The Seagram Group in 1999 was very beautiful.

This year, the brewing group from Canada completed the acquisition of PolyGram, the world's oldest record company, and merged with its Universal Music Company to form Universal Music Group, plus its Universal Pictures and other entertainment companies, is gradually moving closer to the media giant.

And Donn, is waiting to see the joke of the Seagram Group.

The company was acquired for many years, and the industry spread out too quickly, resulting in a broken capital chain and a strong debt burden, and was forced to sell to the French Vivendi Group in 2000.

Originally a water company, Vivendi Group, like Seagram Brewing Company, is looking forward to the transformation into a media group through a series of acquisitions and restructurings.

In fact, Vivendi did just that, and after the acquisition of Seagram Group, it became the world's second-largest media company after AOL.

But the result?

Vivendi followed the path of the Seagram Group, which grew too fast and caused huge losses, and eventually Universal Pictures was sold to General Electric, which merged NBC Group and Universal Entertainment to form NBCUniversal.

Don has no interest in Seagram, and even more so in the notorious Vivendi Group, he is a filmmaker, and he is interested in Universal Pictures.

In April 2000, the Seagram Group encountered a debt crisis, and in June it was acquired by the Vivendi Group, and in December the Vivendi Group acquired all the shares of Universal Pictures and Universal Music.

Don is interested in cutting off Universal Pictures.

With a pipeline of more than 1,000 films, global distribution channels, and full studios and soundstages, Universal Pictures is a major member of the MPAA and one of the eight traditional Hollywood film studios, with a pivotal position in Hollywood.

Donne's original plan was a bit like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steve Spielberg, and David Finger, to start a company of his own and then break the monopoly of the Big Six studios.

But after a few years in the industry, coupled with some prophetic information, Don felt more and more that this road was too difficult to follow.

The MPAA rating alone is enough to make any film company outside of the Big Six grief!

Harvey Weinstein was once called "God" by Hollywood, but after he left Disney en masse with his team and founded Weinstein Pictures, he suffered continuous losses in film ratings.

Who would have imagined that "The King's Speech" would be rated as an R-rated film?

And "The New Mummy" starring Tom Cruise and produced by Universal Pictures, which is thriller and horror, is rated PG-13.

Don't look at Don't look at Don't be famous and prosperous now, that's because Towne Pictures is not strong enough to touch the substantive interests of the six major film companies, and there is Twentieth Century Fox as a backer behind it.

When Donn does have the Oscar-winning influence of Harvey Weinstein, the target from the big corporations will definitely come.

Don wants to take precautions, taking advantage of the debt crisis of the Seagram Group, and winning Universal Pictures is the best way!

The source of funds is, of course, the technology stock market crash.

During this time, Donn has been staying in New York, and the official activities of the Golden Globe Awards and Oscars have all been refused, and even the later stages of "Spider-Man" have been handed over to his assistant Morgan Carrey to deal with.

He's keeping an eye on Yahoo stock.

On December 21, Yahoo's stock price broke through the $400 mark for the first time, reaching $408.31!

Don resisted the urge and didn't sell.

On December 22, Yahoo stock opened at $405.75 and peaked at $421.19.

Donn was indifferent.

On December 23, Yahoo stock opened at $417.5 and peaked at $426.25.

Don continued to hold back.

In the following days, the stock price declined, staying around $400 until December 30, when it opened at $421.75 and peaked at $448!

"Donn, it's time to make a move!" Scott Swift's eyes were red, like a hungry wolf who hadn't eaten for half a month.

Don frowned.

In his memory, Yahoo's market capitalization peaked at more than $120 billion, but it lasted for a short time, and Yahoo's share price was ...... based on Yahoo's total share capital of 250 million The highest should be close to $500!

What's more, the crash occurred in 2000, not at the end of 1999!

Yahoo stock price will rise!

"No, let's keep waiting!"

Don gritted his silver teeth with a determined expression.

"But ......"

"Needless to say, I have my own considerations!"

On Friday, December 31, Yahoo stock opened at $420.44 and peaked at $441.5, a decline since yesterday.

"Don, you can't wait any longer, throw it!"

Scott Swift has been involved in stock trading for many years, and he has a wealth of knowledge about stock operations, so he is very cautious. The stock market is changing rapidly, and it is a great tool to make money in the stock market.

But Don is different, he is prescient, he has a firm personality, "I said, you can't throw it!"

