In the face of Eric's sudden strength, Robert Shay's face became ugly, but his momentum also weakened, and he asked unwillingly: "Eric, then you should always tell me what you are going to do with this money, right?"

Eric shook his head without hesitation: "I'm sorry, Robert, I can't say. ”

The muscles on Robert Shay's face quivered a few times in annoyance, and he quickly added, "Eric, if you insist on this, I think my next film may need to bring in outside investment." ”

"No problem. ”

Eric readily agreed, Robert Shea had the same idea as he had previously established Black Ant Film Company, wanting to use Firefly's distribution channels to make more profits, and most of the so-called external investment was probably just Robert Shay's personal investment.

It seems that the box office success of "Sleeping with the Enemy" has made Robert Shay even more inflated, but that's fine, anyway, Eric has already made up his mind to let Robert Shay get out of the way at the end of the year, even if he uses the channel of fireflies, it is only this time, not to mention whether he can make money is another matter.

Hearing Eric's readily agreed, Robert Shea hesitated, and quickly added: "Of course, Firefly still has to participate in part of the investment, and I won't let our own company suffer too much." ”

Eric sneered in his heart, Robert Shay still has some self-knowledge left, saying that he will not let the company suffer, but in fact, he just doesn't want the film to be completely disconnected from himself, so that he is for his own interests. It is impossible to ignore the film. The film was a big hit. Of course, the credit goes to Robert, and if he fails, Robert Shea can find an excuse to deal with it.

Still, Eric nodded again: "That's fine." ”

"So be it, I'll go to work first," Robert Shay said with a meaningful look at Caroline Elliot, Firefly's chief financial officer, who had been waiting next to him, and got up to leave the room.

"Eric, are you really going to siphon off all the company's money?" Caroline Elliot asked uncertainly, pushing the glasses on the bridge of her nose.

Eric nodded and asked, "How much money do you have in the company's account now?"

Caroline Elliott handed over the paper clip in her hand: "A total of $149.5 million." ”

Eric opened the text folder and muttered, "Why so little?"

Caroline Elliot rolled her eyes, "Is that too little? Even the Big Seven don't necessarily have such a huge cash flow.

"Eric, it's already a lot, and it's because the $75 million box office share of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" at the beginning of the month has just entered the company's account, otherwise there are only more than 70 million in the account now, although several movies at the end of last year had a large amount of money, but in April just paid $150 million in various taxes. In addition, in the past six months, projects such as "Ghost Love", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "The X-Files" and "Who Will Become a Millionaire" have occupied funds, the company's channel expansion and video tape publicity and distribution consumption. And the money you have successively withdrawn for Black Ant Pictures, Pixar and the digital field, these add up, and it is a miracle that the company can have nearly 150 million left. ”

Eric quickly flipped through the detailed income and expenditure statements and realized that Caroline Elliott was telling the truth.

Firefly is in a period of rapid development, and like many companies in this period, the consumption of funds is very large, and if it were not for the box office sales of Eric Zuò to provide enough money for Firefly, Firefly would now inevitably embark on the path of external financing.

"In this way, leave 9.5 million in liquidity, and wait for my news, all of which will be transferred to the designated account," Eric said, closing the statement.

Caroline Elliot hesitated: "Eric, $9.5 million is definitely not enough, the second part of "Friends" is already in production, according to the cost of $1 million per episode of eight episodes per month, it will need 8 million, not to mention that the company needs other expenses." ”

The first season was a success, and the cost of the second season of "Friends" skyrocketed, reaching $1 million per episode.

Thinking of the sweet face he hadn't seen for a long time, Eric showed a momentary hesitation, but quickly said: "It's just a month, Caroline, besides, we can't have no income this month, aren't all the videotapes of those movies already on the market at the end of the year? ”

Caroline Elliot couldn't help pushing the glasses on the bridge of her nose again, frowning slightly, wanting to say something, looking at Eric's face, she swallowed back what she wanted to say.

With the funding settled, Eric quickly boarded a flight to New York.

Headquartered in a building in Manhattan's business center, Firefly Investments' main asset is a 23 percent stake in Cisco, and Chris is responsible for Eric's private wealth management.

Although he had already been notified by the phone, it was not yet 12 noon Eastern Time when Eric arrived in New York, much to Chris Hansen's surprise.

The two of them arrived at the office together, and Eric pulled out the newspapers he had put together last night and pushed them in front of Chris, briefly stating his thoughts.

Chris listened to Eric's analysis of being a bit of a layman but to the point, nodded from time to time, and waited for Eric to finish before he said: "Eric, because of the situation in the Middle East during this time, crude oil futures have indeed continued to rise, if you are interested, you can invest one or two hundred million to play." ”

"Chris, do you think I've flown to New York in such a hurry just to have fun?"

Chris looked at Eric and sat up straight, feeling bad in his heart.

Eric pressed his arm against the table, leaned forward slightly, stared at Chris and said seriously: "Chris, before I came, I had already contacted Firefly, Pixar and all the liquidity in the digital field, the specific number is still being counted, I estimate that the scale is almost 200 million US dollars, and I will continue to raise funds with all my strength in the next month." ”

"So?" asked Chris in an uncertain tone.

"I want to make a big bet," Eric replied, "$200 million, all long crude oil futures!"

"Eric, I think you need to calm down, have you listened to someone's demagogy?"

Chris reached out and took out a copy of the newspaper that Eric handed over, and pointed to a number of articles on the financial section: "You see, in the past three months, the price of crude oil has risen from $14 to $18 per barrel, and most statistical agencies predict that even if the situation in the Middle East is deadlocked again, the price of crude oil will not exceed $20 per barrel." If you go forward in three months, you will definitely make a lot of money, but no one can predict that now that oil prices have reached a high of $18, they will definitely fluctuate between $18 and $20, and the risk of entering the market is extremely high. ”

"What if there is a fight in the Middle East?" Eric asked rhetorically.

Chris remembered what Eric had said when he first arrived, and realized that Eric had just been reading the information in the newspapers in front of him, hinting that he might start another war in the Middle East.

"It's even more impossible, Eric, who fights whom?" Chris asked rhetorically: "The force value of those Arab countries in the Middle East is generally not high, let's just say that Saudi Arabia, millions of square kilometers of land, only 70,000 troops, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar These small countries are almost equal to nothing, and Iraq, which is most likely to cause a war, has just fought with Iran for eight years, and the domestic economy is about to collapse, Saddam Hussein is not a fool, don't look at his current treatment of Kuwait, The small countries of the United Arab Emirates have flaunted their muscles and slandered Kuwait for stealing Iraqi oil, but at best, they have only blackmailed some benefits as they have done in the past. ”

"Saddam Hussein, of course, was not a fool, but he was a madman. Chris, think about what would happen if Iraq invaded Kuwait?"