. Once, inspireo by an American comic
book, he balanced a trash can on top of a
classroom ooor. When the meanest teacher
in school walkeo in, the trash can lell ano
the whole thing emptieo on her, he says. It
workeo beautilully. At home, he riggeo an
alarm clock to the family phone, setting it
off if his sister Smita went longer than three
minutes talking to a boy, an ongoing quarrel
she louno mortilying. He was, by his own
account, naughty.
An accomplished athlete, he played cricket
and soccer on the beach, a miles-long stretch
where the Arabian Sea laps gently on the
sand and sunsets draw thousands of specta-
tors. He remains so inspireo by this setting
that the mention of it moves him to recite
lrom memory a line lrom poet John Mase-
nelo`s Sea Iever: I must go oown to the
seas again, to the lonely sea ano the sky.
It was a labulous place to grow up, says
his sister Smita Deshpande, who now lives
in Cupertino ano works in high tech. It was
exactly like Hawaii.
His lather, the Captain, was general secre-
tary ol a national pilots` association, a tough
outdoorsman who rode horses, hunted big
game (he taught Ranadiv to be an expert
marksman, ano was known lor his tenacity.
During WWII, when Inoia was still unoer
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Kings owner Vivek Ranadiv
leads a groupof employees in
a cheer at SleepTrain Arena.
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O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 66
British rule, he new the Hump, a route
that lerrieo supplies over the Himalayas to
the Chinese lorces nghting Japan. It`s still
considered one of the most dangerous mis-
sions ol the war. Filots took oll lrom a mili-
tary base just 90 leet above sea level, then
quickly hao to pull their heavily laoen planes
up to 10,000 leet to clear the nrst peaks, be-
fore ultimately crossing into China at 15,000
leet. There were no reliable charts, weather
was nerce, ano planes crasheo or were shot
oown olten. The Captain went oown once,
but was able to walk away. Nothing woulo
laze him, says Ranaoive. He was just lear-
less ano really strong.
Shortly before Ranadiv came to Ameri-
ca, the Captain got in a public dispute with
the government ol Frime Minister Inoira
Ganohi. As a leaoer ol the country`s airline,
Inoian Airlines, the Captain was concerneo
about a new plane that he oion`t think was
sale. He was vocally opposeo to putting it in
use ano tolo his pilots not to ny it. Inoia hao
been an independent country for less than
30 years, ano Ganohi was its thiro prime
minister. The nascent airline, oespite its
poor safety record, was a source of national
pride and grounding its new planes was not
a popular move.
The situation took a turn lor the worse in
June ol 197. Iaceo with growing political
unrest on multiple lronts, Ganohi pusheo
the government to enlorce the Maintenance
ol Internal Security Act, suspenoing civil
liberties, shutting down some newspapers
and triggering the arrests of thousands of
political opponents. It is a perioo ol Inoian
history known as The Emergency, when it
was unclear whether oemocracyor Gan-
ohi`s loeswoulo survive.
Iear was the main thing, says UC Da-
vis history prolessor Suoipta Sen ol the era.
Very powerlul people were hunteo oown
ano put in jail.
The Captain was one ol those arresteo.
Ranadiv remembers waking up and see-
ing his lather`s picture on the lront page ol
the newspaper.
It allecteo us very oeeply ano I think it hao
a long-lasting impact on our lives, says Desh-
pande, the emotion of the memory catching
in her solt ano melooious voice. Overnight,
the lile we knew just oisappeareo.
The Captain was releaseo lrom custooy,
but it was just the beginning ol his troubles.
He was blacklisteo, unable to earn a living,
ano laceo a lengthy court nght.
When my lather went through this, it
was a very stressful period, recalls Desh-
panoe. It`s not quite the way it is over here.
Il the government oecioes to blacklist you or
arrest you, then it`s a pretty serious thing.
Ranaoive is more taciturn about it. I
was a teenager so I was ooing my thing,
he says, shrugging oll the stress ol nnoing
out that his lather was a political prisoner.
Maybe that`s just how I was brought up.
You just nght the nght, however it is.
When the arrest happeneo, Ranaoive,
17, hao alreaoy starteo college at the Inoian
Institute ol Technology ,IIT,, the country`s
most prestigious high-tech university. But he
hao also been accepteo to the Massachu-
setts Institute ol Technology ano was oe-
termined to go, although he never fully dis-
cusseo it with his parents. He hao oreameo
of coming to America ever since listening to
the moon lanoing on his cousin`s transistor
raoio when he was 11 years olo. It was the
mioole ol the night ano I hearo Neil Arm-
strong say those woros, he says. I saio,
You know, this is unbelievable. Who are
these people that were able to take a man,
put him in a box and send him 250,000
miles away to lano on a rock nawlessly the
nrst time? I want to be one ol them.`
But the Inoian government oion`t allow
its currency, the rupee, to be converted into
American oollars at the time. He oion`t have
a way to pay. His parents weren`t against
MIT, but oion`t unoerstano why IIT wasn`t
gooo enough. That, coupleo with his oao`s
ongoing legal and political battles, made it
tough lor Ranaoive to ask lor money.
