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

On May 6, the long-awaited Verizon Telecom officially filed the first version of its IPO prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announcing that the regional telecommunications giant, which was privatized by Westeros five years ago, will once again go to the capital market.

In the five full fiscal years from the end of 1990 when Bell Atlantic, which was still the predecessor of Verizon, to May 6, 1996, when Verizon filed its prospectus again, Verizon Telecom achieved an average annual growth rate of 31% for five consecutive years while the growth of the fixed telephone business in the United States was almost stagnant, relying on the rapid growth of the mobile communications business.

In fiscal year 1995, Verizon Telecom's full-year revenue reached $15.36 billion, an increase of 3.8 times compared to fiscal year 1990 prior to the acquisition. Moreover, even with the various large investments in the mobile communications market in the United States and abroad, Verizon's net profit for the whole year of 1995 was as high as $1.35 billion.

In 1990, not counting the $1.7 billion in debt, Westeros acquired Bell Atlantic, the predecessor of Verizon Telecommunications, for a cash offer of $7 billion.

In 1996, according to the prospectus filed on May 6, Verizon Telecom's total share capital was 3.673 billion shares, and 500 million shares were expected to be sold, and the issue price was preliminarily determined to be $10.25. By this standard, Verizon Telecom's IPO valuation reached $37.6 billion, equivalent to a price-to-earnings ratio of 28 times.

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

Because of the rapid development of Verizon Telecom, Simon is not stingy in equity awards.

Prior to the filing of this Prospectus, Westeros' shareholding in Verizon Telecom had fallen to 92.7% with 3.405 billion shares, following the completion of the last equity award.

The other 268 million shares, representing about 7.3 percent, were acquired by the company's management at all levels in the form of awards or subscriptions.

According to the IPO valuation of $37.6 billion, the total value of these 7.3% shares alone reached $2.75 billion, of which Raymond Smith, chairman and CEO of Verizon Telecommunications, alone held 2.8% of the shares, which is equivalent to $1.05 billion in preliminary calculations, becoming another billionaire.

Unlike start-ups like Igrete that can enjoy founders' dividends in the process of starting from scratch, Verizon Telecom, an established company that is already quite mature, Simon can also give such a large-scale equity award, which is quite a big deal.

On the other hand, according to the initial issue price of $10.25, the total size of the IPO raised reached $5.125 billion.

It will be another $5 billion.

Since the beginning of the year, the soaring Nasdaq has increased the paper wealth of countless investors by a significant $1.4 trillion, and the total market capitalization of all stocks in the Nasdaq is now as high as $5.1 trillion. In such a comparison, it seems that Simon's various cash-outs since the end of last year are only more than $10 billion, which seems not worth mentioning.

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

The book wealth of the stock from the beginning of the year to the present seems to have increased by 1.4 trillion US dollars, but in fact, if someone wants to cash out even a tenth of it, 140 billion, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the Nasdaq, which has been quite seriously bubbled.

Therefore, even if we don't talk about the personal net worth that is also protected by the soaring Nasdaq, just talk about cashing out funds, Simon is also the biggest beneficiary of this wave of technology stocks. And how much cash is held by companies large and small in the Westeros system now, and what Simon Westeros intends to do with this huge amount of cash in the future, the more I understand the horror of the power of capital, the more I shudder.

What Simon will do, of course, is expansion.

Like this Verizon IPO, it was mainly to facilitate a series of subsequent mergers after the securitization of the company, which was also a major topic of discussion between Simon and AOL's executives after arriving in New York.

After the listing, Verizon Telecom will first initiate the acquisition of NYNEX, one of the seven small bells in the northern part of its own territory, and include all the Boston to Washington metropolitan areas on the east coast of the United States into Verizon Telecom's bag, and then work with AOL to integrate the resources of all parties.

Simon initially considered AOL's partnership with Verizon Telecom, but dismissed the idea.

If the two companies are forced to merge, it will be too difficult to integrate each other's businesses or conduct anti-monopoly reviews at the government level. Therefore, the two companies will continue to operate independently in the future, but after all, they are one boss, so they will cooperate in many aspects.

Verizon Telecom will continue to focus on the two major businesses of fixed telephone and mobile communications, of which mobile communications will be the core direction in the future.

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

As a result, the trend of 'triple play' promoted by the media after the promulgation of the latest "Telecommunications Act" in the United States at the end of last year will definitely not be actually implemented, at least on the Westeros side.

