Kyle sent a letter to Wells Fargo, firmly rejecting their acquisition offer and proactively proposing the idea of investing in them.
This wasn't Kyle mocking them; he genuinely wanted to invest in them.
Wells Fargo, a future giant with a market value of $200 billion, managed the savings of tens of millions of users, amounting to trillions of dollars.
Such a lucrative opportunity was very appealing to Kyle.
In fact, it wasn't just Kyle who was interested; even the world-renowned investment magnate Warren Buffett coveted Wells Fargo.
In 1990, Buffett heavily invested in Wells Fargo, purchasing several million shares of their stock.
At that time, Wells Fargo's stock price was a little over $2 per share.
And now?
As of April 2000, Wells Fargo's stock price had impressively reached $26 per share.
One investment, more than a tenfold increase in ten years—Buffett made a fortune!
Therefore, starting in 1998, Buffett repeatedly proposed increasing his investment in Wells Fargo, hoping to acquire more shares, but his application was rejected by Wells Fargo's shareholders' meeting.
"I was rejected?"
"It's okay! Send a few more letters; what if it works out?"
Kyle was still very keen on Wells Fargo!
"Boss, then should our California Standard Bank also make a move soon, primarily in real estate project lending and investment?" the bank's general manager asked.
Kyle's eyes lit up immediately. "Your suggestion is excellent. We cannot miss out on real estate projects. We must strive to become one of the largest real estate loan banks on the West Coast of America in the coming years."
At the same time, Kyle didn't want to miss out on gold investments.
The explosion of the dot-com bubble and the continuous weakness of the US dollar led many people to invest in gold, not necessarily hoping to make money, but at least to preserve value.
"Boss, gold projects are indeed an excellent investment," the bank manager said, nodding vigorously.
In April 2000, the international gold price was $279 per ounce.
In 2004, the international gold price rose to $410 per ounce.
In 2012, it even climbed to $1,700 per ounce, astonishing countless people.
In early August 2020, the gold price broke through the $2,000 mark, breaking the historical single price record for gold!
For gold investments, in addition to California Standard Bank's participation, Kyle himself would also invest in this area.
Of course, acquiring such a massive amount of physical gold was extremely difficult; it could only be paper gold in the futures market.
1 billion US dollars!
Following Kyle's massive investment of nearly $800 million in 1998, he once again made a significant move in April 2000, boldly injecting another $1 billion into gold projects.
"If it can preserve wealth and make money, why not do it?"
Over the next few days, the funds in Kyle's personal account decreased by nearly $100 million again.
Kyle naturally didn't use this money for personal enjoyment; instead, he successively invested in a number of decent internet companies. Although these internet companies didn't become giants or industry unicorns in the future, they were considered successful enterprises.
"Not much, just enough to bring me several times the return within a few years," Kyle said with a smile...
April 19th.
"The Butterfly Effect," a film co-directed by Todd Phillips and Christopher Nolan, and co-written by Kyle and Jonathan Nolan, officially premiered nationwide.
With a production cost of over $12 million, the film belonged to the category of low-budget science fiction films, or rather, it was a soft science fiction film.
It tells the story of the male protagonist, Evan, who experienced a series of terrible events in his childhood, damaging his once perfect life and even leaving him with deep childhood trauma. However, one day, he gained the ability to travel through time. Thus, he conceived the idea of changing the past.
But every time Evan changed something in the past, when he returned to the present, he found that it brought unexpected and even more severe consequences.
Things got worse and worse, time and space were messed up by him, and one disaster after another followed.
To correct his mistakes, Evan returned to the past again and again, trying to erase the traces, but things went against his wishes. His actions only led to the gradual collapse of the real world again. So, repeatedly, he shuttled between the increasingly chaotic past and present, until an irreversible outcome.
The film has multiple endings, one of which is very dark.
To prevent the tragedy from repeating, the male protagonist Evan traveled back to his mother's womb and strangled himself with the umbilical cord.
The more he traveled, the worse things got!
"A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest of South America, occasionally flapping its wings, can cause a tornado in Texas, USA, two weeks later."
The movie "The Butterfly Effect" came from this.
Before its release, the film had undergone as many as 72 test screenings in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Salt Lake City, and other places.
Over 3,000 movie fans, analysts, and media reporters participated in the film's voting.
Ultimately, the film's overall rating was B+.
This overall rating did not refer to the film's reputation, but rather its box office potential. For a film with an investment cost of only $12 million, a B+ was already a very rare and high rating.
Invited cinema representatives stated: "The film's global box office can exceed 100 million!"
Don't think the box office is small!
It's important to know that out of the films produced by Hollywood each year, those that can gross over 100 million at the box office definitely do not exceed 50, or even fewer.
And this proportion only accounts for 3% of Hollywood's annual output.
Well, most Hollywood movies lose money, and some can't even make it to cinemas, only selling DVDs and VHS tapes…
The next day.
The first day's North American box office for "The Butterfly Effect" was released, achieving a first-day box office of $9.2 million.
"$9.2 million?"
Kyle leaned back slightly and smiled, "For a small-budget film, this box office is quite good. With continuous screenings, reaching $50 million in North American box office will definitely be easy."
Kevin Feige smiled and said, "Boss, in the April slot, we have almost no competitors. The final box office results will be over $70 million in North America and a global box office of $130 million. Well, of course, this is my personal judgment."
There was one statement Kyle strongly agreed with.
In the April slot, "The Butterfly Effect" was indeed invincible!
Yesterday, only three films were released concurrently with "The Butterfly Effect," and among them, only Disney's "The Kid with Glasses" was decent, but that's all it was—decent!
"The Butterfly Effect" had a first-day North American box office of $9.2 million.
In contrast, Disney's "The Kid with Glasses" had a first-day box office of only $4.1 million, and its reputation was very poor. It would be a miracle if it ultimately earned a total box office of $15 million.
What about "The Butterfly Effect"?
On rating websites like IMDB, "The Butterfly Effect" scored as high as 9.1 points. Even as time passed, while the reputation score might decrease, it would definitely not fall below 8.5 points.
Other films also released in April, whether Paramount's "Rules of Engagement" or Warner's "Romeo Must Die," all failed to compete.
In the April 2000 off-season, the movie "The Butterfly Effect" was invincible!
As the saying goes: good things come in succession!
Sure enough, Kyle's Golden Dawn Music Company also brought Kyle good news.
Britney Spears' second solo album sold a massive 24 million copies globally in just one month.
Taking advantage of this, director Domino immediately made a decision: "Go all out to build up Britney Spears and launch a global concert tour."
Domino also sent Kyle a concert ticket for the Los Angeles stop.
"Haha!"
Kyle smiled and said, "She's one of the few music superstars who will be called a global idol in the future. I have to go see her concert."