A marina in Melbourne's south.

After three days of filming, "The Batman" finally ended the first fight scene of the film.

The plot begins with five consecutive murders in Gotham City, where some of the victims were shot, some had their necks broken, and some had signs of being bitten by animals. Batman follows the trail and rescues Vicky Wahl, a female Gotham Times reporter, from the imminent murder of her, and traces her down the sewers to an abandoned dock on the edge of the city.

The murderer revealed his true face, which turned out to be a large, crocodile-like strange man with sharp teeth and scales.

After a grueling struggle, Batman finally subdues the crocodile.

At the same time, the frightened Vicky Wahl called the police, and Director Gordon, who was also closely tracking the recent murders, personally led the team to the docks. Because of the arrival of the police, Batman did not have time to interrogate the crocodile man and had to flee early.

This action scene is followed by a literary scene, and it is also the first official contact between Director Gordon and Batman.

The recently started night scene filming from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., which is still eight hours. It's the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and it's a long day, but it's usually night after the pre-shooting preparations have been completed.

It was already one o'clock in the morning, after the previous action scene. The scene didn't need to be switched too much, as the police cleaned up the mess in the original premises, and Chief Gordon was alerted to a nearby warehouse.

The set was completed ahead of schedule, Simon had a brief conversation with the two actors, Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones, and filming began.

The clapperboard was laid, and all the actors who had been buried in advance moved.

Director Gordon staggered to the street lamp in front of the warehouse, while Batman crouched on the edge of the warehouse roof, most of his body shrouded in a cloak. The composition of the shot carries an obvious allegorical meaning, Director Gordon and Batman, one in the light and the other in the dark.

Feeling a slight noise overhead, Sheriff Gordon looked up and finally saw the 'wanted criminal' he had also been looking for for a long time.

The two briefly confronted each other for a moment, and Gordon spoke first: "Okay, although...... But, you're doing a good job. ”

Batman didn't mean to greet Gordon, his voice was calm and cold, and said, "Have you found the connection?"

Gordon nodded: "Counting Vicky Val, three journalists have been attacked in the last week. Something must have happened in the city, someone wants to cover it up. ”

Batman paused, not informing Gordon that he had actually found five related murders, but said, "I need a copy of that crocodile's interrogation report." ”

"I'm not going to work with a wanted criminal," Gordon blurted out, noticing Batman's hesitation, and asked again, "Do you know anything else?"

Batman replied, "I'm not going to work with the police." ”

Gordon frowned: "Then why do you think I'll report it to you?"

"Tomorrow night at 12 o'clock, still here. ”

Gordon shifted his steps, as if pondering how to gain some initiative. After a short moment, I looked up again, and the figure on the roof had disappeared.

“CUT！”

Simon, who was behind the monitor, raised his hand slightly and shouted, and began to play back the footage just now.

Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones soon gathered.

"The mood is still a little out of place," Simon explained to Tommy Lee Jones according to the replay, "Tommy, this conversation means that the two of you have unconsciously formed some kind of latent tacit understanding, so the rhythm needs to be mastered. Also, your little action just now was too deliberate, adjust it next time. ”

What Simon needs is a feeling, and naturally there is no way to tell the two in too much detail how to act, so they can only figure it out by themselves.

After a brief discussion, the two actors prepared a little and then started the second shooting.

Bruce Wayne basically had three nos when he was in the state of Batman, and his acting requirements for Adam Baldwin were not high, and Tommy Lee Jones was also a veteran actor for many years. Therefore, after shooting a few in a row, Simon got the satisfactory effect he needed.

At two o'clock, the crew called it a day on time.

Simon went to bed at about three o'clock in the morning, and the next morning he had already eaten breakfast and returned to his study in his hotel suite.

Jennifer's main job is to maintain contact with the two companies in North America, and she does not need to stay up late with Simon on the set. Simon walked into the study, and the female assistant had already prepared the documents he needed to review today.

"We have successfully established 5,000 long contracts of Nikkei 225 Index futures on two commodity futures exchanges in Osaka and Singapore, with an index position of about 31,200 points, with an average margin of $25,300 per lot, and a total margin payment of $126 million. Dad felt that the company only needed to keep a reserve of $50 million to protect against risks, so he could add another 1,000 lots to open a position. ”

At the beginning, the S&P 500 index futures, with 10 times leverage, only required a single margin of about $15,000.

