After returning from Tasmania, Jennifer stayed in Melbourne for three more days before returning to Los Angeles.
The entire Westeros system, only counting enterprises directly held by Westeros Company, including the core four 'women', as well as a large number of listed and unlisted companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, America Online, and Nokia, has already reached 36, and is still continuously increasing. The number of other second and third-tier subsidiaries is even larger.
Although Simon delegated power as much as possible, due to the large number of enterprises, the daily tasks requiring his personal attention remained very heavy and complex.
The female assistant's position in Simon's business empire was now equivalent to his eyes, managing an assistant's office with six other assistants, constantly filtering and summarizing information from all enterprises within the Westeros system and submitting it to Simon for processing.
Simon continued to stay in Melbourne, following up on the filming of 'Batman: The Dark Knight' and remotely controlling the operation of the entire Westeros system.
Companies in their early stages of development always appear more vibrant, and the Westeros system, which has expanded rapidly in recent years, is even more so.
Florence.
The ongoing turmoil in Europe did not affect Italy, but this peninsula nation has always found it difficult to have much say in Europe, whether economically or politically.
Sophia Fessey also rarely concerned herself with politics, and had recently been negotiating with the Gucci family.
Aldo Gucci, the last male member of the second generation of Gucci, passed away last month at the age of 85, which was originally not a big deal.
Melisandre Company had already achieved absolute control over Gucci, and no matter what happened within the Gucci family, it would be difficult to significantly impact the luxury brand again.
However, the internal disputes of the Gucci family were well-known to many. Aldo Gucci had not arranged his affairs properly; he held onto his 12% stake in Gucci until his last breath, and then offloaded it to his children.
Without a prior family trust, Aldo Gucci's children would face unavoidable inheritance tax issues.
A more serious problem was that none of Aldo Gucci's children could afford to pay the inheritance tax. Although Gucci's recovery was very rapid, Sophia had used all of the company's surplus funds for business expansion and had no intention of paying shareholders a single cent in dividends for the next few years.
Therefore, the Gucci family had no choice but to sell this 12% stake.
Melisandre, backed by the Westeros system, was naturally the most suitable buyer. Sophia also intended to acquire this stake, and with this additional 12%, Melisandre's holding in Gucci would reach 75%.
However, compared to the initial total expenditure of $170 million when Simon acquired 63% of Gucci's shares, the Gucci family quoted a high price of $150 million for their 12% stake this time. Although external evaluations of Gucci's market value were continuously rising, Sophia could not accept such an offer. After discussing with Simon, Melisandre's maximum offer was $100 million, and Sophia had therefore been bargaining with the Gucci family.
Because it was only a 12% stake, which could not touch Gucci's control, and the price was so high, the Gucci family would have difficulty finding a second buyer besides Melisandre in the short term.
Helsinki.
After Nokia's mobile communications division came under Westeros Company, freed from the drag of other assets and receiving $50 million in funding, Jorma Ollila quickly initiated research and development work for GSM technology-related mobile phones and base station equipment.
The direct border with the Soviet Union and the year-long turmoil in Europe had made all of Finland somewhat apprehensive, but life had to go on.
In the first half of this year, Finland had already begun building Europe's, or rather the world's, first GSM pilot network. Although led by Germany's Siemens Group, Nokia also participated without hesitation.
However, it would take at least another year for GSM to be officially commercialized.
Nokia's mobile communications division could not completely abandon its accumulated expertise over the years. In the first half, it continued to launch two analogue signal mobile phones, which sold quite well.
New York.
While Simon and his female assistant were enjoying their time together in a small cabin in Tasmania, James Raybould officially signed an investment agreement with Qualcomm, a wireless communication technology company headquartered in San Diego.
In the past two years, Qualcomm had initially completed the patent layout for CDMA technology, gained recognition from companies such as AT&T, Bell Pacific, and Motorola, and established cooperative relationships with Korean telecommunications companies, continuously receiving funding from various parties for the research and development of commercial CDMA technology.
However, after several consecutive capital injections from AT&T and other companies were quickly depleted, Qualcomm recently faced another funding shortage.
If it did not accept Westeros Company's investment, Qualcomm's account balance of less than $200,000 might not even be enough to smoothly pay employees' August salaries.
