On Janet's birthday, the couple flew to Miami together.

Taking advantage of the trough in the U.S. real estate industry, Janet bought a 6-hectare waterfront land in Miami's North Palm Beach last year, in an upscale and wealthy area, with a golf course to the north, a private beach to the east, and a forest park to the south.

If it weren't for the property winter, which forced developers to cut back on development plans, and the buyer was Simon Westeros, who could bring a lot of fame to the affluent area, this plot of land that could build seven or eight mansions would certainly not have been sold as a package.

Even so, the sale price of these 6 hectares alone reached $10 million.

Janet plans to invest another $20 million to build a seaside manor, the main villa started last year, and the entire estate will probably be completed and moved in in the second half of next year.

As a transition, Janet also purchased a 1.5-acre mansion next to the estate, which was planned to be incorporated directly into the estate when the estate was completed.

Because the news of Simon's purchase of a property in this wealthy area has been spread, and in the past year alone, the surrounding housing prices have risen by 20%.

Several properties around Simon Manor have become the target of many people's purchases, with offers even exceeding the average house price in the affluent area, and savvy developers are also holding on to the properties around Simon Manor as signboards, hoping to sell them to more wealthy and celebrities in order to further increase the popularity of this wealthy area.

Go shopping, go fishing, go to parties...... Janet has a colorful schedule for her three-day vacation from Friday to Sunday.

The couple returned to New York on Monday, March 16.

Sofia Fesse hasn't left yet.

Sophia made an offer of $50 million to CK on Saturday, of which $40 million was used to buy a 55% stake in CK shareholders and $10 million was injected into CK as a loan to ease the company's cash flow pressure.

In addition, Sophia also promised that after the completion of the acquisition of CK, Melisandre and the entire Westeros system will provide the company with channel, legal, marketing and other resources to help CK quickly turn around the difficulties it faced at this time and further develop and grow.

In addition to the family infighting, many of the problems faced by CK at this time are similar to those of Gucci at the beginning, and the rapid rise of Gucci is visible to everyone.

Sophia's offer was low, but not harsh, and reserved 45% of the shares for CK's other shareholders that could be set aside for future appreciation.

So, although only 24 hours were given to consider it, after several unsuccessful attempts to discuss the price, CK founder Calvin Klein and the company's board of directors accepted Melisandre's offer at the last minute.

News of the deal made headlines in The New York Times on Monday.

Following Gucci, Château Latour and Van Cleef & Arpels, the Mélisandre company continues to take a step towards becoming an integrated luxury group with the acquisition of one of the most prestigious luxury brands.

CK is not a publicly traded company.

However, with the announcement of the news, the haze of bankruptcy that has been surrounding CK has been swept away, and even the sales of CK products have increased significantly. The attitude of the brand licensor who has been entangled with CK has also eased, and although it is more reluctant to let go of the license in its hands, it is also willing to make corresponding concessions in terms of licensing fees and other aspects.

Simon didn't return to the West Coast this week, but joined Janet in the next phase of Cersei Capital's development plan.

The first is Cersei Fund Management, a hedge fund.

After the completion of the oil market operation last year, Cersei Fund Management faced a 'transformation' problem.

In order to avoid possible targeting of the entire Westeros system, Cersei Fund Management will next minimize macro hedging that could affect a country's economy.

In fact, when the Berlin Wall fell, analysts at Cersei Fund Management predicted a reshuffle in the European monetary system.

In 1979, the eight countries of the European Community, led by Germany and France, established the European Monetary System to counter the US dollar, which determined a relatively fixed exchange rate exchange mechanism according to the strength of each country at that time, and the United Kingdom, which had always been a 'maverick', did not announce its membership until 1990.

However, after the merger of East and West Germany, Germany's economic strength increased significantly, and it was very unfair for Germany to continue to maintain the original exchange rate system. In order to attract the British to join the country, the pound was significantly overvalued when it joined the European Monetary System two years ago, creating a strong imbalance that needs to be reshuffled.

Of course, the United Kingdom, which has taken advantage, certainly does not want to reshuffle the cards, which requires some external forces to promote.

