Simon rushed to New York on May 9 mainly for Verizon Telecom's IPO and the subsequent layout of the Westeros system in the telecom field.

On May 6, Verizon Telecom, which had been preparing for a long time, officially submitted its first IPO prospectus to the Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec), announcing that the regional telecom giant, which was privatized by Westeros five years ago, will once again enter the capital market.

From the time of the acquisition of Bell Atlantic, which was the predecessor of Verizon at the end of 1990 to the time of May 6, 1996, Verizon submitted its prospectus again. During the five complete fiscal years, while the growth of the US fixed-line telephone business was almost stagnant, relying on the rapid growth of the mobile communications business, Verizon Telecom achieved an average high-speed annual growth rate of 31% for five consecutive years.

In fiscal year 1995, Verizon Telecom's annual revenue reached US$15.36 billion, a cumulative revenue increased by 3.8 times compared with the fiscal year 1990 before the acquisition. Moreover, even though various large investments in the mobile communication markets in the United States and abroad were still maintained, Verizon's net profit for the whole year of 1995 was as high as US$1.35 billion.

In 1990, not counting the debt of $1.7 billion, Westeros won the Bell Atlantic, the predecessor of Verizon Telecom with a cash offer of $7 billion.

In 1996, according to the prospectus submitted on May 6, Verizon Telecom's total share capital was 3.673 billion shares, and it is expected to sell 500 million shares, with the initial issue price of US$10.25. According to this standard, Verizon Telecom's valuation reached US$37.6 billion, equivalent to a price-to-earnings ratio of 28 times.

Like Tinkobaier IPO in February, only 300 million of the listed shares were added, of which 500 million were new shares, and the other 200 million were new shares, of which 170 million were from Westeros, and the other 30 million were cashed out by Verizon executives at all levels.

Because of Verizon Telecom's rapid development, Simon is not stingy in equity rewards.

Before the prospectus was submitted and after the final equity reward was completed, Westeros’s holdings in Verizon Telecom had dropped to 92.7%, with a shareholding of 3.405 billion shares.

Another 268 million shares of approximately 7.3% of the shares were obtained by the company's management at all levels in the form of rewards or subscriptions.

According to the valuation of 37.6 billion US dollars, the total value of this 7.3% of the stocks reached US$2.75 billion, of which only Verizon Telecom Chairman and Cero Raymond Smith alone held a shareholding ratio of 2.8%. Initial calculations also amounted to US$1.05 billion, becoming another billion dollar rich man.

Unlike a startup like Egret, which can enjoy the founder's dividends during the process of starting IGRENT from scratch, Simon, a well-established company like Verizon Telecom, can also give such a large-scale equity reward, which is a considerable deal.

On the other hand, according to the preliminarily determined issue price of US$10.25, the total amount of funds raised by IPO this time reached US$5.125 billion.

Another $5 billion.

From the beginning of the year to now, the soaring Nasdaq index has greatly increased the book wealth of countless investors by US$1.4 trillion. Currently, the total market value of all Nasdaq stocks has reached US$5.1 trillion. In this way, it seems that Simon's various cashouts since the end of last year have only been more than US$10 billion, which seems not worth mentioning.

However, many people understand that in the capital market, cash is the king, and stock price and market value are all false before cashing out.

The book wealth of the stock from the beginning of the year seems to have increased by 1.4 trillion US dollars, but in fact, if someone wants to cash out one tenth of them, 140 billion, it will inevitably lead to a serious bubble that has already collapsed.

Therefore, even if we don’t talk about the personal wealth that is also protected by the surge in the Nasdaq, and only talk about cash out funds, Simon is also the biggest beneficiary of this wave of technology stocks. Now, how much cash is held by companies of all sizes in the Westeros system, and what Simon Westeros plans to use this huge amount of cash in the future, think about it a little, the more we understand the horror of capital power, the more chilling he feels.

What Simon will do is expansion of course.

Just like this time, Verizon's iPo is mainly to facilitate a series of subsequent annexation after the company's securitization. This is also a major topic that Simon discussed with senior executives of Verizon and American Online after arriving in New York.

After its listing, Verizon Telecom will first initiate the acquisition of another seven Bells in the north of its territory, nynex, and include all the Boston-Washington metropolitan areas on the east coast of the United States into Verizon Telecom, and then integrate resources with American Online.

Simon initially considered a collaboration between AOL and Verizon Telecom, but later dispelled the idea.

