I’m in Hollywood

After introducing the two ladies, Anthony Arnault naturally turned his attention to Paul Rolland.

Paul Roland looked at Carmen Keith with vigilance and questioning in his eyes.

He didn't expect that after he left for a while, Carmen Keith would know the son of the boss of LVMH. If it was before, he would definitely be very happy to see this kind of thing happen. But now, if Carmen Keith had any thoughts that he shouldn't have, it would be a disaster for him.

God knows, wm just got through a disaster.

Feeling Paul Roland's gaze, Carmen Keith shrugged slightly, but she couldn't explain anything on this occasion.

Delphine Arnault, who came with Paul Roland, watched her brother solemnly introduce Carmen Keith to herself and others, but she just thought it was a little funny.

Of course, she would not lose face to her own younger brother in front of outsiders, but raised her hand to Paul Roland with a gentle expression, and introduced to Anthony Arnault: This is Mr. Roland, he is from Miss Case's agency. Boss, it just so happens that you and Miss Casey have known each other again, which is such a coincidence.

Anthony Arnault remembered what Carmen Keith had just said that she was waiting for her boss, contacted the current situation, and immediately understood the ins and outs of the matter, and an embarrassed expression appeared on his face again.

Hearing Delphine Arnault introducing himself, Paul Roland withdrew his gaze on Carmen Keith, smiled and shook hands with Anthony Arnault, although he wished to take Carmen Keith to fly back to New York immediately. , but I also know that I must not be too rude at this time.

He was teased by a pair of lilies just now. Now that he was embarrassed again, Anthony Arnault was somewhat embarrassed, but he was too embarrassed to stay. After chatting with everyone at random, he turned around and left.

After Anthony Arnault left, Paul Rowland relaxed and took Carmen Keith to find a seat with Delphine Arnault and Caris Baker, and began to discuss Carmen Keith's endorsement of Dior' Really I'm the perfume thing.

Although, as Giselle said, 'True Me' perfume is just a new fragrance line, the future is not bright. But this is, after all, the first project that Delphine Arnault is responsible for after joining the family business. It is very important to establish her status as a family heir in the family business. Therefore, LVMH is very important for Dior's product. The investment is also spared no effort.

With the contract of the spokesperson of the Victoria's Secret Angel, Carmen Keith is destined to become one of the fastest rising supermodels in the fashion industry in the next few years. In addition, the image and temperament are very suitable for the positioning of the 'real me' perfume. A preliminary cooperation intention was negotiated.

After the talk was over, Delphine Arnault and Carlis Baker left to entertain other guests, and Carmen Keith finally whispered to Paul Roland: How about I reject this endorsement?

Paul Rowland heard Carmen Keith's words,

He was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and smiled: No need, Carmen, you just need to know what you are doing. By the way, didn't you say thank you to Mr. Williams in the afternoon? I thought about it, weekend It's the Oscars, and that's tough, but I'll see if I can get you an invite to the Vanity Fair party so you have a reason to go to LA.

Carmen Keith's eyes flashed, she lowered her head slightly, and asked in a low voice, Then, what about him?

I don't know what Mr. Williams is thinking, so you can just go there. Paul Rowland guessed her doubts, explained it, and said with a smile: Speaking of which, today in North America. The media is very lively, you can buy a newspaper tomorrow morning and read it.

It turned out that he did not say that he would take the initiative to see himself.

I was a little lost, and when I heard Paul Rowland's words behind him, I felt a little inexplicable, so I looked up.

Paul Rowland just nodded and said, Of course it's about Mr. Williams.

...

It was already night in Paris, and it was still daylight on both the east and west coasts of North America.

Today's North American media is really lively, because the new year's Forbes list of the world's richest people has finally been officially announced. Moreover, I don't know if it is to catch up with the trend, Forbes Group also chose to publish the 1999 Forbes Global Rich List on its official website through the Internet for the first time.

Prior to this, a large number of media have made predictions on this year's list, but the long-established authority has made the attention of both the public and the media in North America focus on the data provided by Forbes.

There is almost no suspense, and Eric's name is still high on the top of the list.

Also without much suspense, Eric became the first super-rich person whose personal wealth exceeded 300 billion US dollars.

$315.5 billion.

This is the exact number that Forbes finally released.

Among them, Forbes magazine's valuation of Firefly Group has only increased by 20 billion US dollars compared to last year, reaching 120 billion US dollars. Eric has obtained a fortune of 88.5 billion US dollars by virtue of his 73.7% stake in Firefly Group.

In addition, the rest of Eric's net worth basically comes from a series of technology companies under Firefly Investments. Just this asset is worth more than 200 billion US dollars.

Moreover, this time Eric's personal fortune of $315.5 billion completely exceeds the sum of everyone else in the top ten of the Forbes rich list.

Although the assets of most of the richest people on the Forbes Rich List this year have risen significantly due to the overall recovery of the North American and even the world economy, after Eric, the sum of the net worth of the nine richest people from the second to the tenth place, It's only $245 billion, a full $70 billion behind Eric's personal fortune.

Last year, Eric's $136.7 billion in personal assets had already caught the world's attention. This year, the wealth of more than 300 billion US dollars has completely let many people lose their imagination, and most ordinary people have completely failed to understand what wealth of more than 300 billion US dollars means.

However, in this daze, there is naturally no shortage of sober or self-conscious knowers.

After examining in detail the vast corporate assets controlled by the Firefly system, I am deeply apprehensive.

