Hollywood Hunter

Speaking carefully, Simon is not too worried about outside prying eyes.

Even the huge accumulation of raw capital obtained through the financial market several times in a row is completely within the scope of the rules in terms of operation.

As for Simon's biggest secret, even the closest person around him has never revealed it. Want to figure this out unless someone can get into his head.

Obviously no one can do this.

Therefore, if you have to find an explanation for all the extraordinary things Simon has shown over the years, he can probably only be described by his talent.

Simon is indeed ‘extraordinarily gifted’.

However, although there is no threat that can be grasped by others, Simon absolutely does not want to be monitored by others.

Quietly arranged to find the monitors around him, and the time entered September 1991.

After the meeting with Al Gore in New York, the Westeros system began to use resources to promote the Information Superhighway Act.

It's not just private political lobbying. In order to create momentum for Cisco's listing on September 6, there are more and more discussions on the Internet in various media channels.

On September 1, the "New York Times" published a feature article called "The Coming Internet Age". The headline of the front page was signed by Simon himself. Subsequently, various mainstream newspapers on the east and west coasts of the United States and the Eaglet portal reprinted this article.

It is true that Simon wrote the article himself, but that is not entirely true.

Last year, Simon compiled a memo on various aspects of the Internet industry and its future prospects to executives of several companies such as Igreat. The dozens-page memo roughly discussed portals, e-commerce, big data, Cloud computing and other core concepts of the Internet era in Simon's memory.

This article only extracts part of the ‘Outlook’ from the original memo.

Simon has received only a handful of interviews since his rise, not to mention the publication of a signed article in a newspaper. The article first published in the "New York Times" has undoubtedly aroused very strong attention and discussion.

Although there is no shortage of media vehemently criticizing Simon's article about the Internet industry output value reaching trillions of dollars in the next ten years, it is an ulterior sensation, however, the most direct response to this article was September 2. In the new week of Japan, technology stocks related to the Internet industry in the US stock market surged across the board.

The road show for Cisco's IPO was also due to Simon's signed article, and the number of stock subscriptions soared.

As of the end of the roadshow, the number of Cisco stock subscriptions has reached 530 million shares, more than 13 times the number of 40 million new shares issued, and even twice the current total share capital of Cisco.

Unlike Sam Walton, John Kruger, and Warren Buffett, who have accumulated rich wealth over decades, Simon's personal asset accumulation speed can only be described by miracles.

Moreover, Simon's article is definitely not aimless.

There are too many signs that a new industry is rising rapidly.

Because the world's largest personal computer market is in an economic downturn, the industry originally predicted that PC shipments in 1991 would stagnate, remaining at the same level as in 1990 at 20 million units.

However, the fact is that as of August just past, global PC shipments have actually reached 15 million units, and it is expected to reach 23 million units throughout the year, a 15% increase compared to 1990. According to the results of institutional research, a large part of this is due to consumers buying or replacing PCs for Internet surfing.

Before that, because personal computers are more inclined to work and lack entertainment attributes, as long as the PC they own is not completely scrapped, few people will consider replacing the machine.

In addition, the increase in Internet users in North America is obvious to all.

As of the end of August, the number of Internet users accessing the World Wide Web platform across North America has exceeded 8 million, and the monthly user increment is close to one million. For the entire year of 1991, this data is even expected to hit the 13 million mark, of which North America is the largest America Online, the Internet service provider of China, has once again re-adjusted its expected annual number of users between 6.5 million and 7 million.

In terms of the content of the World Wide Web platform, in addition to the Eaglet portal website, according to Eaglet’s statistics, as of the end of August, the number of Internet sites connected to the World Wide Web platform officially exceeded 20,000, which will be hundreds of millions in many years. The calculated Internet sites are incomparable. Many are just personal sites with simple web pages. However, only in the past August, the number of Internet sites connected to the World Wide Web increased by 1,800 in a single month. This is the key.

The growth rate of 9% in a single month is still accelerating. Such an expansion rate once again shows the high growth of the Internet industry.

Finally, Eaglet has continued to increase its revenue several times in advertising, software sales, and space leasing, which also allows the outside world to see the profitable side of the Internet industry.

Therefore, Simon's signed article is more like a catalyst, which completely ignited the explosive trend of the entire industry when all the preconditions were mature.

After several adjustments, Cisco's new stock issuance price was finally confirmed as $18, 40 million new shares were issued, and the total financing amount was $720 million.

Compared with the US$17 to US$19 issuance range submitted to the SEC, Simon finally made a slight concession.

However, for a company with annual revenue of only US$1 billion, with a valuation of nearly US$5 billion and a one-time financing of US$720 million, if it succeeds, this is definitely a pioneering move.

In fact, the listing of corporate stocks is only the last step of a corporate IPO. Before that, the success or failure of the IPO has already been settled. Compared with the over-subscription of 13 times the number of 40 million new shares issued, it obviously represents a great victory for this IPO.

Many investors are actually betting.

Betting that Simon Westero will perform miracles as it did in previous years.

You know, it's just the investment in the field of technology, Simon's series of bets have already made him a lot of money.

The most typical is undoubtedly Microsoft.

Affected by the continued hot sales of the Windows operating system, at the close of the day before Cisco's official listing, Microsoft's market value had reached $12.6 billion.

The 20.3% of Microsoft's shares held by Westeros has thus increased to $2.55 billion.

Intel, which has an increasingly obvious tendency to be in alliance with Microsoft, has experienced rapid growth in its share price this year due to the continuous growth of the PC industry and the increasing demand for high-performance personal computers. The day before Cisco’s listing was closed, Intel’s stock price increased by more than 35% compared to the same period last year, with a market value of 10.7 billion U.S. dollars, officially becoming a giant with a market value of tens of billions.

