After the fundraising gala that evening, the media did not immediately break the news about Rudy Giuliani's inappropriate remarks during the Milken case investigation. Instead, several New York newspapers published intriguing reports about the fundraising gala.
James Raybould was not surprised by this.
David Dinkins called him again on Sunday evening, expressing a certain gratitude, which indicated that the other party had confirmed the usability of the information he provided, and that was enough.
The mayoral election is scheduled for November at the end of the year, and damaging revelations against an opponent are most effective when used closer to the voting date.
In the new week, Westeros Company's month-long stock reduction in tech stocks was completely finished, with all six planned tech stocks fully liquidated.
Compared to their prices before the reduction, the six tech stocks, including Apple, collectively lost approximately 6% of their value in this reduction, with Westeros Company cashing out a total of $469 million.
On the other hand, although Westeros Company held a $500 million share in Cersei Capital, before the integration of various funds, the original $200 million invested by Simon had already generated decent profits. Westeros Company only needed to supplement an additional $270 million to reach $500 million.
Thus, after the cashed-out funds were disbursed, and accounting for another portion of profits submitted by Daenerys Entertainment after its financial audit, as well as some of Westeros Company's own cash reserves, there was a total of $260 million available for use in New York.
While cashing out of Apple and other companies, at Simon's request, James Raybould began to acquire shares in Microsoft and Intel again.
On March 16, Westeros Company informed both the SEC and the media about its increased holdings in Microsoft and Intel.
The acquisition announcement disclosed by The Wall Street Journal showed that in the past month, Westeros Company had purchased an additional 1.55 million shares of Microsoft stock, bringing its total holdings to 5.25 million shares, or 10.19% of the company; it also purchased 5.5 million shares of Intel stock, bringing its total holdings to 18.5 million shares, or 10.08% of the company.
Throughout this acquisition process, Westeros Company invested a total of $253 million in the two companies, with $85 million in Microsoft and $168 million in Intel.
Following the announcement of Westeros Company's increased holdings, the stock prices of Microsoft and Intel both rose in the subsequent two trading days.
As of the close of trading on Friday, March 17, compared to before Westeros Company disclosed its increased holdings, Microsoft's market capitalization reached $3.02 billion, an increase of 6%, and Intel's market capitalization reached $5.36 billion, an increase of 3.6%.
At this point, Microsoft and Intel also became the two largest heavily weighted stocks in Westeros Company's tech stock portfolio, with the combined value of these two stocks reaching $838 million, accounting for 53% of the total value of $1.569 billion of the remaining 19 listed tech stocks held by Westeros Company.
Aside from Microsoft and Intel, among Westeros Company's other tech holdings, only 7% of Sun Microsystems' stock was valued over $100 million, specifically $117 million.
The value of the remaining tech stock holdings was all under $100 million.
Silicon Graphics, which collaborates closely with Daenerys Effects, has the highest stake at 11%, but its current market value is still only $320 million. Oracle's stake is 9%, and this database software company's market value has not yet broken the $1 billion mark, standing at only $960 million recently.
Beyond these five stocks; Microsoft, Intel, Sun, Silicon Graphics, and Oracle, the other 14 tech stocks generally maintained a holding ratio of around 5%, and their market capitalization was far from comparable to the two giants, Microsoft and Intel.
Simon actually hoped to further increase his holdings in Microsoft and Intel to around 15%.
However, compared to the 87 stock market crash, the cost of increasing holdings in these two companies is becoming increasingly high. To increase his holdings in these two companies, Simon had to temporarily give up buying shares in some other equally promising companies.
After Westeros Company's latest increase in holdings, the liquid funds controlled by James quickly dwindled to the several million dollar range. He hadn't even set aside capital gains tax from the previous sale of Apple and other tech stocks. He could only hope for Simon's operations in the Japanese financial market or profits from Daenerys Entertainment to inject capital into Westeros Company. In a worst-case scenario, he might even have to increase debt.
Melbourne.
By late March, the aftermath of the fainting incident had completely passed.
