King of Hollywood-Chapter 593 - 1: Foam

It seems that in the West, every turn of the century brings about some inexplicable rumors, and these rumors always like to mingle with disasters, especially at the millennium change, where the rumors are particularly exaggerated. It is said that when the year 1000 was approaching, constant plagues and famines had all of Europe in a state of great anxiety, and many people believed that the end of the world was imminent.

Even by the year 2000, it was still the same, most notably Nostradamus’s prophecies and the Millennium Bug; one involving mysticism and the other science, complementing each other quite well. This is probably not unrelated to the religious factors rooted in Western society.

Of course, when the most luxurious crystal ball to date dropped in Times Square and the Millennium chimes rang out, the great demon king did not descend from the sky, nor did nuclear bombs launch just because the timers jumped to 00; the world operated as usual in a spectacle of song and dance.

Hollywood was especially this way, pushing the film industry to a new peak over the last decade and resulting in a large number of outstanding directors and producers. Among them, the most famous is none other than Adrian Cowell, nicknamed the "Miracle Director." By the millennium, he personally directed and produced as many as fifteen films, and the global box office was nearly three billion US dollars.

If one were to look at these achievements in isolation, they would seem impressive but not necessarily surprising. James Cameron has only directed six movies to date, and just from "Titanic," he amassed over two billion dollars in global box office revenue, while Steven Spielberg’s North American box office alone has neared three billion. However, the catch is that some things must be viewed in context; Adrian accomplished all this in less than ten years, and his films cover a dazzling array of styles—so much so that many say that his style is having no style at all.

Moreover, this count only includes the movies that he personally directed. If one includes those productions associated with him, hardly anyone could compare.

Additionally, Adrian is not just a director and producer but also the very young chairman of AC Media, which could rival behemoths like Viacom and News Corporation. From its establishment to its current scale, he spent less than ten years, acquiring TBS, then ABC, then Universal Pictures, moving skillfully on multiple fronts and seldom making mistakes. His development speed, both miraculous and unreplicable, has attracted many scholars to study it.

Adrian played an undeniable role in swiftly stabilizing TBS, ABC, and Universal Pictures post-acquisition. He always thought of outstanding, highly commercial value stories and produced them into movies or TV dramas. Currently, some of the highest-rated reality shows are also linked to him, earning him myriad titles like ace screenwriter, Miracle Director, and Gold medal producer—with no one questioning him—any doubters were metaphorically slapped in the face.

His insight is always marveled at, and countless directors, actors, and producers desire to collaborate with him, especially female actresses, even though he’s known as an infamous playboy.

The media coined the term "Miracle Girl" for the actresses who had worked with Adrian; everyone knew he was deeply involved with them, even if aside from Julia Roberts, there were almost no photos of him alone with other women. There were even rumors that the Hollywood golden couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, divorced because of him.

And those were just the public messages; there was even more information that only insiders knew about. Even so, actresses remained extremely enthusiastic about him; earning Adrian’s favor was undoubtedly a ticket to stardom.

He always precisely captured the essence of women; one of the "Miracle Girls," Kate Blanchett, won the Oscar for Best Actress early last year because of him. Gwyneth Paltrow, another "Miracle Girl," secured several Best Actress nominations at the Oscars because of him. "Malena," which premiered in full in January, received much praise during its limited release and also brought Monica Bellucci, another "Miracle Girl" who had been quiet for nearly a year, into the limelight, securing her a Best Actress nomination at this year’s Oscars was already a certainty.

Having power, influence, and talent, how could such allure not push actresses to stride forward? However, the Miracle Director pursued now had nothing to do with filmmaking.

"Have you divested all of them?" In the spacious office, Adrian, seated at his desk, looked at Claude and asked.

"Not yet, but it’s almost done," Claude smiled. "Don’t worry; you haven’t fully divested either, have you?"

Then, he turned the LCD tablet display towards him. "Cisco’s market value has already exceeded 500 billion; this is absolutely insane."

In 1998, Apple developed the LCD display, and a year later, they released the LCD tablet display; it’s undeniable that Jobs was an impressive figure. Being shareholders of Apple, it was only natural for Adrian and Claude to use Apple computers; getting custom LCD tablet displays was likewise not a problem.

Frustratingly, Apple computers never offered a mouse with a left-click button. No matter how users reacted or protested, they refused to compromise; Apple’s technology was potent but stubbornly inflexible in certain respects. Fortunately, starting last year, Apple computers had begun to accommodate other mice, or else Adrian would certainly have agonized over the LCD display and the mouse.

