I am Hollywood

Chapter 1170: Chapter 1172: Microsoft's Little Moves

Chapter 1168: Chapter 1170: The Unexplained Resentment

Chapter 1166: Chapter 1168: A Shot in the Arm



[Chapter 1168: A Shot in the Arm]

Given that Eric and his companions arrived in a hurry and needed to rest, the barbecue party didn't last long. Before ten o'clock, the private resort in the valley quickly returned to its peaceful state.

In a villa at the center of the resort, Eric sent the girl, Drew, who wanted to stay with him tonight off to rest. He personally coaxed the three little ones to sleep before heading to Virginia's bedroom.

Virginia was tidying the bed linens and barely glanced at Eric when he walked in, showing no intention of acknowledging him. Eric took off the seashell bracelet that Emma had just tied around his wrist and placed it on the vanity. He said to Virginia, "Next, Firefly is going to set up a batch of educational funds worldwide. I won't go into details; the purpose isn't that simple. But if the outside world learns that I'm donating overseas while ignoring domestic needs, it will certainly lead to criticism. So, we'll set one up locally, which is purely charitable. How about you and Joan manage it together?"

Virginia paused for a moment while changing the pillowcase. Seething a little, she retorted, "Joan and I are very busy. Just let Crawford handle it."

Eric nodded seriously, "That's fine, I'll talk to Cindy next time."

Then a pillow was thrown at him. Eric caught it with a laugh and suggested, "How about we call it the Virginia and Joanna Fund? We'll put your name first. However, we're a bit short on cash lately, so for now, we can only donate $200 million a year. You two can decide on the charitable projects. Of course, if you want to embezzle a little, just be careful not to get caught."

It was common for a husband engaged in business or politics to let his wife manage the family charity fund. By establishing such a charitable fund, Eric placed the two women front and center.

As Eric kept speaking gently, Virginia felt a little embarrassed to continue sulking. She understood better than anyone the significance of this charitable fund for herself and Joanna. By the time Eric finished, she rolled her eyes lightly and said quietly, "Joan is older than me; she should be the one in front. But what about you?"

Eric played with the pillow in his hands, leaning against the vanity with a smile, "I'm fine with it, but if we call it the Eric-Joanna-Virginia Williams Foundation, doesn't that name sound a bit too long?"

Virginia immediately nodded, "Let's go with that name. I don't mind it being long." "Alright then, let's get some sleep. We've got a lot to do tomorrow." Eric tossed the pillow back onto the bed, unbuttoned his trench coat, and intended to take a shower first.

Virginia got up and walked over, lowering her head to help Eric with his buttons without looking at his expressions. In a soft voice, she asked, "Can we have Kevin shadow you for the next few days?"

Eric handed her his trench coat, "Sure, the little guy should learn how to manage the company. He can come to the meetings with me these few days."

Virginia folded Eric's trench coat in her arms as she listened to his teasing, feeling a bit wronged, "That's not what I meant. Kevin is your son, you..."

Eric loosened his tie and, feigning impatience, playfully smacked Virginia's ample backside, interrupting her. "You talk too much. Go run the bath. Can't you see your man wants to shower?"

Virginia let out a soft cry and shot a glare at Eric before heading to the bathroom.

...

After setting the hot water, Virginia searched for clean undergarments and entered the bathroom, where Eric was comfortably soaking in the tub.

Seeing her set down the clothes and turn to leave, Eric reached out and pulled her, causing Virginia to sit by the edge of the tub.

"I know what you're worried about," he said, feeling Virginia's hand help him scrub. Eric held her hand down, "Elia is indeed more favored by them than Kevin, but have you considered whether someone like Elia would be interested in taking over the business in the future?" Often, the smarter individuals tended to be indifferent towards wealth, and Hawaii's cleverness exceeded many people's comprehension. Based on Eric's observations of his daughter, the little one might be interested in many things later, but would certainly not compete with Kevin and other siblings for family wealth inheritance.

While planning to pass down his fortune, Eric was also careful not to put his children in a position where they would have to fight over family assets. The purpose of setting up a trust fund in advance was to ensure that the entire family could benefit from it, much like the Rockefellers. To enjoy this wealth and glory for years to come, everyone would have to work together to maintain the family's lineage.

Virginia was also flustered with worry, and as Eric spoke, she slowly began to realize that Elia was more likely to become a brilliant scientist in the future than a businessperson.

Still, she refused to concede outwardly, "The character you played in that movie, Tony Stark, he's a genius."

"You just called it a movie," Eric said, sliding his hand up Virginia's arm and grabbing onto her gratifying softness, "Alright, I'll only advise you this once, and after this, I won't concern myself with your hesitations. Honestly, you should understand that as the eldest son of the Williams family, Kevin is destined to bear more in the future. So, your job is to ensure you raise him well, not to worry about these trivial matters all day long."

...

The next day, the families who had traveled along began to organize various activities. Whenever they had time, the core executives of the Firefly system focused their energies on a series of discussions and meetings.

The theme of this gathering was the exploration of sustainable business models for the new tech industry. The collapse of the NASDAQ was primarily due to a severe bubble and the fact that most new tech companies had not established comprehensive and effective business models.

Thus, just like the analysis article in Barron's, once these companies that only knew how to burn money ran out of funds and failed to develop a revenue model supporting sustainable operations, the outcome could only lead to their demise.

Of course, while this theme was within the core agenda of the gathering, it essentially served as an outward excuse.

