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All in all, this is a good opportunity to pick up leaks.

Sofia Fishy had her first contact with Calvin Klein on Saturday, March 3.

Melisandre doesn't plan to completely eat CK, and she doesn't plan to replace Calvin Klein, the head of CK.

It has been established for more than 20 years. Although there are many problems at present, Calvin Klein can build CK from scratch to the current scale, and its own ability is beyond doubt.

However, Melisandre's request is also to take at least half of CK's equity and achieve absolute control over the company.

Calvin Klein brought up the capital injection with Simon at the party last week, but he didn’t respond for a week. He originally thought that the super rich man was not interested in CK. Sofia Fishy’s contact seemed to turn around, but it also made Klein The thought of waiting for a price was born.

Calvin Klein himself doesn't hold many shares in CK, but Melisandre directly demands an absolute controlling stake in CK, which is probably something that the founders of any company don't want to see.

In recent years, Gucci has risen rapidly, and Van Cleef & Arpels, which completed the acquisition, has also developed rapidly. Melisandre has become a banner in the luxury industry. What's more, Melisandre is also backed by the Westeros system. giant.

Therefore, the company that Melisandre wants to acquire will definitely be very interested in other capital.

However, Sophia did not give Calvin Klein a chance to sell.

After the two parties got in touch, Sophia only gave Calvin Klein one day to think about it, either agree to the acquisition invitation of Melisandre's absolute control, or give up the business directly.

This was actually done on the behest of Simon, learned from Warren Buffett.

Because of Berkshire Hathaway's reputation in the investment industry, companies that Buffett is interested in are often up for sale after receiving an invitation from the other party.Therefore, Warren Buffett often only gives the target little time to consider in the process of negotiating business, so as to prevent the other party from raising prices with Berkshire's name.

Daenerys Entertainment used this strategy early on when it acquired script rights.

Simon has created a huge business empire in just six years, and the current Westeros system is far more famous than Berkshire Hathaway.

Therefore, if Westeros and even its subsidiaries want to acquire a company, it will often attract the attention of other capitals, so they have to adopt an "ultimatum" approach similar to Buffett's.

Chapter 471 A Possible Bidding War (Revised)

Janet's birthday, the couple flew to Miami together.

Taking advantage of the downturn in the US real estate industry, Janet purchased a 6-hectare seaside land in North Palm Beach, Miami last year. Forest Park belongs to the most golden location.

If it wasn't for the severe winter of the real estate industry that caused the developer to cut back on the development plan, and the buyer was Simon Westeros, who can bring great fame to the rich area, this land that is enough to build seven or eight luxury houses is definitely not enough. Will be sold as a package.

Even so, the transaction price of just these 6 hectares of land has reached 1000 million US dollars.

Janet plans to invest 2000 million US dollars to build a seaside manor. The main villa has already started last year, and the whole manor will be completed and occupied in the second half of next year.

As a transition, Janet also purchased a mansion covering an area of ​​1.5 acres next to the manor. It is planned that after the manor is completed, this mansion covering an area of ​​half an hectare will be directly incorporated into the manor.

Because of the news that Simon purchased a property in this wealthy area, the surrounding housing prices have increased by 20% in the past year alone.

Several mansions around Simon's Manor have become the targets of many people's rush to buy them. The quotations even exceed double the average house price in the wealthy area. Smart developers also use the properties around Simon's Manor as signs and hold on tightly, hoping to sell them. Give more rich and famous people to further enhance the popularity of this rich area.

Shopping, fishing, and parties... Janet arranged a colorful holiday schedule for the three days from Friday to Sunday.

The couple returned to New York on Monday, March 3.

Sofia Fishy hasn't left yet.

I have done a very detailed investigation on CK in advance, and Sophia quoted 5000 million US dollars to CK on Saturday, of which 4000 million US dollars was used to purchase 55% of the shares in the hands of CK shareholders, and 1000 million US dollars was injected into CK as a loan to alleviate the situation. The company's cash flow pressure.

In addition, Sophia also promised that after the completion of the acquisition of CK, Melisandre and the entire Westeros system will provide the company with resource support in channels, legal affairs, marketing and other aspects to help CK quickly reverse the current situation. Difficulties faced and further development and growth.

In addition to family infighting, many of the problems CK is facing at this time are similar to those of Gucci at the time. The rapid rise of Gucci is visible to everyone.