"Yes, this is the bubble, and it could burst at any moment," Adrian nodded.

Over the past year, IT stocks soared madly. Cisco’s market value, barely over 100 billion at the beginning of last year, had by mid-January 2000 already breached the 500 billion mark. Other IT stocks followed suit; established IT companies like Microsoft and Dell not to mention—Microsoft’s market value had also surpassed 500 billion—Yahoo’s market value had exceeded 100 billion, and eBay also had several tens of billions.

To all investors and stockholders, this seemed an unbelievable phenomenon; an investment of one US Dollar could turn into several tens in a few days, and into hundreds in a few months. No wonder some exclaimed it was the best of times.

But was it truly so? Putting aside those mind-boggling market values and paying slight attention to these companies’ actual assets would make one shiver; while having a market value of over 500 billion, Cisco’s actual assets were just over 10 billion. Microsoft hadn’t surpassed 40 billion, whereas the perennial market leader, General Electric, had actual assets over 500 billion, almost equal to its market value!

A company’s value in the stock market must be based on its actual assets. If the market value excessively exceeded the actual assets, it would form a bubble, highly unstable. Cisco’s actual assets were just over 10 billion, yet its market value had reached 500 billion, and it was a common phenomenon among IT companies. If this wasn’t a looming massive bubble, what was?

In fact, most in the financial sector were aware of this; however, what use was that knowledge? Some things wouldn’t shift with human will. When the bubble would burst, even the Wall Street folks, ready to disengage and make a fortune, couldn’t be sure, let alone the numerous individuals cheering for the robust IT stocks, speculators and muddled thinkers existing everywhere.

Being a reborn, Adrian naturally had started preparing early. In early 1999, he instructed Regret to discreetly begin the slow divestment and transfer of equity he controlled in his stocks. Stock wasn’t so much about holding and valuing; divesting could affect stock prices. If a vast amount was dumped at once, it might even prematurely burst the bubble, with major investment banks ready to pull out at a moment’s notice.

You should know that the Cisco and Microsoft stocks in Adrian’s hands, if valued at the present time, would be worth at least $60 billion. Once dumped into the stock market, a crash would be immediate and irrevocable, turning the stocks into worthless paper; retrieving even $20 or $30 billion would be fortunate, not to mention the taxes due.

Besides, both the AC Media Group itself and Claude personally hold a portion of IT stocks, making the total even larger. Therefore, care must be taken when selling, gauging the mood of certain parties, enticing them to raise the affected stock prices for greater gain rather than joining the sell-off and precipitating the bubble’s burst.

In a sense, Adrian was snatching food from the tiger’s mouth. Despite being a media mogul and AC Media being among counted media conglomerates, compared to some on Wall Street, he still seemed somewhat inadequate and less experienced. The entire process utilized numerous accounts, with each trader doing their utmost to control the market situation, thankfully without errors.

Moreover, taking the need for funds as an excuse—for instance, AC Media transferred most of its shares in Yahoo to Jerry Yang under the pretext of competing with Bertelsmann for Random House. Every founder hopes to keep control of their company, and Jerry Yang was no exception, even though AC Media did not overly interfere with Yahoo’s operations.

However, Bertelsmann still acquired Random House, albeit at a higher cost. That didn’t matter to Adrian, who had long stated that if not Random House, there was still Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and furthermore, he wouldn’t need to expand this part in the future, as the publishing companies under his belt were already well-known due to the Harry Potter series.

So far, aside from some stocks considered for the future, such as Apple and Amazon—the former obviously shouldn’t be sold now while the latter, led by the extraordinary CEO Jeff Bezos, maintained steady growth during the IT bubble inflation, with a current market value of just over ten billion.

Seeing others making heaps of profit, many Amazon shareholders were dissatisfied, with several contacting Adrian and Claude’s intermediaries in hopes they would pressure Bezos. Despite holding a significant portion of Amazon’s shares together, Adrian, after much thought, along with Claude, declined their request and even helped alleviate some of Bezos’ pressures.

If he only had wanted a quick profit, he could have, as major shareholders, forced Bezos to absorb more capital, and likewise cash out massively at a few billion dollars, but how much would that earn? Cashing out those stocks took over a year. Besides, visionary IT company CEOs like Bezos aren’t plentiful. What would Amazon become if he resigned after the bubble burst?

Well, even if Amazon collapsed, other e-commerce sites would emerge to replace it, but that would mean losing Adrian’s control. Although he wasn’t aware of Amazon’s CEO in his previous life, he remembered it had developed well, and Amazon held a significant place in his plans. Of course, he could intentionally bankrupt Amazon and then buy it out entirely, rehiring Bezos, but that would take a lot of time and unforeseen events could occur. Moreover, it didn’t align with his vision for the future.

