Simon returned to Los Angeles, and Veronica Johnston and Anthony Johnston arrived in the morning.

Veronica is here to see the little guy off, and the Simon and his wife plan to take Melbourne in person for a while.

Anthony Johnston is about the issue of Billiton's acquisition.

Perhaps because of the release of the latest Forbes Rich List today, a reporter appeared outside Dumei Kee Manor. Simon's car entered the door and a flash light was on around it. Some reporters also tried to go forward and shoot in front of the car window, but they did not gain anything under the one-way glass block.

The car stopped in front of the Shell Villa and Anthony Johnston appeared at the door.

Simon got out of the car and hugged Anthony and greeted him: "How are you doing recently, Tony?"

"Not bad," Anthony and Simon hugged each other, let go and patted him on his shoulder, and smiled, "Also, congratulations, the world's first billionaire rich man."

"Thank you," Simon asked with a smile and entered the villa with Anthony, "Where are them?"

“It’s all inside.”

The two said, and guided the Indian girl who was coming to a showroom on the east side of the villa lobby.

This is a room specially designed to store various awards and other commemorative items that Simon has won over the years.

As soon as I approached the showroom, I heard an irregular "superior" sound. After entering the door, I found a little guy lying on the platform where Simon used to use the flame guitar at Madonna concert. His little hands plucked the strings and had a lot of fun.

Of course no flames spew out now.

Janet and Veronica were guarding the side and found Simon coming in. Veronica took the initiative to pick up the reluctant little guy from the table, hesitated for a while, then placed it on the floor, squatted down and gently pushed the child towards Simon, and said, "Mer, Dad is back, call him Dad."

Because of the frequent video calls, Melbourne's expression when looking at Simon was not unfamiliar, but she obviously didn't have a cold to the guy in front of her. She looked at him for a few seconds and turned around and crawled into Veronica's arms again. Her little hand pointed to the flame guitar next to her again.

The little guy approached, Veronica almost instinctively hugged the child, and then looked at Simon carefully. She knew that Simon didn't like her always holding the child in her arms.

But I was reluctant to let go.

Simon stepped forward and took the child from Veronica. The father and son looked at each other for a moment with big eyes, but were not moved by the little guy's pitiful expression. They quickly handed it over to the two maids Isabel and Zoe next to them, saying, "Take him out for fun." Seeing that Isabel was about to pick up the little guy, he added, "Don't hug him, he can leave by himself."

Everyone watched the little guy begging Veronica for help with his pitiful little eyes. While Isabel was obediently holding his hand out. When the child left the showroom, Janet finally laughed and grabbed Veronica's arm and said happily: "Mer is very smart. He knows who is the big devil here."

Veronica looked at the door worriedly and whispered: "Mer is still young."

"It's not young, I'll be two in a few months," Janet said, and took her aunt out, saying, "Let's go prepare lunch, don't worry, Isa and Zoe are good at taking care of their children. By the way, Simon, is A back? Is there something I have to ask her?"

Simon nodded: "Outside."

After everyone else left, Simon and Anthony sat down on the sofa in a corner of the showroom, and waited for Aliya to send coffee in and leave. Anthony said: "Auntie is indeed a bit too spoiled by Mel, so is Dad. But don't be too strict with him, the child is less than two years old."

Simon asked with a smile, "How did you look like when you were a kid?"

Anthony was stunned for a moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I don't remember much when Mel was so old. But, hehe, since I remember, my father was very strict with me and Norman, and grandpa was still there, the same was true. Well, maybe it was from Jenny that I didn't care much anymore, Jenny, David, and Pat. I actually envy my three younger siblings."

Simon shook his head slightly and said honestly: "I won't teach children. This will be mainly Jenny's business in the future. However, I think they should know that the world does not meet their requirements. They should know how to give and restrain themselves. For families like ours, I think this is very important."

Anthony said with a bit of joke in his tone: "I just thought, you might be a little envious of Mel."

Simon was stunned for a moment, without saying a word, and picked up the coffee beside him.

Anthony soon realized that he had a little distorted and changed the topic: "Although Egret has the upper hand in the 58list incident this time, it should be very troublesome in the future, right?"

Simon quickly forgot what happened just now and nodded, "The relationship with the paper media will be a little stiff in the future."

"Dad has also been paying attention to this matter recently. He asked me to tell you that Australia should not open similar websites."

Simon agreed: "No, Murdoch actually mentioned it to me."

