The Johnston family home.
The loud cry of a child rang out, and Veronica was the first to appear at the door.
In the living room, Simon and Janet were guarding each side of the room, with a little guy in the middle.
Janet was still comforting and encouraging her gently, but Melbourne ignored her and sat on the carpet crying. Seeing Veronica appear, the little guy immediately spread his chubby hands towards her and mumbled in a crying tone: "Grandma (NaNa), hug (Hug)."
Veronica looked at the little guy's appearance and took a step forward distressedly, but then stopped and looked at Simon, who was holding a baby toy in his hand and looking helpless.
Tomorrow is December 6th, Melbourne’s first birthday.
Normally, a toddler should be able to try to walk or at least stand at this time. However, obviously under the pampering of a large family, the little guy is still unable to stand firmly at this time.
I learned words very early.
But this made Simon even more depressed.
It doesn't matter if the first word a child learns is not "dad" or "mum", it doesn't matter. Grandpa, grandma and the like are also fine. After all, they are taken care of here.
However, the first word a certain little guy learned turned out to be 'hug'.
He is very indifferent and hugs everyone he sees.
Faced with such a cute and coquettish little baby, this requirement can certainly be met.
As a result, I was often carried around by adults. I could crawl when I was half a year old, but now I am too lazy to even crawl, let alone walk.
Regarding the child's education, when the little one was still in Janet's belly, the two occasionally discussed it and said that one must be a good policeman and the other a bad policeman.
Now it seems that both Simon and Janet are the kind of 'bad cops'.
Of course, there is no shortage of good police officers.
It’s basically all here in Australia.
Simon didn't speak, and Veronica didn't dare step forward to pick up the child. Seeing that 'NaNa', who used to love her, didn't move, the little guy cried even louder.
Then, the big BOSS appeared.
Raymond Johnston appeared at the door, took one look at the situation in the room, and immediately understood what was going on. Probably because of the separation of generations, the old man doted on the little guy even more. He just glared at his daughter and son-in-law with a sullen face, walked over and picked up the little guy who was already shouting 'PaPa, Hug'.
Janet watched the child being taken away by his father, threw away the rattle in his hand, looked at Simon, and said, "How can this be done?"
Veronica still stayed in the distance. After hearing what Janet said, she said softly: "More is still young."
As he spoke, he glanced at Simon again.
Simon also threw away the toy in his hand, and noticed the obvious worry in Veronica's eyes. He hesitated for a moment, but still just shrugged.
Veronica was obviously worried that the couple would take the little one away this time.
Janet looked at the weird exchange between Simon and Veronica, feeling a little depressed. She simply opened her arms and shouted to Simon: "Hug."
Simon noticed the dissatisfaction on Janet's face, smiled and stood up and walked over, bent down and picked up her light body, kissed the woman on the face, and then left the living room in such a timid manner.
The old man was originally dissatisfied with Simon and Janet for leaving their child in Australia to be taken care of by Veronica. When he came here just last month, he hinted at bringing the little one back to Los Angeles.
However, these days, when I see the couple teaching their children to walk, they suddenly stop mentioning something.
In Janet's words, the old man educated the eldest and second child in his family, and then he became less good at raising his offspring. He doted on his youngest grandson to no end.
If the little guy stays here and wants to have a successor to the Westeros family, the two of them will probably only have one more child.
Of course this was mostly a joke.
The child is indeed still a little young.
The next day was the little guy's first birthday, and preparations had been started in advance. It was naturally very lively, with a lot of rich and famous people from Australia coming, but a certain little guy was completely unaware of it. It was more like a social party. .
Probably inspired by "A Dream of Red Mansions" which she had been reading non-stop, Janet also played a little game of catching the week at the party.
Of course, there is definitely no powder, lipstick and the like, but all kinds of objects with very good meanings.
Don't give the little guy a chance to become 'Jia Baoyu' at all.
Finally he grabbed a piece of iron ore, and the old man was happy for a whole day.
Janet was very depressed and thought that the reason why the little guy grabbed the iron ore was because it looked like chocolate.
