Hunting in Hollywood

Catherine's direction of "Thelma & Louise" added a distinctly more rugged touch to the film.

Ruggedness, of course, isn't about being rough but rather giving a sharper, harder edge to the narrative.

Deserts and endless horizons, along with the increasingly crisp and decisive unfolding of the story, make it hard to see this as the work of a female director.

Yet, the director is indeed a woman.

Thus, the new version of "Thelma & Louise" brings a clearer focus on feminism.

Fortunately, under Simon's continual influence, Catherine has moved away from the overt preachiness that marked her earlier work, favoring a more subtle, narrative-driven expression of her views.

Originally, Catherine had hoped for the film's protagonists to successfully escape to Mexico.

However, the final version has Thelma and Louise driving off a cliff, sacrificing themselves for a complete story.

After the screening and discussions on the promotional activities for the next two months, Simon took Catherine back to the Dumé Point estate, arriving around six o'clock.

Having notified Catherine earlier about her visit, Janet had already arranged for dinner to be prepared.

Returning home and warmly greeting Catherine, Janet brought up another matter.

The lawsuit involving Matthew Broderick and his associates was finally concluded today.

Over these past months, the investigation into the assault case and subsequent legal proceedings had been a focus of media attention, but Simon himself hadn't spent much time on what he considered a trivial matter.

After months of investigation, the Santa Monica Police Department had officially announced their findings last week.

The truth of the matter had been clear all along.

Today, the Los Angeles County Court, based on the investigative results and the claims of both parties, officially announced its verdict.

The lawsuit filed by Matthew Broderick and Mark Stein was completely dismissed.

In the case against Simon, the six were ordered to pay damages ranging from $5 million to $1 million each for defamation, along with a total of 600 hours of community service, and they were prohibited from publicly discussing anything related to Simon again.

Moreover, since a settlement had been privately signed initially, Simon's side did not pursue a lawsuit for assault, thus the court overlooked the initial assault case.

If not for her pregnancy, Janet wouldn't have let this matter rest so easily.

Now, carrying a new life, she no longer had the energy to pursue the matter relentlessly.

Moreover, the million-dollar damages would nearly bankrupt several of the men involved, three of whom couldn't afford the payment and would be burdened with this civil debt indefinitely, unable to recover financially unless they settled the debt.

By the time dinner started, this insignificant matter, at least to the current Simon, had already been thoroughly discussed.

After dinner, having talked with Janet until after nine o'clock, Catherine firmly declined Janet's invitation to stay the night and left.

Since their one and only reckless night together, Catherine had not allowed Simon to succeed again.

Janet was three months pregnant, which, technically, still allowed for certain activities.

However, to be safe, she had no intention of letting Simon near her, and Simon had no interest in flirting with a pregnant woman. These days, he was limited to intimate moments with his assistant in Los Angeles, or brief escapades like last Saturday.

While Simon wouldn't neglect his own needs, he was surprisingly disciplined about it.

Over the weekend, he spent most of his time with Janet discussing the establishment of a private medical center in Malibu, a plan inspired by her pregnancy.

Recently, Janet had purchased a plot of land in the northern mountains of the Dumé Point estate and had already registered the name Westerlo Medical Center.

However, establishing a top-tier private medical center wasn't a short-term project. Even the unborn child wouldn't benefit from it immediately, so this was mainly for future planning.

Essentially, this was an investment with little return, similar to the Johnston Medical Center funded by the Melbourne Johnston family.

After the discussion, Simon decided the medical center would primarily serve the management of the entire Westerlo system and would be supported by the Simon & Janet Westerlo Foundation, with plans to establish various research-oriented medical facilities in the future.

Many Western philanthropic projects sponsored by wealthy individuals typically include 'medical' services, primarily serving their own interests.

David Rockefeller, the third generation of the Rockefeller family, lived to be 101 years old, having undergone six heart transplants.

