Chapter Five Hundred and Eighty Ninth How to Spend It

Chapter 589

Eric looked at Elizabeth's increasingly surprised expression, smiled and continued to count: "Two years ago, when the federal Internet business was just emerging, I also invested 60 million US dollars in an online service provider called America Online. At that time, the number of Internet users in the Federation was only over one million, and the market share of AOL was only 10%. However, after the explosive growth in the past two years, the number of Internet users in North America is now The size of the company has grown tenfold, and in a recent AOL business report, its Internet services market share has risen to about 20 percent, and Wall Street is valuing it at $1.8 billion."

Elizabeth mentally calculated the results of Eric's $60 million investment, and finally felt that she had found a loophole, interrupted him, and said, "This is impossible, the return on investment in two years is 900%, do you think I will believe it? ?"

"Haven't you discovered it yet?" Eric pinched Elizabeth's dissatisfied face: "A brand new high-tech industry is rapidly emerging, just as operating system software and personal computers in the 1980s created Bill Gates and Like Steve Jobs and a large number of billionaires, under the circumstances of the Clinton administration's implementation of the information superhighway plan, the rise of the Internet industry in the next few years will once again create a large number of corporate giants and billionaires. During the outbreak period, the 900% return on investment in two years is not surprising at all," said here, Eric suddenly remembered the classic line in "The Big Shot", and unconsciously showed a smile, saying: "Also, I feel that the potential of the information industry is far from fully developed, maybe in a few years, if you invest one million dollars in it, add a zero and it will become ten million in a blink of an eye.”

Elizabeth has been in contact with the Internet under the influence of Eric, but she did not care much about the meaning behind these new things before. After Eric pointed it out, she got in touch with some life and work brought about by the Internet in the past two years. changes on. She also somewhat agreed with Eric's words.

"Besides that, I bought a mobile phone company in Europe, and Firefly Software, which was spun off from Firefly Pictures, both of which are doing very well. Totally worth $1.5 billion, sure. .If Chris completes the acquisition of LTD, my interest in it will not be less than 40%, even if it is 800 million, let’s calculate it like this,” Eric thought for a moment. He laughed: "Outside of Hollywood, my wealth is close to 7 billion US dollars, which seems to be a billion more than your family's assets."

Elizabeth stared at Eric's somewhat 'abominable' smiling face for a few seconds before she moved away with a guilty conscience, raised her small fist and slammed Eric's body weakly, as if resentful and resentful: "So much money, See how you spend it!"

Eric watched Elizabeth's originally white face turn red, and with some heart, he leaned over and pressed the girl under him, easily grabbed the restless little hands, and whispered in the girl's ear: "How about you? Come and help me come up with an idea."

Elizabeth tilted her head weakly.

He hummed softly, "I just... um, what does it have to do with me."

Just as he was about to continue to be gentle, Eric's mobile phone on the dresser beside the bed rang very inopportunely, and the two had to separate slightly. Squeeze a few times before.

Eric quickly grabbed the girl's arm and pressed the connect button. Then, the girl's excited little voice sounded on the other end of the phone: "Eric, Eric. We are the richest in the world now. Man, I want to buy a plane!"

Well, Eric couldn't help but sigh in his heart, but this girl knows how to spend money.

Elizabeth was originally a little emotional because of the sudden interruption. Hearing Drew's voice, it's really that the enemy is jealous even if he doesn't meet. Before Eric can speak, he sarcastically said to the microphone: "Can you afford to buy a plane?"

Although Xiao Nizi was a little surprised when she heard Elizabeth's voice, she countered without hesitation: "My man has money, not only can he afford an airplane. He can also afford me, right?"

Elizabeth snatched the mobile phone from Eric's hand and retorted: "It's enough to spend a man's money in vain."

"Haha, I recorded it," Drew on the other side was suddenly a little excited: "If I let this sentence out, housewives all over the world will have a lot of affection for the second lady of the Murdoch family. , then see how you differentiate."

Elizabeth didn't believe that the little girl would record the call just now, and said not to be outdone, "Let it go, if you don't let it go, you are my daughter!"

