Cindy sighed a little speechlessly: "Tens of billions of dollars, I think for these tens of billions of dollars, they will definitely fight the lawsuit severely. I saw in yesterday's article that Sony originally paid for the VCR It’s been a ten-year lawsuit with Disney and Universal.”
Eric laughed and said, "What you read must be the kind of newspaper that likes to scare people with alarmist talk, but they just didn't mention the most important point, which is that the Sony VCR case formed a very favorable result for Fireflyer in the case law. What's more What's more, if Fireflyer is popularized, it will provide a lot of tax revenue and jobs for the Federation every year, do you think the Federal Court may suppress potential taxpayers for the Japanese?"
Local protectionism exists in any country and region.
If the core patents of traditional portable music players are in the hands of local American companies, involving tens of billions of dollars in huge interest disputes, Firefly Electronics may still encounter some troubles, but these patents are precisely in the hands of the Japanese, even if it is the United States. Local traditional player manufacturers have to pay a large amount of patent licensing fees to Japanese companies every year.
In this case, the San Francisco Federal Court is willing to stand up for the Japanese to be considered a ghost.
Chris mentioned in the recent phone calls from San Francisco that the San Francisco Federal Court is very likely to directly dismiss the lawsuit brought by Sony and the other two major record companies, and will not file the case at all.
Cindy tilted her head slightly and listened quietly, and finally asked with great interest: "What is the case law?"
"You won't be interested," Eric shook his head, and looked at Cindy with a smile on his lips: "I'm curious, why are you asking these questions all of a sudden?"
"Actually, it's like this." Cindy didn't show the embarrassment of being caught by Eric, and said with a serious expression: "Didn't you advise me to invest in technology stocks last year? That's why I pay more attention to this information. "
Eric probably understood, smiled and said, "Did you really buy it?"
Cindy stretched out two white and slender fingers and shook them: "20 million US dollars, I bought all the four stocks you mentioned to me last year."
Eric really couldn't remember these details, and asked, "Which four stocks?"
"It's AOL, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel," Cindy said, eyes widening suddenly. "My God, you forgot, that's most of my savings."
Eric quickly made a downward gesture: "Don't make such a fuss, and you must have made money, right?"
Cindy also realized that she was overreacting. Because of their identities, there were already guests looking at this side frequently, but at this moment, a large group of eyes looked at them with integrity.
Taking a sip of the red wine to cover up, Cindy lowered her voice a little excitedly: "Yeah, it's crazy, these stocks have all more than doubled in a year, and now the value of the stocks in my hand is close to It's $50 million. I never thought I'd have that much money before."
Eric actually felt the same way. The Clover Fund has been continuously investing funds in the Nasdaq market. Compared with the small plate in Cindy's hands, the current book returns are even more astonishing.
"And then?" Eric asked with a smile, he knew that Cindy would definitely not mention these for no reason.
Cindy stopped going around in circles, and slowly cut the cod on the plate, saying: "Recently, my stockbroker advised me to clear all the stocks as soon as possible, but I am not sure, so I want to ask your opinion first."
Eric wondered: "Did the other party explain why? I mean, why did you suddenly suggest you clear your position?"
"Well," Cindy nodded, and said, "He said that the possible economic crisis in Southeast Asia will spread to North America, causing the Nasdaq market to collapse."
The Nasdaq index is currently close to 1,500 points, which is almost double that of three years ago.
Therefore, there have long been bearish voices on the Nasdaq in the investment market. Perhaps Eric is the only person in the world who dares to be 100% sure that the Nasdaq index is far from reaching its limit.
However, Eric would not be surprised if Cindy's stockbroker used the reason that the Nasdaq was inflated to persuade her to sell stocks. Stockbrokers encourage customers to buy and sell stocks frequently to earn more commissions. It is a very common behavior, but the other party just used the reason that the economic crisis in Southeast Asia may impact North America.
After thinking about it, Eric said, "Cindy, I don't know how good your stockbroker ability is. However, if it were me, I would definitely do the same now."
Cindy blinked and asked the same question as Eric just now: "Then what?"
Eric drank the red wine and said: "No one can be sure whether the Southeast Asian economy will really encounter a crisis. Therefore, once this prediction comes true, I will definitely become the kind of stock with special vision in your eyes Broker, you will trust me more in the future. In this case, if the North American stock market is not affected, but continues to advance, as long as I give a reasonable reason, you will definitely continue to follow my advice and re-buy , This time around, two commissions will be obtained."
Cindy obviously couldn't keep up with Eric's thoughts, and her thoughts turned around a lot. After Eric finished cleaning the last bit of food on her plate, she thought about something a little bit, and said, "You mean, Did that guy lie to me on purpose?"
Eric shrugged: "It's just a possibility. I don't know your stockbroker. Maybe he is really thinking about his clients. Who knows."
"However," Cindy scratched the tableware in his hand twice on the fine porcelain plate, and said, "You seem to be saying just now, um, the economic crisis in Southeast Asia will happen, but it won't affect the North American stock market, right? But It seems unreasonable, although I don't know much about these things, but I also feel that it should have an impact."
Eric said: "Of course there will be an impact, but the impact is exactly the opposite of what your stockbroker described. Let's put it this way, do you know what the two world wars had the greatest impact on the global economic landscape?"
Cindy shook her head: "I don't know, I'm not interested in things like fighting wars."
Eric said helplessly: "Didn't you go to college?"
Cindy raised her pretty face: "Of course, Northwestern University's Department of Chemical Engineering, although I only studied for one year, I still remember the molecular formula of water, H... um, HO2, right?"
