On January 18th, even though the Hasenfeld Family desperately tried to prop up the market, a large amount of media coverage still shattered the confidence of many investors.
At 4 PM that day, by market close, Hasbro's stock price had already fallen by 10%, experiencing two circuit breakers in between.
It was fortunate that it held until the market closed in the afternoon; otherwise, it would have fallen even more sharply.
But this was just the beginning. When the news of the upcoming transformers movie was first announced, Hasbro's stock had already continuously grown by 21% over several months.
Furthermore, currently, the news is only spreading online; print media has yet to exert its influence. Most stock traders are office workers, and some are relatively unfamiliar with internet surfing.
Therefore, the impact has not yet unleashed its true power. It is foreseeable that Hasbro's stock price will continue to fall tomorrow.
As the sun rose, newspapers across the United States were successively delivered to every household. News from the entertainment section has always been the gossip people love to read during breakfast, and Eric's interview naturally caught their attention.
There's nothing more to say. When the New York Stock Exchange opened at 9:30 AM, Hasbro's stock price once again began its downward trend. Even investors who had held onto their shares yesterday, unwilling to sell, became panicked.
A few hours later, that dazzling red curve had already plunged several times, triggering another circuit breaker.
At this point, the stock price had reached $3 per share, almost on par with several months ago.
At Sweetwater Manor, Eric was lying in bed, enjoying Chloë Sevigny's service.
"Eric, Sergei Hassenfield won't be able to find me, so he'll definitely come looking for you. I think he should have already arrived in Park City and is probably inquiring about your whereabouts. They're in a panic right now."
"Don't worry, Dad, I'm hiding in a safe place. He won't find me. Besides, even if he does, he can't do anything to me. We are all people of status and position; we won't act like hooligans who disregard rules."
"Hmm, anyway, be careful. Now that Hasbro's stock price has fallen back to its original point, even if they adhere to rules, they probably feel like eating your heart out right now."
"Hahaha, I'm just a spoiled kid who wants to fulfill his dream of being a director. That's what the media says. He should blame those gossip tabloids!"
At this point, Harry Cooper's voice sounded a bit worried as he tentatively asked, "By the way, speaking of that, were your interviews a joke? Deliberately released false information?"
Eric knew that no one believed he could be a director, not even his father, who thought it was just a strategy, as any normal person would think so.
If there was one person in this world who trusted him unconditionally, it was probably only his mother. This lovely woman would support him in anything he did, without reservation.
"Of course not. What I say, I will do. Even if it truly is just a game, I will play it to the end. Otherwise, Sergei and Allen might really stab us with knives!"
"But what are you going to do? It's a $500 million big production, Eric. This is not child's play!"
"Dad, have you forgotten? I've already hired an assistant director and several assistants. I'm just a nominal figure on set; they will help me complete it."
Only then did the other end of the phone let out a sigh of relief.
"Since you have a plan, I won't interfere with the movie matters. It's expected that Hasbro's stock price will continue to drop by a few percentage points tomorrow, but it's almost bottomed out. Prepare to reel in the net."
"How much money can we mobilize now?"
"1.1 billion dollars. This is the maximum limit. We also need to save funds for this year's projects, as this money, once invested, will not show results until at least the end of the year."
"Another 1.1 billion? This seems to have become my lucky number. Ouch!"
"Eric, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just got bitten by a mosquito."
"Dad, I'm going to hang up now; I need to swat the mosquito."
On the other end of the phone, Harry Cooper's voice was puzzled: "Are there still mosquitoes this time of year?"
"Yes, a very big one."
"Then what are you using to swat it?"
On January 20th, at the New York Stock Exchange, a new round of trading began. As expected, Hasbro's stock price continued to fall.
However, today's decline rate significantly slowed down, swaying steadily until it fell by only 6% by noon, seemingly having bottomed out.
As time passed minute by minute, the rate of decline further slowed. By 1 PM, it fluctuated like a sine wave and, after falling by 6 percentage points, seemed to show an upward trend.
Immediately after, the curve began to slowly rise, recovering 5 percentage points within half an hour.
Then the upward momentum gradually accelerated. By 3 PM, Hasbro's stock price had been pulled back to near its original position, with the curve fluctuating even more dramatically than a heart rate monitor.
This situation clearly indicated that someone was propping up the market, and the public naturally thought of the Hasenfeld Family.
Perhaps they were indeed involved, but the Cooper Family's role was clearly greater. No matter how much retail investors sold, Harry Cooper secretly directed to buy it all up. The current price was much lower than a few days ago.
In just a few hours, he had already deployed over $600 million.
But in the stock market, there's a saying: confidence is more important than gold. Once investors' confidence drops, it's not so easy for it to return.
At this time, many retail investors were still selling. Their reasoning was simple: if I don't sell now, what if the stock price drops again later? Will the market give me a second chance?
Moreover, it was already past 3 PM, and the market would close in less than an hour.
And if the stock price were to fall again tomorrow, and the main players ran out of funds, no one would be there to support the market. Selling now might incur a small loss, but waiting until tomorrow could mean a much larger loss.
Thus, in the half-hour before market close, the curve began to fluctuate rapidly. Until nearly 4 PM, Harry Cooper's funds were completely exhausted.
A full 1.1 billion dollars was poured in, and Hasbro's stock price was finally pulled back to its original point, even rising by 2%.
These 1.1 billion dollars worth of shares, if converted, accounted for approximately 16% of Hasbro's market capitalization.
In other words, if The Coopers were to consolidate all these scattered shares into their own hands, the Cooper Family would very likely leap to become Hasbro's second-largest shareholder.
As for the issue of paying taxes during the process, it would, of course, be handled through gifts, utilizing tax exemptions to achieve reasonable tax avoidance.
As the closing bell rang, the stock market's game ended, and The Coopers made a phone call.
"Don't worry, Dad, I know. It's my time to perform again."
"Just wait and see tomorrow."