The two whispered softly, and Sophia noticed that Yulia Shulshitina looked a little lost when she got up silently and left silently, and whispered to the little man who was still holding her waist: "Another one, do you like to capture a woman's heart like this?"

Simon's attention was on Sophia, but he didn't notice Shulshikina's state, and said: "You have wronged me, I am almost forgetting how to capture a woman's heart now, but it is too easy to capture a woman's body." ”

Sophia smiled and patted the man on the shoulder.

Still, think about it.

With Simon's current status of wealth and power, he doesn't do anything, he only needs to appear in front of people, and he can easily attract a lot of women to give him a hug.

Where else do you need to put in the effort?

It's just that Sophia suddenly found that the woman who was close to Simon with a simple heart at first will inevitably fall because of his strong, gentle, mysterious, generous, erudite and other personalities, because these have a strong attraction to women, and the aura of wealth and power on his body will infinitely magnify this attraction.

Think about yourself, aren't you one of them?

Without the presence of outsiders, and feeling the man's slight force, Sophia sat on the man's lap, put her arms around Simon's neck, and inexplicably leaned over and kissed the man's face, saying, "Suddenly I was a little worried, and you will completely forget me when you wake up." ”

Simon drew a circle on her lower abdomen through the woman's black undershirt: "It was possible before, but not now, you are the mother of my child." ”

Sophia leaned towards the man and curled the corners of her mouth: "It seems that I have discovered a big secret, if you don't want to be forgotten, you can have a child." ”

Simon casually tapped a few times on the piano keys and smiled, "I think you're more determined to keep this secret than I am, aren't you?"

Sophia didn't answer.

It's just that, of course, I don't want this secret to be discovered by other women.

Quietly made up her mind that she must do everything possible to avoid this kind of thing, and maybe she should discuss it with the two Jennies in private.

She was never a generous woman.

Thinking so, Sophia heard the sound of the piano in her ears, turned her body slightly in the direction of the keys, and said, "Play one for me too, well, there are two babies." ”

"Okay. ”

Simon smiled and agreed, feeling the intoxicating fragrance of the woman in his arms, thinking for a moment, one hand was still holding Sophia, and the free right hand began to jump, and with one hand plucked Beethoven's "To Alice", a very simple song, but it fits the atmosphere at this time.

Sophia snuggled up in the man's arms, listening to the sound of the piano wafting in the air, and suddenly understood what Shulshitina had just felt.

This little man is really a devil who can steal a woman's heart at will without knowing it.

Little bastard.

However, the most basic skin is good enough, and the personality is so easy for women to get close to, but he still has wealth beyond the reach of ordinary people, but he seems to know everything and can do everything, such a little man, in this world, it is probably difficult to find a second one.

I don't know how long it was, but it wasn't until Girl A reminded that dinner was ready that Sophia reluctantly got up from the man's arms.

Because the time is China's Chinese New Year's Eve, the specially invited Chinese chef prepared a sumptuous dinner in full accordance with the specifications of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, Simon and Sophia couldn't eat at all, fortunately, there were enough people in the villa, the two just left their own share, and the others were directly distributed, which was regarded as the benefit of this special day.

During dinner, Sophia also talked to Simon about Burberry.

Founded in 1856, Burberry is known for its classic 'checkered' and 'royal' motifs, and has maintained its longevity for more than a century. However, in the fifties, Burberry's heirs sold the brand to GUS, a large British retail chain, thus shedding the label of a family business.

The economic boom of the 80s led GUS to expand into markets such as North America and Asia, which came to an abrupt end in 1992.

The European currency crisis has led to a recession in the economies of major European countries.

As an important sub-brand of GUS, due to the economic downturn, Burberry has begun to show disadvantages such as inefficient management and chaos caused by over-expansion and a sharp decline in profit margins.

So, when Sophia began to contact GUS at the end of last year, the other party quickly gave a positive response.

As one of the largest retail chains in the UK, GUS's retail business covers not only the fashion sector, but also home furnishings, electrical appliances, insurance, finance and other aspects, and the group's total market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange recently exceeded 13 billion pounds.

Because of the economic downturn, GUS, which involves too many fields, happens to be streamlining its business, and it is undoubtedly a good choice to get rid of Burberry, which has been a little out of control or even lost its development direction.

For the GUS Group, Burberry's expansion in the 80s was a bit excessive, but Sophia saw the luxury brand's extensive market presence in Europe, North America and Asia, which could help many of Melisandre's brands expand globally.

Moreover, Burberry's own unique style does not form too clear competition with Gucci, Versace, CK and other brands, but can further enrich the luxury category of Melisandre.

All things considered, the advantages of winning this brand far outweigh the disadvantages.

After expanding in the eighties, Burberry had a total global revenue of £530 million and a net profit of £62 million in 1994, equivalent to $790 million and $93 million, respectively.

After several successive negotiations after the New Year, the two sides finally finalized a price of 800 million pounds, equivalent to $1.2 billion, and again traded in shares and cash. Melisandre paid £400 million ($600 million) plus 6% of its own shares in exchange for 100% of Burberry from GUS Group.

The deal also increased Melisandre's valuation to $10 billion, up from $7.3 billion when she bought Bulgari last year.

Upon completion of the transaction, Melisandre will have a 72.8% stake in Westeros, 18.2% in Sofia, 6% in GUS and 3% in Italy.

Simon had already discussed the IPO of Melisandre with Sophia last year.

Although after winning Burberry, Melisandre will not make much moves in the short term, but the investment or merger of some small brands will not stop, and the IPO operation can make Melisandre more convenient to carry out various capital operations, and, unlike the privatization state, after the public listing, the stock premium will also make Melisandre's various investment operations more advantageous.

Determine where to conduct an IPO and inevitably where to proceed.