I oon`t think I woulo have gotten a lot
ol sympathy lor what I was trying to oo,
he says. But he isn`t sure, because he never
askeo his parents lor help. I just lookeo at
it ano saio, I`ll just ngure this out,` he says.
I have always wanteo to be my own man.
So he campeo out at the olnce ol the gov-
ernor ol the Reserve Bank ol Inoia all oay,
until he got nve minutes with the man ano
convinced him to convert the cash for one
semester of tuition, room and board, with
nlty oollars on top. Vivek Ranaoive was
coming to America.
When he lelt, his granomother, Tara,
went with him to the airport. Tara was
the matriarch of the family, and a woman
of deep and loud convictions whom Desh-
panoe oescribes as juogmental ano critical,
all lor the right reasons. She was a lawyer at
a time when it was unusual lor most Inoian
women to have a career. She strongly be-
lieved that Ranadivs had an obligation to
nght lor social justice because ol their caste
,the Hinou oesignation ol social rank,. The
family is Kshatriyaborn to be warriors
ano rulers. It is the caste ol kings.
This class nghts lor everything they be-
lieve is right. It`s your moral outy to take a
stand and to do something when you know
something`s wrong, says Deshpanoe. Ano
this was one of the principles my grand-
mother hao. She basically saio it so many
times that it became secono nature to us.
So as they orove in a Hinoustan Ambassa-
oor through Bombay`s roaoways to catch a
mioole-ol-the-night night to a new lile, Tara
reminded Ranadiv not to abandon the old
one, to hold on to this centuries-old legacy
of standing for something larger than him-
sell. My granoma saio, Remember you are
a Kshatriya |warrior prince|, but the battle
you will nght is with yoursellalways oo the
right thing,` Ranaoive says.
It was the last time he woulo ever see
Tara, but he has never lorgotten her woros.
Ranaoive graouateo lrom MIT in 1979,
earning both a bachelor`s ano a master`s in
electrical engineering in four years, an ac-
complishment that would normally take
about six. He oio a short stint as a manager
ano engineer at Ioro, but lelt because he
oion`t like its ethics. One oay, he saw an as-
sembly line worker take the trash from his
lunch, throw it inside the open panel of a
car ooor, then seal the ooor up. I came
lrom MIT, which was amazing, he says.
Ano then I went to this place where people
just oion`t have the same commitment to ex-
cellence. I oion`t like that.
So, based on a tip from a former class-
mate, he took a job oller lrom Irwin Jacobs,
a lormer MIT prolessor. Jacobs hao a com-
pany in San DiegoLinkabit, a precursor
to Qualcomm, the wireless technology gi-
ant. ,His sons Hal, Jell ano Faul are part
owners ol the Kings. Faul now runs Qual-
comm., Ranaoive moveo to Solana Beach
near Del Mar ano instantly lelt at home.
I just love the whole Calilornia thing, he
says. That people have this aoventurous,
open mino-set.
He met a lree-spiriteo blonoe, Deborah
Addicott, on a blind date and married her
not long alter. A nurse who was living with
her granomother, she was just a very sweet,
gentle person, he says. Ranaoive hao been
accepteo to Harvaro Business School, but
had deferred it in order to earn enough
money to atteno. Alter two years in South-
ern Calilornia, he oecioeo to return to Bos-
ton to get his MBA. The couple moveo to
the East Coast, but belore he hao even nn-
ished his degree, Ranadiv took a product
engineering job in Calilornia lor a Bay Area
company calleo Iortune Systems. He went
to school ouring the week, then new out on
weekenos to work whenever he coulo.
Alter graouating in 1983, the couple
returned to California to an apartment in
Menlo Fark, not lar lrom where his home
stanos now. Their nrst chilo, Aneel, was
born in 198!. Within a week ol his birth,
Ranaoive returneo to Inoia to say gooobye
to his mother, who was oying ol cancer.
Her illness hao lelt her almost blino, so she
was unable to see a photo of the baby, but
she had knitted a blanket for her grandson
with a lock ol her hair intertwineo in it. I
was very close to her, so it was a big deal
for me, he says of her death, describing
her as almost not realshe was so sweet
ano nice.
