Hollywood Hunter

James Rebold arrived at the NBC TV headquarters in Midtown Manhattan at seven o'clock in the morning.

Simon does not like to show up in front of the media, but has to face many things. Today, I will participate in an interview on the NBC morning news program "Today Show" to answer some recent media discussions and controversies about Westeros.

It took more than half an hour to reconfirm the content of the next interview with assistants, media public relations and the "Today Show" producer. At 7:40, James led the staff to the entrance of the studio.

"US$21 billion is an amazing figure. This is the latest total personal net worth of Simon Westero on the list of the 400 richest Americans released by Forbes magazine this Monday. Compared to last year, this young man The 22-year-old super-rich has increased his personal net worth by 15 billion in the past year, which is equivalent to a net profit of 41 million US dollars a day."

"What kind of magical power does Simon Westero have, and how did he quickly accumulate such a huge personal wealth? Today, we invited Mr. James Leibald, President of Westeros, to discuss your recent concerns Many questions about Westeros."

Deborah Nowell, the hostess of the "Today Show", finished her presentation and got up to shake hands with James who entered the studio.

In front of the televisions of countless families early on Sunday morning.

The audience who heard Deborah Nowell's statement and thought Simon Westero would appear in person were disappointed, but not many people changed channels.

After a guest appearance at Madonna's concert at the end of June, Simon began to avoid public view again.

Recently, the media has been enthusiastic about the new issue of "Forbes" America's 400 richest list. The presence of Westeros's spokesperson in the media is enough to satisfy the public's curiosity.

In the studio, with a few simple greetings, Deborah Nowell began to cut into the topic and said: "Jim, let me ask everyone the most concerned question, what is Simon doing these days?"

"The main thing is the movie. Daenerys Entertainment is currently shooting many projects. Simon has been traveling around the Federation this week."

"It sounds very busy," Deborah Nowell laughed and joked, and then asked, "So, when he learned about his ranking on the Forbes list this year, what was his reaction?"

"I'm very happy, it's an amazing thing after all."

"It's really amazing. From 1986 to the present, Simon created everything in just four short years. He is now only 22 years old. As the president of Westeros, Jim, you should know him very well. , Why do you think he can create all of this today, or is he really a psychic?"

The hostess's final tone was somewhat relaxed and joking.

James followed with a smile and said: "Simon often jokes about being a psychic in his life, but he is not. He also said that he really wants to be a psychic, so that he can prove that this world There are ghosts. Once this is the case, it means that death is not the end of everything, and we no longer need to fear death."

These words were actually mentioned by Jennifer while chatting with his daughter, and James was impressed.

Deborah Nowell showed an enlightened expression and said: "I never thought of this. Frankly speaking, I used to fear death and ghosts, but now I don't seem to care so much."

"Actually I am too," James nodded in agreement, and took the initiative to answer Deborah's question just now, saying: "Simon is a very special person. Not only is he outstanding in many aspects, but he also has a forward-looking and creative personality that is different from ordinary people. I think these are probably the keys to his achievement today."

"I believe many people understand this," Deborah Nowell agreed, and then changed the subject: "Jim, according to the news from the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, Daenerys Entertainment will MCA Group, which owns Universal Pictures, initiated an acquisition. Is this true?"

Talking about the key topics involved in this interview, James Rebold secretly cheered up and said: "Since the beginning of the year, media news about how Simon intends to use the overseas funds has appeared many times, and we have been thinking about it. This question and many goals have been discussed, but there is no conclusion yet."

Deborah Nowell asked: "But, Jim, according to the "Hollywood Reporter", Westeros has established a 60-person acquisition team. How do you explain this?"

James shook his head and said: "I don't know how the Hollywood Reporter got the news. Simon has always attached great importance to the collaboration of various companies in the Westeros system, whether it is Cersei Capital or Daenerys Entertainment, or the company. Many of the technology companies under its umbrella have very frequent cooperation and communication with each other, and some people may have misunderstood because of this."

Deborah Nowell looked at James and said, "So, Simon has no intention of acquiring MCA?"

James did not give an affirmative answer, and said in a tactful way: "I just said that we have considered many goals. MCA is indeed within the scope of discussion. However, everything needs to be decided by Simon himself. Moreover, Simon has not yet decided whether to We all know that the overseas funds are transferred back to China, which means a very high 28% capital gains tax."

The "Hollywood Reporter" yesterday's sudden exposure of Daenerys Entertainment's upcoming acquisition of MCA really caught the senior management of the Westeros system by surprise.

Before participating in today's interview, James and everyone discussed carefully and finally decided to give an uncertain reply, so as to avoid silence as a passive situation by default and prevent speculators from flocking to MCA stocks.

