Hunting in Hollywood

Everyone had just finished dinner when Brandon Johnston eagerly left Dumay Cape Manor.

Janet had already arranged for him to attend a Hollywood party.

Although a fan of the "Batman" series, Brandon was not a fan of Simon, and he was clearly uncomfortable staying with this little uncle.

Evidently, because the two were the same age, Brandon must have been subject to a fair amount of 'the grass is always greener' kind of comments privately.

Betty Johnston and her daughters didn't go out, opting instead to tour the Shell Villa with Janet.

Simon and Anthony stayed in a living room on the first floor of the villa to discuss important matters.

"Seeing the rapid growth of the internet industry in North America, Telecom Australia has made some concessions, agreeing to reduce their shareholding in the joint venture company to 30%. Dad said taking a 20% stake is enough for us. If you're interested, there's still 50% of the shares available for allocation."

Since last year, Simon had already been preparing to enter the Australian telecommunications market, including lobbying for changes to Australian telecommunications industry restrictions and cooperation with local Australian telecom companies.

Before the 1990s, the Australian telecommunications industry was dominated by state-owned enterprises.

Now, the largest company, Telecom Australia, is very similar to AT&T in the United States before 1984, monopolizing Australia's landline, cable TV, and mobile communications industries. Other second and third-tier telecom companies are mostly state-owned as well.

Due to the huge interests involved in the telecommunications industry, there has been continuous lobbying by capital forces for the Australian government to open up the telecommunications industry to private investment.

With the joint efforts of all parties, in January this year, the Australian government finally lifted the ban on regulation of the telecommunications industry, allowing private investors to participate in investments in the local telecommunications field. This allowed the Westerlo System to begin its own layout.

Simon's plan for the telecommunications business in Australia mainly involved mobile communications and internet access services, along with the portal site business of Igneel.

The fastest way to start ISP services, naturally, is to cooperate with local operators, just like America Online did in the U.S.

Telecom Australia, which monopolizes the entire Australian telecommunications network, is basically the only choice.

Telecom Australia is well aware of its advantages and did not make the same mistake as the Bell Atlantic triad when they cooperated with America Online, insisting on obtaining 50% of the shares of Westerlo's 'Australia Online', which is registered in Australia.

In recent months, the Johnston family, confirmed to be investing in Australia Online, has been negotiating with Telecom Australia.

Simon, who had already known about the situation Anthony just mentioned, had thought it over and said, "Since that's the case, we might as well do without Telecom Australia. Whether it's internet access services or mobile communications, these are still emerging industries in their infancy. Even if we cooperate with companies like Telecom Australia, we will still face the trouble of upgrading infrastructure in the future, and we would still be greatly hindered."

Because of the exclusive agreements, unable to directly partake in the emerging internet sector, Bell Pacific and NYNEX's cooperation with America Online has become increasingly passive, significantly limiting America Online's expansion in the areas served by these two companies.

Simon's decision not to cooperate with Telecom Australia is largely for this reason.

Being dependent on another company's network, even if the cooperation is good, it's never as effective as building one's own network.

Moreover, even with cooperation with Telecom Australia, it wouldn't be possible to launch services nationwide all at once; it would definitely start in certain areas and then expand gradually.

The advantage of cooperating with Telecom Australia isn't that significant under these circumstances.

After all, owning Bell Atlantic and America Online, Westerlo doesn't lack support in terms of corporate operation and technical teams.

What's needed is just an investment in building the basic operational network.

"If we just start in a certain area, like Melbourne, or a state like Victoria, the cost won't be too high," Simon continued.

Building the network independently also allows for complete autonomy.

"Actually, dad thinks the same," Anthony said as he nodded. "However, even if we don't plan to cooperate with Telecom Australia, I think the company still needs to let go of some shares, which would reduce a lot of resistance to the company's subsequent development in Australia. After all, our family's influence is mainly in the mining resources area."

Simon nodded, then shook his head, saying, "For the next one or two years, it'll just be the two of our families in a joint venture. Once the situation opens up, we can let go of some shares through financing. Also, since we're not planning to cooperate with Telecom Australia, there's no need to set up two separate companies for internet access services and mobile communications; we can just directly establish a Bell Atlantic Australian branch. Oh, and I was actually

 planning to rename Bell Atlantic to Verizon Communications. This company will be called Verizon AU."

AU is the national abbreviation for Australia.

