At the beginning of the new year, at the same time as the two acquisitions were finalized, the Westeros system began to officially start working in the Internet field. "Love ← Go ÷ Little?→qxs52o.", provide you with wonderful novels to read.

After careful preparations, AOL launched a free trial program for the Internet on January 1, 1991.

As long as the users of the three telecom operators on the east and west coasts of the United States, Bell Pacific, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, can install and access the World Wide Web platform for free by reservation, and get a free trial of 3 hours per day for one month.

As of December 31, 199o, AOL had 820,000 end users, and the number of Internet users connected to the World Wide Web platform in North America reached 1.16 million.

Based on the growth in the number of World Wide Web users in the previous months, the AOL team predicted that the free trial program was launched, and that AOL will welcome an average of at least 1oo0,000 free trial users per month in the next three months.

Based on a trial budget of $1oo per user in terms of access devices and web browsing, AOL will spend an average of $100 million per month on this purpose, not counting AOL's investment in human resources and infrastructure to support the increase in the number of users.

All things considered, the three-month free trial plan will burn at least $400 million in funds for AOL.

In comparison, in the entire 199o year, AOL's annual revenue was only able to exceed 100 million.

Therefore, the most critical issue of this risky and aggressive business plan is actually the issue of funding.

Simon had already agreed to AOL's and Cisco's IPO plans last year. However, due to the continued downturn in the U.S. stock market due to the outbreak of war in the Gulf region in the second half of last year, the IPO plans of both companies have continued to be delayed, and this free trial can be described as AOL's last fight before the IPO.

The other minority shareholders who own 25% of AOL are reluctant to have their shares diluted by Westeros again, and Simon is not reluctant. The funds were obtained in the form of loans from Citibank through a relationship with Westeros.

After the three-month free trial program, AOL's IPO will be officially launched, regardless of the results of the plan implementation and the macroeconomic environment.

While AOL's other shareholders and management are under tremendous pressure, Simon is confident in the plan and the U.S. economy.

1oo trial users in a single month, 3oo in three months, this number is actually very conservative.

You must know that in the past 199O year, IBM, Apple, Commodore and other mainstream PC manufacturers shipped a total of more than 2ooo million personal computers, of which only the IBM series of compatible computers shipped 1.68 million units. At the same time, the number of PC users in the world also successfully exceeded 100 million units in 199o.

As the world's largest economy, the U.S. has a domestic market share of more than 5O%, both in terms of PC shipments and ownership.

Although personal computers in this era are mainly used for office, and office PCs account for a large part, such a large personal computer user base, coupled with the fact that AOL operates user areas in the most economically important states on the east and west coasts of the United States, and the number of 3oo trial users in three months is definitely not much.

If 2o% to 3o% of the 3oo0,000 expected trial users can be converted into regular users, AOL's free trial plan will be considered a success.

After the first quarter, AOL can secure at least $500 million in full-year revenue as long as subscriber growth meets expectations, and the actual revenue figure will definitely be higher as the number of subscribers grows over the next three quarters. Compared with last year's performance growth of more than 5oo%, this kind of exhibition is enough for AOL to obtain a very good IPO valuation.

After the IPO, AOL will have more flexibility to continue to raise funds from the public market in the form of securities or stock increases.

On the other hand, Igrete is also starting to work in the content field.

Just a week after Peter Butler's official arrival at Igrett after the New Year, he personally rushed to the Middle East to preside over a comprehensive coverage of the war in the Gulf region.

At the same time, Igrete also launched the "Everyone is Home" award-winning creation campaign in the column blog section.

The Internet, a literary genre that became familiar to everyone, actually appeared earlier than many people imagined, just like online games, Quantum Online, the predecessor of AOL, operated an 'online solitaire' service as early as the 80s.

At the end of the day, there is no shortage of ideas.

However, Egret's 'Everyone is Home' campaign is still leaning towards traditional literary creation, and the duration is also three months.

Registered users of the Igrete portal can participate in this event and start online creation after applying to the blog operation team. The genre is limited, but there is no limit to the genre, sci-fi, horror, suspense, etc., the rule is to submit an update at least once a week, and the final winner is selected by users of the Eagle website through online voting.

