In the evening, at the invitation of Larry Ellison, Simon attended a party in the Silicon Valley business circle. Simon returned to the mountain mansion in Woodside at about ten o'clock in the night.
Entering the living room of the villa, the two AC girls who heard the commotion came out together.
Simon was not surprised that Girl C appeared here. He greeted with a smile, handed the coat to Girl A, and asked Claire: "How are the preparations for the new generation of iCam?"
Claire followed Simon in a slightly affectionate manner and replied: "We are undergoing trial production, and we will start stocking up next month. Boss, are you going to my place to have a look tomorrow?"
Coming to a living room next to the living room, Simon sat down on the sofa and said, "Next time, I will leave at noon tomorrow."
Claire nodded, sat down next to Simon casually, and said, "Boss, several Wall Street investment banks have contacted me about the IPO of Tinker Bayer during this period. When do you think it is appropriate for us to go public?"
Girl A poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Simon. When she stepped away, she couldn't help but glance at Girl C, who was leaning slightly beside her boss.
Simon sat in the middle of the couch, Claire occupied one side, and the other side was still empty. Alison hesitated for a moment, but still did not follow the private discussion between the two women and sit down on the other side of Simon. Instead, she chose a single sofa next to her. Worried that there was some flaw in his expression, after sitting down, he picked up a document on the coffee table and opened it to cover it up. Occasionally, he raised his head and echoed the two people chatting with his eyes.
Simon didn't notice these small details. Hearing this, he smiled and said: "If you are eager to let others know that you are now a rich little woman, of course you can start an IPO as soon as possible."
The iCam series sold very well, and although Tinker Bayer started several R&D projects at the same time, there was no shortage of funds.
On the other hand, Tinker Bayer has no venture capital that is eager to cash out on the IPO. As the largest shareholder holding 70% of the shares, Westeros Company not only has no need to cash out, but can also continue to provide funds for this company, so it is basically There is no need for an IPO.
If it weren't for economic reasons, Simon would even want all companies in Westeros to remain privatized.
Cisco, Nokia, AOL and Daenerys Entertainment, which will be listed in the middle of the year, are all helpless. As the most important layout of the Westeros system in the consumer electronics industry, the product fields that Tinker Bayer is involved in are also It's not sensitive, so it's okay for the company to remain private for a long time.
Claire resented Alison's temporary retreat, and quietly moved closer to her boss. In fact, she had no idea of an IPO for Tinker Bayer, but just found a topic at random: "However, the recent stock prices of Cisco and AOL are close to US$50 billion, and I have seen many analysts believe that technology stocks The sector has reached its peak, and now is the best time for an IPO."
Simon took a sip of coffee and felt the delicious fragrance coming from Girl C. He turned to look at her and found that although Claire was wearing a women's shirt and black trousers that he was very familiar with, her collar was open at this time. You can faintly see the pale pink lace edges.
Without hiding his gaze, Simon smiled, glanced a few times, and joked: "C, you didn't secretly invest in technology stocks and came here to trick me today, right?"
Claire tilted her body again to better meet the man's gaze, and immediately admitted: "I invested 5 million US dollars, which were all loans. Boss, if I lose money, I can only ask you for help."
Simon asked: "When did you buy it?"
"last year."
"You're not adding leverage, are you?"
"Only doubled."
"Um."
Seeing Simon nodding noncommittally, Claire carefully grabbed the man's arm and shook it: "Boss, should I sell now?"
"It doesn't matter if you hold it for another year."
Claire asked: "What about one year from now?"
Simon glanced at Girl C, who had already hugged his arm and leaned towards her, and shook his head: "I don't know either."
Seeing that her boss didn't object to her approach, Claire stopped pursuing him. Her light blue eyes narrowed slightly, her body gently rubbed against the man's body, her red lips parted slightly, and a small white hand boldly moved downwards. Go explore.
Girl A, who was sitting quietly and observing all this, felt her cheeks heat up slightly. Seeing the two getting closer and closer, she finally couldn't help but get up and said: "Boss, I'm going to rest first."
"Don't leave."
Before Simon spoke, it was Claire who spoke, and then she whispered something into the man's ear.
In the quiet living room late at night, Girl C's voice was actually very clear. When she heard Claire reveal some of her most private things, Girl A was like a deer caught in a trap, her face turned red, and she felt a little confused for a moment. measures.
Simon thoughtfully interrupted Claire before she finished speaking. He patted his side with a gentle smile and said to Alison, "Come here."
