. Baron had considered investing in American banks, but the timing wasn't right yet.
Judging by Goldman Sachs's decision, the current subprime mortgage crisis had only devastated the real estate industry and related lending financial companies, but hadn't yet spread to the banking sector.
While reports of losses at major banks occasionally surfaced, banks, like Goldman Sachs, generally tried to conceal their losses in their accounts, hoping to recover as the crisis wore on.
The true public outburst of a major banking crisis wouldn't come until the collapse of Lehman Brothers next year.
Only then would the banking industry begin to panic, with stock prices plummeting. To survive, banks would either seek government bailouts or seek capital injections. It
's only then that bank market capitalizations would be depleted, leading to fire sales.
The aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis would continue until 2009 and even beyond, so Baron's funds would require patience.
For example, the newly established British Fortune (BFT) fund will only begin converting the £25 billion it received into US dollar assets after the pound-to-dollar exchange rate surpasses 2.11.
It is estimated that this £25 billion will be converted into approximately $52.5 billion.
Barron will naturally not use these government-regulated funds for large-scale short selling—in fact, such a large amount of capital is inherently risky.
While short selling with his own funds is understandable, using funds from the British government would be unacceptable
to the government.
These funds will be used to purchase discounted assets in the future, but that will have to wait until next year.
Prior to this, a portion of the funds will be invested in the gold market, a highly desirable safe-haven asset.
The current international gold price is $770 per ounce; by March of next year, it is projected to exceed $1,000 per ounce.
In addition to slowly acquiring gold futures in the futures market, the BFT Foundation will also allocate a portion of its funds to purchase spot gold.
In Britta, Kolo's capital, the headquarters of the United Bank of West Africa, a West African financial center, sits a vault underground that boasts what is arguably the most secure facility in West Africa.
The BFT Foundation will purchase spot gold from Africa, melt it into standard gold bars, and store it in this vault.
This includes gold from mines owned by the West African Mining and Energy Group as well as those mined by other mining companies.
Statistics indicate that Africa's total gold production this year is expected to exceed 500 tons, accounting for 25% of global production and making it the second-largest gold-producing continent after Asia.
South Africa leads in gold production in Africa, followed by Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania.
Ghana is Kolo's neighbor, and Mali is separated from Kolo by only Burkina Faso.
Even for South Africa and Tanzania, which are slightly farther away from Kolo, gold can be easily transported by air. Furthermore, the West African Mining and Energy Group's Kianka gold mine in Burkina Faso is estimated to hold nearly 200 tons of gold reserves. Following the official launch of mining, daily production is steadily increasing.
The gold screening and smelting plant they established near Kianka allows for the convenient transportation of standard gold bars to Koró.
At $770 per ounce, a ton of gold would cost approximately $27 million. Even $5 billion would only buy 185 tons of gold, barely more than the carrying capacity of a Boeing 747.
The
first "Twilight" film, released in early April, has already departed theaters. After nearly 150 days of release, it grossed $195 million in North America, $200 million overseas, and a total of $395 million worldwide.
After all, the film cost only $40 million to produce. The box office alone, not counting revenue from DVDs and merchandise, has already made Marvel-MGM a lucrative business!
This also means that the success of the first "Twilight" film has brought a new film IP to Marvel-MGM.
Encouraged by this success, filming has already begun on the second "Twilight" film, which is expected to be released next year.
"Currently filming is the latest James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," while Marvel Studios' "Iron Man" is still in post-production and won't be released until next year,"
said Annika Dawson, CEO of Blue Valley Capital and Executive Director of Marvel-MGM.
Previously, Blue Valley Capital acquired Summit Entertainment, Marvel Entertainment, and MGM Studios. Following the merger of these three companies into Marvel-MGM, this became Blue Valley Capital's primary investment business. Therefore, before Blue Valley Capital can begin other investments, Annika Dawson's primary focus is assisting Marvel-MGM with the post-merger integration.
It's worth noting that Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, had already launched the "Iron Man" project as early as 2005. The project wasn't going smoothly. Even Downey Jr., who played Iron Man, only accepted a $500,000 salary to play the role.
After Marvel Entertainment was acquired by Blue Valley Capital, with the added financial support and Baron's support, the "Iron Man" project was finally accelerated.
However, because this was Marvel Studios' first film and the post-production process was complex, the film's release wouldn't take place until next year.
Furthermore, Baron vetoed the filming of "The Incredible Hulk." After all, he knew that in his previous life, the budget for "The Incredible Hulk" was significantly higher than that of "Iron Man," yet it was a box office and critical flop.
Audiences preferred the Hulk's portrayal from "The Avengers," and portraying both the pre- and post-transformation Hulk in a standalone film proved challenging.
Consequently, he decided to abandon the "Incredible Hulk" film project and instead focus on the "Captain America" series.
Both "Iron Man" and "Captain America" paved the way for the subsequent "Avengers." Before launching "Avengers," Barron hoped to leverage the subprime mortgage crisis to reclaim more Marvel IP, enriching the content of future "Avengers" films.
However, realistically, acquiring the rights to Spider-Man from Sony, or to the X-Men and Fantastic Four from 20th Century Fox, would be difficult.
Especially if they waited until after "Iron Man" became a huge success, even if they were willing to sell the rights, the price would likely be steep.