King of Hollywood

“To keep expanding," Claude answered without hesitation, "while you always said we should focus primarily on the new media, in fact, we did reap a lot of gains on the new media, it doesn't mean that the traditional media should be complete, even if they're about to disappear - what do you think of the acquisition of The New York Times? ”

“Acquiring The New York Times? Is that necessary?” Adrian, with his hands crossed together, will not be left alone.

“I'm just going to give you an example," Claude waved, "but we can't rely entirely on other people on traditional media channels, and we have to have our own, perhaps whenever we have to. Well, they want to get into the new media, too, so we need to use the market to attract more and more investors, bring more people together, and AC Media has a lot of room to grow, and shareholders will be happy to see that. ”

He delivered a document in his hand to Adrian, saying, "I've spoken to Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and they've come up with an intention to cooperate. ”

“Talked about it?” Adrian finally couldn't sit down, some of them rushed over and turned a few pages, and then lifted up and frowned tightly, "How could I not know? ”

Claude blinked and seemed a little confused: "I told you a few weeks ago, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but it was just a preliminary idea, so I put it off. ”

“This does not seem like a preliminary idea.” Adrian yang the document in his hand.

“Yes, but I've been sending you all the information ever since. You signed it, too.” Claude opened his hand and looked at him with strange eyes, seemingly realizing that he was a little different.

Adrian opened his mouth and didn't say anything, his face got a little ugly. During this time, it was Oscar and a new movie, and then he had to visit the mainland. A lot of things were grass and then handed over to Ivanka for processing.

“I disagree, Claude.” Adrian finally said so.

“Why?” Claude revealed surprised.

“Because…” Adrian sipped his lower lip and took another deep breath, “didn't you notice? Crowe, the situation in the two houses is not very stable, and since last year there has been a failure to repay the mortgage, which the bank still loses when it auctions off the mortgage. ”

“Really?” Claude looked at him with some scepticism and remembered carefully, "Well, I do remember this happening, but it's not common. Aren't you?”

“If it is already widespread, the entire investment climate will deteriorate.” Adrian said immediately, "I remember talking to Eni about something in this area earlier, and it was said that the situation was not very optimistic. ”

“Really?” Claude closed his eyes, "I talked to Donald about it, and he didn't say that, he admitted that there were some problems, but they would soon get better. ”

“But I have heard… that the new century finance company has declared bankruptcy.” Adrian, whose face became uglier, said with all his brains.

“The '95 loan company? It's perfectly normal,” Claude waved, “entirely on loan. And subprime lending is the main business, and it's hard to withstand the big wind, especially in financial terms, which you should understand. I acknowledge that the financial markets have fluctuated more this year than before, but that will not affect us. ”

Adrian couldn't help but cover his forehead and silence for a moment before resolutely saying: “I still hold my view. ”

“Why?” Claude finally frowned. “We're just splitting the listing, the core business is reserved, and the impact on equity is not great, so you don't have to worry about it. ”

“I'm not worried about that.” Adrian's voice couldn't help but be loud, "you know me, Claude, and if I really needed to, I had no objection to the group listing. I'm just worried that this fluctuation will expand and become more intense! I have a bad feeling this fluctuation won't end so easily. ”

“Really? When did you become a financial expert?” Claude wanted to say it in a half-joke tone, but his eyebrows were so high that it looked more ironic.

“Don't you believe me?” Adrian took a deep breath and a flash of angry light flashed in his eyes, "Why? You also admit that my forecasts have always been quite accurate. ”

“Yeah, but that's more or less fact-based,” Claude's tone got a little uncomfortable, "you tell subprime volatility is likely to expand now, well, I admit it does have a certain chance, but that's very small, or in other words, you don't have any slightly strong evidence that this could happen. ”

He paused, hesitated, and he said, "Ed, you're brilliant, we both know that, but why don't you go on? ”

Though he was polite, Adrian heard what he was saying, and then slowly stood up and looked down at Claude with his hands on the desk: "Can't you see, can you really not see, or don't you want to see, Claude? If we need money, there are many ways to finance it, not necessarily to go public! It's an adventure to do this at this time, and if it was 10 years ago, I wouldn't hesitate to respond, as long as it's good for the group, but now we don't need to take any more adventures! ”

“It doesn't really fit to wait, that's the adventure! I am well aware of what I am doing, nothing can be risk-free, as long as it is within affordable boundaries, as long as the harvest is higher than the giving, it is worth doing!” Claude also stood up, blindfolded and looking at Adrian.

