Hollywood Hunter

After get off work, Simon returned to Malibu on time today because of a party.

This matter has to go back to the purchase of Point Du Mui Park. After several months of operation, George Norman has already dealt with the state government. However, if Simon wants to get Point Du Mui Park, he needs to deal with Malibu. Resident problem.

Although the local residents of Malibu seldom care about Cape Du Muy Park on weekdays, more tourists who just visit Malibu will climb the cliff-side sharp corners and enjoy the sea view. But Point Du Mui Park is after all a public place in Malibu. Only with the approval of community residents can Simon completely transform it into private ownership.

The party tonight is mainly to entertain community committee representatives and some important residents.

Because of Simon’s personal habits, the party took place in Jenny’s villa on the east side of Cape Du Mui Park.

As soon as he walked in, Janet, who was directing the party staff to prepare for the party, approached and said in a low voice to Simon: "I have basically done it. Our foundation will donate 1 million US dollars to support Du Meijia Elementary School and Middle School. Construction, and then they will participate in Malibu’s independent lobbying to build a city. Then they will vote for us to buy Cape Dumei Park. You just have to accompany them to eat, drink and chat tonight."

The North American real estate bubble in the 1980s promoted a peak period for Malibu's construction, but Malibu really became popular in the 1990s, especially after Larry Ellison began to hype up Malibu real estate.

Malibu is not an independent city yet, it is just a district under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County, and it is far less famous than later.

In recent years, Malibu residents have been seeking to build a city on their own. According to California law, after obtaining municipal status, Malibu will no longer need to be under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Government, and can make laws separately and reject various project plans of the Los Angeles County Government.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the urban area, the Los Angeles County government has been trying to extend many engineering projects to Malibu, and Malibu residents have also continued to struggle against highways, sewage pipes and even nuclear power plants that the county government has forced in. plan.

It is conceivable that if any of the above-mentioned projects settled in Malibu, it would be difficult for this place to become a livable paradise.

therefore.

If Simon, such a wealthy billionaire, could settle down in Malibu, it would be absolutely obvious to promote the development of this area. In comparison, a state park that is basically bushy on weekdays is insignificant, and the choices residents will make are completely self-evident.

When the evening party is over, there is no more suspense.

Inside the mansion in the west of Cape Toume.

In the bedroom, after taking a shower, Simon walked to the bed and kissed Janet on the cheek, who was leaning on the bedside and flipping through the magazine, and asked: "In the evening you said you would donate $1 million to the elementary and middle schools in Malibu. ?"

"Yes," Jenny nodded, but then said: "It's not a donation, Malibu does not have these schools yet. Residents have always wanted to build them, but the county government doesn't give them money."

Simon picked up Janet's lithe body and threw it to the other side of the big bed. He sat down on the bed and asked, "This is a good thing, why not give me money?"

Janet was thrown away by Simon, pretending to be angry and photographed him with a magazine, and then said: "The county government wanted to build a sewage pipe extending from Santa Monica two years ago, but it was rejected here. , And many other things have been blocked. The residents here are so disobedient, it is strange that they are willing to pay."

"In this case, donate more and build a better school. Our little guy will go to school here in the future."

"One million dollars is a lot, and our little guy will not go to school here, he must go to the best private school."

"Okay," Simon nodded with a smile, "Mom decides about going to school."

Janet giggled and turned off the lights when he saw Simon, and said: "One more thing, the shell company that Bingberg helped us set up recently took down another building, and all the property rights including the land were added to it. $30 million together."

With that said, Janet leaned over and opened the drawer of the bedside table, took out a document from it, opened it, and found a plan map on it to show Simon.

In order to replicate the "Avengers Building" in Manhattan, Simon needed to buy six buildings between 59th and 60th Streets east of Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

After the burst of the real estate bubble that accompanied the stock market crash last year, it became much easier. The selected land was not at the level of the'universe center' beside Fifth Avenue. The shell company that Aunt Janet helped set up had previously bought two buildings for US$20 million and US$35 million, including the current one. , Simon can be regarded as getting half of the land he needs.

Simon looked at the information of the other three buildings marked on the flat map. Among them, there was a 16-story apartment building. This was the tallest of the six buildings, and obviously the most difficult piece of bone: "I want to continue. Isn't it a bit difficult to acquire?"

Janet also reached out and clicked on the apartment building, and said, “It’s difficult to persuade residents in this building to sell the house together. There are two options. For those residents who are unwilling to sell their properties, one is We bought the same apartment nearby and let them move in. The other is to replace it with the property of our future building."

Simon said: "Choose the first option as much as possible. Our building plan is not convenient to disclose now."

"I think so too," Jenny nodded and said, "But, Simon, you have to pay attention to your financial situation recently."

The original two buildings have already spent 55 million U.S. dollars. Counting the next 30 million U.S. dollars to be spent, this is already 85 million U.S. dollars.

Simon’s previous sale of Motorola’s $300 million in cash is not much left after months of spending. Moreover, James Rebald has been investing in new technology companies in accordance with Simon’s instructions. The money is not enough to pay for the next 30 million US dollars.

"Reaper is Coming" and "When Harry Meets Sally" have successively generated income, and Daenerys's financial situation has been eased. But if Simon intends to find a studio for the company, it must be another big investment.

Money needs to be spent everywhere.

Moreover, according to public promises made during the reduction of Motorola stocks, Simon will need to continue to cash out funds from the stock market next year.

"Tomorrow Rebold will come over from New York, I will talk to him first," thought for a moment, Simon said: "Moreover, compared to the assets under my name, my current personal debt ratio is still very low. The bank must be very Would you like to lend me money?"

Janet said, "Of course, but you don't like borrowing money at all, do you?"

