Chapter 1025: Too risky

Chapter 1025: Too risky

The signing ceremony for the equity transfer agreement took place at the headquarters of the Firefly Investment Center at Rockefeller Center.

Chris is very respectful of Buffett's minimalist business philosophy, so many aspects follow this predecessor as much as possible. Although the company headquarters was moved to the Rockefeller Center in the past two years, compared with other large companies, the firefly investment company that controls the assets of more than 200 billion US dollars still only maintains a small team of about 50 people, and the entire company only accounts for Office space less than half of the Rockefeller Center Building 50.

In comparison, the Morgan Stanley Group has a total of twenty-seven floors of office space from 47th to 74th floors of the South Tower of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The reason why Eric noticed this was because when he moved to the office, Chris asked Eric if he wanted to move to Morgan Stanley to move to a building. This would facilitate cooperation between the two parties. Eric certainly could not agree. .

However, Eric remembers that on the day of the 9/11 incident, Morgan Stanley’s employees were almost completely evacuated. In the process, nearly 3,000 employees had only six accidental deaths. It is said that all of this was attributed to the safety of the company. Supervisor, this has to be said to be a 'miracle'.

The signing ceremony is very simple. The batch of 16.5 million shares was taken over by the other seven shareholders of AOL, such as Morgan Stanley and Pioneer Group, for $4 billion, such as payment settlement, shareholding structure change and filing with the SEC. The process will take a week to complete, and the fact that Firefly Investment, Morgan Stanley, and AOL parties are so big together is mainly for a press conference after the signing ceremony.

There has been a lot of rumors about AOL in the recent period, and this equity transfer is just the best time to respond to all recent rumors.

The staff room of the firefly investment was temporarily placed on the scene of the press conference. The signing process was over. Eric, Chris, Steve Case and John Mark were together on the stage without a long table. A very simple four-chair, Chris's deputy temporarily guested the role of the host, and the audience was the hundreds of media reporters who crowded the entire event room.

After clarifying and responding to some rumors related to Firefly Investment and AOL through a simple interactive process determined in advance, the press conference entered the free question time.

The host ordered a reporter, and the other person got up and directly targeted Eric: "Mr. Williams, I am a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, since Firefly Investment has repeatedly stated that it is optimistic about the future of NASDAQ and AOL. Why is your company still insisting on reducing its holdings?"

The words of the reporter of The Wall Street Journal have just been exported, and all the reporters on the scene are looking forward to the spirit.

Although there is a contradiction between the two sides in the past, but from the current situation, in any case, the low-cost selling of firefly investment is too much like feeling the rush of cash after the crisis. Although the Nasdaq index has become more and more strong during this period, many investors have gradually abandoned their concerns, but Wall Street has never lacked the power to bear the Nasdaq index.

Chris made a reassuring look at Chris, who wanted to help him block this problem. Eric raised his microphone and said: "In fact, the firefly investment in the reduction of AOL stocks, and the overall trend of the Nasdaq market. It doesn't matter much. The reason why Firefly Investment does this is because AOL's established development strategy can't complement the other industries of Firefly Investment, so we will opt out and focus more on other business aspects. You should know that Firefly Investment is also a major shareholder of technology companies such as Cisco, Sprint, Qualcomm, and Nokia. If you are not optimistic about technology stocks, you should now see firefly investments also selling stocks of other companies, but in fact, Over the years, Firefly Investment has never sold any shares of companies such as Cisco and Sprint."

After Eric said, many people in the scene showed a thoughtful look. The reporter of the "Wall Street Journal" just wanted to refute, but for a time he could not find a suitable reason.

These years, the achievements of firefly investment in new technology fields are obvious to all. Now, firefly investment has not given up the meaning of any other new technology companies, but it has greatly reduced the holding of AOL stocks, even if the reason is really with the Nasdaq market. The bubble has nothing to do, but the firefly's move is worth pondering.

The host did not let the reporter just continue to ask questions, and soon ordered another one.

"Mr. Williams, I am a reporter for Forbes magazine. After completing the reduction of AOL's 25% stake, the firefly investment will receive huge amounts of funds of tens of billions of dollars. What investment plans will you continue? Focus on the high-tech field?"

"We have not yet detailed plans for this fund. However, the traditional industries have basically formed a relatively stable industrial structure. Fireflies are also very unfamiliar with these areas. Therefore, focusing on opportunities has more potential for development. The new technology field is affirmative."

In fact, Eric and Chris have already discussed the ownership of the next fund.

Although it will not enter the stock market where the degree of foaming is already very serious in the short term, it is absolutely impossible to simply put interest in the bank in the near-billion dollar fund.

Because the funds will be used again in about two years, Eric plans to invest in various types of short-term convertible bonds. Compared with the annual interest rate of less than 3% of the bank, the investment bonds will receive 5% of the annual income. No problem, and this kind of investment can be converted into cash again within 12 months.

However, these are certainly not possible to be honest with these reporters. Therefore, Eric has to be sloppy. He has not deceived these people. He just re-invested in the technology field and at least waited until the technology stock bubble burst after 2000. It is a good time to cut the price at a low price.

Eric’s chances of appearing in front of the media are too few. The reporters in the field have continuously questioned Eric’s series of questions. The topic even turned to the film he was filming, but he was joking and refused to respond by Eric. The reporters finally turned their attention to several others.

After the press conference, some trivial matters were dealt with, and it was already in the evening without knowing it.

In order to celebrate the successful completion of the transaction, John Mark took the world window restaurant on the top of the Twin Towers in the name of Morgan Stanley to hold a cocktail reception.