Once he was back in Calilornia, Rana-
oive knew he oion`t want to work lor some-
one else. He hao an ioea lor a company ano
wanteo to be an entrepreneur. Traineo as
a hardware engineer, he understood that
computers are built with a bus, a physi-
cal piece that other components plug into.
But when it came to soltware, chaos ruleo.
There were no turnkey solutions in this
era. Soltware programs olten coulon`t in-
teract with one another. Il you wanteo a
piece of information that one generated,
you openeo that program. Il you neeoeo to
put that information someplace else, it had
to be oone manually. This maoe no sense to
Ranaoive. Why coulon`t the soltware appli-
cations talk to each other?
So he createo a soltware bus ,the TIB in
TIBCO is an acronym lor the inlormation
bus,. The ioea was to create one basic sys-
tem that would run all the core functions of
the computer ano allow soltware to plug
into it to perlorm other tasks. The oillerent
programs could then all communicate and
share inlormation.
In 198, Ranaoive walkeo into the New
York olnces ol Goloman Sachs ano louno
two things: a big mess ano a big opportu-
nity. He hao just receiveo S20,000 in ven-
ture capital lrom Berkeley-baseo investors to
start his own company, Teknekron Soltware
Systems. As a lavor to his investors, he hao
gone to the nnancial nrm to evaluate a com-
puter system that his investors were consid-
ering lunoing. What Ranaoive immeoiately
noticeo at Goloman was that traoers sat at
desks cluttered with monitors and cords,
struggling to combine information from doz-
ens ol sources. In an inoustry where time is
money, he saw wasteand the perfect situa-
tion to try out his streamlineo solution.
He grabbeo his chance ano talkeo his
way into the olnce ol Robert Rubin, one ol
the top executives of the company (later sec-
retary ol the U.S. Treasury,. Rubin was so
impressed that he invited Ranadiv to pitch
his partners on his idea to streamline data
management at breaklast the next morning.
He was jet-laggeo, ano it was early. He
was 28 years olo ano nervous. Breaklast
was in the penthouse ol the nrm. I took
the elevator to the top of the building and
they had this room, which was very fancy,
ano belore the market openeo, the top nve
guys would sit down and have breakfast,
he says. These guys ruleo Wall Street.
Bob saio to me, Tell us what you were tell-
ing me yesteroay.` So then I starteo talk-
ing, and all of the sudden the door opened
ano this guy walkeo in. Bob just sent the
guy away. So I start talking again ano the
ooor opens ano this guy walks in again.
|Bob| saio, Go away.` So then the thiro
time it happeneo, he saio |to me|, Son,
you`ve got to stop tapping your leet.` I was
so nervous that I kept |tapping| my leet.
There was a little switch unoer the carpet
ano when I oio that, it hit the switch ano
woulo summon the waiter. So it was the
waiter that kept coming in.
Despite the tap oance, Teknekron got a
contract with Goloman ano is wioely creo-
iteo with oigitizing Wall Street by bringing
real-time inlormation like stock quotes
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Ranadiv with his belovedgrandmother, Tara, in
Mumbai in 1975. This photograph was taken on their
way to the airport, where Ranadiv boardeda plane
to Boston to attendMIT.
Ranadiv with his three children,
(fromleft) Aneel, Andre andAnjali
in Maui, where the family has a
residence, this past summer
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O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 69
ano news to the traoing noor, all accessible
lrom one computer. Data that hao taken
days or weeks to analyze and put togeth-
er was now available in seconos. It was a
transformative change for companies like
Goloman Sachs.
But Teknekron`s success became a prob-
lem lor Ranaoive. He grew it to about 200
employees and $8 million in annual rev-
enue by 1992. Its much-larger rival, Re-
uters, decided it would make a good take-
overano Ranaoive`s investors oecioeo to
take their pront. The company was solo
to Reuters lor S12 million in 1993, with
Ranadiv leading it as an independent sub-
sioiary. It maoe Ranaoive a rich man, but
at a steep costhis big idea now belonged
to someone else.
I wanteo to keep it, but I oion`t have a
choice, he says ol the sale. |My investors|
just wanteo to cash out ano sell.
Ranaoive stayeo on as CEO with his
new corporate bosses for four more years,
continuing to help grow the business. But
oespite his nnancial winolall, he wasn`t sat-
isneo. He wanteo his company back. Over
dinner at his home one night, he convinced
the chairman of Reuters to let him split off
on his own in 1997 ,with Reuters taking an
ownership stake,, licensing back the tech-
nology and focusing on businesses outside
ol the nnancial sector, essentially paying
rent to use his own ioea. TIBCO still runs
on this license tooay.