Even though the NASDAQ bubble had burst and the assets controlled by the Firefly system had significantly shrunk, the meeting of the core executives of Firefly nonetheless attracted significant attention. Australian Prime Minister John Howard took time on Tuesday afternoon to join everyone for lunch, and media outlets worldwide reached out to the Firefly system companies hoping to secure interviews regarding this gathering.

As a result, in light of such intense scrutiny, discussions regarding sensitive topics like strengthening collaboration between internal Firefly enterprises to eliminate competitors from the industry could not be disclosed.

Furthermore, future development goals for the Firefly system, new businesses soon to be launched by core companies like Yahoo, and significant personnel adjustments between companies were all included in the agenda.

...

Eric also used this opportunity to preliminarily determine the roster of members for the soon-to-be-established Williams Trust Fund Board; essentially all the core executives of the Firefly system were listed.

As a living trust, Eric could adjust the board member list at any time, and if necessary, could completely dissolve the entire trust fund, so he was not concerned about the risks of these executives potentially leaving the Firefly system in the future.

Once the members of the trust fund board were confirmed, if anything unpredictable occurred, they could quickly safeguard the Firefly system. Future changes and replacements of board members would naturally operate according to the trust fund's established rules.

...

While only the Australian-based News Corporation's The Daily Telegraph and Yahoo portal, along with one ABC group media, received limited interview rights for this gathering, the discussion surrounding the "sustainable business model for the new tech industry" generated intense international media buzz.

Stimulated by this topic, the plunging NASDAQ capital market began to stabilize. Following the opening on Monday, the downward trend of the NASDAQ index showed clear signs of

slowing down.

Moreover, with the media discussions deepening, and industry analysts becoming optimistic about upcoming quarterly financial reports from companies like Yahoo, Cisco, and Amazon, some new tech firms within the Firefly system even experienced a rebound in share prices.

This continued until August 12th, Thursday.

...

After four days of gatherings, the companies under the Firefly system finally broke the first genuinely positive news. At 9 AM New York time, just after work had begun, Amazon suddenly announced that Firefly Investments would again finance Amazon with $500 million worth of convertible bonds at an annual interest rate of only 2.5%. This funding would be for Amazon's online mall and logistics system further expansion.

Convertible bonds meant that Firefly Investments could opt to convert these bonds into Amazon stocks within a certain period.

With the NASDAQ crash, Amazon was the least favored by the market within the entire Firefly system. Compared to Yahoo, which held over 70% of market share, or Cisco, which had achieved stable profitability, or Qualcomm, which was destined to shine in the emerging 3G mobile communication era, Amazon held no significant advantages across the board. Consequently, since the crash, Amazon's stock price had dropped over 67%, with its market value sliding from a peak of $35.7 billion to $11.7 billion at the close of last week. Many Wall Street analysts believed the eventual decline in Amazon's stock price could reach 90%. Moreover, due to Jeff Bezos' aggressive expansion strategy, Amazon's cash flow had nearly run dry, and some media even believed Firefly was likely on the verge of completely abandoning Amazon.

In such a one-sided negative outlook, Firefly Investments unexpectedly announced another $500 million injection into Amazon, enough to overturn many pessimistic industry

sentiments.

Even if Amazon's development prospects remained bleak, the fact that the well-capitalized

Firefly system not only refrained from abandoning it, but actually intensified its support, led the industry to readjust its expectations toward Amazon, whether voluntarily or under

pressure. Stimulated by this good news, when the NASDAQ stock market opened on Thursday, Amazon's stock price rebounded 5.6%, with the total daily gain reaching 11.3%.

...

As the entire new tech market closely monitored what further benefits the Firefly system's high-level meetings would bring to the NASDAQ market, on Friday, another sudden announcement that caught countless people off guard surfaced.

However, this time, there was no apparent relation to the Firefly system, or at least no one

could find any connection on the surface.

On the afternoon of August 13th, one hour before closing, the U.S. Department of Justice held

a press conference. Attorney General Janet Reno announced that in light of Federal Judge Thomas Jackson's breach of judicial protocol by prematurely disclosing Microsoft's antitrust matters to the media, President Clinton personally issued an order to dismiss Thomas Jackson from the role of presiding judge in the Microsoft antitrust case. Simultaneously, considering Microsoft's cooperation during the antitrust investigation phase, the federal Department of Justice decided to temporarily halt the investigation into Microsoft's antitrust behavior and restart settlement negotiations with Microsoft.

In recent years, Microsoft had been shrouded in the possibility of facing forced breakup.

It was foreseeable that if the Windows operating system were to be separated from the company, Microsoft would lose its advantages across software applications, web business, enterprise services, and more.

Now, the sudden halt of the antitrust investigation, which had been in its final stages, and the recommencement of settlement negotiations equated to a direct abandonment of the

decision to break up Microsoft.

After all, the investigation against Microsoft had dragged on intermittently for more than four years since it began in 1995. Once the government department decided to abort such a prolonged investigation, reinitiating it in the future would not be an easy task.

While many people understood that the Department of Justice's compromise likely aimed to avoid further upsetting the persistently plunging NASDAQ market, this strong positive news

still delivered an immediate impact.

Right after the press conference ended, the NASDAQ index rose noticeably in the day's late trading session, showing an upward curve in just half an hour, soaring by 39 points.

The capital market realized that with two shots in the arm over two consecutive days, the

NASDAQ index, which had been in free fall for nearly a month, finally stabilized, and the panic in the new tech market began to dissipate.

However, this reversal was still far from over.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The following weekend, a series of positive news from the Firefly system brought many Wall

Street investment firms to tears. Everyone realized that with this flurry of good news, the

NASDAQ index would likely enter a rebound period for some time.

*****

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