Hollywood Hunter

Simon returned to Los Angeles, Veronica Johnston and Anthony Johnston also arrived in the morning.

Veronica is here to give off the little guy, and the Simons plan to take Melbourne for a while.

Anthony Johnston was for the issue of the Billiton acquisition.

Probably because of the release of the latest "Forbes" rich list today, reporters appeared outside the Dome Point Manor. Simon’s car entered the gate and a flash of light was lit around. Some reporters also tried to take pictures against the car window. But there is no gain under the one-way glass block.

The car stopped in front of Shell Villa, and Anthony Johnston appeared at the door.

Simon got out of the car and hugged Anthony, "Tony, how are you doing?"

"Not bad," Anthony and Simon hugged them, patted him on the shoulder after releasing, and smiled: "Also, congratulations, the world's first billionaire."

"Thank you," Simon said with a smile and entered the villa with Anthony, "Where are they?"

"It's all inside."

As the two of them said, the Indian girl who greeted us guided them down to a showroom on the east side of the villa hall.

This is the room where Janet specially designed to store the various awards and other commemorative items that Simon has won over the years.

As soon as I approached the showroom, I heard the irregular "clank" sound. After entering the door, I found that a little guy was lying on the table that held the flame guitar used by Simon at the Madonna concert. Move the strings and have a great time.

Of course no flames are coming out now.

Janet and Veronica stood by and found Simon coming in. Veronica took the initiative to pick up the reluctant little guy from the table, hesitated for a while, then put it on the floor again, squatting down gently He pushed the child towards Simon, and said, "Moore, Dad is back. Call Dad."

Because of frequent video calls, Melbourne's little expression looking at Simon is not unfamiliar, but he obviously doesn't catch a cold with the guy in front of him. After a few glances, he turned and drilled into Veronica's arms again. The little hand pointed again. Refers to the flame guitar next to it.

The little guy got close, Veronica almost instinctively hugged the child, and then took a careful look at Simon. She knew that Simon didn't like to keep the child in her arms.

Just reluctant to let go.

Simon stepped forward and took the child from Veronica. The father and son looked at each other with big eyes to small eyes for a moment. They were not moved by the little guy’s pitiful, tearful expression, and quickly handed them to Isabel and Zoe next to them. A maid said: "Take him out to play." Seeing Isabel, she also picked up the little guy, and added: "No hugs, he can walk by himself."

Everyone watched the little guy begging Veronica for help with his pitiful little eyes, and was cleverly taken by Isabel’s hand and walked out. When the child left the showroom, Janet finally laughed and took Veronica’s arm. Overjoyed: "Moore is very smart, knowing who is the big devil here."

Veronica looked at the door worriedly, and whispered: "Moore is still young."

"It's not young, I will be two years old in a few months," Janet said, and walked out with her aunt, saying: "Let’s prepare lunch, don’t worry, Isha and Zoe will take care of the children very well. By the way, Simon, has A come back, do I have something to ask her?"

Simon nodded: "Outside."

When everyone else left, Simon and Anthony sat down directly on the sofa in the corner of the showroom, and when Aaliyah brought coffee in and then left, Anthony said, "Auntie really spoils Moore a bit, and so is Dad. But you too. Don't be too strict with him, the child is less than two years old."

Simon smiled and asked, "How did you look when you were a kid?"

Anthony was stunned, shaking his head and smiling bitterly: "When Moore was so old, I don't remember much. But, heh, since I can remember, my father was very strict with Norman and me. Grandpa was still there at the time, and it was the same. Probably since Jenny started to ignore it, Jenny, David, and Pat. I actually envy my three younger siblings."

Simon shook his head slightly and said honestly: "I will not teach children. This will mainly be Jenny’s business in the future. However, I think we should let them know that the world is not responsive to them. They should know how to give, know how to restrain, for us For such a family, I think this is very important."

Anthony said with some jokes in his tone: "I just thought you might be a little envious of Moore."

Simon was stunned, without a word, and picked up the coffee next to him.

Anthony soon realized that he was a bit of a mistake, and changed the subject: "This time the 58list matter, although Igrit has the upper hand, should it be troublesome to follow?"

Simon also quickly forgot what had just happened, and nodded: "The relationship with the paper media will be a little stiff in the future."

"Dad is also paying attention to this matter recently. He asked me to tell you that you should not open similar websites in Australia."

Simon agreed: "No, Murdoch actually mentioned it to me."

The situation in Australia and North America is different.

