The day after the Rebould family's cocktail party, Janet began contacting the Blackstone Group about acquiring its stake in Blackstone Financial Management.
In the middle of all the bustle, Thursday arrived in the blink of an eye.
Blockbuster chose to list on the Nasdaq. After Simon and Janet got up at seven, they went straight to Midtown. Blockbuster's chairman and CEO, Wayne Huizenga, and Amy and the others from Daenerys Entertainment were already there.
They hurried through breakfast and headed to the Nasdaq hall on 42nd Street, where the place was already packed wall to wall.
Besides the management teams from Daenerys and Blockbuster, today's guests included heavyweights like Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, and Diane Keaton, all invited to show support.
If any other company tried to do this, they would have had to pay an eye watering appearance fee, and even then they might not have been able to book them. For Daenerys Entertainment, it took only a few phone calls.
Since everyone invited lived in New York, there was no need to cover travel expenses either.
Simon's appearance today was also purely a show of support.
A little after eight, he and Janet made a brief appearance for the media, then slipped upstairs to a lounge to wait for the opening bell ceremony.
De Niro and the others arrived one after another.
Simon also saw Kathryn Bigelow, someone he had not run into in quite a while.
After Blue Steel Angels, Kathryn had spent most of her time living in New York.
Simon could tell she was deliberately keeping her distance from him, and he did not force the issue.
Kathryn had always been fiercely independent. She was not the type to become anyone's appendage, and Simon did not want her to be his appendage either.
"This is a remake of an old 1962 film, called Cape Fear. It's about a convicted criminal taking revenge on the judge and lawyer who sent him to prison. Spielberg started working on the script adaptation a long time ago, but it never got filmed. Recently he asked Martin and me if we were interested in taking it on. Martin read the script Steven had someone write and thought it was terrible, so he's still on the fence."
Inside the lounge.
Simon sat on a sofa with De Niro and the others, chatting about what everyone had been up to lately.
While juggling post production on Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese was already looking for his next project. De Niro was about to join a biopic called Awakenings, expected to release at the end of the year, which meant he would still have two major big screen films this year.
The Cape Fear talk was really a project for next year.
In Simon's memory, Cape Fear did very well at the box office, but since it was a Spielberg led project, he had no intention of meddling.
Of course, if Cape Fear ended up being produced by Universal like it was in the other timeline, and if Simon managed to take MCA this year, then the film would still fall into his hands.
Amy and James had been closely watching MCA's moves. Simon's plan was to wait until Cersei Capital's M&A team was officially established, then pick the right moment to launch a formal acquisition offer for MCA. A deal of that size would be perfect for helping the new M&A team make its name.
After chatting with De Niro and the others for a while, Simon got up and walked over to Janet and Kathryn, who were speaking in low voices nearby.
January in New York was the coldest time of the year. Once inside, everyone took off their heavy coats. Kathryn wore a black turtleneck sweater, and Janet, dressed in an all white knit set, leaned close to her with an affectionate ease that made them look like a natural pair.
It was a three seat sofa. Kathryn sat by the armrest on one side, with Janet in the middle.
When Simon came over, Janet, who had been practically wrapped around Kathryn, immediately slid to the other side and gave him the center seat.
Simon sat down without hesitation. When Kathryn shifted slightly away, he leaned a little closer on purpose.
Naturally, she shot him a look.
Janet smiled brightly as she scooted over, draping herself against Simon's shoulder so she could talk to Kathryn across him. "See? Still the same bastard."
Simon put on an aggrieved expression. "Shouldn't you at least avoid saying that in front of the person you're talking about?"
Janet pursed her lips. "I want you to hear it."
Kathryn watched them bicker with a smile. "I saw what you did in Melbourne, boxing with people. Don't do that again. You'll get hurt."
Simon nodded, then asked, "How's your new film coming along? Do you need me to help with anything?"
Kathryn's new film was called Point Break, more or less a cops and robbers story.
Simon remembered it. One of Keanu Reeves's early films, with Patrick Swayze, the male lead from Ghost, also starring. The surfing and skydiving action sequences were classics. Its anarchist streak did not sit well with mainstream critics, but it was a huge commercial success and built a fiercely loyal fan base.
