hunt hollywood

Bill Gates finally felt a little more attention on himself, and his emotions were a little complicated, but he smiled and shook hands with Simon, saying, "It's nice to see you again, Simon."

The two were about to sit down, when Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, who had just entered, came over and greeted Simon with a certain degree of flattery, compared to the natural alienation when they entered the restaurant before. The star demeanor of the two is completely different.

"Paramount's "IA File", I seem to have read the outline... Cindy, you did a good job in "Gucci Mark", maybe you can try to develop into Hollywood... Heh, okay, I'm kidding, Don't rely on me."

After chatting and joking around in this way, the two of Richard Gere returned to their seats.

Simon and Gates also took their seats, watching the beautiful waitress put down her reserve and asked for his autograph after Simon ordered, and apparently left a card behind, Gates remembered that this time when he came to Westeros, he offered to borrow it from him. I couldn't help but accumulate more envy for the Boeing 767 I bought.

He has always been the focus of attention in the IT circle, but in front of this young man, in this city full of fame and fortune, he can't win any attention at all.

Thinking about the situation when he wanted to visit the front cabin on the plane but was rejected by the stewardess on the grounds that it was the private space of Westeros, Gates secretly made up his mind that in the future he would also have a plane that would not lose to this young man. car.

Finally finished socializing, and when he was free, Bill Gates thought for a while, and said, "Simon, I saw Eaglet's World Wide Web technology in San Francisco, and I have to say that the development potential of this technology is really great. .”

Eaglet's World Wide Web technology has closely linked Cisco, AOL, SUN and other companies in which Westeros holds shares.

However, for the time being, Simon has no idea of ​​making Eaglet’s graphical interface browser a built-in browser for the Windows system. He intends to keep a low profile and allow this technology to develop for another year or two until it matures completely and becomes a unique standard in the industry. , and then carry out large-scale promotion at that time.

Simon just smiled and said, "I have tried the beta version of Windows 3.0. Compared with the previous versions, Microsoft's product this time has made great progress. After it is released next year, it will definitely be able to gain further benefits." market recognition."

Now that Simon brought the topic here, Gates took advantage of the situation: "So you continue to buy Microsoft stocks again?"

"Yeah, you know, Bill, I have a lot of money recently. Since I have a promising company, I must invest it as soon as possible."

Bill Gates can't help but think of many reports during this time.

The young man in front of him may not be the richest person on the "Forbes" list, but he probably holds the most cash among all the billionaires in the world.It's just that Cersei Capital, which has been shrouded in clouds and mist, is said to have a cash scale of 80 billion US dollars, and it seems that half of it belongs to this young man.

Just this 40 billion US dollars in cash exceeds the net worth of most of the super rich in the world.

Thinking of this, Bill Gates said: "But, Simon, I don't think you should continue to buy. Westeros holds more than 10% of Microsoft's stock, because Westeros bought In addition, many institutions have also begun to hold on to their Microsoft stocks, and there are fewer and fewer scattered tradable shares in the market. You know, the reduction of tradable shares will definitely have a strong inhibitory effect on the rise of the stock price. I think that Wei Stroh owns enough of Microsoft that you can consider buying other companies."

Simon had roughly guessed that Gates should have this kind of intention before.

A decrease in the proportion of tradable shares of a company in the secondary market and a decrease in trading activity will indeed restrain the rise in stock prices.

"However, I still want to buy more Microsoft stocks," Simon said as before, and seemed to think about it, and then said: "Bill, otherwise, I have made such a suggestion before, and you How about selling me some of the Microsoft stock in your hand, I can buy it at a 45% discount on the market price. You now own 10% of the shares, sell me [-]%, and you are still the largest shareholder of Microsoft. Moreover, I am I have no interest in controlling Microsoft at all. As long as you can sell me some stocks, I can also authorize Westeros to you the voting rights of Microsoft stocks held by Westeros. Westeros only holds pure shares. shareholder."

Bill Gates couldn't help thinking of the Boeing 767 he took when he came to Los Angeles.

Although he quickly entered the "Forbes" rich list list after Microsoft's listing, this year's "Forbes" North American rich list, he is also in the forefront with a net worth of 15 billion US dollars. However, because the assets under his name are basically They are all Microsoft stocks, but his current standard of living is completely below what a billionaire should have.

For example, he doesn't even have a private jet now.

Compared with the young man in front of him, it is even worse.

Speaking of which, when we met for the first time, the young man proposed to him to buy Microsoft shares directly from him, because he felt that Microsoft's stock price still had a lot of room to rise, so he chose to reject it without hesitation. .

Right now, it might seem like a good idea to sell some stocks and improve your life.

