Hollywood Hunter

A restaurant in Venice Beach.

Bill Gates got off the plane from Los Angeles International Airport and rushed here. It was close to 12 o'clock. There were many guests in this well-known restaurant, but Simon hadn't arrived yet.

Guided by the waiter to sit down in a predetermined position, Bill Gates was thinking about the next thing, and noticed that a man and a woman walked in with a soft smile. Looking up, he immediately recognized that this was Hollywood star Richard Gere and his supermodel girlfriend Cindy Crawford.

Richard Gere has been mad all these years, but his girlfriend is as beautiful in reality as in a TV newspaper.

Bill Gates couldn’t help but took a few more glances at Cindy Crawford. Women are always more sensitive to certain gazes. Cindy Crawford felt Gates’s gaze, turned his head and noticed A man with black-rimmed glasses who seemed familiar, didn't care, just withdrew his eyes faintly.

Realizing that he was almost ignored, Bill Gates withdrew his eyes angrily and pretended to look around. No one seemed to care about his billionaire sitting here.

Just as I was so disappointed, there was a commotion at the entrance of the restaurant.

Looking again, it turned out that Simon Westero had arrived. His bodyguard was blocking the reporter who wanted to go forward. The waiter in the restaurant noticed the movement and ran to help the young man open the glass door.

Simon Westero walked in, and the eyes of everyone in the restaurant were immediately attracted. Some guests obviously got up, as if they wanted to step forward to say hello, but stay where they were.

Bill Gates hesitated and stood up and took two steps forward.

Simon approached and enthusiastically stretched out his hand to Bill Gates: "Hi, Bill, good noon."

Bill Gates finally felt that he had more gaze on his body, and his emotions were a bit complicated, but there was a smile on his face and Simon shook his hand, and said, "It's nice to see you again, Simon."

The two said they were about to sit down. Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, who had just entered, walked over and greeted Simon with a visibly flattering look, compared to the natural alienation they had when they entered the restaurant. The star style is simply different.

"Paramount's "IA File", I seem to have seen the outline, it should be pretty good... Cindy, your performance in "Gucci Mark" is really good, maybe you can try to develop to Hollywood... Oh, well, I'm joking, don't rely on me."

After a few moments of social entertainment, Richard Gere returned to their seats.

Simon and Gates also took their seats and watched the beautiful waitress put down his hold and asked for an autograph after Simon took the order, and obviously left a card. Gates remembered coming to Westeros to borrow him this time. For the Boeing 767, the envy in my heart could not help accumulating more.

He has always been the focus of attention in the IT circle, but in front of this young man, in this glorious city, he can't earn any attention at all.

Think about the situation in which I wanted to visit the front cabin on the plane but was rejected by the stewardess on the grounds that it was Westeros’s private space. Gates secretly made up his mind that he would also have a plane that did not belong to this young man in the future. Car.

Finally, after socializing, Bill Gates thought for a while and took the initiative: "Simon, I have seen Eaglet’s World Wide Web technology in San Francisco. I have to say that this technology has really great development potential. ."

Eaglet’s World Wide Web technology has connected companies such as Cisco, AOL, and SUN held by Westeros.

However, Simon has no idea for the graphical interface browser produced by Eaglet to become the built-in browser of Windows system for the time being. He intends to keep a low profile and let this technology develop for another year or two, completely mature and become a unique standard in the industry. , And then carry out large-scale promotion.

Therefore, instead of taking up the topic of Gates, Simon just smiled and said: "I have tried the beta version of Windows 3.0. I have to say that compared with the previous versions, Microsoft's product this time has made great progress. It will be released next year. It must be okay to stand firm later."

Now that Simon brought the topic to this point, Gates took advantage of the trend and said: "So you continue to buy Microsoft stock again?"

"Yeah, you know, Bill, I have a lot of capital recently. Since there are promising companies, I must invest as soon as possible."

Bill Gates could not help thinking of many reports during this period.

The young man in front of him may not be the richest person on the "Forbes" list, but he is probably the one who holds the most cash among all the billionaires in the world. It's just that Cersei Capital, which has always been covered by clouds, is said to have reached 8 billion US dollars in cash, and half of this seems to be the young man. Just this 4 billion US dollars in cash is more than the net worth of most of the super rich in the world.

Thinking about this, Bill Gates said: "But, Simon, I don’t think you should buy anymore. Westeros already owns more than 10% of Microsoft’s stock because Westeros bought With the advancement, many institutions have also begun to grasp Microsoft’s holdings. There are fewer and fewer scattered circulating shares in the market. As you know, the reduction of circulating shares will definitely have a strong inhibitory effect on the rise of stock prices. I think, Westeros has enough shares in Microsoft, and you can consider buying shares of other companies."

Simon had previously guessed that Gates should be this way.

A reduction in the proportion of a company’s outstanding shares in the secondary market and lower trading activity will indeed curb the rise in stock prices. This is actually the reason why many companies will split their shares when their stock prices have risen to a certain extent.