If the two companies are forcibly merged, it will be too difficult for them to integrate their business or to review antitrust at the government level. Therefore, the two companies will continue to operate independently in the future, but they are the same boss after all, so they will cooperate in many aspects.

Verizon Telecom will continue to focus on two major businesses: fixed-line telephone and mobile communication, among which mobile communication is the core direction in the future.

As for AOL, it will focus on two major areas: Internet services and cable TV.

In this way, the "three-network integration" trend promoted by various media after the promulgation of the latest Telecommunications Act at the end of last year will definitely not be implemented in actual terms at least on the Westeros system.

Speaking of which, in the original time and space, the United States has not been able to achieve the true integration of three networks until twenty years later. Instead, China on the other side of the ocean, with an optical cable, telephone, television and network all inclusive, and a mobile number will be bundled with, which is equivalent to the integration of four networks.

As for the reason, of course, it is still interests.

The integration of three networks can allow operators to make full use of their own resources, thereby reducing costs and further benefiting their customers.

However, if these businesses are separated and different businesses charge different fees, the operators can of course earn more. Why not?

Capital is profit-seeking.

Capital is ruthless and profit-seeking.

Without strong external factors intervention, capital will involuntarily choose the path to maximize its own interests.

Just like the Westeros system.

With Simon's wealth at this time, he was the largest capitalist on the planet. None of them. Although Simon is a good boss in front of his employees, he himself did not use his omnipotent force to squeeze out every tendency of the Westeros system involving every industry and every trace of interests, the capital controlled by the Westeros system will inevitably choose to do so instinctively.

It will inevitably lead to evil.

Because this is the nature of capital.

As for why?

Take the Westeros system as an example. Millions of employees have their own goals under the modern enterprise system, either R&D goals, promotion goals, sales goals, or other various goals. Once these goals are not achieved, the relevant individuals or teams will face the punishment of lower salaries in the minor cases and severely being swept out.

Therefore, they must do their best.

And the ultimate essence of all these goals is actually two words, profit-seeking.

Capital seeks profit.

Therefore, the saying in "Das Kapital" is no matter how real and cruel it is. No one should have the fantasy of being kind and gentle about capital because of a certain person or a certain system.

The next day after Simon arrived in New York, on May 10, the North American summer season officially started.

The super blockbuster "Evaporation Secret" produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and "Romeo and Julia" produced by New World Pictures, Daenerys Entertainment, were released on this day. At the same time, the crime thriller "Violent Metropolis" produced by Orion Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount, and several other independent films that are not worth mentioning in second- and third-tier studios.

Among them, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Evaporation Secret Order" has a screen opening of 2,816. The screen opening of Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Little Li

Because Simon attaches great importance to "Romeo and Juliet", although he only has a promotional budget of 15 million US dollars, the New World Film team still makes the promotion of this film the ultimate within the budget. The paper media, TV and the Internet have been painting on three sides. The main creators of the film have been driven like donkeys recently, with various announcements overwhelmed, and they have specially hyped up the gossip of the two protagonists.

Because it is the most direct competitor, the New World Pictures team also used some less in-depth methods to "Evaporation Secret" as the "big guy" and deliberately released news on the Internet that the film's internal preview quality was very poor, which made Schwarzenegger have to fight back on his official Facebook page.

However, Arnold's Facebook and even the news related to "Evaporation Secret Order" were restricted by the flow without realizing it on the online platform that was becoming more and more important for movie promotion.

The Internet is from Westeros.

Current limit is not just a sentence.

Daenerys and Time Warner's allies are well known.

However,

This is capital pursuit of profit!

Even if neither Simon nor Jack Welch, chairman of General Electric, who has become the top boss of Time Warner, has enough temperament and will not do so, the lower-level teams of the company will involuntarily adopt various competitive means that can be used for their own performance.

Immediately, from the first day of the summer season on May 10, the whole Hollywood once again felt the fear of being dominated by Daenerys Entertainment.

"Evaporation Secret Order", a single-day box office champion with no suspense, earned 8.69 million US dollars on the first day of the painting.

Following closely behind.

"Romeo and Juliet", first-day box office, $6.92 million!

It seems that "Evaporation Secret Order" has obviously won, but even if we don't talk about the huge difference between the production cost of the two films and the investment in promotion and promotion, we only talk about the scale of opening screens, one is 2,816 yuan and the other is 2,017 yuan. In terms of conversion, the "Evaporation Secret Order" is 3,086 US dollars on the first day, while "Romeo and Juliet" is 3,431 US dollars on the first day.