In the entire Federation, there are currently more than 2,800 newspapers, large and small. Although there are large paper media giants such as Hearst Group, Condé Nast, Washington Post Group, New York Times, etc., their influence is relatively scattered after all, and even if they are The New York Times, which has the largest circulation at this stage, has a daily scale of only about 1.2 million.

Even if they are becoming more aware of the threat of Internet media, the number is too large, it is impossible for the paper media group to twist into a rope against Igreat.

Moreover, the Eaglet portal has more than 20 million active users in a single day, which also means that even if someone wants to besiege, Simon has sufficient power to fight back. In the 58list incident this time, the paper media is aggressive, but in terms of public opinion, Internet users are basically on the side of the Internet under the guidance of the Eaglet portal.

It's different in Australia.

Simon has always maintained a good attitude towards the media forces in Australia, and the cooperation between the two parties is also very precise.

Moreover, the two major media forces of News Corporation and Fairfax Group basically monopolized the print media in Australia and New Zealand.

Classified information advertising also accounts for a large proportion of income in the Australian paper media industry.

If Eaglet Australia also launches classified information advertising business there, News Corp and Fairfax Group will definitely join forces to besiege Eaglet, which is equivalent to the entire Australian paper media making efforts at the same time. Simon is not afraid of this kind of confrontation, but it is not worth the gain for the two sides to turn from their original allies to enemies.

Speaking of which, even if Eaglet does not open a classified information website in Australia, with North American references, there will definitely be people developing similar projects there.

But this has nothing to do with Igreat.

Anthony heard that Simon had no such plan, and he was relieved.

The merger plan of Billiton, which has been promoting recently, if the Australian media obstructs the acquisition through public opinion, the Johnston family will not even want to complete the acquisition.

Thinking about this, Anthony asked again: "Daenerys Entertainment's film publicity work should also rely heavily on traditional paper media, right? What do you plan to do?"

"This is the same as the exchanges between countries. Two countries, especially big countries, have always had conflicts and cooperation. Although they exist with Igreat, the paper media wants to earn Daenerys entertainment. Advertising costs must maintain a certain friendly attitude. In addition, the Eaglet Portal not only has its own movie section, but we have also invested in some movie review websites in the past two years, which are enough to ensure the word-of-mouth promotion of the company’s films."

The main influence of paper media on movies is actually word of mouth.

Many cases have proved that word-of-mouth is not so important to the box office impact of a movie. The key is popularity.

Even a movie with rave reviews, if the popularity is high enough, the box office will not be too bad.

In the current film distribution process, the main channel to promote popularity has turned to TV advertising.

The Internet media and the television industry have not had much conflict of interest, so there is no need to worry too much about this. What's more, in a few years, Daenerys Entertainment will also complete its own TV network layout.

Confirming that Simon has his own considerations for these things, Anthony stopped to say more, and instead said: "Before coming, Dad asked me to tell you that the scale of the Westeros system is already too large. Some things should be let go. You have to let go. Many people just didn’t react. Now, they find that the interests of the Internet industry are getting bigger and bigger. They will not allow you to monopolize it.” Anthony said, laughing again, and said: “In fact, Dad also sees that You have been trying to surrender your interests to avoid risks, but this is not enough. Just like the 10% of Eaglet’s shares that were transferred last time, it is difficult to satisfy the appetite of those established capitals."

"I also know," Simon said, "So, I don't plan to let it go for a while."

"Ok."

"Since no matter how much I put out, someone will definitely be dissatisfied, so don't give it at all," Simon said: "It is difficult to cherish the things that are too easy to get, so my next plan is to let them take the initiative. grab."

Anthony was stunned, and after a moment he understood a little, and said, "This time, 58list?"

Simon nodded: "Someone within Igreat has put forward a plan for classified information websites in the past two years. I understand that the launch of this plan will impact the important business of traditional paper media. I have been pressing it. I don't plan to press it anymore. In a few years, I plan to let Igrett and the entire Westeros system completely start to grow wildly, and take down all the fields that can be involved. Future things, future troubles, we will talk about them when we encounter them."

In fact, the entire World Wide Web is actually an invention of Eaglet.

The key to Simon's ability to complete the complete layout of the entire Internet industry chain through Cisco, AOL, and Eaglet lies in this, and no one felt wrong at the beginning. The Westeros system has invested heavily in the creation of technology, and it is entirely natural to enjoy exclusive rights.

Only when the scale of the Internet industry is getting bigger and bigger will more and more people feel that it is no longer so taken for granted.