Although the price offered by Sophia was low, it was not too harsh. She also reserved 45% of the shares for other CK shareholders, which could be reserved for future appreciation.

Therefore, although only 24 hours were given for consideration, after several attempts to negotiate an offer to no avail, Calvin Klein, the founder of CK, and the company's board of directors finally accepted Melisandre's offer at the last minute. quote.

The news of the acquisition agreement reached an important page in the "New York Times" on Monday.

After Gucci, Chateau Latour and Van Cleef & Arpels, Melisandre once again acquired a well-known luxury brand and continued to move towards the goal of a comprehensive luxury group.

CK is not a listed company.

However, with the announcement of the news, the haze of bankruptcy surrounding CK was swept away, and even the sales of CK products showed a significant increase under the circumstances of various media reports.The attitude of the brand licensing party that has been entangled with CK has also eased. Although it is more unwilling to let go of the licensing in its hands, it also expresses that it can make corresponding concessions in terms of licensing fees.

Simon did not return to the West Coast this week, but joined Janet in the next phase of Cersei Capital's development planning.

The first is Cersei Fund Management, a hedge fund.

After the completion of last year's oil market operations, Cersei Fund Management is facing a 'transformation' problem.

In order to avoid possible targeting of the entire Westeros system, Cersei Fund Management will then try to minimize macro hedging that may affect a country's economy.

In fact, when the Berlin Wall fell, analysts at Cersei Fund Management predicted that the European monetary system would undergo a reshuffle.

In 1979, led by Germany and France, the eight countries of the European Community established the European monetary system against the US dollar. This system established a relatively fixed exchange rate exchange mechanism based on the strength of each country at that time. Joining was announced in 1990.

That is, two years ago.

However, after the merger of East and West Germany, Germany's economic strength has greatly increased, and it is very unfair to Germany to continue to maintain the original exchange rate system.In order to attract Britain to join, the exchange rate of the pound was significantly overvalued when it joined the European Monetary System two years ago, thus creating a strong imbalance that needs to be reshuffled.

Of course, Britain, which has taken advantage of it, definitely does not want to reshuffle the cards, which requires some external force to promote.

In the original time and space, Soros' Quantum Fund launched an attack on the British pound in September 1992, which ended with the sharp devaluation of European currencies such as the British pound, the Italian lira, and the Spanish peseta.

Soros personally made a net profit of 10 billion US dollars in this currency sniping, and became famous in the first battle.Quantum Fund and other hedge funds involved in sniping European currencies also made a lot of money.

On the other hand, the result was that the United Kingdom re-exited from the European monetary system after the pound crisis, the European Community was hit hard, and the status of the US dollar was further stabilized.

Not to mention the deep-seated great power game involved in this, if you want, with Simon's prophetic advantage, Cersei Capital can now make arrangements for European currencies in advance, and slowly build short positions in currencies that are bound to plummet, such as the British pound and the lira.

However, the Westeros system is not as pure as the Quantum Fund. Once this is done, Cersei Capital may be able to make a fortune, but the entire Westeros system will definitely encounter hostility and targeting from European countries in the future. Don't even think about doing a good job in all aspects of business.

Therefore, after reading the relevant reports of Cersei Capital analysts, Simon personally banned Cersei Capital from participating in this operation, not allowing a penny.

With the big heads like Quantum Fund in front of it, even if Cersei Capital makes a small fortune, it seems that it will not attract too much attention, but there is no need to get oily all over for some leftovers.

Of course, the most important thing is that Cersei Fund Management Company has a more suitable goal.

Technology stocks!

The wave of new technologies centered on the Internet has risen ahead of schedule. The stock prices of new technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, and America Online have risen rapidly in the past two years. However, according to the information in his memory, Simon is very clear that now The stock price is far from reaching the craziest moment.

Therefore, now is definitely the best time to enter the market and do long U.S. technology stocks.

In the original time and space, Tiger Fund, which followed Quantum Fund in Southeast Asia in 1997, was liquidated in the following two years because of betting on short-selling technology stocks. Tens of billions of dollars lost more than 80% of its funds in just two years , Hedge funds are a zero-sum game. The case of Tiger Fund’s liquidation actually proved from the opposite direction how profitable the hedge funds that were long in the technology stock market at that time were.