In the original time and space, Soros's quantum fund launched an attack on the British pound in September 1992, which ended with the sharp depreciation of European currencies such as the British pound, the Italian lira, and the Spanish peseta.

Soros personally netted $1 billion in this currency sniping and became famous. The Quantum Fund and other hedge funds involved in sniping the pound have also made a lot of money.

On the other hand, as a result, the United Kingdom withdrew from the European monetary system after the pound crisis, the European Community suffered a heavy blow, and the position of the dollar was further consolidated.

Not to mention the deep great power game involved, if you want, with Simon's prophetic advantage, Cersei Capital can now lay out the European currency in advance and slowly build up short positions in currencies such as the pound and the lira that are bound to plummet.

It's just that the Westeros system is not as pure as the quantum fund, once this is done, Cersei Capital may be able to make a lot of money, but the entire Westeros system will definitely encounter hostility and targeting from European countries in the future, and don't think about doing other aspects of business in the future.

Therefore, after reading the relevant report of Cersei Capital analysts, Simon personally issued a statement prohibiting Cersei Capital from participating in this operation, not allowing a penny.

With the big heads of the Quantum Fund in front, Cersei Capital doesn't seem to attract much attention even if it makes a small profit, but there is no need to dip it into oil for some leftovers.

Of course, the most important thing is that Cersei Fund Management has a more suitable purpose.

Tech!

The new wave of new technology with the Internet as the core has risen in advance, such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, AOL and other new technology companies, the stock prices have been rising rapidly recently, however, according to the information in memory, Simon is very clear that the current stock price is far from reaching the craziest moment.

Therefore, now is definitely the best time to enter the market and go long US technology stocks.

In the original time and space, in 1997, the Tiger Fund, which followed the Quantum Fund in Southeast Asia, was liquidated in the following two years because of betting on short-selling technology stocks, and tens of billions of dollars of funds lost more than 80% in just two years.

It may be a few years away from the craziest period for tech stocks, but with the overall trend of the Nasdaq market, starting to go long now will still be very profitable.

More importantly, going long on technology stocks does not have the strong political risks that need to be carried by speculating on macro hedges such as a country's currency. The overall market capitalization of the Nasdaq technology stock market is worth a trillion dollars, which is enough for Cersei Fund Management to gallop around at will.

Inside the apartment on Fifth Avenue.

It's Wednesday, March 18th.

Simon and Janet came home from work at Cersei Capital's headquarters in Midtown, and Sophia came to visit, staying for dinner together to talk about some things about CK.

While the parties have reached a basic agreement to formally sign the acquisition agreement, Melisandre will need to conduct a more detailed operational and financial audit of CK to ensure that there will be no unforeseen debts and legal disputes. If all goes well, the acquisition could be completed early next month at the latest.

"With the completion of the acquisition, CK's main focus will be on the three product lines of men's and women's haute couture, jeans and lingerie, which will compete with Gucci but will still diversify Mélisandre's fashion business overall. The jeans and lingerie businesses are more important, which is why I acquired CK in the first place, because these two product lines are areas that Gucci has not been involved in. ”

In the restaurant, Simon listened to Sophia's introduction and said, "At the last party, Klein said that CK's perfume products are selling well?"

Sophia shook her head and said: "The perfume business only accounts for about 5% of CK's total sales, and it is difficult to compete with brands such as Dior and Chanel, this product line will not be canceled, but it will not be invested more." Our focus in recent years has been on growing Gucci's fragrance business. ”

Janet, who is accustomed to sitting next to Simon, asked, "What about brand licensing?"

"It's a bit complicated, because in the 80s CK awarded pajamas, swimwear, eyewear, socks, shoes, household products and many other product categories," says Sophia. It was very difficult to get it all back, especially after Melisandre took over CK. However, these licenses will expire in five years at the latest, and my goal is to cancel some of the licenses as much as possible through negotiations, which cannot be recovered, and to ensure the quality of the licensed products to the greatest extent so as not to affect the brand image of CK. ”

Simon added: "If it is confirmed that there is no big problem with this company, the Oscars at the end of the month can arrange some exposure of the CK brand." ”

"I'm already in contact," Sophia nodded, then looked at Janet and asked, "How's the LTD takeover going?"