Thus, helping Bezos now seemed the better choice, especially since he had made enough profit already. After selling some confirmed stocks and deducting taxes and traders’ bonuses, Adrian had made nearly $20 billion! This figure seemed far from $60 billion in market value, but remember, this was cash! And all his own! What private individual could bring out so much cash at once? Even Cisco now probably didn’t have more than $10 billion in reserves, and almost equaled what Claude and the whole group of AC Media earned, although the group also held more undeposited stocks considering the future.

Besides, while selling off and transferring stocks, Adrian also exchanged 2% of Microsoft shares for 1% of General Electric’s. In this country, those controlling energy and arms dealings were the real giants; otherwise, how could General Electric’s actual assets match its market value? Originating from the last century, this super-company, the largest defense supplier in the United States, from airplanes to missiles, even provided the neutron generators for B61 nuclear bombs. Exaggeratingly speaking, if General Electric were to fall, so would the United States.

1% of the shares might seem insignificant, but Adrian did not intend to enter General Electric; instead, its financial statements could sometimes play a significant role and provide useful information faster. Just like when he invested in Blackwater in ’97, he mostly remained detached except to understand the situation enough to prevent being expelled, only aiming to share a small piece of the giants’ pie. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Taking advantage of the IT bubble, Adrian had made a fortune but was not ready to stop. Though sell-offs and transfers were nearly complete, there were other ways to make money—more and much easier ways.

"I must remind you, Ed, predicting the date is both the most crucial and the hardest part," Claude said at that moment.

"Yes, I know, which day do you think it will be?" Adrian nodded as he stared at the computer screen.

"It’s hard to say, I’m afraid nobody in the United States knows, even those who are ready can’t be sure when the best time to act is," Claude shook his head, "you’re gambling again, buddy."

Is there an easy and highly profitable way to make money in this world? Of course, that would be futures trading! Often within a few days, tens of thousands of US Dollars could turn into millions, and billions could turn into hundreds of billions, just like magic. The profits are so substantial that many people persist tirelessly, even knowing the risks are equally high and a slight misstep could mean being a millionaire today and bankrupt tomorrow.

When the IT bubble burst, there was at least several trillion dollars circulating in the derivative financial markets. How could one not make a fortune from it?! Besides, futures are not stocks; as long as someone takes the order, there’s no fear of not getting the money. Trading futures doesn’t require overly profound knowledge; the key is being able to accurately predict the date.

Initially, Adrian had relied on Claude for further startup capital by trading oil futures, and Claude had successfully completed the task mainly because Adrian had given him the precise date of the US Army’s attack.

But the world develops linearly, and although some events are inevitable, such as launching the Gulf War or the burst of the IT bubble, some are highly coincidental, like the timing of starting a war and the bubble burst. Adrian had never been a gambler; he had been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City a few times but never indulged in high-stakes gambling. Rather than seeking thrills with extravagant bets, he preferred to let everything unfold according to his plan. Nine years ago, besides having no other quick way to accumulate capital, he gambled on trading oil futures also because he didn’t yet have enough influence in the world to justify not taking the risk.

But now, he couldn’t be so carefree. He vaguely remembered that in his previous life, the IT bubble had burst at the beginning of February 2000, but because of his continuous cashing out and transferring of stock rights over the past year, the volatile stock market definitely differed from his previous life. Thus, Cisco’s market value had just crossed 500 billion; companies reaching this level were few and far between. Hence, whether the bubble would burst earlier was hard to say.

"Think about it more carefully; we must find some clues." Adrian continued.

"I really don’t understand, you’ve already made enough money, why take such a big risk?" Claude said teasingly.

He was right. AC Media’s actual assets were estimated to be at least 50 billion, and Adrian, owning 45% of the shares, had assets worth over 20 billion. If it were to go public, considering the virtual assets, the group’s market value would at least double. Adding the 20 billion he had already earned and some real estate properties, becoming the world’s richest man would be effortless.

Moreover, many industries were waiting for him to tap into in the future, and by then, his wealth would only grow further, making it entirely unnecessary to take risks—unfortunately, that was also the reason he proceeded as he did; the future still held opportunities, and he had only risked 10 billion on short positions. Even if he lost it all, he could afford it. Besides—

"I also need to spend lavishly, and with about a dozen women and five or six children to support, the pressure is huge," Adrian shrugged earnestly, and then Claude rolled his eyes. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast a recommendation vote or a monthly pass at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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