“Bearable? Harvest more than pay?” Adrian finally couldn't help laughing, "I'm still that question, Claude, do you not see, or do you not want to see?! ”

“Didn't I see it? Did I not see it, or do you think I didn't?” Claude asked aloud, "I don't understand, Ed, why you've always trusted me and now you're acting like you're a different person. ”

“Of course I trust you, Claude. I trust you as always, but shouldn't you even ask on the phone before you do this?! ”

“Ha, you think your authority has been offended? Because I didn't call you? ”

Both voices were getting higher and more emotional, and at the end of the day they stared at each other, like bulls with red eyes, and nobody let anyone.

After such a moment, Claude said one word at a time: "You know, I could have done it before I told you! ”

That's right. Adrian has been letting this go, so Claude, president and CEO, has a lot of power, and listing this kind of thing can't be stopped if he gets the support of the board. Perhaps Claude wanted to say that it was with respect that he came here to consult Adrian. But Claude forgot, at this point, there's another meaning to this sentence: even if you knew, you couldn't stop me.

So Adrian's face turned iron blue, and the same word for word answered, "You can try it! ”

Claude's face also turned blue. He turned around and left without a word, and then a bang came from the door.

“What happened...” Ivanka hurried in, but just then, Adrian punched him on the table and made a huge “bang”.

Then, whoa, whoa, he swept all the things at the table to the ground, with the eyes of the gorilla open and his mouth breathed.

Ivanka couldn't help but take a step back. But she quickly went forward and grabbed Adrian's arm: "Calm down, Ed. ”

Adrian turned his head and the expression on his face split. Ivanka was about to speak, but he pounced on the table and screamed in pain. Adrian ignored it at all and brutally lifted her skirt. Pull off the stockings and the leggings and hit in without any foreplay.

Ivanka screamed again in agony, but she did not resist or struggle, just bite her lips and leave him behind in violent abuse.

…………

I don't know how long it's been. Ivanka finally woke up and found herself lying on the couch, a coat sitting on her. She sat up reluctantly, sighed a few bites of cool air, pulled the coat open, her shirt was fine, the dress had been ravaged and she could not see, the stockings had broken several large holes, reached out and touched the waist limbs and the inner thighs, the pain immediately came through, I'm afraid there had to be some bruising.

She smiled bitterly, then looked at the figure standing in front of the window, and Adrian, who was only wearing a shirt, held her arm against her back, seemed to be thinking about something.

Ivanka stood up and walked behind him, reaching out and hugging him from behind: "Is it better now? ”

Adrian turned around, lifted her face and looked down into her eyes: "Did I hurt you? ”

“Not bad...” Ivanka laughed.

“I hurt you.” The question became a statement, and the next second he held her in his arms, "I'm sorry, Eni, I'm sorry, but I promise there won't be another time. ”

“It's okay," Ivanka held him tight and seemed to want to embed the whole body, "it was the first time she saw you arguing with Claude... and her best friend arguing, which must have been bad. ”

“Yeah, last good friend, best partner,” Adrian sighed deeply, "so many decades of friendship had a huge crack. ”

“Can I… do something for you?” Ivanka's tone carries a rare, unspeakable tenderness.

“No, no,” Adrian moped her blonde hair, "you've done enough for me, I'll take care of it, believe me. ”

This fight came suddenly, and when he calmed down, Adrian began to reflect, and he seemed to be... allergic. But he really didn't think that Claude wanted the group to go public, and he was still at this juncture.

Holy shit! Adrian wouldn't refuse if he didn't want to at some other time. After all, no media group is not a listed enterprise, and it's not inconceivable to pull in more people with weight. But why now, and have already reached an initial intention to cooperate with the two major investment banks, if it is listed now, three months later...

He didn't realize how he didn't realize… Adrian was bored every time he thought of it here. Well, Claude didn't realize it was actually normal, and the uncertainty of financial volatility wasn't necessarily visible to even those who manipulated it in the back. Just like Soros in '99, he thought the IT bubble would rupture at that time, so he put a lot of money into it and lost a lot of money.

