Simon and Janette left home early together, rushing from Malibu to Santa Monica to meet up with Kathryn.
After everyone had breakfast together, Simon drove the two women to Los Angeles International Airport.
The date was August 27th, Monday, 1990.
Janette was flying to New York to handle matters for Cersei Capital.
Kathryn had finished filming 'Point Break' during this time and was still staying on the West Coast for post-production. Taking the hitchhike flight this time was for the New York Film Festival in September; she had been invited to serve as a judge for this year's festival.
After saying their goodbyes, the Boeing 767 roared into the sky from the airport runway.
Once the plane levelled off, Kathryn unbuckled her seatbelt and subconsciously looked out the window toward the ground. Los Angeles International Airport was no longer in sight, so it was naturally impossible to see a certain figure standing by the runway.
He must have left by now.
He's always so busy all day.
Janette also unbuckled her seatbelt. Noticing Kathryn's gaze, she smiled and glanced out the window, saying, "Missing him already?"
Kathryn gave Janette a gentle glare: "Don't make jokes like that, you two are married".
Janette grinned, rang the bell to summon Miss C, Claire Gaines, and asked for a glass of water, and then asked Kathryn what she wanted to drink.
Kathryn also just asked for a glass of water. She watched Janette get up and walk over to sit on a large sofa on the other side, casually turning on the television, but Kathryn did not get up to follow.
This was the upper-deck lounge in the forward cabin of the Boeing 767.
Although Simon still complained it was a bit small, in Kathryn's eyes, it was already extremely luxurious. Even now, she would occasionally see articles in the newspapers criticizing him for being too extravagant because of this plane.
However, thinking about the recent media articles discussing his latest net worth, such a plane didn't seem like much.
The Los Angeles Times had reported two days ago that due to the sudden outbreak of the Kuwait war, Cersei Capital had earned billions of dollars in profit through operations in the crude oil futures market. The Forbes 400 richest Americans list, originally scheduled to be released this month, had specifically delayed this year's publication to dig up more detailed asset figures for Simon.
Claire brought over two glasses of water. Kathryn whispered a thank you. Once Miss C left, she pulled back her thoughts and asked Janette beside her, "Jenny, is it really okay for you to fly back and forth between New York and Los Angeles every week?"
Janette was lying unceremoniously on the long sofa flipping through some documents. Hearing Kathryn's question and knowing the subtext behind it, she shook her head: "No problem".
Kathryn thought Janette hadn't understood what she was getting at, so she had to be blunt: "You and Simon have been married for less than half a year".
Janette propped up her upper body, her bare little feet lifting and dropping behind her. After a moment, she said, "Kate, that Little Bastard is only 22".
"Hmm?"
"If I were also 22, I would definitely wait until the day he truly wanted to get married before marrying him. But... you know, I couldn't wait any longer. I had to tie him down first. However, he's actually not ready yet".
Kathryn understood.
Cersei Capital wanted to set up a branch in Los Angeles, or even move its headquarters here, which would make it completely easy for Janette to not have to run back and forth. However, Janette did this because she wanted to leave some personal space for Simon, who wasn't actually ready for married life yet.
She couldn't help but think of herself.
And, at the very beginning.
Although she knew that she and that little man were unlikely, it would be a complete lie to say she didn't have a single trace of resentment about Janette stepping in and taking him away.
However, Janette indeed loved him more than she did.
At least, if she had really married him, she would never have tolerated him being involved with other women.
Well, perhaps she wasn't so sure about that either.
She remembered Janette once saying that for a man as outstanding as him, how could he only have one woman.
Changing the subject to chat casually with Janette, Kathryn also pulled out information on the nominated films for this year's New York Film Festival from her bag to pass the time.
A moment later, Janette called Claire over again and handed her the documents she had just been flipping through, saying: "Tell Hawker Beechcraft to go to hell, find another company. Also, get our deposit back, every single penny."
Claire hesitated for a moment and asked carefully: "Ms. Westeros, what's the reason?"
Janette waved her away, saying: "Let them figure it out themselves".
Claire had no choice but to leave with the documents.
Kathryn waited until Miss C left before asking: "What's wrong?"
Janette picked up the water glass from the coffee table and sat back down opposite Kathryn. After taking a few sips, she said: "Simon and I plan to build two private hangars at LAX specifically for the storage and maintenance of the private planes we own. Hawker Beechcraft actually came up with a $35 million budget, which is double what I expected. They want to fleece us like fat sheep, so I'll just make sure they don't earn a single penny".
