Hollywood Hunter

Genius remember the address of this site for one second: (Vertex Chinese), the fastest update! No ads! The Hearst family mansion is not far from Simon’s manor, less than five minutes’ drive, Simon and Janet arrived at the destination Ground.

It was also a small manor, the car stopped just in front of a quaint villa, and the waiter quickly stepped forward and opened the door.

Simon and his wife got off the bus and could already see the luxuriant figure in the lobby of the villa.

However, there was no host outside the villa except the waiters to greet guests.The two looked at each other, and Janet smiled and leaned over to whisper: "It may be intentional."

Simon saw that a guest car had been escorted by the waiter to the parking space, and there were guests coming behind, so he did not stay outside the door, shrugged his shoulders slightly, and led Janet directly to the villa. .

The two stepped into the door of the villa and looked around.

At this time in the hall, there were probably more than 20 guests gathered together in groups of three to five, and there were many faces that Simon knew, such as the mayor of New York, David Dingkins, who discovered the appearance of the Simons at a glance.

Since the Hirst family is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, it is not surprising that David Dingkins is here.

Simon did not see the figure of the host, saw David Dingkins and the few people who had just chatted with him, and smiled and greeted him.

David Dingkins also came with his wife. The two greeted the Simon couple and introduced a husband and wife to him: "Simon, this is the chairman of Solomon Brothers John Gutford Mr. Lund and his wife Lisa."

Solomon Brothers is a famous Wall Street investment bank in the same era as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.To be precise, the current Salomon Brothers is stronger than Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Of course, this is only now.

Simon reached out and shook hands with John Gutfrend: "Nice to meet you, John."

"Hello, Simon, I look forward to seeing you long ago." John Gutfrend also showed great enthusiasm, let go of Simon's hand, and shook Janet again, saying: "Hello, West Mrs. Lowe."

Janet shook hands with Gut Frende and smiled: "Just call me Janet."

After everyone talked about it, David Dingkins looked around: "I remember William was here just now."

John Gutfrend suddenly seemed to notice this, and looked around, and then said: "It seems that Tom Murphy arrived, and they went to the next door."

Tom Murphy is the chairman of the Metropolitan/ABC Group.

Simon can roughly guess what Hirst and Murphy are going to talk about. It doesn't matter: "I'll just wait. John and David, what are you just talking about?"

David Dingkins did not continue the topic just now. The Hearst family can neglect the young super rich. He does not have such capital, saying: "Oh, about the "new world order" that the President has been promoting recently. Plan, Simon, what do you think of this?"

Before Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait at the end of July, the US ambassador to Baghdad personally promised Saddam that the United States would not interfere in the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait.

However, when Iraq succeeded in occupying Kuwait, the Bush administration immediately forgot its promise. Not only did it quickly launch the'Desert Shield' plan to confront the Iraqi army within a week of the outbreak of the Kuwait War, then Bush began lobbying himself at the United Nations The "New World Order" plan called on the United States and European countries to maintain the stability of the world oil market, send troops to the Middle East, expel Iraqi troops from Saudi Arabia and further destroy the Saddam regime.

At this time, other guests in the lobby found Simon and came over. He heard David Dingkins mentioning the war in the Middle East. For a time, he temporarily dismissed the idea of ​​greeting Simon, and listened to what the young man would say.

Cersei Capital has relied on the operation of the crude oil futures market for the past six months to make extraordinary huge profits,

Simon glanced lightly at the crowd and said, "I think this war is probably inevitable."

Another guest in the surrounding crowd couldn't help but ask: "So, Simon, do you think oil prices will continue to rise?"

In the recent period, the international crude oil price has been close to $40 a barrel, basically reaching the highest point in Simon’s memory.

"There should be some further increases, but I heard that the White House is planning to open federal crude oil reserves to stabilize oil prices, and a plan may be finalized in the near future."

Simon’s remarks were entirely in the recent newspaper news, so some people retorted: "It is said that there are only 20 million barrels. If you calculate it based on the federal daily consumption of millions of barrels of crude oil, you can’t even support it for a week."

"The key is to stabilize the situation," Simon shrugged. "And, I haven't paid much attention to this matter recently."

The crowd continued to test a few more words, but they were disappointed that they could not get any useful information from Simon.

Simon doesn't have the kind of vain impulse to show off after being surrounded, and, although only a few words, he has actually revealed some useful information. Intuitively keen listeners will certainly be able to discover two of them.

First, war is inevitable. Second, Simon no longer focuses on the crude oil futures market.Those who are interested can arrange according to the previous point. As for the second point, Simon has stopped paying attention to this matter, which obviously proves that it is not feasible to continue to speculate in the crude oil market.

