Beverly Hills, Cooper Family.
Under the bright moonlight, Eric stood on the balcony, looking at the swimming pool in the yard while on the phone.
"Eric, congratulations on MGM's relisting, and even more congratulations on becoming the world's youngest billionaire."
On the overseas call, Han Sanping loudly spoke auspicious words.
However, Eric's ears were almost calloused from hearing these words; he had received too many congratulatory calls that day.
Not just his ears, even his eyes and fingers were sore and tired, because he also had to read and reply to text messages.
Everyone who had his private number was an acquaintance, and it wouldn't be good to neglect anyone; not replying would be bad form.
After leaving the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, his father flew back to Los Angeles first, while Eric went to meet Sergei Hassenfield.
That old fellow was now riding high, not only in his emotional life but also in his career.
Emotionally, he was hot and heavy with Kate Winslet; his withered heart seemed to have come back to life, he no longer boxed, and he had found a new source of excitement.
He even had thoughts of divorcing his wife, but Eric advised him to consider it carefully. Marriage was no small matter, especially for a wealthy and successful person like him.
The distribution of assets was a big problem, as were the children, and his uncle Alan Hassenfeld would not agree either.
Influenced by the movie, transformers toys sold like crazy, and Hasbro's stock price soared in response, with gains almost catching up to MGM, and its market value exceeded ten billion US dollars.
Now was the peak period, and Alan Hassenfeld would not allow even a tiny piece of bad news to affect the stock price, including Sergei's marital issues.
After all, Sergei was the apparent head of Hasbro.
His relationship with his uncle Alan was precisely the opposite of Eric's relationship with Harry Cooper.
At MGM, Eric was the Prime Minister, and Harry Cooper was the King.
At Hasbro, Alan was the Prime Minister, and Sergei was the King.
Listening to Eric's advice, the hot-headed Sergei gradually calmed down, realizing that he had thought too simply.
He grew increasingly hateful of Alan Hassenfeld, cursing loudly that with this old geezer around, he would probably never be able to turn his life around.
Eric also asked him about toy sales. Sergei said he wasn't clear on the exact statistics yet, but he had a rough estimate.
In just over two months, transformers toys had already surpassed last year's entire sales, nearly doubling them.
If this trend continued, in a little more time, there was real hope of reaching four times the sales.
And once that number was reached, it meant that the highest clause of the gambling agreement signed by both parties would have to be fulfilled.
Hasbro would then face two choices: either pay MGM 55% of the net toy profits, a figure that could reach 500 million US dollars or even more.
Or it would have to pay MGM 4% of its equity.
And once the equity was in MGM's hands, there would be many ways to manipulate it; it could be directly sold to Eric personally, since he called the shots at MGM, it would just be moving from the left hand to the right.
If he obtained this 4% of the equity, Eric would control 20% of Hasbro's shares.
He would instantly surpass Alan Hassenfeld's 17% and become Hasbro's largest shareholder.
Now the key to the matter lay with Sergei. Eric had helped him so much, and this guy was very dissatisfied with Alan, so getting him on board wouldn't be difficult.
Bringing his thoughts back, Eric said, "I can accept the first congratulation, but forget the latter, 'world's youngest billionaire.' "
"Those things are just for sensationalism, only counting some public assets. Many large families and groups have huge hidden assets that simply can't be tallied."
Old Han laughed heartily: "Others have hidden assets, and you don't? I wouldn't believe it if you said you didn't!"
"In short, you are the richest person I know. On the Forbes list, there is only one Chinese person, Ding Lei, who works in the internet industry."
"The gap is still quite large. If you have time, come and guide our work; those billionaires in China would definitely be happy to attend your lectures."
The two chatted for a few minutes, and Eric found an excuse to hang up the phone.
Han Sanping was right; others had hidden assets, and he had plenty of his own.
Dual Star Entertainment's 45% stake: After more than half a year of operation, the company's products were becoming increasingly popular.
When "peppa pig" and "rick and morty" are produced, the products will be highly compatible with Dual Star Entertainment. Although the merchandise won't surpass transformers, it will definitely achieve big IP sales.
He had spent 300 million US dollars to buy these shares from Thorne; their current valuation had already doubled, and they would multiply many times more if the company went public in the future.
His 16% stake in Hasbro was also worth a lot, exceeding 1.5 billion US dollars at current stock prices, and it was still growing.
The value of Facebook, YouTube, and Lionheart Network goes without saying. He certainly couldn't compare to those super second-generation heirs now.
But given time, perhaps only ten years, the name of the world's richest person would undoubtedly be Eric Cooper, and he would hold that position for a long time.
Returning to the dinner table after the call, his mother complained with some dissatisfaction, "These people really are something. Why don't they pay attention to the time? Can't they wait half an hour to let you eat something?"
Lisa, the little nanny, reheated the cold food: "Eat quickly, Eric, there will surely be more calls coming soon."
"It's fine, it'll be over after today. Hmm, why is today's stew so fragrant? It doesn't taste like chicken or pork. What is this?"
"It's ostrich meat. It tastes very good, doesn't it? It was prepared with a special technique," his mother said with a smile.
Eric nodded, taking another big bite: "Delicious. Why did you suddenly think of eating ostrich meat today?"
