Arriving in Berlin on 10 February, Simon did not leave until the afternoon of 12 February for Finland.

In two and a half days, in addition to the opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival, Simon also discussed with Deutsche Telekom about the intention of cooperation related to the Internet industry, and included the tentative name of the film company that has produced a series of classic films in the original time and space.

As for the contacts with Konstantin executives, the BMW Covant family, and even the top level of the German government, the parties only initially established contacts, and did not immediately start cooperating.

February 13 is Saturday.

Because of the original plan, Nokia's management had to give up the weekend break to match Simon's schedule.

In the past 1992, Nokia, which had completed the layout of the second-generation digital communication technology ahead of schedule, achieved a leapfrog development by relying on the transformation of mobile communication from the analog signal era to the digital signal era on a global scale.

According to the recent financial report, Nokia achieved sales of 9.3 billion Finnish marks in the entire 1992 year, which is equivalent to 1.47 billion US dollars at an exchange rate of about 1 to 6.3 against the US dollar in the past year. Compared to 1991, turnover increased by 67%.

Nokia mobile phones accounted for 56% of the total sales of 9.3 billion Finnish marks, amounting to 5.2 billion Finnish marks.

This part of the sales represents 3.76 million mobile phones.

In comparison, Motorola, which temporarily ranked first in the world's mobile phone sales, sold only 4.39 million units in 1992.

In the original timeline, Nokia followed Motorola in the first half of the nineties, and it was not until 1998 that it overtook Motorola, and then completely left the old electronics giant far behind.

This time, because of Simon's advance layout, Nokia was already very small from Motorola in 1992.

With the opening of the North American market to Nokia at the end of last year and the sales channel of Verizon Telecom owned by the Westeros system itself, Nokia is enough to break into the North American market this year, the most difficult bone to gnaw, and Motorola hand-to-hand combat, at the same time, in Europe, Nokia has a local advantage over Motorola.

Coupled with Nokia's accumulation of being ahead of Motorola in GSM technology, it is not surprising that Nokia is enough to surpass Motorola in mobile phone sales this year.

Of course, it is only mobile phones, and now Motorola has deep roots in many fields such as computers and semiconductors. However, it is precisely because of this diversification that Motorola's rebound in Nokia's overtake in the field of mobile communications is not expected to be too drastic, so it is impossible for the company to know how large a piece of the market they are missing.

In 1992, there were only 13 million mobile phones sold worldwide, but in the next five years, this number will exceed 100 million. In less than ten years, just Nokia alone, the sales of mobile phone equipment can exceed 100 million.

Nokia's full-year loss in 1992 was 380 million Finnish marks ($60 million) compared to the fast-growing receivables, but this was due to Simon's expansion-oriented development strategy.

Simon bought Nokia for $200 million three years ago, and in recent years, it has injected more than $300 million in succession, totaling more than $500 million, in exchange for Nokia's revenue of $1.47 billion in 1992.

According to Nokia's revenue of $1.47 billion and its ultra-high annual growth rate, if it goes public, the company's market value is conservatively estimated to exceed $2 billion.

Westeros' stake in Nokia is 100%, and the investment of 500 million US dollars, in three years, in exchange for a market value of 2 billion US dollars, such an investment return is enough to make most investment funds envious.

Relying on the blood transfusion of Daenerys Entertainment, Cersei Capital and other companies, the Westeros system has never been short of money, even if Nokia still needs a large amount of additional money in 1993, Westeros can fully afford it.

However, Nokia has now shown that it is catching up with the established Motorola, and the company will need to face more than just simple commercial obstacles if it wants to continue to expand at a rapid pace.

Whether it is the European countries that are close to each other, or North America, which is already jealous of Europe on the other side of the ocean, realizing the rise of a communications industry giant that has little to do with itself, it is almost conceivable that Nokia may be suppressed almost instinctively by various countries.

The easiest way to maximize this aspect of assistance is for Nokia to carry out IPO operations.

Through the listing, Nokia shares are sold to investors in Europe and North America, and they have a relationship of interest, and if someone wants to suppress Nokia, they need to consider whether they are attacking the interests of their own investors.

For Simon, getting Nokia listed in North America was the best option.

However, as a company headquartered in Finland and with most of its current business in Europe, Nokia's most important issue now is to secure its foothold in Europe.

In this way, listing in Europe is the best choice.

Simon came to Finland to discuss the IPO with Nokia's management team in person.

Whether it is the speed of development or financial data, Nokia is the best IPO target for major capital markets, and there is no problem in seeking listing.

The key is the valuation at the time of the IPO and the question of how much equity to sell.

For Simon, it is natural that the less equity the better, but if the number of shares issued is too small, it is likely that the real purpose of this IPO will not be achieved. If the number of shares issued is too large, it is inevitable to feel distressed.

After all, the current Nokia's IPO valuation is only about $2 billion.

Such a valuation seems to many people to be very impressive, but Simon knows that Nokia's market value was close to $200 billion at the peak of the new technology wave around 2000.

2 billion, against 200 billion, giving away 100 million dollars now may mean a book loss of 10 billion dollars in a few years.

What's more, because the Westeros system has sufficient capital reserves, Nokia does not need to borrow too much money from the outside world.

After a full day of deliberation on Saturday, Simon finally decided to set the percentage of new shares to be issued at 20%.

With Nokia's valuation of about $2 billion at this time, issuing 20% of the new shares can raise $400 million, but if calculated according to the peak market value of Nokia of $200 billion in Simon's memory, this equity means $40 billion.

Of course, that doesn't work out that way.

If we continue to maintain the complete privatization of Nokia and do not tie the interests of this company with the capital of European and American countries, it is very likely that Nokia will not be able to reach the peak of its former position under the pressure of all parties.