These 'six hearts' were precisely the foundation of the Rockefeller family's commitment to medical philanthropy. Emerging wealthy individuals, even those far wealthier than the old Rockefeller family, are unlikely to secure six compatible hearts for transplants.

Due to the time difference between the East and West Coasts, to not miss Monday morning's schedule, Simon left Los Angeles for New York on Sunday afternoon.

A new week began, entering July of 1991.

All day Monday, Simon attended an investment meeting with Cersei Capital.

Following Janet's departure from the management of Cersei Capital due

 to her pregnancy, the company's expansion did not halt.

Many Wall Street banks and funds were still recovering from the economic downturn triggered by the bond market collapse a few years earlier, making Cersei Capital one of the most active investment firms on Wall Street.

During the first half of the year, amidst the economic turbulence triggered by the Gulf War, Cersei Fund Management capitalized on opportunities in the oil and stock markets, securing over $2 billion in profits.

Apollo Management, responsible for private equity investments, had also established a $1 billion venture fund focused on new technologies at the beginning of the year, continuously seeking to invest in various projects across other sectors.

Currently, the U.S. real estate market was at its lowest point of the early '90s. Following the bond market collapse, major American banks had reclaimed a large number of real estate assets and bond portfolios.

Convinced that the U.S. real estate market would quickly recover in the coming years, just last month, Apollo Management, along with Lawrence Fink's BlackRock Asset Management, collectively purchased $1.5 billion worth of real estate assets and bonds auctioned by major banks.

Simon's stay in New York was mainly to discuss several recent investment projects by Apollo Management.

Among these, the most significant was acquiring a stake in the top cosmetics company Estée Lauder.

After Ron Perelman's aggressive acquisition of Estée Lauder's main competitor Revlon, due to Perelman's lack of expertise in business management, Revlon gradually fell behind Estée Lauder over the years.

Simon also knew that many years later, Estée Lauder would grow into a behemoth in the cosmetics industry with a market value of $50 billion, while Revlon would have been completely forgotten.

In fact, Estée Lauder would be a fitting addition to the Westerlo system's 'Melisandre Company', one of the four major companies targeting women, as its focus was also on luxury goods. However, the founding Lauder family still firmly controlled the company, and Estée Lauder had not gone public, making an outright acquisition by Simon impossible.

This time, Apollo Management would invest $250 million to acquire a 10% stake in Estée Lauder, though these shares would not carry voting rights.

Estée Lauder's revenue for the fiscal year 1990 was $1.8 billion, with a net profit of $81 million.

While a valuation of $2.5 billion seemed high, Simon knew it was well worth it.

Estée Lauder planned to use the funds for acquiring another cosmetics company and to increase its marketing efforts.

Simon would have preferred to invest directly under the name of Melisandre Company, but Estée Lauder was likely wary of the Westerlo system's dominance, hence the compromise with Apollo Management. Of course, the high valuation of $2.5 billion was another significant reason.

Melisandre Company needed a few years to integrate the recently acquired Van Cleef & Arpels. Regarding Estée Lauder, Simon did not insist.

In the plan, Estée Lauder would also IPO in the coming years, and Apollo Management typically chose to cash out during the IPO process, completing a private equity operation.

In a few years, when the Westerlo system's debt burden wouldn't be as heavy as it was now, and Estée Lauder had enough buffer time, Melisandre could then take over this 10% stake from Apollo Management, making everything seem quite natural.

After finishing the day's work, dinner was an invitation from Morgan Stanley's CEO, Richard Fisher.

At seven o'clock, Simon arrived at a French restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, where Richard Fisher had already arrived.

They discussed the details of America Online's IPO over dinner.

Near the end, Richard Fisher brought up another topic.

"Simon, based on recent market feedback, the 22.5 million shares of America Online are entirely insufficient to meet market demand. Since you're unwilling to increase the share offering, how about we add a green shoe option?"

Simon looked at Richard Fisher with a smile, "Green shoe?"

"Yes, the green shoe option, it's like this..."

