Simon quickly grew fond of the small, peculiar, and stubborn child in his arms. She was adorable and bold, continuously calling him "Daddy." They chatted well past midnight until the little one finally grew sleepy. However, as she became more tired, her grip on Simon's collar only tightened, insisting that both he and her mother sleep together with her.
Simon agreed with a smile, lifting the little girl, who was already so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open yet still clung to him like a koala. He glanced at Yulia, who understood and led them to the third-floor bedroom. The little one had fallen asleep in Simon's arms, but as soon as he laid her down, she woke up again. She didn't cry or fuss, but reached out for Simon, asking where he was going.
Simon patiently explained that he needed to brush his teeth and would be back soon.
However, the little girl didn't want to be apart from him for even that short amount of time, claiming she was very good at brushing teeth and could help. She then clambered back onto Simon.
They went to the bathroom, where Yulia found a new set of spare toothbrushes from the storage cabinet. The little girl indeed helped Simon brush his teeth, standing on the sink while Simon held her steady. She was very meticulous, spending seven or eight minutes making sure to brush every spot, up and down, side to side. She even remembered to hand Simon a cup of water to rinse afterward.
She had wanted to take a bath as well, but that was clearly not appropriate at the moment.
After brushing teeth, the little one clung to Simon again, and he had to carry her back to the large bed. After Yulia finished her own bedtime routine and joined them, the little girl, looking very content, demanded a song. Yulia, concerned Simon might be growing impatient with her daughter's clinginess, was about to offer to take over when Simon agreed to sing.
He hummed a random children's song, but the little girl was picky and rejected it, asking for something else. Simon patiently switched songs several times until he finally sang one that she liked: "Good Little Kitten."
The bedroom lights dimmed.
On the large bed, they looked like a family of three, with the gentle sound of a man singing.
"Good little kitten, warm little kitten."
"Little ball of fur."
"Happy little kitten, sleepy little kitten."
"Meow, meow, meow."
The next morning, Simon woke up early again, intending to leave before the little girl woke up. But as soon as he stirred, the little one woke up too. Despite thinking that, after a night's sleep, she might have forgotten him, she greeted Simon politely, still calling him "Daddy" and even asked for chocolate cake for breakfast, saying her mother never allowed it before.
Simon didn't allow it either.
After some negotiation, she obediently gave up on the idea.
Yulia had also woken up, her eyes red. Not wanting Simon or her daughter to notice, she quickly retreated to the bathroom.
The child, still a bit sleepy, reassured Simon that he would wake her up for breakfast, then promptly fell back asleep until 8 a.m. After having breakfast together, it was time for Simon to leave, and the little one had to go to kindergarten.
Expecting her to cling to him like the night before, Simon was surprised when the little girl acted very grown-up. She asked when he would come to see her again, and when Simon said he would if he had time, and would bring her over if he couldn't, she was content. She personally saw him off at the door.
As Simon got into the car, he turned to see both mother and daughter still standing in the doorway.
Seeing Simon look back, the little one waved at him again, her eyes filled with reluctance. Yulia's expression mirrored that of her daughter.
At that moment, Simon understood.
A mother often shapes her child. Perhaps, from an early age, the little girl had instinctively learned from her mother that it was normal for her father to be absent for long periods.
Even after leaving, Simon didn't comment on the child calling him "Daddy," implicitly accepting it. However, Simon wasn't the kind of man overflowing with fatherly love, and he knew that leaving the child with Yulia was the best choice.
Returning to his Kensington Gardens residence, Simon quickly packed up and, along with his entourage, headed to Heathrow Airport.
He was off to North America.
Due to the time difference, despite the 10-hour flight from London to Los Angeles, it was still the morning of May 4th when they arrived on the U.S. West Coast.
With a backlog of work, Simon dove straight into business upon landing.
While Simon had been away from Los Angeles, after personally approving Sylvester Stallone as the lead actor for Jumanji, they had officially signed a contract for a trilogy.
Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, who demanded a top salary of $15 million, Stallone, whose popularity had waned in recent years, agreed to a base salary of $10 million.
However, for the next two films, his profit share terms were the same as Schwarzenegger's: 10% and 20% of global gross profits after Danerys and Warner Bros. recouped the production and marketing costs outlined in the contract. This share was a level lower than pure gross revenue splits.
