Bill Splurt's promotion wasn't just because of a party. Simon pushed things along a bit, intentionally making James Rebold probe into Splurt's background, creating the impression that they were considering poaching him.
A habit of keeping another spare piece in play.
Whether it could be used in the future or not, it was never a bad move.
Simon hadn't anticipated that the Swiss bank would be bold enough to directly promote Bill Splurt to the position of head of a major business department. While it seemed like just a two-level promotion on the surface, each of those hurdles is something many investment bank employees may not overcome in their entire careers.
Of course, Simon wasn't going to spend too much energy on such a minor matter.
After reaching a settlement, the Hearst family publicly announced the news the next day. They originally wanted to keep things vague, but Simon didn't give them the chance. The New York Post then revealed the details of the settlement in a somewhat gossipy tone, including the $1 sale of ESPN shares and the full $370 million settlement for six lawsuits.
Simon wanted to use the Hearst family's "tragic" experience to deter all potential adversaries of the Westeros system.
Judging by the feedback over this period, the effect was very clear. When discussing matters related to the Westeros system, North American media already showed a notable chilling effect. After all, even the powerful Hearst Group had been severely weakened by Simon Westeros, and there weren't many media forces in the entire USA that could surpass the Hearst family.
Without the Westeros system's hindrance, the Hearst family resumed the asset sale they had previously halted. Initial feedback indicated they could recover about $300 million, roughly 60% of the asset value.
Under Simon's secret guidance, ABC Television's parent company, Metropolitan ABC Group, also proposed a deal to the Hearst family, offering to buy back the 50% stake in AE Network held by the Hearst family for $200 million, which was about half the original price. Even with some bargaining, the price wouldn't go up much.
The Hearst family, still contemplating which assets to sell to raise more funds, found ABC's offer a helpful decision-maker.
These two deals brought in $500 million in cash, enough to help the Hearst family through their current crisis.
Observant individuals might also notice that, excluding the practically free ESPN shares and the soon-to-be-sold assets, the total value of the remaining Hearst family assets had fallen below $1 billion. A family once worth $2.5 billion had been reduced to this state in just three months.
And even though they had momentarily weathered the crisis, the Hearst family's troubles were far from over.
For example, the San Francisco Chronicle, which constituted almost half of the remaining assets, was seeing a significant shift in readership from print to digital, driven by increasing PC ownership in the San Francisco area and targeted operations by the Westeros system in recent months. As a result, the Chronicle's subscription numbers had visibly declined over the past quarter. It was anticipated that by the end of Q2 1994, this historic regional newspaper would report its first quarterly loss in many years.
For an industry entering a decline, reversing a loss is no simple task.
Especially for the already weakened Hearst Group.
Had this upheaval not occurred, the Hearst Group could have marshaled enough resources to potentially revive the Chronicle's business. Now, like a leaking ship in a vast ocean, the chances of repair seemed slim.
After a three-month standoff, the situation was initially resolved. Besides keeping people on alert for the Hearst Group's movements to push them further into the abyss at the right moment, Simon himself didn't follow up on the matter personally.
He continued preparations for Daenerys Entertainment's IPO on July 1st, as the North American summer box office season continued.
From June 24th to June 30th, two significant new releases hit North American theaters: Paramount Pictures' *Beverly Hills Cop III* and Fox Pictures' bomb-disposal thriller *Blown Away*.
After the first two successful installments of *Beverly Hills Cop* in 1984 and 1987, the third installment was delayed for seven years due to Paramount's and star Eddie Murphy's prolonged inability to agree on a salary. After years of delay, Murphy finally secured a top-tier $15 million salary, pushing the production cost of the sequel to a whopping $50 million.
It opened last Friday, with Paramount preparing 2,936 screens for this classic action-comedy sequel, nearly 3,000 screens, the second-largest release of the summer season after *Batman: The Dark Knight Rises*.
However, it faced a fate similar to *City Slickers II* the previous week.
It was critically panned.
Compared to *City Slickers II*'s media score of 1.8, *Beverly Hills Cop III* fared even worse, with a composite media score of just 1.1.
Nevertheless, thanks to relentless promotion and the strong legacy of the previous films, *Beverly Hills Cop III*'s opening weekend box office was decent, reaching $21.96 million. Although it ranked third on the box office chart, an opening above $20 million gave Paramount some hope.
The box office for the week of June 24th to June 30th saw *Batman: The Dark Knight Rises* maintaining its lead with a 32% drop, earning another $32.31 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $272.53 million.
After an initial strong opening of $42.39 million, *The Conjuring* didn't display blockbuster potential, with its second-week box office dropping 43% to $24.15 million, accumulating $66.54 million over two weeks. It was expected to recoup its $40 million production and marketing costs by the next week.
Meanwhile, New World Pictures' promotion of the "Conjuring Universe" sparked considerable interest among fans, with the Halloween release of the first spin-off, *The Haunting in the Morgue*, garnering significant media and public attention even before the official marketing campaign began.
Following *Beverly Hills Cop III* in third place, Fox's *Blown Away* ranked fourth, earning $13.15 million in its first week.
It was a modest start.
Fox had invested $28 million in production for this Jeff Bridges-led action thriller, with a total budget exceeding $40 million including marketing. With a $13.15 million opening, Fox could only hope for a miraculous box office run to recoup costs.
As a popcorn movie, such hope was slim.
The fifth spot was taken by *Speed*.
This critically acclaimed action film, in its sixth week, overtook the briefly successful *City Slickers II*, with only a 19% drop, earning another $6.73 million, bringing its North American total to $95.22 million, expected to surpass $100 million by next week.