In recent months, countless global crude oil futures brokerage companies, energy companies’ securities departments, and hedge funds that have misdirected before the war have closed down because of huge losses. Crude oil futures trading has dropped to a freezing point, and it is impossible for the market to continue in the short term. Reactivated, so it is difficult to carry out large-scale hedging arbitrage.

However, probably even those who discovered these two points will first consider the credibility of Simon's remarks before incorporating them into their own will.

Just like the previous operation of the crude oil futures market and the operation of the Japanese financial market, there are not many people who can hear Cersei Capital’s operating methods, but no one has been able to obtain the same huge profits as Cersei Capital. The reason is that too many people believe in their own judgments more than they follow others' actions.

Even if the other party has created a series of miracles, some people will always think, maybe this time some guy will plant a big head.

Cersei Capital was able to build a tens of billions of dollars long when the price of crude oil was still falling rapidly. Other hedge funds took into account the risks. Even if they follow up, they will often reduce the position ratio and reduce the leverage to avoid risks as much as possible. , The results can be imagined.

Simon continued to chat with David Dingkins and others for a few minutes, and finally a middle-aged man with some baldness appeared. It was William Hirst III, the third generation head of the Hirst family.

Coming to Simon, William Hirst III looked at the young man in front of him and explained with an apologetic smile: "I'm so sorry, Simon, I was just talking to Tom about something."

Because of the slightly obese body shape and the easy smile on his face, William Hirst III is hard to give a heir to a century-old media heir.

Simon also smiled sincerely, shaking hands with each other and saying, "It's okay, Mr. Hirst."

William Hirst III continued to say hello to Janet, and introduced the 60-year-old man in a black suit beside him, who said: "Simon, and Janet, this is Tom Murphy."

Simon and Janet greeted the chairman of the Metropolis/ABC Group.

After greeting, William Hirst III smiled and asked everyone, "What are you talking about?"

So a group of people talked about the topic just now.

However, just after a few words, a waiter came over and said a few words in the ear of William Hirst III. The middle-aged people said to everyone: "I'm sorry, I need to leave. Let's talk first. "

The wait staff didn't deliberately lower their voices. Everyone actually heard Mr. Buffett's arrival whispering.

Seeing William Hirst III greeted him with Tom Murphy, many people subconsciously fell on Simon.

If Hurst III had just appeared after a few minutes, it was barely justifiable, and now this kind of undisguised treatment is not only described as rude.The host was so negligent that Simon wouldn’t be too much even if he left immediately.

Probably because of the life of the two generations, Simon discovered very early that he had a lack of emotion and was very indifferent to many things.Moreover, this indifference seems to have a more serious tendency as his wealth and status continue to accumulate.

Although he knew he should be angry at this time, William Hirst III’s just neglect did not really cause much negative emotions in Simon’s heart. He was just curious. Since the Hirst family invited themselves tonight, it should be With good intentions, you shouldn’t be so rude.

Or, William Hirst III did not think it was a kind of rudeness.

For a super media family that even the American president dare not easily provoke, the Hirst family does have such arrogant confidence.

Just a moment later, William Hirst III and Tom Murphy returned again, and there was also an old man with a medium tousled hair, who was the head of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett.

Seeing the three of them approaching and laughing, Simon also took the initiative to step forward.

Without waiting for Simon to speak, Janet next to him said this time: "Hi, Warren, do you remember me?"

Janet's sudden opening made Simon, Hearst III, and Murphy all a little surprised. Hirst III, who was smiling all the time, frowned inconspicuously.

Simon was puzzled for a moment, and soon remembered some of the past events that Catherine had said about Janet occasionally a few years ago. The woman seemed to be very kind when she was attending Columbia University.

Warren Buffett looked at Janet carefully and smiled, "I remember, you are the little girl at Columbia University."

Janet turned his head against Simon’s shoulder and said, “I am Mrs. Westeros now. Look at my man, Warren. Do you still think that your investment theory is not Grande’s saving gold coins?”

"Hello, Simon," Buffett stepped forward and shook hands with Simon, continuing to say to Janet: "I really didn't expect you to marry Westeros, but according to my observations in recent years, Simon's rise is in full pace I can only use miracles to describe it. I don’t think I can create miracles, so I’ll slowly accumulate gold coins."

William Hirst III said at this moment: "Warren, do you know?"

Warren Buffy has a characteristic head, and the tone is still funny, saying: "Yes, this... Mrs. Westeros, I was a speech at Columbia University, but she was ruthlessly ruthless."

"Oh, this is a coincidence."

Everyone laughed a few words, Buffett and Murphy probably had something to talk about and took the initiative to go elsewhere.