"Well, the water you drink is really special." Eric didn't know if the goblin was acting maliciously, so he decided not to discuss such a 'heavy' topic as hydrogen dioxide, and continued: "Twice The biggest impact of the world war on the global economy was that the collapse of Europe led to the rise of the Commonwealth. Similarly, once the Southeast Asian currency system was attacked and triggered an economic crisis, the impact would be no different from a large-scale war. The emerging economies of Southeast Asian countries were destroyed If it is destroyed, the original capital will definitely choose to flee. Due to the generally high welfare and low efficiency social system in Europe, coupled with the fact that European countries will almost never achieve integration, it is already difficult to become too attractive to capital. In this situation Under this circumstance, North America will once again become the best destination for capital to flee. The most intuitive manifestation of the influx of capital must be the arrival of a bull market in the stock market. So, everything is just the beginning.”
Cindy understood it this time, nodded and said: "It seems that I need to change a stockbroker. However, Eric, can I continue to buy now, and when do you think these stocks will be sold?" Better?"
"Of course, it's time to sell," Eric thought for a while, and said: "Yahoo's listing will definitely bring Nasdaq to a high point, then you should start selling, and don't enter the market after clearing your position." gone."
In my memory, the Nasdaq stock market crashed in March 2000, but after creating a group of "big butterflies" by himself, Eric determined that the Nasdaq index could no longer follow the original historical track.
Yahoo will probably choose the timing from the end of 1998 to the beginning of 1999 to go public. As the most watched Internet technology company, the listing of Yahoo will definitely drive the entire market up. It will indeed be a good time to sell. Cindy’s The stock must have appreciated several times by then, so there is no need to be too greedy.
As for the stocks held by the Clover Fund, Eric has a more detailed plan, but these must not be disclosed to Cindy casually.
Cindy also saw Eric's reserved attitude. Although she really wanted to know when Yahoo would go public, she also understood that enough was enough, and she wisely did not continue to ask.
Both of them ate about the same amount of food. It was still early, and Cindy had no intention of leaving. She ordered coffee and continued chatting with Eric.
Although she can't keep up with Eric's thoughts in many cases, Cindy also understands that the information obtained casually when getting along with Eric is a hundred times better than those guys who can only talk, and others may be obsessed with it. She is beautiful, but this trick hardly works against Eric. It will only become more and more difficult to ask this man out in the future. She cherishes this opportunity very much.
Stirring a sugar cube into the hot coffee, Cindy remembered something and asked, "Speaking of which, Eric, will you be in New York early next month?"
Today is April 25th, Friday, Eric plans to return to East Hampton for the weekend, and fly directly back to Los Angeles from there next week, so he shook his head and said: "No, I will leave in two days, what's wrong?"
Cindy said with some regret: "Next month at the Met-Ball on the 5th, I was wondering if I could invite you as my male partner."
Eric also remembered.
The Met-Ball, the full name is the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Charity Ball. This is a charity party created by Anna Wintour to counter the West Coast "Vanity Fair" party. Only the most popular celebrities and superstars will be invited to participate each year. When he attended a reception hosted by the Hearst family last weekend, Anna Wintour, who happened to be there, asked him if he was interested.
Smiling, Eric said: "Even if I have time, I definitely can't be your male companion. Drew will definitely come to join in the fun."
Everyone knows that Eric and Drew have an unusually close relationship. Cindy has been in contact with Drew several times. She absolutely dare not argue with Drew, because she always feels that behind that baby face is a hidden secret. A crazy factor that might turn everyone's face in an instant. If she and Drew had a conflict, Cindy was sure that Eric would not help her.
Thinking of this, Cindy couldn't help being curious: "Eric, what kind of relationship is it between you and Drew?"
Eric didn't shy away from this question, and replied: "It's the kind of relationship you imagined, a tree and a vine are entwined, and no one can do without the other."
For some reason, Cindy felt that the picture outlined by Eric's simple words made people feel a strong sense of jealousy.
"Then, wouldn't she mind if you... date us?"
"Of course I mind, but the girl's outlook on life is different from others," Eric replied after thinking for a while, then looked at Cindy with a smile: "Do you want to know what's different?"
Cindy shook her head almost instinctively: "I don't want to."
"Heh," Eric smiled, and was about to say something when he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate, took it out and gestured to Cindy, got up and walked to the corridor not far away, and answered the phone.
Katzenberg personally called from Los Angeles. The two talked for about ten minutes. Eric returned to his seat, looked at his watch, and said to Cindy, "We may have to leave early."
Cindy automatically forgot about the topic that made her regret, and asked with concern: "What happened?"
Eric summoned the waiter, handed over the credit card, and then said to Cindy: "It's nothing serious, isn't it Friday? The 18th week of "Titanic"'s global box office data has come out. Los Angeles I just sent the information over, and I want to go back and have a look.”
"Wow, it's already the 18th week," Cindy immediately became interested, and said, "I remember last week, it seemed to be, um, 1.775 billion US dollars. This is simply a miracle. How much is it now?"
"1.852 billion."
Eric reported a number, and his mood was not so calm, because this number means that "Titanic" has successfully broken the box office record of 1.84 billion U.S. dollars in the first round of screenings in the previous life, and it will continue to reach 2 billion U.S. dollars. The record is sprinting.
Katzenberg just said on the phone that according to the current box office curve of "Titanic", there is no suspense for the global box office to reach 2 billion US dollars. The only thing that cannot be determined is where the final potential will go.
A month ago, when the global box office of "Titanic" exceeded 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, the company's executives suggested holding a grand celebration banquet, but Eric rejected it. He hoped that the global box office would exceed 1.8 billion U.S. dollars. Celebrate after special goals have been achieved.
In the phone call just now, Eric and Katzenberg have agreed to hold a grand celebration party next Wednesday in the initially built Titanic model in Firefly Studios, and will also officially announce the Titanic-themed exhibition project. (To be continued.)