Chapter 1009 Premiere
Eric said: "According to what I have noticed recently, after the second round of harvesting in Southeast Asia in the first half of the year, major hedge funds have shifted their targets to the ruble. Once the ruble falls, outside Southeast Asia, Russia is the last The emerging economies in recent years will also be destroyed, the European economy will be stagnant, the US dollar will start the interest rate hike cycle again, the Nasdaq market will be booming, and where will the trillions of capital withdrawn from Southeast Asian countries go? There doesn't seem to be any suspense. Nasdaq 2000 is just the beginning, in my opinion."
As the president of Morgan Stanley, John Mark naturally has a very deep insight into the world economic situation. He also understands why Eric mentioned the ruble at this time.
Although he is also very optimistic about the future of technology stocks, at this time, John Mark retorted: "Eric, this is just your opinion, many people just think that the Russian economy is recovering and it is a very good investment target. As far as I know, Mr. Soros has invested a large portion of his Southeast Asian earnings in Russian stocks and bonds. The Nasdaq has generally reached unsustainable earnings multiples for tech stocks, which is much more Any previous bull market has been crazy, and we're taking a lot of risk by buying AOL stock now."
Eric knew about his big investment in Russia when he met with Soros last year, and he discussed it with Soros at the time.
However, Eric didn't intend to convince John Mark, but said: "John, this is my attitude. I don't plan to make any concessions on the AOL stock transfer price. You only have one month, a A month later, Firefly Investments will start the process of publicly reducing its holdings. I believe that AOL's share price will rise to a higher level in the next month, and maybe the market value will break through US$50 billion. Although AOL's price-earnings ratio is indeed a bit high, he The revenue and growth rate of Firefly has been excellent, the company remains a worthy investment target for many investors, and I am not worried that no one will buy the stock that Firefly is selling."
"But, Eric, what you do is not good for everyone. Firefly Investment's shareholding is too huge. Even if you reduce your holdings by 1% every month, it will take three years. Only we have enough strength to take you The stock in hand is inherited.”
The Internet bubble can last for less than two years at most. Eric never thought of reducing AOL's stock holdings, and he didn't plan to really sell it to the secondary market.
He is now comparing himself with other AOL shareholders who were the first to concede.
If AOL's stock price starts to fall, it's naturally impossible for other shareholders to easily agree to Eric's request, but the current situation is that the stock price has been rising all the way. The higher the stock price rises, in order to keep the profits already obtained
The more likely it is that other shareholders will lose their grip first.
John Mark and Eric discussed again and again for more than half an hour. Seeing that Eric was firm, he had to leave in disappointment.
After seeing off John Mark, Eric and the twins said hello and went upstairs alone, planning to take a shower first.
He was a family lover in his bones, and in a familiar environment, Eric naturally relaxed a lot, lying in the large bathtub in the bathroom of the Shell Villa, soaking for a long time unconsciously, and even a little drowsy.
The bathroom door was suddenly pushed open, and a girl wearing a light blue t-shirt and white slacks burst in with a smile, and jumped into the big bathtub without taking off her clothes. kiss.
Eric indulgently allowed the girl to be presumptuous for a while, feeling that the girl nibbled on his neck like a small beast after the kiss, and then reached out and took off some light clothes on the girl and left them aside. .
After a while, holding a soft and slender body in his arms, and his skin was touching, Eric turned his neck to the side, smiled and said softly: "Okay, don't chew any more, there is a mark on the neck. Let me meet people.
"
The girl seemed to have an epiphany suddenly, and her thin white neck came to Eric's mouth: "Eric, give me a bite."
Eric ducked and said, "Don't bite, if you turn into a vampire, my identity will be exposed and I will be burned to death."
"Haha," the girl laughed for a while, feeling that Eric had a reaction, and didn't care if he was in the bathtub, and sat up regardless, but then his body was soft on Eric's body, and he snorted like a kitten. : "Eric, I miss you so much."
