I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 1191

[Chapter 1157 is a very simple job]

“That share subscription contract won’t bring any trouble to Yahoo,” Eric shook his head and said, “I’m more worried now that Microsoft’s next reaction will affect Yahoo’s stock price, and even the entire Nasdaq stock market. ”

Although Eric only said half of it, Frank Wells immediately understood.

In recent days, the Nasdaq has reached a high of 4,700 points, and a little stimulation in the severely frothy technology stock market may trigger the collapse of the entire Nasdaq stock market.

Although the new technology companies under Firefly Investments are all prepared for the bubble to burst, the Shamrock Fund holds technology stocks, but it will take at least two weeks to clear their positions.

At current stock prices, the final batch of tech stocks is worth more than $6 billion.

Even if the Clover Fund has successfully cashed out most of the stocks, Eric absolutely does not want the last huge sum to evaporate due to the early collapse of the Nasdaq.

Due to Eric’s strict confidentiality measures, Frank Wells actually did not know the specific situation of the Shamrock Fund, but he understood that the longer the Nasdaq index held, the more favorable it would be for the Shamrock Fund to reduce its holdings.

Although he was very curious about the operation of the Clover Fund, Frank Wells resisted and did not ask, but said: “In this case, Eric, you just didn’t need to quarrel with Gates, even if you perfunctory him for a while. OK.”

“I originally planned this,” Eric shrugged and said, “However, Microsoft has been developing smoothly over the years, but it has suffered a big loss from Yahoo. Gates’ depression has accumulated for a long time, just now The request made has not been met, and there is no way for it to break out.”

Frank Wells thought for a while and said: “I think Microsoft should also not want to see the Nasdaq collapse, and it is estimated that it will not react too violently.”

Eric nodded in approval and said, “Gates is a very smart person. I have been giving him a feeling that Yahoo wants to continue to cooperate very much in my words. He calmed down and would not be willing to give up on his own accord with nothing. That share subscription agreement. So, it will definitely be delayed for a while.”

Amy brought another lunch to Eric, Frank Wells held up the coffee cup and waited for a while, and when Amy walked away, he continued: “Eric, according to the current trend, do you think the Nasdaq Where should the limit be?”

“The Nasdaq has already reached its limit,” Eric picked up the tableware and said, “What is missing now is just a fuse to burst the tech stock bubble.”

After saying that, Eric’s movements suddenly stopped.

If Yahoo and Microsoft cannot reach a further cooperation agreement, then, once the two sides part ways, Yahoo browser loses the status of the default browser of the windows system, which is undoubtedly a major negative for Yahoo, and will definitely stimulate Yahoo’s stock price to fall.

As a leading stock in the new technology sector, the decline in Yahoo’s share price can easily cause a chain reaction of the overall downward trend in technology stocks.

That’s one of the potential triggers that Eric wants to avoid as much as possible today.

In addition, in the next July and August, if new technology companies successively announce large losses in the second quarter financial reports, then this is likely to become another fuse that leads to the collapse of the Nasdaq.

Eric is also prepared for this. Yahoo will be the first to announce the second quarter financial report of most new technology companies before July 15. With the support of Yahoo’s excellent financial data, the losses of other technology companies will no longer appear so much. dazzling.

However, just now, Eric suddenly remembered one of the most important fuses that may lead to the collapse of the Nasdaq, Microsoft’s antitrust case.

For the past two years, the U.S. Department of Justice has been conducting antitrust investigations against Microsoft.

At this point, the Department of Justice has listed several major crimes against Microsoft: illegally erecting barriers to prevent other competitors from entering the market; linking the purchase of Microsoft Windows with other Microsoft software; forcing computer manufacturers to sign exclusive agreements, etc.

Last week, one of Bill Gates’ lovers, Stephanie Zehl, appeared out of nowhere to testify that Microsoft was pushing business users to exclude other competitors by paying ‘reverse bounties’.

The so-called ‘reverse bounty’, which sounds good is called kickbacks, and which sounds bad, is actually a bribe.