Westeros Company's assertive performance in seizing control of America Online and Cisco had made Qualcomm's management quite apprehensive. However, Qualcomm also found it difficult to find a major financial backer who could immediately provide a large sum of money in the short term.
After some bargaining, Westeros Company acquired 4 million shares of Qualcomm's common stock for $35 million, accounting for 20% of Qualcomm's total shares at the time.
However, Westeros Company did not receive the same kind of promise as other invested companies that would allow it to maintain its shareholding percentage during subsequent financing or IPO processes. Qualcomm, after accepting Westeros Company's investment, could continue to promote its IPO without restrictions.
San Francisco.
With the further promotion of the Ygritte portal and World Wide Web technology, although July had not yet passed, America Online's user growth had already surpassed that of the entire month of June. It was estimated that the number of World Wide Web access users would increase by 55,000 to 60,000 this month.
To keep pace with market expansion, both Ygritte and America Online could only be described as 'burning money'.
Ygritte was completely in a money-burning state, from browser software, server software, various portal website technologies to the development of the underlying JavaScript language, the R&D investment was enormous, and sustainable revenue was still a long way off.
Simon had originally hoped to subsidize the portal website division through software sales, but this goal was clearly not very realistic in the short term.
Carol Bartz, who was in charge of the software division, had a rather strong personality. Although she had started to generate revenue from browser software installations, she not only had no intention of subsidizing the portal website division, but instead cut $10 million from the $20 million Simon had invested for the software division's own development.
On Jeff Bezos' side, the remaining $10 million, the maintenance of the portal website team, and the construction of two new data centres would probably only last until the end of August.
Fortunately, Jeff Bezos had already begun exploring advertising business and successfully secured two advertising orders from IBM and Microsoft. The amounts were not large, totalling only $800,000, and he also rejected Gates' suggestion to increase advertising investment in exchange for priority development of browser software for the Windows platform.
Simon was very satisfied with this foresight that disregarded short-term gains and losses.
To ensure users quickly received the latest features, Ygritte's IE browser was updated several times almost every month.
For customers, if browser software on one platform was updated more frequently and promptly than on another, a preference would naturally develop unconsciously.
However, although the Windows operating system was beginning to rise, Apple and traditional Unix computers were still mainstream in these years. Although Westeros Company was a major shareholder of Microsoft, to quickly promote World Wide Web technology and avoid giving other competitors an opportunity, the IE browser could not temporarily favour Microsoft.
As for the competition and disagreements between Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz, Simon did not intervene too much.
Appropriate internal competition is also beneficial for corporate development.
Moreover, it was not yet time for the software division to subsidize the portal website. If that day truly came, Simon would not indulge Carol Bartz's wilfulness.
In addition, at the end of July, 100 internet cafes opened by America Online officially began operations.
Excellent pre-promotion and marketing, a relaxed environment within the internet cafes not inferior to coffee shops, and public curiosity about the internet attracted a large number of customers for a time.
However, as initially estimated, these 100 internet cafes were basically not profitable.
With a charge of $3 per hour, 20 computers per internet cafe, and operating hours from 7 AM to 11 PM, even if an internet cafe operated at full capacity, the theoretical monthly income would only be $28,800. In reality, half of that would be considered good.
Coincidentally, the approximate break-even point for each internet cafe was $15,000.
To make a profit, as initially expected, they could only rely on selling beverages, snacks, or a few peripheral items.
Although the profit prospects for these 100 internet cafes were not great, America Online had no intention of abandoning this business.
After all, Simon's fundamental goal was to promote World Wide Web technology.
According to the plan, after a period of operational exploration, America Online intended to expand the internet cafe industry through a licensing and franchising model. Franchisees would only need to pay a certain franchise fee to America Online to receive a complete set of technical and solution support. They could also adopt relatively flexible operating methods, appropriately increasing the number of computers, raising internet prices, or developing additional businesses, making it relatively easy to make a profit.
Los Angeles.
With Simon away, Daenerys Entertainment remained as vibrant as a young animal in spring.
Financial data for the first half of 1990 had been compiled, and although management had not released detailed figures, both within the company and external media had already gleaned a general idea.