Many years later, Megan Fox, the actress who rose to fame through Transformers, even named her son after Patrick Swayze's character in Point Break, calling him Bodhi.
Hearing Simon ask so casually, Kathryn smiled down at the man beside her. "Warner has officially greenlit it. Keanu and Patrick have both agreed to star. We'll probably start shooting in the second half of the year."
Point Break was expected to cost over twenty million dollars. For Kathryn, that was already a big budget picture.
Hollywood's prejudice against female directors ran deep. Without Simon making introductions, Warner would never have agreed to invest so readily, and the original Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze might not have signed on either.
Kathryn understood all of that perfectly well.
As they talked, time quickly reached 9:15. A staff member came in to announce the opening bell ceremony was about to begin, and everyone got up and left the lounge.
Down on the floor, the exchange was packed to bursting.
As Simon and the others appeared on stage, flashes in the hall erupted into a frenzy again.
After Wayne Huizenga gave a speech, everyone crowded around the console and pressed the button together, completing the ceremony.
Next came the pre market price discovery.
Demand during the roadshow had been extremely strong. Compared to the underwriters' initial recommended range of thirteen to fifteen dollars, Blockbuster's final offering price was set at seventeen dollars. They issued fifteen million new shares, raising 255 million dollars.
That 255 million was enough to cover Blockbuster's expansion needs for the coming year, so the shareholders and management unanimously rejected the underwriters' proposal to increase the offering size.
In the first round of indications, the quoted range jumped straight to seventeen fifty to eighteen fifty.
Having finished their support appearance, Simon's group stepped out for a while. There would be a celebratory luncheon at noon, and guests could decide whether to attend depending on their schedules.
Simon was definitely going to the noon luncheon, but before that he needed to return to the Fifth Avenue apartment to take care of a few things.
Kathryn had planned to leave, but Janet forcibly dragged her back to the apartment with them.
Some people were already waiting there, staff from a genetics research institute in the U.K.
It was simple.
They collected blood samples from both Simon and Janet. After confirming a few details with Simon once more, the staff hurriedly took their leave and flew back to Britain.
Kathryn watched the whole thing, completely baffled.
Janet leaned to her ear and explained in a low voice. Only then did Kathryn understand.
Then, thinking about how Simon and Janet were about to get married, she could not help a sour tightness forming in her chest.
Back in the Nasdaq hall.
After a full hour and three consecutive rounds of price discovery, Blockbuster's opening price was finalized at nineteen fifty.
Then trading began, and the stock immediately broke through the twenty dollar mark.
By the time the celebratory luncheon started at noon, Blockbuster's share price had already climbed past twenty three, and trading remained very active through the afternoon.
By the end of Thursday's session, Blockbuster closed at twenty six fifty. Compared to the seventeen dollar offering price, it surged fifty six percent in a single day, bringing its total market value to 2.199 billion dollars.
Because Daenerys Entertainment participated in the new share subscription, its ownership stake in Blockbuster remained at thirty five percent.
Across both rounds of investment, the company's total outlay was about 210 million dollars.
At the close that day, Daenerys Entertainment's 210 million dollar investment had already appreciated to 770 million dollars, a return of more than three hundred percent in just one year.
In fact, the reason Blockbuster's stock jumped so sharply on its first day was largely because Daenerys Entertainment's spectacular success with the investment had become a story in itself.
Daenerys Entertainment's massive paper profit fueled investors' buying enthusiasm. The market's frenzy, in turn, made Daenerys Entertainment's investment look even more brilliant.
After a new listing, major shareholders and management typically entered a quiet period.
That did not hinder Blockbuster's normal operations.
On the second day after listing, Blockbuster announced it would acquire Erol Video, an East Coast based video rental chain headquartered in Baltimore. Compared to Blockbuster, which already had more than 1,200 stores across North America, Erol had only 250 stores, concentrated in a handful of states on the East Coast such as New York and Washington.
The final acquisition price was forty million dollars, structured as a mix of cash and stock, with Blockbuster also assuming Erol's debt.
Negotiations for the deal had been ongoing throughout Blockbuster's IPO process. Announcing it the day after going public was also a kind of positive catalyst.
