"The stock price rose 43% on the first day and the market value reached $5.9 billion, and I realized firsthand that sometimes it is really so easy to make money. ”

"It's just because we're just in time for a new round of wealth distribution. However, Mike, I've seen a report on LinkedIn's business in recent months, and frankly, I feel more and more that you are better suited to take charge of this company, after all, LinkedIn and CAA are actually the same in some ways, and the core business of the future is to sell talent to customers. As for Eisner, LinkedIn was fine when it was small, and as the number of users grows in the future, his mindset of running a content-based enterprise will only limit the company's growth. ”

"Simon, you know this is a lot of trouble, Mike and I have been good friends for so many years, LinkedIn is more of what he does, I'm only a partner, and occasionally come up with some ideas." ”

"Now LinkedIn has 27 million registered users, and this is just the beginning, and in the future it could be 270 million, or even more. Mike, compared to the current CAA of less than 2,000 customers combined, representing 1 billion customers, think about which one can give you more room to show?"

"Simon, I don't think we'd better talk about it. ”

"Well, there's still a long way to go anyway. ”

Park City, Utah.

Simon's villa on the top of a hill in the south of the city was Saturday afternoon, January 18th.

As the villa's team of waiters prepare for their annual party in the evening, Simon and visiting Michael Ovitz hide in a reception room on the west side of the villa overlooking Park City, drinking coffee and chatting about LinkedIn, an online workplace networking site that was successfully launched yesterday.

Two years ago, Michael Eisner left after the Disney takeover, and together with his friend Michael Ovitz, he looked for the idea of a workplace social networking site, accidentally chatted with Simon, and Simon gave him a LinkedIn name based on memory.

The project was established in February 1995 and launched in June of that year, until now, about a year and a half, through close cooperation with the Westeros system, under the marketing drainage of Igret, the number of registered users has reached 27 million, unlike Facebook, a popular social tool, as a professional workplace social networking site, LinkedIn's user scale is unparalleled among similar websites.

In the IPO that has just been successfully completed, LinkedIn issued a 15% proportion of new shares, raised $600 million, the company's valuation reached $3.5 billion, and the final stock price rose by 43% on the first day, and the total market value of the total equity capital after the issuance of new shares reached $5.9 billion.

Although it cannot be compared with the previous Instagram listing, but the cumulative investment before and after is only 120 million US dollars and the annual revenue is less than 10 million US dollars, a website, in a year and a half, the listed market value reached 5.9 billion US dollars, which has to make people sigh again about the miracle of wealth creation in the Internet industry.

After two rounds of financing and this IPO, Michael, who was born in Hollywood with a similar shareholding ratio, was compressed to about 18%, and was listed yesterday, according to the closing stock price of the day, both of them have directly reached the $1 billion level, becoming the new 'Billionaire', which is also the key reason why Ovitz has just said so emotionally.

Even if you understand that it is just paper wealth, this money is still too easy to earn.

Simon is not as emotional as Ovitz, the original direct investment and the subsequent shares obtained by Igrett to LinkedIn are also insignificant to Simon's current net worth, and he sees the hidden worries under the LinkedIn scenery. After the listing, Michael Eisner served as the chairman of LinkedIn and the CEO position, while Ovitz, as a major shareholder with a considerable shareholding, only named one board seat, in Simon's view, if LinkedIn wants to develop better, the two should actually be reversed.

If Ovitz wants, Simon can come forward in person, and of course, if the talks can't be agreed, it will be easy to forcibly replace the management with a nearly 30% stake on the Westeros side. Think about the last chicken feather between two Michaels in history, and it will probably be the same this time.

Now, since Ovitz still values his friendship with Eisner and doesn't plan to do so, Simon is not reluctant.

There is no hurry.

It's a long time coming.

If Eisner can take the initiative to withdraw in the future, it will be better.

Reception room.

Michael Ovitz took a sip of his coffee, looked appreciatively at the small town surrounded by mountains and snowfields, and asked, "By the way, Simon, is there a newcomer you like this time?"

"Yes. ”

"Hmm. ”

Simon held the warm coffee cup in his hand and shook his head with a smile: "I won't tell you, so as not to be snatched away by CAA." ”

"Uh, okay. ”

Knowing that Simon was joking, Michael Ovitz still couldn't help but smile wryly.

In today's Hollywood, the rise of blockbusters continues to weaken the status of big directors and big stars, coupled with Daenerys Entertainment's growing control over the entire entertainment industry, where else can any agency sit on the ground in front of Simon, they are all rushing to seize the opportunity.

Thinking of this, Ovitz couldn't help but think of Simon's proposal just now.

