novelraw Chapter 312
Chapter 312
When Ella walked into the hotel room, her young boss, Josie Horton, was sitting on the sofa watching the news on TV. The tens of millions worth of "the most beautiful face in the world" was full of awe-inspiring writing, clasped her hands and pointed The knot rests on the chin, not knowing what to think about.
In the TV screen opposite her, the host of the financial channel is connecting with the location reporters in suits, and the split screen is aimed at two commentators whose names Ira can't name.
"It is reported that Vivendi will appear on the Paris Stock Exchange for the first time on June 6 as the merged 'Vivendi-Global'..."
"This $340 billion deal creates a world-class media powerhouse..."
"The Europeans have officially landed..."
"There is no cash involved in this transaction..."
"In fact, Wall Street is not optimistic about this acquisition. Before Universal's acquisition of Polygram Records, there were still some financial problems. Many people believed that..."
Ella knocked on the door symbolically and reminded: "Boss, Harvey is here, we can go."
Josie just stood up from the sofa.
She was wearing a very classic Hepburn dress, with a wine red lady's suit jacket draped over her shoulders, drawing a neat arc following her turning around.
While restraining her starry eyes from flashing out, Ella followed her boss with small steps, and did not forget to report back: "Mr. Horton will arrive on the plane tomorrow morning, and I have booked the fifth flight for you." The location of JeanGees, the best French restaurant on the boulevard, and arrange a driver to pick you up from the airport on time.”
"Thank you, Ella." Josie entered the elevator room, put on the sunglasses in her hand against the reflection of the mirror, and then took the mobile phone and lady's handbag from Ella.
"You're welcome, that's what I should do." Ella continued, "Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio wants to invite you to brunch. He just returned to New York yesterday; Mr. Edward Norton made it for you His alumni, I have arranged your meeting for the night after tomorrow; in addition, Ms. Amy Heckerling called to confirm whether you have time to attend the New York premiere of "Dancing Out of My Life" next Friday."
With a ding, the elevator reached the first floor.
Josie walked with wind, and answered clearly: "Remind me to see Leo tomorrow morning; that dinner is very important, remember to remind me to get ready, and call tomorrow to thank Ed; as for "Dancing Out of My Life" The New York premiere, if there is no schedule conflict, I will go to support it!"
Two 10 minutes later.
Josie, with sunglasses on her face, entered a luxury hotel near Central Park very low-key, and accompanied by her lawyer, Harvey Spector, took the elevator to a certain suite on the top floor.
As soon as he entered the door, a young and beautiful waitress greeted him.
"Good evening, Ms. Horton." The waitress followed Josie with a soft and soothing voice, "Mr. Horton and his friends are inside, and Jasmine is dealing cards for them personally."
Josie nodded slightly, and saw a waitress stepping forward to open the door of a room. Several gentlemen inside had just finished a game of cards and were talking loudly, puffing away non-stop.
One of the middle-aged men with mustaches noticed Josie coming in, and immediately smiled and said, "Oh, you are finally here, my good niece!"
"Hello, uncle, I'm not late, am I?" Josie gave the middle-aged man, her nominal uncle, Stanley Horton, a smile.
"Hahaha, of course not." Stanley Horton laughed loudly.
"My lawyer, Harvey Spector, I think you know him," Josie said.
"Of course, we are old friends." Stanley Horton patted Harvey Spector on the shoulder, and then introduced to Josie: "Come and meet my friends, Wesley, Barry... ...John and Oliver."
The two Wall Street elites whose names were named nodded in greeting, their attitudes were not enthusiastic, even a little cold.
Wesley .□□, a former "super" commercial paper trader at EFhutton Investment Bank, rose to management after Lehman Brothers acquired EFhutton;
Barry Goodman, a former commodity trader at EFhutton Investment Bank, is responsible for designing and maintaining various trading strategies and coordinating research projects related to the futures market.
As for the other two, they were escorts called by Stanley Horton, just like Harvey Spector beside Josie, they were his very close friends.
Today's game is mainly about Josie gaining support from Wall Street through Stanley Horton's network.
Six years ago, when Lehman Brothers spun out of American Express, it was little more than a bond trading firm, but it quickly emerged in hot Wall Street fields such as private equity and corporate mergers, and its rise has been amazing.
Now, it seems that Stanley Horton's decision to sell the family's most important asset to Lehman Brothers has also become extremely wise because of the latter's rise in the financial world.
After all, he is well aware that he is not a very good operator.
And until now, the Horton family still retains a part of the shares of the investment bank.
Stanley Horton personally stepped forward to open the chair for Josie, and quickly whispered in her ear: "Wall Street has always looked down on women. To take them down, you have to kill all directions."
Business is good business.
But Wall Street, or the vast majority of men with a little power in Manhattan, the attitude towards women generally does not make his proud niece happy. A certain real estate tycoon is not an exception, but the environment in which these people live .
In fact, if it wasn't for his strong and shrewd mother Dina Merrill, I'm afraid Stanley Horton would treat his niece in a different way now, instead of being considerate or even flattering.
"Thank you, Uncle." Josie was noncommittal, but her expression was calm, obviously full of confidence.
Harvey Spector was also seated.
The red-haired beauty Jasmine Bloom, who hosted the secret game, looked around and began to deal the cards.
The game here has officially begun.
On the other side, the war belonging to Ax Capital also quietly started——
Paris, France, Stock Exchange District, Rue Richelieu.
