Hollywood had already entered the blockbuster era. To prevent it from further plunging into an era dominated by superhero movies, which would seriously impact the diversity of films, Simon had been adjusting the development plan of the DC cinematic universe over the past few years. He had deliberately extended the development cycle, and as a result, the Marvel cinematic universe plans were shelved.
At the end of the year, after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, three confirmed DC movie projects were lined up before Justice League: Wonder Woman 2, The Flash 2, and Suicide Squad 2. Warner Bros. was also pushing for Cyborg 2. As long as the script was satisfactory, Simon couldn't completely block its production.
By the time Justice League was released, it would likely already be the year 2000.
This was a time frame Simon favored.
A millennial gathering of DC superheroes—significant and symbolic.
In the banquet hall of the Marriott Hotel, Jack Welch, who was already familiar with the DC cinematic universe plans, felt somewhat disappointed when Simon mentioned that negotiations regarding the rights could happen after Justice League. For Warner Bros., the opportunity to reclaim the rights to DC's "Big Three" (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) was worth waiting five years. Given the enormous success of the DC cinematic universe, Warner Bros. had never even hoped that Simon would be willing to let go of those rights.
But Jack Welch couldn't afford to wait five years.
By then, he would have already retired. Once he left, these matters would no longer concern him.
Nevertheless, Simon's statement made it clear that Jack had no room to negotiate. Even though the acquisition of Time Warner had just been finalized, Jack Welch understood the situation very well.
The DC cinematic universe was entirely under Daenerys Entertainment's control. Particularly after Warner Bros.' colossal failure with Waterworld this summer, their dependence on DC had only grown. On the other hand, Daenerys Entertainment, even if it lost the DC universe today, still had other successful franchises like Jurassic Park, Pixar's animation series, and The Conjuring universe to develop.
If Warner tried to strong-arm its way into reclaiming the rights, the result would likely be a total loss.
Knowing this, Jack Welch didn't drag out the conversation and instead shifted the topic to the internet industry, seeking Simon's opinion on General Electric's upcoming e-commerce ventures.
For most people, e-commerce simply meant buying things online. In reality, e-commerce covered a wide range of categories, including B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer), and C2C (consumer to consumer), with online shopping being just one aspect.
So when Jack mentioned that a traditional giant like GE was entering the e-commerce space, Simon didn't feel threatened at all. GE's most likely e-commerce venture would be B2B, which wouldn't compete with platforms like Amazon or eBay within the Westeros system. In fact, GE could become a significant customer for YWS (Ygritte Web Service).
The two enthusiastically discussed the topic for over ten minutes. Simon even offered to arrange a meeting between Jack and Carol Bartz, who was in charge of YWS, to explore potential collaboration opportunities.
Launched in 1991, YWS had developed over four years and was no longer just a basic server rental service. It was gradually evolving into a cloud computing platform, encompassing mainstream services like IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service), just as Simon remembered from his original timeline.
Attracting clients like GE, a traditional industrial giant outside the internet space, would significantly expand YWS's business.
The next day was October 28.
Saturday.
The news of General Electric's acquisition of Time Warner finally shifted the media's attention away from the Forbes 400 Rich List released on Monday. That afternoon, Simon left the USA and flew to Ukraine.
Since reaching an agreement with the Ukrainian government in February, Nokia's factory in the northern part of Rivne had been completed in just eight months. It was scheduled to officially begin production on October 30, and Simon was heading there to attend the launch ceremony.
Simon was very satisfied with the speed of the project's completion.
In North America or Western Europe, it would be difficult to build a factory of the same scale in less than two or three years, and even then, production wouldn't necessarily start right away.
In Rivne, the Nokia factory was completed, and the training of workers, along with equipment installation, was done simultaneously.
Although the Soviet Union had collapsed, the institutional advantages left by the Soviet system still existed.
This was exactly what Simon valued.
More importantly, the Westeros system's increasingly dominant influence in Ukraine, particularly in the northwestern state of Rivne, ensured smooth operations.
Without this, certain institutional advantages could easily turn into disadvantages.