The reason it's Verizon AU instead of AOL AU is mainly because Simon fully owns 100% of the shares of Bell Atlantic, while only holding 75% of America Online.

Though America Online would still be involved, this time the operation would be led by the soon-to-be-renamed Bell Atlantic.

Anthony Johnston had no objections to this.

The two continued discussing some details, and Anthony finally decided to personally visit Bell Atlantic's East Coast headquarters to meet with Raymond Smith after wrapping up things with MGM.

After discussing this matter, the two talked about MGM.

"Buying 30% of MGM for $300 million, although dad verbally agreed, he was actually somewhat reluctant because he doesn't have a high opinion of the company," Anthony said with a smile. "So, it's all up to you now. If it really fails, the old man will definitely lose his temper."

The Johnston family had previously bought Australia's Channel Seven, which was a very promising quality investment and allowed them to enter the media field, so the $800 million spent was very willingly done.

Investing in MGM was basically just to support Simon's ambitions in Hollywood.

MGM was a mess, and that was well-known.

It would take more than a year or two for the company to recover.

Simon also smiled and said, "With the end of the Gulf War and the recent disturbances in Europe, it's inevitable that capital from around the world will flow into the U.S., and the federal economic situation is bound to improve. Even if MGM's operational situation remains poor, holding onto these shares for a few years and then selling them would still yield a good return. Many major companies from Japan and Europe are eyeing major Hollywood studios."

Anthony laughed and said, "Let's talk about your specific plans for MGM."

"My initial plan is to tap into the potential of the MGM film library. In recent years, Disney has re-released founder Walt Disney's era classics like 'Cinderella', 'Pinocchio', and 'Sleeping Beauty' on video, each achieving great success. 'Cinderella' alone sold 6 million copies in just one year, generating $180 million in revenue, and that's a 1950s work. Although MGM is not known for animated films, its potential is actually greater. From MGM's golden age, films like 'Gone with the Wind', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Singin' in the Rain', 'North by Northwest', and 'Ben-Hur' are still considered classics even decades later. Conveniently, Daenerys Entertainment now also controls Blockbuster, North America's largest video rental chain. We can certainly adopt a similar approach to Disney in releasing these classic films on video."

Anthony said, "I remember that Turner Broadcasting took many of MGM's movie rights in that acquisition a few years ago?"

Simon nodded and explained, "That was just for some of the films' TV broadcasting rights. Moreover, the methods used by Turner Broadcasting at that time were not very honorable, and the contracts were not very strict. Now that we control MGM, I'll have Sherry Lansing re-negotiate with Ted Turner."

"Alright, what's next?"

Simon smiled and said, "Next would be the development of merchandise and the operation of image licensing rights. Daenerys Entertainment is planning to build the third Universal Studios in Japan. However, compared to Disney's Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the princess series, Universal Studios lacks a collection of classic film characters. In this regard, MGM can provide a lot of support to Daenerys Entertainment, such as 'Tom and Jerry' and the classic characters from 'The Wizard of Oz', among others. 'Batman: War Time' alone generated $2 billion in derivative product revenue over the past year. MGM has so much accumulation, coupled with the release of classic films on video, can also develop a lot of merchandise."

Anthony nodded again.

Simon didn't wait for Anthony to ask before continuing, "Finally, of course, it's the movie business. This year's two big releases, 'Few Good Men' in July and 'GoldenEye' at the end of the year, I'm very optimistic about both. Daenerys Entertainment will also start other projects with MGM. Speaking of which, MGM actually has a deep heritage. The reason it has fallen to this state is mainly because the company was treated as a real estate company and a capital operation tool throughout the 1980s. If Kirk Kerkorian had patiently managed the movie business, the company's situation definitely wouldn't be as bad as it is now."

From Simon's memory, even though MGM was still run-down throughout the 1990s, when it was acquired by Sony in 2005, the transaction price was still close to $5 billion.

Thus, as long as MGM doesn't encounter some failures similar to the early 1980s 'Heaven's Gate' in

 the coming years, the company's prospects won't be too bad.

Now with Simon around, the chances of such a scenario happening will naturally be minimized.

Anthony and his family did not stay overnight at Dumay Cape Manor, but instead stayed in the villa on the west side of the manor that originally belonged to Simon and Janet.

Simon and Anthony discussed until after 10 pm, when Betty Johnston came with her daughter Chloe, who had already fallen asleep, to remind them to end their conversation.

The next day, they got up very early as usual.

