Word: wendell
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Professional video gamer Jonathan (Fatal1ty) Wendel likes comparing himself to Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Tony Hawk. Wendel doesn't have a 350-yd. drive or a turnaround jumper, but he has dominated the PC-gaming field, winning 12 championships and collecting more than $500,000 in prize money and well over $1 million beyond that in sponsor deals. To prepare for big matches, Wendel says, he imports sparring partners from as far away as Finland, avoids alcohol and caffeine and runs a couple of miles a day. "Fitness is crucial," he says. "It's all about...
...likening himself to His Airness, Wendel is thinking past the rec room and into the boardroom. What Jordan did for sneakers, argues Wendel, Fatal1ty (pronounced fatality) can do for the sound card. To that end, Wendel has partnered with manufacturers like Creative, XFX, Abit and Zalman to put his stamp on a hardware line he claims will give aspiring gamers an edge. He and his associates will claim about $5 million in royalties for 2006. "I want to create a Fatal1ty brand that will last," says Wendel. He's talking not just mouse pads and motherboards but even apparel...
...lesson that Wendel has fully absorbed. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, he strutted onto a stage and faced all comers in the first-person shooter Quake 4. The first challenger lost, 23 to 0. Another scored -3. None of the 20-odd opponents scored a point. Afterward, Wendel talked up a new deal he had signed for the Championship Gaming Series. Instead of playing, Wendel will be announcing for DirecTV's new series. "I'm going to be the John Madden of gaming," says Wendel/Fatal1ty. That's when he's not being the Michael Jordan...
...town of Limoges, a famed center for French porcelain, Gilles Schnepp has a perspective different from the government's anti--Anglo-Saxon mind-set. He is chief executive of Legrand, a $3 billion electrical equipment company that was acquired late in 2002 by KKR and French group Wendel in France's biggest buyout. Legrand had been in the process of merging with a French competitor, Schneider Electric, and suddenly found itself in limbo after the European Union vetoed the deal on antitrust grounds...
Schnepp says Legrand quickly put in place a reorganization program, even before the private investors bought into the company. Still, once the new owners arrived, "they stimulated our performance," Schnepp says. Overall, "the Legrand model is turning more quickly and more efficiently." KKR and Wendel helped the firm bring in consultants, who recommended sweeping changes to more than 3,000 processes. Result: Legrand has reduced its purchasing costs by about $95 million. "They helped us formulate our needs," Schnepp says. "They gave us confidence to go further" than the firm might otherwise have done. KKR has also encouraged Legrand...