Even in recent years, Ovitz has worked hard to expand the scope of sports brokerage and CAA's business, but this company is basically unlikely to develop much, and if he can jump out to get a broader platform, Ovitz is actually happy to try.

The problem is that there can only be one head on LinkedIn.

If he forced himself to get over, Ovitz was not without emotional intelligence, and he knew very well that the result was likely to be that he and Eisner would have been friends ever since.

Simon only arrived in Park City in the morning, and he didn't watch a single film, but he just flipped through the information of this year's shortlisted films on the plane, and under normal circumstances, of course, it is impossible to discover any newcomers.

The opposite, of course, is true.

Among the shortlisted films this year, Daenerys Entertainment's Gaomen Film owner promoted two projects, Christopher Nolan's first feature film "Following", and Guy Ritchie's "Two Big Smoking Guns", which is also the first feature film from the United Kingdom.

Needless to say, these two films and the related creators.

In addition to this, Simon saw some other familiar names.

For example, there is a bald man named Vin Diesel, who wrote, directed and acted in a movie "Lost", which was shortlisted for the main competition unit.

For another example, there is also a young Asian director named Lin Yibin, who brought a work written and directed by himself and his classmates, called "Rush to Buy Fangs", which was shot for $100,000, but unfortunately did not enter the eyes of the judges, but only entered the non-competitive screening unit set up by Sundance in recent years.

It's just this pair, Simon's trip is worthwhile, after all, the "Fast and Furious" series is a direct life.

However, Simon's arrangements for Vin Diesel and Lin Yibin are different.

Because he does not plan to start the "Fast and Furious" series in the short term, Vin Diesel plans to dry it for a few years first, and Simon will also control the career line of the big male star a little bit to avoid the other party going too high before the launch of the "Fast and Furious" series, including Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", which is in progress on Spielberg's side.

Lin Yibin directly began to polish further.

The 23-year-old director from the University of California Film Department has already shot two feature films including "Rush to Buy Fangs", although they are both small films that can only be cooperated with relatives and friends at a very low cost, but compared with many newcomers in the circle with low eyesight, this is already quite a good result, and he can be directly sent to New World Pictures as the director of some low-cost small projects.

Simon and Ovitz chatted casually, and the time quickly came into the evening.

Winter days are short, and when twilight begins to fall, the hilltop villa is lit up brightly, becoming the most desirable place for everyone in the whole town on this night.

"Simon, I'm so pathetic, Paramount screwed up such a good film as "Madame Peron". ”

In the lobby of the villa, Madonna, who arrived early, saw Simon, who was chatting with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and pounced, complaining while taking advantage.

Seeing this, Robbins and Sarandon smiled and raised their glasses and took the initiative to walk away.

Simon just hugged the woman and decisively pushed it away, but still said: "There are at least 50 million here in North America, not bad, and Paramount will definitely not make the same mistake overseas again, it's no problem to sell well, in short, this project must be very profitable, and you can continue to toss in Hollywood." ”

Madonna, of course, understood this, and leaned over to put her arms around Simon: "In that case, Simon, do you have a suitable role for me here?"

Simon was very decisive: "This is really not true. ”

The queen opened her mouth in dissatisfaction and bit Simon on the shoulder, and then threw her wink: "Otherwise, I'll stay tonight, and we'll talk alone, you must have it, right?"

"That's even less so. ”

Simon refused again mercilessly, and saw Robert Redford coming over and took the initiative to greet him with a few steps, Redford obviously misunderstood the relationship between Simon and Queen Mai, and looked at the two with ridicule in their eyes, just chatting casually, and then signaled Tommy Lee Jones, who was a judge of this film festival not far away, and said: "I have something to talk to Tommy, see you later." ”

Robert Redford said, nodding to Madonna and turning to Tommy Lee Jones.

Waiting for Redford to leave, Simon noticed Madonna rubbing over again, raised his hand and slapped the woman somewhere: "Okay, little sweetheart, even if you love me to the point of heartbreak, we will never have a result, since you don't have a male partner, let's pick and choose to see if there are any other interested little men." ”

Queen Mai pretended to be in pain and whispered for a moment, but her eyes gestured to the two tall figures in the crowd: "I'm looking for a little woman, do you mind?"

The queen is both male and female.

Simon glanced at Roberta Chilco and Anerys Thurbert, who Madonna gestured to, and deliberately lowered his head to look at Queen Mai, who was actually only one meter and six heads: "Go and try, as long as you can seduce, I won't stop you." ”

Queen Mai looked at the crowd in the hall and said with a poisonous tongue: "There are so many models tonight, Simon, can you stand it?"

