Westeros corporate headquarters in Midtown, Manhattan.

The time is June 10th.

Simon arrived in New York yesterday and spent the whole day meeting with Westeros management and other senior executives of Westeros subsidiaries via video link regarding plans for the second half of the year.

Speaking of which, not only does Simon now own a series of stocks totaling more than a trillion dollars, but the total amount of cash held by the entire Westeros system has reached a level that would inevitably be jaw-dropping if it was known to insiders.

It is only said that Westeros, as the core of the Westeros system, through the continuous contribution of profit dividends by its subsidiaries and the continuous reduction of holdings in the first half of the year, the total amount of cash and short-term convertible bonds equivalent to cash on the books of Westeros has reached $12.7 billion.

This is on the premise that Westeros has continued to invest in various aspects, and in recent years has continued to invest heavily in the shares of established corporate giants such as Boeing, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, General Electric, Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, etc., otherwise Westeros would have more cash holdings.

At the same time, the Westeros system has also acquired a large number of board seats for the established corporate giants of the United States through investments in stocks that generally hold more than 5%, which is actually quietly strengthening the influence of the Westeros system on the American economy and even the potential control of the country.

After all, it is a standard capitalist country.

Capital controls everything.

To control capital is to control everything, and it is more secretive.

In fact, it is not a good thing for a company to hold too much cash, the dollar continues to depreciate, and if it is not reinvested, the more cash is hoarded, the greater the hidden loss. However, as the U.S. bull market has once again peaked, Simon has stopped buying shares of established companies and has begun to tighten investment.

The main thing is that it is not cost-effective to invest now.

Stocks that can be sold for $100 today may be bought for $20 or 30 in a year or two, when the stock market bubble bursts and the bear market cycle begins.

Similarly, because the market is so good, it is easier to raise funds at this stage, and the cost is relatively low, especially for a series of fast-growing and reputable companies in the Westeros system. Therefore, it is the best time to stock up on money for the rest of the day.

After a day of discussions, the Westeros system's bond issuance plan for the second half of the year was preliminarily finalized.

Start with AOL first.

After the enactment of the Telecommunications Act, the legal restrictions restricting the full expansion of AOL in China no longer exist, and AOL is now investing in further strengthening its telecommunications infrastructure and on the other hand, it is also beginning to brew into the field of cable operators.

As we all know, large-scale telecommunications investment is a very money-burning business.

Just as China, in order to develop the telecommunications industry, it has to push for state-owned telecommunications companies to go public overseas to raise funds.

AOL has been issuing bonds non-stop in recent years, and this time it certainly won't miss out, with plans to issue another $3 billion of 10-year to 20-year long-term bonds in July, which will ensure that AOL will not run out of cash for at least the next two years.

The outside world knows how much AOL has burned money in recent years, and starting with this company, it will seem very legitimate.

The rebound in the capital market can be minimized.

Moreover, all bond issuance plans throughout the second half of the year will be aimed primarily at overseas investors, also to avoid too many unpredictable impacts on the domestic capital markets in the United States.

After AOL, in August, Verizon Telecom was listed and suspended.

Next.

In September, Cisco, $2 billion.

In October, the presidential election was approaching and was suspended.

In November, after voting in the U.S. election, Nokia, Tinkobar and Johnston controlled the three companies, each with $1 billion.

In December, Westeros headquarters, $2 billion.

The entire bond issuance program totals $10 billion.

The main purpose of this decentralization is to reduce disruption to the U.S. stock market.

In fact, for those who know a little bit about finance, the continuous large-scale reduction of the Westeros system in the first half of the year is actually obvious to everyone again, it is time to stop, and the crisis is coming. However, many things in this world are like this, and most people understand the truth, and there are few people who can really make decisions rationally according to reason.

Warren Buffett's sentence "I am afraid when others are greedy, and I am greedy when others are fearful" is actually a simple and authentic exhaustion of the true meaning of the capital market.

It's a pity that there are always people who want to make some more, there are always people who feel that they can escape at a critical moment, and there are always people who think that they will not be so unlucky.