"If Eric is interested in this kind of PLAY, I don't mind being your daughter," Drew's voice suddenly became greasy. After saying this, Elizabeth's voice just now rang on the other end of the phone. : "...It's really enough to spend a man's money in vain."

Elizabeth had to retort a few words just now, and when she heard the recording on the other end of the phone, she was stunned. What she said just now was really ill-considered. A large number of housewives in the United States do not work, and the whole family depends entirely on her. Husband's income to support himself, if these ambiguous words are revealed, as the daughter of the head of News Corporation, it will definitely cause a wave of public opinion.

Thinking about it, Elizabeth felt a surge of grievances inexplicably. She threw the mobile phone at Eric, and threw herself on the bed. She even pulled a pillow to cover her head and whimpered in a low voice.

Eric reluctantly leaned over and patted Elizabeth, picked up the phone and said to Xiao Nizi, "Don't be ridiculous, delete the recording as soon as possible."

The little girl on the other end of the phone immediately put away her arrogance, giggling and said: "It's been deleted, I just scare her, it's stupid, Eric, what do you think of Boeing 777, Boeing Company The latest wide-body large aircraft, I heard that the maximum size is 240 feet (73 meters), which is similar to the office in the digital field. We are placing an order now, and we will get the first batch next year."

Eric pulled away the pillow that Elizabeth was covering over his head, and let the girl rest on his lap to help her tidy up her messy hair, and at the same time, he deliberately said to the little girl on the other side, "Buy such a big plane. Why, buy a Gulfstream if you want, you can play whatever you want, I don't care."

"No, a small business jet like the Gulfstream is not interesting at all. If we buy a large Boeing 777, we can also modify it. We can add bars, restaurants, bedrooms, home theaters, etc., and we can also have parties on the plane, Ai Rui. K. Just imagine, you invite a large group of beauties, and you are the only man on the plane..."

A man can't help the lure of such a scene. Eric just imagined it for a while, and Elizabeth, who was on his lap, said, "Eric. If you are so messy, I... and Julie. Ya will ignore you again."

Xiao Nizi's voice immediately came from the microphone: "Hey, you can just ignore it yourself. It's better to go back to your Australia, don't drag anyone else, Julia doesn't necessarily agree."

"You little bitch."

"Eric she scolded me."

Eric had to cover the microphone temporarily and whispered to Elizabeth: "Baby, help me prepare breakfast, I'll be right there."

Elizabeth stood up angrily, and added: "You are not allowed to buy planes."

Eric nodded quickly: "Okay. I promise not to buy it."

It is very common for wealthy Westerners to own private jets. Even if Eric does not buy them now, it is impossible for them not to buy private jets in the future. Therefore, although she knows that this promise is unlikely to be fulfilled, Elizabeth still has a very positive attitude towards Eric. Satisfied, he left the bedroom.

After Elizabeth left, Eric said to Xiao Nizi: "You can't buy a big plane for the time being. You don't know how much it will cost to acquire a TV network. After two years, those companies in my hands will go public. Think about it again."

It seemed that she felt that Elizabeth had left, and the little girl became very talkative, without refuting Eric's intention at all, saying: "Okay. Eric, today I and Amy are going to set the scene for "Mission Impossible" ,Will you come?"

"I won't go. Amy is a very experienced manager and producer. You should learn from her."

"Know it."

After being entangled by Xiao Nizi and chatting for a while, Eric hung up the phone. but. Before he could put the mobile phone down, the bell rang again, this time it was Chris from New York. After the call, Chris smiled and complained about the busy line just now. Eric could only answer the phone. Start dressing and washing.

Later, Eric gradually realized that the impact of winning the top position on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in North America was far greater than he thought.

All morning, until the power of the mobile phone in his hand was completely exhausted, the Motorola phone did not leave Eric's ear. The purpose of the callers was even more varied, and there was even one that Eric hadn't heard of at all. The charitable organization I had passed did not know where to get Eric's private number, and called to persuade him to donate. Even Elizabeth's personal mobile phone rang because of Eric, so that Elizabeth, who understood the other party's purpose after picking it up. A good embarrassment.

