hunt hollywood

Without turning to the leather chair behind the desk, Simon sat down directly on the edge of the opposite table, picked up the microphone and signaled the female assistant to dial.

Jennifer skillfully dialed a series of numbers, and just after dialing, a hand came from the side.After struggling a few times, seeing Simon start talking to his father opposite, he had to give up struggling, but the hand let go of her again.

Smiling and watching the female assistant with red ears pretending to help tidy up her desk, Simon chatted with her for a few words, but her expression gradually softened.

The thing is about the 20% stake in ESPN brought up by Robert Iger at the party last Saturday.

Robert Iger returned to New York and quickly sorted out a general information for Simon.

ESPN has been established for 11 years, and now has more than 5700 million subscribers, annual revenue of 5 million US dollars, and last year's net profit of 5100 million US dollars.

Simon was a little curious at the beginning why the Met/ABC Group didn’t buy back the 20% of the shares themselves, because of the veto power of the major shareholders, the Met/ABC Group had a greater advantage than any other buyer in wanting to buy the 20% of the shares .Because of the success of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the Metropolis/ABC Group has also been in a relatively good financial position in recent years and can fully afford the funds.

The sources collected by Robert Iger give why.

Neither Tom Murphy, the conservative chairman of Metropolis/ABC Group, nor Warren Buffett, the major shareholder, are willing to pay too much for this stake. The valuation of 20% of the shares is 2 million US dollars, which is equivalent to nearly 20 times The price-to-earnings ratio seems too high in the eyes of the two old men, and they are only willing to give a quotation of 10 times the price-earnings ratio.

In addition, ESPN has just recently signed a four-year, US$4 million deal with Major League Baseball to broadcast events. ESPN’s annual revenue is only US$5 million. , It also allowed ESPN to take a very large risk.

If this very risky and huge agreement fails in the end, ESPN, which had a good momentum of development, is likely to turn to decline.

Since the Metropolis/ABC Group itself was unwilling to buy the shares, Simon thought that he would be sure to make a move, so he directly handed over the matter to James.

Unexpectedly, things suddenly changed again.

James told Simon on the phone that the acquisition of this stake was going very smoothly. He communicated with Tom Murphy, chairman of the Met/ABC Group, and the other party was very happy that Westeros could buy the shares. Contact Reynolds Nabisco, the other side of the feedback is also very positive.

However, just this morning, Tom Murphy suddenly called James again, saying that the Metropolis/ABC Group may not be able to accept Westeros's stake in ESPN, and the reason given is that another Metropolis/ABC Group partner Interested in this batch of shares.

After James pressed, Murphy revealed that it was the Hearst family, who had been interested in entering the cable TV industry in recent years, who wanted to buy the 20% stake in ESPN.

The Hearst family is a super media family deeply rooted in the United States like the Newhouse family.

Although there are no members of the Hearst family on the top ten list of the Forbes 400 richest people in the United States this year, only the Newhouse brothers occupy two of them.But in fact, the wealth of the Hearst family is comparable to that of the Newhouse family. It is only because the first generation founder of the Hearst family, William Hearst, has six children. Excessive dispersion of ownership.

The Hearst family has flourished for a hundred years. At that time, William Hearst directly instigated a "Spanish-American War" between the United States and Spain by virtue of the Hearst Group's media network all over the country. Although it is still criticized today, but The influence of the Hearst family on American news and public opinion can be seen from this.

The current Hearst family has gradually begun to be in power by the third generation. However, this media family still has a profound influence on the news and public opinion in the United States with hundreds of newspapers, weekly magazines, magazines and other media platforms in major cities in North America. Going forward, the San Francisco Chronicle, which has a huge influence on the west coast, is an industry under the name of Hearst Group.

Although Simon's personal wealth is already several times that of the Hearst family, James thinks it is better not to provoke such a media family that is so entrenched in the United States that it can incite a war.

James originally wanted to find out more specific details before discussing this matter with Simon. This afternoon, William Hearst III, the third-generation heir of the Hearst family, contacted here again, but he sent an invitation to Simon, hoping that He can attend a party at the Hearst family tomorrow night.

As for the purpose, it couldn't be more obvious.

