Hollywood Hunter

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

Veronica is here to send the little guys, and the Simons intend to take Melbourne for a while.

Anthony Johnston is for the problem of BHP Billiton acquisition.

Probably because of the release of the latest "Forbes" rich list today, a reporter's figure appeared outside the Dumei Cape Manor. Simon's car entered the gate, and a flash of light appeared around it. Some reporters also tried to step forward and shoot at the car window. It's just that there is no gain under one-way glass block.

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

Simon got off the bus and greeted Anthony: "Tony, how are you doing?"

"Not bad," Anthony and Simon hugged and patted him on the shoulder after loosening, laughing: "And, congratulations, the world's first billion-dollar billionaire."

"Thank you," Simon smiled and entered the villa with Anthony, asking: "Where are they?"

"It's all inside."

The two said, under the guidance of the greeted Indian girl, they went to a showroom on the east side of the villa hall.

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

As soon as I approached the showroom, I heard an irregular "clank" sound. When I entered the door, I found that a little guy was lying on the stage supporting the flaming guitar used by Simon at the Madonna concert. Move the strings and have fun.

Now of course no flames spew out.

Janet and Veronica stood by and found Simon coming in. Veronica took the reluctant little boy up from the platform, hesitated a little, and placed it on the floor again, crouching gently Pushing the child towards Simon, said: "Moore, Dad is back, call Dad."

Because of the frequent video calls, Melbourne looked at Simon’s small expression, but it was no stranger, but it was obviously not cold to the guy in front of him. After a few eyes, he turned and drilled into Veronica’s arms again. The small hand pointed again. Refers to the flaming guitar next to it.

The little guy approached, Veronica almost instinctively hugged the child, and then gave Simon a careful look. She knew that Simon did not like to hold 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 for a moment with big eyes and small eyes, and were not moved by the pitiful little expression of the little guy's tears, and soon handed it to Isabel and Zoe next to them. The maid said, "Take him out to play." Seeing Isabel also had to hug the little guy, he added: "No hugs, he can walk by himself."

Everyone watched the little guy together while pleading for help from Veronica with pitiful eyes, while Isabelle walked out with her small hand, and waited for the child to leave the showroom, Janet finally laughed and took Veronica's arm Yue could not support it: "Moore is very clever, knowing who is the devil here."

Veronica looked at the door anxiously and whispered, "Mor is still young."

"It's not too small, I will be two years old in a few months," Janet said, and took her aunt out, saying: "We're going to prepare lunch, rest assured, Isa and Zoe will take care of the children. . By the way, Simon, is A coming back, I still 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. When Aaliya brought coffee in and left, Anthony said: "Aunt is indeed too fond of Moore, 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 was it like when you were a kid?"

Anthony froze and shook his head bitterly, "I don't remember much when Moore was so old. But, from the beginning of the memo, Dad was very strict with me and Norman. At that time, Grandpa was still there, too. Uh, Probably since Jane, I haven’t managed much,

Simon shook his head slightly and said honestly: "I won't teach children, this will be mainly Jenny's thing in the future. However, I think they should let them know that this world is not responsive to them, they should know how to give, how to converge, to us For such a family, I think this is very important."

Anthony said with a little joke: "I just thought that you might be envious of Moore."

Simon froze for a moment, without a word, and picked up the coffee beside him.

Anthony soon realized that he was a bit speechless, and changed the subject: "This time 58list, although Igret has the upper hand, should follow-up be troublesome?"

Simon quickly forgot what he had just said and nodded: "In the future, the relationship with the paper media will be somewhat rigid."

"Dad is also paying attention to this matter recently, and he asked me to tell you not to open a similar website over Australia."

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

The situation in Australia and North America is different.

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

Even with the increasing awareness of the threat of Internet media, the number is too large, and the paper media community will eventually be unable to twist a rope against Igret.

Moreover, the more than 20 million active users in the Igrid portal in a single day mean that even if someone wants to besiege, Simon also has the power to fight back.In this 58list event, the paper media is fierce, but in terms of public opinion, Internet users are basically on the side of the Internet under the guidance of the Igreat portal.

Australia is different.

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

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

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

If Igret Australia branch also launches classified information advertising business over there, News Corporation and Fairfax Group will definitely join forces to siege Igrit, which means that the entire Australian media will work simultaneously, even if Simon is not afraid of this kind of confrontation, but the fact that several parties have turned into enemies from their original allies is really worth the loss.

Speaking of which, even if Igrid does not open a classified information website in Australia and has references to the North American side, there will certainly be someone who has developed similar projects there.

But this has nothing to do with Igrid.

Anthony was relieved that Simon had no such plan.

The recent merger plan of BHP Billiton has been promoting. If the Australian media fell to the ground through public opinion and obstructed, then the Johnston family would not even want to complete this acquisition.

Thinking about it like this, Anthony asked again: "The film promotion work of Daenerys Entertainment should also rely heavily on traditional paper media. How do you plan to deal with it?"

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

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

Many cases have proved that word-of-mouth influences the box office of a movie is not so important, the key is still popularity.