In the Window of the World restaurant, after dealing with an executive in First Boston, Chris and Eric walked up to the window overlooking Manhattan, and looked at the city under the lights and smiled: "First Boston also I want 5 million shares. If we raise some prices now, we might sell them all."

“Just be an IPO,” Eric instinctively resisted the unfortunate high-rise building at his feet, but his face did not show up, holding a glass of red wine in one hand and another in his pocket, saying: “ There is no need to make extra money now. Let’s start with this $10 billion."

Although according to AOL's current share price, $10 billion to sell 25% of the stock, firefly investment is equivalent to giving up about $2 billion in benefits. But in fact, the firefly investment is definitely the most profitable one in the whole process.

After all, according to the development process in Eric's memory, AOL's all profits generated in more than a decade have not been worth $10 billion since its birth to its fall.

Now I think that these investment institutions that take advantage of the cheap stocks from the firefly investment, if they have passed the lock-up period after half a year, can resist the temptation of the rapid rise of the stock price and immediately sell the stock, it will certainly be able to get rich profits. However, Eric is sure that there will be a large number of people who can't suppress the greed in their hearts. They wait until the Nasdaq crashes to wake up, but they regret it.

There are always people who ask about the loss of the stockholders after the stock market crash, but they are actually earned by those who are willing to take the time.

"From the current situation, the other 15% of the stocks will be sold in the next month. I will select a list of recently issued high-quality bonds, and if the bonds of the Firefly Group are not sold, We can buy some of ourselves. When are you going back to Los Angeles?"

Eric said: "Tomorrow afternoon, we will continue to shoot "Gravity" on Monday."

Chris nodded and said, "Yes, you really invested $1.6 billion in promoting 3D and IMAX movies?"

“Yeah,” Eric said with a relaxed smile. “According to the initial plan, 4,000 3D screens worldwide, with an average cost of $300,000 per piece, Jeffery is discussing the details of cooperation with major theaters. There are a total of 200 IMAX theaters in North America and overseas. We plan to operate on our own. Because of the location reasons, the cost in this area is not certain. On average, each theater should have $2 million, which is $1.6 billion. ”

Chris listened carefully, and at the end shook his head and said: "It's too risky."

"When you've seen the film of Gravity, you probably won't think so," Eric said confidently. "And, I can afford it now."

The two were chatting, and John Mark took another middle-aged man to come over. Eric and Chris stopped talking and politely greeted them.

After some entertainment, Eric left the reception early at nine o'clock.

Carolyn and Meyer were sent to the apartment on Sixth Avenue. After some time, Eric rushed to East Hampton at night and left tomorrow afternoon. I must still look at the children.

When I arrived in East Hampton, it was already 11 o'clock in the middle of the night. The car slowly entered the Linhai Manor. Joanna had been waiting in the yard with a maid.

When I saw Eric getting off, Joanna came over with a smile in her face and whispered, "Eric."

Eric hugged Joanna and kissed her lips and said, "Is the little guys asleep?"

Joanna smiled and nodded, telling the maids around her to take Eric's bodyguards to the villa next to them, and then walked into the main villa with Eric.

Carefully helping Eric to hang the coat on the hanger, Joanna turned and watched Eric have changed shoes, and naturally walked with him to the children's bedroom, while whispering: "Summer and summer Kevin fell asleep at nine o'clock, and Emma didn't sleep long before the little guy became more and more naughty."

"Then I will help you to teach her tomorrow," Eric said with a smile. He and Joanna pushed open a bedroom with no light. Without a light, you can see a small person with the light in the corridor. Lying in a small bed.

Going up to the front, Joanna carefully arranged the blanket on her body, gently touched her daughter's delicate face, and took back her hand. Seeing Eric also put some rough big hands over, whited him and reached out. Blocked.

Eric had to bow down and gently kissed her daughter's forehead, and watched quietly for a while before leaving the room.

As the age increases, the three little guys already have their own room.

Eric followed Joanna and saw Kevin and Emma again, and the two went upstairs together.

"Which is not talking about taking care of Kevin in the future, why did he rush to film?" Eric took off his shirt in the bedroom on the second floor, and asked some dissatisfaction.

In the bathroom, Joanna put Eric in the bathroom and said: "It’s just a small role. It’s finished in a week. You don’t know the character of Vicky. She can’t stand the quiet and stay at home to see the children. ""

Eric said as he took off his trousers and threw it into the big bed. He walked into the bathroom and said, "There is no need to go to film, and I will go to Vancouver and do something else."

"Oh, I can't help her. I will talk to her next time."

"It seems that I need to have a good lesson," Eric said with a smile. He stepped into the bathtub and saw Joanna getting up and leaving, reaching out and holding the woman, not taking off her clothes, and hugged it in.

"You, the clothes are all wet," Joanna struggled a little, and she leaned back into Eric's arms, feeling the man kissing thinly between his neck and breathing more and more quickly.

After some lingering, leaving the bathroom has passed at 12 am.

On the big bed, Joanna's linen hair was slightly draped, lazy on Eric, feeling the skin of the two, but no sleep.

After a while, Joanna whispered: "Eric, I want to discuss something with you?"

Eric’s big hand also walked up the woman’s body and responded gently: “Well?”

Joanna’s expression was awkward, raising her face and saying, “I want to take summer and summer back to Poland.”

Eric’s actions have been over. He is very strange to the country of Poland. Because he is strange, he naturally does not want his children to go to a place they are not familiar with. However, feeling the eyes of Joanna, Eric thought about it, or nodded: "Okay, I will arrange it for you."