At the end of the event, 1 first prize with a prize of 50,000 US dollars, 1o second prize with a prize of 10,000 US dollars, and 10 third prize with a prize of 10,000 US dollars will be selected. At the same time, the works created by these users are also expected to be published physically and signed by Daenerys Entertainment to be adapted into film and television dramas.

With a prize pool totaling $250,000, as well as publishing and film adaptation opportunities, the event has just been announced, and it has attracted strong attention from Eaglet users.

After all, most ordinary people actually have some creative dreams, but it is difficult to implement them because of various constraints.

This online event of Igrete not only gives a platform with a very low threshold, but also provides a huge bonus that is enough to stimulate the enthusiasm of users.

For Igret, such an event would not only fulfill the purpose of user-generated content that Simon has always emphasized, but also strengthen the interactivity of Igret's social network. Moreover, through the title sponsorship of IBM and other companies, Igrete has further expanded its advertising business, which can be described as killing multiple birds with one stone.

For this event, the Egrett team opened a voting system, similar to the common like function on the Internet, and only registered email users of the Igrete portal can vote. Moreover, in order to avoid the phenomenon of multiple vests, voting users also need to bind their AOL accounts and can only cast one vote per day.

Hollywood, on the other hand, successfully reached an acquisition agreement with MCA, and the first box office week after the New Year passed quickly.

From January 4th to January 1o, "Home Alone" opened for the third week, because it entered the working day, compared with the reversal of the New Year's Day week, the box office fell by 34% this week, and it received another $31.28 million.

The single-week box office slipped from $47.99 million to $31.28 million, although the decline is deep, but it is actually very rare. In this era, the box office of many blockbuster films may not be able to exceed $3ooo US dollars in the opening week, which is enough to show the phenomenal blockbuster characteristics of "Home Alone".

In three weeks, Home Alone grossed $11.19 million at the North American box office, easily squeezing into the top 10 of the 199o North American box office list.

However, with such an excellent box office momentum, it had to face the shadow of the approaching war.

As the time for the 15 January ultimatum issued by the United Nations for Iraq draws closer, Saddam Hussein shows no sign of withdrawing his troops from Kuwait, and it is worth mentioning that the US government's 'tough attitude' in it has also played a very key role.

The Iraqi side has put forward several proposals for conditional withdrawal, all of which have been rejected by the US Government.

On 12 January, the US Senate formally approved the "Act Authorizing the Use of Military Force against Iraq."

Black clouds crush the city.

At the same time, in the month before the war, the US stock market continued to fall by 6% under the shadow of war, and the Dow Jones index fell back to within 3oo points, worse than before the 1987 stock market crash.

After closing at the end of 199o, Cersei Capital quickly reraised $300 million in hedge funds, which will remain the same size ever since.

Simon had previously transferred more than $800 million in cash back home, but with the continued accumulation of gains in the second half of last year, the funds belonging to Simon in the account of Cersei Fund Management still reached $700 million, and the Johnston family also kept $500 million in hedge funds.

Before the war, when most investors were generally pessimistic about the prospect of the Gulf War, the team at Cersei Fund Management began to bet again on the crude oil futures market and the North American stock index futures market.

After the impact of the Kuwaiti war last year, the crude oil futures market has not yet recovered, and can only barely open a few positions.

The main bet target this time is S&P 5oo futures.

In Simon's memory, the S&P 5oo index rose by more than 2o% in a month after the outbreak of the war under the one-sided devastation of the multinational force led by the United States in the Gulf War.

And, due to the downturn in the prospect of war, most speculators in the actively traded S&P 5oo futures market tend to go short, allowing the team at Cersei Fund Management to build long positions worth over $1oo00 million in just a few weeks.

Although we don't expect Cersei Capital's hedge funds to pump too much money into the Westeros system in the coming years. However, this time, because Simon's prediction of the war situation is different from most people's predictions, in the next few months, as long as everything follows the historical trajectory, Cersei Capital will still be able to obtain very rich gains.

Throughout 1991, Cersei Fund Management was able to easily beat Wall Street's hedge funds in terms of profitability.

Not seeking to create miracles, only seeking to surpass peers, this is Simon's performance requirements for Cersei Capital after it enters the formal state of operation. This is not easy for other fund houses on Wall Street, but for Cersei Capital, relying on Simon's prophetic advantage and excellent enough operation team, it is not difficult to do so.

Time does not stop for the oppressive atmosphere of war.