If you sell a stock by yourself, you can obtain the voting rights of all the shares held by Westeros Corporation. In this way, not only will you not lose control of the company, but you may even achieve absolute control of the company.

However, selling 10% at one time is definitely not enough.

Westeros is optimistic about Windows 3.0, and so is Gates.

Microsoft's market capitalization has been maintained at around $30 billion this year, but Gates believes the company's share price will rise again when the operating system goes public next year.

"Simon, 10% is too much." After thinking for a while, Bill Gates said, "And, if you want to buy it, you must follow the market price. I won't sell it at a discount."

Obviously, my previous small arrangement should have worked.

Simon didn't show any joy, and said patiently: "Bill, think about it, if you sell me 10%, you can get the voting rights of 20% of the shares held by Westeros, which will allow you to completely Take control of this company."

"Up to 5%," Bill Gates ignored Simon's temptation, and said again: "However, I can talk to Allen, maybe he also has the idea of ​​​​selling stocks."

With Microsoft's current market value, Gates can cash out more than $5 million if he sells 1.5% of his shares.

In this era, the money is still very affordable. After all, the price of the latest Gulfstream is only more than 1000 million US dollars.In addition, with this fund, you can also make some other investments.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen have maintained a combined 70% stake in Microsoft in recent years.

At the beginning, Bill Gates tried every means to reduce the shareholding ratio of his partner so that he could firmly control Microsoft.Unexpectedly, Gates still did not 'forget' the other party after selling shares this time.

Naturally, Simon would not express any objections, and said, "In this case, I can also get in touch with Allen."

After all, Bill Gates still felt a certain excitement from Simon's tone, and subconsciously added: "Simon, I can sell you part of the stock, but you must permanently sell the voting rights held by Westeros. authorize me."

"It's impossible, Bill, you will definitely continue to reduce your holdings of Microsoft shares in the future. You can't sell almost all the shares in your hands, and still keep the voting rights of Westeros shares. However, I I really have no intention of competing for control of Microsoft. You are the most suitable operator for this company. Therefore, the authorization period for Westeros Corporation is ten years. Of course, I may also appropriately reduce my shareholding in Microsoft during this process , Westeros Corporation still has its own freedom in this regard. Within ten years, no matter how many shares Westeros Corporation holds remaining, the voting rights of these stocks are yours. "

Bill Gates nodded slightly, and said, "What about ten years later?"

Simon shrugged and said, "Ten years is a long time, Bill, who knows what will happen ten years later?"

"Okay," Bill Gates nodded, and finally said: "Also, you must stop absorbing Microsoft shares from the open market."

"no problem."

The two chatted, and the waiter quickly delivered the lunch.

Bill Gates got 5% of the shares, and Simon felt that it would not be a big problem for Paul Allen to transfer the other 5% of Microsoft shares to himself.

Speaking of it, Simon actually only hopes to get a total of 5% of the shares this time, so that he can increase his shareholding in Microsoft to the planned 15%.Now, Westeros' shareholding in Microsoft is likely to increase to 20%. Thinking of Microsoft's future value-added potential, this business is going to be profitable.

However, Simon couldn't help thinking about the issue of funds.

Originally, increasing the holdings of Microsoft and Intel was a plan that lasted several months, and funds could also be raised while absorbing them.

Westeros has made a lot of moves recently. If it wants to get 3% of Microsoft's stock at one time, it needs more than [-] million US dollars in cash.

Without taking capital from Cersei, Simon can only borrow from the bank again.Fortunately, so far this year, he has repaid more than US$2 million in principal and interest accumulatively from various banks, and the amount of debt has dropped from US$9 million at the beginning of the year to just over US$7 million now. $3 billion is still within reach.

The two had lunch happily. In order to help Damen to strengthen his confidence in selling stocks, Simon generously borrowed his Boeing 767 to send Gates back to Seattle.

The following days are still busy with endless work.

A series of Daenerys Entertainment's key projects for next year are in various stages of production, and the plan for those 10 films is also steadily advancing.

Considering that the Los Angeles premiere of "Batman" is coming soon, Simon did not leave the United States at all, but agreed with Janet to fly to Australia to spend Christmas with his family after the premiere.

On the Microsoft side, news came two days after Bill Gates left that Paul Allen also agreed to sell 5% of Microsoft’s stock to Westeros, and Simon directly told James Raybould to put down all his holdings. The matter is directly responsible for contacting this matter to ensure the smooth acquisition of this acquisition.

The news spread quickly.

Compared with Intel, which has exceeded 60 billion in market value at this time, the increase in Microsoft stock in the past year has not been too high, and its market value has always remained at around 30 billion US dollars. The mini-crash in October was followed by considerable losses.