Simon raised his hand with his cutlery to stop Richard Fisher's explanation, saying, "Charlie, I know what a green shoe option is. However, for America Online, it's no different from increasing the share issuance, and I'm not going to agree to that."

In the process of an IPO, the green shoe option is generally a stabilization mechanism used to handle the uncertainties of the IPO.

Simply put, if the market is very optimistic and the stock price rises post-IPO, the IPO company can issue additional shares up to 15% of the new share offering to investors, raising more funds. If the market weakens, to maintain the stock price and avoid issues like breaking the offer price, the IPO company will use the funds raised to buy back a certain portion of the shares from the market.

Richard Fisher's suggestion to initiate a green shoe option clearly still hoped Simon would

 issue more shares of America Online.

In fact, even the current 15% issuance ratio was somewhat high for Simon.

If possible, Simon would prefer only a 10% issuance.

However, to avoid low market liquidity affecting the trading activity of America Online's shares, thereby impacting its stock price, after repeated discussions, Simon had agreed to a 15% new share issuance ratio.

Moreover, there was another reason for this.

America Online had monopolized the ISP market in several of the most prosperous states on the U.S. East and West Coasts, which could easily provoke resentment.

Issuing some additional shares to various American investors could also reduce potential future troubles with antitrust issues and others.

In this regard, Microsoft and Facebook from Simon's memory were perfect examples.

Due to monopoly issues, Microsoft in the original timeline had been harassed throughout the '90s, nearly being split at one point.

In Simon's view, a significant reason was Microsoft's highly concentrated ownership; Bill Gates and Paul Allen held over half of Microsoft's shares until 2000. With such vast wealth concentrated in the hands of two people and possessing such a strong monopolistic advantage, other American capital forces naturally wouldn't stand idly by.

Later, when Gates continuously divested his Microsoft shares, making it a public company widely held by various American investment banks and funds, Microsoft never again encountered serious antitrust issues in North America.

Facebook, having become a public company early on, faced a world-shocking data breach scandal. Amid media hype, Facebook was portrayed as on the brink of collapse, with calls for Zuckerberg's resignation and trillions in fines.

The eventual outcome was merely a quasi-judicial hearing.

When everyone expected a fierce bombardment of Zuckerberg by numerous congressmen, all they heard during the four-hour hearing were insubstantial questions like "My granddaughter is a loyal user of Facebook, can you give her an autograph?" and "Please explain what big data is."

Ultimately, since a large number of American retirement funds, insurance funds, and investment banks held Facebook shares, the U.S. government, unless utterly irrational, couldn't truly bring Facebook down, even if the penalties were slightly more severe.

To avoid facing the same situations as Microsoft in the '90s, Simon planned to continue taking the Westerlo system's quality companies public, while also continuously reducing his own stake in these companies. The cash realized from these sales could be used for investments in other areas.

Ultimately, Simon hoped to integrate the entire Westerlo system into the American economic system.

By then, if suppressing the Westerlo system meant harming the American economy, Simon didn't believe he would encounter the same troubles as Gates.

However, that was not the case now.

For a new tech company like America Online, which had the potential to reach a market value of hundreds of billions, it was unwise to sell a large portion of shares when it was only valued at $3 billion.

Thus, Simon unhesitatingly rejected Richard Fisher's suggestion.

Although both had intentions of maintaining good relations, even though Richard Fisher's goal was not achieved, the dinner was still pleasant.

After dinner, it was past eight o'clock on the East Coast.

Simon left the restaurant and directly headed to Kennedy International Airport.

There is a seven-hour time difference between New York and London, with the flight duration from the East Coast to Britain being about eight hours.

By departing now, Simon could sleep on the plane and arrive in London by Tuesday noon.

Boarding the Boeing 767 private jet, the housekeeper Alice Ferguson, who was accompanying Simon to Europe, greeted him with a slightly cool demeanor, reminding him that Ms. Jenner had been waiting for over half an hour.

Since last Saturday's incident, the housekeeper had maintained a distance from her indiscreet boss.