Snacks!
Simon felt that it was more likely that among a bunch of serious things like pens and watches, the black piece of iron ore seemed the least serious. The little guy sees something strange among a pair of daily necessities, and of course he grabs it out of curiosity.
The scale of the Westeros system is too huge. Even on vacation, Simon cannot completely let go of everything.
In North America, the most eye-catching thing during the Thanksgiving holiday is not "Home Alone 2", which is expected to achieve high box office, but the video sales of the Victoria's Secret show.
After the ABC TV broadcast created a ratings miracle, Daenerys Entertainment quickly released the video of the big show a week later.
Whether it is the unforgettable enchanting style of the Victoria's Secret Army or the five consecutive new songs in the show that have become major classics, they have greatly promoted the sales of Victoria's Secret show videos.
It happens to be the peak sales season during the holidays. In just the first week after it was put on the shelves, the video of the Victoria's Secret show quickly sold 780,000 boxes.
If the video tapes were not so popular and production and distribution failed to keep up with demand, there would have been no problem with sales exceeding 1 million boxes in the first week.
In the following two weeks, the weekly sales of this video tape reached 1.36 million and 950,000 respectively.
In just last week, total sales reached 3.09 million boxes.
At a price of about US$30, 3.09 million video tapes were sold, with sales exceeding US$90 million.
Obviously, this is just the beginning.
The industry generally predicts that sales of this phenomenal video tape will probably exceed 10 million in North America alone, and the total sales worldwide are even expected to reach 15 million.
You know, the total global sales of some of Hollywood's best box office films in recent years after the release of video tapes are this number.
15 million boxes, $450 million in sales.
Absolutely a miracle.
Over the years, Hollywood as a whole has been trying to catch up to Daenerys Entertainment wherever possible.
However, just this video tape once again gave other competitors a sense of elusive frustration.
Whether in the entertainment or fashion circles, everyone is amazed by the sales of the Victoria's Secret show video.
Then there was even news that the Ford Modeling Agency was trying to get a share of the sales of the tape.
According to the basic agreements between Hollywood and major guilds, film and television creators do have the right to receive a small commission from the sale of video tapes. However, this video tape is a complete exception.
Even though some of the Victoria's Secret Angels have actor status, this time, Daenerys Entertainment signed an ordinary catwalk contract with the Victoria's Secret Army.
If you want a share of the pie, don’t even think about it.
Amy Pascal heard the news and immediately said that if Ford intends to cause trouble, none of the company's models will even think about appearing on the Victoria's Secret T stage next year.
It was already clear that it was impossible to get a share of the pie, but in the face of this warning, all interested parties immediately ceased their efforts.
This big show will obviously improve the careers of participating models.
Due to the high ratings of the TV broadcast and the sales of the video tape, the 40 Victoria's Secret Angels have a public reputation that far exceeds that of other models in the same industry, and cooperation invitations are pouring in.
The competition in the fashion industry is fierce, and everyone wants to have such an advantage, so naturally there will be no extraneous problems.
If you really get kicked out, some people will really cry and some will laugh.
Those who cry are the ones who were kicked away, and those who laugh are those who tried their best to get in.
Leslie Wexner, chairman of LTD, was even more thankful and regretful. He almost agreed to fully authorize the Victoria’s Secret Show to Daenerys Entertainment. If he did, the huge profits from the video sales would be LTD can't even get a penny. Unfortunately, if it could bear all the investment for the Victoria's Secret show instead of sharing the budget with Daenerys Entertainment, most of the profits this time will go to LTD. .
With sales of US$450 million, after excluding all costs, the net profit is estimated to be US$150 million.
For the entire LTD, the net profit in most years is not necessarily that high.
Of course, Leslie Wexner also knew that the one-time gain this time could be very large.
After all, the first Victoria's Secret show was basically done by Simon Westeros himself. Whether it was the design of the angel costume or the production of the background music, Westeros put a lot of thought into it, so he gave the audience a unique experience. An unprecedented sense of amazement.