Speaking of which, in the original time and space, the United States did not achieve the real integration of the three networks until 20 years later, but China on the other side of the ocean, a fiber optic cable, telephone, TV and Internet are all inclusive, and a mobile number will be bundled, which is equivalent to four networks in one.

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

Triple play allows operators to make the most of their resources, thereby reducing costs and further benefiting their customers.

However, if these services are separated, and different services charge different fees, of course, operators can earn more, so why not?

Capital is profit-seeking.

Capital is ruthless and profit-seeking.

Without the intervention of strong external factors, capital will involuntarily choose the path that maximizes its own interests.

It's like the Westeros system.

With Simon's net worth at this time, he is the biggest capitalist on the planet, and although Simon is still a good boss in front of his employees, he himself does not have the tendency to squeeze out every interest in every industry involved in the Westeros system, but the capital controlled by the Westeros system will inevitably choose to do so instinctively.

It is bound to lead to evil.

Because that's what it is in the nature of capital.

As for why?

Take the Westeros system as an example, millions of employees, these people under the modern enterprise system, have their own goals, or research and development goals, or promotion goals, or sales goals, or a variety of other goals, once these goals are not achieved, the relevant individuals or teams will face the punishment of reducing the salary or sweeping away.

Therefore, they must do their best.

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

Capital is profit-seeking.

Therefore, the statement of 'capital descending on the ...... of the world' in "Capital" could not be more true and cruel. No one, for capital, should have the illusion that it may be inclined to be kind and moderate because of a certain person or a certain system.

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

Warner Bros. Pictures' super-blockbuster "Evaporation Order" and Daenerys Entertainment's New World Pictures' "Romeo and Julia" were released on this day, along with Paramount's Orion Pictures' crime thriller "Violent Metropolis" and several other second- and third-tier studios that are not worth mentioning.

Among them, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Evaporation Secret Order" has 2,816 screens. Xiao Lizi starred in "Romeo and Juliet" with 2017 screens on the opening screen, and finally counted the scale of "Violent Metropolis", with 474 screens.

Because of Simon's emphasis on "Romeo and Juliet", although there is only a $15 million publicity budget, the New World Pictures team still achieved the promotion of the film to the extreme within the budget.

As the most direct competitor, the New World Pictures team also used some unpopular means against the 'big guy' of "Evaporation Secret", deliberately releasing the news of the poor quality of the film's internal test screening on the Internet, which provoked Schwarzenegger to fight back on his official Facebook page.

However, Arnold's Facebook and even news related to "Evaporation Secret" were unknowingly limited on online platforms that were becoming more and more important for movie promotion at this time.

The Internet is Westeros's.

Throttling is not a word yet.

Daenerys and Time Warner's alliance is well known.

however

This is the pursuit of profit by capital!

Even if both Simon and General Electric Chairman Jack Welch, who has become the top boss of Time Warner at this time, have enough grace not to do this, the lower-level team of the enterprise will involuntarily adopt all kinds of competitive means that can be used for their own performance.

Immediately, from the first day of the box office on May 10, the entire Hollywood once again felt the fear of being dominated by Daenerys Entertainment.

"Evaporation Secret", the undisputed single-day box office champion, earned $8.69 million on the first day of filming.

This is a close second.

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

It seems that "Evaporation Secret" obviously wins, but, even if you don't talk about the huge disparity between the production cost of the two films and the publicity and distribution investment, just talk about the scale of the opening screen, one is 2816 yuan, and the other is 2017 yuan, converted to an average of $3,086 on the first day of "Evaporation Order", and "Romeo and Juliet", an average of $3,431 on the first day.

The $15 million production cost of the small man unexpectedly overturned the $100 million budget in terms of the museum.

You know, this is not a small-scale screening without comparison, both films are released on a large scale. Perhaps "Romeo and Juliet" has lost nearly 800 canvases to push up the average box office to a certain extent, but a super blockbuster with a cost of 100 million yuan was suppressed by a low-cost romance film, which is a failure in itself.

Moreover, the word-of-mouth of the two films is the same.

Although the New World Pictures team released the news in advance, they did not deliberately smear it, and the comprehensive media score of "Evaporation Secret" is only a pitiful 3.7 points, which is not on par with the 3.6 points of "Phantom Heroes" that Arnold messed up last time.

Romeo and Juliet has an overall media score of 8.1.

Excellent level.

