Following Simon closely, Larry Ellison picked up on his previous words and said, "Simon, since you're optimistic about Oracle, why don't you, like Microsoft, hand over the voting rights of Westeros Company's shares to me?"
Simon replied bluntly, "Larry, my optimism about Oracle doesn't mean I'm optimistic about you. If Oracle's stock price continues to fall, I think it's very necessary to change the person in charge".
Larry Ellison tried to climb the ladder but unexpectedly dug a pit for himself. He chuckled twice and said, "Simon, you must be joking, right?"
The two turned another corner, and Simon's mountain mansion was just ahead.
Simon had no intention of inviting Ellison to breakfast. He stopped jogging and said, "Larry, since Westeros Company has started buying in, this should be a great positive for Oracle. Moreover, from the first time Westeros Company bought into Oracle several years ago until now, I have never interfered with Oracle's operations. You should understand my attitude. Since you are here today and are starting to worry about your control over Oracle, can you tell me what exactly happened to Oracle?"
Larry Ellison didn't expect Simon to hit the nail on the head and was momentarily speechless, unsure how to begin.
Seeing Ellison remain silent, Simon asked a more specific question: "The third-quarter financial report will be released next month. What is Oracle's loss figure?"
"Approximately $30 million", Larry Ellison hesitated before giving a vague number, then immediately added, "Simon, this is only temporary. This quarter, Oracle's single-quarter revenue can exceed $200 million, a 26% increase quarter-on-quarter. At this growth rate, Oracle's revenue can exceed $1 billion this fiscal year".
Simon didn't listen to Ellison's subsequent explanations and couldn't help but confirm, "A single quarter, a loss of $30 million?"
Oracle's revenue has doubled consecutively in the past few years, and this year it even began expanding its business to Latin America and Europe, showing very strong growth. This is why its market value reached $3.6 billion last year.
However, Oracle's net profit for the entire last year was just over $41 million. Now, a single quarter has incurred a loss of $30 million. Without any major investment or M&A projects, such a sudden huge loss can only mean that there are very serious problems within Oracle.
Although Simon does not interfere with Oracle's operations, he is not entirely ignorant of the company.
Since the first half of this year, media outlets have continuously questioned whether Oracle's financial data contained inflated figures, and Oracle's profits in the first two quarters of this year have continued to shrink, leading to a sustained drop in its stock price. Unexpectedly, in the third quarter, a huge loss of $30 million suddenly appeared.
Larry Ellison, stared at by Simon's sharp gaze, could only nod again.
Simon simply stopped and asked, "So?"
Larry Ellison knew what Simon meant and no longer concealed it, saying, "Simon, this was just a strategic mistake. Some sales personnel, in order to get more bonuses, included customers who had only signed software purchase intentions in their performance, but these customers later did not adopt Oracle's software. I have been dealing with this issue for the past few months..."
Larry Ellison stopped there, but Simon understood.
It's still not resolved.
The new quarterly financial report is about to be released. Serious sales strategy errors, exaggerated revenue figures, and a huge loss of $30 million are enough for angry shareholders to oust Larry Ellison. This guy came to intercept Simon today, probably wanting him to help endorse him.
Not to mention Simon's personal reputation for creating a wealth miracle in just a few years, just Westeros Company's 15% stake in Oracle, plus Ellison's own 33%, can basically ensure absolute control over Oracle.
Early tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle did not have the multiple share structures that guaranteed founder control.
If Simon and other shareholders wanted to oust Ellison, even if he was the largest shareholder with 33% of Oracle's shares, he would probably only be able to pack up and leave. Jobs was forced out of Apple this way back then.
After a moment of consideration, Simon said, "Contact Jim and have him write a report for me with the detailed situation and follow-up solutions for this matter".
Larry Ellison didn't want to go through James Raybould again and said, "Simon, why don't we have breakfast together? My car is over there. Or, you can make time this morning to come to Oracle headquarters, and we can talk in detail".
"Breakfast is out of the question, and I'm heading to New York soon", Simon refused. Although he had no intention of replacing Larry Ellison, he didn't want to appear too agreeable, so he said, "That's all for now. You go back and contact Jim as soon as possible. I don't want Oracle to hide anything from us, the major shareholders".