Alison had heard similar words from men before, but Alison didn't want to be like those women, but found that her body didn't obey her orders at all.
It's like I'm under some kind of spell called obedience.
He came and sat down next to Simon, obediently took the coffee cup handed by the man and put it on the coffee table. He glanced at Claire on the other side, his breathing getting faster and faster.
The coffee cup in Simon's hand was taken away by Girl A, and he grabbed Alison's chin. Just as he was about to kiss her, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Where's Alice?"
Both girls were stunned.
Simon only looked at Girl A's expression and understood instantly, but he just smiled and did not stop the movements of his hands.
The two AC girls came to Simon's villa in Woodside. The housekeeper didn't spend too much time with them. She went directly upstairs to the master bedroom to wait for Simon's return.
The fatigue accumulated from days of high-intensity work was not completely relieved by an afternoon of maintenance and rest. I took a bath again, lay alone on the man's big bed, read a magazine, and fell asleep unknowingly.
A very relaxing deep sleep.
When I woke up again, I still had the magazine from last night in my hand, but there was no trace of a man on the big bed.
The curtains were not drawn last night, and the bright sunshine had already slanted into the bedroom. The windows were still opened, and the fresh mountain air made people feel relaxed and happy.
But my mood was inexplicably not pleasant at all.
Especially when I went downstairs and saw a guy eating breakfast and reading a newspaper in the restaurant, and the beautiful silk scarves that matched the necks of the two AC girls.
Damn that guy!
So he didn't even respond to the man's good morning greetings.
She sat down at the dining table with a cold face, feeling that doing this would make him more proud. She quickly started eating breakfast as if nothing had happened, chatted with him about the company as if nothing had happened, and rushed to the company with him as if nothing had happened.
Don't care!
Because it was an impromptu meeting, there was not much preparation in advance. The meeting on the priority of Yigret's products was more inclined to the nature of free discussion.
Everyone was very busy, and the meeting only lasted more than half an hour. Simon’s last request was that the Big Three of Jeff Bezos, Carol Bartz, and Tim Berners-Lee be brought into the meeting by Simon himself. Each of the housekeepers in the room must submit a fully handwritten priority report to him every month, detailing the solutions to deal with priority conflicts in the development decision-making process of various businesses under the Igret Company.
After the meeting, Simon rushed to the Cisco headquarters in San Jose to discuss some matters with John Chambers, and boarded a plane to New York near noon. On the East Coast, after taking over the entire USA Television Network, Daenerys Entertainment’s television business will also need to make corresponding adjustments.
As January 20th approaches, it will be the first anniversary of Bill Clinton’s inauguration.
At this stage, Bill Clinton's political foundation is far inferior to that of the previous term, George Bush. Therefore, the White House has been overwhelmed by major and minor affairs this year.
In order to get a good start in its second term in office and boost morale, the White House turned its attention to the Internet industry. After all, the Information Highway Act is the most important bill that Clinton has pushed forward since taking office.
Therefore, after coordinating with Silicon Valley, on January 19, Igret released a "1993 Global World Wide Web User Report" in advance before the annual financial report, which attracted more attention from the outside world. The White House also followed up and included The rapid development of the Internet industry in the past year has greatly exaggerated its own achievements.
The report shows that as of December 31, 1993, the number of users accessing the World Wide Web worldwide had reached 73 million, covering 116 million Internet users.
Among them, the number of World Wide Web users in the United States alone reaches 46 million, covering 75 million Internet users.
The number of World Wide Web users in Japan ranks second after the United States, reaching 5.3 million.
The third place is Germany with 3.8 million.
The UK ranks fourth with 2.9 million users.
Canada, which is next to the United States, ranks fifth with 2.6 million users.
Australia, where the Westeros system focuses its operations, also has 1.5 million World Wide Web users, ranking ninth behind France, Italy and Spain. Based on Australia's total population of only 17 million, the popularity of the World Wide Web in this country is as high as 14%, second only to Canada's 15% and the United States' 28%.
Compared with 1992, the number of World Wide Web users in the United States surged by 64% in 1993, and the growth rate of World Wide Web users in key overseas countries generally exceeded 100%.
The report also predicts that in 1994, the number of World Wide Web users in the United States will still increase by more than 50%. Overseas countries such as Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom have relatively low penetration of the World Wide Web. Against the background of the rapid rise of the Internet industry, the number of World Wide Web users in these countries in 1994 will still maintain an annual growth rate of more than 100%.
