During this period of mid-July, Simon traveled frequently between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Mountain View City Government sold 300 hectares of land to the Westeros Company at one time, causing public controversy that has not completely dissipated during this period.
The best way to solve this matter is undoubtedly to provide a complete regional development plan as soon as possible.
Simon's initial thoughts were very 'simple'. When he saw an opportunity, he took action to acquire a large piece of land in the Bay Area. Now that the land is acquired, other people will be responsible for the development plan.
So, after more than a month of discussions, the Westeros Company officially announced the plan for the 'Westeros Technology Park' on July 15.
Not only Igret, but also Westeros camp companies such as AOL's West Coast headquarters, Nokia's North American Research Center, Tinker Bayer Company founded by C-girl, and other start-up new technology companies invested by the Westeros system will also move in. Will surround Ygritte.
At the same time, Westeros Company also welcomes the entry of other technology companies.
300 hectares of land, roughly equivalent to a rectangular plot from south to north, will be set aside for a 50-hectare park near the 101 Highway to isolate the hustle and bustle of traffic arteries and provide residents in the area with a place for leisure and entertainment.
To the north of the park is an office park with an area of 150 hectares, which is expected to accommodate more than 50,000 people. The 30-hectare headquarters of Yigrit Company is included in the park. Further north, the remaining 100 hectares of land will be developed and owned. A high-end community with 1,000 villas, mainly for rent or sale to employees of the Science and Technology Park.
Simon originally bought the land for $230 million.
If the technology park is to be fully developed, the investment level will further reach US$1 billion.
Therefore, whether it is a science park, a residential area, or ancillary parks, it is a big piece of cake for the construction and real estate industry in the Bay Area.
Igret has no plans to personally participate in the project. The entire park will be constructed in close cooperation with local developers in the Bay Area.
Therefore, with the announcement of the preliminary plan and the conclusion of some cooperation agreements, the criticism caused by the Westeros Company for acquiring a large number of land plots at once has been significantly eliminated. People with a discerning eye can also see the cause of the public controversy some time ago.
Real estate development is a hugely profitable industry in any country.
Different from the emerging Internet field, the real estate industry has been associated with the city almost since its emergence and has long been a red ocean. Because of the huge profits, the interests involved and the competitive game will be very cruel. No one can easily take advantage of it without sufficient capital support and connections.
Simon has always been interested in owning more land and properties, but he has no plans to get too involved in the real estate industry that may touch many established capital interests.
With the announcement of the Westeros Technology Park plan, additional commercial districts, residential districts, and office parks have begun to appear in the area north of Highway 101 in Mountain View. The city government has also promised to invest funds to improve the infrastructure construction of the area. It is not difficult to imagine that in the next few years, this deserted area on the edge of the city will quickly become prosperous.
In Hollywood, the three new films that opened on July 9 did as expected at the box office. Fox's "The Man with the Golden Arm", which performed best, only had a box office of US$18.21 million in the first seven days.
On July 16, the number of new films opening in North American theaters was reduced to two, namely "Gannet" by Daenerys and Warner Bros. and MGM's "Tombstone."
As the second film of this summer by John Grimson, the author of the original novel, the success of "Sugar-coated Trap" has also attracted more attention from the audience. Denzel Washington and Julia ·Roberts' creative lineup has ensured the popularity of the project.
After the film opened, relying on its excellent reputation, the box office of "Gannet" reached 22.19 million US dollars in the first three days of the weekend, rekindling the box office market.
In seven days from July 16 to July 22, the first-week box office of "Gannet" reached US$31.63 million, successfully becoming the single-week box office champion.
MGM's $25 million "Tombstone," starring Kurt Russell, pales in comparison.
In the first week of its opening, the film relied on 1,955 opening screens and earned a box office of 18.76 million U.S. dollars. It is obviously far away from the best-selling level of over 10,000 theaters. The total North American box office is expected to be equivalent to Fox's "The Kid with the Golden Arm" last week, roughly Between $50 million and $60 million.
Of course, although it is not a big hit, it can still bring considerable profits to MGM.
After all, as of late July, all of the 1993 Billion Dollar Club films were projects related to Daenerys Entertainment. It would be good for other studios to have a few projects with a box office of more than $50 million, provided that the budget cost of the project does not reach the level of "Phantom Hero".