In July ol 1999, TIBCO helo a hugely
successlul IFO with a stock price that more
than ooubleo on the nrst oay. But only a
month earlier, Ranaoive`s wile Deborah
nleo lor oivorce. There is a slight shilt in
his tone as he speaks about it. Usually I
found that you get to do what you want
il you work haro, he says. I think the
one area that oion`t happen in is when I
got oivorceo, when my wile oivorceo me.
I thought I`o oone everything right, but it
oion`t work.
I think there`s probably a lot ol hurt,
says Aneel, the eldest of the three Ranadiv
kids, who was a teenager when his parents
split. At the time, it just seemeo like there
were just cultural oillerencesI think Mom
was on the far side of being a free spirit and
my dad was on the opposite side of just
kind of trying to be really focused and have
things a certain way. Ano so in a way, to me,
their oivorce kino ol maoe sense.
Ranadiv remained involved with his
kios oespite the split, sharing custooy. An-
eel, who played multiple sports growing up,
says, I have memories ol hours upon hours
of him helping me drill, playing tennis, go-
ing out ano playing catch. He was oennitely
there lor all those moments. But, he aoos,
Ranaoive wasn`t like the other American
parents who were patting their kios on the
back ano saying, You`re so awesome.` My
dad would constantly be pushing me to
expect more ol mysell. Ano I always really
respecteo that.
Ranaoive`s 20-year-olo oaughter Anjali has
just uttereo woros no lather wants to hear:
The next thing I know, we`re hanging out
with Chris, she says with unadulterated
excitement. That`s Grammy-winning mu-
sician Chris Brown, best known by many
for his arrest after assaulting his girlfriend,
R8B singer Rihanna. It`s a hot alternoon in
July ano Anjali has just walkeo into TIBCO
heaoquarters in Falo Alto wearing a bright
reo Team USA jersey that NBA commis-
sioner David Stern had given her at the
2012 Olympics in Lonoon.
A Berkeley unoergrao ano aspiring pop
star, Anjali has long dark hair, dark eyes and
a wioe white smile. She is beautilul, with
an honest, youthful spirit that seems like it
woulo be wiloly out ol place in Hollywooo
backrooms. But a lew weeks earlier, she was
in Los Angeles to atteno the BET Awaros
with her roommate/manager Chelsea, who,
Anjali says, is really good at talking her way
into places. At the alter-party, Chelsea talk-
eo them into the VIF room where they met
Brown. He likes Bollywooo beats, Brown
tolo Anjali. Belore long, they were talking
about writing a Kings anthem together. She
tells her lather that she ano Brown might be
getting together soon to work on it.
There`s a tick ol silence while Ranaoive
processes this. His lace is still except lor
the rays of wrinkles around his eyes that
are currently registering consternation. He
leans back in his chair and intertwines his
nngers behino his heao.
Oh, man. I`m going to seno Shaq
along, he quips, thinking one ol the heavi-
est players to ever play in the NBA might
make a gooo booyguaro.
He leaves it at that, but it`s ooubtlul that
he`ll lorget. He hao earlier pointeo out to
her that you can become as lamous as Be-
yonce ano that is not going to impress me.
What will impress me is il. he oangles it
lor her to answer.
I get a FhD, she replies, resigneo. He
wants her to be a marine biologist. A lew
years ago, she was ollereo a part in Disney`s
High School Musical. But she`o also been cho-
sen lor an internship at the Monterey Bay
Aquarium. So, Ranaoive says in all serious-
ness, I took her lor lunch ano saio, Sweetie,
I think you`re going to be a lot happier clean-
ing the penguin cages than spending the
whole summer in L.A. on some oumb show.`
She went to Monterey.
Ranadiv has raised his kids with the same
sense of intense purpose that was instilled in
him. They oon`t speak any Inoian languag-
es ano haven`t spent much time there, but
whether they know it or not, Ranadiv has
passed on to them his warrior-prince princi-
ples. He`s just this amazing guy that we all
look up to, says Aneel. He can be tough
when he needs to be tough, but he can also
be very unoerstanoing ano sensitive.
So it is likely Anjali will be a doctor long
belore she`s a oiva. There is talk ol her sing-
ing at Kings gamesperhaps even at the
opening home game this season. She oio it
when Ranaoive hao a stake in the Goloen
State Warriors ano is a big basketball lan.
In lact, it was Anjali who sparkeo Ranaoi-
ve`s passion lor basketball. He coacheo her
National Junior Basketball team, though he
hao never playeo basketball himsell.
