The increasingly large Westeros system has given more and more people a sense of being surrounded all the time and everywhere.
That's what happened on March 25th.
It's a Friday.
The aftermath of Monday's Oscars ceremony has not yet dissipated. The dispute between the Westeros system and the Hearst family continues to ferment. Many media and politicians are still criticizing Simon's huge personal wealth. The stock prices of Cisco and AOL have rebounded. The overall rise in the Nasdaq technology sector has caused many short hedgers to suffer heavy capital losses...
To be precise on this day, the Backstreet Boys, which Daenerys Records has released three singles since the end of last year, officially launched the album of the same name "Backstreet Boys" after four months of warming up their popularity.
The three early singles have already helped the group accumulate good popularity. On Friday morning, the press conference at the Daenerys Studios Employee Activity Center was very lively. This album conference not only attracted fans from all over North America, but also There were also many singers, movie stars and supermodels from the entertainment industry who came to support the event.
On the other hand, EA, the San Francisco-based Daenerys entertainment game subsidiary, and Facebook, a social network owned by Igrit, also jointly launched the social casual game "Farm" on this day.
This social game, which has attracted the attention of a large number of users during the internal beta stage, was directly recommended on the homepage of the Igrit portal that day. The game was officially launched at 9 o'clock in the morning. Subsequently, the number of activated users soared, and the growth rate far exceeded that of EA and Facebook. Expectations from large operations teams.
On the same day, on the other side of the Atlantic, Nokia, headquartered in Finland, officially released its 1993 annual financial report.
Throughout 1993, Nokia's mobile phone products flourished in Europe, North America and Asia. The cumulative mobile phone shipments worldwide reached 7.23 million units, surpassing Motorola's annual sales of 6.39 million units in one fell swoop, becoming the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer and occupying the same market share. It held a 38% market share of approximately 19 million mobile phone shipments worldwide in the past year.
Even though the expansion of the communication base station equipment business has been appropriately slowed down in order to fully develop the mobile phone business, Nokia's full-year revenue in 1993 still reached 16.9 billion Finnish marks, equivalent to US$2.45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 65%. Compared with a loss of more than US$60 million in 1992, Nokia's full-year net profit in 1993 was 1.925 billion Finnish marks, equivalent to US$279 million, with a net profit margin of 11.3%.
London time is eight hours ahead of Los Angeles, and when Simon stepped into his office on Friday morning, the London Stock Exchange had closed on the other side of the Atlantic.
With the release of this stunning financial report, Nokia's stock price rose again by 2.1% that day, with its closing market value reaching 10.1 billion pounds, equivalent to US$15.6 billion. From the beginning of March to now, in about three weeks, Nokia's stock price has increased by 17% cumulatively. %, with a price-earnings ratio as high as 56 times, which shows that the capital market is pursuing this emerging mobile communications equipment manufacturer.
However, in recent days, some financial media in North America have discovered another focus.
Cersei Capital, which has unknowingly become a behemoth on Wall Street, has made how much money has it made in the past year
You know, in just the past week, Cersei Fund Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, has relied on technology stock bulls with a total scale that may exceed tens of billions of dollars. During the overall rebound of technology stocks, it has recovered from the huge book losses accumulated in the previous weeks. turned into substantial profits.
As a completely private hedge fund, the operations of Cersei Fund Management have always been very secretive. Except for a few 'insiders' who have been paying close attention to the operations of Cersei Capital through some non-compliant means, most institutions and media have no way of accessing it. They know the specific operating status of Cersei's Fund Management Company, and those who can spy on more accurate information will often not announce it rashly.
Everyone is just sure that in the past week, Cersei Fund Management Company relied on its huge positions and the rebound of technology stocks to make a book profit of at least US$500 million. In other words, in just one week, the profit figure of Cersei Fund Management, one of the three subsidiaries of Cersei Capital, has exceeded the annual net income of Nokia, which is growing rapidly.
It is not without reason that the U.S. financial industry was able to show explosive development again after the 1990s.
Because it is indeed too profitable.
At least, for many novices who think they can kill everyone in the financial market, the financial market has an irresistible temptation.
Before the 1987 stock market crash that Simon became famous for, the total size of global hedge funds was only about US$30 billion. After the 87 stock market crash, this number quickly doubled in just a few months. Now, more than six years later, because famous hedge funds such as Cersei Capital and Quantum Fund have continued to make huge profits during several financial turmoils, the total size of global hedge funds continues to expand and currently exceeds 300 billion US dollars, even without too detailed comparative data. , Simon can also be sure that this number far exceeds the scale of the same period in the original time and space.
Moreover, the total size of hedge funds of US$300 billion is far from reaching its peak.
In Simon's memory, before the 2008 financial crisis, the peak value of global hedge funds reached US$1.95 trillion, and these were only statistics that could be counted. Because most hedge funds generally use offshore registration methods to operate secretly, the actual total size may exceed US$2 trillion.
Including the current total size of global hedge funds of US$300 billion, it is actually only an obviously low estimate.