In the first six months of this year, just one unexpected box office hit, 'Pretty Woman', brought Daenerys Entertainment a significant profit.
However, the revenue brought to Daenerys Entertainment by 'Pretty Woman', a film capable of supporting a film company's entire annual performance, from its over $160 million box office in the first half of the year, was less than one-tenth of Daenerys Entertainment's pre-tax profit for the first two quarters.
Only 'Batman Begins', which had a massive box office at the end of last year, brought Daenerys Entertainment a huge profit from both box office and merchandise in the first half of the year.
In addition, from the end of 1988, Daenerys Entertainment had accumulated a large number of blockbuster films such as the 'Scream' series, 'Dead Poets Society', 'Rain Man', 'The Sixth Sense', 'The Bodyguard', and 'Look Who's Talking'. In the first half of 1990, these films continued to bring in substantial revenue for Daenerys Entertainment from overseas cinemas, the video market, and television broadcasting platforms.
A series of popular reality shows and other television drama projects produced by Daenerys Television Company also brought stable income to the company.
Not only that, Daenerys Entertainment's consumer products division, managed by Nancy Brill, including games and music businesses, also generated substantial revenue due to the company's various projects.
Among them, Blizzard Studio's fighting version of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' video game, released in March, although not as best-selling as last year's role-playing version, sold over 1 million game cartridges in three months, with total sales expected to exceed 2 million cartridges.
Having secured a special quota from Nintendo, allowing them to release five games annually at preferential rates, in addition to the fighting version of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', Blizzard Studio would also launch a sequel to the role-playing version of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' in the second half of the year, and EA Company, in which Daenerys Entertainment had a stake, would also provide three other games for the Nintendo console platform.
All of these combined, in just the first half of 1990, Daenerys Entertainment's after-tax net profit reached $573 million. With the success of films like 'Ghost' and 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' during the summer, the full-year net profit figure was expected to at least double.
After the financial report was released, Amy Pascal had even been a little dazed recently.
She officially signed on in March 1987, with her contract expiring in March 1991, a total of four years.
Based on the company's performance in the first half of the year and her original compensation terms, her total compensation for this year, including cash and stock awards, was likely to exceed $100 million.
100 million Dollars!
If someone had told her a few years ago that she could earn $100 million, Amy would have thought they were talking nonsense.
Hollywood executives, apart from a handful of top figures like Steve Ross and Lew Wasserman who had held high positions for a long time and built their companies to a sufficient scale, generally did not earn high salaries. Everyone worked hard, just earning a meagre living.
Even Steve Ross, whose total compensation last year was only over $36 million, was already criticized extensively by the media and shareholders.
Those truly in Hollywood knew that the most profitable people in the industry were only that small group of top superstars.
As for the executives in the industry, although their power seemed great, they were also subject to many constraints. Most of the time, they had to endure investors' tempers and try every possible means to accommodate celebrities, not as glamorous as outsiders imagined.
However, she, Amy Pascal, a woman, in an industry where women were generally discriminated against and objectified, could earn $100 million in a year.
In a daze, Amy even occasionally thought, rather unworthily, how should I spend such a large sum of money?
As the Westeros system expanded vibrantly, time silently rolled over the last few days of July 1990.
In the last week of July, the situation in the Middle East, already extremely tense, became increasingly ominous.
Using the excuse of Kuwait 'stealing' Iraqi oil, and after demands for Kuwait to waive debts and provide huge reparations went unanswered, Iraq's most elite Republican Guard tank and armoured divisions were deployed along the Iraq-Kuwait border.
Not wanting his Arab brothers to fight, Egyptian President Mubarak proactively visited Iraq to intercede for Kuwait, but left sheepishly after being rebuffed.
Other Middle Eastern countries, also feeling threatened, ostentatiously held large-scale joint military exercises with the US Persian Gulf fleet on July 24, attempting to deter the Saddam regime. At the same time, international crude oil prices soared rapidly in the last week of July.
In just one week, it had already surged from a low of 13 USD to nearly 20 USD.
Cersei Capital cleared all its short contracts on Monday, July 23, which had resulted in a not insignificant loss of profit due to the falling oil prices.
By the time oil prices surged in the last week of July, the previously huge losses in long positions had turned into profits in just a few days, followed by astonishing profit gains.