Firefly Cinema, sitting in the rest area beside the tempered glass curtain wall on the second floor of LOFT office in the digital field, Robert Pittman, president of the United States Online, looked at the burning clouds gradually dyed red in the sky, but he did not feel the pleasure of seeing this magnificent sunset scene at all.

The article Eric interviewed by the New York Times a few days ago has caused heated discussions among countless media around the world, and has once again injected a shot of augmentation into the new technology industry that has been seriously bubbled. Even more than a week has passed, the influence of this interview has not dissipated. However, as one of the most important new technology companies on Nasdaq, A. Online, which should have benefited from this interview, was frustrated because of some comments made by Eric in the interview.

On the day Yahoo went public, the stock price of AOL was already affected and fell significantly. In the past week, affected by that interview, Yahoo's market value successfully exceeded US$100 billion, while AOL's market value fluctuated from its peak of US$66.7 billion, and has now fallen to the brink of US$60 billion.

However, this is not the most serious.

In an exclusive interview, Eric suddenly revealed that the Clover Fund, a subsidiary of Firefly Group, actually holds up to 3.1% of the shares of American Online. This incident made the entire American Online management and even other shareholders feel uncomfortable, and even affected the merger negotiations being held by American Online and Time Warner.

Therefore, although I was furious, the management of the American Online still had to face this problem.

However, when Steve Case made up his mind to contact Eric, Eric suddenly disappeared from the media's sight. Not only did he leave Manhattan, he did not return to Los Angeles, and even London did not have the other person. Steve Case personally called the Firefly Group and got a completely official response of "Mr. Williams is on vacation and does not want to be disturbed". This has never happened when A. Online was still in the Firefly system.

In desperation, Steve Case had a shameless face inquiring about Yahoo CEO Ian Gneal. Although he received news that Eric was in Maryland, he was also reminded not to bother the other party. Steve Case had to do so, but when he heard Eric's return to Los Angeles, he sent his deputy Robert Pittman to fly over overnight.

The orange-red fire cloud gradually turned dark red. Robert Pittman looked at his watch and was about to ask the staff again when Eric Williams got off work. As soon as he got up, he saw Eric and another casually dressed middle-aged man walking out of an office at the end of the corridor. Robert Pittman quickly met him.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Williams," Robert Pittman greeted Eric patiently and politely, despite his anxiety.

"Bob, you'd better call me Eric," Eric smiled and shook hands with Robert Pittman, and introduced: "This is Robert Byron, the special effects director of my movie."

Robert Pitman said hello to Robert Byron again, and then said, "Willie... Eric, I booked a seat at a nearby restaurant. Can I have dinner together?"

Robert Byron knew that Eric and Robert Pitman had something to talk about, so he took the initiative to say goodbye. Eric watched Robert Byron leave and said to Robert Pitman: "I will attend a cocktail party later, so let's eat on the big boat next door."

Robert Pittman just wanted to get an opportunity to negotiate with Eric, so he naturally would not object.

The two rushed to the restaurant on the big boat next door. As soon as they sat down, Robert Pittman couldn't wait to say: "Eric, A. Online wants to buy back the 3.1% stake in the Clover Fund. How much do you think the offer is appropriate?"

Eric did not answer Robert Pittman's words, and saw another completely strange beautiful waitress coming over, completely ignoring Robert Pittman opposite him, and asked him with eager eyes what he wanted to eat. Frowning slightly, Eric said to the waitress: "Let George come over, I have something to tell him."

The waitress was stunned for a moment before realizing that the George who Eric said was probably George Watling, the manager who was in charge of the operation of several restaurants on the ship. Although she was confused, she nodded and turned around and left.

After a while, George Valint, who was notified, hurried over and said respectfully: "Mr. Williams, are you looking for me?"

Eric pointed to the waitress standing not far away and said, "Don't change it, or I'll change you."

George Valint's cold sweat suddenly broke out.

Because of the ability to frequently contact some important Hollywood figures, several restaurants, bars and banquet halls on the Titanic, especially the waiter position in this internal restaurant dedicated to the top of the Firefly Group, is definitely the dream shortcut that countless dream-seeking men and women in Hollywood have always dreamed of. In recent years, although Eric himself has not thought about the waiters in the restaurant, many "lucky" have indeed been valued by Hollywood big names.

Therefore, although he was just an ordinary manager of the catering and entertainment department of the Firefly Group, because he had the "great power" of personnel appointment and removal of the waiter team on the ship, George Valint naturally became the object of favor for many people.

What Hollywood lacks the most is beautiful girls with beautiful faces and hot bodies. If you want to be a waiter on a big boat, but don’t want to pay some extra costs, why? In recent years, although you have not dared to do it too blatantly, George Valint has really enjoyed several beauties of high quality. With the help of some people in the circle, he even secretly invested in a Hollywood agency. All the waiters in this restaurant have signed agency contracts with that agency.

George Valint used to wonder why Eric, who often came to the restaurant for dinner, had never been interested in the waiters in the restaurant, which was not in line with the personality of the big boss. At this time, Eric pointed it out casually, and he finally understood that there was no fool in Hollywood, let alone the young man in front of him.

What to say now?

Do you have to assure the boss that you have never touched any waitresses in this internal restaurant?

He has never touched it.

George Valent is not lacking in a shrewd position. If Eric or some other senior executives of the group took a fancy to a girl and realized afterward that the girl had already been signed by his agency, he might only laugh. But if these big guys found out that the girl they were interested in was actually a "second-hand product" that someone had enjoyed in advance, then his fate would definitely be very miserable.