At the same time, "Superman", which was in its seventh week of release, continued to earn US$15.38 million in the seven days from July 16 to July 22, and the cumulative box office officially exceeded the US$300 million mark, reaching US$306.79 million.
Counting the success of "Sleepless in Seattle", "Sugar-Coated Trap" and the latest "Grannet", Daenerys Entertainment has been planning a celebration party since early July.
With the North American box office of "Superman" officially exceeding 300 million US dollars, the celebration party is also scheduled for Saturday, July 24th.
Although it was the weekend, Simon still worked until lunch time in the morning, accompanied Janet for a pregnancy check-up in the afternoon, returned to Dume Point Manor in the evening, had dinner, and did not leave until nearly nine o'clock, after putting Janet to sleep early. Rush to Daenerys Studios.
This celebration party will still be held in the Staff Activity Center on the second floor of Daenerys Studios.
When Simon arrived, the atmosphere of the party, which had already started for two hours, was still lively.
After greeting all the guests at the party who needed to be greeted one by one according to the list made by Girl A in advance, Simon finally had some free time after socializing for more than half an hour.
I was dragged to the dance floor by Sandra Bullock for a dance, and then I hid on the sofa booth in the corner of the party hall, unwilling to get up again.
After bringing the man a glass of wine, Sandra sat down next to Simon carelessly and glanced at him dissatisfied: "Hey, it really makes me sad that you are so reluctant."
Simon leaned back in his chair, took the champagne, took a sip, and said, "I've been very busy recently, and I'm almost exhausted."
Sandra showed contempt in her eyes: "Did you get emptied by a woman?"
Simon nodded: "Yeah, more than ten a day, I almost can't get out of bed."
Sandra rolled her eyes at him and got down to business: "I have read the script you gave me."
Simon didn't want to talk about work now, so he smiled and said, "Why don't we talk about the dozen or so things yesterday."
Sandra glared at Simon: "Okay, you say it!"
"Well, this, Broadcast, eBay, 58list, iPets..."
Simon paused for a moment and then spoke a series of nouns skillfully.
Sandra listened to Simon's words with starry eyes, and wanted to roll her eyes again, but subconsciously asked: "What are they all about?"
“Venture pitches seen in San Francisco yesterday.”
Sandra blinked, understood, and immediately became interested again. She held Simon's arm and said, "I have some money in my hand now. The Internet concept is so popular. Can you help me choose a few investment projects?"
Simon shook his head and said: "No, you can't afford the limelight. This is really burning money. If you don't pay attention, you will lose everything. If you want advice, just buy AOL or Cisco stocks."
"I won't buy it. Many newspapers are now saying that the stock prices of these companies in your hands are in serious bubbles and may plummet at any time."
"Now, do you believe me or the media?"
"But... IBM's recent market value is only US$29 billion, Boeing is US$12 billion, and Cisco is already US$370. Don't you think it's too exaggerated?"
"IBM lost US$5 billion last year, which caused the stock price to plummet. Boeing was dragged down by the sluggish global economic environment. Moreover, the stock price reflects a company's future development potential. IBM and Boeing have already passed the rising period."
Sandra thought for a while and asked: "You mean, the stock prices of IBM and Boeing are at their lowest now."
"yes."
"Then can I buy the bottom?"
“…”
"Look," Sandra said with an expert look: "IBM and Boeing are at their lowest point. If I buy them now, I may earn more than double in the next few years. Cisco and AOL, their current market values are More than 30 billion US dollars, I think 50 billion should not be higher, hehe, this is what the newspapers said, and it may collapse at any time."
Simon nodded with approval and waved to Alison who was not far away: "A, remember to remind me to buy another $100 million in Boeing stock next Monday."
Girl A felt a little confused. A few days ago, Simon asked her to hand over a memorandum to Lawrence Fink, the head of Black Rock Asset Management Company, asking him to increase his holdings of stocks in some companies such as Boeing. The current absorption ratio is close to the amount that needs to be reported. 5% and began approaching Boeing with plans to seek a board seat.
What does it mean to suddenly buy another $100 million
Although she didn't understand, Alison didn't ask any more questions, nodded, took out the memo in her handbag and wrote it down carefully, making sure that her boss had no other instructions, and then walked away.
Sandra was even more confused and thought Simon might be teasing her. She waited until Girl A walked away before asking: "Did I say something wrong?"
Simon shrugged: "Half right?"
"Okay, I'll just buy a little," he said, becoming fierce again: "But if I lose, you have to compensate me."
