The signing ceremony of the equity transfer agreement was held at the headquarters of Firefly Investment in Rockefeller Center.
Chris admires Buffett's minimalist business philosophy very much, so he follows this predecessor as much as possible in many aspects. Although the company moved its headquarters to Rockefeller Center in the past two years, compared with other large companies, Firefly Investment Company, which has controlled assets of more than 200 billion U.S. dollars, still only maintains a small team of about 50 people, and the entire company only accounts for Office space within half a floor of Building 50, Rockefeller Center.
In comparison, Morgan Stanley Group owns 27 floors of office space from the 47th floor to the 74th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. The reason why Eric noticed this is because when the office was relocated last time, Chris asked Eric if he wanted to move to the same building with Morgan Stanley, which would also facilitate cooperation between the two parties. Of course, Eric could not agree .
However, Eric remembered that on the day of the September 11 incident, almost all Morgan Stanley employees were safely evacuated. During the entire process, only six of the nearly 3,000 employees died accidentally. Director, this has to be said to be a 'miracle'.
The signing ceremony was very simple. This batch of 16.5 million shares was taken over by seven other shareholders of AOL, including Morgan Stanley and Vanguard Group, at a price of US$4 billion, such as settlement of funds, changes in equity structure, and submission to the SEC. It will take another week to complete the filing and other procedures. The reason why Firefly Investment, Morgan Stanley, and AOL parties gathered together with such fanfare is mainly for the press conference after the signing ceremony.
There have been too many rumors about AOL in the recent period, and this equity transfer happens to be the best time to respond to all the recent rumors.
The employee activity room invested by Firefly was temporarily arranged as a press conference site. After the signing process was over, Eric, Chris, Steve Case and John Mark sat on the stage together. There was no long table. It was very simple with four chairs, and one of Chris's assistants played the role of the host temporarily, and there were hundreds of media reporters who packed the entire event room to the brim.
After implementing the established simple interactive process and clarifying and responding to some rumors related to Firefly Investment and AOL, the press conference entered the free question time.
The host ordered a reporter, who got up and pointed directly at Eric: "Mr. Williams, I am a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. Since the Firefly investment statement is optimistic about the future of Nasdaq and AOL, Why does your company insist on reducing its holdings?"
As soon as the reporter of the "Wall Street Journal" said something, all the reporters on the scene cheered up and looked over.
Although the contradiction between the two parties was used as a foreshadowing some time ago, judging from the current situation, no matter what, Firefly Investment’s behavior of selling at a low price is too much like a rush to cash out after feeling the crisis. Although the performance of the Nasdaq index has become stronger during this period, and many investors have gradually given up their worries, there has never been a shortage of bearish figures on the Nasdaq index on Wall Street.
He gave a reassuring look to Chris, who wanted to help him block this question, and Eric raised the microphone and said, "Actually, Firefly Investment's reduction in AOL stocks has nothing to do with the overall trend of the technology stock market. The reason why Firefly Investment did this was because the established development strategy of AOL could not form a good complementarity with other industries under Firefly Investment, so we chose to withdraw and focus more on other businesses. Firefly Investment is also the major shareholder of technology companies such as Cisco, Sprint, Qualcomm, and Nokia. If you are not optimistic about technology stocks, you should now see Firefly investing in the stocks of other companies, but in fact, Firefly has never invested in these companies over the years. Have sold any shares of Cisco, Sprint, etc.”
After Eric finished speaking, many people at the scene showed thoughtful expressions on their expressions. The "Wall Street Journal" reporter just wanted to refute, but couldn't find a suitable reason for a while.
The achievements of Firefly Investment in the field of new technology in these years are obvious to all. Now, Firefly Investment has no intention of giving up any other new technology companies, but it has chosen to reduce its holdings of AOL stock, even if the reason is really the same as that of the Nasdaq market. Bubbles have nothing to do, but Firefly's actions are still worth pondering.