After talking with James on the phone for more than 20 minutes, the female assistant had just left. Simon put down the phone and continued to lean on the edge of the desk to think about it.

During those days in New York at the beginning of the month, Janet told Simon that if possible, it would be best to make good friends with American media families such as Newhouse and Hearst. These media families that manipulate American news and public opinion, if they can Establishing connections will definitely help the development of the Westeros system a lot.

It's just that it's not that easy for Simon, a newly-emerging wealth upstart, to break into the circle of those old aristocratic families.There is no aristocracy in the United States, but the aristocratic plot of the old families in this land is actually more serious than in Europe.

Moreover, Simon has his own pride, and if others don't welcome him, he won't lower his figure and join those circles.

Now there is an unexpected opportunity.

Hearst, Newhouse, or the Graham family that controls the "Washington Post" group may still control the news and public opinion in the United States, but Simon knows that with the advent of the Internet age, these old media The family will gradually decline.

After the new century, many well-known newspapers and magazines, such as "Washington Post", "Los Angeles Times", "Time" and so on, which have been passed down for a century and are still completely unattainable at the moment, will be sold to a series of new rich men at the price of liquidation. Just for newspapers and magazines to continue to survive.

Simon carefully looked back at the memory in his mind, and soon found a message.

After the decline of the print media industry in the United States, the Hearst family held 20% of the ESPN television network, accounting for more than half of the annual profits of the entire Hearst Group.

With the acquisition of MCA completed, Simon's next target, should the timing be right, is the Cosmopolitan/ABC Group, which owns the ABC Network and ESPN Television.

Now give the Hearst family 20% of the shares of ESPN TV. A vassal of the Westeros system.

A huge media network composed of hundreds of newspapers, weekly magazines, and magazines, even if only a small part remains in the future, will be a force of public opinion that cannot be underestimated.

Jennifer knocked on the door again and came in, holding some documents in her hand. Noticing the smile on Simon's mouth, she asked, "What did Dad tell you?"

Simon briefly talked about the content of the phone call just now.Of course, he didn't reveal what hadn't happened yet.

After hearing this, the female assistant frowned slightly, and said, "Since this is the case, we still don't want this share. It will be very troublesome to have a conflict with the Hearst family."

Simon nodded, and said again: "However, the Hearst family can't let me withdraw from the competition with just one party, they must give some benefits."

The female assistant thought for a while and said, "The "San Francisco Chronicle" happens to belong to the Hearst family. This time, maybe we can exchange a content cooperation agreement between the Eaglet Portal and the "San Francisco Chronicle."

The Eaglet Portal has previously established a cooperative relationship with the Murdoch family's News Corporation, but Murdoch is only willing to provide the Eaglet Portal with news from Europe and Australia.

In North America, on the one hand, the media strength of News Corporation is not that strong; Get content support.

Right now, the North American news of Eaglet Portal mainly comes from the cooperation of a small local newspaper in San Francisco, and the quality of the content is hardly satisfactory.It would be nice to be able to get news content from the San Francisco Chronicle, which is headquartered in San Francisco.

"Very good idea," Simon nodded, stretched out his hand to pull the female assistant in front of him, and said with a smile: "But now, let's think about where we should spend the night tonight."

The female assistant was held in Simon's arms, and she posted a note on Simon's prickly chin, saying: "Jenny has been very dissatisfied on the phone recently, and said that she would bring back a bottle of red wine mixed with chili water .”

Simon smiled and said, "Just don't drink it."

The female assistant nodded her head solemnly, but added with a little dark belly: "She said she would give you a drink."

Janet went to Europe last week and successfully acquired Chateau Latour at a price of 1.2 million US dollars. Then she participated in this year's autumn fashion week in Milan and planned to return to North America tomorrow. The Boeing 767 had already flown to Europe in the morning pick up.

In the evening, I could only take the Falcon business jet owned by Daenerys Entertainment to go to San Francisco with Jennifer for the night. Simon sent the female assistant back to Los Angeles the next morning, and continued to fly to the East Coast on that Falcon.

The time has been arranged.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon on the east coast, Simon arrived in New York and waited at Kennedy Airport for less than half an hour. The Boeing 767 that Janet and his party took also landed on the runway.

