New York.
At 4 PM, another day of trading on the North American stock market ended promptly, marking the last trading day of the week.
Just as Wall Street elites were contemplating how to spend the upcoming weekend, a sudden announcement from Westeros Company immediately shattered everyone's relaxed mood.
Westeros Company's announcement was brief, essentially stating that due to business development needs, the company would soon reduce its holdings in six technology companies, including Apple.
After liquidating its Motorola shares at the beginning of last year, Westeros Company had not made any major public moves for a year. Furthermore, the total value of the six stocks Westeros Company was about to divest was not too large; according to the closing price today, even if all were liquidated, the cash-out scale would only be about $500 million, with Apple's shares accounting for more than half of that.
However, no one could forget the tech stock investment craze triggered by the 'Westeros Portfolio', nor could they forget the young man behind Westeros Company who had created a series of wealth miracles in just two years.
Did divesting six tech stocks at once mean that Simon Westeros was no longer optimistic about the tech sector? Or had some unknown changes occurred within these six companies? Or was Simon Westeros raising funds for other ventures?
With a series of questions, many investment banks and securities firms promptly convened emergency meetings to discuss the potential impact of Westeros Company's announcement on the stock market next week. The phone in Westeros Company President James Raybould's office was immediately inundated with calls.
Apple and the other five companies became subjects of close scrutiny for many in the following days.
Westeros Company chose to release the divestment announcement after the market closed on Friday, essentially giving everyone preparation time to prevent a panic sell-off in the tech sector from causing a sharp decline.
After the news was announced, Apple, the core company of this divestment, held a high-level meeting overnight.
In recent years, Apple's market share, revenue, and profit had been continuously rising, so company CEO John Sculley was not overly concerned about Westeros Company's sudden divestment announcement.
After an emergency meeting, Apple Company released its 1988 annual financial report early on Saturday afternoon.
As of December 31, 1988, Apple's total annual revenue was $2.661 billion, an increase of 39.9% compared to $1.901 billion in 1987. Its annual net profit was $218 million, an increase of 41.5% compared to $154 million in 1987.
At the same time, Apple's market share also increased from 9.3% in 1987 to 12.1%.
Apple's impressive annual financial data reassured many investors, and the other five companies, influenced by Apple, also took corresponding measures.
James Raybould also publicly expressed his support in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, stating that Westeros Company remained optimistic about the prospects of these tech companies and was only forced to take divestment measures due to the company's development needs.
However, when asked by The Wall Street Journal reporter where Westeros Company's cashed-out funds would be invested, James Raybould did not give a clear answer.
This evasiveness immediately sparked speculation among many media outlets, who began to further pursue the inside story.
Monday.
Amidst the numerous media discussions surrounding Westeros Company's divestment announcement, an article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal immediately caught everyone's attention.
"Beware, Westeros is about to make a big move!"
"At this year's farcical Golden Globe Awards, Daenerys Entertainment's series of excellent films released last year only won two awards: Best Director for 'Dead Poets Society' and Best Supporting Actress for 'Steel Magnolias'".
"The author has no intention of discussing the intense controversy surrounding the 46th Golden Globe Awards; I am more curious about how much money Daenerys Entertainment actually made last year?"
"As a non-listed company, Daenerys Entertainment has no obligation to disclose its financial reports. However, we can make a rough estimate based on public data".
"According to industry insiders, Daenerys Entertainment and ABC Television Network have resumed negotiations for the second season of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?', because Daenerys Entertainment's profits from this phenomenal quiz reality show far exceeded ABC Television Network's".
"Rumour has it that the pre-tax profit for the first season of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' alone will reach an astonishing $250 million!"
"In addition, Daenerys Entertainment's television department's reality shows launched last year, such as 'Survivor', 'Big Brother', and 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills', also brought substantial profits to the company. A large number of box office hits like 'When Harry Met Sally', 'Pulp Fiction', and 'Basic Instinct' made Daenerys Entertainment rake in huge profits".
"The domestic and international box office and video tape distribution of films such as 'Dead Poets Society' and 'Rain Man' will only contribute profits to Daenerys Entertainment this year and next".
"However, even if we only calculate for 1988, the net profit scale of Daenerys Entertainment from film, television, and other business areas, after deducting the company's various expenses, due debts, and taxes payable, will still not be less than $200 million".
"Many people may already be wondering why the author is discussing these things?"
