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Brisbane on the east coast of Australia.

The time is July 27th, and the summer vacation in Hollywood is still going on, and MGM CEO Shirley Lansing has to fly here.

Because, Christopher Scars, chairman of MGM's Australian parent company, Qintex Group, suddenly absconded.

It all started with the bubble in the Japanese stock market.

As we all know, Australia is a highly dependent economy, and throughout the eighties, the Australian economy grew rapidly thanks to Japan's demand for minerals and farm chips. As Japan's stock market bubble burst at the end of last year, Australia was dragged down, and the economy began to fall into a downturn in 1990.

The Qintex Group expanded rapidly in the eighties, when Australia's economy was booming, with heavy borrowing.

If Australia's economy continues to grow strongly, it may be able to barely hold it up, but when the economic situation takes a turn for the worse, bank credit tightens and investors start to become conservative, the Qintex Group quickly becomes unsustainable.

After the completion of the acquisition of a 70% stake in MGM last year, Qintex Group has restructured its assets during this period of time, and the overall debt amount still reaches 1.7 billion US dollars, not counting MGM itself's liabilities that have exceeded 800 million US dollars compared to last year.

Perhaps feeling that it would be difficult for the Qintex group to last long, Christopher Skars has been drawing blood from the company through various channels since the end of last year, and then transferring funds to overseas accounts.

In a recent financial audit, the board of directors of Qintex Group found that an unusual 'management fee' expenditure of US$13.5 million had been illegally transferred to an overseas company, and upon closer investigation, it was discovered that it was a shell company registered by Christopher Skas.

The Board of Directors of Qintex Group finally chose to report to the police after urgent consultations with shareholders and creditors.

Christopher Skars was arrested and imprisoned for one night, and the next day he was released on bail and fled to Spain without any delay.

With Christopher Skars absconding, the Qintex Group immediately became a mess on the verge of collapse. Shareholders and creditors don't even have the energy to pursue Christopher Skars right now, and how to sustain the collapse of the Qintex Group is what matters.

At its peak, the Qintex Group was involved in a wide range of industries, including media, film, resorts and jewellery retail. However, until now, the two most valuable assets of this company at this time are only Australia's local Seventh Television Network and MGM in the United States, and other properties have basically been sold.

The seventh television network has been doing well in recent years, but although it is a nationwide television network, Australia's television network is naturally not comparable to North America, and its valuation at this time is only 800 million US dollars. MGM's 70% stake was bought for $1 billion last year, and if it chooses to sell it, $1 billion should not be too much of a problem.

Coupled with some other fragmentary assets, the overall valuation of Qintex Group's assets is actually able to pay off debts.

However, in the event of a bankruptcy liquidation, these assets will certainly depreciate in value.

Moreover, involving more than a billion dollars of assets, including all kinds of complex bond relationships, if you want to directly liquidate, it will definitely not be possible to complete it in the short term, Qintex Group can only maintain as much as possible, step by step asset restructuring, so as to minimize the loss of shareholders and creditors.

Qintex Group headquarters in Brisbane.

When she saw Simon, Shirley Lansing's originally helpless mind finally relaxed a lot.

Originally, when she heard the news, Shirley Lansing still felt that she was about to lose her position as CEO of MGM that she had just sat down for a short time.

Now, since this young man is willing to intervene, and he was also recommended by him to join MGM in the first place, then, unless MGM changes hands, she should not be swept away in the short term. Apart from her, it is impossible for Australians to find a second suitable company manager in Hollywood for a while.

It's just that I don't know if Westeros is going to take over MGM.

Thinking of some recent Hollywood rumors, Shirley Lansing has some faint expectations.

Amy Pascal's annual salary this year may exceed $100 million, which is something that most Hollywood executives would never even dream of.

As a woman, able to climb to the top of the Hollywood pyramid step by step, Shirley Lansing naturally has her own ambitions and revenge. She also believes that if Westeros can take over MGM, the company will be able to get out of the quagmire in no time.