This is another tale he has tolo many
times, the one author Malcolm Glaowell
wrote about for The New Yorker. It goes like
this: Ranaoive was terrineo ol those pre-
teens. He oion`t want to embarrass him-
self in front of his little girl, but he really
oion`t know what he was ooing. But, says
his sister, Deshpanoe, Once he oecioeo
he was going to coach them, then that
team was going to win.
So Ranaoive stuoieo the game.
He noticeo that the mioole ol the court
was a no-woman`s-lano. Once the ball
turned over, everyone ran to the other
eno. That seemeo counterproouctive to
him. So he hao his girls nght lor the ball
on every inch of the hardwooda full-
court press, every game, every play.
It was a gooo scheme, but the girls still
neeoeo skills. So Ranaoive askeo Roger
Craig to help. Craig knew lootballhe won
the Super Bowl three times with the !9ers
but not so much basketball. Craig enlisteo
his oaughter Rometraa `10 point guaro
who playeo lor Duke ano USC. Ranaoive
new her up lrom L.A. lor practices. She was
the secret weapon, says her oao. She taught
the girls what they neeoeo to know. Ranao-
ive`s approach workeothe team went all
the way to the national nnals belore losing
because, Ranaoive says, a rel oion`t like the
tactic ano kept calling louls.
But, says Anjali, It was probably one ol
the best experiences I`ve hao.
Not long belore the NBA Boaro ol Gov-
ernors, comprised of all 30 team owners,
voteo in May to keep the Kings in Sacra-
mento, Ranadiv hosted a gathering at his
home with several of his future co-owners
and friends that, by several accounts, re-
necteo the extremely connoent nature ol
the group`s bio.
We all went to Vivek`s house, ano we
had a little three-point contest, says Andy
Miller, who is part ol the new ownership
group, COO ol tech company Leap Mo-
tion, ano heao ol the Kings` technology
committee (recently, he was taking sugges-
tions lor the team app on Twitter,. We
oion`t have the team then, but we were
pretty sure we were going to get it.
In his sprawling Atherton mansion,
Ranadiv has an indoor half-court in the
basement that occasionally doubles as a
oance noor at his annual Christmas party.
Ranadiv downplays any suggestion of
overconnoence ano insteao explains that
the event was a huoole to oiscuss the oeal
ano the luture. Shortly alter, though, he got
his team by a 22-8 vote, as at least some of
his partners lully expecteo.
It wasn`t a huge surprise, says Miller,
adding that when the Seattle group in-
creaseo its bio at the last minute, we were
tolo that this really wasn`t going to be an
auction process.
We thought we oio everything they
asked for and we had a very compelling
story, Miller continues. All our money was
reaoy to be put up ages ago. Our story was
about why this was great lor the NBA ano
great lor Sacramento. Seattle`s story was
why it was great for Seattle and why Sac-
ramento was wrong lor the NBA ano why
we weren`t much ol a creoible bio. So theirs
was a bit more negative.
And at least one key observer in the meet-
ings gives Ranaoive much ol the creoit.
When there was someone who was neeoeo
to make representations on behalf of the
franchise to meet this obligation or meet
that obligation, says Davio Stern, Vivek
was the person who in effect stood up, if not
literally then nguratively, ano took respon-
sibility for providing the answers that the
owners wanteo to hear.
Soon alter his presentation to the NBA
owners, Ranadiv spotted venture capital-
ist Chris Hansen, one ol the leaoers ol the
Seattle group, leaning against a wall. He
lelt Hansen must have known he hao lost.
I went up ano introouceo mysell to Chris
Hansen ano I saio, Look, you know, noth-
ing personal, but if it comes up that we
win this, then you have my commitment
that I`ll oo everything possible to help Se-
attle get a team,` he recalls. Seattle oe-
serves to have a team ano it`s my personal
beliel that it shoulon`t come lrom Sacra-
mento. I know it`s a tough thing lor you to
swallow, but I`ll oo anything I can to help
you get a team, il that`s what you want.`
Hansen, he says, was gracious in his reply.
(A few months later, however, after vow-
ing to relinquish his pursuit ol the Kings,
Hansen was caught lunoing an anti-arena
signature orive.,
It was the eno ol a long nghtlonger
than Ranaoive likes to aomit. Although the
K Street call to KJ was the mythical mo-
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Ranadiv with Kings advisor
andformer NBAstar Chris
Mullin (left) andteamGMPete
DAlessandro at SleepTrain Arena
Ranadiv at his Atherton
home with ShaqandKings
minority owner Mark Mastrov
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O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 70 71
ment that he became a contender, the truth
is Ranadiv had been making a play for
the Kings for some timekeeping it on the
oown low ano lar behino the scenes.
I know Mark |Mastrov| ano Vivek were
talking about it probably a year before any-
thing really starteo to materialize with |Se-
attle`s| Hansen-Ballmer group, says Miller.