The outside world can only predict, but Simon clearly knows the profit status of Cersei Fund Management Company in the past week.
As of the closing of trading on Thursday afternoon yesterday, the book profits of positions held by Cersei Fund Management Company in the previous four trading days were not far from external forecasts, reaching US$540 million.
Moreover, from a huge loss of up to US$610 million on the last trading day last week to a book profit of US$540 million yesterday, this kind of ups and downs actually tested the mental endurance of the trading team.
After an expansion at the beginning of the year, the total original principal of Cersei Fund Management Company was only US$5 billion, and the book loss of US$610 million was equivalent to 12% of the principal ratio.
If it weren't for the unswerving support of Simon and Janet, the trading team would probably have cleared their positions and stopped losses when they lost about 10%. In addition, some fund executives suggested increasing short positions to hedge risks. It is conceivable that if the above operations are implemented, with the comeback of technology stocks this week, Cersei Fund Management's book numbers will be very bleak.
Frankly speaking, hedge funds are similar to gambling in that only a few people can make profits and most end up losing money. Moreover, hedge funds that have created brilliant performance may also fail in a certain operation, and there are few unbeaten winners.
Therefore, Simon is actually quite conservative in the operation of Cersei Fund Management Company.
Different from the speculative operations during the 1987 stock market crash and the Gulf War, the current trading model of Cersei Fund Management is exactly the same as the operation in the recent stage of the Japanese stock market bubble. Although most of them are hedging positions for individual stocks, they are fundamentally Still similar to macro hedging.
Simon ignores the short-term fluctuations in the technology stock market and is firmly betting on the long term, betting on the upward trend of the Nasdaq market.
The Nasdaq index once broke through the 5,000-point mark at the peak of the Internet bubble.
Now, although many people believe that there is already a bubble in the technology stock market, as of yesterday's close, the Nasdaq index was only 1,519 points.
Simon is not greedy. In this long-term operation, he plans to decisively exit around 3,000 points of the Nasdaq index, and he will not turn short by then, so he can just settle for safety.
If the Nasdaq index in this time and space can still break through 5,000 points, Simon will not regret missing the last 2,000 points of profit margin. The biggest reason for the failure of many hedge fund managers is greed and not knowing when enough is enough. Of course, if the Nasdaq index turns to collapse this time before it reaches 3,000 points, Simon will not regret it. The shopping mall is like a battlefield and is never foolproof. This potential unknown risk must be borne.
3000 points was used as the closing target. At this time, the Nasdaq stock market was only around 1500 points. The temporary decline for several weeks did not affect Simon's confidence at all, so he never thought about clearing the position when losing 10%. Stop loss, and do not consider establishing short positions to hedge risks.
The book profit reached US$540 million in just one week. It is indeed conceivable how terrible Cersei Capital's profit situation was in the past 1993.
This is also true.
Not to mention Apollo Management and Black Rock Asset Management, it is just a subsidiary of Cersei Fund Management. In the past year, as several core technology stocks in North America have doubled, they have made unswerving long bets on technology stocks. , with cumulative profits of US$3.4 billion in 1993, easily surpassing the giant Daenerys Entertainment.
Of course, this profit belongs to all investors.
The capital composition of Cersei Fund Management Company has been changing. In terms of the size of the hedge fund of about US$3 billion last year, the Westeros family accounted for US$1 billion, the Johnston family accounted for US$500 million, and the other 1.5 billion. The US dollar is subscribed by a large number of Westerosi stakeholders.
Simon was able to build Australia into the backing of the Westeros system and establish a deep political network in North America in just a few years. This was definitely not accomplished by attending a few drinking parties or spending large sums of lobbying funds.
Interest is the most solid link that binds a network of people.
Not only the political 'base' of the Westeros family, but also the White House, secretly took away $300 million in hedge fund subscription shares from Simon. Of course, this part of the subscription share was not invested by the Clintons themselves, and they did not have that much money at all. Instead, it was used by Clinton as a favor, which also indirectly expanded the Westeros family's connections.
Moreover, if these interests were not tied up, not to mention the rewards of political resources and network, there would definitely be people who would instigate federal regulatory agencies to launch various investigations into Cersei Capital out of jealousy over the huge profits of Cersei Fund Management Company.
The fact is that Cersei Capital’s development has been smooth sailing in recent years.
Black Rock Asset Management has rapidly expanded to nearly US$200 billion in assets. Such a huge asset, if placed in other countries, would have already aroused the vigilance of the authorities. However, Cersei Capital has gotten along well with the US government.
A large part of this is also the 'credit' of Cersei Fund Management Company.
According to the capital structure of Cersei Fund Management Company in 1993 and Cersei Fund Management Company's customary fixed commission of 20% on capital gains, after the liquidation at the end of last year, the income attributable to the Westeros family, including principal income and Dividends totaled US$1.46 billion, equivalent to 42% of the total income of US$3.4 billion. After excluding commissions and handling fees, the Johnston family received US$430 million, accounting for 12% of the total profit. The two companies took 54% of the profit share.