The meeting on the Qintex Group's asset contributions and management changes after Christopher Skars left lasted a full day, and Shirley Lansing, who is also a senior member of the Qintex system, attended the whole meeting, and she knew that Simon's purpose in attending the meeting was not MGM, but for the seventh television network owned by the Qintex Group.

To be precise, it was the Johnston family who wanted to buy the Seventh Network.

After operating in the capital markets for the last two years, the Johnston family also has a large amount of cash in their hands.

According to Raymond Johnston's mind, he must have taken the lead in using the funds to expand the family's business in mining and transportation. Simon also knows that Australia's mining resources will see a massive consolidation in the next 90s, culminating in a world-class oligarchy like BHP.

In such a large-scale industrial consolidation, the Johnston family controls the Johnston Holding Group, which has an overall market value of only about $5 billion, and it is difficult to affect the overall situation. Unless it can be quickly reborn into a behemoth, it will be very difficult for small and medium-sized mining companies to be either merged or crushed in the face of a billion-dollar industry oligarchy like BHP Billiton.

Now Bihe and Billiton are still two companies, and the market value is not as terrifying as it was later, if some means are used, with sufficient funds, it is not impossible for the Johnston family to swallow elephants, but Simon does not know much about this aspect, and the advice he can give for the time being is to diversify and accumulate their own strength.

Moreover, the media has always been the shortcoming of the Johnston family, and it is a bit of a waste not to develop the business in this area with Simon's resources throughout Hollywood at this time.

Australia, like North America, now has a number of restrictions on foreign capital investment in its own media industry, but again, these restrictions will be gradually relaxed in the 90s.

Simon's long-term plan is to see good results in the Johnston family's operations in this area after the Australian media industry opens up to overseas investors.

Then, in North America, the Internet industry and the media industry can also provide Simon with a large amount of cash, and when the time comes, Simon can buy out the Johnston family's peripheral business at one time, provide the Johnston family with enough funds to swallow up an industrial giant like BHP or Billiton with a small Boda, and continue to expand.

Comparatively, the Johnston family invested their money directly in the mining sector, because the demand for mining resources decreased due to the recession in Japan throughout the nineties, and it was unlikely that this money would return too much.

In order to help the Johnston family accumulate more capital, not only the media, Simon is still discussing with the old man to get involved in Australia's telecommunications and network industry.

Australia's telecommunications industry has been a state monopoly and has recently been discussing liberalisation. Moreover, in terms of mobile communications and the Internet, the Westeros system can provide enough technical support here, and if these industries can be listed in North America in the next few years, it will be easy to cash out large sums of money while taking advantage of the new wave of technology.

It can be said that Simon is not only buying land in Tasmania, but also planning to run Australia into an overseas base of his own.

If Simon's most important plan comes to fruition, and Johnston Holdings can eventually develop into a behemoth like BHP Billiton, coupled with the layout of other industries, then, the Australian economy will basically be in the hands of Simon and the Johnston family.

Of course, these things can't be done overnight.

In the next ten years, it is already very rare to be able to complete the initial layout.

However, the last thing Simon lacks happens to be time.

If it takes 10 or 20 years to control a country and achieve the economic status of Samsung Group like South Korea, it will be worth it.

After a day of discussions, Qintex shareholders and creditors finally reached an agreement with the Johnston family to sell Seventh Television Network to Johnston Holdings for $700 million in cash. At the same time, in a potential exchange, Daenerys Entertainment will work with MGM on two of the original 10 film plans to help MGM recover.

It wasn't until nightfall that the various meetings and discussions that had lasted all day finally came to an end.

Shirley Lansing finally stopped Simon when everyone was leaving the conference room, and said, "Simon, do you want to have a meal together in the evening?"

Simon nodded, thought about it, and said to Veronica Johnston, who was with him today to participate in the negotiations, "Let's go together." ”

Veronica was stunned, nodded slightly, and mumbled.

Shirley Lansing had already been introduced during the day, and Shirley Lansing knew that this cold-looking woman was Janet Johnston's little aunt, but due to the woman's natural sharp intuition, Shirley Lansing clearly felt that there was obviously something strange between Westeros and this woman.