James Rebold took the initiative to change the topic, and Deborah Nowell stopped following him. NBC didn't want to get interview opportunities in the future, so he followed James' words and changed the topic.

"Speaking of capital gains tax, Mr. President has publicly stated last month that he had to violate his campaign promise that he would not raise taxes, and plan to increase taxes to solve the federal fiscal deficit problem. Because of the hedge fund industry in the past two years On the rise, this Wednesday, Texas Republican Senator Peter Brigel proposed to strengthen the supervision of the hedge fund industry and readjust the relevant taxation plan to prevent excessive financial speculation from harming the federal economy. Jim, what do you think of Brie Geer’s proposal?"

Both Simon himself and James Rebald got the news as soon as Peter Brigel submitted the relevant bill.

As we all know, Texas is completely the home base of the Bush family and the Republican Party, and the pertinence of Peter Brigel's proposal can't be more obvious.

Moreover, there are actually deeper reasons for this proposal.

Right now is the critical moment for canvassing votes in the midterm elections in the United States. The Republicans are clearly at a disadvantage in gaining control of Congress. It just so happens that the Westeros system has unknowingly invested a huge amount of US$20 million in the political field this year. A very important sponsor.

Among the big tax cuts made by the government in 1986, only the capital gains tax rate, which was originally divided into long-term and short-term categories, was unified to 28%, which is equivalent to income tax. This move is inherently controversial. If the Bush administration raises taxes again, it will not only offend Wall Street as a whole, but will also severely restrict the liquidity of the capital market and make the already sluggish US economy worse.

As for increasing taxes specifically for the hedge fund industry, not to mention whether it is feasible or not. If this is done, it will only drive a large number of hedge fund companies out of the United States, and the huge overseas profits will not be transferred back to China. The loss is the United States itself. .

The most important point is that through the 1987 stock market crash, the Japanese stock market bubble, and the three operations of the crude oil futures market, Simon has completed his original accumulation and will not rely too much on Cersei Capital in the future, even if the Bush administration really strengthens supervision and increases taxes. , Has little impact on him.

Simon does not worry about being targeted by the Bush administration because of his political stance.

The two parties in the United States contain each other. The Republicans target themselves and the Democrats will naturally take action. If you can't even protect your big benefactor, who will stand by you in the future?

In the studio, James Rebald certainly would not confront the congressman for the above reasons. He just expressed his opinion on the matter.

The two continued to discuss some topics, and the ten-minute interview soon ended.

It was less than eight o'clock to leave NBC headquarters.

Having an appointment with Simon and his wife for breakfast, James Rebald hurried to the Upper East Side. His wife, Carol Rebald, had arrived early.

The topic at breakfast is naturally various recent things.

Because the media has been watching closely during this period, in order to avoid the early disclosure of Bell Atlantic's acquisition plan, this matter has been temporarily stopped.

The exclusive plan negotiations between AOL and the three companies were also obviously affected by the exposure of Simon's personal wealth, and the three companies were a bit deadly in terms of cooperation conditions. What Simon insists now is that he will not accept the terms of the three companies' shares in AOL anyway.

As for the acquisition of MCA, considering the impact of the exposure of Daenerys Entertainment's bid, Simon also began to make two-handed preparations.

Although it was Sunday, after breakfast, James Rebald rushed to the headquarters of Westeros in Midtown to start a day's work.

These days, as Simon's spokesperson, James is in the midst of countless invitations to attract attention, and he is also full of scenery and energetic. Moreover, not only the appearance of the scenery, the "Forbes" magazine exposed the Westeros billion-dollar club members last month, in fact, they missed James.

Having personally experienced two capital market operations last year and this year, James will naturally not miss such an opportunity. Simon also personally arranged for James to participate.

Although only 20 million U.S. dollars were raised at first, less capital happened to be more convenient for maximizing profits. After more than a year of continuous operation, the recently transferred funds from overseas still exceeded 160 million U.S. dollars after tax payment.

"Forbes" magazine is the last of the 400 richest people in the United States this year, and the personal wealth of Donald Graham, the heir of the "Washington Post", is only $260 million. James Rebold, with a net worth of 160 million US dollars, has already belonged to the top group of rich people in the American pyramid in this era.

Under Simon's guidance, the Rebolds took advantage of the recent stock market downturn and put all the money on the two stocks of Microsoft and Intel. If Microsoft and Intel can still achieve the highest market value of the Internet bubble in the original time and space this time, just this investment will be enough to make the Rebold family into the ranks of tens of billions of dollars in the future.

Of course, these are things to follow.

In the apartment on Fifth Avenue, the Rebolds were sent away. Simon and Janet did not go out today.