On January 15, the final deadline, Saddam Hussein still did not implement the UN withdrawal agreement, the United States-sponsored multinational force began to authorize the military for war, and Iraq's million-strong army was ready to respond.

On January 17, at two o'clock in the morning local time, countless warplanes took off from US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and military airfields in Saudi Arabia, flocking like swarms to key military targets in Iraq that had been locked in advance.

Many had expected the Iraqi Air Force to fight back, but the multinational force showed an overwhelming superiority that completely rendered the Iraqi army completely incapacitated.

Iraq's air defense system has almost no room for recourse in the face of US high-tech stealth bombers, and the backward Scud missiles are equally vulnerable to the latest precision-guided missiles of the US military, and the Iraqi Air Force has not yet made much of a response before it is firmly suppressed by the fighters of the multinational forces.

In less than a day's intensive air strikes, the strategic objectives of the first phase of the multinational force were quickly achieved, and Iraq's air bases and air defense facilities were completely destroyed by the rain of guided missiles, cluster bombs, and air bombs.

The devastation of this war shocked the whole world.

International crude oil market.

With the continuous feedback of the news of the war, the international crude oil price, which continued to soar on the eve of the war, began to take a sharp turn after only two hours after the outbreak of the war.

On January 16, the day before the outbreak of the war, the international crude oil price was as high as $26 a barrel, and a few hours after the outbreak of the war, the international crude oil price had fallen to a low level of 2O US dollars, basically reaching the level before the outbreak of the Kuwait war last year.

Affected by the haze of war, the North American film market saw a significant decline in the week before the outbreak of the war.

After a 34% drop in the box office in the third week of "Home Alone", the box office fell by 29% again in the fourth week from January 11 to January 17, and the box office fell further to $22.21 million in a single week. The total box office in four weeks is $142.11 million.

Because the war situation has exceeded most people's expectations, although many people are still attracted by the smoke of gunfire in the Gulf region, the North American film market has not cooled further, but has begun to rebound in the new week.

Before the outbreak of the war, the organizers of the American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards had been hesitant to cancel the new awards ceremony scheduled for January 19. As the war situation finally became clear, Golden Globe organizers soon announced that the ceremony would be held at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

This year's Golden Globe Awards are only nominated for Best Picture in the Drama and Comedy categories, and Daenerys Entertainment accounts for three, namely "Dances with Wolves" and "The Intersection of Life", which are nominated for Best Picture in the Drama category, and "Ghost Love", which is nominated for Best Picture in the Musical Comedy category.

In fact, in the original time and space, "Pretty Woman" and "Home Alone" were also nominated for Best Picture in the Musical Comedy category.

However, if Daenerys Entertainment accounts for half of the 1O Best Picture nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, it will be too glaring. After weighing up, Daenerys Entertainment finally applied for Best Picture nominations for only three films including "Dances with Wolves".

Among them, "Dances with Wolves" is the top priority, and there is no room for error. The other two, depending on the attitude of the organizers of the Golden Globe Awards, give it or not, the impact is not too big.

As a result, all three films were nominated.

Fortunately, all three movies deserve their names, so they didn't cause too much controversy. However, some media people have raised objections to Daenerys Entertainment's "Home Alone" and "Pretty Woman" not being nominated for Best Picture in the Musical Comedy category.

After several months of busyness, two acquisitions were finalized, but Simon did not have time to relax.

After the savage growth of the Westeros system in 199o, it has unknowingly accumulated too many problems, and in order to avoid the accumulation of difficulties, Simon did not dare to slack off.

In addition, while more power has been delegated to the management of each company, Simon has become more and more strict in the financial supervision of each company. This is the period at the beginning of the year, as is customary, when the financial audits of companies are conducted.

Despite the heavy workload every day, on Jan. 19, Simon appeared on the red carpet outside the Hilton Beverly Hills with Janet in full costume.

After all, not only are three films including "Dances with Wolves" nominated for Best Picture, but Daenerys Entertainment's "Pretty Woman", "Home Alone", "Ten Days of Danger" and other films have also won a lot of nominations for other awards.

In addition to the film awards, Daenerys Entertainment's reality shows and TV series have also received a large number of nominations in various TV awards, and all have very strong winning potential.

Therefore, before the awards ceremony began, Daenerys Entertainment had already prepared a grand celebration party at Daenerys Studios in Malibu.

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