Now, with the news that Westeros has increased its stake in Microsoft by 10%, the company's stock price has risen sharply.

Fortunately, the two parties have already agreed on the price in advance. Neither Bill Gates nor Paul Allen raised the price just because of the sudden rise in the stock price. For such a large stock transaction, it is already very important for Simon to be able to trade at the market price. rare.

At the same time, Westeros also quickly negotiated a new loan plan of 3 million US dollars with Citibank.

Considering risk factors, it is generally difficult for other companies to obtain money from banks if they want to buy stocks through loans.

For Westeros Corporation, this is not a problem at all.

Now no one doubts the repayment ability of Westeros Corporation. Everyone knows that if it is not for the high tax costs involved in the transfer of Cersei Capital’s funds back to China, Westeros Corporation does not need loans at all now.

Relying on Cersei Capital's funds as a base, Westeros' loan has almost no risk.

Chapter 313 MGM changed hands (editing)

In recent years, Apple is still strong, and old operating systems such as Unix still occupy a large part of the market share.

Therefore, in addition to the attention in the field of new technologies and the rise in stock prices, Westeros' increase in Microsoft's 10% stake did not cause too strong a response. potential of tech giants.

With this matter finalized, Simon's attention turned back to Hollywood.

Another week in December slipped by.

12月8日到12月14日一周，上映第四周的《飞越童真》以22%的跌幅再收1693万美元，累计票房1亿零125万美元，正式破亿，成为年底档期第一部票房破亿的影片。

With the hot Christmas season looming, Even with blockbusters like "Batman" and "Rocketman" on the horizon, Little Ones, a festive family comedy, still has plenty of box-office potential.

The industry had originally expected that the North American box office of this movie might be between 1.5 million and 1.7 million US dollars. When the box office data of the new week came out, both the production and distribution of the film and the external box office statistics agency confirmed the North American box office of "Flying Beyond Childhood". The box office is expected to hit $1.7 million or more.

In Simon's memory, the North American box office of "Flying Beyond Childhood" is only about 1.4 million U.S. dollars.

However, the original version of "One Fly More Childhood" was released in mid-October in an unpopular schedule, and the quality of the schedule was far inferior to Thanksgiving. Strong publicity, so it is reasonable for the new version of the film to exceed the box office of the original version by 10 million US dollars.

The box office of "One Fly More" exceeded [-] million, and the contract that Daenerys Entertainment signed with Warner Bros. in exchange for the copyrights of "Wonder Woman" and "The Bourne Shadow" was over.

According to common sense, for a film whose North American box office can exceed 1.7 million US dollars, it is inevitable to develop a sequel.

According to the contract signed at the beginning, Warner Bros. has no right to participate in the production of the sequel of "Flying Beyond the Childhood", and the production of the sequel will be completely under the control of Daenerys Entertainment.

Amy is very keen on making a sequel to "One Little One", but Simon is not so enthusiastic.

It is difficult for this comedy, which uses the baby to talk as a gimmick, to play new tricks in the sequel. The box office results of the two sequels of "Flying Beyond the Childhood" in memory have completely dropped by half. Simon doesn't think there will be a big breakthrough this time.

Moreover, Mel Gibson participated in two blockbuster films with a box office of over 3 million in one year, and Mel Gibson's salary has further increased. For "Lethal Weapon 800" discussed with Warner, Mel Gibson directly offered a basic salary of 20 million US dollars plus [-]% Net profit sharing.

The expected box office of "One Flew Over Childhood" is higher than that of "Lethal Weapon 3" in the summer. If a sequel is developed, Mel Gibson's remuneration quotation will definitely not be lower than that of "Lethal Weapon 3".

Although it has the foundation of the first film, "Flying Over Childhood" will definitely make some money by making a sequel, but if the production starts, the sequel will definitely occupy a high-quality schedule next year. If there are other better options, This potential time cost is not what Simon is willing to bear.

So, without a better idea than the original, Simon didn't intend to lightly approve a sequel to Little One.

In addition to "Flying Beyond Innocence", the box office of "Scream 2" fell by 21% this week, and it received another 511 million US dollars.However, next week, the box office fell below $9817 million in a single week. Under the attack of heavyweight films such as "Batman", it will be very difficult for this teenage horror film to break through the total North American box office of $500 million.

In the third week of its release, "The Gucci Mark" still maintained a very good 19% box office decline, with another $639 million in box office, and a cumulative box office of $2386 million in three weeks.

Gucci has invested all the expected profits in the promotion of the film. However, according to Daenerys Entertainment's investment, the box office has exceeded 2000 million US dollars, and the company has begun to generate profits.