With that, Simon ignored Ellison and walked towards the entrance of his mountain mansion.
After breakfast, he left Woodside. After the private jet took off, Simon contacted James Raybould to discuss the Oracle matter.
James had also been following Oracle's developments recently. If Oracle hadn't been one of the companies Westeros Company had promised not to reduce its holdings in for three years, he would have already suggested Simon sell Oracle's stock instead of continuing to buy in.
Oracle's problems should be much more serious than Larry Ellison described to Simon. Over-expansion led to tight cash flow, a plummeting stock price caused financing difficulties, and it might even face a class-action lawsuit from shareholders due to previous exaggerated performance. If it cannot overcome this hurdle, even if the company does not go bankrupt, it may never recover.
The arrival of the internet era would greatly increase the market demand for database software. Simon was not as pessimistic as James; he merely requested Westeros Company to continue increasing its stake while Oracle's stock price was low, until its shareholding reached 20%.
Although he wasn't sure if Oracle went through such a crisis in the original timeline, even if this investment completely failed, Simon could now fully bear the loss.
There is a four-hour flight between the East Coast and West Coast.
After hanging up the phone with James, Simon sat by the window in the front cabin's living room, opened his laptop, and began studying the dune video game Nancy had given him a few days ago.
After an unknown period, a faint fragrance wafted through the air. Simon looked up, and Lady A, Allison Norris, appeared beside him, having changed into a sky-blue flight attendant uniform, which made her figure appear even more graceful. With her hair tied up, her delicate neck looked fair and slender.
It must be said that the four beauties Janette selected all scored above 80 points.
Seeing Simon look up, Allison said, "Boss, I'm here to ask if you'd like to have some lunch on the plane?"
As she spoke, the lady couldn't help but glance at the video game on Simon's laptop screen, feeling a faint sense of frustration. Was her and Becky's attractiveness even less than a video game's?
Simon raised his wrist to check his watch; it was eleven in the morning, West Coast time. It should be two in the afternoon on the East Coast, so even if he arrived in New York, he could only wait to have dinner with Janette. So he said, "Just prepare something simple. I'll go to the dining car later".
Allison nodded but didn't leave immediately. She walked down the spiral staircase to the lower-level cloakroom, opened the safe inside, picked out a box of wristwatches, and returned to the living room. She bowed and presented them to Simon, saying, "Boss, would you like to change your watch? These are all set to East Coast time."
The lady was bending over towards Simon, her unbuttoned collar revealing a tantalizing expanse of snowy white skin.
As the distance between them closed, the alluring scent of the woman's body became even more potent.
Simon chose a silver Rolex, took off the Patek Philippe on his wrist, handed it to Allison, and smiled, "Alright, go prepare lunch. Don't try to seduce me here".
Her intentions exposed, Allison's face flushed slightly, but her gaze became even bolder as she looked at Simon, standing still as if waiting to be plucked.
It wasn't until Simon turned his attention back to the computer screen, clearly not intending to humour her, that Allison had to give up. She put the box of watches, worth over a million dollars, back into the safe and left the front cabin to prepare lunch for Simon.
With a beauty before him, Simon was naturally not indifferent, but he possessed self-control.
Moreover, at Simon's current status, because it was too easy to obtain, most women indeed held no special attraction for him.
For example, in Hollywood, there are many lechers, but as far as Simon knew, the top tier of studio moguls were not particularly interested in women.
Robert Redford once told him a joke during a private chat: a studio head in the early eighties, on a whim, decided to throw a swimsuit party.
A studio mogul's party would definitely attract more men and women desperate to climb the ladder than any Hollywood star's gathering.
When hot bikini-clad women filled the mansion's pool, the mogul suddenly received a very important script. He became engrossed in reading it, unknowingly losing himself in it. After finishing the script, he realized it was late, casually instructed his butler to end the party, picked up the phone, and continued discussing script revisions with the screenwriter, never really paying attention to the pool of allure.
He arrived in New York on Thursday afternoon.
The next day, Simon convened James Raybould, president of Westeros Corporation, Leon Black, president of Apollo Management Company under Cersei Capital, and others to formally discuss the acquisition of Bell Atlantic.