It may be a few years before the craziest period of technology stocks, but based on the overall trend of the Nasdaq market, if you start to go long now, the profits will still be very rich.

More importantly, being long on technology stocks does not have the strong political risk required for macro hedging such as speculating on a country's currency.The overall trillion-dollar market value of the Nasdaq technology stock market is also enough for Cersei Fund Management to gallop freely in it.

Inside the apartment on Fifth Avenue.

The time is October 3th, Wednesday.

Simon and Janet came home from get off work at the Cersei Capital headquarters in Midtown together, and Sophia also came to visit and talked about some things about CK while staying for dinner.

Although the two parties have reached a basic agreement, the official signing of the acquisition contract still requires Melisandre to conduct a more detailed operational and financial audit of CK to ensure that there will be no unexpected debts and legal risks.If all goes well, the acquisition will be completed by early next month at the latest.

"After the completion of the acquisition, CK will focus on the three product lines of men's and women's high-end fashion, jeans and underwear. Although high-end fashion will form a certain competition with Gucci, it can still enrich the diversity of Melisandre's fashion business. The two major businesses of jeans and underwear are more important, which is also my original intention of acquiring CK, because these two product lines are areas that Gucci has not set foot in.”

In the restaurant, Simon listened to Sophia's introduction and asked, "At the last party, Klein said that CK's perfume products are also selling well?"

Sophia shook her head and said: "The perfume business only accounts for about 5% of CK's total sales, and it is difficult to compete with brands such as Dior and Chanel. This product line will not be canceled, but it will not invest more. We recently The focus for several years has been on growing Gucci's fragrance business."

Janet, who habitually sat next to Simon, asked, "What about brand licensing?"

Sophia said: "This aspect is a bit complicated. CK granted pajamas, swimwear, glasses, socks, shoes, household items and many other product categories to the outside world in the 80s. It is very difficult to take back all of them now, especially when Melisandre entered the market. After the main CK. However, these authorizations will expire within five years at the latest. My goal is to cancel some authorizations through negotiation as much as possible. Brand."

Simon added: "If it is confirmed that there is no major problem with this company, we can arrange some exposure of the CK brand at the Oscars at the end of the month."

"I'm already in touch," Sophia nodded, looked at Janet again, and asked, "How is the LTD acquisition going?"

LTD is the commonly used abbreviation code for Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret.

Janet said: "Recently both KKR and Blackstone have become interested in LTD, and there may be a bidding war. If the final offer is too high, we will have to withdraw."

KKR is the private equity firm that created the record-breaking Reynolds-Nabisco merger a few years ago, not to mention Blackstone, the old owner of Blackrock Asset Management, which Lawrence Fink is now in charge of.

Both companies are top private equity firms whose strength on Wall Street cannot be underestimated.

The acquisition negotiations were quietly started in February, and the two parties failed to reach an agreement after several contacts. Then, the news inevitably leaked out.

Although LTD firmly denied that it leaked the news, the facts are obvious.

Affected by the leak of acquisition news, LTD's stock price has also risen significantly recently, and its market value has exceeded 15 billion US dollars.

Neither KKR nor Black Rock has made a formal offer, but it is clear that once the two companies make a move, a bidding war will be inevitable, and the planned goodwill acquisition will be out of the question.

For Cersei Capital, the acquisition team of Apollo Management has re-adjusted the acquisition plan and raised the upper limit of the quotation for LTD to 25 billion US dollars, which is a full increase compared to the expected transaction price of 17 billion US dollars in the initial goodwill acquisition stage. $8 million.

In the context of the two competitors eyeing each other fiercely, even this is not a sure thing.

However, the acquisition team has secretly absorbed 4.9% of the shares of LTD Group. Even if the acquisition really fails, after cashing out the shares in hand, Cersei Capital will not be too busy.

In Simon's memory, the peak market value of LTD Group once exceeded 200 billion US dollars.

Even if the company is bought with US$25 billion now, according to the usual five-year holding cycle of private equity companies, based on the upward trend of the U.S. economy in the next five years and the development potential of LTD itself, Simon also believes that in five years, LTD Group The stock price can at least ensure a 100% double growth.

In five years, an average annual return of 20% is not low for private equity.

Simon returned to Los Angeles the next day, and the time has entered the second half of March, and the 3th Oscar Awards Ceremony to be held on March 3 is approaching.

