When NATO's large-scale bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia occupied the headlines of major mainstream media in the world, in distant Hong Kong, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, quietly canceled the Hong Kong stock listing ceremony planned to be held on March 26, announcing the complete failure of CNOOC's listing plan.

China's current presence is not very strong.

Therefore, even though we learned from Chen Qing that after the CNOOC team confirmed that there was no hope of listing, several senior executives hugged their heads and cried in the suite of Four Seasons Hotel in New York, and some even had the idea of ​​jumping down from the hotel building, at the international public opinion level, except for some professional financial media, other platforms have very little reports on this matter.

Maybe this is a good thing.

After all, the failure is too loud, and it will definitely be even more difficult to start over next time.

When James Rebled received Mr. Wei from CNOOC, Simon was actually in New York. As for the total financing of US$2.5 billion, Simon is just a matter of just one sentence.

Did nothing in the end.

Just like the old Chinese saying, "Playing is not a business."

Simon has always been a person who has no expectations for the so-called "gratitude" mood of human beings, because it violates human nature and is against genetic instinct. Therefore, he never felt that as long as he gave enough, he could get enough rewards.

Although this is Simon's personal creed, it is always somewhat idealistic.

In short, friends must be friends, business, and business must be business.

If someone else does business with you because of the word "friend", it is your luck. If you think you are close to your friends but don't do business with you, it is actually normal. If you feel resentful, you should be yourself.

In addition, according to China's news, although the IPO ended in failure, CNOOC's team did not receive much criticism.

After all, the international situation is there.

War broke out, international oil prices plummeted, and stock markets of various countries fluctuated... These are force majeure events with extremely small probability in commercial activities.

Just as the NATO Air Force continued bombing of the Federation of Yugoslavia, the time came to April 1999.

Easter in 1999 is April 4.

The Easter schedule in North America has already started one week in advance.

Daenerys' first film released this year is "American Pie 2", which is released on March 26.

In fact, if it were other studios, with the outstanding results of the first part of "American Pi", the sequel will definitely be placed in a more popular summer season.

Daenerys didn't do this, but the reason was too crowded.

Moreover, it happened to be the spring break for American college students. These people are also the main force in the movie viewing of the "American Pie" series. This sequel is just right at the March 26th node.

Although reputation has declined compared to the first movie, "American Pie 2" easily won a box office of $47.93 million from the first week from March 26 to April 1.

There is no suspense to enter the box office of 100 million yuan.

Immediately afterwards, on April 2, on Easter week, Daenerys's New World Films produced "Resident Evil" and Daenerys, MGM cooperated with Westinghouse Electric, which has bought Columbia, and was led by MGM's publication "Public Enemy" released by MGM.

In addition, the American version of "Love Call Transfer" during the Valentine's Day period continued to earn US$5.16 million in one box office week from March 26 to April 1 before Easter, with a cumulative box office of US$129.77 million, which was almost 130 million.

With the advent of Easter, the market popularity of the US version of "Aihu" will inevitably rebound, and there should be a box office potential of no less than US$10 million in the future, pushing the total local box office to more than US$140 million.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the American version of "Aihu" was officially launched in mainland Chinese cinemas on March 25.

After all, it is a remake project to "win glory for the country". The mainland has a lot of attention. Including the additional Thursday on March 25, the first box office week won more than 67 million yuan in eight days, which is higher than the first week of "Party A and Party B" during the Spring Festival holiday. It is expected that the total box office in mainland China is very promising to exceed 200 million, which is in line with last year's Chinese version of "Aihu".

Simon didn't pay much attention to the Chinese box office of the US version of "Aihu", which is only about 20 million US dollars, and has a lower share of the US version of "Aihu". Instead, he saw that in history, the years at the end of 1990s should have been the darkest period of Chinese films. Whether it is domestic or imported films, there are very few that can exceed 100 million yuan each year.

Now, things have obviously changed a lot due to the influence of Simon, the big butterfly.

Let’s talk about the Chinese domestic films from 1999 to the present, "Party A and Party B" and "Flash Girl" during the Lunar New Year, and the American version of "Aihu" that was released with a green light. These are three films that have achieved a box office of over 100 million yuan.

Next...

Simon can only look forward to the incident in May again not happening.

In fact, after the outbreak of the war, although certain intentions were not clear, Simon still explained that his private military adviser Celia Miller, paid more attention to various trends in Washington about the war. Not only that, the Pentagon and NATO officials have once again expanded cooperation with the Ukrainian private forces stationed in Ukraine.

Although air strikes are the main focus, ground assistance is still necessary. In order to reduce casualties of official troops, it is undoubtedly the most cost-effective to hire private troops that will not be included in the injury.

Therefore, before and after the outbreak of this war, in addition to the cooperation that had been maintained before, nearly a thousand Uyghur furniture troops sneaked into Yugoslavia in batches. While carrying out missions for NATO troops, they were their own armed forces, and Simon was able to grasp first-hand information on the frontline of the war.

Speaking of Ukraine, after Easter, Simon went to Rifny again.

Ukraine has also been restless recently.

The day after NATO launched an air strike on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a group of hardliners in the Ukrainian parliament suddenly launched a motion hoping to cancel its promise of a non-nuclear state and rebuild Ukraine's nuclear arsenal. The subsequent vote actually received more than half of the 231 votes of Ukraine's total 450 members of Congress.

When the news came out, both the United States, the European Union and Russia immediately made a statement and unanimous opposition.