James Raybould, Leon Black, Amy Pascal, and others had been preparing for the MCA acquisition for several months. They were all very surprised by Simon's sudden proposal of a two-pronged approach and the acquisition of Bell Atlantic, and generally did not favour Simon's decision.
After the 1982 breakup, the Federal Government strongly encouraged competition in the telecommunications industry, which is why there are hundreds of large and small telecommunications companies across the United States these years. In fact, America Online could be considered one of them.
Therefore, the legal obstacles to acquiring Bell Atlantic are not significant; the key is funding.
Simon's planned two acquisitions, Daenerys Entertainment acquiring MCA and Westeros Company acquiring Bell Atlantic, require $7 billion and $8 billion respectively, totalling $15 billion.
However, after Cersei Fund Management Company's year-end settlement and return, the funds Simon can transfer back from overseas, after deducting 28% capital gains tax, would only be about $6 billion. This means Simon needs to raise at least another $9 billion in cash to complete these two acquisitions.
If the entire $9 billion were financed through loans, with a 10-year repayment cycle, the Westeros System would have to bear over $1 billion annually in debt principal and interest payments. In this era, even the leading corporate giants among the Fortune Global 500 could not guarantee earning $1 billion every year.
Such a heavy debt burden, if not handled carefully, could cause the business empire Simon has built over the years to crumble.
Moreover, regarding the acquisition target, Leon Black, who thrived in the leveraged buyout industry in the 1980s with Drexel Burnham Lambert, also believed that Simon's choice to acquire a regional telecommunications operator was not a good one.
By acquiring MCA, Daenerys Entertainment can not only further consolidate its foundation in Hollywood but also gain comprehensive complementary strengths in music, television, cinema chains, and theme parks.
Acquiring Bell Atlantic, for Simon, is not only a completely unfamiliar industry, but after completing the acquisition of this company, Bell Atlantic's development space is quite limited.
It is important to know that since the establishment of Bell Telephone Company in 1887, the American telecommunications industry has undergone a century of development, and in terms of telephone services, the Bell System has reached its peak.
During the most prosperous period of leveraged buyouts in the 1980s, no company targeted the seven Baby Bells spun off from AT&T, largely for this reason.
In a standard leveraged buyout, debt is quickly reduced through divestiture after the merger. However, regional telecommunications companies that experienced the 1982 breakup were desperately trying to preserve market share and avoid being swallowed up by countless smaller, emerging telecom companies. Once divested, the value of these telecom companies would plummet, and due to telecom regulations, they could not expand further to enhance economies of scale.
Simon's goal in acquiring Bell Atlantic is for operation, not leveraged buyout tactics, so he cannot reduce debt through divestiture.
Moreover, even if, as Simon envisioned, the Federal Government might re-liberalize the telecommunications industry in the coming years, allowing regional telecommunications companies to expand market share through mergers and enter long-distance telephone, cable television, and other fields beyond short-distance calls, this would still take time.
Before that, if Bell Atlantic cannot digest the huge debt from Westeros Company's acquisition, once telecommunications regulations open up, this company will find it difficult to invest too much capital in expansion into other areas, and may instead become a target for other telecommunications giants.
Simon knew that the opinions of James Raybould, Leon Black, and others were all valuable advice, and he also understood that the planned acquisition of Bell Atlantic, and the expansion after its completion, were not as simple as he imagined.
Many years later, of the seven Baby Bells, only Verizon, which evolved from Bell Atlantic and became the second-largest telecommunications company in the United States, remained. The other six regional telecommunications companies disappeared in the merger wave around the turn of the new century.
However, behind challenges also lie huge opportunities.
It's important to remember that in the 1990s, not only traditional telephone services and cable television services, which were re-opened to telecom companies, but also mobile communications and the internet, two major industries, would rapidly emerge in the telecom sector. It is these newly emerging fields that would create a comprehensive telecom giant like Verizon, with a market value of hundreds of billions.
The Westeros System's discussion about simultaneously launching two acquisitions continued throughout the weekend.
In the new week, discussions continued, and Forbes magazine's new annual Forbes 400 richest Americans list was released, instantly capturing countless eyes again.