In the original timeline, Mel Gibson was boycotted by all of Hollywood after his anti-Semitic remarks, but he was never completely suppressed.
Dustin Hoffman, who accumulated resources and connections no less than Mel Gibson at his peak, also couldn't be completely blacklisted by Simon.
With Terry Semel and Peter Guber personally stepping in, Simon went along with it and eased up.
Inside Madonna's mansion, seeing Simon walk towards the dance floor with Janette, Terry Semel and Peter Guber, having achieved their goal, had no intention of staying longer at the party and walked out together.
Arriving in the front yard, Peter Guber said with a relaxed tone, "I thought this matter would be troublesome, but it seems Westeros still knows when to stop".
Terry Semel noticed the smile on Peter Guber's face, but he didn't think so.
If that young man were really so easy to talk to, Meg Ryan wouldn't be in her current predicament.
After 'The Rocketeer' at the end of last year, Meg Ryan has yet to get another film contract in Hollywood.
Recently, she reportedly went to the UK, hoping to re-establish her career there.
Terry Semel was not at all optimistic about the actress's move.
Any film company of significant size in the UK was trying to break into Hollywood, so how could they easily provoke the currently booming Daenerys Entertainment because of Meg Ryan?
As for the current matter, everyone knew that it was impossible to completely blacklist a major Hollywood actor with two Oscar statuettes.
Westeros was merely going with the flow.
However, if one were to say that Westeros would just let Dustin Hoffman and the others off the hook, Semel, who had many interactions with the young man, did not believe that.
It's worth noting that after Meg Ryan became a first-tier actress with 'When Harry Met Sally', she was unwilling to be constrained by Daenerys Entertainment's original contract and wanted to terminate it.
Westeros initially 'let go' of the actress quite readily, only demanding a breach of contract fee.
What happened next, all of Hollywood saw.
Terry Semel even thought of Sony's planned production of 'Hook,' a project that had been circulating in Hollywood for several years until Sony recently offered a high price, and Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams agreed to join.
Daenerys Entertainment had been collecting various copyrights since Westeros's rise.
If the 'Hook' project had enough box office potential, Daenerys Entertainment would have no reason to let it go.
The fact was, Daenerys Entertainment had never shown any interest in 'Hook'.
Although the magic of 'Ghost,' which opened last week, seemed to have faded, giving many in Hollywood a 'glimmer of hope' that Daenerys Entertainment could also make a mistake, however, just one film, 'Pretty Woman', released during the Valentine's Day slot in February, was enough to prove that Westeros's eye for film had not diminished at all.
As of last week, 'Pretty Woman's total North American box office had reached $161 million, and it is expected to approach $180 million before its run ends.
Not only that, 'Pretty Woman's overseas box office performance was even better than its domestic one.
Although many overseas markets, to protect their own summer blockbusters, had not yet allowed 'Pretty Woman' to be released, just in countries and regions where it had premiered, such as the UK, Germany, Italy, and Australia, the cumulative box office over the past few months easily exceeded $130 million.
Once major markets like Japan, France, and Spain open, 'Pretty Woman's global box office is even expected to reach $500 million.
With a production cost of $10 million and a global box office of $500 million, any major Hollywood film company, even with only one such successful film a year, would essentially be able to support its entire year's performance.
Those who felt schadenfreude because 'Ghost's box office and critical reception were only mediocre were probably just comforting themselves.
Since Westeros still maintained his excellent eye for film, and the young man was indifferent to 'Hook', Terry Semel didn't think this project was such a good choice for Sony.
What's more, Sony was a bit too generous this time.
Just for Spielberg and Robin Williams, beyond their fixed salaries, Sony also promised them 20% and 10% of the project's net profit share, respectively.
With Dustin Hoffman joining, at least another 10% would be taken.
Before the film even started shooting, 40% of the profits had already been promised.
Considering that the production cost of this movie could not be less than $50 million, Terry Semel felt that even if Sony didn't lose money this time, they shouldn't expect to earn much 'buzz', and it was more likely they would end up as a humiliated scapegoat.
This scapegoat was precisely brought in by Peter Guber, who was beside him.
Terry Semel and Peter Guber each got into their respective cars.
Before leaving, Semel couldn't help but glance at Peter Guber's newly replaced luxurious Rolls-Royce.
During the past six months or so at the helm of Columbia, the extravagance and lavishness of Peter Guber and Jon Peters, the two executives, simply made other studio heads in Hollywood envious.
Not only did the two arrange for a large number of cronies and relatives to work at the company, but they also spent Sony's money without any qualms.