"However, I still want to buy more Microsoft stocks," Simon said again, seeming to think about it, and then said: "Bill, otherwise, I have made this suggestion before. How about selling me some of the Microsoft stocks in my hand? I can buy them at a 10% discount on the market price. You have 45% of them and sold me 10%. You are still Microsoft’s largest shareholder. And, I’m right Microsoft’s control right is meaningless at all. As long as you can sell me some stocks, I can also authorize the voting rights of Westeros to hold Microsoft stocks. Westeros is only a pure investment shareholder. ."

Bill Gates couldn't help but think of the Boeing 767 he took when he arrived in Los Angeles.

Although he quickly entered the "Forbes" rich list after Microsoft went public, he also ranked at the forefront of the "Forbes" North American rich list this year with a net worth of $1.5 billion. However, because his assets are basically all It's Microsoft stock, but his current standard of living is completely not up to the level that 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, when we first met, the young man mentioned to him the suggestion to buy Microsoft stock directly from him, because he felt that there was still a lot of room for upside in Microsoft stock, so he did not hesitate to reject it. .

Now, it seems that selling some stocks to improve one's life seems good.

If you sell a stock, you can get the voting rights of all the shares held by Westeros. In this way, you will not lose control of the company, and it may even achieve absolute control of the company.

However, it is definitely not enough to sell 10% at once.

Westero is optimistic about Windows 3.0, and he is the same. Microsoft's market value has been maintained at around US$3 billion this year, but he believes that after this operating system goes public next year, the company's stock price will definitely rise again.

"Simon, 10% is too much," after thinking about it, Bill Gates said: "Moreover, if you want to buy, you must follow the market price. I will not sell it at a discount."

Obviously, his previous small arrangements should have worked.

Simon did not show any joy, and said patiently: "Bill, think about it, sell me 10%, you can get 20% of the voting rights in Westeros, which adds up to 55% of the voting rights. , Which allows you to completely control this company."

"Up to 5%," Bill Gates ignored Simon's bewilderment, thought for a while, and said: "But 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 $150 million by selling 5% of the stock. In this era, the money is still very affordable. After all, the price of the first Gulfstream is only more than 10 million US dollars. In addition, with the funds, you can also make some other investments.

Both Bill Gates and Paul Allen have maintained a total of 70% of Microsoft's shares in recent years.

At the beginning, Bill Gates tried every means to reduce his partner’s shareholding ratio so that he could firmly control Microsoft. Unexpectedly, Gates still did not "forget" the other party in this sale of stocks.

Simon naturally wouldn't make any objections, saying: "In this case, I can also contact Allen."

After all, Bill Gates felt a certain excitement in Simon’s tone, and added subconsciously: "Simon, I can sell you a part of the stock, but you must permanently hold the voting rights of Westeros. Authorized to me."

"It's impossible, Bill, you will definitely continue to reduce your holdings of Microsoft stock in the future. You can't sell your own stocks almost, and still keep the voting rights of Westeros shares. However, I I really don’t have the thought of fighting for control of Microsoft. You are the most suitable operator for this company. Therefore, the authorization period of Westeros is ten years. Of course, I may also appropriately reduce Microsoft’s stock in the process. In this regard, Westeros still has its own freedom. In ten years, the remaining shares of Westeros and the voting rights of these stocks are also yours."

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

Simon shrugged and said, "Ten years have been a long time, Bill, who knows what will happen after ten years?"

"Well," Bill Gates nodded, and finally said: "In addition, you must stop buying Microsoft stock from the open market."

"no problem."

The two chatted, and the waiter quickly brought lunch.

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

However, Simon couldn't help but think of the issue of funding.

The original increase in holdings of Microsoft and Intel was a months-long plan, and funds can also be raised while absorbing.

Westeros has made a lot of recent moves. If you want to get 10% of Microsoft's stock at one time, you need more than 300 million US dollars in cash.

Without drawing Cersei Capital, Simon can only borrow from the bank again. Fortunately, he has repaid more than 200 million US dollars in principal and interest of various banks this year, and the amount of debt has been reduced from 900 million US dollars at the beginning of the year to 700 million US dollars now. At this time, another 300 million US dollars in debt has been added. One billion dollars that is already within the scope of tolerance.

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

The following days are still busy work.

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

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

At Microsoft, two days after Bill Gates left, news came. Paul Allen also agreed to sell 5% of Microsoft stock to Westeros. Simon directly told James Rebald to put down all of his At that time, I was directly responsible for contacting this matter to ensure that the acquisition went smoothly.

The news spread quickly.

Compared with Intel, which has exceeded 6 billion in market value at this time, Microsoft's stock has not risen too much in the past year, and its market value has always been maintained at around 3 billion US dollars. There was also a big setback after the small crash in October.

Now, with the news that Westeros has increased its holdings of 10% of Microsoft's stock, the company's stock price has increased sharply.

Fortunately, the two parties had agreed on the price in advance. Neither Bill Gates nor Paul Allen sat down to raise the price. Westeros also quickly discussed a new $300 million loan plan with Citibank.

When other companies want to borrow money to buy stocks, it is generally difficult to get money from the bank.

But for Westeros, this is not a problem at all. No one now doubts the repayment ability of Westeros. Everyone knows that if Cersei Capital's tax factors are not taken into account, Westeros does not need loans.