The host didn't let the reporter just now continue to ask questions, and quickly ordered another one.
"Mr. Williams, I'm a reporter from Forbes magazine. After completing the reduction of 25% of AOL's shares, Firefly Investment will receive a huge amount of tens of billions of dollars. May I ask what investment plans you have for the next step and will continue Focus on the high-tech field?"
"We haven't made a detailed plan for this fund yet. However, traditional industries have basically formed a relatively stable industrial structure. Firefly is also very unfamiliar with these fields. Therefore, we should focus on those with more opportunities and greater development potential. The new technology area, however, is certain.”
In fact, Eric and Chris had already discussed where the funds would go next.
Although in the short term there will be no re-entry into the stock market, which is already very bubbly, but it is absolutely impossible for the nearly tens of billions of dollars of funds to be simply placed in the bank to earn interest.
Because this fund will be used again in about two years, Eric plans to invest in various types of short-term convertible bonds. Compared with the bank's annual interest rate of less than 3%, investing in bonds and getting 5% annual return is still No problem, and the investment can generally be converted back into cash within 12 months.
However, it is definitely impossible to be honest with these reporters in front of him, so Eric had to be sloppy. In fact, he did not lie to these people in front of him. He just invested in the technology field again at least until the technology stock bubble burst after 2000. It is a good time to buy low prices.
There are very few opportunities for Eric to appear in front of the media. The reporters on the scene asked Eric a series of questions, and the topic even turned to the movie he was shooting, but Eric refused to respond in jest. Reporters eventually turned their attention to several others.
After the press conference was over, I dealt with some trivial matters, and before I knew it, it was already evening.
In order to celebrate the successful completion of this transaction, John Mark bought the Window of the World restaurant on the top floor of the Petronas Twin Towers in the name of Morgan Stanley.
In the Window of the World restaurant, after dealing with an executive from First Boston, Chris and Eric walked together to the window overlooking the entire Manhattan, looked at the lit up city below them and said with a smile: "First Boston also I want 5 million shares, and if we raise the price a little now, we may be able to sell them all."
"Take it as an IPO." Eric instinctively resisted the unlucky high-rise building under his feet, but he didn't show it on his face. He held a glass of red wine in one hand and put the other hand in his pocket, and said: " There is no need to add extra trouble now, let’s get the $10 billion in hand first.”
Although according to AOL's current stock price, 10 billion US dollars to sell 25% of the stock, Firefly Investment is equivalent to giving up about 2 billion US dollars in benefits. But in fact, during the whole process, Firefly Investment is definitely the one with the most lucrative returns.
After all, according to the development process in Eric's memory, all the profits generated by America Online in more than ten years from its birth to its fall did not add up to 10 billion US dollars.
Now these investment institutions who think they have taken advantage of the stock from Firefly Investment, if the lock-up period passes after half a year, they can resist the temptation of the rapid rise in stock prices and sell their stocks immediately, and they will definitely be able to obtain huge profits. But Eric is sure that there will definitely be a large number of people who cannot restrain their greed and wait until the Nasdaq crashes to wake up, but it is too late to regret.
People always ask where the money lost by stockholders after the stock market crashed went, but it was actually made by those who were willing to withdraw their hands in time.
"Judging from the current situation, the other 15% of the stocks can be sold in the next month. Next, I will select a batch of recently issued high-quality bonds and list them. Speaking of which, if the bonds of Firefly Group are not sold Done, we might as well buy ourselves some. When are you going back to Los Angeles?"
Eric said: "Tomorrow afternoon, the filming of "Gravity" will continue on Monday."
Chris nodded and said, "By the way, you really invested $1.6 billion in promoting 3D and IMAX movies?"