Since Ukraine's second president, Leonid Kuchma, took office last year, he had rapidly implemented a series of reforms. However, he hadn't been able to reverse the country's ongoing economic decline. Under the strong control of the Westeros system, Rivne had become the nation's only bright spot economically. Due to a complex web of real and potential interests, even though the Westeros system's control in Rivne had exceeded certain limits, the Ukrainian authorities didn't dare to disrupt this delicate balance.
Thus, it wasn't just Nokia's factory that was about to go into production; the entire city of Rivne and the surrounding region of Rivne Oblast were thriving.
When Simon first visited Rivne last year, the city was no different from other parts of Ukraine—decayed and desolate. Many people had moved back to rural areas to farm, just to survive. Now, more than a year later, the city's population had skyrocketed from 220,000 at its lowest point to 510,000.
The average person didn't understand the deeper intricacies of the situation. They only knew that this city could offer them precious job opportunities, which symbolized hope.
The population boom had inevitably brought a mix of good and bad elements into Rivne, but both the official and underground forces were firmly under the control of the Westeros system. A powerful private army was stationed in the area, and those who tried to cause trouble met with unpleasant fates. What remained were small-time criminals who didn't pose a serious threat.
Thanks to strong control and high efficiency, Rivne was already on track to becoming Ukraine's light industrial hub.
Ukraine had inherited a large amount of heavy industrial assets from the Soviet Union, but tanks and artillery couldn't put food on the table. The development of light industries to provide everyday goods was what Ukraine urgently needed. Since independence, the Ukrainian government had been trying to promote this, but with limited success.
The reason was simple: a lack of capital.
A country's economy is like the interconnected rivers and lakes of public life.
Capital is like water.
With sufficient capital, dried-up and stagnant rivers and lakes can flow again, bringing new life.
The injection of large amounts of capital from the Westeros system into Rivne, combined with strong coordination and control to prevent waste and loss, had quickly revitalized the region. As Rivne's economy flourished, it was inevitable that the flow of capital would extend to other parts of Ukraine.
But the owner of the water would remain unchanged.
This inevitably led to further penetration and control.
Rivne's airport wouldn't be operational until next year. Simon arrived in Kyiv on Sunday morning and then drove to Rivne.
Given that this project was the country's most significant foreign investment in recent years, Ukraine's current Prime Minister, Pavlo Lazarenko, chose to accompany Simon to Rivne, planning to attend the afternoon launch ceremony.
By late October, the effects of global warming had yet to manifest, and snow had already begun to fall across northern Ukraine.
As Simon and Lazarenko, who had requested to ride in the same car, traveled across the snow-covered plains of northern Ukraine, they engaged in a warm conversation. Even though Simon disliked the man, it didn't stop him from exchanging pleasantries. Since Lazarenko and Kuchma came to power, Simon had fed their greed, ensuring that neither interfered with the Westeros system's plans in Rivne.
Keeping Kyiv's key players well-fed had been the key to successfully establishing a strong foothold in the region.
At around 10 a.m., Simon arrived in Rivne. He left the task of welcoming Lazarenko and his entourage to Sergey Komarov, head of Alderke Corporation, and declined the lunch Komarov had arranged, citing exhaustion from the journey. After all, there were plenty of evening engagements he couldn't avoid.
Instead, lunch was reserved for several executives from UFMS.
For Simon, the most crucial aspect of his involvement in Ukraine had always been the private military force stationed there.
Without that, there were far more lucrative investment opportunities elsewhere that would have required far less effort.
Even though Simon didn't visit Ukraine often, he kept a close watch on UFMS. He had established three separate channels to gather information about the force. One was its direct leader, Klim Zhelevianko. The second was Sergey Komarov from Alderke Corporation. And the third was the Westeros family's private intelligence team stationed in Ukraine.
Simon's personal military assistant, Celia Miller, also focused much of her attention on this front.
As a result, Simon's understanding of UFMS, in some aspects, even surpassed that of Klim Zhelevianko. The same applied to his control over the force.
The lunch, which began at 11:30 a.m., lasted an hour and a half. At 1:00 p.m., Simon departed from his southern villa and headed to the Nokia factory in northern Rivne.
In addition to Simon and
Prime Minister Lazarenko, Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila had already been in town for two days.