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

In the current film distribution process, the most popular channel for popularization has shifted to TV commercials.

There is not much conflict of interest between the Internet media and the TV industry, so don't worry too much about this.What's more, within a few years, Daenerys Entertainment will also complete its own layout of the TV network.

Confirming that Simon has his own considerations on these matters, Anthony no longer said more, and instead said: "Before I came, Dad told me to tell you that the Westeros system is now too large. Some things should be let go. It’s time to let go. Many people just didn’t respond. Now, they find that the benefits of the Internet industry are getting bigger and bigger, and they won’t allow you to monopolize it.” Anthony said, laughing again, saying: “Actually, Dad also sees You have been trying to give up benefits to avoid risks, but this is not enough. Just like the 10% Igrid company shares transferred last time, it is difficult to satisfy the appetite of those old capitals."

"I also know," Simon said: "So, I don't plan to let it go any longer."

"Ok."

"Since no matter how much I take out, there will inevitably be people who are dissatisfied, then they will not give it at all," Simon said. grab."

Anthony froze for a moment, and after a while he understood, "This 58list?"

Simon nodded: "In the past two years, Igrid has proposed a plan for classified information websites. I understand that this plan will launch an important business that will impact traditional paper media. I have been pressing it. Now I don’t plan to press it. Next For a few years, I plan to let Igret and the entire Westeros system begin to grow savagely. All the fields that I can get involved in are taken down. The future, the troubles in the future, I will meet again."

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

The reason why Simon can complete the entire layout of the entire Internet industry chain through Cisco, AOL and Igreat lies in this point, and no one felt wrong at first.The Westero system has invested heavily in pioneering technology, and it is entirely natural to enjoy exclusive rights.

Only when the scale of the Internet industry becomes larger and larger will more and more people feel that they are no longer taking it for granted.

So, even if it has been converged as much as possible, there will always be more and more news about the Westero system's idea of ​​monopolizing the Internet, and Simon does not intend to converge anymore.

58list is just the first project that Igrid has had the most impact on traditional paper media.

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

eBay, an online auction site, was selected from a large number of venture capital projects. Like 58list, the name comes from Simon's personal preference.

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

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

IMDB, the Internet Movie Information Database, and the website were created in 1990 and were recently wholly acquired by Igrid Capital. They continue to maintain a completely 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, just completed 10% equity financing of Eaglet company in the past few months, Eaglet has invested more than 20 start-up companies in succession, which is not counted in the past investment and projects in the operational stage, Simon's purpose is to maximize the brutal growth of Igret, or to promote the brutal growth of the entire World Wide Web platform, while the Internet industry is about to explode in a frenzy period.

Led by Igret, in recent months, the venture capital that has madly poured into the Internet industry has also reached billions of dollars. In the current Silicon Valley, as long as you can come up with a business plan that is barely reasonable, It can almost easily bring in millions or even tens of millions of dollars in investment.

While letting Igrid, Cisco, AOL, and even the entire Westero system grow wildly, the rest of Simon just waited.

there is always a solution to a problem.

He now has a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars, but the economic strength of the Rockefeller family has exceeded that of the peak period of that year. The assets of the Westeros system are even larger. In addition, whether in terms of public opinion platforms or political contacts, the The Stallone 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 strong strength.

If there is neither sincerity nor strength, go cool.

If possible, Simon certainly hopes that the Westeros system will continue to expand in a low-key and steady manner, unwittingly becoming a Big Mac that everyone cannot shake.

However, at the current scale of the Westeros system, it is simply impossible to keep a low profile.

In this case, it is necessary to show their own edge as much as possible.

Anthony always felt that Simon had a maturity that was not commensurate with his age. This kind of maturity was neither good nor bad. Now, after Simon’s remarks, he finally realized the sharpness and publicity that his brother-in-law should have. .

"In this case, you will definitely not obtain the funds from the acquisition of BHP Billiton through the reduction of shares?"

In the initial discussion, Simon talked about the possibility of raising the acquisition of BHP Billiton by reducing the shares of some technology companies held by the Westeros system.

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

Simon nodded: "The Clinton administration is pushing for capital gains tax reforms and intends to return to the tiered tax system based on the investment period before the Reagan era. If Igrid now cashes out, it will definitely affect the passage of this bill. So, in recent years The funds I need are all obtained through loans. The debt ratio of the Westeros system is still very low. Even lending another 12 billion US dollars is no problem."

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

Simon's operation in the capital market several times in succession paid high taxes in accordance with this tax rate. During the acquisition of MCA and Atlantic Bell, he also used this as a bargaining chip in exchange for the federal government's approval of the acquisition.

Now that the technology stocks held by Eaglet continue to rise, the Westeros system will become very conspicuous if it announces a reduction, and it will definitely become an excuse for many people to obstruct the Clinton government’s reform of capital gains tax.

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

Once the bill is passed, the capital gains tax will be divided into several stages according to the investment cycle, with a minimum of approximately 15% over the 18-month investment cycle.At that time, the Westero system wants to reduce the holdings of technology stocks, and the holding time basically meets the minimum capital gains tax level.