The situation is different in Australia and North America.

In the entire federal government, at this stage, there are more than 2,800 newspapers of all sizes. Although there are large print media giants such as Hurst Group, Condé Nast, Washington Post Group, New York Times, etc., their influence is relatively scattered. Moreover, even the New York Times, which has the largest circulation at this stage, has a single-day scale of only about 1.2 million.

Even as we become more aware of the threats of Internet media and the number is too large, the paper media group will never be able to fight against Igrit.

Moreover, the more than 20 million active users of the Igrit Portal in a single day also means that even if someone wants to siege, Simon has sufficient power to fight back. This time the 58list incident was very aggressive, but in terms of public opinion, Internet users are basically on the side of the Internet under the guidance of the Igrit Portal.

It's different in Australia.

Simon has always maintained a good attitude towards the media forces in Australia, and the cooperation between the two sides is also very precise.

Moreover, the two major media forces, News Group and Fairfax Group, basically monopolize the paper media in Australia and New Zealand.

Classified information advertising also accounts for a large proportion of revenue in the Australian paper media industry.

If the Igrit Australian branch also launches classified information advertising business there, News Group and Fairfax Group will definitely unite to siege Igrit, which is equivalent to the whole Australian print media making efforts at the same time. Even if Simon is not afraid of this confrontation, it would be really not worth the gain from becoming an enemy from the original allies.

Speaking of which, even if Igret does not open a classified information website in Australia and has references from North America, someone will definitely develop similar projects there.

But this has nothing to do with Egret.

When Anthony heard that Simon had no such plan, he felt relieved.

The Billiton merger plan that has been promoting recently is that if the Australian media blew up their voices through public opinion, the Johnston family would not have any idea of ​​completing the acquisition.

Thinking of this, Anthony asked again: "The film promotion and distribution work of Daenerys Entertainment should also rely heavily on traditional print media. What do you plan to deal with it?"

"This is the same as the interaction between countries. The two countries, especially the major countries, have always had conflicts and cooperation. Although they exist with Igret, if the print media wants to earn Daenerys Entertainment's advertising fees, they must maintain a certain friendly attitude. In addition, the Igret portal not only has its own film sector, but we have also invested in some movie review websites in the past two years, which are enough to ensure the reputation promotion of the films produced by the company."

The main impact of print media on movies is actually word of mouth.

Many cases have proved that word of mouth is not that important to the box office of a movie, the key is popularity.

Even if it is a film with bad reviews, if the popularity is high enough, the box office will not be too bad.

During the current movie release process, the main channel for promoting popularity has turned to TV advertising.

There has not been much conflict of interest between the Internet media and the TV industry, so there is no need to worry too much about this. What's more, Daenerys Entertainment will complete its own layout of the TV network in a few years.

Confirm that Simon has his own considerations about these things, Anthony stopped saying more, and instead said: "Before coming, Dad asked me to tell you that the scale of the Westeros system is too large. Some things should be let go. Many people just didn't react before, but now they find that the interests of the Internet industry are getting bigger and bigger, and they will not allow you to monopolize them." Anthony said, laughing again, saying: "Actually, Dad also saw that you have been trying to give up your interests to avoid risks, but this is not enough. Just like the 10% shares of Igret Company transferred last time, it is difficult to satisfy the appetite of those old capitals."

"I know, too," Simon said, "so, I don't plan to give in for a while."

"Um."

"Since no matter how much I take out, someone will inevitably be dissatisfied, so I won't give it at all," Simon said. "Things that are too easy to get are hard to cherish, so my next plan is to let them take the initiative to grab them."

Anthony was stunned for a moment, and then understood a little after a while, and said, "This time, 58list?"

Simon nodded: "Igrit's plan for classified information websites has been proposed in the past two years. I understand that the launch of this plan will impact the important business of traditional paper media. I have been suppressing it. I don't plan to suppress it now. In the next few years, I plan to allow Igrit and the entire Westeros system to completely grow wildly, and all the fields that can be involved will be taken down. Let's talk about the future and the troubles in the future if I encounter it."

In fact, the entire World Wide Web is actually considered an invention of the Igrit Company.

The key reason why Simon was able to complete the complete layout of the entire Internet industry chain through Cisco, American Online and Igrit is this point, and no one thought it was inappropriate at the beginning. It is completely natural to enjoy exclusive rights by the Westeros system.

It is only because the scale of the Internet industry is getting bigger and bigger that more and more people feel that it is no longer so natural.