Simon has been filming a car chase scene for the Batman script these past few days. This is the ultimate showdown between Batman and Black Mask at the end of the film, with Catwoman also involved. Batman's ultimate gadgets, such as the Batwing, Batmobile, and Batpod, will all be used.
Therefore, the most challenging aspect of this sequence is maintaining secrecy.
Because for outdoor filming, even if streets are blocked, ubiquitous paparazzi can hide in buildings along the roads to secretly take photos, making it impossible to prevent.
After consideration, Simon simply officially released concept art for several of Batman's key gadgets. Prior to this, Catwoman's image had already been exposed.
The crew's final task in maintaining secrecy now is to ensure the film's plot is not leaked.
On Highway 33, which runs along the coast in the southern part of the city, it was already 11 PM.
The crew had already filmed two other sets of shots. What they were about to film now was the scene where Catwoman, riding Batman's stylish Batpod, bursts out of the flying Batwing to help Batman pursue Black Mask.
The shot of Catwoman riding the Batpod as it drops from the Batwing's underbelly is planned to be completed using CG.
However, the electric Batpod, built by the crew using hub motor technology, only has a top speed of 30 kilometres per hour. To achieve a thrilling visual effect, Simon wanted the speed in this shot to reach over 100 kilometres per hour, which would require external force to tow the Batpod.
This was one of the difficulties of this shoot. In previous tests, the Batpod had overturned while being towed.
Additionally, in this scene, Alfred's remote-controlled, unmanned Batwing will continue to circle above Catwoman. In reality, a helicopter will be suspended with the Batwing for low-altitude filming. Although the helicopter pilot's skills are excellent, there is still a degree of danger involved.
However, compared to Catwoman's other action scenes, the danger factor of this particular scene is still quite low.
Valeria Golino had also completed most of Catwoman's scenes, and after discussion, she ultimately decided to perform the stunt herself.
After careful preparation, as filming was about to begin, Simon again approached Valeria Golino, who was sitting sexily astride the Batpod, and instructed, "Valeria, remember one thing: if you feel the bike is about to tip over, jump off immediately. Your Catwoman costume offers very good protection".
Valeria Golino was about to put on her highly accurate red Catwoman goggles when she heard him and said, "Simon, what if I can't jump off?"
Simon felt Valeria's tone was very relaxed, clearly not too worried, so he didn't say anything more and smiled, "It's okay if you don't jump off".
"Hmm?"
Simon originally wanted to jokingly say that the crew would cover her medical expenses, but such words could easily be used against him. He didn't want a female actress to come out years later claiming that Simon Westeros, knowing the dangers, insisted on filming a certain scene that left her with sequelae. So he waved his hand, picked up the walkie-talkie, and ordered, "Everyone, get ready to shoot".
With the command given, the pre-arranged prop sparse traffic began to move. Simon also got into another convertible and drove to the front of the tow truck.
The cameraman on the tow truck clapped the clapperboard, and the driver started the car and began to accelerate. The helicopter, which had already been circling in the air not far away, also entered its required foreground trajectory, carrying the Batwing.
More than ten seconds later, the Batpod reached the high-speed forward state Simon had planned. After being towed by the tow truck for another two kilometres, Simon finally shouted "Stop" into the walkie-talkie.
The first take went smoothly, and everyone relaxed.
Simon replayed the footage; the Batwing's trajectory was slightly off, so he began filming a second take, followed by a third.
Such a shot arrangement is very intricate, so Simon planned to accumulate enough material at once to ensure no reshoots. After repeating this six times, something finally went wrong. This time, as the production team just accelerated to 30 kilometres per hour, the Batpod began to wobble and then overturned on the highway.
An alarm sounded on the walkie-talkie. Simon immediately shouted for a halt and notified the medical team to come forward.
Simon's convertible stopped, and he got out, rushing towards the accident scene. The Batpod lay overturned in the middle of the highway, its front wheel detached from the body. Simon, however, paid no attention to the prop vehicle, instead hurrying to Valeria Golino, who lay motionless on the road.
He gently patted Valeria Golino, but the woman showed no movement. Simon dared not turn her over rashly and could only wait for the doctor to arrive and handle it.
He felt a bit of regret, wishing he had just used a stunt double.
