I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1160: A Dazzling Display of Wealth]

After a week of frenzied activity, the weekend arrived with mainstream media outlets across North America starting to shift their tone regarding the Nasdaq market. The consensus began to question whether the tech industry's bubble had reached an uncontrollable level.

The focal point of this media frenzy naturally zeroed in on Eric's personal wealth, which had recently been estimated at a staggering $625 billion.

What does $625 billion even mean?

In the context of the national wealth statistics from 1998, Denmark ranked 27th, with a total national wealth just exceeding $600 billion as one of Europe's developed countries. This meant that Eric's wealth alone equated to the total wealth of a country ranked within the global top thirty.

Moreover, if one were to broaden the scope to the entire Firefly system, after the Nasdaq Index peaked above 5,000 points on Friday, the total asset scale of companies under the Firefly umbrella reached $1.85 trillion. This was enough to displace Canada, which ranked 8th on the 1998 national wealth list with its own $1.795 trillion.

It's worth mentioning that above Canada were the superpowers of the world economy, including the U.S., Japan, the U.K., and France.

So, while most media outlets that enjoy sensational headlines fawned over Eric's unprecedented personal wealth, some specialized financial publications, like The Wall Street Journal, offered a biting critique. They claimed his personal assets were "like a jar of soap bubbles that couldn't withstand any scrutiny."

The New York Times also reported that Eric's wealth outside of Hollywood was inflated by more than 70%.

...

While closely monitoring the Nasdaq market's movements, Eric finally completed the post-production of Gravity. The day before the index peaked, he flew to Boston to attend a Yahoo executive meeting, laying groundwork for the impending storm.

In fact, since its IPO last year, Yahoo's expansion had been relatively conservative under Eric's influence. Over the past six months, thanks to a significant increase in revenue, the nearly $5.7 billion raised during the IPO had dwindled to $5.1 billion. While the entire internet industry prioritized aggressive expansion, Yahoo's cautious strategy faced multiple criticisms from aggressive Wall Street investors.

However, even with the potential crash of the internet bubble, the development of the internet industry wouldn't come to a halt. In fact, during a time when competition was waning, the coming years presented the perfect opportunity for the internet sector to expand.

With over $5 billion in cash reserves, Yahoo could maintain a robust expansion pace even during an internet capital winter.

...

On July 17, after wrapping up Yahoo's executive meeting, Eric didn't return to Los Angeles but instead flew to New York, intending to witness the impending Nasdaq crash firsthand.

In Midtown, at Cindy and Linda's production company, there was an interview scheduled for the weekend, despite it being a day of rest. During his last visit to New York, Cindy expressed her eagerness to find several assistants to read to her, hoping that her unborn child would grow up as smart as Hawaii. After a month of careful selection, Eric's arrival allowed her to involve him in this final series of interviews.

Though being labeled as assistants, the candidates functioned more like nannies. However, Cindy had specifically chosen only top graduates from leading global universities, and to ensure the child grew up in a multilingual environment, the candidates were expected to know more than three languages.

Scanning through the resumes of these outstanding candidates, Eric couldn't help but say to Cindy, "With this brilliant group, did you really think you'd be able to manage them once you hire them?"

Before Cindy could respond, Linda chimed in with a teasing tone, "Yeah, and they're all so beautiful. Be careful, they might end up stepping on you to climb the ladder."

Upon hearing Linda's remark, Eric flipped through the resumes again and was surprised to see that despite the simple headshots, Cindy's selections were indeed physically attractive, with a few that aligned with his own aesthetic.

Noticing Eric's astonished expression, Cindy shot him a glare and said, "If I had hired a bunch of ugly ones, and something went wrong, I'd be even more embarrassed. If I can't prevent issues anyway, I'd rather find some pretty ones."

Eric laughed at her unexpected wisdom. "When did you become this enlightened?"

"Virginia advised me," Cindy responded, adding, "Haven't you noticed that the maids at the East Hampton estate and Kevin's tutor are quite pretty?"

Eric thought back and had to admit, "I suppose you're right. I should really give Vicki some praise."

After Cindy organized the materials in front of her, she instructed the secretary outside to prepare for the interviews before playfully saying to Eric, "I realized Vicki is quite smart in this regard. You men can be so strange. With a group of beautiful women around, you're often oblivious and instead fixate on the ugly ones. Just look at the president; he could have anyone ten times better than that plain intern, yet he still ended up with her. And there's Schwarzenegger. I can't even grasp how he was interested in such an unattractive maid to the point of fathering a love child."

While the Clinton scandal was in full swing, the Schwarzenegger love child issue had yet to break out publicly, but among the circles, it wasn't a secret.

Linda, who had just sided with Cindy, turned the tables and said, "It's said that this is just the male curiosity."

Raising his hand in exasperation, Eric replied, "I swear to God, I don't have that sort of mentality."

...

The secretary let the first interviewee in. Cindy gave Eric one last glance, not saying anything further, and started the formal interviews.

These young women, having graduated from elite institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge, didn't lack job opportunities, which is why they were primarily attracted by the exceedingly high salary offered by Cindy.

However, upon spotting Eric Williams sitting behind the desk, most candidates exhibited a clear spark of interest. Even those who initially weren't too keen on the position became particularly engaged during the interviews, with some even bravely initiating conversation with Eric.

