During this time, Simon also took time to pay attention to the sale of BBK VCDs and the development of China's VCD industry in Los Angeles.

In the first quarter of 1995, with the emergence of some other VCD brands other than Wanyan and the development of the piracy industry chain in the southeast coastal area, the total number of VCD shipments in China reached 110,000 units, which was based on the shipment statistics of Scooper's video decoding chips, which was Scooper's unique business at this stage.

In the second quarter, when the news of Chen Qing's team winning the absolute controlling stake of Scooper at the end of April spread, the attention of VCD players increased significantly, in addition to the Westeros system directly supported by backgammon began to launch VCD projects, many other Chinese manufacturers also began to follow up, and companies that have launched products have increased their marketing and promotion efforts, with the result that China's VCD shipments quickly exceeded 200,000 units in a single quarter, reaching 230,000 units, an increase of more than 100%.

Now, just a month after the third quarter, VCD shipments in China have exceeded 150,000 units, and it is expected that the third quarter will at least achieve a quarter-on-quarter growth of more than 100%.

Based on this calculation, the total number of VCD shipments in 1995 is expected to reach about 1.5 million units, and it will show explosive exponential growth. Although the outbreak of the VCD industry is a little earlier than Simon's memory, this exponential curve is not much different from the previous history.

As the only supplier of VCD video decoding chips at this stage, relying on the strong performance support brought by the outbreak of the Chinese market, coupled with the aura of 'Westeros concept stocks' obtained after being acquired by Chen Qing's team, in three months, Scober's share price has risen by more than 400%, and the market value has broken through the $1 billion mark from about $200 million when Chen Qing's team acquired it, and as of the close of July 31, Scooper's market value reached $1.076 billion.

At the beginning, a total of $94 million was invested to acquire a 53% stake in Scober Corporation, and in three months, the book profit has reached $477 million, with a return rate of nearly 500%.

The Chinese side.

The backgammon team that ran away from Little Overlord did not disappoint Simon either.

Even with the abundant funds and strong technical support of the Westeros system, the first product was successfully launched to the market in three months, and this super execution was still impressive.

On July 15, the BBK VCD, just relying on the temporary Guangdong and Fujian two test water provinces market, the first week sales reached 6,000 units, and it is expected that the sales volume in the first month can easily exceed 20,000 units, with the further expansion of the market, the BBK team is expected to achieve at least 150,000 units of sales in the second half of this year, directly occupying more than 10% of the market share of China's VCD market.

According to the pricing of BBK VCD at 3,999 yuan, the sales volume of 150,000 units is directly equivalent to the sales of 600 million yuan.

At the beginning, Xiaobawang achieved 1 billion sales in less than five years, and now, it only takes two years for BBK to reach this goal. This not only proves the correctness of Simon's heavy investment in recruiting the BBK team, but also shows that the VCD industry far exceeds the huge market size of game consoles.

During the meal, Simon and Chen Qing mainly discussed two topics.

The first is how Scopber balances the relationship between BBK and other VCD producers, so that they do not turn to other electronics manufacturers because they are worried about the limited supply of video decoding chips. The other is to use Scober's influence to control VCD prices, constantly adjust and reduce prices in order to maximize the development of China's VCD market, and at the same time, avoid price wars between different manufacturers for market share.

At this stage, the industries that are of interest to the Westeros system will always attract a lot of attention.

After Chen Qing's team acquired Scooper in April, Simon quickly heard the news that Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and other manufacturers have begun to invest in the research and development of VCD video decoding chips. Therefore, even if Scober successfully completes the planned comprehensive technology upgrade next year, the Chinese market will inevitably usher in competition from other manufacturers of the same type of products.

With a whole generation of technology behind, even old giants such as Sony and Toshiba cannot be compared with Scooper.

However, if these backward chips use a low-price strategy to invade the Chinese market, it will still cause problems for Scober. The gross profit of the video decoding chip is very high, which actually means that there is a huge room for price reduction.

If Scroober wants to achieve the goals discussed by Simon and Chen Qing, he needs to find a suitable balance in pricing, which can not only suppress latecomers from sharing too much market share, but also ensure that he has sufficient profit margins. In addition, since the initial strategy was to make a quick profit, Chen Qing's team had to choose the right time to sell Scober shares in time to cash out.

All of these are very tests of the personal ability of professional managers.

The lunch lasted for an hour, and it was basically all about work, until everyone walked out of the restaurant together, and Chen Qing, who was with Simon, had a chance to talk about anything else: "Boss, are you free tonight, maybe we can have dinner together?"

Chen Qing said this, and Emmanuel, who was following the man with Girl A, quietly pricked up his ears for some reason.

