After work, because there was a party to throw, Simon returned to Malibu on time today.

It all came back to buying Dumaine Point Park, and after a few months of operation, George Norman had already secured the state government, but Simon needed to solve the problems of the local residents of Malibu if he wanted to get Dumey Point Park.

While Malibu locals rarely care about Cape Dumei Park on weekdays, more visitors to Malibu prefer to climb the cliffside to the sharp corners and take in the ocean views. But Cape Dumei Park is, after all, a public place in Malibu, and only with the approval of the community's residents can Simon completely convert it into private ownership.

Tonight's party was all about the community council representatives and some important residents.

Because of Simon's personal habits, the party took place in Jeanne's villa on the east side of Dumey Point Park.

As soon as she entered the door, Janet, who was directing the party company staff to prepare for the scene, came over and whispered to Simon: "I've done it, our foundation will donate $1 million to fund the construction of Dumee Point Elementary and Middle School, and will also participate in the lobbying of Malibu to build a city on its own." Then, they will vote in favor of us buying Cape Doume Park. All you have to do is eat, drink and chat with them tonight. ”

The North American housing bubble of the '80s contributed to a peak period of construction in Malibu, but it was only in the '90s that Malibu really became hot, especially after Larry Ellison hyped up Malibu properties.

Malibu is not a city on its own, but a district under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County, and it is nowhere near as famous as it was later.

In recent years, Malibu residents have sought to build a city on their own. Under California law, Malibu will no longer be subject to the Los Angeles County government's ability to enact laws and reject the Los Angeles County's various project plans after obtaining municipal status.

Over the years, the Los Angeles county government has been trying to extend many projects to Malibu with the rapid development of the city, and Malibu residents have constantly resisted the county's plans to plug up highways, sewage pipes, and even nuclear power plants.

As you can imagine, Malibu will hardly be a livable place to live in any of these projects.

Therefore.

If a super-rich man like Simon can settle in Malibu, it will definitely promote the development of the region. A state park that is mostly overgrown on a daily basis pales in comparison, and the choices residents will make speak for themselves.

The party in the evening is over, and there is no more suspense.

Inside a mansion in the western part of Cape Dume.

In the bedroom, after taking a shower, Simon walked to the side of the bed and kissed Janet on the cheek who was leaning against the head of the bed and flipping through the magazine, and asked, "In the evening, you said you were going to donate $1 million to the elementary and middle schools in Malibu?"

"Yes," Jenny nodded, but said, "It's not a donation, there are no such schools in Malibu right now." Residents have always wanted to build it, but unfortunately the county government does not give money. ”

Simon picked up Janet's light body and threw it to the other side of the bed, sat down on the bed, and asked, "That's a good thing, why don't you give money?"

Janet was thrown aside by Simon, pretending to be angry and slapping him with a magazine before saying, "The county government wanted to build a sewage pipe from Santa Monica two years ago, but it was rejected by this side, and many other things were blocked. The residents here are so disobedient that it's no wonder they're willing to give money. ”

"In that case, let's donate more and build the school better, so that our little ones will go to school here in the future. ”

"$1 million is a lot, and besides, our little one won't go to school here, he's going to the best private school. ”

"Okay," Simon smiled and nodded, "Mom decides to go to school." ”

Janet grinned, saw that Simon was about to turn off the lights, and said: "One more thing, the shell company that Iceberg helped us set up recently negotiated another building, and all the property rights, including the land, add up to 30 million US dollars. ”

With that, Janet leaned over and opened the bedside table drawer, took out a document from it, flipped through it, and found a flat map on it to show Simon.

In order to replicate the 'Avengers Tower' in Manhattan, Simon needed to buy six buildings between 59th and 60th Streets, east of Madison Avenue.

After the bursting of the housing bubble that accompanied the stock market crash last year, it became much easier. The plot chosen is not the 'center of the universe' like that of Fifth Avenue, where Aunt Janet's help has already bought two buildings for $20 million and $35 million, respectively. Counting the current building, Simon can be regarded as getting half of the land he needs.

Simon looked at the other three buildings marked on the plan, including a 16-story apartment building, which was the tallest of the six buildings, and obviously the most difficult bone to gnaw: "It's a little difficult to continue the acquisition in the future, right?"

Janet also reached out and nodded on the apartment building, saying: "It's a bit difficult to convince the residents of this building to sell their houses together, there are two options, for those residents who are not willing to sell their properties, one is for us to buy the same apartment nearby and let them move in, and the other is to replace it with the property in our future building." ”

Simon said: "Let's choose the first option as much as possible, our building plans are not convenient to disclose at this time. ”

"That's what I thought too," Jenny nodded, "But, Simon, you're going to have to pay attention to your finances lately." ”

The original two buildings have already cost $55 million, and when you add the next $30 million, that's already $85 million.

The $300 million Simon had cashed out from selling Motorola stock had not been left much after months of spending, and James Raybould had been following Simon's instructions to invest in new technology ventures, and now the money left was no longer enough to pay for the next $30 million in real estate purchases.

"The Grim Reaper" and "When Harry Met Sally" have generated revenue, and Daenerys Pictures' financial situation has eased. But if Simon is going to find a set for the company, it must be another big investment.

It costs money everywhere.

And, because of the public promise in the process of reducing his holdings in Motorola, Simon will need to continue to cash out of the stock market next year.

"Tomorrow Raybould will come from New York, I'll talk to him first," Simon said after a moment's thought, "Moreover, my personal debt ratio is still very low relative to my assets, and the bank must be more than happy to lend me money, right?"

Janet said, "Sure, but you don't really like borrowing money at all, do you?"

"yes," Simon nodded, "Speaking of which, where did you hide all the IOUs I wrote in the first place, I should be able to come back now, right?"

