In the study.
Hearing the woman in his arms say this, Simon smiled and patted her waist. "So, what do you want to do about it?"
Janet, however, just grabbed Simon's wrist and gave it a few small bites, then looked up at him. "You little rascal, how are you planning to spend this money?"
Simon pointed to a stack of stock trading slips on the desk. "You saw it, didn't you? Already bought $800 million in stocks. After setting aside the tax money, I plan to convert all of it into stocks."
As the Americans often say: In this country, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
With $1.62 billion coming in, it also meant an unbearably huge tax bill.
According to the tax reform plan just launched by the Reagan administration last year, the portion of the $1.62 billion in the Westeros Company account belonging to profits from stock index futures trading was subject to a 28% capital gains tax. The remaining income from Run Lola Run also couldn't escape taxation.
A rough calculation showed that Westeros Company would need to pay over $450 million in taxes by year-end. After deducting Janet's share of the Run Lola Run profits, Simon would ultimately be left with approximately $1.1 billion.
Hearing Simon's decision, Janet was clearly surprised. "Convert all of it into stocks? You're not planning to do anything else?"
"Now is a great opportunity to buy at the bottom. If I need money in the future, I can just sell," Simon said, then asked, "What about you? Should I convert your money into stocks too?"
"Dad has mentioned it to me several times; the family needs money too. I plan to send it back to Australia," Janet shook her head, then reached out playfully and touched Simon's face. "So, you little rascal, that means I'll have no money left. You'll have to support me from now on."
Simon turned his head and kissed Janet's palm. "Alright. We're going to New York tomorrow, let's spend that $20 million loan first. What do you want to buy?"
Janet tilted her head. "A house. Don't you want to own your own house in every major city in the world? Let's start with New York."
"That's my thing," Simon said. "What about yours?"
"Your things are my things. As for my thing, it's you."
"Oh, I recognize that. It's a sweet nothing."
"Heh, so slow."
...
When Harry Met Sally... had been filming for six weeks and was expected to wrap smoothly before Thanksgiving next month.
The turmoil from the North American stock market crash continued; naturally, it couldn't calm down in a short time. However, having completed the index futures operation, Simon took Janet to New York to check on the progress of When Harry Met Sally....
Concurrently, Final Destination, produced by Daenerys Pictures, was released on October 23rd. While the financial markets were in despair, the film's box office wasn't greatly affected.
Simon had initially requested a minimum of 1000 screens. Due to positive audience feedback from several internal test screenings, Fox ultimately gave the film a release on 1350 screens.
From October 23rd to October 25th, Final Destination grossed $12.56 million in its first weekend, successfully knocking Fatal Attraction, which had held the weekly box office champion spot since late September, off the top position.
Fatal Attraction had an opening weekend of $11.01 million. In its sixth week, its single-week box office was still as high as $10.98 million. Over a month and a half, its box office curve showed almost no decline, and its cumulative box office had reached $69.49 million. While the film's final North American total was still unpredictable, breaking $100 million was absolutely certain.
Simon knew very well that Final Destination's total box office couldn't compare to Fatal Attraction. However, with a $12.56 million opening weekend, the film was expected to gross around $18 million in its first week.
$18 million was enough for Fox to recoup the entire production cost.
If it could maintain a relatively low decline rate thereafter, the film's North American total could even surpass $60 million. A $60 million North American total, while unable to break into the year's top ten, would be more than enough for the top 15.
According to the original contract, after the box office exceeded $20 million, a 10% share of the North American box office and a 5% share of home video sales would eventually bring Simon around $10 million in income.
Even though he had made a fortune of over $1 billion in the index futures market, Simon didn't plan to use this money in the short term. Income from films would be the main funding source for operating Daenerys Pictures in the next few years.
On October 26th, as the new week began, Simon withdrew all funds from the index futures accounts. Apart from the reserved $450 million for taxes and the $67 million share settled with Janet, the rest was poured into the stock market.
With the North American stock market in despair, the sudden influx of over $1 billion into the tech sector couldn't possibly go unnoticed. Many Wall Street analysts clearly noticed the unusual fluctuations in the tech sector these days.
Moreover, calming down from the panic of the crash, some gradually realized that while everyone else was losing their shit, a 'small crocodile' that had emerged from nowhere had quietly made a staggering amount of wealth in the index futures market.
As the figure of a certain young man came into clearer focus, the news spread uncontrollably.
Simon's initial choice of only Lehman Brothers as his broker was primarily for confidentiality. Although concentrating all funds with one company would create bigger ripples, as long as Lehman Brothers had sufficient integrity, they could certainly keep the secret.
However.
Subsequent events inevitably deviated from Simon's expectations, forcing him to turn to other brokers. Eventually, he had mentally given up on secrecy. No matter what, a young man not even twenty suddenly obtaining over $1 billion in wealth from the capital markets couldn't possibly avoid attracting attention from interested parties.
The only thing Simon could do was to ensure this wealth ended up in his hands.
Therefore, even though there was still over a month until the year-end tax payment date, and he could potentially make more by investing all the funds in the stock market, Simon instinctively chose to set aside the massive $450 million tax payment, just in case.
Americans can never escape taxes in their lifetime, and attacking someone through taxation is often the simplest and most effective method.
October 28th.
Wednesday.
The $1.1 billion in available funds in Simon's account had all been converted into stocks. He and Janet had also been in New York for five days.
Apart from checking various aspects of When Harry Met Sally.'s production progress, Simon and Janet basically just wandered around New York.