Because, I seem to have seen a scene that is even more terrifying than the Rockefeller family's joint oil company's control of the federal energy industry. If it wasn't for Steve Case's team to lead AOL to break away, the Firefly system would almost have built a complete Internet industry. Interest chain, this interest chain involves the whole set of equipment manufacturers, service providers and content providers in the Internet industry. Moreover, whether it is Cisco, America Online, or Yahoo, they all belong to the absolute leading position in the entire Internet industry. The leader, Yahoo Networks alone, already controls more than 70 percent of the market share of the most important portal platform in North America.

Although AOL's departure has severely damaged the Internet industry chain carefully built by the Firefly system, it has not hindered the crazy expansion of the Firefly system. Amazon, the e-commerce platform that also occupies the largest market share in North America, is one of the most important. example.

At the same time, after the acquisition of Sony's film business, the Firefly System has also controlled four of the seven major Hollywood film companies, and the crazy occupation of Hollywood media resources has also allowed the four major film companies controlled by the Firefly System to gain more and more more movie market share.”

Only last year, of the 7 billion domestic box office in North America, the Firefly Group, MGM Group, and Fox Group of the Firefly system divided up more than 4.5 billion US dollars in the box office, and the market share was close to 65%. Columbia Pictures, the famous series such as Men in Black, has regained its vitality, and the entire Firefly system will also gain a near-monopolistic market advantage in Hollywood.

If everyone thinks that the strength of the Firefly system is only limited to these two aspects, it is a big mistake.

In the process of research, the author also found that although Eric Williams's full-scale layout of the Internet industry failed due to the separation of AOL, this amazing young man who is like an alien visitor is quietly It's a smart layout for another important technology field, which is the mobile communications industry. And, even the author himself can't help but marvel at the forward-looking vision shown by Eric Williams in this process.

Seven years ago, when digital communication technology was just emerging, Eric Williams spent huge sums of money to buy a 51% stake in the mobile communication division of Finland's Nokia Group, realizing absolute control of this mobile communication equipment manufacturer. , that year, Firefly Investment only paid a mere $420 million for this 51% stake. Seven years later, Nokia Group has grown into the world's largest manufacturer of mobile communication equipment and mobile phones, with a market value of more than $60 billion.

Then, five years ago, Eric Williams once again took control of another company that was very inconspicuous at the time, Qualcomm.

This investment is like a stroke of genius when the author came here.

Because, when the world's major communication equipment manufacturers are still madly fighting for the second-generation digital communication technology patents, Qualcomm has unknowingly controlled thousands of third-generation digital communication technology patents, forming a The patent barrier that the entire mobile communication industry is absolutely unable to cross if it wants to move forward.”

Here, if readers are interested, just look at the differences between Qualcomm's cdma technology and the second-generation fdma technology, and you can realize that what the author said is no exaggeration. Moreover, the entire mobile communication industry is obviously also at this time.' Come to your senses. Just according to the data provided by the Forbes list, last year, Qualcomm's market value was only 5.76 billion US dollars. In just one year, Qualcomm's market value was listed in the Forbes magazine's personal net worth of Eric Williams. In the process of statistics, it has soared to 28.6 billion US dollars.”

Finally, Firefly System also invested in Sprint Group, one of the three major telecom operators. Although sprint is the weakest among the three at-t, verizon and sprint, it is not difficult to find that the mobile communication license auction process was Among them, sprint spends huge sums of money to get more photos than at-t and verizon combined. If you take into account Eric Williams' layout of the mobile communications industry, then Firefly's investment in sprint will also be easy. It couldn't be more plausible. With sprint's market cap now also at $56 billion and a stock price increase of more than 500% relative to three years ago, there is no doubt that Eric Williams has got the bet right again. Or, I even I don't think Eric Williams is making a bet at all, he seems to be able to see the future.

Then, let's look back, Nokia, a manufacturer of mobile communication equipment; Qualcomm, a developer of mobile communication technology; sprint, a mobile communication network operator. The combination of the three, with Eric Williams on the Internet industry Cisco, the United States How similar is the layout pattern of the three giants of online and Yahoo.

Although the Nasdaq market already has a very serious bubble component, which is the consensus of almost everyone, this market has completely separated from the scope of economic fundamentals at this time and has become a paradise for speculators. But I have to Acknowledging that the Internet, mobile communications, electronics industry, a series of new technological fields, will undoubtedly become a new economic field in the next century that is no less than the scale of the energy industry in the twentieth century. Therefore, I have to remind the federal government, We have reached the point where we need to be absolutely vigilant about the continued expansion of this terrifying firefly. Otherwise, the whole of North America, and even the whole world, will be shrouded in the shadow of this firefly for the next hundred years.

In the following days, with the release of the Forbes Rich List, in a series of media articles discussing Eric's personal wealth, this report by Washington Post special commentator Howard Glassman is undoubtedly a The one that caused the most repercussions.

Even Eric himself had to marvel at Howard Glassman's profound analysis of the industrial layout of the Firefly system after reading this article.

But after being amazed, approaching, it is all kinds of troubles that make people headache.

Although most people can no longer imagine what $300 billion means, the hatred of the rich is almost an emotion that will never disappear in this world. At the same time, due to the instinctive resistance and fear of monopolistic oligarchs, with the publication of this article in The Washington Post, more articles calling on the federal government to limit the expansion of the firefly system also came out.

Eric gradually discovered that the accumulation of wealth was indeed not a difficult thing for him. Perhaps, for a long time in the future, how to protect the wealth he already owns will be a real test for him.

Of course, this discussion storm has not only put pressure on the Firefly system. Due to this article in the Washington Post and the subsequent large-scale media discussions around the Firefly system, all listed companies involved in the entire Firefly system , the stock price has seen a very significant rise.

From March 15th to the end of the March 19th trading day, in just one week, driven by the overall rise of the firefly system technology stocks, the Nasdaq index also officially broke through the 3000-point mark.