James Raybould arrived at the NBC television headquarters in midtown Manhattan at seven o'clock in the morning.
Simon doesn't like to appear in front of the media, but he has to face many things. Today I am going to participate in an interview on NBC's morning news program "The Today Show" to answer some of the media's recent discussions and controversies about the Westeros Company.
After spending more than half an hour re-confirming the content of the following interview with his assistant, media publicist and "Today Show" producer, James was guided to the entrance of the studio at 7:40 by the staff.
"$21 billion, an amazing number, is the latest total personal net worth of Simon Westeros on the list of the 400 richest people in the United States launched by Forbes magazine on Monday. Compared with last year, this young man has The super-rich 22-year-old's personal net worth increased by $15 billion in the past year, which is equivalent to a net income of $41 million per day."
"What kind of magical power does Simon Westeros have, and how did he quickly accumulate such a huge personal wealth? Today, we invited Mr. James Raybould, President of Westeros Company, to discuss what everyone is paying attention to recently. A lot of questions about the company of Westeros.”
Deborah Nowell, the female host of the "Today Show", finished her statement and stood up to shake hands with James as he entered the studio.
In front of the television sets in countless homes on Sunday morning.
The audience who originally heard Deborah Nowell's statement and thought that Simon Westeros would appear in person were disappointed, but not many people changed the channel.
After a guest appearance at Madonna's concert in late June, Simon began to avoid the public eye again.
The media has been abuzz recently because of the new Forbes 400 Rich List in America. Having a Westeros spokesperson appear in the media is enough to satisfy the public's curiosity.
In the studio, after a few simple greetings, Deborah Nowell began to cut into the topic and said: "Jim, first let me ask the question that everyone is most concerned about. What has Simon been doing these days?"
"It's mainly about the movie. Daenerys Entertainment has been filming many projects recently. Simon has been traveling around the Federation this week to visit."
"Sounds very busy," Deborah Nowell teased with a smile, and then asked: "So, what was his reaction when he learned that he was ranked on the Forbes list this year?"
"I'm very happy. This is a great thing after all."
"It's really amazing. From 1986 to now, it only took four years for Simon to create all this. He is only 22 years old now. As the president of Westeros Company, Jim, you should know him very well. , why do you think he can create all this today, or is he really a psychic?"
The female host's final tone contained a hint of lighthearted joking.
James also smiled and said: "Simon often jokes about being a psychic in his life, but he is not. He also said that he really hopes that he is a psychic, so that he can prove that in this world There are ghosts. Once this happens, it means that death is not the end of everything, and we no longer need to fear death."
These words were actually spoken by Jennifer during a chat with her daughter, and James was deeply impressed.
Deborah Nowell showed an expression of understanding and said: "I have never thought of this. Frankly speaking, I used to be afraid of both death and ghosts, but now I don't seem to care so much."
"Actually, me too," James nodded in agreement, and took the initiative to answer Deborah's question just now, saying: "Simon is a very special person. Not only does he have outstanding abilities in many aspects, he also has foresight and creativity that are different from ordinary people. , I think these are probably the keys to his success today."
"I believe many people have a deep understanding of this," Deborah Nowell agreed, and then changed the subject: "Jim, according to the news from the "Hollywood Reporter" yesterday, Daenerys Entertainment will Is it true that MCA Group, which owns Universal Pictures, launched an acquisition?"
Talking about the key topics involved in this interview, James Raybould secretly cheered up and said: "Since the beginning of the year, media news about how Simon plans to use the overseas funds has appeared many times, and we have been considering it. This question, and many goals have been discussed, but nothing has been concluded yet.”
Deborah Nowell asked: "But, Jim, according to the "Hollywood Reporter" broke the news, Westeros Company has established a 60-person acquisition team. How do you explain this?"
James shook his head and said: "I don't know how the "Hollywood Reporter" got the news. Simon has always attached great importance to the synergy of various companies in the Westeros system, whether it is Cersei Capital, Daenerys Entertainment, or the company A number of its technology companies cooperate and communicate very frequently with each other, and some people may have misunderstood this."
Deborah Nowell looked at James and said, "So, Simon has no intention of acquiring MCA?"
James did not give an affirmative answer, and said tactfully: "I just said that we have considered many goals, and MCA is indeed within the scope of discussion. However, everything needs to be decided by Simon himself. Moreover, Simon has not yet decided whether to When the overseas funds are transferred back to China, we all know that this means a very high 28% capital gains tax."
The "Hollywood Reporter" suddenly revealed yesterday that Daenerys Entertainment was about to acquire MCA, which really caught the top executives of the Westeros system off guard.
Before participating in today's interview, James and everyone discussed carefully and finally decided to give an uncertain reply. This can avoid silence being the default passive situation and prevent speculators from flocking to MCA stocks.