The moment the accident occurred, the helicopter, still carrying the Batwing, flew off to another location. The rest of the crew rushed over.
Two doctors cautiously examined Valeria Golino, confirming there were no external injuries. Just as they were instructing the nurses to carefully lift her onto a stretcher for further examination, the woman slowly woke up. She raised her hand and, without prompting, removed the red Catwoman goggles still on her eyes. She looked at the others as if she had just woken up, her gaze finally settling on Simon.
Simon held up two fingers and wiggled them in front of her, asking, "Valeria, how many is this?"
Valeria Golino looked at the two fingers, still a bit dazed, and switched to Italian, saying, "Director, I'm hungry".
The doctors didn't understand Italian and could only look at Simon.
Simon, feeling a bit helpless, could only follow her mood and said in Italian, "You can eat soon, but first, tell me, where do you feel uncomfortable?"
Valeria Golino's eyes darted around. She raised a hand to touch her nose, then reached down to rub her chest, which was tightly encased in the Catwoman suit: "Here, a little".
Simon, seeing the woman's actions, largely relaxed. He switched to English and said to the doctor, who was looking somewhat bewildered as the woman rubbed her chest, "It's nothing major, but she should still be sent for a check-up. She might have hit her head, perhaps a slight concussion or something".
"I'm not concussed", Valeria Golino said, hearing Simon. She propped herself up on the stretcher and switched back to English, adding, "I'm just a little dizzy. I can continue after a short rest".
"We have enough footage already", Simon insisted, shaking his head. "I'll have the stunt double shoot two more takes as backup. Your work for tonight is done".
After speaking, he no longer paid attention to the woman's wishes, waving to the doctors to carry her away. Then he summoned the crew to replace the Batpod and stunt double to prepare for reshoots.
This continued until 2 AM, when the crew wrapped up. Simon returned to his hotel, and the set doctor came to report that Valeria Golino had been examined and was fine. However, the woman was still kept at the medical centre where Simon had previously been hospitalized, to be observed overnight.
Imagining Valeria's somewhat scattered reaction after the accident, Simon instructed that the observation period be extended to three days. Anyway, the woman didn't have many scenes left, and most could be completed by a stunt double. That medical centre was sponsored by the Johnston family, and arrangements had been specifically made beforehand, so Simon wasn't worried about any unfavourable news, such as an actor being injured, getting out to the press.
After giving all instructions, Simon returned to his hotel suite. Janette was already asleep.
These days, Janette had been staying with Simon in the hotel suite. Originally, it wasn't a big deal when Simon was alone, but now with both of them, Raymond Johnston had some reservations, worried that outsiders might say the Johnston family wasn't treating their daughter and future son-in-law well. The old man was always very concerned with appearances.
However, Janette was still angry with her father over the previous fainting incident and had no intention of returning home to stay.
Simon actually had no intention of causing trouble, but he also didn't want to give outsiders any bad speculation. So, during this time, he often proactively brought Janette back to the Johnston family mansion for meals, and they usually stayed there on weekends.
In the bedroom, Simon had just showered and lay down on the bed when Janette habitually snuggled up to him, though her eyes remained closed.
Simon smiled and kissed the woman's forehead, then held her as they both fell asleep.
They woke up at nine o'clock the next day, an hour later than usual. This was a schedule Janette had forcibly customized for Simon, requiring him to rest for at least six hours.
When he woke up, Janette was no longer by his side. After taking over Cersei Capital, the woman had been waking up earlier than Simon every day, often starting meetings with Cersei Capital's trading team at seven in the morning, after which trading would begin in Singapore and Tokyo.
Simon used to spend three hours a day on Cersei Capital's operations, but after Janette took over, he now only needed to spend an hour on it daily, and he didn't have to put as much thought into it as before.
The Australian consortium investing in Cersei Capital was already aware of this, but seeing the continuous rapid growth in Cersei Capital's net asset value over the past month, they raised no objections. Due to Janette's educational background, some naturally assumed that the 1987 operation was also a collaboration between Simon and Janette. Simon was quite happy for them to have this misunderstanding, as it would save a lot of trouble.