Cindy sighed a little staggered: "Tens of billions of dollars, I think for these tens of billions of dollars, they will definitely fight the lawsuit hard, I saw in yesterday's article, Sony was fighting a ten-year lawsuit with Disney and Universal for the VCR." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Eric laughs: "You're definitely looking at the kind of newspapers that like to be alarmist, and they just don't mention the most important point, which is that the Sony VCR case has been a very favorable result for Fireflyer." What's more, if Fireflyer becomes widespread and will provide a lot of tax revenue and jobs for the federal government every year, do you think the federal courts may crack down on their own potential big taxpayers on behalf of the Japanese?"

Local protectionism exists in any country or region.

If the core patents of traditional portable music players are in the hands of local companies in the United States, involving tens of billions of dollars of huge interest entanglements, Firefly Electronics may still encounter some trouble, but these patents are precisely in the hands of the Japanese, even if they are traditional player manufacturers in the United States, they have to pay a large amount of patent licensing fees to Japanese companies every year.

In this case, the federal court in San Francisco was willing to stand up for the Japanese.

Chris has mentioned in recent phone calls from San Francisco that the federal court in San Francisco is likely to dismiss the lawsuit against Sony and the other two major record companies, and will not file a case at all.

Cindy tilted her head slightly and listened quietly, and finally asked with great interest, "What is case law?"

"You're not going to be interested," Eric shook his head, looking at Cindy with a smile on his lips, "I'm curious, why did you suddenly ask about this?"

"Actually, that's right," Cindy didn't show the embarrassment of being spied on by Eric, and said with a serious expression, "Didn't you suggest that I invest in technology stocks last year?" ”

Eric probably understood, and smiled, "You really bought it?"

Cindy stretched out two white slender fingers and shook them: "$20 million, all of which bought the four stocks you mentioned with me last year." ”

Eric really couldn't remember these details, and asked, "Which four stocks?"

"It's AOL, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel," Cindy said, her eyes widening suddenly, "God, you forgot, that's most of my savings." ”

Eric hurriedly made a downward gesture: "Don't make such a fuss, and you must have earned it, right?"

Cindy also realized that she was overreacting, because of the identities of the two, there were guests who looked at this side frequently, and at this time, a large number of eyes were looking at it brightly.

Cindy took a sip of red wine in disguise, and then Cindy lowered her voice with some excitement: "Yes, it's crazy, these stocks have all more than doubled in a year, and now the value of the shares in my hand is close to $50 million." I never thought I'd have that much money. ”

Eric actually feels the same way, Clover Fund has been continuously pouring money into the Nasdaq market, and the current paper return is even more amazing than the small plate in Cindy's hands.

"And then?" asked Eric with a smile, knowing that Cindy wouldn't mention it for no reason.

Cindy stopped going around in circles, slowly sliced the cod on the plate, and said, "Recently, my stockbroker suggested that I liquidate all the stocks as soon as possible, but I'm a little unsure, so I want to ask your opinion first." ”

Eric wondered, "Does the other party have any explanation, I mean, why did you suddenly suggest that you clear your position?" ”

"Well," Cindy nodded, "he said that the next possible economic crisis in Southeast Asia would spread to North America, causing the Nasdaq market to collapse." ”

The Nasdaq is now close to 1,500 points, almost double from three years ago.

Therefore, there have long been bearish voices on the NASDAQ in the investment market, and Eric may be the only one in the world who dares to be 100% sure that the NASDAQ index is far from reaching its limit.

However, Eric would not be surprised if Cindy's stockbroker lobbied her to sell the stock on the grounds that the Nasdaq was inflated, as it was common for stockbrokers to encourage their clients to buy and sell stocks frequently in order to earn more commissions, but instead used the reason that the Southeast Asian economic crisis could hit North America.

After thinking about it, Eric said, "Cindy, I don't know what your stockbroker skills are. Still, if it were me, I'd definitely do the same now. ”

Cindy blinked and asked the same question as Eric just now, "And then?"

Eric took a sip of red wine before saying, "No one can be sure that the Southeast Asian economy will actually suffer a crisis, so once this prediction comes true, I will definitely become that kind of far-sighted stockbroker in your eyes, and you will trust me more in the future." In this case, if the North American stock market is not affected, but continues to soar, then I only need to give a reasonable reason, and you will definitely continue to listen to my advice and buy again, and this time and again, two commissions will be in hand. ”

Cindy obviously couldn't keep up with Eric's train of thought, and her thoughts turned in a big circle, and when Eric finished cleaning up the last bit of food on her plate, she figured out something a little, and said, "You mean, that guy deliberately lied to me?"

Eric shrugged: "It's just a possibility, I don't know your stockbroker, maybe he's really thinking about the client, who knows." ”

"But," Cindy said, twining the cutlery in her hand on the fine porcelain plate, "You seem to be saying, well, the Southeast Asian economic crisis will happen, but it won't affect the North American stock market, right? ”

"Of course there will be an impact, but the impact is exactly the opposite of what your stockbroker described. Let's put it this way, do you know what the biggest impact of the two world wars on the global economic landscape was?"

Cindy shook her head, "I don't know, I'm not interested in fighting wars or anything like that. ”

Eric said helplessly, "Didn't you go to college?"

Cindy raised her good-looking face: "Of course, the Department of Chemical Engineering of Northwest University, although I have only studied for one year, I still remember the molecular formula of water, h...... Well, ho2, right?"