It was said that in recent weeks, Jon Peters would fly back and forth between Europe and Los Angeles every week on a private jet owned by Columbia, just to date his new girlfriend.
Not only the private jet fees, but also hotel and restaurant expenses during the trips, and even the cost of luxury goods purchased for his girlfriend, were all reimbursed by Columbia.
If it were any other studio, doing this would certainly not be feasible.
However, the person in charge of Columbia Pictures' finances was actually Peter Guber's ex-wife.
Many Hollywood natives were watching Sony's spectacle, curious how much 'tuition' this Japanese electronics giant would ultimately pay, and how long it would last before it sheepishly left Hollywood voluntarily.
Simon knew this number.
$2.1 billion dollars!
In the original timeline, this was the asset impairment loss figure announced by Sony after Peter Guber and Jon Peters left Columbia.
Because of this alarming huge loss, Sony founder Akio Morita had to step down in disgrace and completely withdraw from Sony's management.
On the dance floor, Simon was recalling these 'past events', when Janette, her arms around his neck, leaned in and whispered, "Are you really going to let those guys off?"
Because Janette was too close to his ear, Simon subconsciously tilted his head slightly.
Janette had developed 'after-effects' from Simon's initial wrist-grabbing incident, and Simon now had a psychological shadow from Janette biting his ear.
Noticing Simon's evasion, Janette deliberately leaned in again, lightly biting his ear a few times, making a faint clinking sound.
Simon turned and kissed Janette on the cheek, gently moving her teeth away from his ear, and then embraced her waist, saying, "I'm never one to easily forgive. It's just that some things can't be done in one go, so I can only keep them in mind for now".
Janette nodded with an "Mm-hmm", and then teased softly, "So vengeful".
Simon just smiled.
After one dance, the two stayed at the party for a while longer before leaving Madonna's mansion.
They returned to the villa on the west side of Point Dume at ten o'clock at night.
Janette was never one to stay up late; she pulled Simon to shower and then quickly fell asleep.
The next day was Sunday.
It was already summer, and bright golden sunlight streamed into the seaside bedroom early.
Simon woke up at six o'clock, gently slipped out of the woman's embrace, and after washing up, changed into a tracksuit and went to the gym.
At seven o'clock, he returned to the bedroom, changed his clothes, and called Janette to wake up.
After putting the drowsy woman into a warm bath, Simon went to the dining room.
With the four ladies, A, B, C, and D, Simon no longer needed to personally prepare breakfast.
Claire, lady C, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, looking very much like an office lady, saw Simon appear and proactively handed him today's newspaper.
Simon said good morning and openly glanced at the graceful lady standing beside him.
White shirts and black trousers were the work attire of the four ladies.
Simon wasn't so perverse as to make the four women wear maid costumes, feeling that it would make him look like an old English landlord.
This Office lady style outfit was just right.
All four women were around 175cm tall, with slender, graceful figures, and their uniform attire perfectly matched Simon's neat and orderly, obsessive-compulsive aesthetic.
At Simon's current wealth and status, it was difficult to feel an intense desire for women because they were too easy to obtain.
Having four exquisite 'vases' by his side would lead most people to various ambiguous associations, but for Simon, apart from having them manage some daily tasks, it was simply for aesthetic pleasure.
Claire Gaines, whom Simon called 'C', noticed his gaze.
She subtly shifted closer to the man and whispered, "Boss, perhaps you should look at today's entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times".
Simon paused, then quickly nodded and smiled, "Alright".
Saying that, he opened the newspaper in front of him and found the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times.
A fair and slender finger reached out and pointed to a spot.
Simon looked over, and his brows couldn't help but furrow slightly.
"Another Big Deal, Michael Ovitz Possibly Orchestrating Panasonic's Acquisition of MCA".
In his memory, the news of Panasonic's acquisition of MCA was officially announced only after August, having been in secret contact before then.
What was going on now?
Was Panasonic going to make its move earlier?
Thinking this, Simon began to read the main text, and then he was somewhat dumbfounded.
It turned out that this news was purely an accident.
To avoid the media storm caused by the previous brokering of Sony's acquisition of Columbia, this acquisition led by Michael Ovitz was indeed very confidential.
However, man proposes, God disposes.
Just last Friday, Michael Ovitz led his team back to Los Angeles from Tokyo and unexpectedly ran into Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen and his entourage.
Charlie Sheen was not a CAA star, so he naturally had no obligation to keep Ovitz's secrets.