NATO Secretary-General Solana also publicly threatened at a press conference that once the Kiev authorities have substantial nuclear possession action, Ukraine will become the next Yugoslavia.

As for the result, Simon, who was a later generation, certainly knew it.

Nuclear weapons are not something that can be demolished and built whenever you want. For Ukraine, since its destruction of martial arts, it is even more unrealistic now.

First of all, no one is allowed.

The threat from NATO Secretary-General Sorana is definitely not just a verbal statement. Once Ukraine restarts nuclear weapons manufacturing, it is equivalent to actively giving up its current neutral and harmless status. If the Kiev authorities want to protect themselves, they must completely turn to one of the United States and Russia. However, this is another deadlock, because completely turning to one of the parties will inevitably be strongly responded by the other party.

Secondly, a more realistic reason is that there is no money.

In 1998, affected by the global financial crisis spreading from Asia, Ukraine's domestic economy was in sorrow. Compared with 1997, the annual GDP not only did not rise, but also plummeted by 16%, and fell from more than US$50 billion to less than US$42 billion.

It is hard to cook without rice. What's more, after being poached by various surrounding areas, there are still many "smart women" left in Ukraine. It is hard to say whether it can support a brand new nuclear weapons program.

In any case, Simon's trip to Ukraine after Easter was to calm the uneasiness of the Kiev authorities, and by the way, he would take a look at his own industry here and a group of big beauties and small water onions.

Speaking of which, Ukraine suddenly had the idea of ​​having a nuclear nuclear force again, the reason is very simple. Over the years, especially after NATO launched an air strike in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Eastern European countries finally completely woke up.

Being cheated.

At that time, including Russia, the largest leader, one of the important reasons why the former Soviet Union franchisees rushed to leave the red camp was that Western countries promised to help Eastern Europe develop their economy after the disintegration so that they could live a better life of three meals, meat, cars, and wine.

However, after so many years, I have never seen the Garden of Eden I once fantasized, but it has become increasingly fierce.

The war launched by NATO against Yugoslavia completely gave up the last trace of fantasy of the Eastern European camp, which was waiting for a better life.

Scam!

You are all cheating!

However, whether it is resentment or jumping, the old ship ticket is destined to be an old ship ticket, and the broken ship has been broken so much that it is impossible to repair it.

Can't go back.

Therefore, the so-called enlightenment is destined to be futile.

Just talk about Ukraine, even though the Kiev authorities have clearly begun to show some voices of re-establishing and strengthening alliances with Russia, after so many years of operation, the power of Western spokespersons in the Ukrainian government has been deeply rooted, and it is impossible for pro-Russian factions to succeed.

Leaving Rifny, Simon quietly headed north to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Compared to the tense of Yeltsin's attempt to push his old partner back to power last year, someone's appointment of prime minister was very smooth. With the joint support of external capital such as the Kremlin, Russian oligarchs and Westeros system, the Russian State Duma passed the appointment with a high vote.

The main reason is that many people, especially Russian local chaebols with close interests, have learned about someone's information in detail, and probably think that this is a very easy guy to control.

After all, it was really too unpresented in the past.

What's more, there are some overseas capitals, such as the Westeros system, that can help you to rest assured together.

Simon did not see anyone in his trip to St. Petersburg, and it was unnecessary. And if it was exposed, many of the previous arrangements might be in vain. This time, he mainly met with Yeltsin's second daughter Tatyana.

Tatyana conveyed someone's greetings, and also asked, hoping that the Westeros system would invest more in Russia, and once again raised the idea of ​​developing St. Petersburg into a special economic zone of Russia.

Simon has expressed his refusal for the time being.

It's not the time yet.

Then Simon asked someone what he planned to do next, and Tatiyana did not hide it.

Nowadays, it is really difficult for Russia to do anything that can accumulate sufficient reputation in the short term, so it can only be used to the outside world.

This is actually a suggestion made by Simon a long time ago.

Apparently, both Kgong and someone decided to adopt.

Not only that, while quietly preparing for the Second Chechnya War, Russia also planned to exert more influence in Yugoslavia, which was under bombing. Before that, in the years after the disintegration, it can be said that in order to gain the favor of the West, Russia completely retreated and took the initiative to give up its original influence in many regions.

Tatiyana complained when she talked about this.

Simon just laughed it off.

The same thing, I definitely can't go back anyway.

After leaving St. Petersburg, Simon moved to Finland for a day and headed south again to Italy.

Universal Studios Rome, which has been planned for a long time, officially opened the week before Easter. Simon did not attend due to his schedule, so he always came here to check it out this time.

Although there is only one bay and the other side is fighting, Italy still runs and dances.

After doing enough marketing in advance, and following the Easter holiday node, just two weeks after opening, Universal Studios Rome received more than 1 million tourists. Among them, during the two days of Easter weekend, the number of passengers reached 150,000 per day. The reason is that it is an integer is that the number of tickets on that day was limited to 150,000 to ensure the tourists' visiting experience.

With a good start, the expected goal of exceeding 10 million tourists in the first year of Universal Studios in Rome is easy.

With Easter leaving, the next thing the Universal Studios Rome team needs to do is to grasp the details and solve various small bugs that may affect tourists' experience in all aspects before the popular summer peak season arrives.

Also, the basic overall situation of Universal Studios in Rome has been decided, and Daenerys Entertainment can obviously consider the next Universal Studios.

Simon's goal is clear, China.

And it must be in the mainland, Beijing or Shanghai, so forget it in Hong Kong.

It is difficult to say, easy to say, and not easy to say.
To be continued...