"I'm not going to give it to you, I'm going to make you owe me a lifetime. ”

"It's so vicious. ”

"Uh-huh. ”

The next day, James Raybould came to Los Angeles and brought Simon news that it still cost money.

Fortunately, it's all good news that Simon likes to see.

"The valuation of Cisco's new funding round was finally confirmed at $120 million, and we invested $18 million to acquire a 15% stake in the company. In addition, Quantum-Link, a small company that recently wanted to operate separately from its partnership with Apple, negotiated a $5 million investment to acquire a 25% stake in the company, and at the same time, I was given priority to Quantum-Link's next round of funding. Next up is ......"

James Raybould recently negotiated equity investments in a total of five companies.

However, Simon is actually only concerned about two of them.

Needless to say, Simon's supergiant, which was once worth more than $600 billion in the late 90s, has long been targeted by Simon.

$18 million for a 15 percent stake in Cisco, even if it is diluted for many years to come, but even if only 10 percent remains, at the peak of Cisco's stock price, the stake would be worth $60 billion, a return of more than 3,000 times.

What's more, Simon will naturally not be satisfied with the current shareholding ratio, and will definitely continue to increase its holdings in the future.

The other Quantum-Link was found by Simon's careful search.

Quantum's Chinese transliteration is 'Quantum', which originally means 'quantum', so many technology companies like to use the word Quantum. As for Quantum-Link, the company is still obscure, but its later name is a household name, AOL.

Simon remembers most vividly the collapse that followed AOL's merger with Time Warner around the turn of the millennium.

At its peak, the combined AOL-Time Warner had a total market value of more than $300 billion, but only a few years later, with the bursting of the dot-com bubble, AOL's market value fell by more than 90%, and Time Warner was also greatly damaged.

Before the dot-com bubble burst, though, AOL was definitely a very worthwhile company to invest in. What's more, $5 million to take a 25% stake in AOL, think of AOL's market capitalization of more than $160 billion at its peak, which is completely the price of cabbage copied from the bottom of the foot.

Taking the equity of these two companies, the investment of the other three companies is completely worth the loss.

As for the Qualcomm company in San Diego, they don't have a financing plan at the moment, but they also said they would contact us if they were interested in doing so. Simon, the total amount of these five investments is $65 million, but Westeros only has $28.55 million left on its books, and if you're sure it's okay, we may need to take out a loan. ”

Cashing out more than $300 million of Motorola's funds, in addition to some of the reserved taxes, Simon spent more than half of his holdings in Microsoft and other companies, spent a lot of money on buying the copyrights of "The Lord of the Rings" and other series, and spent more on the two buildings in Manhattan.

Now there are 28.55 million left, which is already a lot.

Counting in his heart, Simon remembered the Gulfstream IV business jet he had ordered before, the price of the bare metal was $16 million, and if the decoration cost was included, it would cost about $18 million.

Simon had only paid a partial deposit, and the plane would be delivered next month, just in time for Simon to fly to Europe for the Cannes Film Festival in France. But again, Simon also needs to pay the remaining balance payment, which is another expense.

The budget for the Manhattan building, the investment budget for five tech companies, and the budget for private jets alone will cost about $100 million.

It is impossible for Simon to sell his stake in Westeros. Because of the nature of Westeros, it was very difficult to make a public offering of bonds. As a result, a loan was basically Simon's only option.

Although he doesn't like to borrow money in his bones, Simon also knows that borrowing money is necessary if he wants to expand his career quickly.

Moreover, compared to Simon's current net worth, which is only a loan from Daenerys Films, his personal debt ratio is less than 10%, which is definitely very low among the rich people, and the bank must be willing to lend him money.

After careful discussion with James Raybould, Simon made the decision to continue with the loan of $100 million.

After dealing with personal financial problems, April is also coming to an end unconsciously.

After two weeks of continuous release, the North American box office of "When Harry Met Sally" exceeded $70 million, which is already the threshold of the top 10 box office in North America last year. Although the box office has slipped below $8 million in a single week, with the continuous release of this movie, there is no suspense that the local box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" will exceed 100 million.

The selection of the actor for "Batman" has been ongoing, and this matter has inevitably become the focus of heated media discussions, with a five-film contract and a fifteen-year contract period, which makes many people think that Simon Westeros has gone crazy. The contract was also dubbed by one newspaper as 'Hollywood's contract of slavery'.

No matter what the outside world comments, Daenerys Pictures has no intention of backing down, and is still moving forward with its plan step by step.

While juggling the casting of "Batman", Simon is also arranging to move the two special effects software companies to Los Angeles.

Avefront-Technologies in San Francisco is relatively easy to do, Americans are not in the habit of relocating, and the pattern of moving plots in Hollywood movies and television dramas is overflowing.

Simon chose an office building in Santa Monica, and most of the staff moved over quickly. Alias-Research in Toronto, for example, has some trouble, because it's a Canadian company, and it involves overseas workers, but it will basically be resolved within the next month or two.

Things on the set.

Simon could see that Amy was obviously very much looking forward to him being able to buy the MGM set in Culver City, because in the past, Simon wanted to spend a lot of money to invest in some projects, and Amy would always persuade him, but this time he didn't.

But after careful consideration, Simon decided to postpone the matter.

He really didn't have much of a feeling for MGM on set. Even, compared with Fox's Century City set, Paramount's Hollywood set, and Universal and Warner's set in Burbank, Culver City's MGM set is just a simple real estate, and the value-added potential is not too great.

In addition, Simon is also looking forward to building a new shooting base.

In May, Simon's Gulfstream IV business jet was successfully delivered, and the Cannes Film Festival arrived.