Stallone would only earn a share if the films were profitable.
With the contract signed, a first draft of the script, tailored specifically for Stallone, was also completed, along with some audition tapes of Stallone's test scenes.
For Hollywood stars of Stallone's caliber, it was rare for them to do screen tests. When The Godfather series was being made, Marlon Brando had been so insulted by being asked to audition that he refused to participate in the second film, despite the success of the first.
That rebellious streak led to Brando's eventual downfall and his current miserable old age.
Simon was pleased with Stallone's attitude and decided that beyond this project, he would work with him again in the future.
In fact, Simon was already collaborating with Stallone on another project. While Jumanji wasn't set to start filming until the end of the year, Stallone would also star in James Mangold's Cop Land for a symbolic fee of $60,000. Cop Land was intended for next year's awards season, featuring a cast including Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, all of whom were working for union-mandated minimum salaries. The film's budget was only $10 million.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger had signed on to Warner Bros.'s Eraser after missing out on Jumanji with Danerys and Warner.
Terry Semel even called Simon about the project.
Simon didn't deliberately try to sabotage it.
In Simon's memory, Eraser was Schwarzenegger's last major hit of the 1990s. After that, his career consisted mostly of endless Terminator reboots, all of which failed. Warner's thinking behind Eraser was similar to their desire to move away from reliance on the DC cinematic universe.
Incidentally, since Terminator 2 was co-produced by Danerys and Fox, the Terminator rights were now jointly held by the two companies. While there had been ongoing interest in rebooting the series, Simon had no intention of letting any further Terminator films be made.
There was no need to waste market resources repeatedly.
However, if someone was willing to buy Danerys' half of the rights for an exorbitant price, as had happened in his memory when the rights were valued as high as $60 million, Simon would agree. That would be a better deal than when Simon had overpaid for the Thor novel series rights.
Of the three major collaborative projects, The Mummy, scheduled for release next summer, had been progressing smoothly since the lead roles were cast.
Lastly, there was Charlie's Angels.
Simon had already chosen Kate Beckinsale for one of the roles. As for the other two, his casting director, Linda Vargas, had been handling it. Even though Simon wasn't in Los Angeles, he had still reviewed numerous audition tapes during this time.
Two other actresses had been nearly finalized.
Kate Beckinsale fit the "cool beauty" archetype.
According to Simon's vision, they needed a femme fatale to balance the group. After much consideration, Simon chose Mädchen Amick, who had gained attention in Hollywood with David Lynch's Twin Peaks.
Simon had met Amick during a party on the set of The Man from Earth in Toronto last year. He had given her some advice, suggesting she improve her acting skills. Amick had clearly taken his words to heart, as her audition showed noticeable improvement compared to her performance in last year's Dream Lover.
With her experience, acting chops, and background in dance, Amick secured the role, agreeing to sign a long-term contract.
For the third role, Simon had initially considered making a politically correct choice.
But he couldn't convince himself to do it.
In the 1990s, Hollywood's push for political correctness hadn't reached the levels seen later. Shows like the iconic Sex and the City still featured all-white leads, yet they were huge hits. The Sopranos was another example, with no token minority characters.
So, the third role went to Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The "Hollywood Man-Eater," as she was often called, had been making great strides in recent years, in part due to Simon's quiet support. She had starred in Stargate, directed by Michael Bay, and
before that, she had landed the lead role in Chaos Walking, a film adapted from a British novel by Highgate Pictures. She was even rumored to be involved with Tom Cruise during the filming of Far and Away.
Thus, among the three leads for Charlie's Angels, Zeta-Jones was the most prominent. The other two actresses had plenty of experience, but neither had starred in a blockbuster like Stargate.
Zeta-Jones was also a femme fatale, but her beauty was more fiery and passionate, distinct from Amick's more cold, dangerous allure.
Overall, Simon planned to use costumes and makeup to ensure the three Angels had a cohesive look that conveyed unity. At the same time, each would have their own strong, individual style and unique set of skills, offering clear contrasts between the characters.