"Is it okay to pay with flesh?"
"Can!"
"Forget it, the price is too high."
"snort!"
After a few jokes, Sandra turned the topic to the movie just now: "Stallone also saw the movie "Speed", and he asked me to help ask."
"Speed" is a movie recently approved by MGM. It is also a box office hit in the original time and space. The original version of the movie starred Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Because it was a newcomer's script, the project circulated among several major Hollywood studios before it was noticed by Simon.
Daenerys Entertainment's schedule for next year was full, so Simon gave the project to MGM.
Counting "True Lies" which is currently under negotiation, these two films will become MGM's main hits next year.
Simon had no intention of changing the main creator this time, not to mention that he had a good relationship with Keanu and Sandra. Hearing this, he smiled and asked: "Are you dissatisfied with Keanu?"
"Of course not, I'm just helping. Xier is a nice person."
Simon understood that Stallone was probably testing whether there were other opportunities for cooperation between the two parties. As for why it was Sandra, because the girl participated in Stallone's other new film "Super Troopers" in the first half of the year, which was invested by Warner Bros. and had a budget of US$57 million. .
Warner Bros. originally planned to release "Super Troopers" at the end of the year. Probably due to the mediocre results of the finished film, and the impact of the box office failure of "The Last Stand", it changed the schedule to an unpopular time in early October, which is considered half-given up. state.
Not only that, Simon also knew that another new film "The Cannonball Guy" that Stallone was preparing was also on hold recently. Because the contract was not confirmed in advance, the experience was more embarrassing than that of "True Lies". Warner Bros., who had originally intended to take over, proposed Demands for deep budget cuts.
Obviously, that starts with cutting Stallone's paycheck.
For the two movies "Jumanji" and "Super Troopers", Stallone's salary was US$15 million. If no blockbuster hits appear in the next few years, this will probably become the highest point of Stallone's salary.
In Simon's memory, Stallone also broke into the 20 million club during the most prosperous period of Hollywood around 2000. However, his personal film and television works never had too bright commercial performance, so that the turnaround film "The Expendables" was promoted by many companies but failed. People take over.
In recent years Simon has been either overtly or covertly suppressing star pay.
The arrival of the special effects era ahead of schedule has also suppressed the growth of stars' salaries to a great extent.
In the past, the 20 million club, at least within the control of Daenerys Entertainment, no star could get it. At most, it could only cross this threshold in disguise in the form of a share.
Compared to Schwarzenegger, who has a background in the "Terminator" series, Stallone's luck is really not good.
Simon still admires Stallone's inspirational experience very much. If there is a suitable cooperation opportunity, he will not refuse it, but he does not have such a project in hand at the moment.
Sandra just mentioned it briefly, which was considered a favor. After all, it was an investment of tens of millions of dollars, and she had no intention of getting too involved.
After chatting for a while, when she saw Jonathan Friedman coming and saying hello to her agent, the girl got up knowingly, but before leaving, she rolled her eyes at Simon again, because Jonathan had brought a woman over, it seemed, very Fits a guy's taste.
"Simon, this is Fela, you should know me. I remember you bought the rights to "Charlie's Angels" a long time ago, right?"
"Of course," Simon greeted Jonathan, shook hands with the woman who came with him, and said with a smile, "Hello, Ms. Fawcett."
Farrah Fawcett, one of the heroines of the 1970s TV series "Charlie's Angels".
WMA was the dominant one in the 1970s, and the main creators of "Charlie's Angels" were basically artists affiliated with WMA.
Although she is over 40 years old, as one of the most famous actresses in the 1970s, Farrah Fawcett also belongs to a family of fairies who have successfully resisted the erosion of time. Her figure and appearance are not inferior to those of young girls, and she is also A little more mature charm accumulated over the years.
The woman's voice is also very nice, a bit babyish, but not squeaky at all.
After greeting her, Farrah Fawcett calmly sat down next to Simon. Her body wrapped in a thin silk dress even touched Simon a few times intentionally or unintentionally.
The three chatted casually for a while, and Philla Fawcett took the initiative to mention the purpose of asking Friedman to help introduce her. She wanted to try out for the role of the heroine of "True Lies".
Although the project is still under negotiation and many details have not been finalized, to the outside world, the film is basically under Simon's control. Even if the final cooperation fails, if Simon Westeros asks for a heroine, neither Fox nor Schwarzenegger will refuse.