"Someone sent it. I just did a secondary preparation according to the method."
"Who sent it?"
"Nicole Kidman."
"Uh…"
Eric choked for a moment and quickly took a sip of soup to clear his throat.
"Nicole Kidman? Why would she send you ostrich meat? No, how do you two know each other? Didn't you dislike her?"
Eric clearly remembered that after the Oscar Awards last year, rumors of an affair between him and Nicole were everywhere.
His mother was quite opinionated after hearing about it. She had heard more or less about the messy relationship between Nicole and Tom Cruise, so her impression of her was not good.
"Eric, God teaches us to see a person with time and heart, not with eyes. I must admit I was wrong."
"Based on past media reports, I made an incorrect judgment, thinking Nicole was a problematic woman."
"However, we met at church a while ago. It turns out she is also a devout Catholic and has a deep understanding of the Bible."
"We became friends, and she gradually opened up, telling me many things from her past, including that terrible marriage."
"But I must keep her secret and cannot tell you the details, but it really wasn't Nicole's fault; she was also a victim."
"Those gossip tabloids are truly detestable; they always make baseless reports, twisting a perfectly good woman into a madwoman."
Seeing his mother actually defending Nicole, Eric's eyes widened.
He suddenly remembered that when the two of them were together some time ago, Nicole had asked him if he usually attended church services or similar things.
They chatted for a few sentences at the time, and Eric didn't take it seriously at all, after all, they chatted so much normally, who would care about that.
He didn't feel anything then, but now that he thought about it, he guessed that little woman was trying to get information out of him.
Then she secretly contacted his mother behind his back, successfully turning her image around, and the two even became good friends, which was truly surprising.
When the two become best friends, and Eric gets involved with her, it's like a direct performance of "fatal women".
Thinking about his several women, Nicole was undoubtedly the most active, often intentionally or unintentionally bringing up topics related to marriage.
Of course, Eric knew what she was thinking and usually just brushed it off with a laugh.
After brushing it off too many times, she probably harbored some resentment, so she would occasionally launch a sudden attack on him.
She didn't have any bad intentions; it was more because she was much older than Eric and lacked a sense of security deep down, so she was relatively anxious.
She had also talked about children, fearing that in a few more years, it might be difficult for her to get pregnant, as she was already on the verge of becoming an elderly mother.
So, deep down, she worried that Eric might also launch a sudden attack on her someday, though this one might be more severe, perhaps even a breakup.
To hold onto a man, she could only work harder to find ways and means.
The surprise kiss at the Emmy Awards was clearly a bad move, and Eric had lectured her about it afterward.
But this time, Nicole seemed to have found the right approach, breaking through with his mother, which was finally a good method.
Relatively speaking, the other women were not as active; at least, they hadn't expressed their attitudes towards marriage.
Gadot was only 19, and the Olsen Sisters had just turned 18, so they were too young to have a concept of it.
Although Theron was 28, the pain from her original family made her very hostile to marriage, showing signs of being anti-marriage.
At least before Eric's transmigration, Theron had not been married.
Now, the careers of several of them were at their peak. After the awards season, they would be assigned work, and once they were busy, they wouldn't think so much about these things.
On January 22nd, just one week after MGM's relisting, the stock price, which had been stabilizing, suddenly surged, rising by over 8%.
Because another event capable of igniting Hollywood had occurred.
Harry Cooper officially announced his retirement, and Eric Cooper fully took over the company.
The facts had already proven Eric's capability, so the market was generally optimistic about this, and the stock price naturally rose.
"transformers" also ended its large-scale two-month run, with only remote areas in North America and some overseas countries still showing it, but the impact was already minimal.
The current global box office is 943 million US dollars, and it can still remain in the champion's seat for a while, but "the lord of the rings: the return of the king" is catching up quickly.
The North American box office for "blue is the warmest color" has already exceeded 100 million, reaching an exaggerated 145 million US dollars.
Its overseas box office also garnered 32 million US dollars, reaching a global box office of 177 million US dollars to claim the top spot.
It surpassed the 108 million US dollar global box office record for a same-sex themed film held by "the hours".
And "the hours" was the film that earned Nicole her queen title last year.
Eric suddenly realized that, among his women, except for Gadot, all of them had participated in same-sex films.
Thinking about it, it's not bad. In the future, when they all sleep together, he definitely won't be able to attend to so many people at once. It's also good to let them please each other.
The North American box office for "sharknado 2" also exceeded 100 million, having already garnered 132 million US dollars, more than ten million higher than the previous installment, but its potential was almost fully exploited.
This kind of movie is about making quick money, specifically released for die-hard fans. The Upper limit is capped, but its strength lies in its low cost; it makes money no matter how it's filmed.
"monster" had a rather dismal performance, only taking in over 17 million US dollars at the North American box office in three weeks. It could only hope that the upcoming Golden Globe Awards would help the film turn its fortunes around.
On January 25th, in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, at the Hilton Hotel, a grand film party was held.
The Golden Globe Awards, broadcast live by NBC and watched by over 28 million American viewers and nearly 400 million people worldwide simultaneously, was about to begin.
As one of the two most important film awards in the United States, the Golden Globe Awards are often called the