Nikkei 225 futures are still 10x leveraged. However, the contract multiplier for this index futures is 1,000 yen, which means that the book value of each contract held by Westeros is 31.2 million yen.

In recent years, the yen has continued to appreciate against the dollar, and the recent exchange rate has reached 123 to 1. 31,200,000 yen is roughly $250,000 when converted, and a 10% margin ratio is $25,000.

Simon listened to Jennifer's introduction while flipping through the papers in his hand.

In the last two weeks, the Nikkei 225 index has significantly accelerated. When the Nikkei 225 crossed 30,000 points in December, it rose by only 623 points in the month, but in the last two weeks, the Nikkei has risen by a full 860 points, or 2.7%.

I don't know if someone heard the news and started to follow the results of the approach.

Westeros currently has only $200 million at its disposal, which has just been transferred from Daenerys Entertainment, and the planned 5,000 lots are completed, leaving only $70 million left. Simon doesn't have the same clear picture of the Japanese stock market as it did in October the year before the North American stock market, so he certainly can't fill his position and needs to set aside a fund to protect against the risk of a margin call.

After rough calculation, according to the current position ratio, if the Nikkei 225 index can still reach a high of more than 38,000 points in the original time and space. Theoretically, excluding the tax on stock index futures trading in the Japanese market and the high capital gains tax, Westeros' $200 million principal could probably double by the end of the year, achieving a net profit of 100%.

Compared with the one two years ago, the current year-long operation and 100% net profit are really not too good business. Simon could have made so much money in a year if he had made other investments based on the information in his memory.

For example, buy Columbia Pictures stock now.

In 1988, Columbia Pictures released a total of 15 films, but the annual box office was only $88 million. That's right, 15 films, 88 million, an average box office revenue of less than $6 million per movie.

Samsung Pictures, a joint venture between Colombia and HBO, had a better box office figure for the year, but the same 15 films grossed only $198 million in 1988. In order to cover up this fact, BO's parent company, Times Group, even had to allocate the losses to other departments through financial means.

Although the news of Sony's possible acquisition of Colombia has been reported, Colombia's share price has continued to fall, dragged down by the studio's sluggish performance, and even the Coca-Cola Group, which owns 49% of Colombia, has fallen.

Columbia Pictures now has a market capitalization of only $1.6 billion, a debt ratio of 100%, and it will be insolvent if it continues to fall.

However, Simon clearly remembers that in the second half of the year, Sony's acquisition of Colombia was more than double the final transaction price of $3.4 billion. Moreover, Sony also took on the entire $1.6 billion debt of Colombia, bringing the total value of the entire transaction to $5 billion.

If Simon enters the market now to buy Columbia Pictures stock, he can also double the income in the second half of the year, and the risk is lower.

However, because he is in Hollywood, Simon's actions will definitely lead to unnecessary speculation and even insider trading investigations.

With a large number of arbitrage trading tycoons such as Ivan Boskey and Michael Milken, who have been calling for the wind and rain on Wall Street for many years, the federal investigation agencies, which have made enough prestige and are in the middle of the spring breeze, must hope to bring Simon Westeros into the net, a big fish with an even more bizarre rich-to-riches trajectory.

Therefore, in the face of many stock arbitrage opportunities such as the recent Reynolds Nabiske merger and Sony's acquisition of Colombia in the coming months, Simon has refrained from making a move.

While at odds with most of Wall Street's hedge funds that are bearish on the Japanese stock market, there is no such risk when making money on the Japanese stock market.

Suppressing the rise of Japan is completely the 'political correctness' of the United States in recent years.

Of course, the profits generated by speculating on Nikkei 225 futures don't necessarily come from Japan, but that's not something Simon needs to consider.

After thinking about it in his mind, Simon heard Jennifer relay James Raybould's suggestion, thought about it and quickly nodded, "Yes." ”

The open interest has increased to 6,000 lots, and the risk is still under control. However, even so, the expected earnings are still difficult to satisfy Simon's appetite.

Funding is still a big issue.