Although the release of Final Destination brought Simon back into the media spotlight, Run Lola Run and The Butterfly Effect had ultimately left theaters. Paparazzi were increasingly realizing that following Simon and Janet rarely yielded explosive news.
Thus, even though Simon and Janet's whereabouts were quickly exposed by the media, very few paparazzi tailed them. They could walk around the streets without much issue.
Evening.
Simon and Janet had spent the whole day following a real estate agent around Manhattan. They had just returned to their hotel, The Plaza, planning to rest a bit before going out for dinner, when they unexpectedly found Noah Scott waiting in the lobby.
Though surprised and even wary, Simon readily agreed to Noah Scott's suggestion to dine together.
Leaving The Plaza again, the three went to a nearby restaurant.
After ordering, Noah Scott looked at the couple sitting across from him. After a moment, he couldn't help but ask very bluntly, "Simon, can you tell me just how much you made?"
Simon smiled and shook his head. "Noah, if it were you, would you tell me?"
"No," Noah Scott smiled wryly. "But these days, this matter keeps circling in my mind. Hearing you were in New York, I specifically flew in from Chicago today."
Simon shrugged. "If this matter troubles you, I can only apologize."
Noah Scott said, "Then, how about telling me some things I already know? That should be fine, right, Simon? For example, your operation in September, why?"
Simon asked in return, "Why what?"
"6,000 contracts," Noah Scott said. "Why did you only buy 6,000 contracts? You know, although the S&P 500 fluctuated violently in September, the overall trend was still downward. You could have bought an 80% position like before."
Hearing Noah Scott's words, Simon paused, then said, "If you really want the truth, I was scared."
Noah Scott looked puzzled. "Scared?"
Janet also looked over curiously.
Simon quickly relaxed. "That's right. I felt fear at that time."
Noah Scott gazed intently at Simon, apparently misunderstanding the meaning behind his words. "But this month, you must have made even more, didn't you?"
"Yes, but at that time, I was scared," Simon nodded, then looked directly at Noah Scott. "Noah, you followed, didn't you?"
This time, Noah Scott fell silent.
When it came to insider trading, even if everyone knew, no one was foolish enough to admit it openly.
Simon didn't wait for Noah Scott's answer and continued, "I sensed Lehman Brothers was following. Then, I thought of more possibilities. If you were following, would the news spread further? If others followed too, the overall market trend might deviate from my predictions."
Noah Scott nodded slightly, patiently waiting for Simon to continue.
Simon thought for a moment, then said, "Put it this way, Noah. I predicted the stock market crash would be in October. You know, the US announces its third-quarter trade and fiscal deficit in October, which could be the last straw, and indeed it was. Looking back, September was the settlement month. Due to increased trading volume, the S&P 500 fluctuated wildly. I couldn't complete my positioning in such a market environment. So, I was scared at that time. However, your understanding just now was mistaken. I wasn't afraid of making too much money; I was worried that the entire market, because of all of you following, might produce changes completely beyond my personal predictions, or even crash early. That's why I adopted a conservative positioning strategy, so you couldn't discern my true intentions."
After listening to Simon, Noah Scott was left speechless.
After another moment of silence, Noah Scott quickly collected himself and looked at Simon again. "But, Simon, I don't know if you've been paying attention to Wall Street lately. I guess you certainly didn't want exposure, right? But your affairs have actually attracted a lot of people's attention."
Having been busy for months, Simon and Janet had just been playing around lately and hadn't paid much attention to Wall Street.
Hearing Noah Scott say this, Simon sat up a bit straighter. "Can you elaborate?"
"Tech stocks," Noah Scott said with a slight smile. "Simon, you bought a large amount of tech stocks, didn't you? A very large batch?"
Since it was pointed out directly, Simon didn't hide it and admitted, "Yes."
"Compared to other sectors," Noah Scott continued, "over the past week or so, tech stocks have risen over 15% overall since the crash day. Many people even thought we investment banks were secretly buying in and started entering the market hoping to make a profit. They didn't know it was actually you. And, if I guess correctly, you invested at least $1 billion."
This time, Simon didn't nod.
Noah Scott paused for a moment. Not hearing Simon's confirmation, he continued, "Additionally, your operations in the S&P 500 index futures have also attracted a lot of attention."
Simon still didn't respond, but Janet stared fiercely at Noah Scott. "Noah, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Noah Scott raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, smiling. "Janet, don't worry, I don't mean anything else. I'm not here as someone's messenger or anything like that today. I just want to tell you what I know. Simon, perhaps you should make some preparations in advance. Also, I'd really like to maintain our cooperative relationship. If we have a chance to work together in the future?"
Hearing this, Simon nodded. "Of course, we will definitely have opportunities to cooperate."
Noah Scott's smile widened upon Simon's reply. Seeing Janet still staring at him, he changed the subject. "Speaking of which, last time I also secretly bought some S&P 500 index futures. Guess how much I made?"
Simon shook his head, puzzled.
Noah Scott held up two fingers. "$2 million. Pretty pathetic compared to you, right?"
Janet pouted.
Simon just smiled without comment.
Noah Scott continued, "Just by following your moves a little, I made $2 million. So, I think it's best I stay in touch with you. That's why I specifically came from Chicago today. Simon, I've thought it over seriously. You're only 19, but you already possess such a huge fortune. It's like a child holding a pile of gold. You certainly want to avoid outside attention as much as possible, and I can help you with that."
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