Therefore, even if he has been converging as much as possible, he can always hear more and more news that the Westeros system envisages monopolizing the Internet, and Simon does not intend to converge.

58list is just the other initial projects of Eaglet Corporation that have the most impact on traditional paper media.

After receiving 1.5 billion US dollars of funds from Goldman Sachs and Morgan, Simon has also recently invested in a large number of start-up projects through Eagle Capital, which specializes in venture capital.

eBay, an online auction site, the program is selected from many venture capital projects. Like 58list, the name comes from Simon's personal preference.

Broadcast, an online radio website, broadcasts radio live in online mode, and the name also comes from Simon's memory. In original time and space, Broadcast was a complete failure. It was only acquired by Yahoo for billions of dollars at the peak of the Internet bubble. Yahoo was equivalent to acquiring a bunch of worthless mess, but the founders and investors made money. earned a lot. Simon's plan this time was also cashed out at the right opportunity.

iPets, a pet food sales website, is similar to Amazon's e-commerce.

IMDB, an Internet movie data database, was created in 1990. It was recently wholly-owned by Eagle Capital. It continues to maintain an all-free model while providing online movie data to Amazon and Blockbuster Online.

iMap, as the name suggests, is an online map website.

Etc., etc.

All calculations are done. In the past few months, Yigrete has invested in more than 20 start-up companies. This is not even a project that has been invested and is in operation. Simon's purpose is to take advantage of the frenzied period of the Internet industry that is about to explode in all directions, to maximize the barbaric growth of Eaglet, or to promote the barbaric growth of the entire World Wide Web platform.

Driven by Eaglet, in recent months, the risk capital rushing into the Internet industry has reached billions of dollars. Now in Silicon Valley, as long as you can come up with a set of business solutions that can barely make sense, It can almost easily attract millions or even tens of millions of dollars in investment.

While letting go of the barbarous growth of Igreat, Cisco, AOL, and even the entire Westeros system, Simon is just waiting.

there is always a solution to a problem.

He now has a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars, but his economic strength alone has surpassed the Rockefeller family at its peak that year. The scale of assets controlled by the entire Westeros system is even greater. In addition, whether it is in terms of public opinion platforms or political contacts, Victoria The Strow system already has considerable accumulation, and Simon does not need to be as careful as before.

Next, if someone wants to get involved in the field controlled by the Westeros system, they must either show enough sincerity or show great strength.

If there is neither sincerity nor strength, then go cool.

If possible, Simon certainly hopes that the Westeros system can continue to expand in a low-key and steady manner, unknowingly becoming a giant that everyone can't shake.

However, with the current scale of the Westeros system, keeping a low profile is simply impossible.

In that case, you must show your edge as much as possible.

Anthony used to feel that Simon has a maturity that is not commensurate with his age. This maturity is neither good nor bad. Now, after Simon's words just now, he finally realizes the sharpness and publicity that his brother-in-law kind of young man should have. .

"In this case, surely you won't get the funds for the acquisition of Billiton through the reduction of stock holdings?"

In the initial discussion, Simon mentioned that he might raise the stakes in the acquisition of Billiton through the reduction of the shares of some technology companies held by the Westeros system.

Since Simon's mentality has suddenly changed drastically, he will certainly not take the initiative to reduce his stocks in the near future.

Simon nodded: "The Clinton administration is promoting capital gains tax reform and intends to return to the tiered tax system based on the investment period before the Reagan era. If Eaglet is cashing out now, it will definitely affect the passage of this bill. So, in recent years I intend to obtain all the funds I need through loans. The debt ratio of the Westeros system is still very low, even if it lends another one or two tens of billions of dollars."

After the Reagan tax reform that year, the capital gains tax rate was fixed at 28%.

Simon had paid high taxes in accordance with this tax rate for several consecutive operations in the capital market. In the process of acquiring MCA and Atlantic Bell, he also used this as a bargaining chip in exchange for the federal government to approve the acquisition.

Now that the technology stocks held by Eaglet Corporation continue to rise, if the Westeros system announces a reduction in its holdings, it will be very conspicuous, and it will definitely become an excuse for many people to obstruct the Clinton administration from reforming the capital gains tax.

According to news from Washington, the capital gains tax reform bill will be passed before the midterm elections at the end of next year at the latest.

Once the bill is passed, the capital gains tax will be divided into several tiers according to the investment cycle, with the minimum being about 15% of the investment cycle over 18 months. At that time, the technology stocks that the Westeros system wants to reduce will basically meet the minimum capital gains tax level for the holding time.