Of course, there will be some public relations factors in it, but if the quality of the film itself is not good enough, it is impossible for a very disciplined North American filmmaker to say that a failing film is excellent, like a big guy with a score of 3.7.

After the first day, the news of 'the little man overthrowing the big guy' also quickly occupied the entertainment page, and the attention of "Romeo and Juliet", which already relied on the national IP, increased significantly.

Now that it has made a good start, in terms of screen screening, it 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 screens of "Romeo and Juliet" will increase to about 2,500 next week.

still can't catch up with the 2,816 yuan of "Evaporation Secret Order", but it is enough for this film to further exert its box office potential.

The first weekend passed quickly.

According to box office statistics, the box office of "Evaporation Order" was $24.57 million in the first three days, and the opening weekend box office of "Romeo and Juliet" was $20.17 million.

The difference is only a little over 4 million.

Under the operation of the New World Pictures team, Leonardo DiCaprio, who quickly began to cooperate with the official second wave of publicity, directly burst from his acting skills in "A Different Sky" to a popular first-line student in Hollywood.

Daenerys Entertainment did not miss this opportunity, and began to properly warm up for the upcoming filming of "Titanic" in June, and also carried out a crossover promotion with the "Mummy" team that will be released next week on "The Late Show of David Letterman", which has already started on the ABC television network, because Rachel Weisz, who participated in "The Mummy", is the heroine of "Titanic".

All kinds of heroes and heroines, all kinds of sparks.

In the end, during a box office week from May 10th to May 16th, "Evaporation Secret" still easily won the single-week box office champion, earning $36.42 million in seven days.

The second place "Romeo and Juliet" grossed $31.46 million in the first week.

As for the other "Violent Metropolis" and other small films, there was no splash at all, and everyone's eyes were focused on the top two films.

$36.42 million in the first week seems not bad, but it is actually far below Warner Bros.'s expectations of $50 million to $60 million in the first week. After all, the production cost of "Evaporation Secret" is $100 million, and Warner Bros. also invested $30 million in publicity and distribution budget. With a total investment of $130 million, it would take $400 million at the global box office to recoup the cost.

Now, even if it is quite optimistically estimated, it is a blessing that the local box office of "Evaporation Secret" can exceed 100 million US dollars, and even if it is twice as much as the domestic box office overseas, the global box office is only about 300 million US dollars.

Warner can only hope that the follow-up channel will recoup its costs.

Looking at "Romeo and Juliet" again, the box office of $31.46 million in the first week is just that, according to the tiered account sharing rules, it has easily recovered most of the $15 million production budget and $15 million in publicity costs, and it is almost inevitable to achieve profitability in the second week of release.

It would be nice if the overall box office of the film was only about $30 million, but this is just the beginning.

With the market reputation and audience popularity shown by "Romeo and Juliet", although the box office at the beginning is lower than that of "Evaporation Secret Order", the ending of the next local box office is really not certain, and it is obvious that "Romeo and Juliet" has a greater chance of winning.

May 17, the second week of the summer season.

Leading the way are also two films, Fox Films' release of Daenerys' and Fox's fantasy adventure blockbuster "The Mummy", and Disney's also worth mentioning Mike Myers' new film "Ace Spy".

The final production cost of "The Mummy" was $70 million, and because of the relative cost advantage, Fox threw out a $35 million publicity budget, which was 5 million more than "Evaporation Order", and the film also reached 2,986 on the opening screen.

"Ace Spy" is a work that Mike Myers and Daenerys Entertainment failed to negotiate a follow-up cooperation agreement after the "Fight for Intelligence" series last year and switched to Disney, because of the success of the "Fight for Intelligence" series, Disney generously gave Myers a salary of up to $15 million and the corresponding sharing contract, the production cost of this "Ace Cheap Spy" reached $40 million, the publicity budget was $20 million, and the number of screens opened was 2187.

Four movies in two weeks, before the start of the summer season, almost everyone thought that "Evaporation Secret" and "The Mummy" would be the most direct competitors, and "Ace Spy" would be tied with the first two if it could continue the success of the "Fighting Intelligence" series.

The three films are the core of the May schedule at the beginning of the summer file.

Although "Mission Impossible 2" was released on May 31, it was already in June.

Unexpectedly, a dark horse called "Romeo and Juliet" will be killed, and with the further spread of the film's popularity, this movie has formed a movie-watching boom among the core young audiences in the summer file, especially among young female audiences. Maybe not all ages, but who doubts a woman's spending power?

So the situation suddenly became delicate.