Moreover, Stephanie Zecher was able to stand up because Gates took her initiative to take her to Microsoft’s very confidential reverse bounty conference.

Although there are also many women around, Eric has always put the girls in the vase position where he should be as much as possible, and never let them come into contact with the core secrets of the Firefly system.

Therefore, after hearing the news, Eric really didn’t know whether it was arrogant or stupid to evaluate the door classmate.

Recently, the North American media has also pulled Clinton out of the gate and juxtaposed with Gates again, ridiculing them as ‘two unlucky Bills’ planted on their lovers together.

Stephanie Zecher’s testimony undoubtedly made the Department of Justice’s investigation of Microsoft a big step forward.

After sorting out the memories in his mind, Eric gradually recalled it.

One of the most critical fuses for the collapse of the Nasdaq in the original time and space was that a federal judge in charge of the Microsoft antitrust case, Thomas Jackson, suddenly announced that he had mastered the key evidence of Microsoft’s monopoly at the critical moment of the deadlock in the case. A final ruling against Microsoft will be made soon.

So, at a sensitive moment when the Nasdaq had already breached 5,000, Thomas Jackson’s statement became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

Immediately following Thomas Jackson’s announcement, Microsoft’s stock price fell, triggering an overall crash on the Nasdaq.

Then, with the release of a series of annual financial reports of huge losses of new technology companies, the Nasdaq index continued to decline in the following year, and even fell back to a low of 1,000 points.

Due to the bad impact of the illegal release on the entire Nasdaq market, Thomas Jackson was subsequently dismissed from his post. For the sake of the overall situation, the federal government finally announced a settlement with Microsoft and canceled the antitrust investigation. Microsoft also escaped being dismantled. Divide the fate.

At this time, in the game, Eric gradually realized a lot of strangeness.

Thomas Jackson knew that violating judicial procedures might even terminate his entire career, but he still suddenly revealed the inside story of Microsoft’s antitrust case to the media. Immediately after, Microsoft’s stock price began to fall, which led to the overall Nasdaq index. crash.

This incident seems accidental, but it seems too coincidental.

You know, even if the federal court makes a decision to split Microsoft, Microsoft can still appeal.

Therefore, if you want to destroy the entire Nasdaq index, when Thomas Jackson announces the bad news of Microsoft, you must also need a large number of stock selling orders to suppress Microsoft’s share price, so as to achieve the ultimate goal.

Now, as the Nasdaq index is approaching a high of 5,000 points step by step, although many investors who originally looked down on the Nasdaq index began to turn to buying technology stocks, at the same time, more short-selling funds continued to enter the market, trying to obtain after the collapse of the Nasdaq index. Profiteering.

According to the profit-seeking nature of capital, facing the expected huge profits of tens of billions of dollars, it is enough for many people to take the initiative to destroy the Nasdaq index.

In this way, the appearance of Stephanie Zecher, like the Lewinsky scandal, is obviously not an accidental event.

After all, even if they no longer have any affection for each other, but a small employee wants to testify against his former boss, without any behind-the-scenes promotion or motivation, it is difficult for ordinary people to do such a thing that may affect their life. choice.

Stephanie Zecher’s testimony did send Microsoft’s stock price down, but it didn’t trigger the results some people wanted.

So, what’s next?

After a quick calculation, Eric called Kelly Haynes and asked her to sort out the relevant information of the Microsoft antitrust case and come to Firefly Studios as soon as possible after having lunch casually.

A few hours later, Eric was discussing the details of the soundtrack adjustment for some of the film’s scenes with “Gravity” soundtrack composer John Williams, when there was a knock on the studio door, and Kelly probed in a light gray professional suit. Come in and say hello to Eric softly.

Eric nodded in response, and discussed with John Williams for a while before walking out of the studio.

Just after going out, Kelly, who was sitting on the sofa outside, got up and walked over, handed a folder to Eric, and said, “Eric, time is a little rushed, I don’t know if this is enough?”

Eric took the folder in his hand and said, “Go to my office and talk.”

Kelly nodded and followed Eric out of the post-production center to his office in the borough.