On the other hand, if Claude hadn't anticipated the timing of a subprime mortgage outflow, it would be unlikely that someone would push behind the scenes. As noted above, the uncertainty of financial volatility is almost impossible to predict perfectly, and even if interest rates were to be cut from the Fed, one would know sooner or later, but not exactly when, you know. Adrian was going to take this opportunity to make another buck.

So it's no wonder that Adrian reacted so violently when he heard that Claude was going to go on the market again this time - or that it was just one reason, but that Adrian's instinct to maintain his authority was probably another.

Yes, as I said more than a decade ago, there is almost no two-core company that can grow into a large group. Basically, one person is the main and one person is the auxiliary. Adrian chose the latter, but at the same time used various means. For example, publish some forward-looking information to add weight to yourself.

He and Claude have been working closely together for a long time, and a lot of things will be discussed and paid for in advance, so the AC media industry has grown step by step to today's scale. But now all of a sudden, with no preparation at all, Claude offered to list the group, and everything was due only to the East Wind. Not to mention Adrian, any chairman of the board would be uncomfortable.

With Adrian accustomed to taking responsibility for the big direction, the pattern of details being given to Claude, suddenly faced with a situation where the other person had to plug what he didn't want, instinct was to preserve himself.

Then again, at this time, on the eve of a calamity doomed to come. Several factors were intertwined, and Adrian would not agree in any way, so arguments could not be avoided.

He couldn't convince Claude, even if he sat in this position for so many years. There was also considerable knowledge of finance, but it was always worse than Claude's. Although it was a good discussion with him in the past, he was persuaded to accept his opinions several times, but it was on the premise that he had done his homework, and now Adrian was only temporarily able to find unconvincing information. Even the new century finance company that came to mind was quickly refuted by Claude, so the dispute escalated.

In fact, neither of them had ever had a dispute before, but they would all end up with a limited compromise from one of them. But today it is unclear why, even in the face of Adrian's strong opposition, Claude refused to give up, eventually leading to a loss of control.

Damn... well, I'm going to take a lot of responsibility. That's what Adrian thought after reflection. If he could have been more careful than focusing too much on other aspects, seen Claude's paper on preparations for the launch in advance, and even warned Ivanka, he wouldn't be so passive today.

But, strangely enough, I just couldn't stay calm. Why would Claude be so impulsive? This is indeed a problem, unfortunately it is difficult to get an answer now. After a big fight that day, neither of them answered the phone in the last few days. Even when they met, they nodded coldly with a bandaged face.

This is not a good thing, anyway, AC Media can kill a path in the media industry and achieve the scale of what it is today, and it has a considerable relationship with Adrian and Claude's intimate and complementary cooperation, which no one else can repeat. Now that there is a rift between the two, coupled with the imminent subprime mortgage crisis, if the relationship cannot be remedied, it will inevitably have a serious impact on the AC media.

Besides, Adrian and Claude are not without feelings, either from another third of their souls or after more than a decade of hard work, Claude is indeed Adrian's most sincere friend, brother and best friend, and he absolutely does not want to lose him.

So a few days later, Adrian, who had calmed down completely, figured Claude should have thought about it, and went to his office on his own initiative.

“Hi, Claude.” Sitting behind the desk, Adrian took the lead in saying hello.

“Hi, Ed.” Claude stopped what was in his hand and nodded to him.

Then… a long silence, both sitting like this, looking at each other from time to time without talking.

Finally, Adrian spoke voluntarily: “I apologize to you, Claude, I was really impulsive that day, and I should... be calmer. ”

“Me too," Claude nodded again, "If I had a little control over my emotions… perhaps there would have been no argument. ”

“But I won't give up,” Adrian said immediately, "and I still don't think this is a good time to go on the market, and I want you to wait at least three more months. ”

Claude held his lips silent, and then there was a prolonged silence, and Adrian couldn't speak any more, and he wouldn't have promised to let the group go on the market at this point in time, and secondly... he couldn't have spontaneously said something like, "We can have detailed discussions," because that means weakness. Whether or not Claude is going to get the hang of it, Adrian, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board, can't talk like that at this time.

For a long time, Claude finally said, "Well, let's take a step back. I'm not looking for a company to go public, but I need to finance it in a tier one market. ”

Though it wasn't what Adrian wanted, it was at least much better than the market, and Claude was right, and it took one step at a time, so he didn't refuse: “I think I can do it. ”