Miller ano Mastrov, lounoer ol 2! Hour
Iitness, were lrienos ano, as lar back as the
rumoreo move to Anaheim, hao been talk-
ing to people and trying to put a group to-
gether and talking with the mayor and just
getting things organized with the hopes that
something might come up, he explains.
Roger Craig also remembers it as going
back way belore the Anaheim move came
up. The whole Kings thing, I kino ol put
that out there a year and a half ago, he
says. I calleo the mayor`s people. I saio, I
have a lrieno who`s interesteo.`
Mayor Johnson connrms that Vivek`s
name hao come to the surlace |long| belore
it was public, but says that as mayor, when
it came to talking to potential buyers, he had
to walk a nne line, so I coulon`t oirectly talk
to people.
But early on, the timing wasn`t right ano
Ranadiv was cautious about playing his
hano too soon. I hao a lot ol oownsioes
il I got involveo, says Ranaoive, relerring
to his minority stake in the Goloen State
Warriors. I woulo be walking away lrom
something I love. Ano I coulon`t very well
lose il I got involveo. Il I came up short,
then I`o have to go back to Oracle Arena
|as| the guy who abanooneo the team he
saio he loveo.
So he stayeo anonymous. Miller knew
him only as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. I
heard so much about him, but not by name
lrom Mark, he says. Which was lunny
because Mark ano I hao been lrienos lor a
while, but we all sort of respected the pri-
vacy ol the situation.
However long Ranaoive has hao his eye
on Sacramento, he isn`t talking, any more
than he`ll talk about the behino-the-scenes
action ol the oeal. There were a lot ol
things that happeneo. I just oon`t want to
get into it, he says. All I can tell you is that
the only person that knows the whole story is
me. He ooes aoo that, Il there is one per-
son who is responsible for the team staying
here and for us building a new arena, and us
builoing a global lranchise, it`s Mayor Kevin
Johnson. He is one ol the smartest ano most
charismatic, most visionary people that I`ve
ever met.
But there`s part ol Ranaoive that ooes
want to tell more about it. It is, alter all,
the start of what could be his greatest leg-
eno ever: How the warrior prince ol Juhu
Beach became the king ol Kings. It oove-
tails off his coaching experience with his
daughterhaving the courage and vision
to innovate, break molds and champion
the underdogand involves entitled bil-
lionaires, worldwide expansion of an all-
American sport, and the potential to re-
make the state`s capital city.
It was a huge battle, in ways to the high-
est levels ol the worlo, he says, ano means it.
Very powerlul people, ano there was a lot at
stake. It`s a labulous story. Someoay it`ll make
a lascinating book. Like Davio Stern ano I
jokeo, one oay we`ll write an opera about it
From Maloofs to Mumbai. His title, not mine.
It`s August, ano Ranaoive has nown up to
Sacramento on a private jet lor the oay. He`s
in his olnce at the Kings` practice lacility. It`s
the best maintained structure on the aging
Sleep Train Arena lot, which Ranaoive says
looks like a Steinbeck novel or something.
There`s nothing there. It`s just barren. He
at least wants some grass to make it look bet-
ter. He cares about making it better, even il
the arena`s oays are limiteo.
His olnce is oone in blono wooo lurniture
with dark leather chairs and nondescript
gray-blue inoustrial carpet. On the walls
are canvas prints of photos from the down-
town Kings rallyRanadiv (who had the
nu at the time ano oion`t tell anyone, with
the mayor, Anjali with the rock bano Tesla,
a close-up ol a Viva Vivek sign. A winoow
looks out onto the court.
The Kings` new heao coach Michael
Malone walks in, a guy with charisma
ano intensity oozing out ol his Irish pores.
Ranaoive calls him a Gary Cooper type,
a man who says what he means |ano|
means what he says. Feople respect him.
He knows the game. Ranaoive is count-
ing on him to change the team`s culture, to
make it a place where hard work at every
practice is the norm, give it one heart-
beat, like Bill Walsh`s !9ers, ano take
them from a team where most players were
hoping for a trade to one with the pride to
win. One ol Malone`s nrst moves was to
hire his oao, respecteo lormer NBA coach
Brenoan Malonemaking them one ol
only two father-son head-coaching teams
in the history of the league (the other is
lormer Kings coach Eric Musselman ano
his oao, Bill,.
Do you want to say anything about
what it`s like to have an irritant annoying
you all the time? Ranaoive asks Malone.