"Because this is the most crucial basis for the conclusion of this article".
"Daenerys Entertainment alone earned Simon Westeros $200 million last year, and the dividends from the series of tech stocks invested by Westeros Company throughout the year were also very considerable. Calculated this way, Simon Westeros clearly does not lack funds".
"However, Simon Westeros's recent series of large-scale investments still chose to finance through bank loans".
"According to investigations, in recent months, Simon Westeros first obtained a $200 million loan from Crédit Lyonnais, rumoured to be used for real estate investment in Europe (a blunder, but, who knows, this is Westeros). Subsequently, Daenerys Entertainment acquired a stake in Blockbuster, Melisandre Company acquired Gucci, and Simon Westeros once again raised $250 million from Citibank".
"With two new debts, minus a small amount of repaid instalments, Simon Westeros's personal debt scale still approaches 900 million".
"Such a huge debt scale obviously means enormous interest expenses. Even if Simon Westeros has sufficient ability to repay, it is clearly not a wise move to rashly increase personal debt when he already has ample funds".
"Is Simon Westeros an unwise person?"
"The answer is obvious".
"So, the question arises".
"Daenerys Entertainment already had a large amount of cash accumulated, and Westeros Company began cashing out its tech stock holdings, even selling shares of Apple, a company with great growth potential. But in the company's external investment activities, it continued to choose loans".
"So, what exactly does Simon Westeros intend to do by continuously accumulating cash?"
"The author can't help but recall 1987, when 'Run Lola Run' continued to be a box office hit. Simon Westeros, who held all rights except the North American theatrical distribution rights for the film, did not choose to diligently manage the movie; instead, he hastily sold all of them at a low price".
"It is said that subsequent various rights only brought Simon Westeros $80 million in revenue. Warner Bros. obtained the overseas distribution rights for all channels for $35 million, and just the $200 million in overseas box office allowed Warner to double its profits, making Simon Westeros's sell-off seem foolish".
"However".
"What happened next, everyone knows".
"Now, Simon Westeros's actions are remarkably similar to those of two years ago".
"At the same time, across the ocean in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index has broken through the 31,000 point mark. In just three years, it has risen by 138%. The performance of the Japanese stock market at this time is exactly like the madness of the North American stock market in 1987".
"The author boldly speculates that Simon Westeros's next target is Japan".
"Even, by the time this article is published, Simon Westeros may have already begun his layout in the Japanese stock market".
"Well, let's wait and see".
The most direct consequence of The Wall Street Journal's front-page article was successfully diverting most people's attention from Westeros Company's divestment of tech stocks. At market open that day, the North American tech sector did not experience the sharp decline many investors had feared.
Supported by the excellent financial report released last Saturday, Apple's stock price not only did not fall on this Monday's trading day but instead rose by 1.7%.
On the other hand, the view expressed in The Wall Street Journal article clearly suggested that Simon Westeros was shorting the Japanese stock market, and most people apparently held this view. However, Simon was actually going long.
Due to the time difference, when the article was published, it was already Monday evening in Tokyo, temporarily averting disaster.
However, if this view were allowed to spread, it's not hard to imagine that Simon's established long positions in Nikkei 225 index futures would face a huge loss tomorrow.
Simon even felt that this article was likely secretly pushed by some hedge funds shorting the Japanese stock market.
After a brief dip in 1987, the Japanese stock market continued to surge for over a year, and its bubble component had already far exceeded that of North America at the time, with a large number of short-selling forces already entering the market.
Although he had no particular fondness for Japan deep down, for his own benefit, Simon could not become the 'straw that broke the camel's back' by going with the flow.
The bastards making money wouldn't share any benefits with him.
Therefore, after an urgent phone discussion with James Raybould, in the afternoon, several mainstream North American evening newspapers disclosed some insider information: Simon Westeros had indeed entered the Japanese stock market, but he was not shorting, he was going long.
To Simon's surprise, beyond his and Raybould's arrangements, in a CNN financial interview program that afternoon, a renowned Lehman Brothers analyst also stated in an interview that, according to reliable sources, Westeros was indeed going long.
Evidently, the news of Simon's earlier entry into the market had already leaked.
Everyone had previously just quietly followed Simon 'into the village,' even actively restricting the spread of the news. Without this unexpected article from The Wall Street Journal, some people would have continued to quietly profit by following Simon.