Beyond the top five, films like *City Slickers II* had largely exited the summer box office competition.
Before the new box office week on July 1st, Daenerys Entertainment held a grand premiere for *Forrest Gump*, another blockbuster Simon considered for 1994, on Wednesday, June 29th.
Perhaps due to a lapse in memory, *Forrest Gump*, which retained most of the original creative team and matched Simon's memory of the original in quality, didn't receive as much critical acclaim. The next day, after the premiere, the film received a composite media score of around 7.4.
A critic from the *Seattle Times* unreservedly criticized *Forrest Gump*, saying, "Only in America can you find a movie that uses an idiot as a medium to traverse the country's recent history, and it's not even a satire."
The original novel of *Forrest Gump* was a satire, which explained the *Seattle Times* critic's perspective.
Similarly, Winston Groom, the novel's author, who had been sidelined during the scriptwriting phase, publicly stated after the premiere that the film completely deviated from his original intentions for *Forrest Gump*, making the film's theme seem even more "ridiculous and laughable."
In fact, a 7.4 media score, compared to films like *City Slickers II* and *Beverly Hills Cop III*, wasn't bad. But it paled next to the excellent scores above 8 for Daenerys Entertainment's other summer hits like *Stargate*, *Batman: The Dark Knight Rises*, and even the horror film *The Conjuring*.
Simon had planned a relatively conservative marketing strategy for *Forrest Gump*, hoping for a long-term box office run driven by word-of-mouth. As a result, the film opened on only 2,137 screens.
Now, with an underwhelming initial response, *Forrest Gump*'s box office prospects were uncertain.
Under Daenerys Entertainment's effective cost control, the final production cost for *Forrest Gump* was $50 million, $5 million less than the original. However, $50 million was still a significant budget for that era.
Even with a conservative marketing approach, the film's promotional budget was $20 million.
With a total project budget of $70 million, even if the film were to completely fail, it wouldn't seriously harm Daenerys Entertainment.
Unfortunately, the release of *Forrest Gump* coincided with a particularly tricky time.
The film was set to open on July 1st, the same day Daenerys Entertainment Group would officially list on the New York Stock Exchange.
As Bill Splurt noted at a party the previous Friday, the inherent unpredictability of the film industry often deters significant investment. If Daenerys Entertainment Group were to immediately face a box office disaster with a $70 million movie right after going
public, it would undoubtedly affect the company's stock performance.
Nevertheless, July 1st arrived as scheduled.
Daenerys Entertainment Group chose to list on the traditional New York Stock Exchange rather than the emerging NASDAQ. This decision was influenced by several factors, primarily the NYSE's more established market. Additionally, the NYSE offered Daenerys Entertainment more favorable terms to compete with NASDAQ.
Indeed, in the USA, companies can negotiate terms with exchanges. This includes commissions with underwriters, which are also negotiable.
For a large IPO like Daenerys Entertainment's, raising over $5 billion, this was especially true.
Typically, IPO commissions and fees can consume 10% to 15% of the total raised amount. However, for Daenerys Entertainment, after negotiations with the NYSE, underwriters, and other related entities, the total cost, including investment banking commissions, exchange fees, accounting, and legal expenses, was expected to be only $160 million, just 2.8% of the $5.625 billion raised.
This was the result of Daenerys Entertainment's management negotiating with various parties in advance.
Of course, $160 million is still a considerable sum, more than the total IPO fundraising of many companies in the US stock market.
After a brief weekend in Los Angeles, Simon and his wife returned to the East Coast on Monday.
On July 1st, just before 7 a.m., the couple had already finished breakfast and were heading to the New York Stock Exchange headquarters at the iconic 18 Broadway.
Hundreds of media outlets from around the world had been camped outside the NYSE since the previous night. Some executives from Daenerys Entertainment Group had also stayed overnight at the NYSE headquarters.
As Simon and his wife stepped out of their car, a barrage of blinding flashlights greeted them.
A security team formed a human wall, escorting Simon and his wife into the building.
To ensure the smooth success of the IPO, the Westeros system had discreetly taken over the NYSE's security operations two weeks prior. Simon was acutely aware of how conspicuous a target he was at that moment. In addition to the 150 security personnel deployed on the street, the Westeros family intelligence team had another hundred operatives throughout Manhattan.
These measures proved necessary.
In just two weeks, the Westeros family's intelligence team intercepted three plots targeting the IPO.
Two involved plans to shoot Simon on the day of the IPO, while the third involved a former soldier from Oklahoma planning to plant a car bomb outside the NYSE. The motives varied; some believed Simon's wealth threatened American society, while others felt someone like Simon shouldn't exist in this world. The veteran from Oklahoma was angered by Simon's involvement in African conflicts.
Ultimately, Simon's immense wealth and power had drawn increasing scrutiny and suspicion from many quarters.
Resentment towards the wealthy has been a long-standing sentiment since the dawn of human civilization, often exploited by those in power to divert public discontent.
Thus, Simon understood that his current situation was unavoidable, and he didn't harbor deep fears about it.
To wear the crown is to bear its weight; every situation has its pros and cons.
Given the sensitive timing, Simon didn't make the three captured individuals "disappear," instead handing them over to the FBI.
However, the Westeros family continued to investigate the deeper motives behind these plots.
If it was discovered that someone else had orchestrated these actions, Simon would show no mercy.
As for the three individuals, prison time was inevitable, and even if they were released, they and their associates would be closely monitored by the Westeros system. Simon had little tolerance for potential threats, granting at most one chance.
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