Kathryn smiled, roughly understanding that Hawker Beechcraft was likely an aviation company.
She was just a bit curious, saying: "Can you build private hangars at Los Angeles International Airport?"
Janette nodded and said in a very wealthy tone: "Of course you can, as long as you give enough money".
Kathryn couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Speaking of which, Simon actually wanted to build a private airport exclusively for himself.
However, doing so in the short term would be too conspicuous, so he simply chose to cooperate with Los Angeles International Airport.
The entire Westeros System, including Simon's Boeing 767 and the Gulfstream IV originally bought for Westeros Company, as well as the private planes leased by Daenerys Entertainment and Gucci, already had a total of four private planes, with more to come. Therefore, it was necessary to build a dedicated private hangar in Los Angeles and form a specialized service team.
Although cooperating with Los Angeles International Airport was a bit troublesome, as Janette said, as long as the money was enough, there was nothing that couldn't be settled.
After seeing off the two women, Simon rushed to Daenerys Studios.
A senior management meeting was to be held in the morning to discuss the company's development plans for the second half of the year.
Arriving at the large conference room in Building 1 of the studio's administrative area, Amy Pascal, Robert Iger, Nancy Brill, Ira Deutchman, Danny Morris, Robert Rehme, Mark Belford, and other Daenerys Entertainment executives had all arrived early. Even Stan Lee, who was in charge of Marvel, appeared here today.
When Simon entered the room, everyone was gathered together chatting warmly.
Seeing Simon appear, everyone stepped forward to greet him. Simon exchanged pleasantries and casually asked Amy: "What are you talking about?"
Amy handed over the latest issue of Forbes magazine and didn't forget to add: "I have to state first, Simon, it wasn't me who leaked the news".
Forbes magazine is a weekly publication.
However, although this magazine is famous, it was not on Simon's reading list. Any articles that needed Simon's attention were usually organized by his Female Assistant for him to review.
Recently, the Forbes company had contacted Simon again, hoping he would cooperate with the statistics for the new annual rich list, and Simon had refused as usual.
Taking the magazine from Amy, Simon motioned for everyone to sit down and sat down at the conference table himself.
Looking at the magazine page in his hand, a striking bold headline caught his eye: 'The Hundred-Million-Dollar Executive Club'.
He quickly scanned the content.
The Forbes company had clearly done a lot of 'work' during this time. The article's tracking of Daenerys Entertainment's financial data for the first half of the year and Cersei Capital's recent profits in the crude oil futures market was quite accurate.
However, the focus of the hype in this article was the expected 1990 compensation for several partners of Cersei Fund Management Company and Amy Pascal from Daenerys Entertainment.
Based on known data, Forbes magazine judged that in 1990, in the entire Westeros System, excluding Simon and his wife, there would be seven others who could earn an income in the $100 million range. These were the six partners who each held a 5% stake in Cersei Fund Management Company, and Amy Pascal, who could receive 5% of Daenerys Entertainment's annual profit plus an equivalent amount in equity rewards.
When Forbes magazine previously announced with great fanfare that it was delaying this year's Forbes 400 and Global Billionaires lists due to Simon's personal reasons, many media outlets began to dig into the assets and financial figures of the entire Westeros System.
The more they calculated, the more it left people tongue-tied.
The calculation in Forbes magazine was basically consistent with the facts, but compared to many of the eye-catching revelations recently, it wasn't actually too glaring.
Of course.
For the large group of executives in the conference room who were at roughly the same level as Amy, it was clearly a different feeling.
An annual income of over $100 million is absolutely a miracle for a professional manager.
Anyone with even a little ambition would probably not be indifferent to this.
Pressing the magazine down in front of him, Simon scanned the people in the conference room and said: "I presume you all know that the content in this report is true. You aren't familiar with Cersei Fund Management Company, but Amy is very well-acquainted with everyone".
With Simon personally confirming it, even though they had already received partial confirmation from Amy, there was still some commotion in the office.
Raising his hand to signal for silence, Simon continued: "I can only say that the current annual salary of $100 million is just a beginning. The entire Westeros System is large, very large, enough for you to display your talents, and there won't be just a few positions with an annual income of over $100 million. Now the industry thinks I'm very harsh on stars and unwilling to provide them with the same high salaries as other studios. In fact, it's not because I'm unwilling to pay; I will only give what I consider a reasonable price. It's the same for you; as long as you contribute enough to this company, I am happy to pay any of you a package worth over $100 million a year".