In case "The Mummy" messes up again, although the odds are very small, this summer file will be quite lively. Moreover, because "Romeo and Juliet" attracted a lot of popularity, the attention of Mike Myers's "Ace Spy" was unconsciously covered up a lot.

Los Angeles.

While many people are paying close attention to the two latest releases and the follow-up performance of last week's opening film, some people can't calm down.

In the affluent Brentwood neighborhood north of Santa Monica, at about seven o'clock in the evening, a luxury car drove into the private residence of Joe Rose, the president of Fox Films.

There aren't many people in Hollywood who haven't experienced failure, eh...... Maybe except for someone, not to mention, "Evaporation Secret Order" is not too much of a failure, at least it is much better than "Phantom Hero" over there three years ago.

It's just that after the failure of "Phantom Hero", because there was still "Terminator 2" as a foundation, and then quickly used "True Lies" to restore popularity, so that project did not deal much damage to Arnold's coffee position.

This time it was markedly different.

After all, everyone has felt the changes that have become more and more pronounced in Hollywood in recent years.

The most obvious point.

Because of the rise of the DC Cinematic Universe and the prosperity of movie special effects, the once hot super-A-list stars seem to be less valuable. If it's just like this, of course, it's nothing, and the salary will shrink a little, but because it's no longer so 'valuable', it actually means that Hollywood's tolerance for superstars has also been greatly reduced.

The previous big star, failed in one or two films, and there was a chance for a third to rise again. Now, it may just be a failure of the film, and it will be difficult for you to get better resources in the future. With the mediocre opening of "Evaporation Order", everyone realized that Arnold Schwarzenegger is likely to be the first super celebrity to fall into such an embarrassing situation.

Moreover, it is definitely not just the movie "Evaporation Order".

It's a logical result of a series of accumulations.

First of all, the unsatisfactory market performance of "Evaporation Secret" probably means that Schwarzenegger's best old-school muscular male action movies are no longer popular, and this trend has actually become obvious recently, in a series of similar films, only "True Lies" stands out, but the failed projects can be listed.

Sylvester Stallone's, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Costner's, "Phantom Heroes", "Heroes", "Law Enforcers", "SWAT Judges" and so on, and even the most recent "Evaporation Order".

The type is not popular, in fact, it is nothing.

As long as you can transform in time.

Herein lies the problem.

After experiencing the lessons of "Phantom Heroes", Schwarzenegger obviously did not fully react, and after the success of "True Lies", he thought that the genre he was good at was still full of markets, so he missed a great opportunity last year.

That's right.

Jumanji's Game.

And it's also clearly a series.

It is also a special effects blockbuster series that almost represents the big trend in Hollywood.

Because the value of first-line celebrities is too high, in fact, there are not many opportunities for them, because super blockbusters based on special effects, since they already have selling points, producers often choose actors with relatively affordable salaries.

And it is not easy to meet a project that suits you on the basis of the corresponding type.

There are no secrets in the circle.

Everyone knows that Simon Westeros was initially inclined to Arnold, and the conditions given were actually quite good, but it was a pity that the superstar wanted more, and as a result, the opportunity was dragged out.

What made the gossip crowd crazy was that this opportunity also fell into the hands of Arnold's nemesis, Stallone.

Prior to this, Arnold had been pressing Stallone for many years.

Not necessarily in the future.

After all, Arnold rejected Simon Westeros' project, who knows if it will leave a pimple in the heart of a young tycoon, and now Hollywood, as we all know, almost all the best opportunities come from Daenerys Entertainment, and they are all controlled by a young man who is only 28 years old.

Inside Joe Rose's mansion.

Schwarzenegger, who pretended not to feel any different stares, greeted some familiar guests, and soon avoided the party scene with Joe Ross and went to a reception room in the villa.

Whether it's the two people involved, or the guests at the party in the hall, they can actually guess a thing or two.

Because it's easy to guess.

"Evaporation Order" is unsatisfactory at the box office, and Arnold must consider regaining popularity.

In the original time and space, Schwarzenegger chose 1997's "Batman and Robin", and although he received a huge salary of $20 million, it also caused a bigger disaster.

There's no Batman franchise for Arnold to choose from this time.

So.

What else?

That's right, "The Terminator".

The copyright is co-owned by Fox and Daenerys Entertainment for the "Terminator" series. In the movie, Arnold is the savior of the human world, and outside the movie, this movie is almost Arnold's savior.