Simon didn't intend to speculate on stock index futures with loans, and it was unlikely that he would get a loan for that reason, and he wouldn't allow himself to take such a risk.

Thinking so, he suddenly remembered something, Simon looked up and asked Jennifer, "Is your dad still in the company?"

Jennifer nodded: "It's six o'clock in the afternoon in New York, but Dad is still there, and Dad called you when you had breakfast and said he would be waiting for you." ”

As she spoke, the female assistant picked up the phone on the table, skillfully dialed a string of numbers, and then handed the microphone to Simon.

Westeros holds a stake in 16 of the 25 publicly traded technology companies it owns, while the other nine simply hold shares and do not sit on boards.

In order to avoid affecting the entire technology stock market in the process of reducing its stake in Motorola, Westeros issued a one-year non-reduction statement for companies that have not joined the board of directors and a three-year non-reduction statement for companies with board seats.

Now a year after that announcement, Simon can now raise more money by reducing his holdings in some of his tech stocks to run the Japanese stock market.

Talked to James Raybould on the phone for half an hour. The two roughly determined a plan to reduce the holdings of 6 stocks, of which 3 are those that have performed poorly in the past year or so, and 3 are those that Simon has long confirmed that he will reduce his holdings, such as Apple.

Simon deliberately gave up joining Apple's board of directors for this reason.

Westeros bought Apple during the crash with a market capitalization of about $3 billion, a total of $150 million, and a small increase in holdings last year, just over 5%.

Recently, Apple's market capitalization has increased to $5.3 billion, and Westeros has a book profit of more than 75%, with a total value of $260 million.

While it is remembered that Apple's market capitalization will exceed $7 billion in the next few years, Simon does not intend to wait any longer. Of course, he didn't think about selling them all in the short term, about 5% of the shares are already a large proportion for a listed company, and selling too much at one time will definitely have a serious impact on Apple shares.

However, with a total of 6 stocks, even if Westeros will have a certain impact on the stock price after the announcement of the reduction of holdings, it can easily cash out $300 million in the next month. After Daenerys Entertainment completes its financial audit, it will be able to transfer another portion of the funds to Westeros.

With more than $500 million in principal, Simon can confidently increase its open interest in Nikkei 225 futures to 15,000 lots.

While more could be invested, Simon also intends to do so in moderation.

After cashing out in the next month, Westeros will continue to reduce its holdings when the stock market stabilizes a little, but the excess funds are intended to be used by Simon to increase his holdings of Microsoft, Intel and other companies.

The forward returns of this part of the investment are actually even larger.

Hanging up James Raybould's phone, Simon began to flip through several documents from Daenerys Entertainment again.

After reading Robert Iger's report on ABC Network's request for Daenerys Entertainment to significantly reduce the offer for the second season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and participate in the share of ad placement, Simon called Los Angeles again.

It's only three o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and it's work time.

Daenerys Entertainment was able to make $250 million from the first season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", but ABC could only get $80 million. While Simon would love this profit-sharing model to continue, he also knew it wasn't possible.

The company took advantage of the Hollywood writers' strike last year, and ABC will not make that mistake again this year.

Fortunately, Daenerys Entertainment has negotiated a contract with NBC for the next three seasons of "Survivor" in advance.

Although the ratings of "Survivor" are higher than "Who Will Become a Millionaire", the scale of 1 issue per week and 13 episodes per season has not seen such a strong backlash from ABC.

After discussing the negotiation plan with ABC, Simon had just hung up the phone, but this time the bell rang on his own initiative.

When I answered again, it was Sofia Faisi calling from Florence, Italy, where Gucci's headquarters were located.

During the call, Sophia said she had negotiated a 39 percent stake in Gucci and continued to engage with other members of the Gucci family.

Although the Gucci family basically reached an acquisition agreement last time, the Gucci family's equity is relatively dispersed, and the specific price and other conditions need to be discussed separately between Sophia and the three branches of the Gucci family.

Sophia also predicts that she will be able to acquire more than 60% of Gucci because of her abundant funds, which is a bit higher than the absolute shareholding originally planned.

Simon held the microphone in one hand and spoke to Sophia on the phone, casually flipping through Nancy Brill's development plan for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game, and his expression was suddenly a little surprised.