William Hirst III was idle and seemed to finally remember and said to Simon: "Oh, Simon, let me introduce some guests to you."

Simon naturally answered.

The Hirst family has accumulated a hundred years of history, and it is displayed in a small party. The villa that appears in this villa tonight is basically a big-headed figure in the US political and business circles. In the process of entertainment, There are also constantly guests arriving.

Finally, I talked to a member of Congress who was said to be interested in restricting foreign investors from acquiring US companies. Simon and Hearst III stepped aside, and Janet had just taken the initiative to avoid it.

"Meroth will probably submit his bill in conjunction with several other lawmakers next month. We really can't let the Japanese continue to buy our country's assets. It happens that this should help you acquire MCA, Panasonic. It is a concern that the acquisition may be rejected by the Ministry of Justice, and it is certainly not for you."

"I hope so."

Hearst III directly determined that Simon was interested in acquiring MCA, and he did not deny that, but Simon did not show too much interest in the proposal of the MP.

In the United States, there have been calls for preventing Japanese companies from acquiring American companies in recent years. However, due to the openness of the US capital market, Simon does not feel that such a bill can be promulgated. There is indeed no relevant bill in memory. Hollywood belongs to the entertainment industry, and the Ministry of Justice also It is impossible to exercise the veto power under the pretext of'national security'.

William Hirst III saw that Simon was not enthusiastic about this, and turned to the topic: "About the 20% stake in ESPN, Simon, Metropolis/ABC and Hearst Group were originally very good partners, we The two parties hold shares of each other and can play a better complementary role. Moreover, you should know that Metropolis/ABC not only has the veto power on the purchaser of this equity, even if you buy it, you will not have any right to speak, so, I hope you can quit. Well... maybe we can have other opportunities for cooperation in the future."

Although he had already planned to give up the 20% of ESPN shares, listening to Hearst III was just a blank check and wanted to withdraw from the competition, Simon was no longer polite, saying: "Actually, William, there is now a good Cooperation opportunities."

William Hirst III paused and immediately showed an expression of interest: "Tell me."

"I started an internet company in Silicon Valley that provides Internet information services. You may have heard of it, named Igret. It happens that the San Francisco Chronicle is also in San Francisco, and I hope Igret can get from the "San Francisco Chronicle" "Get some news content."

William Hearst III's face showed obvious hesitation.

"San Francisco Chronicle" is a very important newspaper under the Hearst Group. Its status on the West Coast is second only to the "Los Angeles Times", which can bring tens of millions of dollars in profits to the Hearst Group every year.Moreover, the competition between American paper media platforms is largely the competition of exclusive news. Share the news content of the San Francisco Chronicle with Igrid. If it is other time, William Hirst III will definitely immediately Refuse.

However, William Hirst III also understood at this time that this is probably the bargaining chip proposed by Westeros to withdraw from ESPN equity competition.

Recalling the discussion with Tom Murphy at the beginning of the party, contacting Simon's request at this time, William Hirst III couldn't help but feel a little more dissatisfied with the young man in front of him.

Speaking of that, the Hearst Group learned about Reynolds Nabesk’s upcoming sale of ESPN shares earlier than Simon, but just before it was time to make a final decision, Westeros worked with Metropolis/ABC and Reynolds. Nabisco launched communication on the shares.

The Hirst Group executives originally thought that in the absence of other competitors, if they want to buy this equity, they can probably reduce the price to less than 170 million U.S. dollars. After all, not many investors will take 20% of the shares that completely lack the right to speak. Interested.

However, because of Westero's sudden foray into the market, the quotation is now less than $200 million, and Reynolds Nabsk is simply not willing to sell.

The reason why Hirst Group wants to buy these shares is mainly because of a tax relief agreement obtained after the sale of part of the Group's cable TV assets in the first half of the year. The agreement stipulates that Hirst Group will buy another cable of the same type within one year Television assets can be exempted from the income tax payable on the last asset sale.

The 20% share price of ESPN TV increased from the expected US$170 million to US$200 million, which has completely offset the tax relief of less than US$20 million in the tax relief agreement. This is also after the arrival of Hirst III in Simon today. I can't help but hang him.

Now, the young man has even raised the bargaining chip that he wants to withdraw from the competition.

After considering for a moment, William Hirst III still did not directly refuse. If Westeros cannot withdraw from the transaction as soon as possible and continue to entangle it, the news spread that the 20% share price will only be fired higher: " Simon, I need to think about this matter carefully."

Simon raised the red wine in his hand to Hearst III and said, "Of course, no problem, William, I happen to be in New York for a few days, and I look forward to hearing your good news."