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When Wall Street elites were thinking about how to spend the next weekend, a sudden announcement from Westeros suddenly broke everyone's relaxed mood.

Westeros' announcement is not long, to the effect that due to the needs of corporate development, the company will reduce its holdings of six technology companies, including Apple, in the near future.

After liquidating Motorola stock at the beginning of last year, Westeros hasn't made any big public moves this year.Moreover, the total value of the six stocks that Westeros is about to reduce its holdings this time is not too large. According to the stock prices before the market close today, even if all positions are liquidated, the cash scale is only about 5 million U.S. dollars, of which only Apple's Stocks account for more than half.

However, no one will forget the boom in investment in technology stocks triggered by the 'Westeros Portfolio', let alone the young man behind the Westeros Corporation who created a series of wealth miracles in just two years.

Does the one-time reduction of six technology stocks mean that Simon Westero is no longer optimistic about the technology stock sector?Or, some unknown changes have taken place within these six companies?Or maybe Simon Westeros is raising money to do other things?

With a series of questions, many investment banks and securities companies held temporary emergency meetings to discuss the possible impact of Westeros' announcement on the stock market next week.The phone in the office of James Raybould, president of Westeros Corporation, was also rang immediately.

Apple and other six companies became the objects of close attention of many people in the next few days.

Westeros chose to issue a shareholding reduction announcement after the market closes on Friday. In fact, it was giving everyone time to prepare to avoid panic selling in the technology stock sector and causing a sharp drop.

After the news was announced, Apple, the core enterprise of the reduction, held a high-level meeting overnight.

In recent years, Apple's market share, revenue scale, and profits have continued to rise, and the company's CEO John Sculley is not too worried about the sudden announcement of Westeros' shareholding reduction.

After an emergency meeting discussion, Apple released the company's annual financial report for 1988 in advance on Saturday afternoon.

截止1988年12月31日，苹果公司全年总营收为26.61亿美元，相比1987年的19.01亿美元，上涨39.9%。全年净利润2.18亿美元，相比1987年的1.54亿美元，上涨41.5%。

At the same time, Apple's market share also increased from 1987% in 9.3 to 12.1%.

Apple's dazzling annual financial data gave many investors a reassurance, and the other five companies also took corresponding measures under the influence of Apple.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, James Raybould also publicly spoke out his support, saying that Westeros is still optimistic about the prospects of these technology companies, and it is only because of the company's development that it has to take measures to reduce its holdings .

However, when asked by a reporter from the "Wall Street Journal" where the funds cashed out by Westeros will be invested, James Raybould did not give a clear answer.

This kind of evasion immediately caused a lot of speculation in the media, and they began to further pursue the inside story.

New Monday.

Among the many media discussions surrounding the Westeros company's shareholding reduction announcement, an article on the front page of the "Wall Street Journal" immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Watch out, big moves are coming in Westeros! "

"At this year's jokey Golden Globes, Daenerys Entertainment's series of excellent films last year won only two awards: Best Director for "Dead Poets Society" and Best Supporting Actress for "Steel Magnolia". "

"The author does not intend to discuss the intense controversy caused by the 46th Golden Globe Awards. I am more curious about how much money Daenerys Entertainment made last year?"

"As a non-listed company, Daenerys Entertainment is not obliged to publish financial reports. However, we can make rough estimates based on public data."

"According to industry sources, Daenerys Entertainment and ABC Television Network have restarted cooperation negotiations for the second season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" because Daenerys Entertainment started from this phenomenon-level puzzle-like reality show. The revenue from the show far exceeds that of the ABC network."

"It is rumored that the pre-tax profit of the first season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" alone will reach an astonishing US$2.5 million!"

"In addition, Daenerys Entertainment Television's reality shows such as "Survivor", "Big Brother" and "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" launched last year have also brought huge profits to the company. Leigh Met Sally," "Pulp Fiction," "Basic Instinct," and a slew of blockbuster films have made Daenerys Entertainment's big money."

"The local and overseas box office of films such as "Dead Poets Society" and "Rain Man" as well as peripheral releases such as video tapes will not be able to contribute to Daenerys Entertainment's profits this year and next."