This time, not only Janet came back alone, but also Sofia Fishy, ​​and she also brought her family members, including her parents and a pair of children.

In the phone call a few days ago, Sophia said that she hoped that her two children could go to school in the United States in the future, and they would stay with their parents.

Simon has not seen Sophia's child yet, but he knows that the woman has arranged for a pair of children to study in a private school in Geneva, Switzerland.

Switzerland is well known for its excellence in private schools, and there will not be too much language barrier to study there. Sofia suddenly sent her children to North America. Simon guessed that there should be other inside stories, maybe her ex-husband wanted to To take the child back.

However, Sophia didn't say it clearly, and Simon couldn't ask too much detail.

Beside the runway at JFK Airport, Janet stepped out of the cabin, and when she saw Simon, she immediately trotted down, and flung herself into the man's arms like a bird returning home, until the sound of high heels clattering behind her, the woman finally bit Simon's lips lightly Only then did he agree to let him go.

Simon also saw Sophia and his party.

Sofia Fishy is wearing a white professional OL suit, still intellectual and beautiful, holding a child on both sides, the boy is older, about ten years old, looks a little shy, the other side is a seven or eight-year-old girl But it was a pair of bright blue eyes that looked at Simon without hesitation.

Behind Sophia Feixi was a couple with gray hair. Seeing Simon looking at them, they both nodded in restraint.

Because Sophia's parents were present, Simon originally only wanted to shake hands with the female executive as a greeting, but Sophia let go of the two children, stepped forward to hug Simon generously, and then introduced her family.

Two children, a boy named Daniel Fisher, 10 years old this year, and a girl named Gemma Fisher, 7 years old this year.

When introducing her parents, the female executives seemed less enthusiastic.

Although it was only the first meeting, Simon noticed that the couple were very accommodating to their daughter.However, although Sophia brought them to the United States to look after their children, the gap between the female executives and their parents was very obvious.

Chapter 374 New Housekeeper (Revised)

After leaving Kennedy International Airport, the group did not return to Manhattan, but rushed to Greenwich, Connecticut, which is next to New York.

Greenwich, which is [-] kilometers northeast of Manhattan, has nothing to do with Greenwich Village in midtown Manhattan. If there is any comparison, it can only be attributed to the lack of naming talent of Westerners.

Compared with Greenwich Village, where artists gather, Greenwich is a rich area with the same reputation as Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Long Island’s East Hampton.Many wealthy people often have properties in the Upper East Side and the surrounding Greenwich and East Hampton. They usually live in the Upper East Side on weekdays and return to their suburban mansions on rest days.

In private, Janet has been helping Simon buy properties.While living in New York a few days ago, I bought another manor in Greenwich.

Not only that, but Janet is still looking for properties on the east and west coasts of the United States, such as Las Vegas, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Miami and other cities. Simon's current net worth is enough to support his original idea of ​​spreading properties all over the world.

Sophia Fisher bought a property in Greenwich before coming to the United States, and planned to let her children go to school there.As a well-known wealthy area, Greenwich undoubtedly has the best educational resources on the east coast.

It just so happened that the party Simon was going to attend tonight was also at the Hearst family's mansion near Greenwich.

Several luxury cars entered the Greenwich, Connecticut area in less than an hour through the well-developed highway network on the East Coast.The property Sophia bought for the children was in the center of Greenwich, and Simon's manor was in the northern suburbs. They made an appointment for a lunch invitation from the female executives at noon tomorrow, and everyone separated.

Simon and his party drove north along the asphalt road in the forest for about five kilometers and came to a manor on the outskirts of Greenwich.

The outside of the manor is a symbolic low stone wall, but the terrain is obviously higher than the asphalt road next to it, so it is difficult for pedestrians and vehicles to peek inside directly.

Inside the low wall, the dense bushes and tall trees further completely conceal the interior scene of the manor. These vegetation have not been taken care of, which is the same as what Simon saw when he went to East Hampton to attend Steve Ross's party last time completely different.

The mansions in the East Hampton area have well-manicured hedge lawns, and in Greenwich, the vegetation along the way is kept in a natural state.