Like Jumanji, Charlie's Angels was set to begin filming at the end of the year. With the three leads now confirmed, all three actresses would spend the rest of the year preparing for their roles. Simon had even brought in a professional martial arts trainer from across the Pacific, based on his knowledge, to create a three-month-long intensive training program for the actresses.
Beyond these three projects, other films like James Cameron's Titanic and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow were also progressing smoothly.
Meanwhile, over in Silicon Valley, after more than a month of operation, Egret had completed its massive employee stock ownership plan.
To ensure that the IPO price would stay under $50 per share and to stimulate demand for the stock, Egret had conducted a stock split during the process.
By the time the plan was completed, the company's total shares stood at 3.795 billion.
As the largest shareholder, Westeros Corporation held 2.561 billion shares, representing a 67.5% stake.
Despite increasing calls in recent years to abolish corporate dual-class share structures, Egret had still adopted such a structure.
Westeros Corporation's 2.561 billion shares were all Class B shares, each carrying ten times the voting power of a regular Class A share. These Class B shares were exclusively held by Westeros. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which had invested earlier, held only Class A shares.
As a result, despite the significant reduction in Westeros' equity stake, its voting rights in Egret remained above 90%.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley's stakes had dropped to 3.75% each, with each holding 142 million shares.
Egret's four top executives—Tim Berners-Lee, Jeff Bezos, Carol Bartz, and Alice Ferguson—each received 4%, or 151 million shares, except Ferguson, who received 2%, or 76 million shares. Additionally, they were all entitled to a further 1% of the company's shares as part of their next employment contracts.
Beyond the main shareholders, the rest of Egret's employees shared 7% of the company's equity, totaling 265 million shares.
Egret's total workforce had grown to over 25,000 employees.
Compared to the sizable stakes awarded to the top executives, the 2.65 million shares allocated to 25,000 employees seemed small. However, based on the estimated IPO price of $30 per share, these shares were valued at $7.95 billion, meaning that, on average, each employee would receive a reward worth $310,000.
Of course, the distribution wasn't actually that even.
Key executives like Ralph Goodell, chief engineer of the Egret Cloud Computing project, and Michael Novareck, head of the 58List team, each received millions or even tens of millions of shares. In fact, 19 executives, each receiving over 3 million shares through various forms of rewards and options, were set to become billionaires based on the $30 IPO price.
There were also 163 employees who received between 300,000 and 3 million shares, making them millionaires. Lastly, there were 532 employees who received between 30,000 and 300,000 shares, also making them millionaires.
Out of the nearly 1,000 top employees, these individuals claimed about 200 million of the 265 million shares available for the stock plan.
The remaining 60 million shares were distributed to the other employees, most of whom received only a few thousand shares, though those shares were still worth tens of thousands of dollars.
This sharp disparity in the distribution of shares had caused quite a bit of dissatisfaction, but Simon did not compromise.
Egret needed to secure its core 1,000 employees.
As for the rest, if they chose to leave over this, Simon wouldn't stop them.
This was the last chance for competitors to poach talent from Egret before the new employment contracts and non-compete agreements were signed. While some employees chose to leave, unhappy with the stock distribution, Egret made efforts to retain them. If unsuccessful, they let them go without issue.
With the stock ownership plan complete, Egret was initially supposed to submit its IPO prospectus to the SEC.
However, after internal discussions, everyone agreed to delay the process.
The reason was to wait for the passage of the capital gains tax reform bill in May.
Once the employee stock ownership plan was finalized, of the 714 million shares to be publicly offered, only 531 million would be new shares, intended to raise capital. The remaining 183 million shares, worth $5.49 billion at the IPO price, would come from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and some top executives looking to cash out.
Even if the capital gains tax reform passed, newly awarded shares would not be eligible for the lower tax rate, so most of the sell-offs would come from Goldman and Morgan. Having held their shares for over a year, these firms would qualify for the 15% minimum tax rate.
If word of this leaked, the ensuing public outrage could jeopardize the tax reform bill.
This could cost hundreds of millions in additional taxes and ruin many people's plans.
Egret, with its rapid growth, would only benefit from delaying its IPO as long as the dot-com bubble didn't burst. Thus, no one was in a rush. They planned to wait until the tax reform bill passed before submitting their prospectus to the SEC.
By then, even if the public backlash was fierce, nothing could change in the short term.
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