Then, this matter leaked out, becoming clear evidence for the media's ongoing speculation that Ovitz was working on Panasonic's acquisition of MCA.
Although Daenerys Entertainment had not yet begun contact with MCA, preparations for this acquisition had never stopped behind the scenes.
Simon planned to make his move and enter the fray after the war erupted in the second half of the year and Panasonic officially announced the acquisition of MCA.
Now, if this leak caused Panasonic to have to launch its acquisition offer early, things might become a bit tricky.
After the minor North American stock market crash last year, MCA's stock price slowly recovered to above $45 in the first half of the year, with its market value fluctuating between $4.5 billion and $5 billion.
If they were to make a move now, in a competitive situation, it would be difficult to snatch MCA without $8 billion.
In his memory, Panasonic acquired MCA for a high price, and in the following years, Universal Pictures even produced a super blockbuster like 'Jurassic Park'.
However, Panasonic later still had to sell it at a reduced price, which showed that MCA was not worth such a high price.
Therefore, let alone $8 billion, if the price exceeded $7 billion, Simon would rather withdraw than be a scapegoat.
$7 billion was the upper limit Simon set for this planned acquisition.
Simon was considering how to deal with the current change when Janette, wearing a sky-blue long dress, walked into the dining room looking radiant.
She leaned over, put her arms around Simon's neck, kissed him, and sat down next to him.
She casually glanced at Claire, who was still standing beside Simon, but asked Simon, "What's wrong?"
Claire noticed Janette's seemingly unintentional glance, her gaze nervously darted away, and she silently walked towards the kitchen.
Simon didn't notice the subtle look from the woman beside him.
He showed her the newspaper in his hand and said, "Panasonic might announce the acquisition of MCA earlier".
Janette quickly scanned the news article, her face showing a hint of schadenfreude, and said, "Panasonic probably isn't ready either. Launching an acquisition offer early won't do them any good; it will only cause MCA's stock price to skyrocket. I bet both CAA and Panasonic will publicly deny this report".
Simon nodded, this possibility was also very high.
Remembering another matter, Simon said to Janette, "For Cersei Capital, don't touch MCA's stock this time".
With the breaking of this news, Wall Street arbitrage capital would certainly begin to enter the market and acquire MCA stock.
Cersei Capital also engaged in short-term arbitrage trading, and if they started buying now, they might face an insider trading investigation by the SEC.
"I know".
Janette agreed, and Claire and Deborah brought breakfast.
He had originally planned to rest at home for a day, but with such an unexpected event, Amy and James both called, so Simon rushed to the studio after breakfast.
After seeing the man off, Janette returned to the villa.
Allison and Betsy, who lived nearby, arrived shortly after, and the four ladies A, B, C, and D were all gathered.
Janette directed the four ladies to clean the villa, checked the kitchen and all bedrooms and bathrooms, personally drew up a list of daily necessities to be purchased for the new week, and sent ladies A and B out to shop.
After arranging these tasks, she made several phone calls, discussing various trivial matters concerning the Westeros family's properties, such as whether the mansion on Mercer Island in Seattle needed a new speedboat, and if the newly acquired estate in Rome, Italy, had installed the latest alarm system.
Janette had been doing these things since she was Janette Johnston, and now as Janette Westeros, it was even more legitimate.
She thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being the mistress of the house.
Moreover, because she could always delegate most tasks to others, Janette always handled seemingly complex and trivial household chores with ease.
Her little brain habitually operated at seven-tenths capacity, remaining lazy, indifferent, and leisurely, never allowing herself to get tired.
After being busy until noon, she was still able to curl up on the living room sofa and review documents from Cersei Capital before Simon came home for lunch.
Leon Black's team at Apollo Management is set to participate in the bidding for a $1.5 billion bond asset from Columbia Savings and Loan Bank next week.
This deal will be a collaboration with Citigroup and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, with each contributing $500 million.
$500 million, which is half of the $1 billion fund previously raised by Apollo Management, naturally requires extreme caution.
The $1.5 billion bond asset is actually a valuation after the continuous collapse and shrinkage of the U.S. bond market over the past six months; the book value of these bonds is close to $3.5 billion.
If this deal is successful, Apollo Management's $500 million investment, once these bonds are repaid as agreed within the next three years, could yield more than double the return, with an average annual return rate exceeding 30%.
This is a very impressive return rate for any private equity fund.
In addition, there are other investment projects currently being scouted.
For example, the acquisition of a mattress manufacturing company called Simmons.
Simon seemed very interested in this company, so Janette paid even more attention to it.