Although Nokia planned to focus its mobile phone production in China, Jorma Ollila agreed with Simon's view that it wasn't wise to put all eggs in one basket. Following Simon's suggestion, Nokia had adopted a multi-supplier strategy and was planning to make Rivne its second mobile phone manufacturing hub.
Thus, the factory, with an annual production capacity of one million phones, was only the beginning.
Nokia was expected to sell over 20 million phones globally this year. If the initial factory's production went smoothly, Nokia would soon begin constructing a second, larger factory on the 150-hectare site it had already acquired.
Furthermore, companies within the Westeros system, such as Tinkobell, were also closely monitoring the Rivne Nokia factory, planning to establish their own plants to support the European market.
Building a manufacturing system wasn't just about constructing factories or training workers. It required a complete supply chain to support the industry.
Through investments in the Rivne nuclear power plant, a new reactor would begin operating within two years, solving energy issues. For now, due to the advanced technology involved in mobile phones, most components still had to be imported from Western Europe and North America. This largely compensated for Rivne's inability to produce its own components.
However, there was still much Ukraine could do to lower production costs.
In addition to training workers for the Nokia factory, Alderke Corporation, under Komarov's leadership, had secured contracts to supply external packaging for Nokia phones. Komarov was also working towards producing injection-molded phone cases. Step by step, they aimed to produce circuit boards and other lower-tech components locally, gradually creating a more comprehensive supply chain.
As the supply chain became more complete, it would inevitably attract more manufacturers to Rivne.
This would create a virtuous cycle.
Simon also planned for Alderke Corporation to enter the manufacturing sector directly, further solidifying control over Rivne and Ukraine's cheap labor market.
At one point, due to the country's economic collapse, one-fifth of Ukraine's 50 million citizens had fled, with over 10 million people leaving. This was a spectacle in itself. If Simon could capture even a tenth or a fifth of the labor market that had once fled Ukraine, it would be enough to build a massive manufacturing empire in Ukraine for the Westeros system.
Controlling people's livelihoods is, in some ways, tantamount to controlling the country.
The production launch ceremony that afternoon lasted about an hour.
After the ceremony, Simon saw off Lazarenko and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials. Instead of leaving, he toured the factory with Jorma Ollila and others to observe the assembly lines in operation. Although it was a Sunday, Eastern Europe didn't have the same rules as Western Europe. Once the factory was up and running, it would operate 24/7 without stopping.
Ukraine had no shortage of workers.
If someone didn't want to work overtime, thought the wages were too low, or slacked off, it was simple—pack up and leave. There were plenty of people eager to take the job.
Simon stayed at the Nokia factory until dusk, then returned to the city for the evening reception, only heading back to his villa late at night.
For the next two days, Simon was busy overseeing Westeros system projects in the area, attending various engagements, and greeting numerous guests. Finally, on Wednesday, November 1, with some free time, Simon visited the nearly completed Ukraine Peace Military Theme Park in northern Rivne for a bit of relaxation.
Though it was still work.
This 20-square-kilometer theme park, compared to professional theme parks like Universal Studios, could only be described as rough. Its only real advantage was its vast size.
However, Simon didn't dismiss the project just because it was basic. He took it very seriously, assigning teams from Daenerys-owned Universal Studios to assist with the park's planning, and even personally providing many ideas. The park would open next spring, primarily targeting customers from Western Europe and North America, offering immersive military experiences.
As Simon was at the theme park's shooting range, holding the Barrett rifle he had come to enjoy since his hunting trip in the Alaskan wilderness, an A-girl brought over a woman in a black trench coat and high leather boots with blonde hair.
The blonde woman was Charlotte Brinetta from Switzerland, president of the risk investment department of Brinetta Asset Management. From her name and her company's, it was easy to deduce that she had ties to the business.
A family business.
This was the European fund manager Grace had mentioned a few days ago, hoping to invest in Instagram.
When Grace had mentioned that the woman was beautiful, Simon had jokingly said he'd like to meet her, not thinking much of it. However, the woman had taken it seriously and had requested this meeting. Coincidentally, Simon was very interested in the notoriously secretive and low-profile Swiss capital, so he agreed.
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