James Raybould took the initiative to change the topic, and Deborah Nowell stopped pursuing her. NBC didn't want to lose interview opportunities in the future, so it followed James' words and changed the topic.
"Speaking of capital gains tax, Mr. President publicly stated last month that he had to break his original campaign promise not to raise taxes and planned to use tax increases to solve the increasingly serious federal fiscal deficit problem. Because of the decline in the hedge fund industry in the past two years, On Wednesday, Texas Republican Senator Peter Briggel proposed strengthening regulation of the hedge fund industry and readjusting related tax programs to prevent excessive financial speculation from harming the federal economy. Jim, what do you think of Breegel? Geer’s proposal?”
Both Simon himself and James Raybould got the news as soon as Peter Brigl submitted the relevant motion.
As we all know, Texas is completely the stronghold of the Bush family and the Republican Party, and the targeting of Peter Briggel's proposal cannot be more obvious.
Moreover, there are actually deeper reasons for this proposal.
Right now is a critical moment for canvassing votes in the U.S. midterm elections. The Republican Party is clearly at a disadvantage in fighting for control of Congress. Coincidentally, the Westeros system has unknowingly invested US$20 million in the political field this year, and now it has become the Democratic Party. A very important donor.
Among the major tax cuts carried out by the government in 1986, only the capital gains tax rate, which was originally divided into long-term and short-term brackets, was unified to 28%, which is equivalent to income tax. This move was already controversial. If the Bush administration imposes additional taxes, it will not only offend Wall Street as a whole, but will also seriously restrict the liquidity of the capital market and make the already sluggish U.S. economy even worse.
As for raising taxes specifically on the hedge fund industry, not to mention whether it is feasible, if this is really done, it will only drive a large number of hedge fund companies out of the United States, and the huge overseas profits will not be transferred back to the country, and the United States itself will lose. .
The most critical point is that through the 1987 stock market crash, the Japanese stock market bubble and the crude oil futures market, Simon has completed his own primitive accumulation and will no longer rely too much on Cersei Capital in the future, even if the Bush administration really strengthens supervision and increases taxes. , and it didn’t have much impact on him.
Simon is not worried about being targeted by the Bush administration because of his political stance.
The two political parties in the United States are in check with each other. If the Republican Party targets itself, the Democratic Party will naturally take action. If you can't even protect your big benefactor, who will stand by you in the future
In the studio, James Raybould certainly would not confront the congressman for the above reasons, but simply expressed his views on the matter.
The two continued to discuss some topics, and the ten-minute interview quickly ended.
It was less than eight o'clock when we left NBC headquarters.
After making an appointment for breakfast with the Simons, James Raybould hurried to the Upper East Side. His wife Carol Raybould had already arrived in advance.
Naturally, the topic at breakfast was still various recent events.
Because it has been closely watched by the media during these days, in order to prevent Bell Atlantic's acquisition plan from being leaked in advance, this matter has been temporarily stopped.
AOL's exclusive negotiations with the three companies were also obviously affected by the exposure of Simon's personal wealth. The three companies were very aggressive in terms of cooperation conditions. What Simon insists on now is that he will not accept the conditions for the three companies to invest in AOL under any circumstances.
As for the acquisition of MCA, considering the impact of the exposure of Daenerys Entertainment’s bidding news, Simon also began to make two preparations.
Although it was Sunday, after breakfast, James Raybould still rushed to the Westeros Company headquarters in Midtown to start his day's work.
These days, as Simon's spokesperson, James is surrounded by countless invitations and attention. He is equally famous and therefore full of energy. Moreover, it’s not just the appearance on the surface. The members of the Westeros billion-dollar club exposed by Forbes magazine last month actually left out James.
Having personally experienced the operation of the capital market twice last year and this year, James will naturally not miss such an opportunity. Simon also personally arranged for James to participate.
Although only US$20 million was initially raised, small funds are convenient for maximizing benefits. After more than a year of continuous operation, the funds recently transferred back from overseas still exceeded US$160 million after tax was paid.
"Washington Post" heir Donald Graham, who ranks last on this year's list of the 400 richest Americans in Forbes magazine, has a personal fortune of only $260 million. With a net worth of US$160 million, James Raybould already belongs to the top group of wealthy people in the American pyramid in this era.
Under Simon's guidance, the Rayboulds took advantage of the recent downturn in the stock market and invested all their money in Microsoft and Intel stocks. If Microsoft and Intel can still reach the market value at the highest point of the Internet bubble in the original time and space, this investment alone will be enough to make the Raybould family enter the ranks of tens of billions of dollars in the future.
Of course, these are all things for later.
In the Fifth Avenue apartment, the Rayboulds were sent away. Simon and Janet did not go out today.
After returning to New York yesterday, Simon sent his Boeing 767 to fly to Los Angeles. Now we know that there are not many people in New York, and it happens to be a quiet day.
