Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan.
It was April 9th. After staying in Paris for another week, Simon and Janet flew back to New York yesterday and started working again today.
The headquarters of Cersei Capital did not choose to be located in the downtown area where financial companies gather. Instead, it was established in Building 1230 of Rockefeller Center. Each of the three subsidiaries occupied one floor.
Janet values their lives more than work.
Therefore, unless necessary, the woman is only scheduled to work three days a week, one for each of the three subsidiaries. And, even when he's working, he's mostly living with Simon in Los Angeles.
Wall Street is filled with all kinds of workaholics, but there is no shortage of people who work very little but achieve a lot.
During the acquisition of Blackstone Financial Management, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group, Simon discovered that John Sreiber, the head of the real estate investment department of Blackstone Group, only works 40 days a year, but can obtain 20% of the equity of the partnership company. Still living in Chicago, far away from New York.
The thing is actually very simple. To achieve this kind of working state, the most important thing is to choose the right team.
That's what Janet did in the two months before the wedding.
The team at Cersei Fund Management Company has gone through a year-long process of polishing and screening, and this is the most reassuring team. Leon Black and Lawrence Fink, the leaders of the two teams at Apollo Management and Black Rock Asset Management, both have Simon's prophetic advantage and are also very reliable.
In the large conference room of Cersei Capital headquarters.
The meeting about Lawrence Fink's team's new quarterly investment plan lasted two and a half hours, and by the time it ended, it was almost noon.
Simon sat next to Janet throughout the entire process and patiently listened in on the entire meeting.
Lawrence Fink was very much looking forward to Simon expressing his opinions during the meeting. However, the behind-the-scenes BOSS who should have a greater say than Janet never said a word, which made Lawrence Fink feel unpredictable. .
Sometimes I feel that Simon may not understand the asset management industry, and sometimes I feel that this may be the case, but Fink will never dare to look down upon a young man who has earned himself such a huge fortune in just over three years.
In fact, Simon just tried his best to be a hands-off shopkeeper.
There was also a meeting with the Apollo Management team in the afternoon, and everyone left the meeting room and went to a restaurant in the building to eat together.
In the corridor, the elevator had just opened and happened to see Wayne Huizenga and Leon Black, the chairman of Blockbuster Company, also in the elevator.
Everyone said hello and started working together.
During the chat, Simon learned that Wayne Huizenga came here this time for the acquisition of Blockbuster some time ago.
After Blockbuster completed its IPO, in order to stimulate the company's stock price, it soon announced an acquisition of Errol Corporation, a video chain headquartered in Baltimore.
Originally, an offer of US$40 million had been negotiated for this acquisition.
However, a few days ago, Nancy Brill discovered some irregularities when checking Errol's financial information, and hired the newly formed Apollo Management Company team to re-examine the acquisition.
M&A consulting is also the business of the Apollo Management Company team. The largest M&A consulting case in the hands of Leon Black happens to be the acquisition of MCA planned by Daenerys Entertainment.
After accepting this relatively small merger and acquisition, Leon Black's team quickly discovered a hidden debt of more than $8 million under Errol's company.
The purchase price of US$40 million was inherently high compared to Errol's size and liabilities.
After the additional hidden debt came to light, Blockbuster immediately stopped pursuing the acquisition and restarted negotiations with Errol's management team.
The video chain is a capital-intensive industry. Although the scale of Errol's company cannot be compared with that of Blockbuster, it also relies heavily on loans during its expansion process. If the acquisition fails, Errol, which is far from having a scale advantage, is likely to go bankrupt.
Therefore, the final transaction price is very likely to be reduced to US$30 million.
Back in Los Angeles, Nancy Brill also talked to Simon about the incident.
However, Nancy pointed the finger at Wayne Huizenga. Had she not revisited the acquisition at the last minute, Blockbuster likely would not have discovered the problem and ended up suffering additional losses. This was clearly a mistake by Chairman and CEO Wayne Huizenga.
After Blockbuster's IPO, as founders such as Wayne Huizenga's shares were further diluted, Daenerys Entertainment, which held 35% of the shares, basically had control of the company.
