Listening to Simon's muttering, Jennifer said, "Based on Dad's latest negotiations with Nokia, it would only take about 200 million dollars for us to acquire Nokia's entire mobile communications equipment division. Even counting follow‑up operating costs, our total outlay in the first year wouldn't exceed 250 million. Since, for now, we don't have any other large‑scale investment projects overseas, we can only bring the funds back home."
Simon had originally planned to acquire a controlling stake in Nokia through a capital injection, but due to the political turmoil in Eastern Europe and Nokia's own desire to streamline its business, the other side had taken the initiative to insist that if Westeros Corporation wanted Nokia's mobile communications equipment division, it had to take over the whole thing.
Although Nokia's mobile communications equipment division at this stage still could not be mentioned in the same breath as Motorola, when Simon went through its asset list he found a large bundle of GSM‑related second‑generation digital communications patents, and the company's broader technical accumulation in mobile communications was deep enough.
So, since they had raised the idea themselves and Simon had plenty of cash on hand, he naturally had no objection to taking the whole division.
Beyond Nokia, however, Simon had not yet found any other large investment project abroad that was worthy of Westeros Corporation's appetite.
By comparison, if he repatriated the money to the United States, thanks to his advantage of foresight, not just MCA but many other targets he invested in now could bring him tenfold, even hundredfold returns in the future. The American domestic market could easily absorb several billion dollars in capital.
It was just that a 28 percent capital‑gains tax was painfully steep.
Given Cersei Capital's current size, if all post‑settlement funds belonging to Simon were transferred back to the United States, the tax bill alone would exceed 1 billion dollars.
Simon had even toyed with the idea of changing his nationality, but it never got past the thinking stage. Compared with other Western countries, the American tax system was complicated, yes, but not actually that high. What was more, if he changed citizenship, there was no doubt his expansion across the American business landscape would run into all kinds of tight restrictions.
Jennifer waited for him to think it over for a moment, then spoke up again. "There's something else. Word from Los Angeles is that Australia's Qintex Group and MGM issued a joint statement at two this afternoon. They've already settled on the rough framework for an acquisition. Qintex chairman Christopher Skase says that as soon as the funding is in place, the two sides can close the deal."
As she spoke, the assistant pulled a sheet of paper from her folder and handed it over.
Simon was a little surprised.
In his memories, Qintex Group had not succeeded in acquiring MGM. So what was going on now?
He read through the statement from Jennifer. It turned out that Qintex had recently sold one of its resorts in Brisbane for 430 million dollars, and that the 500 million dollars in corporate bonds Qintex had issued to fund the MGM purchase had garnered a lot of support from Australian institutional investors.
Setting the statement down, Simon said, "Qintex is clearly underwater already, and there are still this many idiots eager to jump into the mess."
Gazing at Simon's profile, Jennifer said, "Since last month's Forbes rich list came out, Hollywood's pulling power for capital has obviously gone up. Orion has also been talking with a Canadian company about financing. If they get the money, they might actually survive this crisis."
Simon tapped the papers resting on his knee. "We can't let Orion survive. I'm still waiting to buy their film library."
He had never forgotten Nancy Braille's original suggestion, and Orion did indeed hold some very high‑quality film rights.
Jennifer smiled. "Is that why you didn't give Orion a slot in those ten co‑production projects this time?"
Simon nodded. "Yeah. That, and the fact that Orion still owes us our share from Pulp Fiction. That company's situation just keeps getting worse. If we work with them again, we'll just end up getting stiffed all over, maybe never seeing our money at all."
Of the ten external co‑production projects Daenerys Entertainment had slated, five had already been decided. Beyond the inherent quality of those projects, Simon's choice of partner studios carried all sorts of specific calculations.
Fox was there because of the Murdoch family. Disney and Warner Bros. were included because prior collaborations had gone very smoothly. Columbia was in because of the Matthew Broderick matter. As for Universal, the film they were co‑producing, "Misery," would very likely end up being taken back into the Daenerys fold in the end anyway.
The remaining studios, Paramount, MGM and second‑tier Orion, were ones Simon did not intend to work with again unless there was no alternative.
Perhaps, once Qintex completed its acquisition of MGM, that studio would be "unbanned."
After all, it would then be an Australian company.
Truth be told, compared to Orion, MGM's film library was much richer. In Hollywood's golden age, the studio had been a powerhouse.
Simon had gone out of his way to look into it: in that capital game Ted Turner and Kirk Kerkorian played a few years back, Turner Broadcasting had ended up retaining only the television broadcast rights to MGM's pre‑1986 film library, and even that license was not permanent. It would expire in 2003.
So while MGM had fallen on hard times, it was still the studio with the largest film library in Hollywood.