"Yes," Simon nodded and said, "Speaking of which, where did you hide all the IOUs I wrote back then, should I be able to come back now?"

"I don't plan to give it to you anymore. I want you to owe me forever."

"Too vicious."

"Hmm."

The next day, James Rebold came to Los Angeles, and Simon was still the news that he needed money.

Fortunately, it was all good news that Simon liked to hear.

"The valuation of Cisco’s new round of financing is finally confirmed to be 120 million U.S. dollars. We invested 18 million U.S. dollars to obtain a 15% stake in this company. In addition, Quantum-Link, this small company just wants to break away from Apple in the near future. The cooperation of Quantum-Link operates independently. After negotiation, we invested 5 million US dollars and obtained 25% of the company’s shares. At the same time, I got the priority of Quantum-Link's next round of financing. Next is..."

James Leibald recently negotiated a total of five companies’ equity investments.

However, Simon is actually only two of them.

Needless to say, Cisco, this super giant with a market value of more than $600 billion in the new technology wave in the late 1990s has long been targeted by Simon.

US$18 million won 15% of Cisco’s shares. Even if it will be diluted for many years to come, even if only 10% remains, at the top of Cisco’s stock price, this family of shares will reach US$60 billion, with a return rate of Three thousand times. What's more, Simon will naturally not be satisfied with the current shareholding ratio, and will definitely continue to increase his holdings next.

The other Quantum-Link was found by Simon after a careful search.

The Chinese transliteration of Quantum is ‘Quantum’, which means ‘quantum’ in English, so many technology companies like to use the word Quantum. As for Quantum-Link, the company's current name is unknown, but it later became a household name, American Online (AOL).

What Simon remembers most is the crash after the merger of AOL and Time Warner around the millennium.

At its peak, the combined AOL-Time Warner's total market value exceeded US$300 billion, but only a few years later, with the bursting of the Internet bubble, AOL became almost worthless, and its market value fell by more than 90%. Time Warner also So vitality hurts.

However, before the Internet bubble burst, AOL was definitely a company worth investing in.

What's more, $5 million won 25% of AOL's shares. Think about the market value of over 160 billion U.S. dollars at the peak of AOL. This is completely a copy of the price of cabbage.

"As for the Qualcomm company in San Diego, they do not currently have a financing plan, but the other party also said that if there is such an intention, they will contact us. Simon, the total amount of these five investments is 65 million US dollars, but Westeros The company now has only $28.55 million left on its books. If you are sure that there is no problem, we may need to make a loan."

To cash out Motorola’s more than US$300 million and set aside profits tax, Simon spent more than half of his holdings of shares in companies such as Microsoft. It also took a lot of money to buy the copyrights of the series of "The Lord of the Rings", and the two in Manhattan. Building expenditures.

Now there are 28.55 million left, and more have been sent.

Calculating, Simon thought of the Gulfstream IV business jet that he had previously ordered. The bare metal price was US$16 million, and it would cost about US$18 million after the renovation cost.

At the beginning, Simon only paid a part of the deposit, and the plane will be delivered next month, which happens to allow Simon to fly to Europe to participate in the French Cannes Film Festival, but similarly, Simon also needs to pay the remaining balance, which is another expense.

The budget of the Manhattan building, the investment budget of five technology companies, and the budget of private jets, just these three items cost about 100 million US dollars.

It is impossible for Simon to sell the shares of Westeros, because of the nature of Westeros, is it very big to want to issue bonds publicly. Therefore, the loan is basically Simon's only choice.

Although he doesn't like borrowing money in his bones, Simon also knows that borrowing money is a must if he wants to expand his business quickly. Moreover, compared to Simon’s current wealth, which is only a loan from Daenerys Films, Simon’s personal debt ratio is less than 10%, which is definitely very low among the rich. Banks are definitely willing to lend him money. .

After careful discussion with James Rebold, Simon made the decision to continue lending 100 million US dollars.

After dealing with personal financial issues, April also came to an end unconsciously.

After the next two weeks of continuous release, the North American box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" has unknowingly exceeded 70 million US dollars, which is already the threshold of the top ten in the North American box office last year. Although the single-week box office has fallen below US$8 million, as the movie continues to be released, "When Harry Meets Sally" has no more suspense at the local box office exceeding 100 million.

The selection of the actor in "Batman" has been going on, and this matter has inevitably become the focus of media discussions. The five-part film and the fifteen-year contract period make many people think that Simon Westero has Crazy, this contract was even called the "Hollywood Slavery Contract" by a newspaper.

No matter how the outside world commented, Daenerys Pictures did not make any concessions, and still proceeded with its plan step by step.

While taking care of the casting of "Batman", Simon is also arranging to move the two special effects software companies to Los Angeles.

The one in San Francisco is fairly easy to handle. It is very common for Americans to move because of job changes. Simon chose an office building in Santa Monica, and most of the employees quickly managed it. The Vancouver company is a bit troublesome because it is a Canadian company and involves overseas labor issues, but it will basically be resolved within a month or two.

The set thing.

Simon could see that Amy was obviously looking forward to him being able to buy the MGM studio in Culver City, because in the past Simon wanted to spend a lot of money to invest in some projects, Amy would always persuade him, but this time he did not.

But after some consideration, Simon decided to postpone the matter. He really didn't feel much about the MGM studio. Even compared to Fox’s Century City studios, Paramount’s Hollywood studios and Universal and Warner’s Burbank studios, the Culver City’s MGM studios are just real estate, and their value-added potential is not too great.

Moreover, Simon also prefers to be able to establish a brand new shooting base.

With such a busy schedule, in May, the Gulfstream IV business jet purchased by Simon was successfully delivered, and the Cannes Film Festival also arrived.