However, plans never keep up with changes.
At such a critical moment, those who had also placed heavy bets on the long side might have been worried that Simon's reaction was too slow, so they had no choice but to actively step forward to 'clarify' for him.
Lehman, huh.
Simon could only smile wryly upon hearing the news.
After those past events, Simon had no further contact with Lehman Brothers, but having witnessed Simon's miraculous stock index futures operations in 1987, Lehman Brothers had clearly never given up on trying to scrounge opportunities from him.
With things reaching this point, there was no longer any need for concealment.
James Raybould simply contacted NBC financial channel and accepted an interview that evening, publicly stating that 'Westeros Company remains very optimistic about the growth potential of the Japanese stock market,' which was equivalent to formally admitting the fact that Westeros Company was going long.
In Japan, after The Wall Street Journal article was published, various political and business circles in Japan were stirred.
The rhetoric of a declining Japanese stock market had never stopped. The Japanese government was, of course, aware of the serious bubble components in its own stock market, and for more than a year after the 1987 stock market crash, it had been introducing various policies to curb the blind growth of the stock market.
If it were other media and individuals predicting a downturn, the Japanese government would only decide whether to ignore it or routinely refute a few words based on the other party's influence.
However.
Simon Westeros.
Although The Wall Street Journal article predicted that the funds Simon Westeros could mobilize would only be a few hundred million dollars, completely insignificant in the face of the massive Japanese stock market. However, whether in the entertainment industry or the financial industry, Simon Westeros's actions in recent years could only be described as 'miracles'.
This suddenly rising, strangely powerful star was truly not to be underestimated.
At the emergency meeting of the Japanese authorities, some officials even began to demand that major conglomerates prepare funds to take market-saving measures.
Amidst such chaos, a few hours later, the situation suddenly reversed.
Simon Westeros was not shorting the Japanese stock market; instead, he was going long.
Everyone was overjoyed.
After an entire sleepless night, a group of Japanese political and business bigwigs with dark circles under their eyes finally breathed a sigh of relief after watching the TV broadcast of Westeros Company President James Raybould's interview.
However, it seemed there was still more that could be done.
Since Simon Westeros was optimistic about the Japanese stock market, attracting him at this time would certainly bring many benefits.
Tokyo time is only one hour ahead of Melbourne.
Monday evening was still an eight-hour night shoot. Simon had just woken up in the morning when Jennifer told him that the Japanese Ambassador to Melbourne had arrived at the Kendall Hotel before eight o'clock, waiting in the restaurant, hoping to talk to him.
Simon understood that the Japanese simply hoped he could personally make a public statement, which was not a problem; after all, he would still switch from long to short when the time came.
Going downstairs to the restaurant, besides the Japanese Ambassador to Melbourne, who introduced himself as Tsutomu Takagi, there were two other people, a man and a woman. The middle-aged man was a reporter from Japan's 'Asahi Shimbun,' and the beautiful girl with surprisingly neat teeth when she smiled was the translator, named Yoko Kosugi.
Simon actually understood some Japanese for daily conversation, but Tsutomu Takagi and the 'Asahi Shimbun' reporter with a somewhat uncommon surname were both very fluent in English, so Simon directly communicated with them in English.
Thus, the translator named Yoko Kosugi seemed somewhat superfluous, but the girl proactively sat next to Simon while they all had breakfast, appearing very attentive.
During the meal, he briefly answered a few questions from the 'Asahi Shimbun' reporter, and finally took a photo with Tsutomu Takagi, which was clearly intended as an illustration for the interview article, and this was probably the most important part.
Then, as Tsutomu Takagi left, he naturally suggested that Miss Kosugi could stay and help Simon with daily chores and the like. He also said that the girl was actually a Japanese international student at the University of Melbourne, and if Simon was willing, he could consider this an opportunity for the girl to work and study.
Simon had been a bit puzzled before, as the Japanese were always very polite, and this time they clearly had a favour to ask of him, so coming empty-handed seemed a bit unusual.
It turned out they had brought a 'gift'.
However, even though Jennifer beside him appeared nonchalant on the surface, he knew this 'gift' clearly couldn't be accepted.
After declining the Japanese's kind offer and seeing them off, Janette's elder brother, Anthony Johnston, called and invited Simon to lunch at the Johnston family's home at noon. Simon readily agreed.
Since the news was already out, these things were certainly unavoidable.