Eric hugged the girl's waist and said, "I miss you too."
After leaving New York half a month ago, Eric has never had a woman again. At this time, holding the same emotional girl, the two of them tossed heartily for a long time. After changing their clothes and going downstairs, it was already eight o'clock in the evening, and the twins were already ready. Good dinner.
Instead of eating at the restaurant, the two set a small table beside the terrace swimming pool, sitting opposite each other, with the cool breeze of the summer night in Los Angeles, chatting about what happened recently while eating.
"I went to Washington last week, and it was hilarious to see Mr. President swear in court that nothing happened to him and that intern. Several people around me almost laughed out loud."
During this period of time, the most lively current event that has attracted the attention of the whole people is undoubtedly the zipper door. In order to win the seats in the mid-term elections of the US Senate and the Senate, Clinton's political enemies seized this matter and pursued it fiercely. extraordinary.
However, listening to the girl's schadenfreude appearance, Eric put down the red wine in his hand, picked up the knife and fork, and couldn't help laughing at the same time: "You are so boring, you went to Washington to watch the president's jokes. "
"I'm not that free. It's because of the TV station license. We plan to add a sub-channel to e! Entertainment."
Eric smiled unabated, and said, "Then you shouldn't watch the president's jokes. Be careful that he wears small shoes for us."
"No, Amy said that now is the best time to apply for a photo shoot. The president needs support at this time. How dare you offend us."
With the integration of American media groups, Hollywood's power is also growing stronger. If you can have a good relationship with Hollywood, no politician will do the opposite.
Eric just smiled and nodded, stopped mentioning the matter, and instead asked: "How is the midnight pre-sale of "Charlie's Angels 3"?"
The girl knew why Eric asked this, and said: "It is estimated that it can exceed 10 million US dollars. It is definitely no problem to exceed "The Matrix 2". The "Matrix 2" fell by 53% this weekend. Zhou's "Charlie's Angels 3" is not a threat."
Eric just came back in the afternoon, and he still doesn't know the box office data of last weekend. However, listening to the girl say that, my heart is completely relaxed.
This week, only one of Disney's low-cost comedy films, "Born To Be", will be released. It can be said that it will not have any impact on "The Matrix 2", but the decline of this film is still more than 50%. It is conceivable that the next For Charlie's Angels, The Matrix 2's drop is only uglier.
After all, it is a series from the Firefly Group, and Eric is not too gloating. Even Katzenberg privately asked Eric if he wanted to do something to limit the announcement of "The Matrix 2", but Eric refused. .
The next day was Wednesday. Perhaps because of John Mark's rejection by Eric, some AOL shareholders took into account the impact of the large-scale public reduction of Firefly Investments on the stock price, so they couldn't help but choose to move ahead. Sell to cash out.
However, the management headed by Steve Case and his supporters also chose to enter the market to maintain the stock price. After the sharp drop at the opening in the morning, the stock price was quickly pulled up again.
After a whole day of volatility, as of the close, AOL's share price still managed to maintain a high of $261.33, and its market value remained above $43 billion.
By Thursday, although AOL's stock price was still volatile throughout the day's trading, by the end of the day, the stock price was very strong and rose again by 1.6%.
During the whole process, although all the media still paid the most attention to the reaction of Firefly Investment, the largest shareholder, since Chris and the three announced their resignation from the board of directors of AOL at the press conference last week, the senior management of Firefly System has never given any comments to AOL. express any public opinion.
Even the news about AOL released by the media under the Firefly System is basically a well-known press release.
However, there is no airtight wall in the world, and although most of the people who participated in the video conference last week tried their best to hide the news that Firefly Investment was trying to reduce its 10% stake in AOL at one time, the relevant information was inevitably leaked. , but there is no official confirmation, the regular media have chosen a cautious attitude and did not report it publicly.
As for the Internet platform with the most free information dissemination, the first two of the three major Internet portals happen to be the 'parties'. Neither Yahoo nor AOL can allow similar news to spread freely, so there is no storm.