"Well, the water you're drinking is really special," Eric decided not to know if the goblin was maliciously selling cuteness, and decided not to discuss the 'heavy' topic of hydrogen dioxide, and continued: "The biggest impact of the two world wars on the global economy was the collapse of Europe that led to the rise of the Commonwealth. Similarly, an attack on Southeast Asia's monetary system triggers an economic crisis, the repercussions are tantamount to a large-scale war. The emerging economies of Southeast Asian countries have been destroyed, and the original capital will definitely choose to flee. Europe, with its generally high welfare and inefficient social system, and the fact that European countries will almost never be able to achieve integration, has made it difficult to form much of an attraction to capital. In this case, North America will once again become the best destination for capital to flee. The most intuitive manifestation of the influx of capital must be the coming of a bull market in the stock market. So, it's just the beginning. ”

Cindy understood this time and nodded, "Looks like I need a different stockbroker." But, Eric, can I continue to buy now, and when do you think it's better to sell these stocks?"

"Of course, the time to sell," Eric thought for a moment and said, "Yahoo's listing will definitely bring the Nasdaq to a high point, and then you can start selling, and don't enter the market again after the clearance." ”

As far as he recalls, the NASDAQ stock market crashed in March 2000, but with his own hands creating a swarm of 'big butterflies', Eric determined that the NASDAQ could no longer follow its original historical trajectory.

Yahoo will probably choose the end of 98 to the beginning of 99 that time to go public, as the most high-profile Internet technology company, Yahoo listing will definitely drive the entire market up, then it is indeed a good time to sell, Cindy's stock must have appreciated several times by then, there is no need to be too greedy.

As for the shares held by the Clover Fund, Eric has a more detailed plan, but these must not be revealed to Cindy casually.

Cindy also saw that Eric was reserved, and although she was curious to know when Yahoo would be released, she also understood the truth of moderation, and was very clever not to continue to ask.

The food was almost the same as the two of them, and it was still early, so Cindy didn't mean to leave, ordered coffee, and continued to talk to Eric.

Although she often can't keep up with Eric's thoughts, Cindy also understands that the information she gets at random when she gets along with Eric is a hundred times better than those who only talk about it, and others may be obsessed with her beauty, but this trick has little effect on Eric, and it will only become more and more difficult to ask this man out in the future, and she cherishes this opportunity.

Adding a sugar cube to the hot coffee and stirring gently, Cindy remembered something and asked, "Speaking of which, Eric, will you be in New York early next month?"

It's April 25th, and on Friday, Eric plans to return to East Hampton for the weekend and fly straight back to Los Angeles next week, so he shook his head and said, "No, I'll leave in two days, what's wrong?"

Cindy said with some regret: "Next month's met-ball ball, I thought I could invite you to be my male partner." ”

Eric thought about it too.

The Met-Ball Ball, the full name of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Charity Ball in New York, is a charity party that Anna Wintour personally created to fight the West Coast "Vanity Fair" party, and only invites the most popular celebrities of the year to attend. When he attended a reception hosted by the Hearst family last weekend, Anna Wintour, who happened to be there, asked him if he was interested.

Smiling, Eric said, "Even if I have time, I definitely won't be your male companion, and Drew will definitely come to join in the fun." ”

Everyone knows that Eric and Drew have an unusually close relationship, and Cindy has been in contact with Drew a few times, and she definitely doesn't dare to fight with Drew for anything, because she always feels that behind that baby face hides a crazy factor that may turn everyone over in an instant. If she and Drew get into a fight, Cindy is sure that Eric won't be able to help her.

Thinking of this, Cindy couldn't help but be a little curious: "Eric, what kind of relationship do you have with Drew, well?"

Eric did not shy away from this question, and replied: "It's the kind of relationship you imagine, tree by tree, vine, entangled, no one can do without anyone." ”

For some reason, Cindy felt that the picture sketched by Eric's simple words made people feel a strong sense of jealousy.

"Then, doesn't she mind you...... Are you dating us?"

"Of course I do, but the girl's outlook on life is different from everyone else," Eric replied after a moment's thought, and looked at Cindy with a smile, "Do you want to know what's the difference?"

Cindy shook her head almost instinctively, "I don't want to." ”

"Heh," Eric smiled, and was about to say something, when he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate, took it out and gestured to Cindy, got up and walked to the corridor not far away, and picked up the phone.

The call came from Los Angeles in person, and the two talked for about ten minutes before Eric returned to his seat, looked at his watch, and said to Cindy, "We might have to leave early." ”

Cindy automatically forgot about the topic that made her regret a little, and asked with concern, "Is something wrong?"

Eric summoned the waiter, handed over the credit card, and then said to Cindy: "It's not a big deal, today is not Friday, the global box office data for the 18th week of "Titanic" is out, and Los Angeles has just sent the information over, I want to go back and take a look." ”

"Wow, it's the 18th week," Cindy immediately became interested, "I remember last week it was like, um, $1,775 million, which was a miracle, how much now?"

"1,852 million. ”

Eric reported a number, and his mood was also not so calm, because this figure means that "Titanic" has successfully broken the box office record of $1.84 billion in the first round of screenings in its previous life, and continues to sprint towards a new record of $2 billion.

Katzenberg just said on the phone that according to the current box office curve of "Titanic", there is no suspense about the global box office sprinting to 2 billion US dollars, and the only thing that cannot be determined is where the final potential goes.

A month ago, when the global box office of "Titanic" exceeded $1.5 billion, the company's executives suggested holding a grand celebration banquet, but Eric vetoed it, preferring to celebrate after the more special goal of breaking $1.8 billion at the global box office was achieved.

In the phone call just now, Eric and Katzenberg have agreed to hold a grand celebration party in the preliminarily built Titanic model of Firefly Studios next Wednesday, and will also officially announce the Titanic-themed exhibition project. (To be continued.) )