Simon paused, grabbed the housekeeper's delicate face, and patiently shaped a pleasing upward curve on her lips before nodding to himself and then warning, "If you dare give me that sour face again, I'll dock your pay."

Once Simon released her, the housekeeper blinked rapidly a few times.

Then...

She obviously hadn't considered what would follow.

Resign?

Slap him back?

Accuse him of harassment?

Clearly...

None of those were viable options.

So, she simply turned her lips downward again and glared at him, showing her displeasure.

Simon ignored the housekeeper and ordered, "Tell the crew to prepare for takeoff. Also, bring me a pot of coffee and last weekend's box office report."

Alice blinked a few more times.

Direct takeoff?

Was he planning to take that woman to Europe?

Seeing her boss walk toward the cabin, the housekeeper hesitated and then turned to attend to her duties.

Simon entered the middle section of the plane, where Kris Jenner, sitting on the sofa, immediately stood up and greeted him with a smile, slightly ingratiatingly, "Simon, hello..."

Kris Jenner was dressed in a light blue blouse and snug white trousers today, her mature, voluptuous

 figure on full display. In the '80s, many Western women hadn't yet embraced tanning, and the woman before him had very pale skin.

Ignoring her greeting, Simon looked her over and continued toward the front cabin, saying, "Come with me."

Kris Jenner, unsure of Simon's intentions, got up nervously and followed him to the Boeing 767's front cabin.

Entering the upper lounge of the front cabin, Simon casually sat down on the sofa and looked at the woman who followed him in, asking, "I hear you're quite familiar with me?"

Without a sign from Simon, Kris Jenner didn't dare to sit. Hearing his question, her face showing a mix of guilt and ingratiating expression, she inadvertently stepped forward, caught the man's stopping gaze, and quickly halted, stuttering, "I, Simon, I'm very sorry."

Having said that and thinking about her current situation, Kris Jenner relaxed.

If this young man was upset with her for using his name to secure a role in "The Real Housewives of New York," he wouldn't have agreed to meet her.

Now, the situation seemed clear.

She pointed to the spot beside Simon, her face adopting a slightly seductive demeanor, and asked, "Simon, may I sit down?"

Simon shook his head, "Stand."

The woman had no choice but to keep standing, watching the man leisurely flip through a magazine, unsure of what would happen next.

However, considering the events at the beginning of the year, she was determined to secure her role in "The Real Housewives of New York" no matter what.

Months ago, her ex-husband had suddenly canceled her credit cards and then promptly divorced her.

Due to the prenuptial agreement, she got almost nothing and, after years as a housewife, found she was incapable of doing much else.

She quickly remarried another man.

But she never wanted to experience that feeling of having nothing ever again.

So, when "The Real Housewives of New York" was casting and she learned her chances were slim, she risked using the name of the man before her. She had always been a keen follower of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" series, where the housewives not only gained fame and status but some also developed successful careers.

At the very least, participating in this reality show series came with a salary.

Reportedly, this autumn's latest season of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" had the main cast earning $250,000 per season, a substantial income.

Even for the newest "The Real Housewives of New York," the salary per season was $100,000.

Moreover, she was confident that, like the Beverly Hills housewives, she could leverage the fame from this show to pursue other opportunities.

The housekeeper brought in coffee and the latest weekend box office report, glancing at the woman standing by the door before leaving, she asked, "Boss, shall we take off now?"

Simon looked up at Kris Jenner, "Would you like to come to Europe with me?"

Kris Jenner opened her mouth.

If it was just for tonight, she had already prepared excuses.

But Europe? She hadn't considered that.

However...

If she didn't go, would she lose her chance to participate in the show?

Noticing the woman's indecision, Simon added, "You don't need to get off the plane. Once we reach London, you'll be sent back immediately."

Kris Jenner calculated the time, hesitated, and finally nodded.

Alice, seeing the woman nod, said nothing more and turned to leave the front cabin.

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