Until just days before the new issue was locked, Forbes' second-generation boss Malcolm Forbes was still haggling with the editorial team over the rankings on this year's Forbes 400 list.
Compared with prior years, the clearest change on the domestic list was Sam Walton's disappearance.
Owing to steadily worsening health, Sam Walton had formally shifted the shares under his name into family trusts and to his children early in the year.
Had he not transferred those holdings, the retail titan's fortune of more than eight billion dollars would have kept him safely atop the U.S. wealth rankings. Now, although next month's global Forbes issue will still tally the Waltons as a single clan, the top slot on the domestic list has become a matter of intense speculation.
All week Malcolm Forbes' phone had rung off the hook; many plutocrats feigned indifference while secretly fixated on their standing. As the world's most authoritative wealth survey, Forbes treated all the data with extreme caution.
After cautious investigation, corroboration and endless news-room debate, the new list was finalized. Malcolm Forbes knew this issue would spark fierce controversy.
Saturday, 9 September, 1989.
The moment the new Forbes hit news-stands, Malcolm's phone at his Fair Hills estate in Westchester began to ring. Most callers opened with, "Mal, are you kidding us?"
Forbes' rankings are never a joke.
Yet the name topping the list, a certain young man, felt glaring to many.
Beverly Hills.
At the Trousdale Estates villa, just after five a.m. Pacific, Simon started fielding congratulatory calls from every quarter, even Sophia in France and Janette in Australia rang.
He had scheduled a weekend overtime push to finish 'Batman's post-production, but the chaotic morning doomed any hope of a quiet workday.
After breakfast, as Simon's car left the gate, paparazzi tailed him all the way to the Warner lot. The moment he stepped into the post facility, Terry Semel appeared, offered congratulations and asked whether Simon was free for lunch.
With nothing business-related on the agenda, Simon saw no reason to lunch with another man and politely declined.
After small talk Semel left; Simon's driver handed him the latest Forbes before he entered the 'Batman' post-suite.
He told the already wide-eyed crew to prep the day's work, then sat at his desk and opened the magazine. He skipped the long roll and turned to the full-page top-ten spread.
1. Simon Westeros, $6 billion, age 21.
2. John Kluge, $5.2 billion, age 76.
3. Warren Buffett, $4.2 billion, age 59.
4. Sumner Redstone, $2.88 billion, age 66.
5. Ted Arison, $2.8 billion, age 65.
6. Donald Newhouse, $2.7 billion, age 61.
7. Samuel Newhouse, $2.7 billion, age 60.
8. Anne Cox Chambers, $2.55 billion, age 69.
9. Barbara Cox Anthony, $2.55 billion, age 66.
10. Ross Perot, $2.4 billion, age 59.
A twenty-one-year-old kid planted atop a list of sexagenarians does look jarringly out of place.
To have pulled this off in just three years and pretend indifference would be pure affectation.
Still, Simon closed the issue and plunged straight into work.
Six billion dollars is close to his actual net worth, yet far from the target he was aiming to reach. On the upcoming global list he probably won't crack the top ten, his aim isn't merely to enter that tier, nor even to claim first place.
He has never forgotten the brash words he shared with Janette on the outskirts of Phoenix on his nineteenth birthday.
Since fate granted him a second run, "best" is too modest; he wants a height that forces the world to look up.
While Simon calmly began his day, media across North America, and the world, erupted over his coronation atop the Forbes 400.
The No. 1 spot always draws the spotlight.
Years later everyone could name Bill Gates, perpetual list-leader; ask about Nos. 2 or 3 and most drew a blank.
Simon's ascent triggered near-universal scepticism in the press.
Simon Westeros is undeniably rich, but a twenty-one-year-old hitting six billion without inheritance in three short years? Impossible, the public cried.
Yet this year Forbes backed its numbers with far more detail, uncovering assets Simon thought hidden.
Most conspicuous remain his tech stocks.
After the big mid-year selloff, nineteen issues remain. AMD may be a drag, but heavy bets on Microsoft and Intel have climbed steadily, lifting the portfolio.
Since January the tech basket has gained 13 percent, now worth $1.77 billion.
The second block is Cersei Capital.
In recent months the Japanese have leaked more data, letting outsiders glimpse its operations.
With Cersei's net assets above $3 billion, Forbes reckons Simon owns at least a third, another billion.
The third bucket is Simon's vast property holdings.
Even he was surprised by how much Forbes uncovered.