Nancy had been dissatisfied with Wayne Huizenga's abilities for a long time. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she proposed to choose a new CEO for Blockbuster and divide Huizenga's power into two.
"Blockbuster's core operating philosophy is to continue to improve efficiency and reduce costs while expanding, so as to gain stronger competitiveness in the same industry. I agree that you want to find a new CEO. However, Blockbuster has just IPO, I don’t want internal instability, so you should communicate this with Huey Zanga yourself. In addition, the new CEO cannot arbitrarily change business strategies against Blockbuster’s operating philosophy.”
Inside Daenerys Studios in Malibu.
The various teams of Daenerys Entertainment will probably be stationed one after another next month. Simon came here in the morning to check the basically completed decoration effect, and Nancy also came from Santa Monica.
"Of course I understand, this is also where I am dissatisfied with Wayne." Nancy nodded: "He can no longer see clearly what the next step for Blockbuster is. Last time he discussed with me that he wanted to buy a cable company. TV operators are trying to enter the cable TV field. Blockbuster has not yet achieved the ultimate in video chaining, and now it is simply messy to develop cable TV."
Simon and Nancy walked along the corridor from the administrative area to the next-level office area, and said, "If Daenerys Entertainment is trying to expand into the cable TV field, do you think it is a good idea?"
Nancy asked, "Cable station or cable operator?"
Cable TV stations and cable TV operators are two different concepts. However, due to the deregulation of media by the Reagan administration in the past few years, many cable TV operators have also begun to get involved in the TV station business. For example, Time Warner owns Warner Cable Company and cable TV stations such as HBO, which is responsible for cable TV operations.
Being involved in both content and channels is obviously the best way to avoid being choked, but it can also easily distract the management team.
In this regard, Disney and Time Warner, which developed from the original time and space to later, are two typical representatives.
Disney focuses on content and has never been involved in channel operations. However, its ESPN is the highest-charging basic cable station in the cable TV field.
Time Warner is involved in both channels and content. CNN and HBO are both very successful, but both businesses were acquired. Moreover, although Warner Cable occupies a considerable market share, it has always been far unable to compete with competitors such as Comcast.
When Simon heard Nancy's question, he said directly: "TV station."
"It's a good idea," Nancy nodded and said, "However, no additional actions are needed. As long as we win MCA, we can have our own cable TV network."
When Simon heard Nancy casually mention Daenerys Entertainment’s acquisition of MCA, he didn’t react much, and asked: “Why do you oppose Blockbuster’s involvement in cable TV, but agree with Daenerys Entertainment’s expansion in this area? ?”
Nancy was a little dissatisfied with Simon's school entrance examination. Why should such a simple question be asked? "Because the video chain and cable TV business are not complementary at all."
Strictly speaking, the videotape and cable television industries still compete with each other.
Blockbuster's involvement in the cable TV business will not in turn promote the development of the video chain, but will distract the attention of Blockbuster's management team.
However, this matter is not a problem for Daenerys Entertainment.
The diversified horizontal integration of media groups has always been a major trend in this field. Getting involved in cable TV can maximize the content advantages of Daenerys Entertainment.
Speaking of which, regarding the "House of Beverly Hills" series, CBS has confirmed that it will not renew the series after Daenerys Entertainment insisted on not giving in at all.
According to the original agreement, Daenerys Entertainment could not sell the reality show to other television networks unless CBS voluntarily gave up.
Now, Daenerys Entertainment has taken back full control of the project.
CBS is also confident. The ratings data of "The House of Beverly Hills" are not outstanding in the first place. The interests of several major TV networks are actually the same in front of content providers. CBS thinks that it has given up on this project. ABC, NBC and FOX Daenerys Entertainment will not take over the series, and the most it can do is sell this series to a sub-tier basic cable station, which obviously means a lower price.
However, it is obviously impossible for CBS to see Simon's specific plan.