After returning to New York yesterday, Simon sent his Boeing 767 to Los Angeles. Now he knows that there are not many people in New York, and it happens to be a quiet day.

The roof of the apartment has been renovated into a garden by Janet. The autumn sunshine is just right. The two are sitting at a simple wooden long table. On the table are various materials that Janet has collected and sorted out this week.

"The hedge fund team will definitely make good profits in the next few months. However, it will definitely need to keep some funds overseas. At the end of the year, the amount that can be transferred back is about 6 billion US dollars. If two acquisitions are to be completed at the same time, according to MCA Group 70 Calculating the acquisition of US$8 billion and Bell Atlantic’s US$8 billion, we need to raise another US$9 billion in loans. This money is easy to get, but even at a 10-year 4.5% annual interest rate, the total Interest reached 2.19 billion U.S. dollars, and approximately 1.12 billion U.S. dollars need to be repaid each year."

Janet was still next to Simon. After speaking, she found a document and said: "This is the information of the current management of Bell Atlantic. The current chairman and CEO of Bell Atlantic is named Raymond Smith. A professional manager, 56 years old this year, he started as a low-level intern in the earliest Bell system, step by step to today, before the disintegration of AT-T, he has achieved the position of financial director, once the highest AT-T One of the competitors of the Chief Executive."

Simon took the document and began to look carefully at Raymond Smith's information.

In addition to the head of Bell Atlantic, Raymond Smith is also a versatile poet and playwright, with many published works. In addition, he has concurrently served as a director of a number of large companies and holds five PhD titles.

Searching for the information in his memory, Simon also discovered that in the original time and space, it was Raymond Smith who gradually expanded Bell Atlantic into Verizon, the second largest telecommunications company in North America. In comparison, none of the other six Bells spun off by AT-T in 1984 were able to escape the fate of being acquired or going bankrupt.

Simon had no plan to immediately remove the management after the acquisition of Bell Atlantic. After reading the information of Raymond Smith, he had no similar thoughts.

Janet waited for Simon to finish reading Raymond Smith’s information, and before he could speak, she said, “It’s great. However, he is also the biggest obstacle to our acquisition of Bell Atlantic. The current operating conditions of Bell Atlantic are much better than those of the neighbors. In NYNEX, Smith is also a very ambitious person in his career. Once we acquire Bell Atlantic, this company will definitely be burdened with huge debts, which is very detrimental to its future development. Unless we can solve this problem, Raymond De Smith will never let go of our acquisition easily."

Simon looked at the information in front of him and considered it for a moment. He picked up the pencil at hand and listed the calculations in the blanks of the document. He said: "Bell Atlantic's equity is too dispersed. Even if the negotiation is made, we may not be able to get 100% of this company in the end. In this way, we can temporarily save a sum of money, absorb a batch of stocks at the current stock price in advance, and save a sum. For the time being based on 75% of the holdings, we only need to pay 60 One hundred million U.S. dollars."

Janet looked at Simon’s calculations and said, “However, if you want to develop ISP business, you will definitely need to invest a lot of money in technology research and development and infrastructure construction. The remaining 2 billion US dollars can’t be saved, and it’s not necessarily With 75% of the stock, if our shareholding exceeds 90%, in accordance with the Federal Securities Law, we can force other shareholders to sell the stock for full privatization."

"Well, I mean," Simon quickly wrote down a few series of numbers on the paper, and said: "As much as possible, transfer the debt to Daenerys Entertainment. If necessary, use the loan to acquire MCA. This way It can minimize the acquisition resistance of Bell Atlantic."

"If you do, because the debt ratio is too high, Daenerys Entertainment's future IPO will definitely be seriously affected."

Simon couldn't help but smile.

It is really difficult to have the best of both worlds.

Simon's original plan was to launch Daenerys Entertainment's IPO after the release of "Toy Story" next year. However, once the acquisition of MCA is completed, it is impossible to digest the company without two or three years. Things can only be postponed.

Speaking of which, Simon is not short of money.

Not only the overseas funds, but the technology stocks held by Westeros, according to the original three-year agreement, can be sold next year. As long as Simon is willing, he can easily cash out more than one billion US dollars, as is the case with many other assets in the Westeros system.

If you are willing to accept external shareholders to join Daenerys Entertainment and other core companies of the Westeros system, you can raise large sums of money at any time.

However, both the technology stocks in his hands, Daenerys, Eaglet, Melisandre and other companies have great growth potential, and Simon is reluctant to sell or share these shares too easily.

After thinking about it for a while, Simon decided: "For the time being, we will re-draw the acquisition plan based on this idea. MCA will use the loan method to acquire it. Bell Atlantic will use its own funds as much as possible. Future things will be discussed in the future."

Jenny nodded, and the two began to discuss more specific details of the plan.