Forbes traced the several buildings and their parcels that Simon had acquired east of Madison Avenue in Manhattan, tallied his European real-estate plays, and added his sprawling mansions in Los Angeles and New York, putting the total value of property he held at a stunning $400 million.
The fourth asset block was a portfolio of privately held companies owned through Westeros Company.
Cisco, America Online, the barely few-months-old Ygritte Company, and even the luxury-goods house Gucci were all swept into the reckoning.
Cisco had lately begun to make waves, and Gucci's rebound over the past year was plain for all to see.
Forbes appraised this clutch of private holdings at $300 million.
Those four asset groups alone already added up to nearly $3.5 billion.
Next, the fifth, and by far the most important asset: Daenerys Entertainment.
Forbes devoted a full column to listing what Daenerys Entertainment already owned: the Daenerys, New World and Highgate labels, each with a string of box-office hits;
Daenerys Television, home to several wildly profitable reality shows; a 30% stake in Blockbuster, whose tape-rental chain numbered more than 750 stores; Marvel Entertainment; Pixar Animation Studios; Daenerys Effects; Blizzard Studio; the under-construction Malibu Daenerys Studios and the New York headquarters tower; a toy factory in Rhode Island; and then came the side-by-side with Sony's freshly closed Columbia purchase.
Sony had paid $5 billion in all, $3.4 billion cash and $1.6 in debt taken on, for just the Columbia and TriStar labels, a film library of some 4,000 titles, the 820-screen Loews theatre chain and five local TV stations.
The Columbia and TriStar brands lagged far behind the vigorous Daenerys, New World and Highgate banners.
A library of 4,000-plus titles might be Columbia's strongest suit, yet the yearly home-entertainment cash it threw off from video and TV sales probably could not match what Daenerys earned from one or two hit pictures.
That asset was mostly latent remake value and a slow-drip stream of heritage income.
Loews' 820 screens were a drop in the bucket against North America's 23,000-plus total, while Blockbuster had already pushed its market share toward 10% in just a few months.
As for local stations, Ron Perelman, eager to break into media, had snapped up twelve of them for $100 million last March; even with their debt the deal topped out at $200 million.
The Big Three networks rely on just such affiliates to blanket the continent: ABC, NBC and CBS each have more than 200.
Clearly the handful Columbia held could not be worth much.
Daenerys was already building Daenerys Studios, whereas Columbia owned no back-lot at all; to revive the venerable studio Sony would have to keep pouring money into real estate.
If Sony would pay $5 billion for that package, the still-accelerating Daenerys Entertainment could hardly be worth less, indeed it should command a premium.
Given that Sony had essentially paid double for Columbia, Forbes pegged Daenerys Entertainment at no less than $3 billion.
Finally, after retiring some maturing debt in the first half, Simon's personal borrowings had fallen below $800 million.
Rounding the numbers, Forbes put Simon Westeros's net worth at $6 billion.
Forbes' arithmetic looked solid, yet the press brawled over every line. Apart from the publicly traded tech stocks, easy to count, every other valuation became a lightning rod.
For days, columns and TV panels exploded with questions: "Is Daenerys Entertainment really worth $3 billion?"
"What does Simon Westeros plan to build on those Manhattan parcels?"
"Could Daenerys Entertainment be worth only $3 billion?"
"Media titan John Kluge accuses Forbes of inflating Westeros's figure for publicity".
"Cersei Capital's profit-sharing secrets exposed".
"Motorola ex-chair Robert Galvin: dumping Motorola was Simon Westeros's biggest mistake".
"Mapping Westeros Corp.'s tech-stock empire".
"Australia's Qintex Group bids $1 billion for MGM".
"Best bottom-fish ever: Westeros bets on a global real-estate rebound".
"Chicago cops bust $10,000-a-week 'Psychic Training Class' scam; suspects net $2 million".
...
...
Already ubiquitous, Simon became a continent-wide sensation within days, and some outlets began predicting a Time "Man of the Year" cover.
The world has never lacked for herd-minded followers.
Whatever the pundits said, Simon Westeros topping the Forbes 400 at $6 billion was now an indisputable fact.
As the chatter spread, tech stocks on Wall Street and the still-climbing Nikkei were swamped by fresh money.
And Hollywood, Simon's original launching pad, once again found itself under the capital microscope.
After the '87 crash the town had suffered: Dino De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Cannon Films and other mid-majors collapsed. Yet the new Forbes list, spotlighting Simon's string of triumphs, lured armies of starry-eyed investors back to the business.