As long as the acquisition of MCA can be completed and "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" is transferred to the USA TV network under MCA, it may not be able to obtain the income of the public television network, but it can further expand the Housewives series and build it into a brand, and at the same time increase the number of The value of the USA TV network itself can be said to serve multiple purposes.
Malibu Cinema is very close to Cape Dume. Simon walked around in the cinema until noon and then returned to his home on the west side of Cape Dume for dinner.
Back home, Janet was not the only one in the villa, Catherine also rushed over, and the two women were bringing lunch into the restaurant.
"Point Break" is about to start filming here in Los Angeles, and Catherine will be coming to the West Coast in the near future.
Catherine was naturally invited to the wedding last month. However, Simon was too busy at the time and had no chance to get along with women.
Although it is impossible to go back to the past, when everyone sat down in the restaurant, they still had a strange sense of harmony.
After chatting for a while about "Point of Horror", Simon asked the woman: "How are you thinking about that project, "Thelma and Louise"?"
Catherine served everyone the mushroom soup, nodded slightly noncommittally and said, "It's a very good script."
Simon smiled and said: "Should I accept it or not?"
Janet also said to Catherine at this time: "Kate, take it. I think we can still star together."
Simon couldn't help but look at the two women, and suddenly realized that the two women, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, looked a bit alike, so he looked at Jenny and said, "You know what I'm talking about?" What?"
Janet rolled her eyes at Simon: "I've read the script, of course I know."
Simon was curious: "When did you watch it?"
"You don't care when I saw it."
"Okay, but this is a story about two women resisting male supremacy. Do you think it's appropriate for you two to play the role?"
"certainly."
"Then some people think I abused you."
Catherine placed a bowl of cream of mushroom soup in front of Simon and scolded: "Just abuse Jenny and don't drag me along."
"What do you mean by abusing me, Kate? I didn't expect you to be so vicious. You are like Snow White's stepmother."
Simon picked up the spoon and took a sip of the mushroom soup, nodded with a smile and said: "Snow White and the stepmother, very good PLAY."
Catherine obviously didn't react.
Janet picked up a piece of bread and threw it over: "You little bastard."
Catherine was confused for a moment, and then stared over, with a little more blush on her face.
Simon shamelessly pretended that he had just said nothing, and said: "So, Catherine, this project is completely prepared for you. Think about it, in the yellow sand of the desert, the sunset, two women will never be able to survive under the siege of a group of policemen." Compromise and drive towards the cliff together, what a shocking scene.”
Before Catherine could answer, Janet asked: "Why do they two have to die in the end?"
"Isn't death the best destination for them? Or do you want them to be beaten into a sieve like Warren Beatty's "Bonnie and Clyde"?"
"I mean, why can't it be two women who beat up the policemen who were rounding them up, and then fled to Mexico together?" Janet retorted dissatisfiedly, snorted again at the end, and said: "So, after all, this is still It's a macho movie. I guess if the protagonists were two men, they would kill everyone and rush into Mexico like heroes."
Simon listened to Janet's special word "hero", thought for a moment, and said, "It seems like this would be a good shot."
"Um?"
Simon looked at Janet with a smile and said, "You must know that I am a feminist."
"Ah, I'm still a male chauvinist."
"So, we are a very matched couple."
Simon smiled and looked at Catherine again.
Catherine slowly spread caviar on the bread and said: "I also think Jenny's proposal is very good, let Louise and Thelma finally escape into Mexico instead of rushing off the cliff. Why did we women make mistakes? He must die."
"Only disappointment can have the greatest impact on the audience. In your "Point of Shock", didn't Bodie die in the end?"
Janet immediately said again: "Hmph, machismo!"
Catherine said: "The concepts expressed in the two films are different. I hope Louise and Thelma are alive."
Simon thought for a while and said: "In this case, some plots will need to be revised."
Catherine said firmly: "I have time."
Simon added: "Besides, the box office shouldn't be very good."
Janet said: "Where do you need more money?"
"I don't want too much."
"I'll hit you."
Simon smiled and dodged Janet's little claws, and reluctantly made a compromise: "Well, at least, with this arrangement, maybe we can make another sequel."