"However, even if it is only calculated in 1988, Daenerys Entertainment's income from film, television and other business areas, minus the company's various expenses, due debts and taxes payable, the final net profit scale, Still not less than $2 million."

"Many people may have begun to wonder, why did the author talk about this?"

"Because this is the most critical basis for the conclusion of this article."

"It's just that Daenerys Entertainment made $2 million for Simon Westeros last year, and the dividends that Westeros invested in a series of technology stocks throughout the year are also very impressive. In this way, Simon Westeros Westeros clearly has no shortage of funds."

"However, Simon Westero's recent series of large-scale investments still choose to finance through bank loans."

"According to the investigation, in recent months, Simon Westeros first received a loan of 2 million US dollars from Credit Lyonnais, rumored to be used for real estate investment in Europe (failed, but, who knows, this is Westeros) Then, Daenerys Entertainment bought a stake in Blockbuster, Melisandre bought Gucci, and Simon Westeros raised another $2.5 million from Citibank.”

"Two new debts, excluding a small amount of installment accounts that have been repaid, Simon Westero's personal debt is still close to 9 million US dollars."

"Such a large debt scale obviously means huge interest expenses. Even if Simon Westeros has enough strength to repay it, it is obviously not a wise move to rashly increase personal debts when he has sufficient funds."

"Is Simon Westeros an unwise man?"

"The answer is obvious."

"So, here comes the problem."

"Daenerys Entertainment has hoarded a large amount of cash, and Westeros has begun to cash out the technology stocks held by Westeros, and even sells stocks with great growth potential such as Apple. But in the company In foreign investment behavior, they still continue to choose loans.”

"So, Simon Westeros continues to accumulate cash, what exactly does he want to do?"

"The author can't help but think that in 1987, the box office of "Run Lola Run" continued to boom. Simon Westeros, who held all other copyrights of the film except for the distribution rights of the film in North American theaters, did not choose to manage the film seriously. Sell ​​at a low price."

"It is said that the follow-up copyrights only brought in 8000 million US dollars for Simon Westeros. Warner Bros. acquired overseas distribution rights for 3500 million US dollars, of which only 2 million US dollars were in the overseas box office, which doubled Warner's income. , Simon Westeros' selling out is stupid."

"However."

"Everyone knows what happened next."

"What Simon Westeros is doing now is the same as it was two years ago."

"At the same time, in Japan on the other side of the ocean, the Nikkei 225 index has broken through the 31000-point mark. In just three years, the increase has reached 138%. The performance of the Japanese stock market at this time is exactly the same as the madness of the North American stock market in 1987."

"The author boldly guesses that Simon Westeros' next target is Japan."

"Even, when this article was published, Simon Westeros may have already started his own layout of the Japanese stock market."

"Finally, let's wait and see."

The most direct consequence of the publication of the front-page article in the "Wall Street Journal" was that it successfully diverted most people's attention from Westeros' reduction of its holdings of technology stocks.At the opening of the day, the technology sector of the North American stock market did not see a sharp drop that many investors worried about.

Supported by the excellent financial report released last Saturday, Apple's stock price not only did not fall during the trading day on Monday, but rose by 1.7%.

On the other hand, the opinion expressed in the WSJ article is that Simon Westeros is shorting the Japanese stock market, and most people obviously share this opinion.Simon, however, was actually long.

Because of the time difference, when the article was published, it was already Monday night in Tokyo time, so I temporarily escaped the catastrophe.

However, if this view is allowed to spread, it is not difficult to imagine that Simon's established long position in Nikkei 225 index futures will face a huge loss tomorrow.

Simon even thinks that this article is likely to be secretly promoted by some hedge funds shorting the Japanese stock market.

After the short-term decline in 1987, it continued to soar for more than a year. The bubble composition of the Japanese stock market has far surpassed that of North America, and a large number of short-selling forces have already entered the market.

Although he doesn't have a good impression of Japan in his bones, but out of his own interests, it is impossible for Simon to be the 'straw that breaks the camel's back'.

Short sellers make money and won't share the benefits with themselves.