Therefore, the number of global World Wide Web users is expected to reach 120 million by the end of 1994, covering more than 200 million Internet users.
The most direct consequence of the release of this report and the official exaggeration of the rapid development of the Internet industry in the past year was to trigger another collective surge in Nasdaq technology stocks.
On January 19th, Cisco's stock price rose by 3.9% at the afternoon closing, and its market value officially exceeded the US$50 billion mark, becoming the first Internet company among many emerging technology companies to achieve a market value of US$50 billion.
Immediately afterwards, on January 21, after three consecutive days of rising stock prices, AOL's stock price also successfully broke through the US$50 billion mark.
As of the close of trading on January 21, Cisco's total market value reached US$53.6 billion, and AOL's market value was also set at a high of US$51.5 billion. The stock prices of other new technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, etc. have hit new highs. Even IBM, which has been in trouble in recent years, has seen its market value take advantage of this positive trend after the new CEO Gerstner who took office last year has continued to make vigorous reforms for more than half a year. Dongfeng broke through the US$40 billion mark.
On the one hand, the craziness of technology stocks has attracted more investors to the Nasdaq market. On the other hand, there are also many self-proclaimed sober investors who believe that the technology stock market has been overheated. The market values of Cisco and AOL have both exceeded 50 billion. There are obvious bubble costs in the market capitalization of leading US dollar companies.
The annual financial reports of each company will not be released one after another in the next two months. However, the capital market can basically make a rough estimate based on the company's financial data in previous quarters. There is no doubt about the high growth rate of new technology companies such as Cisco and AOL. However, the market value of Cisco and AOL of more than 50 billion US dollars is considered by many to be too exaggerated.
As of the close of trading on January 21, only 4 of all listed companies in the U.S. stock market had a market value of more than 50 billion U.S. dollars. The market value of Cisco and AOL was second only to the first-ranked General Electric and the second-ranked U.S. energy giant Philip Morris. Rees Company, the two companies have market values of US$76.2 billion and US$55.3 billion respectively.
In comparison, the revenue volume of both General Electric and Philip Morris is ten times that of Cisco and AOL. Even the net profits of the two companies in the last fiscal year were US$4.6 billion and US$5.9 billion respectively. This is comparable to Cisco's revenue in 1993.
Old heavy industry giants such as General Motors and Ford Motor Co., which have annual revenue of more than 100 billion US dollars, had market values of only US$37.1 billion and US$29.5 billion respectively as of the close of trading on January 21. Two other energy giants, Exxon and Mobil, which have been flirting with each other for a long time to seek mergers, had a closing market value of only US$43.6 billion and US$35.3 billion respectively on January 21.
At the beginning of 1994, there was still no company with a market value of US$100 billion in the United States. US$50 billion is a threshold for major corporate giants. It took other companies a century to break through the barrier, but now it was easily passed by two emerging high-tech companies that were only about 10 years old. How could it not make people question it
Therefore, after the market values of Cisco and AOL both exceeded US$50 billion, many hedge funds on Wall Street began to establish targeted short positions in stocks, betting that the stock prices of Cisco and AOL would see a substantial correction in the next few months. This is a critical time. The dot is the release date of the two companies' annual financial reports.
The capital shorting Cisco and AOL believes that as the two companies release financial report data that cannot match their high market value, the capital market will calm down again, and there will be a selling trend that lowers the stock price.
As of the close of trading on January 21, in just a few days, the size of short positions in Cisco and AOL alone exceeded US$6 billion, and the total size of short positions in the entire Nasdaq technology stock market reached US$20 billion. levels, and are expected to continue to increase next week.
Stock hedging is a zero-sum game.
A total of $20 billion in short positions covering a large number of Nasdaq technology stocks naturally also means long positions of the same size.
Cersei Fund Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, has recently quietly increased the size of its hedge fund to US$5 billion, with US$20 billion in short contracts targeting technology stocks. Cersei Fund Management alone has generously taken on one-third of it. , reaching US$7 billion.
It’s not that Cersei Capital doesn’t want to take on more, it’s just that there is no shortage of other bull capitals in the market who are optimistic about the prospects of technology stocks.
Stock hedging requires capital to first borrow a certain proportion of stocks as asset collateral.
Even, in order to facilitate many hedge funds to establish short positions specifically targeting technology companies such as Cisco and AOL, Westeros Corporation and other closely related equity capital holdings generously lent out the technology stocks they held.
As long as the commission is high enough, I will give you as much as you dare to borrow.