According to the voting process, the judges of the recent Oscar awards have sent out their votes, and the results of the awards are basically settled.

Daenerys Entertainment's two key nominated films this year, "The Piano" and "Thelma and Louise" are destined to be just companions. Nominations such as Best Foreign Language Film did not put much effort into public relations.

This is bound to be a fairly quiet year for Daenerys Entertainment at the awards.

Calculated, among the total 22 nominations under Daenerys Entertainment, the only one that is relatively guaranteed is Holly Hunter, the heroine of "Farewell to the Piano".

The actress' Best Actress nomination was well-deserved for her stellar performance in "The Piano".Moreover, compared to several other candidates, Holly Hunter also has a deep network of contacts in Hollywood. You know, this actress was once Spielberg's girlfriend.

Holly Hunter's brokerage company ICM has also invested a lot of resources and contacts in public relations in order for Hunter to obtain a statuette.

In 1992 Easter was April 4th.

One month in advance, Daenerys Entertainment's key Easter project "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" has entered the sprint publicity stage.

Simon is quite satisfied with the filming effect of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2". However, in the original time and space, the box office of several "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" sequels released by New Line in the 90s continued to plummet, which also made him wonder about the box office performance of this sequel. Some worries.

If it weren't for the fact that the budget cost of the sequel was only 3000 million U.S. dollars, and it needed to cooperate with Blizzard Studio's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series of games, Simon would have considered canceling the production of the sequel like "Flying Beyond Childhood".

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" did not immediately launch a sequel last year after the release of the first song in 1990, also because of Simon's concerns.

In the final analysis, although the popularity of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is very high, the IP image tends to be younger. Adult audiences can easily lose interest in the sequel after the initial novelty.For young audiences, even if the film itself has achieved a PG rating, the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will not please children like cartoons after all.

Chapter 472 Layout (Revision)

Next month, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" will be released. As the heroine of the film, April O'Neill, although it is only a vase in this movie featuring four Teenage Turtles, Nicole Kidman When the Oscars ceremony was approaching, I deliberately took a week off from the set of "Midnight Ring" in Melbourne, Australia and rushed back to Los Angeles.

The Oscars in this era generally have more than 4000 million viewers, second only to the annual Super Bowl in popularity.

This year, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" and "Midnight Ring" will be released, two of Daenerys Entertainment's key productions. Whether it is for maintaining personal fame or the need for film promotion, the Oscars must be attended.

Of course, for this kind of running around, Nicole Kidman is also happy.

Too many men and women who have been in Hollywood have climbed all their lives, and they may not necessarily be able to sit in the hall of the Oscar Awards Ceremony.

Returning to Los Angeles on March 3, while preparing for the Oscars, WMA also arranged a series of other work schedules for her.

Daenerys Studios.

The time is October 3th, Friday.

In the morning, I participated in an audition for a script at the MGM headquarters in Century City. After lunch, Nicole Kidman hurried to Daenerys Studios in Malibu.

The image design of Poison Ivy was finalized last month, and while Nicole came back from Australia, Simon wanted to see how the character would look after she put on makeup herself.

After the total North American box office broke through the 1 million US dollars mark at the end of January, "The Flash" has been released in the past two months. As of yesterday, the cumulative box office has reached 2 million US dollars. The single week of the film from March 2.51th to March 3th The box office has also dropped to 20 million U.S. dollars, and it is expected to drop around Easter next month. The total domestic box office is about 3 million U.S. dollars.

Overseas, the box office performance of "The Flash" is even better. The cumulative box office of the various box office that has been released has reached 3.63 million US dollars in more than three months.With the continuation of overseas distribution, it is only a matter of time before "The Flash" has accumulated more than 4 million US dollars overseas.

The total global box office exceeds 6.5 million US dollars. Even if it cannot be compared with the two "Batman", such box office results are enough to make other Hollywood studios envious.

The DC movie universe has sold three consecutive films, and the follow-up project plan has naturally received further attention from the two companies.

According to the information recently collected by the media, Daenerys and Warner Bros. will officially announce the main creators of the two major projects of "Superman" and "Steel Bone" in the DC movie universe in the near future. "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" has been exposed too much by gossip.

Nicole Kidman herself knows some news that is not heard by the outside world.

For example, her role as Poison Ivy was actually signed for three films.