Therefore, after urgently discussing with James Raybould on the phone, in the afternoon, several mainstream evening newspapers in North America released some insider information: Simon Westeros has indeed entered the Japanese stock market, but it is not a short sale, but a short sale. many.

To Simon's surprise, in addition to his arrangement with Raybould, a well-known Lehman Brothers analyst also said in an interview on CNN's financial talk show that afternoon that according to reliable sources, West Lowe was indeed long.

Obviously, the news of Simon's previous appearance has already been leaked.

Before that, everyone just quietly followed Simon into the village, and even took the initiative to limit the spread of news.If it weren't for the "Wall Street Journal" article that caught people off guard, some people would just keep making money with Simon.

However, plans can never keep up with changes.

At this critical moment, those who also placed heavy bets on the bulls may be worried that Simon's reaction is too slow, so they can only jump out to help him 'clarify'.

Lehman.

When Simon heard the news, he could only smile wryly.

After those things at the beginning, Simon never had any contact with Lehman Brothers, but he witnessed Simon's miraculous stock index futures operation process in 1987. Lehman Brothers obviously never gave up and made money from him. Some opportunities for effort.

At this level, there is no need to hide things.

James Raybould simply contacted the NBC financial channel, and in an interview that evening, he publicly stated that "Westeros is still very optimistic about the growth potential of the Japanese stock market", which is equivalent to officially acknowledging the fact that Westeros is doing more. .

In Japan, after the "Wall Street Journal" article was published, Japanese political and business circles were affected.

The bad-mouthing of the Japanese stock market has never stopped. Of course, the Japanese government is also aware of the serious bubble elements in its own stock market. It has been introducing various policies to limit the blind growth of the stock market for more than a year after the 87 stock market disaster.

If other media and individuals are bad-mouthing, the Japanese government will only choose to ignore or routinely refute a few words based on the influence of the other party.

however.

Simon Westeros.

Although the "Wall Street Journal" article predicts that the funds that Simon Westero can use are only hundreds of millions of dollars, it is completely worthless in the face of the huge size of the Japanese stock market.However, whether it is the entertainment industry or the financial industry, what Simon Westero has done in recent years can only be described as a 'miracle'.

This strange and strange demon star that suddenly rises really makes people dare not be careless.

At the emergency meeting of the Japanese authorities, some officials even began to ask the major consortiums to prepare funds to take rescue measures.

After a few hours of jumping around like this, the situation suddenly reversed.

Instead of shorting Japanese stocks, Simon Westeros is long.

Overjoyed.

After suffering all night, a group of Japanese political and business leaders with dark circles under their eyes finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the interview report of Westeros Corporation President James Raybould through live TV.

However, it seems that something more can be done.

Since Simon Westero is optimistic about the Japanese stock market, there must be a lot of benefits to win over at this time.

Tokyo time is only one hour ahead of Melbourne.

Monday night was still an eight-hour night shoot. Simon just woke up in the morning when Jennifer told him that the Japanese ambassador to Melbourne had arrived at the Kendall Hotel before eight o'clock and had been waiting in the restaurant, hoping to talk to him. talk.

Simon understands that the Japanese just hope that he can publicly express his position in person.

When I went downstairs to the restaurant, besides the Japanese ambassador to Melbourne named Tsutomu Takagi, there were two other people, a man and a woman. The middle-aged man was a reporter from Japan's "Asahi Shimbun". The neat girl is a translator named Yoko Kosugi.

In fact, Simon also knows some Japanese that can satisfy daily conversations, but Takagi Tsutomu and the "Asahi Shimbun" reporter with a somewhat strange surname are both very fluent in English, so Simon communicated with them directly in English.

Therefore, the translator named Yoko Kosugi seemed a little redundant, but the girl took the initiative to sit next to Simon when everyone was having breakfast together, looking very attentive.

During the meal, I briefly answered a few questions from the reporter of "Asahi Shimbun", and finally took a photo with Tsutomu Takagi, which was obviously used as a picture for the interview article, which is probably the most important.

Then, when Tsutomu Takagi left, he naturally suggested that Ms. Kosugi could stay and help Simon take care of daily chores.He also said that the girl is actually a Japanese student at the University of Melbourne. If Simon is willing, he can take this as a work-study opportunity for the girl.