The small man with a production cost of $15 million unexpectedly overturned the big guy with a budget of $100 million in the museum.

You know, this is not a small-scale preview and opening painting without comparable. Both movies were released on a large scale. Perhaps "Romeo and Juliet" lost nearly 800 yuan in canvases, which pushed up the average box office to a certain extent, but a super blockbuster costing of 100 million yuan was suppressed by a low-cost romance film, which was a failure in itself.

Moreover, the reputation of both films is the same.

Although the New World Film team released the news in advance, it did not deliberately slander it. The comprehensive media score of "Evaporation Secret Order" was only a pitiful 3.7 points, which was comparable to the 3.6 points of "Phantom Hero" that Arnold messed up last time.

The comprehensive media rating of "Romeo and Juliet" reached 8.1.

Excellent level.

Of course, there will be no lack of some public relations factors, but if the quality of the film itself is not good enough and the morally conscientious North American filmmakers cannot say that a failed movie is excellent, just like a big guy with a score of 3.7.

After the first day, the news that "small man overturned the big guy" quickly occupied the entertainment page, and the attention of "Romeo and Juliet", which had already relied on the national IP level, increased significantly.

Since it has achieved a good start, screen screening is certainly not a problem for Daenerys Entertainment. After the box office was released on the first day, the New World Pictures team quickly contacted major theaters, and it is expected that the number of screen screens of "Romeo and Juliet" will increase to about 2,500 yuan next week.

It still cannot catch up with the 2,816 yuan of "Evaporation Secret Order", but it is enough for the film to further realize its box office potential.

The first weekend of three days passed quickly.

Box office statistics are released. The box office of "Evaporation Secret Order" has a box office of US$24.57 million in three days, while the first weekend of "Romeo and Juliet" has a box office of US$20.17 million.

The difference is only over 4 million.

Under the operation of the New World Film team, Leonardo DiCaprio, who quickly began to cooperate with the official second wave of publicity, broke out from his previous debut with his acting skills in "Different Sky" to a popular first-line actress in Hollywood.

Daenerys Entertainment did not miss this opportunity and began to properly warm up for the upcoming filming of "Titanic" in June. It also conducted a joint promotion with the "Mummy" team that was released next week on "David Letterman's Late Night Show" which was already broadcast on ABC TV. Because Rachel Weizi, who participated in "Mummy", is the heroine of "Titanic".

All kinds of male and female protagonists, all kinds of sparks.

Finally, from May 10 to May 16, "Evaporation Secret Order" still easily won the single-week box office championship, earning 36.42 million US dollars in seven days.

The second-place "Romeo and Juliet" had a box office in the first week, with $31.46 million.

As for the other film "Violent Metropolis" and other small films, no splashes were splashed, and everyone's eyes were focused on the top two movies.

The first week was $36.42 million, which seems pretty good, but in fact it is far lower than Warner Bros.’s expectation of $50 million to $60 million in the first week. After all, the production cost of "Evaporation Secret Order" is $100 million, and Warner Bros. also invested a $30 million promotion budget. The total investment of $130 million requires a global box office of $400 million to recover the cost.

Now, even if it is quite optimistic that the local box office of "Evaporation Secret Order" can exceed $100 million. Even if it is twice the local box office overseas, the global box office is only about $300 million.

Warner can only look forward to subsequent channels recovering costs.

Looking at "Romeo and Juliet" again, it only had a box office of $31.46 million in the first week. According to the step-by-step accounting rules, most of the production budget of $15 million and the promotional costs of $15 million were easily recovered. It was almost inevitable to make a profit in the second week of release.

It would be a bit better if the total box office of this movie was only about $30 million, but this is just the beginning.

The market reputation and audience popularity shown by "Romeo and Juliet" are lower than "Evaporation Secret", but the next total local box office is not necessarily the ending, and it is obvious that "Romeo and Juliet" has a bigger win.

May 17th, the second week of the summer vacation.

The two films are also leading, Fox Pictures released the fantasy adventure blockbuster "The Mummy" co-starring Daenerys and Fox, and the new Mike Meiers film "The Ace Spy" produced by Disney, which is also worth mentioning.

The final production cost of "Mummy" was $70 million. Due to its relative cost advantage, Fox spent $35 million in publicity and distribution budget, which was 5 million higher than "Evaporation Secret Order", and the film also reached 2,986 yuan on the screen.
To be continued...