Today, Sundance is not only a place for movies, but also for music and fashion events, so it attracts a large number of musicians and fashion models.

As for tonight, it's a little bit more.

Mainly Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni, Qusi Gauff, Fernanda Lima, etc. on the Elite side VS Roberta Chilco and Anéliese Thurbert on the Ford side also brought a batch of Ford pillars.

The total number is close to 30 people.

If...... Simon, of course, really couldn't stand it.

However, of course, Simon didn't think about 1V30 or anything like that, it's too cruel, but the villa is full of these big goblins, and it's more and more pleasing to the eye.

Madonna continued to barra a few words, finally restrained a little, and got down to business: "Simon, tomorrow night's Golden Globes, do you think there is hope for "Madame Peron", and my actress nomination?"

"You should ask Paramount about this," Simon shrugged, seeing that the Queen was staring at him reluctantly, he had to say: "The focus of this year on my side is "The English Patient", and everything else is not disputed, so as long as you are not too incompetent, the chances are very high. ”

"Oh, that's great news. ”

"Mrs. Peron" applied for the Golden Globe Award for musical comedy, and on the side of musical comedy, Daenerys Entertainment's nominated film is "Ice Storm", and the Coen brothers, a crime thriller movie, applied for a musical comedy, completely to make way for "Soul Catcher" and "The English Patient", but Paramount doesn't necessarily think so, and thinks this is Daenerys Entertainment's disguised public relations strategy.

Although the Coen brothers have not been favored by the awards season, if Daenerys Entertainment makes efforts to "Ice Storm", "Madame Peron" will be difficult to stop, it will not win the Golden Globe Award, and the follow-up Oscars will be no play, and the overseas release of this film will inevitably have an extra layer of haze.

So, to put it mildly, it's really a blessing from heaven for Queen Mai.

Queen Mai sighed excitedly, and while someone was not paying attention, she suddenly hugged Simon again and kissed Simon on the face, only to finally let go of this little man who always saw him walk away.

Madonna had just left, and before Simon could move, Cindy Crawford, who was wearing a black low-cut dress, walked over with Carla Bruni and greeted, "Good evening, Simon, although it's not the first time, but every time I come here, I feel great here." ”

"Thanks," Simon said, nodding to Carla Bruni, then turning to Cindy and smiling, "I heard you're getting married?"

"Yes, you've seen it, Rand Gerber," Cindy said, with a little resentment in her eyes: "An older model like me, the transformation has not been transformed, and you have turned off the Victoria's Secret show, so you can only get married and retire." ”

Simon covered his chest: "Don't do this, I feel guilty." ”

Cindy took advantage of the situation to pursue: "Then why don't you take responsibility for me." ”

"This, it seems that I can only admit it, I am a bad man and have never been responsible. ”

“......”

Carla Bruni held a glass of red wine in her hand, her eyes wandered to see the interaction between the two, and seeing that Cindy was speechless for a while, she grabbed the words just right: "Simon, I heard that you can spend the night here?"

"Of course, I'm not sure it's just safety. ”

Carla Bruni smiled at the corner of her mouth and raised her eyebrows, "Why?"

Cindy grabbed the conversation again: "Because there's a bad man here." ”

Simon nodded regretfully: "That's right. ”

Carla Bruni chuckled and said, "I'm not afraid of bad men, so can I stay here for a few days?"

"You said that, of course. ”

"Actually, this little town makes me feel great, I'm going to stay here for a while, by the way, I'm working on my first record, Simon, can you help me?"

Before Simon could answer, Cindy had already said, "Tomorrow night is the Golden Globe Awards, and Simon should go back to Los Angeles." ”

As he spoke, he looked at the man in front of him.

Simon shook his head: "I won't participate in the Golden Globe Awards, there are still things here, I won't leave until next Monday, as for Kara, I still have to write my own records, but it's okay to live here as long as you want." ”

"Oh, thank you so much. ”

"You're welcome," Simon said, looking at Cindy again, "By the way, are you going to spend the night tonight?"

Cindy hesitated slightly, "How many people are you going to keep?"

"If you want to stay, you can stay, after I leave, you can continue, this place has been empty for a long time, and it is better to live with people. ”

"Forget it. ”

Cindy refused, she was already engaged after all, if something happened quietly with Simon Westeros, it would be fine, too many eyes around it would be inappropriate, after all, she had to save some face for her real fiancé, and it couldn't be known to everyone.

Simon was not reluctant, raised his glass to the two women, and said, "Then be happy tonight." ”

Knowing that the man had to entertain a lot of guests, the two women did not entangle, and said goodbye and turned elsewhere.