After breakfast, Elizabeth just drove out to go to work, but she quickly retreated, because the door of her hilltop mansion was already crowded with reporters at some point, and the mountain road that was not spacious was blocked.

Somewhat depressed, she called her office and explained. Elizabeth threw her mobile phone on the round table and complained to Eric, who was checking the e-mail next to her, "It's all your fault. Well Julia went to New York recently, otherwise I'd never meet anyone."

Eric checked the e-mail that was already full of emails, deleted an interview invitation, and chuckled: "Don't worry, I'm the richest man in the Federation now, even if they know I'm here, they take pictures. If you don’t have a photo, you don’t dare to scribble, and a lawsuit with a celebrity will increase the reputation of the newspaper, but a lawsuit with a billionaire will lead to bankruptcy, and my current identity is obviously more inclined to the latter.”

Murdoch started out as a tabloid, and Elizabeth certainly knew the rules under her scrutiny. Although the tabloids often dig for famous people, she also knew who should provoke and who should not provoke. Moreover, they are unmarried and unmarried. Even if they take photos of the two, the headlines given by these newspapers are often headlines such as "North America's Richest Man's Romance Exposure", and at most comment on their family background.

Thinking of this, Elizabeth has a little expectation. It seems that it is not bad to make this public. Anyway, because she has to accompany Emma to adapt to life in New York, Julia has not been in Los Angeles recently, and it is impossible for the media to photograph the three of them. .

But she quickly remembered the situation when Eric fled when he heard words like marriage, feeling a little disappointed, and glared at Eric hatefully.

Eric looked up just to see the girl's expression and said, "What's wrong?"

Elizabeth turned her head: "No, angry."

"Haha," Eric thought that Elizabeth was angry for not being able to go to work, and smiled: "Have you forgotten, we are rich people, and you don't have to be able to drive to work."

After finishing speaking, Eric visually inspected the spacious courtyard of the mansion, picked up Elizabeth's mobile phone and made a call.

More than half an hour later, a Bell helicopter whistled and landed in the mansion.

...

The method originally used to show the strength of Firefly Pictures has made Eric a hot topic in the news again. After leaving Elizabeth's house that day, Eric's increasingly low-key personal life could no longer continue. He could only go back to the Jiaojiao Villa every day, because there were many reporters around him, and maybe there were stalkers with other goals, so Eric had to increase his personal security.

After the "Forbes" North America 400 Rich List was released, Warren Buffett, whose wealth value was far behind Eric, published an article in the "Washington Post" the next day and publicly questioned the accuracy of the "Forbes" magazine data. An investment tycoon insisted that Eric's net worth is definitely not as much as 19.7 billion, and only admitted Eric's assets of 13 billion US dollars.

The personal influence of Warren Buffett, who has dominated the North American business world for 30 years, is absolutely unimaginable for ordinary people. Therefore, after this article was published, it immediately attracted a voice of approval.

In order to maintain its own credibility, "Forbes" magazine uncompromisingly argued, and Firefly, of course, also launched its own media resources to fight back against Warren Buffett's views.

At the same time, many investment banks, financial evaluation agencies, professional financial media, and even many federal government departments have joined this battle of public opinion because of various interests.

For a time, ordinary people were dazzled by the war of words in the media.

Anyone who knows the ins and outs of this matter understands that this dispute is ultimately a dispute between the TV network and Firefly Pictures. The main reason for this is that Firefly has not been listed, and it is impossible to give firefly shadows through simple and clear data such as price-earnings ratios. Therefore, it leaves a lot of room for all parties to operate.

On the other hand, if you admit Eric's worth, you are acknowledging the market value of Firefly Pictures at about $20 billion, which is almost twice the market value of TV networks. If this view becomes true, then this acquisition negotiation will be discussed no matter what. Not good.

But if Eric's assets can be pulled to the $13 billion figure given by Buffett, then the TV network whose stock price has been rising will basically be on an equal footing with Firefly Pictures, which will bring a huge advantage in the negotiation. . (To be continued.)