Westeros holds 15.6% of Intel's shares and is the largest shareholder of this high-tech company that has long become a public company.

The market value of Intel reached 10.7 billion U.S. dollars, and Westeros’ shares increased to 1.67 billion U.S. dollars.

The investment in Microsoft and Intel has far exceeded the return that Simon had originally obtained from the 1987 stock market crash. The growth rates of Oracle, SUN, Silicon Graphics and other companies held by Westeros have also been very objective over the past year.

With the listing of AOL and Cisco, the proportion of the Westeros system in the new technology industry has reached a level comparable to that of the media and entertainment industry.

Since Cisco is listed on the market, it is natural that Simon cannot be absent.

Arrived in New York a day earlier, Simon lived in an apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan that night. Just after 7 o'clock in the morning on September 6, Simon hurried to the Nasdaq in Midtown.

Because of the recent series of operations surrounding Cisco’s IPO, this bell ringing ceremony was even more lively than AOL in July. Even Daenerys Entertainment’s Amy Pascal, Robert Iger and many other executives attended. In addition to Hollywood’s strong support lineup, the Cisco team also invited a large number of politicians and celebrities.

After taking photos and chatting briefly with the guests, Simon was quickly introduced into the interview hall of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

The battle this time is almost the same as two months ago.

Although Simon had already answered many questions when AOL was listed last time, the media's curiosity about him was obviously not satisfied in just ten minutes last time.

"Simon, Cisco's IPO has basically succeeded. However, the valuation of $5 billion is still a bit crazy in my opinion. How did you make up your mind?"

"Because I believe that Cisco has such market potential, just like when I invested in companies such as Microsoft and Intel. This is a very obvious industry trend. The output value of the traditional telecommunication equipment market is large and the emerging Internet industry is based The same should be true for capacity in the equipment market. Cisco's development has just begun."

"Traditional telecommunications equipment manufacturers, such as Motorola, have a market value of about tens of billions of dollars. Simon, do you believe Cisco can surpass Motorola?"

"I have sold Motorola stock."

"..."

Some donkey lips don't mean horse mouths in this answer.

In the interview hall of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, when a group of reporters heard Simon's answer, they were first stunned, and then someone laughed.

The entanglement between Simon Westero and Motorola has been mentioned in recent years. Motorola’s previous chairman Robert Galvin has often criticized the young rich man’s actions in the media.

Many technology stocks have been rising recently.

However, at this time, some reporters thought that after the opening today, Motorola's stock might fall again.

Although Motorola has developed rapidly in recent years. However, this is a company that Simon Westero is not optimistic about.

"So, Simon, what do you think Cisco's market value potential should be?"

"It depends on how long you are talking about."

"Five years?"

Simon thought about it seriously and said, "50 billion dollars."

Hearing the number that Simon said, there was a brief uproar at the scene.

There are a lot of live footages here, Simon Westeros, you have to take responsibility for such a big talk.

Five years, 50 billion US dollars.

At Cisco's current valuation of $5 billion, this is a 1,000% increase.

If it goes from 500 million US dollars to 5 billion US dollars, this possibility may still exist. At that time, the volume was there. From 5 billion US dollars to 50 billion US dollars, this is a process of quantitative change to qualitative change.

In North America, there are only a few companies with a market value of US$50 billion, such as IBM, General Motors, and AT-T.

"Simon, are you serious?"

"Simon, is this a guarantee, or is it just a joke? You know, there may be tens of millions of people staring at you in front of the TV now."

"Simon, what is your basis?"

"Simon..."

The reporters in the audience were hustling and hustling, and even some people outside the interview area showed a surprised expression.

Simon sat relaxedly on the sofa in the interview area, waiting for a moment of hustle and bustle around him, and then slightly pressed his hand, saying, "What will happen in the future, no one knows. $50 billion is my confidence in Cisco. You can choose to believe. You can just ignore it. Because this is the future, I can’t give any guarantee. However, you can refer to what has happened. For example, when I first invested in Microsoft a few years ago, this The company’s market value at the lowest point of the stock market crash was only more than one billion U.S. dollars. Just yesterday, its market value was 12.6 billion U.S. dollars."

"Simon, Microsoft is a miracle."

Simon shrugged and said with a smile: "Who said no? Moreover, Microsoft currently has many competitors, but Cisco does not. Not only in the United States, but Cisco does not have any competitors on a global scale. The Internet industry is destined to It will be global. So who can say that Cisco will not be a miracle?"

"Simon, do you mean that Cisco is a monopolistic company?"

"Of course not. I hope that companies that compete with Cisco will emerge as soon as possible in the industry. The lack of competition will only cause an industry to stagnate."

"But it is an obvious fact that Cisco, AOL, and Eaglet, these three companies monopolize the technology of the World Wide Web."

"I don’t agree with your point of view. It can only be that these companies of the Westeros system are ahead of many people, just like when Bell just invented the telephone many, many years ago, you can’t say that others are better than you. It’s unfair to invent certain things first and then use the title of “monopoly”. Several Cisco companies, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years. We invented the technology of the World Wide Web. We certainly have the right to enjoy this leading advantage."

"So, will the Westeros system develop core patents for competitors?"

"In fact, we are already doing this now. Otherwise, you should not see the emergence of as many as 20,000 web sites on the World Wide Web platform."

After that, Simon glanced at the host nearby without a trace. This time it was still the vice president of Nasdaq at the last AOL bell ringing ceremony. The other party understood and chose a system with Westeros. The close media has bypassed sensitive topics about monopoly without a trace.