"Tomorrow is the weekend, and the next two days are unpredictable. In case of an accident, when the market restarts on Monday, it is likely to plummet! The price of nearly $450 is enough!"

Scott Swift couldn't understand where Donn's confidence came from? The stock market is changing rapidly, and he holds 2.1 million shares of Yahoo stock, and if Yahoo stock moves like last year, Donn is likely to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the blink of an eye.

Done, however, is self-confidence!

……

At the end of the year, Albert Einstein was named the greatest figure of the 20th century.

In 2000, the 21st century came.

At the first shareholders' meeting of the new millennium, Bill McNick was overwhelmed.

Tom Rothman, president of Twentieth Century Fox, formally applied to the board of directors that Bill McNick should be removed from his position as chairman of the board and CEO because of the major failure of "Fight Club".

Because News Corp., the largest controlling shareholder of Fox, did not take a stand, Bill McNick remained in his position for the time being. But Tom Rothman also won the opportunity to hold a second shareholders' meeting half a month later.

I had half a month to communicate with News Corp.'s headquarters, and almost everyone understood that the next shareholder meeting would be when Bill McNick left Twentieth Century Fox.

Donn's old buddy Bill McNick has had a bad time lately, and he's lost a lot of weight.

In contrast, the young Don was in high spirits!

On Monday, January 3, 2000, the NASDAQ reopened!

Yahoo stock opened at $442.92 and peaked at $477, with the Dow Jones up 200 points.

Don gave the order to sell 300,000 shares at an average price of $469.

On January 4, the opening price was $464.5, the highest peak ...... Directly crossed the $500 mark and reached $500.13!

This time, Scott Swift, who is not single, is crazy, and even Don is surprised and shouts loudly, it is done, it is today!

"Throw, as many as you want, throw them all to me!"

Donn's roar resounded in the VIP room of the NASDAQ exchange.

On this day, the total volume of Yahoo stock reached more than 69 million shares, and Tang En sold 500,000 shares at an average price of $478.6, 1 million shares at an average price of $482.3, and the last 300,000 shares at an average price of $466.7 in three stages.

In the end, Donn's 2.1 million Yahoo shares brought him a total of $1 billion!

For a fraction of $2.31 million, Donn gave a check directly to Scott Swift.

He is not Donn's manager, it is impossible to get 20% or more of the profit dividend, he is just a subordinate who works according to Donn's orders, and giving him a check for two million dollars is already a huge reward.

With $1 billion in revenue, including Donn's $80 million in costs, and a 15% capital income tax, Donn made a total of 10-15% * (10-0.8) = $862 million in net income by investing in Yahoo stock!

It's only January now, and Don won't be able to pay his taxes in advance, anyway, he doesn't have a lot of debts, and he still needs to use this money to make another big profit.

"I think it's time to start the short-selling mechanism!"

Don, who got the money, was very excited, even a little carried away.

Scott Swift shook his head calmly: "Leverage short...... To put it simply, it is to borrow the shares of another person or institution and sell them now. Then, within the specified period, the shares are returned. But now that Yahoo stock is so hot, who is willing to lend us shares?"

"Huh?"

Don was a layman, and looked at Scott Swift in a daze, "So what now?"

"Wait!"

"Wait?"

"That's right, Yahoo stock is in an abnormal period now, the stock price is too high, and it will definitely fall back in a short time. "But now that the Nasdaq is high, the Dow Jones is steadily rising, and Yahoo is the hallmark of technology stocks, there will never be a big decline." ”

Tang En pursed his lips, the stockbroker really relied on the blind fool of a mouth, if he hadn't been prescient, he would have really believed it.

"I just want to know, can we go short at all?"

"Yes!"

"When?"

"Wait for the stock price to be stable, about ...... Between $300 and $350. At that time, it is time for retail investors and securities institutions to calm down, and normal futures operations can operate. ”

"That's fine. Don nodded and smiled, "How do you do that?"

Scott said: "I won't go into the details, there is a question, how much leverage do you want? The higher the multiplier, the greater the risk. ”

"There's no risk!hmm...... It's 100 times over!"

"Difficult!" Scott frowned slightly, "Yahoo's total share capital is less than 250 million, and the share capital circulating in the market is more than 100 million, and we can 'borrow' about 10 million shares at most." Don, if you want to make more money in the futures market, Yahoo alone can't eat the $1 billion in your hands. ”

Don turned pale and groaned.