"Yes," Eric said with a relaxed smile: "According to the preliminary plan, the average renovation cost for each of the 4,000 3D screens around the world is 300,000 US dollars. Jeffery is discussing cooperation details with major theaters. There are a total of 200 IMAX theaters in North America and overseas. We plan to operate them ourselves. Due to the location selection, the cost in this area is uncertain. On average, each theater should cost 4 million US dollars. In this way, it is 1.6 billion US dollars. "
Chris listened carefully, finally shook his head, and said, "It's too risky."
"When you watch the finished film of "Gravity" in the future, maybe you won't think so," Eric said confidently: "And, I can afford the risk now."
The two were chatting, and John Mark brought another middle-aged man over. Eric and Chris stopped talking and greeted him politely.
After some entertainment, Eric left the reception early at nine o'clock.
After sending Caroline and Mayer to the apartment on Sixth Avenue, Eric rushed to East Hampton during the night and left tomorrow afternoon. He must still see the children.
It was already eleven o'clock at night when we arrived in East Hampton. The car slowly drove into Linhai Manor. Joanna and a maid were already waiting in the yard.
Seeing Eric get off the car, Joanna came over, with such joy in her expression, she called softly: "Eric."
Eric hugged Joanna, kissed her on the lips, and said, "Are the little ones asleep?"
Joanna nodded with a smile, and told the maid around her to take Eric's bodyguards to the next villa to stay, and then walked into the main villa with Eric.
Considerately helping Eric hang his coat on the hanger, Joanna turned around and saw that Eric had changed his shoes, and walked towards the children's bedroom with him naturally, while whispering: "Xia Xia and Kevin fell asleep after nine o'clock, Emma fell asleep not long after, and the little guy became more and more naughty."
"Then I'll help you teach her a good lesson tomorrow," Eric smiled, and together with Joanna gently pushed a bedroom away, without turning on the light, a small person could be seen by the light in the corridor Lying on the crib.
Stepping forward, Joanna carefully tidied the blanket for Hawaii, gently touched her daughter's delicate face, then withdrew her hand, seeing that Eric was about to stretch out his rough hand, she gave him a blank look, and stretched out her hand block.
Eric had to bow his head and kissed his daughter's forehead lightly, looked at her quietly for a while, and then walked out of the room.
With the increase of age, the three little guys have their own rooms.
Eric followed Joanna to see Kevin and Emma again, and the two went upstairs together.
"Didn't Vicky say that she would focus on taking care of Kevin in the future? Why did she go to filming again?" In the bedroom on the second floor, Eric took off his shirt and asked with some dissatisfaction.
Joanna helped Eric put the bath water in the bathroom, and said: "It's just a small role, and the filming was over in a week. It's not like you don't know Vicky's temperament. She can't bear to stay at home quietly and look after the children all the time. .”
While talking, Eric took off his trousers and threw them on the big bed, walked into the bathroom, and said, "Then there's no need to go to filming, and go to Vancouver to do something else."
"Oh, I can't control her. Next time you come back, you can tell her."
"It seems that we need to learn a lesson," Eric said with a smile, stepped into the bathtub, saw that Joanna was about to get up and leave, reached out and hugged the woman, and hugged her directly without taking off her clothes.
"You, your clothes are all wet." Joanna struggled a little, then leaned into Eric's arms resignedly, feeling the man's kiss on her neck.
…
…
Joanna helped Eric put the bath water in the bathroom, and said: "It's just a small role, and the filming was over in a week. It's not like you don't know Vicky's temperament. She can't bear to stay at home quietly and look after the children all the time. .”
While talking, Eric took off his trousers and threw them on the big bed, walked into the bathroom, and said, "Then there's no need to go to filming, and go to Vancouver to do something else."
"Oh, I can't control her. Next time you come back, you can tell her."
"It seems that we need to learn a lesson," Eric said with a smile, stepped into the bathtub, saw that Joanna was about to get up and leave, reached out and hugged the woman, and hugged her directly without taking off her clothes.
"You, your clothes are all wet." Joanna struggled a little, then leaned into Eric's arms resignedly, feeling the man's kiss on her neck.
…