The rooftop of the apartment has been transformed into a garden by Janet, and the autumn sunshine is just right. The two of them are sitting at a simple long wooden table. On the table are various materials that Janet has collected during the week.
"The hedge fund team will definitely make good profits in the next few months. However, it will definitely need to keep some funds overseas. The amount that can be transferred back by the end of the year will be about US$6 billion. If two acquisitions are to be completed at the same time, according to MCA Group 70 billion and Bell Atlantic's $8 billion acquisition capital, we would need to raise another $9 billion in loans. This money is easy to get, but even at a 10-year annual interest rate of 4.5%, the total The interest alone amounts to US$2.19 billion, and approximately US$1.12 billion needs to be repaid annually.”
Janet was still next to Simon. After speaking, she found another document and said, "This is information about the current management of Bell Atlantic. The current chairman and CEO of Bell Atlantic is named Raymond Smith. He is a very outstanding person." A professional manager, 56 years old this year. He started as a low-level intern in the earliest Bell system and gradually reached today. Before the disintegration of AT-T, he had already reached the position of financial director and was once the top executive of AT-T. One of the contenders for Chief Executive.”
Simon took the file and began to look through Raymond Smith's information carefully.
In addition to being the head of Bell Atlantic, Raymond Smith is an accomplished poet and playwright with several published works. In addition, he also holds directorships in several large companies and holds five doctorate titles.
Searching the information in his memory, Simon also discovered that in the original time and space, it was Raymond Smith who gradually expanded Bell Atlantic into Verizon, the second largest telecommunications company in North America. In comparison, all the other six Bells that were spun off from AT-T in 1984 failed to escape the fate of being acquired or bankrupt.
Simon had no intention of immediately replacing management after acquiring Bell Atlantic. After reading Raymond Smith's information, he had no similar thoughts.
Janet waited for Simon to read Raymond Smith's information, and before he could speak, she said: "It's awesome. However, he is also the biggest obstacle to our acquisition of Bell Atlantic. Bell Atlantic's current operating conditions are far better than those of its neighbors. Of NYNEX, Smith is also a very ambitious person in his career. Once we acquire Bell Atlantic, this company will definitely be saddled with huge debts, which will be very detrimental to its future development. Unless we can solve this problem, Raymond De Smith will not easily accept our acquisition."
Simon looked at the information in front of him and considered it for a moment. He picked up the pencil at hand and listed and calculated in the blank space of the document. He said: "Bell Atlantic's equity is too dispersed. Even if the negotiation is completed, we may not be able to get 100% of this company in the end." shares, so that we can temporarily save a sum of money, absorb a batch of stocks in advance at the current stock price, and save another sum. Based on the temporary calculation of 75% of the shareholding, for a transaction price of US$8 billion, we only need to pay 60 One hundred million U.S. dollars."
Janet looked at Simon Calculation and said: "However, if you want to develop ISP business, you will definitely need to invest a large amount of money in technology research and development and infrastructure construction. The remaining 2 billion US dollars cannot be saved. Moreover, it is not necessarily only After obtaining 75% of the stock, if our shareholding ratio exceeds 90%, according to federal securities laws, we can force other shareholders to sell their shares and fully privatize it.”
"Okay, what I mean is," Simon quickly wrote a few numbers on the paper and said: "Transfer the liabilities to Daenerys Entertainment as much as possible. If necessary, simply use all the loans to acquire MCA. That way This can minimize the acquisition resistance on Bell Atlantic’s side.”
"If this is done, Daenerys Entertainment's future IPO will definitely be seriously affected because the debt ratio is too high."
Simon couldn't help but smile bitterly.
It’s really hard to get the best of both worlds.
Simon's initial plan was to launch the IPO of Daenerys Entertainment after the release of "Toy Story" next year. However, once the acquisition of MCA is completed, it is impossible to digest the company in less than two or three years. IPO Things can only be postponed.
Speaking of which, Simon is actually not short of money.
Not only the overseas funds, but also the technology stocks held by Westeros Company can be sold next year according to the original three-year agreement. As long as Simon is willing, he can easily cash out more than a billion dollars, and the same is true for many other assets in the Westeros system.
If you are willing to accept external shareholders to join core companies in the Westeros system such as Daenerys Entertainment, you can raise large amounts of funds at any time.
However, whether it is the technology stocks in his hands or the companies such as Daenerys, Ygritte, and Melisandre, they all have great growth potential, and Simon is not willing to sell or share these shares too easily.
After thinking for a moment, Simon decided: "Let's re-formulate the acquisition plan according to this idea for the time being. MCA will be acquired entirely through loans. Bell Atlantic will use its own funds as much as possible. We will discuss the future in the future."
Janet nodded, and the two began to discuss more specific details of the plan.