Once the transaction was completed, Blockbuster's store count would exceed 1,500. Its market share would still be under twenty percent, but it would be the largest video rental and retail chain in North America.
After the Erol acquisition news broke, Blockbuster's stock rose again on Friday as expected, closing above twenty eight dollars.
With the IPO successfully completed, Blockbuster would also begin expanding into overseas markets.
Meanwhile, when the Blackstone Group received Cersei Capital's offer to purchase the stake it held in Blackstone Financial Management under Laurence Fink's leadership, it initially rejected the proposal outright.
Although Blackstone's CEO Steve Schwarzman and Laurence Fink were at odds, Blackstone Financial Management's performance since its founding had been outstanding. Blackstone was reluctant to let go of a subsidiary that was in a phase of rapid growth.
Only when Laurence Fink threatened to take the entire team and walk did Schwarzman grudgingly compromise, but he still opened with an outrageous ask of two hundred million dollars.
Blackstone Financial Management's revenue last year was thirty three million dollars, with pre tax net income attributable to shareholders of roughly seven million.
Because of the debt crisis in the second half of last year, even most publicly listed Wall Street financial firms were trading at price to earnings multiples of only around the low teens. Blackstone's two hundred million dollar price tag for Blackstone Financial Management was close to a thirty times multiple, and Cersei Capital naturally could not accept it.
After wrapping up the Blockbuster matters, Janet stayed in New York to continue negotiations with Blackstone, along with other preparations for Cersei Capital's departments. Simon, meanwhile, returned to Los Angeles over the weekend with Amy and the others.
On Daenerys Entertainment's side, from January 12 to January 18, Batman still posted a thirty one percent drop, yet it pulled in another 41.06 million dollars. After four weeks in release, the film's cumulative box office quickly surged to 271.75 million dollars.
At the same time, on January 19, Daenerys Entertainment's first new release of 1990 officially opened, titled I Want to Go Home.
This was a film Ira Deutchman had picked up at the Venice Film Festival last year. He had selected three films in total, but in the end, this was the only one he successfully closed.
I Want to Go Home starred the famous French actor Gérard Depardieu, who had more than ten César nominations and wins to his name. It told the story of an eccentric American cartoonist who takes his wife to Paris on vacation and ends up in a string of amusing situations. Much like that film that poked fun at differences between British and American culture, A Fish Called Wanda, this one teased the differences between British and French culture.
But since it was placed in January, Highgate Films clearly did not have high expectations for its box office. It opened on only 523 screens, basically a title used to fill a slot on the release calendar.
Daenerys Entertainment's marketing focus remained February's Pretty Woman.
The confirmed release date was February 9, the week of Valentine's Day.
Management had not been optimistic about the project at first. It was adapted from a dark drama and centered on a love story between an escort and a financier. But the final cut turned out exceptionally strong. If Daenerys Entertainment's full year release plan had not already been locked in, they might even have considered moving it to a more competitive window.
Speaking of which, Daenerys Entertainment's finalized 1990 release slate had reached twelve films. In order of release dates, they were I Want to Go Home, Pretty Woman, The Crazy Fatty Variety Show, Children of the Corn 2, Ghost, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hellraiser, A Family Journey, An Angel at My Table, Dances with Wolves, Crossroads of Life, and Home Alone.
Besides the films the company would distribute itself, there were also four projects from last year's ten film collaboration plan. They were Sleeping with the Enemy with Fox, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle with Disney, Misery with Universal, and A League of Their Own with Columbia.
Sixteen films in total, roughly the same scale as the year that had just ended.
This trip back to Los Angeles, Simon's main task was to go through all sixteen films, each at a different stage of production or release, and also lock down part of the 1991 lineup in advance.
According to the plan, Pixar would release its first 3D animated film, Toy Story, at the end of 1991. The final film in the Scream series, Scream 3, was also scheduled for next year. In addition, there would be Madonna's music documentary, plus external collaborations like The Fugitive and Terminator 2.
But clearly, that still was not enough.
Fortunately, as Daenerys Entertainment continued to expand, the company, like other Hollywood studios, had a batch of scouted projects that could be greenlit at any time. A large number of independent Hollywood producers were also eager to work with Daenerys Entertainment, and the projects they had in reserve were even more abundant.