Simon smiled and shook his head, "Next time." ”

Chen Qing didn't dwell on it, and said that she brought a lot of gifts back from this trip to China.

Everyone left the building where the restaurant was located, and realized that Simon had no intention of keeping him, so Chen Qing had to leave with Emmanuel.

Simon took Girl A back to Building 1, where "Guillotine Valley" producer David Giller, director Tim Burton, screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, actor Johnny Depp, actress Mia Koschner and other main creators were already waiting in a conference room next door to his office.

Since the launch of this project at the end of last year, the preliminary preparations for "Guillotine Valley" have been basically completed.

It is tentatively scheduled for next summer, as a main film completely owned by Daenerys.

The budget for the project is set at $70 million, the filming location is still in the UK, the pre-set has been completed, and the production is expected to start in September.

Compared with the original version, the main change of the main creative team this time is that the producer chose David Giller, the producer of the "Alien" series who was kind to Simon back then, and the heroine was changed from Christina Ricci to Mia Koschner.

After giving Simon a lot of help during the production of "Lola Run", David Giller has been a contracted producer of Daenerys Entertainment, and after the identity and status were completely reversed, Giller did not live up to Simon's trust, and many of the projects he was responsible for over the years have been completed very well.

As for the heroine, compared to Christina Richie, who obviously fits Tim Burton's aesthetic in the original version, Simon personally chose his favorite Mia Koschner this time.

After earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress last year for "Little Women," Mia Koschner's fame has caught up with Winona Ryder.

On July 14, the campus youth film "Dominant" directed by Amy Hecklin was released, and the heroine played by Mia Koschner also successfully proved that girls have a fairly wide range of acting paths. "Dominant" has an overall media score of 7.9, and many critics have specifically mentioned the girl's outstanding performance as very different from "Little Women".

With the support of word-of-mouth popularity, the production cost of $12 million, "Dominant" earned $23.07 million at the box office in the first week.

Although the decline in the second week was a bit deep, reaching 43%, as of the weekend of July 30, the cumulative box office of the film has reached $41.53 million in two and a half weeks, and the total domestic box office is expected to be around $60 million, which may eventually be higher than the $175 million "Future Water World" released on July 28.

The continuous "Little Women" and "Dominant", even if they are not blockbusters that break 100 million yuan, relative to the cost, the projects are very successful, plus an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, Mia Koschner is definitely more capable than Christina Ricci to support the heroine of "Guillotine Valley".

And, of course, Simon's personal preference.

Just like the original heroine, Christina Richie, that's all about Tim Burton's quirky aesthetic.

Personal preference certainly doesn't joke about a bombshell.

Simon also thinks that Mia Koschner is more suitable for the role of Caterina in "Guillotine Valley", compared to Christina Richie's eccentric elf appearance, Mia Koschner has a kind of evil and gloom that comes out of her bones, so she is more suitable for playing a witch role, once these temperaments are excavated, even the male protagonist Johnny Depp may not be able to withstand it.

Simon has always felt that Mia Koschna, who was once only the second and third tier of Hollywood, was seriously underestimated, but he has never been able to meet the opportunity to show it.

Of course, this kind of thing has been very common since the advent of Hollywood.

What's fair.

Tim Burton was still a little dissatisfied with Simone's heroine, but after watching Mia's audition, he immediately had no resistance, and he still had the feeling of finding a muse, and re-discussed with the screenwriter to add some heroine scenes.

This production meeting is mainly to thoroughly finalize all aspects of "Guillotine Valley" to ensure that the project is carried out in full accordance with the schedule after the official start of filming.

Girl A sends Simon into the conference room, but she doesn't mean to participate, she has other work to do.

Amanda Fur, who greeted Chen Qing and her two daughters in the morning, waited in Girl A's office area outside Simon's office with a stack of documents, and waited for her boss to enter the conference room next door, Alison returned here and sat down behind her desk, checking the documents handed over by Amanda, while stopping the girl who was leaving: "Wait a minute." ”

Amanda stopped in confusion: "A, do you want coffee?"

Alison quickly used a pen to make a mark on a script file for the new season of "The Wife of New York", shook her head, and said, "No, tell me what you talked about during the reception of Chen and Brant this morning?"

Amanda was a little apprehensive when she saw Girl A asking about this, and suddenly remembered that Chen Qing, or the red-haired girl, may be the women of her own boss.

Your previous sluggishness can be a serious mistake.