Simon was still a little confused before. The Japanese have always been very polite, but this time they obviously asked for something from themselves. It would be too abnormal to come empty-handed.

It turned out to be a 'gift'.

However, although Jennifer beside her looked nonchalant, this 'gift' was obviously still unacceptable.

After rejecting the Japanese's kindness, Janet's elder brother Anthony Johnston called and invited Simon to have lunch at Johnston's house at noon, and Simon directly agreed.

Now that the news has been released, these things must not be avoided.

Chapter 236 The Outlet (Revised)

Simon rushed to Johnston's manor on the Yarra River outside Melbourne near noon.

The morning call was from Anthony Johnston, but the only diners were Raymond Johnston and his wife.During this period of time, Simon came here as a guest more than once, and Janet's parents have treated him as a son-in-law, and the two sides have long since lost their original estrangement.

After lunch, Raymond Johnston took Simon to the study.

The two sat down on the sofa by the window in the study room. After the maid served coffee and left, Raymond Johnston cut to the chase and said, "Simon, I know you are busy, so I won't talk too much. You entered this time , can you bring some more funds?"

Before Simon came, he roughly guessed the old man's intentions, and nodded readily: "Yes. However, Lei, because of the events of the past few days, I can't see the situation clearly now, and I can't give any guarantee. So, here It is best to only use the excess funds, not to affect the normal operation of the company, and not to blindly raise funds through loans."

Raymond Johnston was a little surprised when he heard what Simon said, but then he smiled and said, "Of course I understand, Simon, I'm surprised that you are so sober."

Simon also smiled and said: "The development space in entertainment, technology and fashion is already very broad. I don't plan to spend too much time on the financial market. This time I just feel that the time is right and I want to take advantage of the trend to raise some funds. It doesn't matter how much, so it doesn't make big bets."

Raymond Johnston nodded, and asked again: "So, how sure are you now?"

Simon thought for a while, and said: "There should be no problem with profitability. Moreover, the various restrictive measures introduced by the Japanese government after the 87 stock disaster ensure that the financial market will not experience sharp rises and falls in the short term. Even if the market turns around, we can withdraw in time." out."

Both the Japanese stock market and the futures market now have strict price limits. It is impossible for Simon to replicate the miracle of the S&P 225 index futures in 87 on the Nikkei 500 index futures.At the same time, these restrictions also mean that if the market trend changes, investors will not suffer too much loss as long as they exit in time.

Raymond Johnston was very satisfied with the word 'we' that Simon unknowingly used, but he still restrained his expression and said: "It's actually like this, Simon, not only here, but also some A business partner wants to take some money out and let you help with the operation."

Just in the preparatory stage of "Batman", Simon has already felt the strong influence of the Johnston family in Australia.Some social parties held before and after in Johnston's mansion clearly showed a big net in front of Simon.

In order to maintain such a huge network of contacts, besides friendship, interests are obviously the most solid bond.

Simon never had the idea of ​​breaking up with Janet, and Janet's attitude was obviously even more so.Therefore, Simon is destined to be bound to the Johnston family. He enjoyed the benefits of this network in the process of preparing for the production of "Batman", so he naturally needs to help maintain it.

However, just as he was about to nod his head, Simon thought of another thing and asked, "Ray, how much money can I have?"

Raymond Johnston said: "You need to agree to the statistics, but it should not be less than 15 billion Australian dollars."

Simon was taken aback.

In Australia, Simon knows that the recent exchange rate of the Australian dollar to the US dollar is about 1 to 0.7. 15 billion Australian dollars, converted to 10 billion U.S. dollars, which is twice the amount Simon had previously planned to use.

At the end of the 80s, there were no hedge funds at the tens of billions level.

Soros' Quantum Fund was hit hard by the 87 stock market crash, and its scale in the past two years has been less than 20 billion U.S. dollars. It is already the top giant in the industry, and most hedge funds only exist in the tens of millions.

If Raymond Johnston only offered 10 to [-] billion Australian dollars, Simon could nod directly, but if he jumped to the [-] billion level all of a sudden, he would not dare to take it rashly.