The results can be imagined.

As long as they don't pour a pot of boiling water on it, most 'frogs' often don't want to escape. The Westeros system's phased bond issuance program is another form of boiled frog, which Simon would love to see.

In short, the bubble should not burst because of the Westeros system of financing.

The pot is just too big.

At the end of the day, the evening was a family dinner for the Raybould family, and the Robert Egger family, who had also returned from the West Coast, were invited.

The next day is Tuesday, June 11.

Of course, the plan for the issuance of tens of billions of dollars of bonds could not be completed in a day, but the follow-up was coordinated by James Raybould.

Simon wasn't idle.

Tuesday was spent mostly on Daenerys' entertainment TV business.

It's summer vacation now, the TV industry is off-season, and the TV promotion season in May has ended, and it is mainly to prepare for the autumn file, and launch various pilot episodes to observe market feedback.

Daenerys Entertainment is actually still continuing to digest and integrate the Metropolis ABC Group that was annexed last year, so it doesn't dare to relax even in the off-season, not to mention that next month is the Olympic Games, even if it fails to get the broadcast rights of the Olympic events, its various TV stations still have a lot of related businesses to follow up.

There is another very important one.

ESPN's ongoing negotiations to buy out the broadcasting rights to a NFL game.

This matter started with Daenerys Entertainment winning the Met's ABC last year, until now, the negotiations have lasted for more than half a year, mainly because both parties are not in a hurry and have been grinding slowly, because the existing contract will not end until next year, that is, the Super Bowl final at the beginning of each year, which is the end of a football league season, so it is useless to negotiate it last year.

However, no matter how long the skin is ripped off, it will have results.

At present, several core provisions involved have been basically finalized.

8 years, $9 billion.

This is exactly the same price as Simon remembers, and it is actually the highest price that Simon set to ESPN CEO Steve Bernstein before negotiations began.

The reason why it takes so long to grind is also because of this.

After all, after the Metropolitan ABC Group was acquired by Daenerys Entertainment, the National Football League will inevitably have the idea of eating big players, and Daenerys Entertainment is such a fat sheep that will not be slaughtered for nothing.

It's a pity that Simon's least favorite thing is to be wronged.

$9 billion in 8 years, compared to the previous broadcast price, such a price is already very high, if the National Football League is still insatiable, Simon would rather not buy it, the big deal is to start with buying out the NBA.

Now the National Football League basically knows the upper limit of the offer that Daenerys Entertainment can give, but there is no sign of tearing its face, and it is expected to sign a formal contract in July, but it will not start until next year's new season, and the $9 billion broadcast fee will also be paid in batches after the contract is officially implemented.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, at the end of the day's work, Simon rushed from Daenerys Entertainment's East Coast headquarters on the Upper West Side to the East Village in Lower Manhattan.

Inside an office building next to First Avenue in the East Village District.

As soon as Simon arrived, he was greeted by Grace Spurt, who was apparently already waiting.

It's a red-brick office building that looks a little old, about 10 floors.

Having learned over the phone over the weekend that Simon was coming, Grace asked him if he wanted to see the girls she'd been busy with for months.

In fact, it is the new year's Elite World Elite Model Contest.

The tournament started in April, and through the selection of more than 100,000 applicants from all over the world, it has entered the top 64 so far. The last 64 girls were able to come to North America to participate in the final training and finals of the modeling contest while becoming Elite official customers.

Unlike "American Idol" produced by Daenerys Entertainment last year, the Elite Model Contest is relatively much simpler.

And in the past, there was a strong tendency to be human.

This is also the main reason why the scandal that broke out in the late nineties caused the company to decline.

Because whether it is Elite's executives, judges or even ordinary employees, they all regard the model contest as a hunting ground for women, and Linda Ivangelinsta's ex-husband showed a thick stack of photos in a BBC secret interview and said that he would sleep all the girls above The 'bold words' came from this background, and as a result, a scandal led to the rapid decline of the rising Elite, and the tree fell apart.