After some discussion at dinner, it was finally decided to be in the United States.

Simon doesn't like to put all his eggs in one basket, but given the growing entrenchment of the Westeros system in the United States and the super-boom of the American economy in the late nineties, it is undoubtedly in Melisandre's best interest to go public in the United States.

Even Nokia, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, will launch plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange this year.

With the acquisition finalised, Melisandre S.A., which owns a series of luxury brands such as Gucci, Versace, CK, Burberry, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vacheron Constantin, etc., has completely surpassed the LVMH Group of France with Dior and LV as the core.

In the original time and space, Bernard Arnault, the owner of LVMH, took advantage of the economic boom in the United States and Europe in the 80s to rise through a series of acquisitions, and in the early 90s he was temporarily dormant due to the economic downturn, and from the late 90s he took advantage of another economic boom to begin to expand widely.

The other two integrated luxury groups, Kering and Richemont, also began to rise in the late nineties.

Now, the pattern of the luxury industry is not destined to follow the trajectory of its previous life.

Relying on the towering tree of the Westeros system, in the early 90s, when other luxury brands were recuperating due to the economic downturn, Melisandre has built a strong 'fleet' of luxury brands, and the next step is to continue to expand its industry advantages in the wave of globalization that began in the late 90s, while sniping at the rise of other competitors as much as possible.

At least, Kering, which once held most of its sales share with just Gucci, will certainly not be there again this time. Although the Richemont Group, which focuses on jewelry and watches, already has the flagship brand of Cartier, it is difficult for it to develop again under the sniping of Mélisandre's Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vacheron Constantin and other companies.

During dinner, Simon also discussed with Sophia that perhaps he could eat Cartier in the future.

Early the next morning, Simon and Sophia departed London for Rome.

This side of the matter will be handed over to Sophia's right-hand man promoted a few years ago, Angela Arendz has been in charge of more than six years in the company of Melisandre, Angela Arendz from the original president of Gucci USA to the CEO of Gucci to the president of the entire Melisandre company, all the way to follow Sophia's pace, and her ability has also been quite affirmed.

Coincidentally, in the past, it was Angela Arendz who joined Burberry after the new millennium, and restarted the declining luxury brand, which tripled its stock price in eight years, returned to the ranks of first-line luxury brands, and relied on this qualification to become Apple's second person after Tim Cook.

Although Apple's luxury strategy ended in failure, it could not hide that Angela Arendz continued to differentiate Apple from other brands through her luxury strategy during the increasingly competitive period in the mobile phone industry, avoiding the mediocrity of price and brand in many aspects.

You must know that in any industry, it is very difficult to impact the high-end from the low-end, and it is even more difficult to impact the high-end from the high-end.

Therefore, Apple's luxury strategy has not made a mistake, it has just not succeeded.

On the contrary, after Angela Arendz left, Apple readjusted its pricing strategy and began to cut prices significantly, which may have increased sales in the short term, but in fact it is hurting Apple's own brand value, and the profit margin of the product will also be greatly reduced.

This time, Burberry was re-handed over to Angela Arenz for integration, and both Simon and Sophia were very relieved.

From the time he left the recreation room last night to the time he boarded the plane in the morning, Simon didn't see Yulia Shulshitina again, probably understanding that it was Sophia who quietly broke the other party away, but he didn't mind. However, Simon did not forget to promise Shulshikina's solo music video, and sent an email to Daenerys Entertainment UK on the plane to Rome, asking the other party to plan this matter.

In several cities on the Mediterranean coast, Simon actually prefers Cannes to Rome, because the hilltop mansions in Cannes overlook the Mediterranean, and Simon likes this feeling. Rome, on the other hand, was built on a plain, with no condescending view of the sea for Simon to enjoy.

The reason why I didn't go to Cannes was because of the rivalry between the Westeros system and the French side since the war in Rwanda last year.

Because of a big heel in Rwanda, in the past half a year, the French side has not stopped small actions against Simon, and last year, the French media went to Ukraine to dig out the inside story of the UFMS, Simon does not think that this is the spontaneous behavior of the French media out of news enthusiasm.

Not only that, the rise of Melisandre with the Italian brand as the core has also caused strong jealousy and hostility to many French luxury companies that have always been dominant.

There is also the recent dominance of Hollywood films in France.

Starting from the original "Batman", under the continuous bombardment of a series of blockbusters, the market share of French films, which was still dominant, has shrunk rapidly in recent years, and the annual box office champions of the French film market in recent years are all Hollywood films.

Moreover, whether it is the original "Batman" or "Jurassic Park" or "The Lion King" outside the DC Cinematic Universe, or "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises", which topped the French box office last year, it happens to be inextricably linked to Daenerys Entertainment, or the Westeros system.

Therefore, the French film circle has been strongly calling on the French government to set a threshold for Hollywood films, and Hollywood, of course, will not back down, and use the power of the Washington authorities to counteract through lobbying, and the private game between the two sides is very fierce.

All in all, Simon is now a thorn in the side of France in all aspects, and even if he passes in a low-key manner without saying a word, it is inevitable that the French side will not make any mistakes.

Just don't go.

In comparison, despite last year's Stefano family incident, Simon already has deep roots in Italy after many years of operation under the Westeros system. If nothing else, Universal Studios in Europe will probably be located around Rome, so it is just right for Sophia to raise a baby here.

The site is located on a 30-acre farm-style estate on the southern outskirts of Rome.

Many areas of northern Europe are still covered with snow, not getting rid of the coldest time of the year, Rome on the Mediterranean coast is as warm as spring, the southern suburbs of the estate under the planning of Sofia, lawns, green trees, low walls, stone castles complement each other, at first glance like a beautiful rural idyll.

In addition, when he came here, Simon finally saw the girls he had unknowingly raised for exactly a year.