LTD is a commonly used abbreviation for Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret.

Janet said: "Recently, both KKR and Blackstone have become interested in LTD, and there may be a bidding war, and if the final offer is too high, we will have to pull out." ”

KKR is the very private equity firm that created the record-breaking Reynolds Nabeske merger a few years ago, not to mention Blackstone, the old owner of Blackrock Asset Management, which Lawrence Fink now helms.

Both companies are among the top private equity firms on Wall Street that should not be underestimated.

Negotiations for the takeover quietly began in February, and the two sides failed to reach an agreement after several contacts, and then the news inevitably leaked out.

Although LTD firmly denied that it was itself that leaked the news, the facts are obvious.

Affected by the leak of the acquisition news, LTD's stock price has also risen significantly recently, and the recent market value has exceeded $1.5 billion.

Neither KKR nor Black Rock have made a formal offer, but it is clear that once the two companies make a move, a bidding battle will be inevitable, and a planned goodwill acquisition will not be possible.

On Cersei Capital's side, Apollo Management's acquisition team has readjusted the acquisition plan and raised the offer cap on LTD to $2.5 billion, a full $800 million increase from the $1.7 billion expected at the initial goodwill acquisition stage.

With two rivals eyeing each other, even that isn't a must-win.

However, the acquisition team has secretly already absorbed 4.9% of LTD Group's shares, even if this acquisition really fails, after cashing out the shares in hand, Cersei Capital is not in vain.

In Simon's memory, the peak market value of LTD Group once exceeded $20 billion.

Even if the company is bought for $2.5 billion now, according to the usual five-year holding cycle of private equity firms, with the upward trend of the U.S. economy in the next five years and the development potential of LTD itself, Simon believes that in five years, the share price of LTD Group can at least double by 100%.

With an average annual return of 20% over a five-year period, such an ROI is not low for private equity.

Simon returned to Los Angeles the next day, and the time was also in late March, and the upcoming 64th Academy Awards on March 30 was approaching.

According to the voting process, the judges of the recent Oscar awards have sent their votes, and the results of the awards have basically settled.

Daenerys Entertainment's two key nominated films this year, "Piano Farewell" and "Crazy Flowers of the End", are destined to be just accompaniment, and other nominations such as the best documentary feature film of "Ice and Snow World" and the best foreign language film of "Hang the Red Lantern" have not invested much energy in public relations.

This is destined to be a rather quiet year for Daenerys Entertainment in terms of awards.

After calculation, among the total 22 nominations under Daenerys Entertainment, the only one that is more guaranteed is Holly Hunter, the heroine of "Piano Don't Love".

Relying on her outstanding performance in "Piano Love", the actress's nomination for Best Actress is simply expected. Moreover, compared with several other candidates, Holly Hunter also has a deep network in Hollywood, you know, this actress was once Spielberg's girlfriend.

Holly Hunter's agency ICM has also invested a lot of resources and connections in public relations for Hunter to get the little gold man.

Easter in 1992 was April 19, a month in advance, Daenerys Entertainment's key project of this year's Easter "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" entered the sprint publicity stage.

Simon is quite satisfied with the finished effect of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2", but the box office of several sequels to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" released in the nineties by the original time and space has plummeted, which also makes him a little worried about the box office performance of the sequels this time.

If it weren't for the final cost of the sequel, which was only $30 million, and needed to be matched with Blizzard Studios' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series, Simon considered canceling the production of the sequel like "Flying Over Innocence".

The release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 and the fact that it did not immediately release a sequel last year while the iron was hot was also due to Simon's concerns.

In the final analysis, although the popularity of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is very high, the IP image tends to be younger, and adult audiences can easily lose interest in the sequel after the initial novelty. For children's audiences, even if the film itself has achieved PG level, the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are not as pleasing to children as cartoons after all. ()

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