Walking into the office, Eric motioned to Kelly to be free, then came to sit behind the desk, and opened the information in his hand.

Kelly didn’t care about Eric’s casual attitude. On the contrary, she liked it a little in her heart. She knew that Eric would only behave like this to the people closest to her.

After the initial few happy nights, the two have maintained a very special intimacy over the years.

Moreover, due to the shadow of her previous marriage, Kelly did not have any thoughts of looking for a partner, and unknowingly pinned some emotions on Eric.

Lightly poured coffee over, and quietly placed a cup of coffee next to Eric, who was attentive. Then Kelly sat down across from the desk and quietly looked at Eric’s reading materials.

The information that Kelly collected in a short period of time was not much, but it was enough for Eric to get all the information he wanted.

History has not changed much. The judge in charge of the Microsoft antitrust case is still Thomas Jackson. The other party is a very qualified federal judge. Moreover, judging from the information in hand, Thomas Jackson cannot be regarded as a firm split. Microsoft’s hardliners even took the initiative to facilitate a settlement negotiation between Microsoft and the federal Justice Department last year, but no agreement was reached.

Then, this information undoubtedly proves some of Eric’s guesses again.

After flipping through the last page of information, Eric raised his head and just noticed the look in Kelly’s eyes, so he smiled and said, “Am I handsome again?”

Peeking at the little man in front of her who was caught, Kelly blushed slightly and said, “I just think you must have forgotten to shave these days.”

Recently, I focused on the final editing of “Gravity”, and unknowingly ignored these details of life. Eric touched his chin with a layer of stubble and smiled: “No way, bachelor’s Life is always so bleak, you don’t care about me.”

“Where’s my turn?” Kelly gave Eric a light glance before saying, “Eric, what do you suddenly want these materials for?”

Eric picked out Thomas Jackson’s information and handed it to Kelly, saying, “Have you noticed what happened to Stephanie Zehl recently?”

“I know, I think this matter should be similar to the Lewinsky incident,” Kelly took a few pages of information handed over by Eric, and then glanced over again, with a tone of ridicule and admonition: “So, Eric, you better be careful on weekdays.”

“Of course, I’m definitely not going to do something stupid like Gates.”

“Who knows, you men,” Kelly said again, then raised the information in her hand and turned to the topic: “Is there any problem with this person?”

“I don’t know,” Eric shook his head and said, “That’s why I came to you. I want to check if this person has a problem, or if he has a problem.”

Kelly realized Eric’s intention, but was a little confused: “Eric, I have been paying attention to the possible investigation of the Firefly system by the Ministry of Justice and SEC. There is no special situation for the time being. Microsoft It seems that there is no need for us to intervene in this case?”

“Of course we’re not going to get involved in Microsoft’s case,” Eric nodded. “I’m just worried that Thomas Jackson is going to be another Stephanie Zecher. Imagine if during these sensitive times of late. , Thomas Jackson suddenly released some unfavorable remarks against Microsoft, coupled with the secret cooperation of some people, what kind of results will it lead to?”

Kelly turned her thoughts and said, “The Nasdaq has collapsed.”

“That’s right, those people who pushed Stephanie Zecher out did not achieve their goals, and they will definitely do it again. I think the breakthrough point must still be in the Microsoft antitrust case, and Thomas Jackson happened to be one of them. After Eric explained, he no longer covered his intentions and said bluntly: “So, I hope to arrange a monitoring of Thomas Jackson, if I can get some useful things, it can not only stop the Nasdaq The premature collapse will damage the interests of the Firefly system, and we can also have an additional bargaining chip with Microsoft in our hands. I still hope that the Yahoo browser can continue to be the default browser for Windows.”

“Eric, monitoring such a government official is very sensitive. To be foolproof, it takes at least a week of preparation time. According to you, we may not have that long.”

Eric felt something in Kelly’s words and said, “So what?”

Kelly continued: “Cromwell just recently purchased a batch of monitoring and anti-listening equipment, you should have read the purchase list. So, if you trust him enough, this matter should be for him. It’s an easy job.”

[End of this Chapter]