It's just that this thought occasionally flashed through her mind, and Shirley Lansing stopped thinking deeply.

It's someone else's business after all.

Thinking too much and angering this young man was completely more than worth the loss for her.

Randomly chose a good restaurant near the headquarters of the Qintex Group, the three of them sat down, and after ordering the meal, Simon asked first: "How is the copyright issue of 007 handled?"

"I'm still talking, I plan to buy the Ghost Party rights in Kevin McCrory's hands and settle this dispute once and for all. McCrory's offer of $5 million is a bit high. In terms of script, according to your original reminder, the company has completed the first draft of the first version of "Goldeneye", and I happened to bring it here, Simon, do you want to see it?"

"I'll go back to Melbourne later, and let someone send the script to Malibu when you go back," Simon nodded and said, "In addition, the actor also needs to be replaced, and Timothy Dalton is really not suitable for the role of 007." You can get in touch with Pierce Brosnan to see if he's interested. ”

Shirley Lansing thought of Pierce Brosnan, who entered Hollywood's field of vision with "Pretty Woman" in the first half of the year, and thought for a while: "Brosnan should not play this role easily." ”

If Brosnan was just a second- or third-tier actor, of course he would be interested in 007.

However, since they have been among the first line, few stars will be willing to lock themselves in the shackles of the image of 007, although 007 will bring great fame, but once they participate, it is often difficult for actors to transform. For so many generations of 007, only Sean Connery's career has developed quite well, and this is entirely due to CAA's full support.

Simon also quickly figured out this truth, and said: "You get in touch with him, you can't change to someone else, and the most important thing is to sign a few more film contracts." ”

Shirley Lansing nodded to make a note, thought about it, but still couldn't hold back, and asked, "Simon, why don't you just buy MGM?"

Simon seemed to anticipate Shirley Lansing's doubts, but did not answer, and just casually turned the conversation to the collaboration between the two films.

If it weren't for the planned MCA takeover, Simon would not have hesitated to buy MGM, or even if it was to take over a stake in the Qintex Group, he believes Qintex would be more than happy.

However, no matter how broken MGM is, it is also one of the seven after all.

In the early 90s, the antitrust regulation of the media industry in the United States was still very strict.

Daenerys Entertainment is already strong enough now, and if it takes control of MGM again, the MCA acquisition will definitely be subject to antitrust investigations, and Simon doesn't want to lose a big one.

After dinner, Shirley Lansing was transferred to the hotel, Simon and Veronica rushed to the airport together, it only took more than an hour to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne, there was no place to stay, Simon planned to return overnight.

Veronica will still come over tomorrow, but Simon returns to Melbourne, and she silently follows Simon back to Melbourne.

The Boeing 767 landed at Melbourne Airport, and the two rushed to the mansion together, and it was just nine o'clock here.

Anthony Johnston was there tonight, and as soon as Simon and the two arrived home, Anthony stepped forward and handed him a copy of the information he had just received.

In recent days, the situation in the Middle East has come to an end, but there are still many who firmly believe that Iraq will not eventually use force against Kuwait.

It's just that, after reading the information in his hand, the last trace of worry in Simon's heart disappeared.

According to the information in the hand, Saddam Hussein suddenly met with the US ambassador to Baghdad this afternoon local time, and the content of the discussion between the two was not made public, but the information obtained by Simon clearly showed the content of the meeting.

The US ambassador to Baghdad promised Saddam that Washington would not interfere in Iraq's military operations in the Middle East.

Based on Simon's memories of what happened later, he knew very well that such a promise was nothing more than farting, and that the Bush administration's purpose was only to drag Iraq into the quagmire of war again.

Saddam, however, apparently believed it.

Now that the overall situation has been decided, the next day, Simon also quietly flew back to North America.

The last days of July passed quietly.

And so it wasn't until August 2 that the explosive news quickly spread around the world.

In the early morning of August 2, local time, the Iraqi Republican Guard suddenly crossed the Iraq-Kuwait border and ran towards Kuwait City.

This war, which brought together countless people to conspire and plot for profit, finally broke out.