Girl A's voice was cold, she looked up and glanced at her again, her eyes were also cold, Amanda's back was slightly cold, and she quickly cheered up, and explained the details and details of the communication with Chen Qing and the two girls all the way from Los Angeles International Airport to Malibu Studios in the morning.

Alison listened to Amanda quietly, and had already gone through the documents in front of her attentively, picked up the script of "The Wife of New York" again and began to read it carefully, while saying to Amanda: "Okay, go back to work, remember to sort out the monthly report of the game department for July before leaving work for me." ”

Amanda nodded, but she didn't dare to leave, hesitated, and said, "A, if you can, perhaps, I want to say sorry to Miss Chen and Miss Brant in person." ”

Girl A looked up at her, suddenly showed a smile, shook her head and said, "No, besides, you did a good job this time, you will do this to those women in the future, stick to it, I can apply for a salary increase for you next year." ”

Amanda's eyes widened slightly, and then suddenly.

The boss in front of me is not only the boss's assistant, but also the boss's woman.

Between women and women, of course, there is a-for-tat.

In this way, standing in the position of the boss, of course, he is not wrong.

However, although she nodded on the surface, Amanda secretly reflected that she must not be able to do what Girl A wants.

I'm just a little shrimp.

There was a fight between the big goblins, and she ventured into it, and if she didn't pay attention, she would be trampled to death.

Born into a middle-class family, Amanda of Cornell University, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate, is the best of many of her classmates, and Simon Westeros's personal assistant office doesn't want to lose this lucrative job that paid off all her college loans in a year.

After a two-hour production meeting on "Guillotine Valley," Simon returned to his office on the second floor of the studio to discuss the soundtrack with the team of the 3D version of "Beauty and the Beast," which will be released at the end of the year, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Simon returned to his office in the borough, this time for a meeting.

Simon returned to his office, where the guests were already waiting.

This is a middle-aged man with a square face and black hair about 40 years old, with fine stubble, and wearing a formal dark blue suit, which obviously does not fit the burly figure and wild temperament of the other party, which is close to 1.9 meters tall.

The middle-aged man, Victor Merisis, is 39 years old and is a white Angolan of Portuguese origin.

This is the head of the coffee plantation that the Westeros family's executive search team in Angola found for Simon. The 600 square kilometers of coffee growing area, even if Simon has other ideas, if he can take care of it, he will of course be more happy, and it is still the principle that Simon adheres to a sustainable business model to support a business for a longer time.

Therefore, for the person in charge of the plantation, Simon can be regarded as selective.

After the two greeted him, they came to Simon's office and sat down, waiting for Girl A to bring coffee and leave, and when Simon asked about his plans for the plantation, Victor Merissis did not disappoint Simon with the first sentence he spoke: "Mr. Westeros, I believe that the plantation is not the most important thing to you, if I can get your authorization, I can personally talk to Savimbi in succession." ”

Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the Angolan rebels.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Savimbi, who was originally the spokesman of the West in Angola, was abandoned, its strength shrank rapidly, and although the Angolan government army was still fighting a civil war, it had actually been compressed to less than 15% of the territory of southeastern Angola, and it was only a matter of time before it perished.

The coffee-growing area that Simon acquired from the Angolan government happens to be located in the southeast of the country where Savimbi forces border the government army.

Although he had prevented the tragedy of the Rwandan genocide, Simon did not want Savimby to be wiped out by the Angolan army too soon.

How to say that.

Raise your own self-respect.

The various deals between the Westeros system and the Angolan government can only continue if the Angolan opposition persists.

To Simon's surprise, the 'farmer' he found not only keenly discovered this, but also volunteered to negotiate with Savimbi in person.

You must know that if there is no communication between the two sides at all, it is difficult to guarantee that Savimbi will not send troops to harass or even attack Simon's plantation in Angola. On the contrary, if a certain tacit understanding is formed after quiet communication, and the two sides are safe, Savimbi will only go to trouble the Angolan government army, which will be beneficial to both sides.

However, Simon didn't intend to do that.

Although he had carefully investigated the details of Victor Merissis in advance, it was only the first time they met, and the two sides had no trust at all. If Merissis is in collusion with the Angolan government, it would be self-defeating for Simón to agree to the other party's offer. Moreover, even if he wanted to raise his own respect, Simon didn't have too many thoughts of contacting Savimbi, he wanted to see if the other party was smart enough to take the initiative to make certain choices.

This leaves no hidden dangers.

It turns out that African warlords are very smart, but if they really have lost their minds because of the failures over the years, Simon doesn't mind fighting with the other party's armed forces at all, and the private army of the Wei family, which has invested so much money, is not for decoration.

Any army can only maintain its strong combat effectiveness if it sees blood frequently.