Of course, future Victoria's Secret shows will still attract much attention. However, because angel costumes are destined to be unable to innovate much, Westeros is unlikely to continue to create songs for the Victoria's Secret shows. Therefore, if you want to win the first place, There is basically no possibility of a huge sensation.
Of course, it is gratifying to have this happen once.
The focus of this operation is the Victoria's Secret brand. Compared with 1991, the overall sales volume this year is expected to increase by 30%, most of which was achieved in the first half of the year after Westeros System completed the acquisition of LTD.
It is estimated that next year, Victoria's Secret's sales growth is likely to reach 40% to 50%.
Maintaining this sales growth rate, Victoria's Secret will be able to grow into the largest underwear brand in North America within five years.
On the other hand, LTD’s fast fashion transformation of the fashion business has also been quite smooth.
Leslie Wexnaben is an experienced businessman with many years of experience in the fashion industry, and she has never rested on her laurels.
In the past, she just failed to find a suitable direction. After receiving Simon's guidance, Leslie Wexner carefully investigated the Spanish Zara brand that had developed its business in North America. She quickly clarified the company's expansion model and made a thorough understanding of the company's expansion model. The Express brand under LTD will be adjusted and transformed accordingly.
Simon thought he could stay safely in Australia until after the New Year during this vacation.
However, after the news of the success of the Victoria's Secret video, there was suddenly another not-so-good news from North America.
The thing is about Time Warner.
It's clear to everyone that Steve Ross doesn't have much time left due to cancer.
However, after more than half a year of treatment, at least on the surface, Ross seemed to be showing signs of improvement, and he still firmly controlled Time Warner Group during this year.
Time Warner's situation, except for the film business supported by the DC movie universe, is somewhat unsatisfactory.
After waiting patiently for more than half a year, as the end of the year approaches, some people become restless again.
Gerald Levin, the current vice chairman of Time Warner, who has been designated by Ross as the next successor, suddenly launched an attack recently. Together with a large number of shareholders and senior management of Time Warner, they demanded that Ross be seriously ill and unable to concentrate on running the company. Steve Ross steps down
The most direct result of this management coup was not Ross's ouster, but the plunge in Time Warner's stock price.
Naturally, another group of people immediately expressed dissatisfaction, especially the die-hard supporters of Ross's group.
The two sides went back and forth several times in the media and privately, but the situation was basically about to die down.
After all, no one wants Time Warner's stock price to keep falling.
However, something else happened soon.
On December 13, Steve Ross suddenly fell into a coma and fell unconscious.
After examination, the doctor determined that it was a lung infection caused by cancer complications.
For a terminal cancer patient, because the immune system is too fragile, the cancer itself is often not fatal, and complications are the most dangerous.
Two days later, after emergency surgery, Steve Ross' family announced that Ross' condition had stabilized again.
However, people familiar with the inside story know that Steve Ross is still in a coma and may not be able to survive this difficulty.
As the news inevitably broke, Time Warner's stock price fell again.
As a result, a high-level coup, Ross's critical illness, and a week of turmoil still caused Time Warner's stock price to fall by 16%, and its market value fell from US$17.3 billion at the time of the incident to US$14.5 billion. In just one week, the market value evaporated. 2.8 billion US dollars.
This time, everyone stopped making trouble.
In just one week, it brought investors US$2.8 billion in book value. If they were concerned, everyone might want to get out.
And, with Rose critically ill, the fuss was completely unnecessary.
Time Warner executives also realize that the most important thing at this time is to prevent the company from continuing to fall into turmoil.
However, when it comes to further distribution of power, the various factions once again fell into a stalemate.
The culprit behind the recent series of incidents was Gerald Levin, and they immediately did not dare to confront each other in public. However, the Ross group also forcefully invited Gerald Levin to take responsibility in private.
To put it simply, it is to give up his original intention to be the successor to Rose's position.
Gerald Levin started in advance because he did not want to wait any longer to avoid complications, and he would not take the initiative to give in at this time. Of course, everyone is very concerned about the market value and stock price. However, if he cannot take charge of Time Warner, this company will be irrelevant to him.