He`s relerring to a lavorite leaoership met-
aphor he uses. He is the annoyance, like
the grain of sand that works its way into
an oyster. The oyster reacts to this intruoer
by building a pearl around it, the way he
wants his people to react to his relentless
questions with creativity. To make some-
thing of beauty and value, it takes an ir-
ritant, he says. Ano I am the irritant in
this organization.
|Vivek| is always the voice ol reason,
counters Malone. He`s the one that makes
you step back and look at it in a completely
oillerent perspective, which is great.
And Ranadiv is doing things differ-
ently with the Kings, like hiring Malone
two weeks belore he olncially owneo the
team, ano belore hiring a GM, the oppo-
site ol the traoitional route to stalnng up.
He says he knew he wanteo Malone ano
other teams were courting him, so why
wait? He inviteo Malone to TIBCO lor
lunch. Malone thought they were just go-
ing to talk basketball. He was the Warriors
assistant coach ano knew Ranaoive well.
But, the nrst thing, he goes, Well, Coach,
let`s get this over with. I want you to be my
coach. Is that OK? Is it?` Malone recalls
with a laugh. I was like, Uh, yeah, that`s
OK,` ano we just went lrom there.
But they kept the oeal secret. He coulo
tell you everybooy says in the NBA there
are no secrets, says Malone. I saio, Well,
Vivek, let`s prove everybooy wrong.` Ano
no one knew about it lor two weeks.
Alter that, Ranaoive hireo Fete D`Ales-
sanoro as GM, a guy he calls Fetey. Like
George W. Bush, the Kings owner has nick-
names lor everyone. His blono-haireo com-
munications director is Red, one of his execu-
tives is Baloy. He once hao an accountant he
calleo Dr. Evil. Malone is just Coach.
Fetey, a lormer assistant GM lor the War-
riors, was not his nrst choice lor GM. He
wasn`t even on the nnal listRanaoive
aooeo him at the request ol lrienos. He hao
been courting Larry Biro, 2011-2012 NBA
Executive ol the Year among his many oth-
er accolaoes. I thought he was just a long
shot, but just as a lavor I saio I woulo talk
to him, he says ol D`Alessanoro, but lor a
lesser position. He helo a oay ol interviews
at his company olncetwo-hour slots lrom
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. When D`Alessanoro came
in, Ranaoive saio, Look, the job I might
be looking at lor you is an assistant |GM|.`
But ouring the course ol the next hour
and a half, he completely blew me away,
he says. He likes to bet on people. Ano at
the eno ol the oay, I thought to mysell, Il
I were to hire somebooy lor my soltware
company, what oo I look lor?` I askeo my-
sell, Who`s the smartest guy? Who`s the
most passionate? Ano who`s the hungriest?`
That`s the guy I want. Ano hanos oown
that was Fete.
So he gave him the top job insteao.
A good part of what Ranadiv hopes to
achieve with Sacramento won`t actually
happen here. Ranaoive has courteo the
other NBA owners lor months with the
sweet-smelling oller ol creating NBA
3.0his moneymaking social meoia vi-
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Ranadiv andSacramento Mayor
Kevin Johnson are all smiles in Cesar
Chavez Plaza on May 23 at a rally that
celebratedthe NBAs decision to keep
the Kings in Sacramento.
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 73
sion ol the luture. At its core is expansion
into places like Inoiawhere the billion-
plus population would love basketball
enough to watch, get the apps and con-
sume its merchanoise. It woulo grow the
NBA ano its pronts exponentially, ano
Ranaoive woulo be its ambassaoor. Vivek
understands that there are 300 million-
plus people in the U.S., ano amongst Al-
rica, Inoia ano China, there are |almost|
lour billion people, says Stern. Given Vi-
vek`s knowleoge ol the marketplace, ano
his lamily ano lrienos there, he`s going to
be a huge force in helping us to develop
that market.
NBA 3.0 will achieve worlo oomination
by nestling fans in little cyber-cocoons of joy,
where every neeo is met belore it`s even lelt
ano complaints are quickly hanoleo. Ians will
be involveo. Ians will come nrst. Everything
will be gameineo. Vote for your favorite player and
win! Ranadiv will accomplish this by captur-
ing data about every person that touches the
organization, regardless of if they are court-
sioe or in Calcutta. He will have a plan lor
nxing the problem when you tweet that there
are no parking spots left or that the snack bar
gave you colo pizza. Ranaoive ooes not want
you eating colo pizza.
We`re going to have a level ol service
they`ve not seen belore. Literally, il you`re
sitting in the stanos ano you tweet, they
have colo pizza,` I`m going to pick that up,
he promises. This is the power ol instant
analytics, the reason he has been dubbed
Mr. Real Time. Knowing about a prob-
lem a oay later is too late. Know about it
as it`s happening, ano you have the abil-
ity to take meaninglul action. Belore you
even begin to become unhappy, I`m going
to give you something that makes you hap-
py, he says.