If such a promise were made in another company, everyone would likely treat it as an empty check. However, sitting in the conference room at this moment, no one felt that Simon was just making empty promises.
Therefore, until the meeting ended at noon, many people were still immersed in a certain ambitious mood.
After lunch, Simon and Stan Lee, who still hadn't left, came to the second-floor office loft area of the studio, where Marvel's West Coast team had moved.
With the success of 'Batman Begins' and the expansion of the DC Cinematic Universe, the Marvel Entertainment team had proposed developing Marvel superhero movies to Simon more than once, but Simon had never relented.
Under current conditions, picking one or two Marvel superhero solo movies for development might be fine, but to create the Marvel Cinematic Universe, current special effects technology simply couldn't support it.
However, after several discussions, Simon agreed to a compromise plan.
In the coming years, Marvel would invest in developing a series of 2D animated feature films for Marvel superheroes. The specifications would be roughly like the DC superhero animated films in the original timeline, PG-13 rated, each with a duration of 70 to 90 minutes. They would not enter theatres but would be released directly through video tapes and television channels.
Marvel originally had an animation production team in the San Fernando Valley on the West Coast, which had previously been producing television cartoons for children.
Having made the decision, Simon approved a $15 million budget for the first animated film this time, of which $12 million was for production and $3 million for promotion and distribution.
Since it was directly for the video and TV markets, the technology was not as cumbersome as big-screen animated films, and it could be completed in about a year.
Since it was the first one after all, Simon patiently gave the Marvel animation team a production period of one and a half years.
However, the $15 million budget was equivalent to the entire net profit of Marvel Entertainment for three years at this time. Simon's attitude was very clear: if they messed up, Marvel would just focus on comics in the future and not think about anything else.
Having finally gotten Simon to relent, the Marvel team also cherished this opportunity very much. Not only did they pick their most popular character, Spider-Man, but Stan Lee, who was originally based in New York, also specifically came to Los Angeles, intending to personally follow up on the project's preparation on the West Coast.
The first Spider-Man animated film would, as usual, tell the origin story. After listening to Stan Lee personally explain the plot concept, Simon just reminded him again not to make it a low-brow children's film. At the same time, he told them to plan the animated character designs well, so that the image of the superheroes wouldn't be different in every future project. This was one thing Simon was very dissatisfied with regarding the DC animated films in his memory, even the animated images of popular characters like Superman and Batman changed constantly.
Simon also knew that this situation occurred because different teams were responsible for different projects, but these were not things he needed to concern himself with now; he only set the requirements.
The lofts on the second floor indeed gave people a very relaxed environment that stimulated creativity; spacious, open, easy for communication, without the fast pace of the administrative area. Whether it was the graffiti on the walls or the movie figurines placed everywhere, it made people feel that this was where art should be born.
The lofts in New York's Soho district, which were first converted from abandoned factories, were indeed gathering places for artists.
No wonder Nancy Brill had moved the entire consumer products department, along with the Daenerys Analytics company she managed, the Blockbuster Los Angeles branch, and Blizzard Studio here. It gave a strong sense of being independent within the Daenerys system, like a local warlord.
The Marvel team only occupied a small corner on the first floor of Loft 3; the rest had become the territory of a certain small woman.
Leaving the Marvel office area, he originally intended to go to Pixar to see the development progress of Toy Story, but happened to run into Nancy coming out of the Blockbuster branch office area. So, they found a place in the nearby lounge area to sit down and talk about Blockbuster.
During this period, Blockbuster had completed the merger with that Erol's company, and the number of its own chain stores continued to increase. It was expected that the scale of the chain would exceed 2,000 stores by the end of the year, becoming the veritable number one video rental chain in North America.
Moreover, after Nancy split the positions of Chairman and CEO originally held by Blockbuster founder Wayne Huizenga and poached an executive from Walmart to serve as Blockbuster's CEO, the small woman had completely taken control of the company. Of course, it also meant Daenerys Entertainment had completely taken control of the company.
According to the results of many discussions between Simon and Nancy, what Nancy was personally following up on now was continuously improving Blockbuster's overall operational efficiency, preventing this video rental chain giant from suffering from a decline in execution and corporate redundancy due to excessive expansion.
This was also the reason why Nancy had poached the executive named James Frey from Walmart. Walmart was undoubtedly the best at solving the above problems, and retail chains can only maintain their advantages and competitiveness among industry competitors by continuously improving efficiency and reducing their own costs through various preferential policies for customers.
If the larger the enterprise, the more expensive the price, and it completely fails to reflect its own scale advantage, the company is not far from decline.