Brian Moore of Ax Capital crossed his arms and walked around the room of Nuoda, with blue stubble on his chin visible to the naked eye.
In front of him, there are several computers and several traders from Ax Capital lined up on both sides of a long table. Coffee, pizza boxes, cigarette butts and stress balls are everywhere on the table.
Brian Moore held a stress ball in his hand, fixed his eyes on the clock on the wall, and suddenly threw the ball after a while, shouting: "YES! Go! It's now!"
The traders in the whole room started to operate on the computer at the same time, and the small space suddenly became full of enthusiasm. Even Saul Goodman beside him was infected by this atmosphere, and couldn't help but stretch out his hand and loosen his tie. .
Saul Goodman looked at the old John who came to Paris with him beside him. The Russian bodyguard was sitting on a chair in the corner, his two huge eyes were extremely vigilant.
There are also two other men who are not easily messed with by the head of the bodyguard. They are responsible for watching by the window and downstairs. They look like the kind of mercenaries who can take out guys at any time in movies.
—Actually, he was right.
Old John noticed the scrutiny and looked up at Sol: "What's the matter, Jimmy?"
"It's all right." Saul shrugged, frowning his long face with a wide forehead. "Call me 'Saul,' man, there's no bloody 'Jimmy McGill' here."
Old John didn't answer, but grinned at Sol, who appeared in front of people with a different identity, and turned his gaze back to the traders in the next second.
At this time, Brian Moore stopped walking back and forth, but turned on the TV to watch the news, and at the same time contacted Ax in Ax Capital in the United States by phone. After glancing at Saul and Old John vaguely, he suppressed his voice. Very low: "Yeah, it's all going well... The New York Times and the Flying Mirror are out at the same time... Rumors inside Wall Street... OK, I will."
Just like Josie didn't fully trust Ax, Ax didn't fully trust Josie either.
The pure interest alliance seems to be strong, but it is also easy to break.
This is a stock market transaction involving nearly one billion US dollars and multiple leverages. A little carelessness can bring billionaires back to abject poverty overnight, and it can also make penniless poor boys flourish. This is the most attractive thing about the stock market. where the magic lies.
And in just one week, the stock price of Vivendi-Universal has dropped by more than ten percentage points one after another. These people in Ax Capital seem to have easily made money that ordinary people can't make in a lifetime.
However, this is clearly not enough.
The short-term operation in the early stage is just an appetizer, and the official launch of Vivendi-Universal is a tough battle.
On the day the Frenchman announced the merger with Seagram-Universal, Vivendi's stock price plummeted 8.66%, closing at $85.26.
——You must know that at the beginning of 2000, Vivendi's peak stock price was 150 euros. Since the news of the merger came out, its stock price has been falling all the way.
Fortunately or unfortunately, this did not affect the formal merger of the two large groups, but directly affected the acquisition of another Hollywood company, DreamWorks.
Due to the long-standing good cooperative relationship with Universal, DreamWorks first chose Universal to negotiate an acquisition at the first moment when considering selling itself to pay off debts.
However, Universal was powerless at this time.
Because since the announcement of the merger, the respective share prices of the two groups have fallen by various limits, and then the scandal of Vivendi's financial fraud and Bronfman's involvement in sex broke out.
At this time, the Wall Street research company Flying Mirror officially released a 175-page short-selling report. There are two key points: one is that Vivendi concealed at least 100 billion in huge debts before the merger; Polygram had financial problems.
On the day the short-selling report was released, Vivendi-Universal’s stock price plummeted again. However, after paying a huge price of billions of dollars in market value evaporation, the merger was successfully completed.
Just in order to prevent the fierce pursuit from Wall Street, the old Bronfman had to go out in person while dragging his sick body.
On the one hand, he spared no effort to use Jewish power to save the two daughters from the rape turmoil; on the other hand, on the premise of preserving the family property, he tried his best to wipe the ass of the younger son's troubles in Hollywood.
Bronfman Sr. chose to dock his tail to survive.
On the other hand, Universal was unable to take over, so DreamWorks had to find Paramount as a backup.
However, the situation of Paramount, which is in full swing, is not very good.
The board of directors of the parent company Viacom is not optimistic about this deal, especially another faction represented by Sally Redstone, who believes that the DreamWorks label is of little significance to Paramount.
Sanam Redstone actually agrees with Sally Redstone's point of view, and doesn't really want DreamWorks. After all, the most valuable thing about this company is the Big Three itself, not its film library or distribution department.
But on the surface, Sanam Redstone just wanted to fight against his daughter.
Therefore, Paramount's offer was astonishingly low at the beginning, only one billion US dollars, and it was paid in the form of cash + debt.
As we all know, the investment of the Big Three in the establishment of DreamWorks was more than this price.
But business is business.
The loss of "American Beauty" was too fatal. Although the remaining "Gladiator" received a good response after its release, the actor Russell Crowe was caught in a cheating scandal with the married American sweetheart Meg Ryan. The latter's husband, Dennis Quaid, continued to sell miserably on various TV shows, which dealt a severe blow to the Australian actor's public image.
Afterwards, Russell Crowe's public relations spokesperson immediately announced that the pair of wild mandarin ducks had broken up, but he couldn't hold back his client, who was an idiot who couldn't control his lower body. Emergency PR backfired.
The box office and word-of-mouth of "Gladiator" will inevitably be affected, and the hope of DreamWorks' final comeback will completely disappear.