The interview session lasted an entire day, with nearly twenty candidates.

...

Later that evening, back at Cindy's apartment on 75th Street, Eric sat with his laptop in the living room checking his emails before dinner while Cindy and Linda quietly discussed things beside him.

A moment later, Cindy picked up a resume and said, "Eric, how about this one, Catherine Neumann? What do you think?"

Looking over the resume and recalling a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed German girl, Eric said, "She seems great. Germans are typically meticulous, so you two pick a few more and I'll sort through them afterward."

Before Cindy could reply, Linda misunderstood his words, asking, "You want to pick too?"

As Eric opened another email from Jeff Bezos, he clarified, "I meant that we should conduct background checks on these girls -- checking for any criminal records, mental health issues, drug addictions, or any personal safety risks. You two didn't think just anyone could be around my child, did you? I'd want to investigate from their elementary school days."

Cindy seemed to agree without further thought, promptly gathering all the resumes and saying, "In that case, Eric, you should proceed with the checks. After they're done, I'll select. It would be a hassle if I picked someone and we ran into problems later."

"That works. I'll set that up for tomorrow, but let them wait a month or so," Eric replied, before adding, "Also, you should inform them about the checks to prevent any misunderstandings. As compensation, let's raise their salaries to double."

Linda gasped, "Doubling that means $500,000! I'd want that job myself!"

While top executives among the Fortune 500 companies often enjoyed million-dollar salaries, this inadvertently created the notion that graduates from prestigious schools had high pay. In truth, only a lucky few reached such financial heights, with hundreds of thousands of graduates typically settling for salaries around $100,000 to $200,000.

Moreover, women generally faced a natural disadvantage in the workforce. For most working women, a salary of $500,000 seemed unattainable.

Eric noticed the look of surprise in Cindy's eyes and stated, "People say money can't buy everything, but I think it can. Offering them higher salaries would sufficiently ensure their loyalty since once they consider doing something inappropriate, they'd think about the consequences of losing that job. Losing a $500,000 job feels drastically different from a $250,000 one."

Sitting next to Eric, Cindy nodded in agreement but suddenly smirked, casting her gaze toward him and teasingly asked, "Is that how you control us?"

"I'm not controlling you," Eric laughed, brushing his fingers over Cindy's delicate features. "I'm more like possessing you."

Watching the interaction between Eric and Cindy made Linda feel a bit envious. Ever since Cindy became pregnant, her lack of visible changes had shifted Linda's demeanor significantly. Unable to hold back, she said, "You two are at it again."

Eric playfully stroked Cindy's neck before turning toward Linda, saying, "So, Cindy mentioned that you bought stock again. How much did you get?"

"I won't tell you," Linda retreated a bit on the sofa glancing nervously. After cashing out her Yahoo stock, Eric had repeatedly warned the two about being greedy in the tech stock market. While Cindy followed his advice, Linda clearly couldn't resist the temptation. After a moment of endurance, she finally confessed, "I put in another $50 million. All in Firefly system stocks -- Yahoo, Cisco, Amazon, and Qualcomm. It's now up to $86 million. Once it doubles, I'll sell immediately, I promise!"

"Well, just hang tight," Eric said with a smirk, relieved that she didn't invest everything she had.

Cindy saw something odd on Eric's face. She hadn't been closely following the Nasdaq market trends lately, but discussions around her about tech stocks were relentless, leaving her no escape.

Recalling how the Nasdaq surpassed 5,000 points last Friday, Cindy asked, "Eric, isn't that a problem?"

Tinkering with his laptop, Eric opened Yahoo's financial news homepage and showcased it to Cindy. As she noticed he wasn't inclined to close up, Linda leaned in, too.

Gazing at the negative news he pulled up regarding the Nasdaq, Linda couldn't help but say, "They've been saying that for a while now without any Nasdaq crash. My stockbroker even mentioned the index could hit 6,000 points, saying it's too early."

Eric remained silent while Cindy chimed in, "Your stockbroker is just saying that to earn your commission! Do you genuinely believe 6,000 points is possible?"

"Many thought 5,000 couldn't happen, yet we reached it, right?"

Listening to the banter between the two women, Eric decided not to engage much longer. He shut the laptop and scooped Linda up into his arms, declaring, "I think it's time for some discipline again."

"Ah, Eric, I promise I won't do it again! Don't hurt me!" Linda squealed half-seriously as Eric carried her into the bedroom and tossed her onto the bed.

...

The next morning, just as dawn broke, Eric's phone rang.

Checking it, he saw a text message from Chris urging him to check his email immediately.

Feeling that something was amiss, Eric quickly dressed and went to his study. Once he logged into his email, he discovered an article from Barron's, a Dow Jones publication, with a glaring title: "Burning Out."

The article provided a financial analysis of over 200 new tech companies on the Nasdaq, concluding that in the next six months, more than 50 of these companies, which had gone public in the last two years, would face the risk of running out of funds. Within a year, this number was set to exceed half.

Moreover, as the Federal Reserve entered a cycle of interest rate hikes, these companies would struggle to secure the next round of funding. Coupled with the lack of effective business models, the inevitable path for many led to bankruptcy.

*****

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