Hollywood is full of too many transactions and desires. Eric does not have any moral integrity, but just beats George Valent. He never thought of changing the other party. The Big Ship Exhibition Hall is right under his nose. Eric can still see that the catering department on the ship is still very well managed, not to mention that if someone changes, things may not necessarily change.

Looking at George Valent in front of him, Eric waved his hand impatiently to signal the other party to leave, but immediately called him again, saying, "Contact Ms. Kelly Haines and let her be responsible for recruiting a few waiters for this restaurant. I am too lazy to care about other places, but don't let me hear anything messy."

George Valent nodded quickly, but another embarrassing expression flashed across his face. His level was far from being able to contact the Assistant Director of Eric's office.

However, seeing that Eric had no patience, he did not dare to ask more questions and quickly said goodbye and left. He could not contact him. The person in charge of the exhibition hall park or the leader of the theme park operation department of the upper-level group could always contact him, but he would have to be torn apart.

After sending George Valente away, Eric and Robert Pittman ordered a dinner, Eric continued: "Where did we just talk about, oh, do you want to buy back the stock in the hands of the Clover Fund?"

Robert Pittman tried his best to forget the episode just now, and he didn't dare to be displeased, and replied: "Yes, Eric."

"What's the reason?" Eric asked, adding: "American Online's stock price still has a lot of room for growth, and I don't want to sell it now."

Robert Pitman hesitated and still explained: "Time Warner does not want Firefly Group to directly hold shares in the new company after the merger."

Eric nodded, as if he had agreed with the reason, and said, "How is the progress of your negotiations?"

Robert Pittman knew that there was no need to hide it in front of Eric, and quickly said: "There has been discussed about the ownership of management powers after the merger between the two parties, and the balance sheet audit has also been started. At about February next year, the merger case can be submitted to the SEC (Federal Exchange Commission) for review. Eric, if Firefly Group insists on holding this 3.1% stake, it may directly affect the attitude of the SEC."

Eric recalled carefully that according to the merger progress given by Robert Pittman, the merger between American Online and Time Warner was exactly one year ahead of schedule compared with the original time and space.

At the same time, although the specific details are not clear, Eric is also sure that the Nasdaq index, which has already exceeded 2,600 points, is much higher than the same period in the original space-time.

In other words, the history of Nasdaq has now undergone a very obvious deviation due to the emergence of Eric. This deviation is also destined to lead to the early collapse of the Nasdaq Index.

In the sporadic memory, the Nasdaq index, which had already fallen into a madness around 2000, only took four months to rush from 3,000 points to 5,000 points, and the increase was faster than the previous four years.

So, at the current rising rate of 2600 points to 3000 points, even if it takes one month for every 100 points, there is only eight months left before the peak of the Nasdaq collapse at 5000 points. Eight months, from now on, just until July next year, which is the performance period of the 30% forward equity transaction contract agreed by Yahoo and Microsoft.

However, Microsoft still has three months of hesitation period to decide whether to perform the contract and the degree of performance.

This is not a good thing.

Once the Nasdaq collapses, Yahoo's stock price will definitely fall far more than Microsoft.

Although it is impossible to know that the specific Nasdaq index trend is as simple and clear as I imagined, at least, the possibility of the Nasdaq crashing early next year is very high. If you want to avoid being taken advantage of by Microsoft, the Nasdaq index must be able to last until at least October next year.

But no one can guarantee this kind of thing.

In history, one of the fuses of the Nasdaq collapse was the defeat of Microsoft's antitrust case. Eric said good things for Microsoft in an exclusive interview with the New York Times, which was not a simple whim. He just hopes that the Justice Department's investigation into Microsoft's antitrust case can be delayed longer, and it's best to be delayed until it is unresolved.

If you think about it carefully, if there was no trigger for Microsoft's defeat in the antitrust case, perhaps, with the madness of the Nasdaq index in the future, since it can reach 5,000 points, it will be impossible to continue to reach 6,000 points or even higher.

Of course, if the Nasdaq is "stimulated" by other fuses in advance, it is actually not impossible to collapse before 5,000 points.

The American Online in front of us is actually a very unstable factor.

Although he gave up the seat on the board of directors of A.N.com and no longer interfered in the management of A.N.com, since Eric had such concerns in his heart, he naturally would not be too laissez-faire about A.N.

With this information quickly sorted out in his mind, Eric said to Robert Pittman for a brief moment: "I have said before that I will not do anything that is unfavorable to AOL, because it also harms Firefly's interests. Although Firefly has sold most of the stocks in AOL, you also see that our shareholding ratio is still 10.7%. So, my original promise is still valid. As for the stocks you want in the hands of the Clover Fund, I can agree, but it is not now."

Robert Pittman had a sad expression, with a few requests in his tone: "Eric, you should also understand our difficulties. Now is the most critical stage of negotiations between AOL and Time Warner."

"Didn't you say that you will have to wait until February next year for the SEC review?" Eric said unmoved, "You can reply to Steve and Time Warner. In February next year, if you insist on reclaiming this part of the stock, I can sell it to you. Of course, the price must be calculated based on the stock price at that time."

Although the stock price fluctuated during this period, everyone understands that this is only temporary. Starting from this week's trading day, with the gradual cooling of the media trend last week, Yahoo's stock price has shown obvious signs of a pullback. Relatively speaking, the stock price of the US Online, which is the leader in the field of North American Internet service providers, will definitely show an upward posture.

In February next year, if you want to buy back the stocks in the hands of Clover Fund, the price that AOL needs to pay will undoubtedly be higher.

But seeing that Eric had no intention of giving in at all, Robert Pittman could only accept the reality. Both parties talked about some details while having a meal. In order to reassure A. Online, Eric also agreed to draft an equity transfer letter in advance.
Chapter completed!