Simon has always been more inclined to a sense of order in his bones, but he has no intention of changing the pattern of the manor here.

Maintaining a natural state is actually a kind of order.

The manor covers an area of ​​more than 30 acres, which is equivalent to 12 hectares. It is an irregular quadrilateral as a whole. The length from north to south is close to 500 meters. The border is bordered by an east-west asphalt road, more than 100 meters long.

The car of Simon and his party entered the manor from the west entrance. Most of the interior of the manor was covered with vegetation of different heights. Driving inward along the curved asphalt corridor for about 200 meters, a European-style villa with a blue roof and white walls appeared. In front of you, there is an annex building seven or eight meters away from the east side of the main villa, which is obviously the residence of the servants.

Three cars stopped in front of the main villa, and a group of girls in uniform black suits came up to them.

Janet followed Simon to get out of the car, took the man's arm and gestured to the seven girls who came forward with a smile, and said, "This is our butler team for real estate in North America in the future. I picked it myself, isn't it beautiful? European Sofia is still in charge over there."

Simon nodded, looking at the seven tall, fair-skinned girls who came before him, subconsciously said: "It seems a little too young."

Janet pinched Simon's arm dissatisfied: "That's it, if you are not satisfied, you can pick it yourself, I don't care."

The two whispered small things, and a short-haired girl with a delicate face and a slightly cold temperament walked in the front and stretched out her hand to Simon, saying, "Hello, Mr. Westeros, I'm Alice Ferguson."

Simon shook hands with the girl and said, "Nice to meet you, Alice."

After saying hello, Alice Ferguson turned slightly sideways, and offered to introduce six other beautiful girls behind her who were obviously eager to try, and said, "Mr. Westeros, they are Mira, Emilia, Naomi, Doris, Isabel, Zoe."

After quickly introducing them one by one, the new housekeeper turned her body to face Simon again, and said, "Mr. Westeros, let me show you around this villa."

Simon watched with great interest the other girls whose names hadn't been fully introduced, who were blocked by Alice Ferguson, obviously daring to be angry, nodded with a smile, and said, "Okay."

Janet kept smiling. Hearing what Alice Ferguson said, she let go of Simon and said, "You guys go in first. I'll arrange for them to pack their bags."

Simon didn't refuse either, and walked to the villa first.

Alice Ferguson followed Simon step by step.

The two walked into the villa, and Simon looked around. The scale of this villa was comparable to his villa on the hillside of Palisades in Los Angeles. The double-storey villa was taller than some ordinary three-story buildings. The hall has only one floor, and the gorgeous crystal chandeliers hang directly from the dome.

The overall interior of the villa presents a pure white decoration style, and the home decoration has obviously been changed, all of which belong to the simple style that Simon likes.

After simply looking around, Simon went to the second floor along the spiral staircase on the west side.

Alice Ferguson still followed behind Simon, not intending to introduce.

Coming to the second floor, Simon smiled and stood in front of the wall of the corridor, looking at a painting that Janet had drawn himself, and was the first to ask, "How old are you this year?"

"27 is old."

"Which university did you graduate from?"

"Princeton."

Simon withdrew his gaze, and continued to walk towards the side of the corridor, with some dissatisfaction in his tone: "And then?"

Alice Ferguson finally said something more and said, "I major in economics and got my Ph.D. two years ago."

"I got my Ph.D. in economics at the age of 27, which is amazing."

Alice Ferguson paused and corrected, "25 years old."

"In the future, when others ask, they will say that he is 27 years old."

"why?"

"I said that if you are 27 years old, you must be 27 years old."

"……it is good."

Simon pushed open a door, and in front of him was a bedroom.Seeing the floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the terrace, I walked in.

Coming to the terrace, Simon stood by the railing and looked at the busy people in front of the villa, and asked, "What is the topic of your doctoral thesis?"

Alice Ferguson: "The U.S. Foreign Trade Imbalance Caused by Reagan's Economic Reforms."

"Are you interested in politics?"

"Considered it, but gave up."

"why?"

"Women have a hard time making a difference in politics."

"Not necessarily, maybe within ten years, there will be a female president in the Federation."

"The probability of that is close to zero."