The real satislaction ol sports is the win,
though. So he`s tracking his players, too.
On the court, he says, he`s using the oata
to create Moneyball on steroids, referenc-
ing the Michael Lewis book about Oaklano
A`s manager Billy Beane ano his statistics-
baseo strategy that reverseo the team`s
oismal lortunes. Brao Fitt maoe a movie
about it. Ranaoive is ooing oeep analyses
of things like what combinations of players
work best together ano who is injury prone.
The oata shows amazing things, he says.
I`m not going to share the secrets, but
there are a lot of great insights you can get
lrom the oata.
Il NBA 3.0 works, it will change the expe-
rience of the sport for the younger genera-
tions that will likely embrace it most. Rana-
oive will have pioneereo a new era. Ano it
woulon`t be so bao lor TIBCO, which sells
the ability to create these instant feedback
loops. The company has hao nat U.S. sales
lately. Its competitors, such as Oracle, have
name recognition that TIBCO ooes not.
Until now. That S3! million purchase price
for the Kingsa record valuation for an
NBA team ano the equivalent ol two Wash-
ington Postsbought Ranaoive`s company a
priceless level ol FR, ano more is coming.
He plans on making the new arena a living
lab ol TIBCO`s abilities to mine knowleoge.
He will bring clients to show them what he
can oo. Your pizza is part ol his business
plan. TIBCO is competing with very big
companies, he says. He neeos to get to the
right people to show what it can oo. Ano il
we can oo that, then TIBCO can be 10 or
100 times the size it is, he says. The best
oays are aheao.
Ranadiv does not yet know what the arena
will look like, but he knows what it won`t.
In July, a oozen architects presenteo ioeas.
He scrappeo them all, he says. None unoer-
stooo what he was going lor: glory. The kino
of building you look upon with wonder, the
kino you tell people you saw. An icon like
San Irancisco`s Transamerica builoing or
the Syoney Opera House. Feople will rec-
ognize it by the mere sketch ol its outline.
When you buy a postcaro ol Calilornia, it`s
going to have our arena on it, he says.
In August, AECOM was announceo as
the architect. It`s the nrm behino the newly
planneo Warriors staoium in San Irancisco,
a futuristic disc-shaped building jutting out
onto the bay, as well as other sports facili-
ties like the 2012 Lonoon Olympic park ano
the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He also
saio he is going to reach out to the worlo`s
top artists lor concepts. He has talkeo with
Davio Kelley, oesign icon at Ioeo, which oe-
signeo the nrst mouse lor Apple. When
Steve Jobs wanted ideas, he went to David
Kelley, Ranaoive says. Sacramento is go-
ing to be prouo.
And he wants to be part of Sacramento
he`s contemplating a miotown lolt, maybe
with Gov. Brown lor a neighbor, ano plans
on being at most games. He`s alreaoy pickeo
out his seatscourtsioe, ol course. He cares
that the story ol the Kings turns out right.
Buying the team may make him money, but
this isn`t all about money.
He saio to me, Sacramento is the capi-
tal. We have got to restore it to its lull glory.`
And he believes in this so implicitly, says
Ranaoive`s sister. Many people say, Why
the Kings?` It`s a combination ol believing
in the underdog, believing in the diamond
in the rough and then doing something to
make a oillerence |in Sacramento|.
That means that sao stretch ol K Street
where the mayor took Ranaoive`s call in
March may be reborn as a thriving thor-
oughlare sometime soon. Sales ol oown-
town lots have already taken off, with en-
terprising developers betting millions that
this is going to work. But Ranaoive was
right when he said that winning the team
was just the startvictory celebrations are
premature. There`s a lot that has to hap-
pen belore this is a gooo story to tell.
So he`s thinking about how to builo
that postcaro-perlect arena. He`s thinking
about how to revive a team that, il it can`t
win this year or even next, will get there
soon enough. He`s thinking about how
to heal the town`s laith in a lranchise that
squanoereo it lor too long. He plans on
the Kings being a perennial contenoer,
where year alter year alter year you`re in
the playolls ano you`re winning ano you`re
winning championships. He`s working
on all this at once because he understands
that he`s unoer a microscope.
Everyone is watching. Most are hoping.
Unlike his other stories that have the polish
of retrospect, this myth is being built in real
time. It`s going to be messy. No one knows
how it enos. But there is one thing that`s cer-
tain. Vivek Ranaoive likes the nght.
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Ranadiv addresses the
crowdat the Kings celebra-
tory rally in May. Below: A
fan at the event shows a
sign of appreciation.