Therefore, this 20% stake is actually just the beginning.

Simon plans to gradually reduce its stake in Nokia in the coming years, and it is enough to pursue a 51% absolute control.

Due to the differences in the relevant laws of European countries, this time Nokia, Simon does not plan to use a multi-shareholding structure like AOL and Cisco.

In fact, it was probably the collapse of Nokia that left a deep impression on Simon, and he had no idea of taking control of the company permanently.

Or, Simon has no intention of permanently controlling any of the companies within the Westeros system.

Rise and fall, this is a historical inevitability, any enterprise, even if it has been brilliant, can not escape this fate.

So, for companies in the Westeros system, whether it's Microsoft, Cisco, AOL, or Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood, whenever they find a company in decline, Simon will exit as early as possible, while investing capital in new areas.

On the other hand, although it was decided to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom, in discussions with Nokia's management team, Simon also prepared a North American roadshow plan, intending to invite North American capital to enter London to participate in the subscription of the 20% new shares.

After spending a day in Finland on Saturday and agreeing on a rough plan for Nokia's IPO, Simon flew to Florence, Italy, that evening.

The main framework is determined, and the follow-up will be followed up by James Raybould and the Westeros team, from the initial IPO application to the final listing, which is expected to last half a year, and is expected to be officially completed in August in the second half of the year.

Florence.

It was early Sunday morning.

Sophia Fesse was the first to wake up, gently broke away from the man's arms, entered the bathroom, and saw the strawberries around her neck in the mirror.

Preparing breakfast himself, the man also finished his routine morning exercise and sat down at the table together.

With the four major fashion weeks of 1993 set to open at the end of February, Gucci has been intensively preparing for the upcoming spring show.

After breakfast, the two of them rushed to Gucci's corporate headquarters in the city.

While admiring Gucci's upcoming fashion at the upcoming fashion week, Sophia tells Simon about the state of the Mélisandre company's business in the past year.

The official detailed financial report will not be released until next week, and Simon only listened to a rough idea, but he can confirm that Melisandre has just passed a year, and the financial data is also very gratifying.

Backed by excellent financial figures, during the lunch meal, Sophia talked about another acquisition plan that surprised Simon.

"Christie's? You mean, the auction house?"

Sitting in a historic Italian restaurant in downtown Florence, Simon was a little surprised to hear Sophia's name.

Sophia nodded and said, "That's right, Christie's." ”

Saying this, noticing that the man's expression was a little strange, Sophia asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

Simon quickly smiled and said, "It's nothing, it just feels a little weird." ”

"Huh?"

"Look," Simon said with a bigger smile, "in the future, when my children grow up, it will be very advantageous to compete with my friends and show off." Others might say that my mom just bought a Gucci handbag, my dad spent $10 million on a painting at Christie's, and my son can say that Gucci is my family, and Christie's is mine. ”

Sophia imagined the scene Simon depicted, and couldn't help but laugh and said, "Your son only needs to say that my dad is Simon Westeros." ”

Simon nodded approvingly, "Well, indeed." ”

Sophia gave Simon a blank look and said, "So, you agreed?"

Simon waved the cutlery and gestured lightly, "I don't know anything about Christie's or even the auction industry, and why would such an old company choose to sell it, and what is the approximate price?"

Sophia said: "If it had been in the past, we really wouldn't have had a chance to buy this company, Christie's has a history of 200 years. However, you also know the economic situation in recent years, the rise of Japan in the 80s, the continuous rise of the North American economy, and the life of several major auction houses in the world are very prosperous, but since the stock market crash in North America in 1987, because of the ongoing economic crisis, the rich have begun to cut back on spending, and the bubble of the Japanese stock market has burst, making Asia, a new market with huge potential, also quickly weakened. Christie's has about 30% of the market share in the auction market in the past few years, lower than the 40% of Sotheby's, but there is a big gap between the performance of the two auction houses, which account for more than 70% of the auction market. ”

Speaking of this, Sophia paused, sorted out the information in her mind, and continued: "In the past year, Sotheby's annual profit was $265 million, but Christie's was only $52 million, and the difference in market share between the two companies was less than 10%, but the difference in profits was five times. The contraction in North America, Europe and Asia has not stopped, and fears that this situation will continue, Christie's has released rumors of seeking a sale. ”

The North American stock market began to recover after the Gulf War, but the overall economic situation is still not optimistic, Japan in Asia is now going downhill, the Japanese billionaires who bought the world have also stopped, and last year's pound crisis has led to European countries falling into a state of economic crisis, so the world economy is at the bottom of the last decade.

Simon knows better that this is also the lowest state for the next decade.

Christie's fears that the auction industry will continue to shuffle and eventually turn the status of Christie's and Sotheby's into a monopoly of Sotheby's are not unreasonable.

As the market weakens, the wealthy who can still afford to buy expensive collectibles will obviously only gravitate towards the more powerful one, which will only cause Sotheby's to become stronger and stronger, and Christie's wants to maintain its market share, so it can only take measures such as reducing commissions or increasing marketing expenses, which will further compress its profit margins, but this will not necessarily improve the operation of the auction house, but will make the gap between him and Sotheby's widen.

Christie's wants to get out of this predicament, and the most important thing is that the auction market can flourish again.

However, seeing that the global market is in a downturn, although everyone knows the economic cycle, no one knows whether Christie's will be able to survive this downturn.

In this case, it is not surprising that he chose to sell himself.

For Simon, this is the best opportunity yet.

Because no one knows better than him that with the rise of the new wave of technology, the global economy will recover rapidly in the next few years, and at the same time, although the Japanese economy will fall into a long-term downturn, Asian countries, in the next two decades, will also become the new consumer upstart in the collectibles industry because of the rapid economic growth.

Buying Christie's now, it will definitely be a great bargain.