After the ABCD four girls arrived, Simon no longer needed to prepare breakfast himself.

At six o'clock, Simon was jogging on the treadmill when Girl C, Claire, came in with two boxes.

"Good morning, boss."

"Morning."

Simon greeted her and gestured towards the packaging boxes in her hands, asking, "All set?"

Claire nodded, and seeing that Simon had no intention of stopping his run, she approached the treadmill and opened a square minimalist-style packaging box that Simon himself had provided the design for, similar to future mobile phone packaging. Inside the box lay a card-style digital camera without a protruding lens.

Girl C took the camera out of the packaging box and placed it on the treadmill console.

Simon looked over; the camera body was a beautiful deep blue, about 18 centimeters long, 12 centimeters wide, and roughly 3.5 centimeters thick, making it very compact compared to other digital cameras of this era.

In addition, the front of the body was printed with a word: Tinkerbell.

This was the name Claire had chosen for her company, Tinkerbell, the name of the little fairy in the "Peter Pan" novel. In Spielberg's nearly completed "Hook," Julia Roberts played this character.

Now, more than half a century since the publication of "Peter Pan," the name Tinkerbell would certainly not go unnoticed.

To successfully register Tinkerbell Inc., Girl C had to spend extra money.

Simon jokingly said privately that, just like another woman's name, if this company really took off, it might even be considered the 'fifth woman' of the Westerlo system.

Girl C openly admitted that this was exactly what she thought.

Besides the company name, there was also the naming of the camera itself: iCam 10.

iCam, naturally, stands for internet camera, which was also Simon's idea.

In the upcoming internet era, any company related to Internet or Com would attract attention.

In the tech wave before the millennium, many companies changed their names to align with the internet concept, adding 'i' or 'com' to their company names.

Since Tinkerbell Inc. couldn't add an internet label, they made do with the product.

Besides iCam, Simon also had Claire register trademarks like iPlayer, iPhone, iDisk, and others around the world.

These wouldn't be needed right now but were a kind of alternative preparation.

Simon switched from jogging to walking and slowed down before picking up the deep blue iCam 10 card camera to examine it. In addition to the front camera, there was also a 1.5-inch LCD screen on the back. The camera used three standard AA batteries, as using lithium batteries at this time was obviously unrealistic.

The storage device was a 3.5-inch floppy disk, which, according to the manual, could store about 50 photos.

Girl C quickly opened another box, which contained a light purple version.

In this era, electronic products were primarily functional, with little consideration for appearance. Simon, accustomed to various beautiful industrial designs from later periods, naturally would not tolerate this. Now, one deep blue and one light purple, aimed at male and female customers respectively, were also influenced by Simon.

To achieve these two shell colors, Girl C had to invest a significant additional cost.

"We've already ordered the materials for 1,000 iCams, which should all be assembled by mid-month. The cost might exceed expectations a bit, around $320 each," Girl C demonstrated the operation of the camera in her hand while speaking. "After these are done, the initial $1 million in funding will be left with about $150,000."

Since it was a close associate, Simon had always paid attention to this matter.

Just 1,000 cameras, costing $320 each, would have a total cost of $320,000. Previously, there were also the operations of Tinkerbell company, camera development, equipment part customization, and more, all of which required money.

To have $150,000 left at the end was quite an achievement.

The engineer primarily responsible for development, Neil Brantley, had originally hoped to customize a special CMOS sensor, but due to financial reasons, had to choose an existing off-the-shelf sensor.

In short, although well-prepared, Girl C was also cautious enough about this matter, probably wanting to give herself several more opportunities to start a business.

Simon easily mastered the operation,

 stepped off the treadmill, and gestured to Girl C, "Strike a pose, let's see."

Understanding his intention, Girl C held the light purple camera with one hand leaning against the treadmill. Her beautiful face smiled, her slender body slightly tilted like a car model, with a stretch of her delicate, fair waist visible between her low-rise casual pants and tight black T-shirt, even making Simon think about touching her belly button.

After taking a series of photos, Simon walked out of the gym, saying, "Let's go and check the results, and I'll help you brainstorm a bit."

Girl C realized that her boss was obviously moved by her body just now but made no further moves, which made her feel disappointed again. However, she quickly followed him out.

After all, it wasn't the first time she had failed.

Even, the girls had privately bet on who could make their boss fall for them, even if it wasn't going as far as sleeping together, just some other scale of flirtation would count as a win.

Unfortunately, no one had won so far.

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