The remaining 46% is shared by many other investors.
Even so, a pre-tax annual return of up to 100% is definitely unattainable for other investments.
Because most of the funds are kept in offshore accounts, as long as the investors do not transfer the funds back to the country, they do not need to pay taxes. As for whether those people are willing to declare and pay taxes, it is not Simon's concern.
Of course Simon made a declaration, but he would not be stupid enough to declare everything, but only gave a half.
Moreover, Simon has no plans to transfer overseas funds back to the United States unless necessary.
As for the entire Cersei Capital level, the other two subsidiaries, Apollo Management Company's pre-tax net income was US$370 million, and Black Rock Asset Management's pre-tax net income was US$590 million. Regardless of the overall income of the fund, the pre-tax net income attributable to all partners of Cersei Fund Management Company is only US$560 million, and the total of the three companies is US$1.52 billion. This is already equivalent to many giant companies with a market value of tens of billions of dollars. Annual profit scale.
The reason why pre-tax income is calculated is mainly because this type of partnership financial company basically divides the income with each partner, and then the partners declare and pay taxes by themselves. Although the United States is known as a country of tens of thousands of taxes, it does not impose repeated taxes without a bottom line.
Because many businesses are in the United States, this part of the partnership income can no longer be taxed.
The parent company of Cersei Capital controlled by the Simons currently holds 70%, 63% and 41% of the shares of Cersei Fund Management Company, Apollo Management Company and Black Rock Asset Management Company respectively, and even Black Rock Assets, which holds the smallest shareholding, The management company also retains veto power.
According to this shareholding ratio, the Simons alone can take most of the income of the three companies in the past year, excluding the hedge fund income share included in the total income of Cersei Fund Management Company of US$1.46 billion, and the other two subsidiaries. , the total income attributable to the Simons also reached US$470 million.
After completing the tax settlement of the domestic income dividends, in 1993, the cumulative net income brought by Cersei Capital to the Westeros family reached 1.71 billion U.S. dollars, second only to the huge Daenerys Entertainment Group in profit.
It is conceivable that once the financial data of Cersei Capital is made public, it will definitely attract a lot of criticism about Simon's personal wealth being too large. After all, unlike other industries that can bring a lot of jobs and tax revenue, Wall Street is often a rather negative symbol of sin in the minds of most of the public.
Because the women and children were not around, Simon came to Daenerys Studios before eight o'clock on Friday morning to start his day's work.
According to Girl A's carefully arranged work schedule, she handles various affairs of the Westeros system one by one. At noon, she hosted a banquet at the restaurant inside the studio for Otis Chandler, the head of the Chandler family behind the Los Angeles Times Group. , to discuss cooperation matters between the two parties.
These days, the Westeros system has quickly reached cooperation with the New York Times Group and started a war with the Hearst Group, which has attracted strong attention from major traditional media groups in the United States.
Especially the Wall Street Journal article 'Do you want to be a friend, or an enemy? 'After the publication of the article, more established paper media began to contact the Westeros system.
Simon does not plan to choose too many partners at once. The news and information department of the Yigret portal still needs to be maintained. Therefore, after screening, there are only four traditional media groups that plan to cooperate.
The 'New York Times Group', which just confirmed its intention to cooperate on Monday.
Already have a cooperative relationship with 'News Corporation'.
Today we hosted a banquet for the 'Los Angeles Times Group' controlled by the Chandler family.
The last one is 'Dow Jones & Company', the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
The four companies have been carefully selected based on the needs of the Westeros system itself. Among them, the New York Times Group and the Los Angeles Times Group basically represent the voice of traditional paper media on the east and west coasts of the United States. The News Group is related to Simon's rear in Australia and is closely related to Simon. The cooperation between Dow Jones and Company is mainly due to the fact that the other party controls financial media such as "The Wall Street Journal" and "Barron's" and has a strong say in the US economic situation.
After the guest and host had a pleasant lunch, Simon sent Otis Chandler off and returned to his office to continue his afternoon work.
After briefly asking about the status of the Backstreet Boys album conference in the morning and the "Farm" social game officially launched in Silicon Valley, Simon was about to attend the "Jurassic Park 2" production meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon, his personal The phone suddenly rang.
The caller was Anthony Johnston.
This was nothing.
However, after the call was connected, Simon quickly showed an unexpected expression.
Anthony said that he and Raymond Johnston were almost arriving at Dume Point Manor and hoped that Simon could go home.
After a brief accident, Simon also roughly understood why the old man who never liked leaving Melbourne came to Los Angeles in person. It must be because of what Janet rushed to Australia to tell about the "Damocles" of the Westeros family. Sword Plan'.
Simon briefly chatted with Anthony and said that he would go back as soon as possible. Then he asked casually and learned that Janet and his party did not come back with them. He didn't think much about it. When he sent Janet off on Monday, Simon hoped that they could stay in Australia for a while.