Therefore, even if we keep converging as much as possible, we can always hear more and more news about the Westeros system's idea of ​​monopolizing the Internet, and Simon did not intend to converge any more.

58list is just the most impactful project of Igret Company in its original production of traditional print media.

After receiving $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and Morgan, Simon recently invested in a large number of startup projects through Igret Capital, which specializes in venture capital.

eBay, an online auction website, is selected from a number of venture capital projects. Like 58list, the name comes from Simon's personal preferences.

Broadcast, an online radio website, broadcasts live radio through online mode, and its name also comes from Simon's memory. In the original time and space, Broadcast was a complete failure, but was acquired by Yahoo for billions of dollars at the peak of the Internet bubble. Yahoo was equivalent to a lot of worthless messes, but the founders and investors made a lot of money. Simon's plan this time was also cashing out at the right opportunity.

iPets, a pet ration sales website, is similar to Amazon's e-commerce.

IMDB, an Internet movie data database, website was created in 1990 and was recently acquired by Igret Capital. While continuing to maintain a fully free model, it also provides online movie data to Amazon and Blockbuster.

iMap, as the name implies, is an online map website.

Wait and wait.

After all calculations, just completing the 10% equity financing of Igrit Company, Igrit has invested in more than 20 startups in a row. This is not a project that has been invested in and in the operational stage in the past. Simon's purpose is to take advantage of the crazy period when the Internet industry is about to explode in all aspects to promote the wild growth of Igrit Company to the greatest extent, or to promote the wild growth of the entire World Wide Web platform.

Driven by Igrit, the venture capital that has flocked into the Internet industry in recent months has reached billions of dollars. In Silicon Valley, as long as you can come up with a barely reasonable business plan, you can almost easily attract millions or even tens of millions of dollars in investment.

While letting go of Igrit, Cisco, American Online and the entire Westeros system grow wildly, Simon is just waiting.

When soldiers come, generals come to block them, water comes to cover them.

He now has a net worth of over 100 billion US dollars, but his economic strength alone has surpassed the Rockefeller family at his peak. The scale of assets controlled by the entire Westeros system is even larger. In addition, the Westeros system has accumulated considerable accumulation in terms of public opinion platforms and political connections, and Simon does not need to be as cautious as before.

Next, if anyone wants to get involved in the field of Westeros system control, they either show enough sincerity or show strong strength.

If you have neither sincerity nor strength, then go cool.

If possible, Simon certainly hopes that the Westeros system can expand in a low-key and steady manner, and unknowingly become a giant that cannot be shaken by everyone.

However, with the current scale of the Westeros system, it is impossible to keep a low profile.

Since that's the case, you must show your strength as much as possible.

Anthony used to think that Simon had a maturity that was not commensurate with his age, and this maturity was not good or bad. Now, after what Simon had just said, he finally realized the sharpness and ostentatiousness that his brother-in-law should be like.

"In this case, you will definitely not obtain the funds from acquiring Billiton by reducing your holdings?"

In the initial discussion, Simon talked about the possibility of raising the acquisition of Billiton by reducing the holdings of some technology companies held by the Westeros system.

Since Simon's mentality has suddenly changed significantly, he will definitely not actively reduce his holdings in the near future.

Simon nodded and said, "The Clinton administration is promoting capital gains tax reform and intends to return to the hierarchical tax system based on investment period before the Reagan era. If Egrett now cashes out, it will definitely affect the passage of this bill. Therefore, I plan to obtain all the funds needed in recent years through loans. The debt ratio of the Westeros system is still very low, even if you lend another $100 or 20 billion, it will be fine."

After the Reagan tax reform that year, the capital gains tax rate was fixed at 28%.

Simon used this tax rate to operate in the capital market several times in a row, and used this as a bargaining chip in exchange for federal approval of the acquisition of MCA and Atlantic Bell.

Now, the technology stocks held by Igret continue to rise. If the Westeros system announces a reduction in holdings, it will be very conspicuous and will definitely become an excuse for many people to obstruct the Clinton administration from reforming the capital gains tax.

According to news from Washington, the capital gains tax reform bill will be passed before the midterm election at the end of next year.

Once the bill is passed, capital gains tax will be divided into several levels according to the investment cycle, with a minimum of about 15% of the investment cycle exceeding 18 months. At that time, the holding time of technology stocks that the Westeros system wants to reduce holdings will basically meet the minimum capital gains tax level.
Chapter completed!