Based on information Janet had provided, Simon was certain that even if Qintex managed to buy MGM this time, the company would not be able to hold on for very long.
If, when the time came, he could take over MGM and carry out his plan to merge Universal as well, Daenerys Entertainment would definitely become the Hollywood media company with the richest content resources. At the same time, it would be able to maximize the commercial potential of the Blockbuster retail chain.
The Gulfstream IV landed at Santa Monica Airport just over forty minutes later.
It was only six in the afternoon.
Simon sent his assistant home to rest and went straight to Daenerys Entertainment headquarters himself.
Amy had not gone home yet, and the two of them ran through more company business.
"Scream 2" was set to open this Friday.
Back on October 13, the Daenerys Entertainment fantasy comedy adapted from a comic and starring Daryl Hannah, "Angel on Assignment," had officially hit North American theaters, opening on 1,638 screens. Because he had been focused on the junk bond market, Simon had not paid much attention to the film.
In its first week, from October 13 to 19, "Angel on Assignment" earned 7.16 million dollars. Based on its second‑weekend drop‑off curve, its final North American box office was expected to land around the 20 million mark. Compared with its 15 million dollar production budget, it could not be called a success, but it was not exactly a failure either, and later revenue streams would easily cover the costs.
Compared with Angel on Assignment, Scream 2, and the rest of the year‑end slate, Batman was still the top priority.
The marketing budget for Batman was 25 million dollars. Although Warner Bros. was handling distribution, Daenerys Entertainment's own marketing team was fully involved as well. The fact that both companies were throwing their weight behind the campaign showed how seriously they were taking the film.
Batman was set to open on December 22. The first fifteen‑second teaser had been running on major North American TV networks since the start of the month. Beginning next month, the film would roll out several more trailers, thirty seconds and ninety seconds in length.
Adam Baldwin, Valeria Golino and the rest of the key cast had already devoted themselves to the promotional campaign.
While Simon closely monitored every aspect of Batman's marketing, he did not plan to take part in too many publicity events himself, only intending to make a few appearances on TV talk shows in December as the release date approached.
Working flat‑out without a break, Simon was feeling more and more clearly that he was hitting the limits of his stamina. He was desperate to pause, to take a step back and carefully map out the future of his business empire.
Over the next few days, he remained busy with year‑end publicity for the company's films and with preparing a series of new projects. Stanford's campus network upgrade based on Ygritte's WWW technology also kicked off quickly once Westeros Corporation's donation hit the account.
Naturally, the Westeros public relations department did not forget to drum up some media coverage for the donation.
And so it went until October 26. While Simon was presiding over casting auditions for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Jennifer suddenly brought him a handwritten note from Janet in Melbourne. The content was very simple: the hedge funds that had been shadowing Cersei Capital were starting to run for the exits.
Plenty of people were keeping an eye on Cersei Capital's moves. Likewise, Cersei Capital was closely watching the rest of the field.
Since some people had already begun to figure it out, Simon washed his hands of the matter completely. He quietly told his assistant to destroy the note and turned his attention back to the audition in front of him.
Because the auditions were for the female lead, who was also the film's main antagonist, the pool of candidates was not large. Based on recommendations from the big talent agencies, they had narrowed it down to fewer than ten actresses. Simon was inclined to have Rebecca De Mornay, who had played the role in the original, come back as the female lead, and had personally asked her to come in and read today.
Rebecca De Mornay was one of the iconic sex symbols of the eighties. She had starred in Tom Cruise's breakout film Risky Business, and the two of them had even announced an engagement right before the film's release. Of course, everyone in the business knew what that had really been about, and the so‑called engagement had quietly evaporated afterward.
At a party a few days back, Simon had run into Rebecca De Mornay again. She had left him a very interesting business card.
Rebecca was a CAA client. A little earlier in the year, Simon definitely would not have considered hiring her. But after Michael Ovitz had broken with Barry Levinson and others, Daenerys Entertainment lifted its ban on CAA, and that obstacle no longer existed.
After discussing the performance pieces for more than half an hour, Simon told Rebecca to step out of the audition room and wait for the time being.
Once she left, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was in charge of Disney's production operations, could not hold back. "Simon, isn't De Mornay a little too beautiful? And her acting is still a bit weak."
Simon leafed through the audition notes in front of him. "Jeffrey, among Hollywood actresses around thirty, with enough name recognition and the right look, we really don't have a lot of options. De Mornay has worked on Coppola's One from the Heart and Cruise's Risky Business. She's famous enough. As for acting, sure, I'd love to pick an Oscar‑caliber actress, but Holly Hunter and Melanie Griffith just aren't right for this, and Jessica Lange would be great at playing a bad woman, but she's not going to magically be ten years younger."