Faced with Eric's sudden strength, Robert Shea's face became ugly, but his momentum also weakened a little, and he asked unwillingly: "Eric, then you should tell me that you will use this money to do something. what?"
Eric shook his head without hesitation: "Sorry, Robert, I can't say."
The muscles on Robert Shea's face trembled a few times angrily, and he quickly said, "Eric, if you insist on doing this, I think my next film may need external investment."
"no problem."
Eric readily agreed. Robert Shea had the same idea as he did when he founded Black Ant Films, and wanted to use Firefly's distribution channels to earn more profits. The so-called external investment is likely to Most of them are just Robert Shea's personal investment.
It seems that the box office success of "Sleeping with the Enemy" has made Robert Shea even more inflated, but that's good, anyway, Eric has made up his mind to let Robert Shea leave at the end of the year, even if he uses Firefly's channel, It's just this time, not to mention whether it can make money or not is another matter.
Hearing Eric agree so readily, Robert Shea hesitated instead, and quickly added: "Of course, Firefly still has to participate in part of the investment, and I won't let our own company suffer too much. "
Eric sneered in his heart. Robert Shea still had some self-knowledge left, saying that he would not let the company suffer. In fact, it was more just that he didn't want the film to be completely divorced from him. In this way, he was doing it for his own benefit. It is impossible to ignore the film. The movie sold out. Of course, all the credit belongs to Robert. Once he fails, Robert Shea can find an excuse to deal with it.
However, Eric nodded again: "That's okay."
"That's it, I'll go to work first," Robert Shea meaningfully glanced at Firefly Chief Financial Officer Caroline Elliott who had been waiting beside him, got up and left the conference room.
"Eric, are you really going to take all the company's money?" There were only the two of them left in the conference room. Caroline Elliott pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose and asked uncertainly.
Eric nodded and asked, "How much money is in the company's account now?"
Caroline Elliott handed over the folder in her hand: "A total of 149.5 million US dollars."
Eric opened the folder and muttered, "Why are there so few?"
Caroline Elliott rolled her eyes, how little is this? Even the Big Seven may not necessarily have such a huge cash flow.
"Eric, it's already a lot. This is because the box office share of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" of 75 million US dollars at the beginning of the month has just entered the company's account. Otherwise, there are only more than 70 million in the account now. A few movies have made a lot of money, but in April just paid 150 million US dollars in various taxes. In addition, "Ghosts", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "X-Files" in the past six months And the funds occupied by projects such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the company's channel expansion and videotape publicity consumption. And the funds you have withdrawn for Black Ant Pictures, Pixar and digital fields, these add up, It's a miracle the company has nearly 150 million left."
Eric quickly flipped through the detailed income and expenditure statement, only to realize that what Caroline Elliott said was the truth.
Firefly is in a period of rapid development. Like many companies in this period, the consumption of funds is very large. If it is not for the box office of the movie produced by Eric to provide enough funds for Firefly, Firefly will now inevitably embark on the The road to external financing.
"How about this, leave 9.5 million working capital, and wait for my message to transfer the rest to the designated account," Eric closed the statement and said.
Caroline Elliot hesitated: "Eric, $9.5 million is definitely not enough. The second part of "Friends" is already in production. Based on the cost of $1 million per episode for eight episodes per month, even It needs 8 million, not to mention the company needs other expenses."
The first season was a success, and the cost of the second season of "Friends" skyrocketed, reaching $1 million per episode.
Thinking of the sweet face he hadn't seen for a long time, Eric showed a momentary hesitation, but quickly said: "It's only a month, Caroline, besides, it's impossible for us to have no income this month, right? Aren’t the videotapes of those movies already on the market? Also, you can negotiate with Fox to see if you can advance a part of the advertising revenue of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", if there is really no way, then suspend it."
Caroline Elliot couldn't help pushing the glasses on the bridge of her nose again, her brows were slightly frowned, and she wanted to say something, but seeing Eric's face, she swallowed back the words she wanted to speak.
After finalizing the funding, Eric quickly boarded the flight to New York.
The headquarters of Firefly Investment Company is located in a building in the commercial center of Manhattan. The main asset held by the company is 23% of Cisco's shares. In addition, Chris is also responsible for Eric's private wealth management.
Although he had received a call before, when Eric arrived in New York, it was less than 12 noon Eastern Time, which surprised Chris Hansen.
The two came to the office together, and Eric took out the newspapers that he had sorted out last night and pushed them in front of Chris, briefly explaining his thoughts.
Chris listened to Eric's layman's but to the point analysis, nodded from time to time, and waited for Eric to finish speaking before saying: "Eric, due to the situation in the Middle East during this period, crude oil futures have indeed continued to rise. If you feel If you are interested, you can invest 10 to 20 million for fun."
"Chris, do you think I flew to New York in such a hurry just to have fun?"
Chris stared at Eric, couldn't help sitting up straight, and felt a bad feeling in his heart.
Eric put his arm on the table, leaned forward slightly, stared at Chris and said seriously: "Chris, before I came, I have already contacted Firefly, Pixar and all the liquidity in the digital field, and the specific data is still there. According to statistics, I estimate that the scale is almost 200 million US dollars, and I will continue to raise funds with all my strength in the next month."
"So?" Chris asked in an uncertain tone.
"I want to make a big bet," Eric replied, "200 million dollars, all long crude oil futures!"
"Eric, I think you need to calm down, have you listened to someone's bewitching?"
Chris reached out and found a newspaper from Eric, and pointed to a data article on the financial page: "Look, the price of crude oil has risen from $14 per barrel to $18 in the past three months. Most statistical agencies predict that even if the situation in the Middle East is once again deadlocked, the price of crude oil will not exceed 20 US dollars per barrel. If you enter the market three months ago, you will definitely make a lot of money, but no one can predict the foretelling, and now the oil price has reached The high of $18 will definitely fluctuate between $18 and $20 next, and the risk of entering the market is extremely high.”
"What if there is a fight in the Middle East?" Eric asked back.
Chris remembered what Eric said when he first came, and then he realized that Eric had just been passing through the information in the newspapers in front of him, suggesting that he might start another war in the Middle East.
"This is even more impossible, Eric, who is going to hit whom?" Chris asked back: "The Arab countries in the Middle East generally have low force values, such as Saudi Arabia, with millions of square kilometers of land, only a mere 70,000 Small countries such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar have almost no military, and Iraq, which is most likely to trigger a war, has just fought with Iran for eight years, and its domestic economy is about to collapse. Saddam is not a fool, don’t look at him now. Small countries such as the United Arab Emirates and the United Arab Emirates are showing off their power and slandering Kuwait for stealing Iraqi oil, but at most they are just blackmailing some benefits as they have done in the past."
"Saddam is certainly not a fool, but he is crazy. Chris, think about it, if Iraq invades Kuwait, what will happen?" (To be continued...)