Now that Elite has been taken over by Grace and indirectly become a member of the Westeros system, Simon certainly won't allow that to happen again.

Under Grace's strict supervision, this year's Elite World Elite Model Contest is much more formal than in previous years.

For example, Linda Ivangolinsta's ex-husband Gallard Mari, the president of Elite's Paris division, was cleared out last year, and now Elite is Grace alone, and it is no longer the unruly state of losing the enterprising spirit of the John Casablanca era, the whole company has been revitalized, all kinds of business processes have been gradually standardized, and the chances of certain things happening are much smaller.

Of course, it can't be eliminated.

In such a circle, a slap can't actually be beaten, some people are hunters, and naturally some people are willing to become prey for the sake of the top.

Frankly speaking, Simon himself is the hunter standing at the top of the pyramid, so he definitely doesn't like other people of the same kind to look around in his hunting ground, which makes the Elite system more standardized, because after the reform of Elite, the income of all employees, including its models, has risen, and the gold content of this job has increased significantly.

In this case, especially executives who have the potential to become hunters, lose their jobs because they covet a target that the big boss might eye.

After all, keeping warm can only think**.

In any case, the rice bowl is still more important.

Simon and Grace entered the elevator of the building with several other entourage, looked at the obvious mottled appearance of the elevator, and asked, "Why did you choose here?"

There were other people around, Grace just gently next to Simon, but not too intimate, turned her head to look at the man next to her, and her tone was a little soft: "Because it's cheap, it used to be in Greenwich, then SoHo, and now it's the East Village, in a few years, maybe I can only go to Brooklyn." ”

Simon said, "Elite shouldn't be short of money, right?"

Elite in the time of John Casablanca was very profitable, otherwise it would not have rented a three-story headquarters on Fifth Avenue, and now, after streamlining and opening up new businesses, Elite has increased its income and reduced expenses, and its profits will only be higher, and maybe in a few years, it will be able to build its own headquarters building like Hollywood's CAA.

Grace said: "Of course there is no shortage, but I have to be responsible for the shareholders, and moreover, I can save some and give everyone benefits, and unnecessary expenses can naturally be saved." ”‘

Simon curled the corners of his mouth: "Such a good boss, I want to come and work for you." ”

Grace just pursed her lips and chuckled.

The elevator door opened quickly, and it was the seventh floor. Everyone stepped out of the elevator and turned left to a doorway, and when they entered the door, there was an open room, about seven or eight meters wide and twenty meters long, which was obviously designed as an office space, but at this time it was used as a practice room.

The first look at the door.

It's all legs.

It's all legs.

It's all legs......

The main thing is that a large group of tall girls wearing tights are practicing their body steps, which is really eye-catching, and they are almost the same height, small white vests, black leggings, and a small waist are uniformly exposed, this feeling of uniformity is simply the gospel of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Seeing Grace, the female head of the Elite, enter the door with a young man, the girls who were training were puzzled at first, and then felt that someone seemed to be a little familiar, and it seemed to be ...... Simon Westeros?

More than sixty girls, no matter where they come from in the world, they don't know the name Simon Westeros, probably not, and there are not many who have not seen Simon's appearance from various media.

was able to get to this point from hundreds of thousands of girls, except for excellent physical and physical appearance conditions, none of these girls were fools.

Of course, it's clear what the name Simon Westeros means.

At least, thinking about the other party's series of identities, it is completely a hanging ladder to the sky step by step!

As more and more girls reacted, the atmosphere at the scene was inevitably agitated, and even the training teacher who was responsible for training the girls looked at Simon frequently, and everyone suddenly understood why it was clear that it was past 5 o'clock to get off work, and today they had to increase the rehearsal hours.

Obviously, it was for the arrival of the big man not far away.

Simon didn't go directly to the crowd, but sat down on a simple bench against the wall, took a roster from Grace's hand, saw the woman's inquiring eyes, and said with a smile: "Let them continue, I'll see." ”

Grace naturally had no objection to Simon's request, walked to a person in charge of the scene, explained it in person, walked back again, saw the man patting beside him, and then sat down next to him.