Encouraged by the success of The Gucci Seal, other well-known luxury brands and Hollywood studios have reached out to try to replicate the branding and box office success of The Gucci Seal.Daenerys Entertainment also officially signed a contract with Madonna, publicly announcing the establishment of a documentary project for Madonna's world tour concert next year.

Finally, in the first week of its release, "Drive Miss Daisy", with 32 screens and excellent media reputation, won a single-week box office average of more than 23000 US dollars, and the box office reached 75 US dollars in the first week.

The production cost of this adaptation of a famous stage play about racial issues was only US$700 million. The small-scale opening of the first week of screenings earned US$75 at the box office. The film's box office prospects are worth looking forward to.

Immediately afterwards, the second day after last week's box office data was released, that is, on December 12, the nominations for the new American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards were announced.

Daenerys Entertainment's two films "My Left Foot" and "Driving Miss Daisy" produced by Gaomen Films have received 5 important nominations in total.

Among them, "My Left Foot" won two nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress. "Driving Miss Daisy" was nominated for Best Picture in a Musical Comedy, Best Actor in a Musical Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical Comedy.

Speaking of which, "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality", which was a big box office hit in the summer, is also very qualified to squeeze into the nomination list of the Golden Globe Awards. All four nominations for supporting actor are very likely.

However, Daenerys Entertainment voluntarily dropped the idea of ​​nominating the film because of the film's writer's controversy, as well as considerations for "My Left Foot" and "Driving Miss Daisy."

What I have to say is that "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality" has been released on December 12th. This phenomenal horror film has been screened in North American theaters for 7 weeks. The total box office in North America is 23 million US dollars. Can exceed 2 million US dollars.

Because the single-week box office in the last few weeks is only 30 to 3 US dollars, unless you directly pay for the box office, it is impossible to make the box office rebound of "The Sixth Sense" break through [-] million US dollars.Daenerys Entertainment no longer fights for this title.

With a box office of more than 2.9 million US dollars, it has already ranked first in this year's box office list, and most media also tend to believe that it is impossible for any film to surpass the box office of "The Sixth Sense" by the end of the year.

Moreover, no matter whether it can break through 3 million US dollars or not, Daenerys Entertainment has already made a lot of money, and it is absolutely impossible for "The Sixth Sense" to make a difference to this movie because it failed to break through the 3 million mark. contempt.

new York.

Inside a Fifth Avenue apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The date is Monday, March 12.

Simon and Janet were here last Friday, mainly to tap an episode of The Tonight Show with John Carson to promote Batman.

Due to some entertainment reasons, the two did not return to the West Coast over the weekend.

Last night, I participated in the reception of David Dinkins, the newly elected mayor of New York. David Dinkins successfully defeated Rudy Giuliani in the election of the new mayor of New York in November.

The final stretch of the election coincided with a mini-crash in the U.S. stock market in October, and David Dinkins' campaign reaffirmed James Raybould's revelations about Rudy Giuliani's inappropriate comments during the Michael Milken investigation. The scandal launched a fierce attack on the opponent, and in one fell swoop established David Dinkins' dominant position in the late election, and finally won the election easily.

The Westeros Corporation provided a lot of support for David Dinkins during his election process, but Simon has no clear political appeal this time.

Or, if there was one, it would be an announcement to North American politics that Simon Westeros was in the game, while at the same time signaling Simon's own political stance.

Still get up early in the morning.

It has just snowed in New York recently, and the Central Park outside the bedroom is white, and the weather looks quite cold.

After breakfast, Simon bid farewell to Janet and rushed to the airport alone to return to the West Coast.

During this time, Janet never let go of the management of Cersei Capital.

It's just that, compared to the previous stock index futures operations aimed at the ever-changing Japanese market, all types of positions in the North American bond market are basically long-term bearish contracts, so there is no need to closely monitor the market every day. Cersei Capital's The sub-fund team was also granted a certain degree of autonomy, so that Janet could travel around with Simon.

The crisis in the U.S. junk bond market triggered by the small crash in October has continued in recent months. Because of the established plan, Cersei Capital intends to liquidate all positions and exit the North American junk bond market before the New Year. Therefore, Janet recently I plan to stay in New York for a few days to personally operate the final stage of the operation.

Simon plans to fly to Australia for Christmas after attending the premiere of "Batman" on December 12. Simon is also very busy in recent days.

Back in Los Angeles, because of the time difference, it was still past nine o'clock in the morning on the west coast, and it was just time to go to work.

Jennifer and Simon returned together, and while still on the plane, the female assistant told Simon that Australia's Qintex Group officially signed an acquisition agreement with MGM today.