After the contact between John Mark and Eric failed, all parties also fell into a temporary stalemate and wait-and-see state.
Eric gradually put aside the influence of the AOL incident, returned to Los Angeles, and checked the rough cut effect of Joss Whedon on "Iron Man", and Eric began to officially prepare for "Gravity". " start shooting.
From now to its release at the end of next year, although there will be a full year of time, "Gravity" will involve a large number of new shooting and special effects technologies, and also take into account the promotion of 3D and imax projection forms. A year and a half is not easy at all.
However, before that, Eric will first attend the premiere of "Charlie's Angels 3" in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Last year's "007 Casino Royale" officially opened the assembly of the MGM Secret Service Cinematic Universe and after its great success, as the first secret agent cinematic universe movie after "007 Casino Royale", "Charlie's Angels 3" brought together The strong expectation of countless fans of the three special agent series.
Although it has the shallowest foundation among the three series and is a naturally disadvantaged female action film, after several years of comprehensive and careful operation, the popularity of the "Charlie's Angels" series is not weaker than the other two.
Even, because Eric designed a very perfect story background for "Charlie's Angels" from the very beginning, through the surrounding comics and other forms, the three protagonists' related story branches have brought a series of foreshadowings that fans are talking about. Unconsciously, it has gathered the attention of fans, making the core fan group of the "Charlie's Angels" series far more than the other two.
"Mission: Impossible" series actor Kevin Costner will also appear in the film.
After "Dancing With Wolves" that year, most of Kevin Costner's works outside the "Mission Impossible" series ended in failure, and the box office fiasco of "Future Water World" even almost destroyed his acting career. The recent replacement of Mel Gibson in "Patriot" is also not sullen, which makes Kevin Costner more and more aware of the importance of "Mission: Impossible" to him.
Eric's strong stance last year during the Pierce Brosnan salary negotiation process has also made Kevin Costner less aggressive in salary negotiations and his participation in the Agents movie universe crossover.
In this "Charlie's Angels 3", Kevin Costner only took $5 million.
Although the other party also insisted that his role in this film should not exceed five minutes, this is enough to completely connect the three series.
At the same time, the production budget of "Charlie's Angels 3" has not only reached the highest of the three series so far, 160 million US dollars, but the scale of the film's announcement is even stronger. It is just that GM will jointly promote its Buick brand and "Charlie's Angels 3". With an advertising budget of $100 million, MGM's own advertising budget has reached $50 million. In total, the total production and distribution scale of the film is close to $300 million, even more than that of "Titanic" three years ago.
Buick is undoubtedly the most successful advertising partner brand of "Charlie's Angels 3".
Although a $100 million brand co-advertising budget was invested this time, and a record-breaking $30 million in advertising expenses was paid to MGM in the early stage, as a Volkswagen brand with annual sales of more than 2 million units worldwide, Buick gets more than it pays for.
Just the same Buick sports car of "Charlie's Angels", which was launched last year for young people with a price of about 30,000 to 50,000 US dollars, has exceeded 160,000 units in annual sales. This alone has added more than 6 billion US dollars to GM. Turnover.
According to an article published in Business Week magazine, in recent years, the "Charlie's Angels" franchise has brought direct economic benefits to Buick equal to 12 times the profits of the films to MGM. The potential brand value-added effect is limitless.
In recent years, several major automakers in Europe and Asia have tried to compete for this brand implantation opportunity, and the price offered is not lower than Buick, but out of careful consideration in various aspects, MGM chose to refuse.
The Los Angeles premiere of "Charlie's Angels 3" started at five o'clock in the afternoon, but since the day before, a large number of fans have gathered near the China Grand Theater.
By Thursday afternoon, the hundreds of meters of streets near the theater were already crowded with frenzied crowds, and Eric was shocked when he got off the car at the red carpet entrance with the girl himself.