Chapter 1100： Definitely deceptive

In the evening, WM's conference room.

WM executives and several contracted models discussed the schedule of Paris Fashion Week for an afternoon before they announced the meeting.

Today is March 1.

Paris Fashion Week opened on March 5th. WM's Kate Moss and other pillars have already rushed to Europe before the opening of London Fashion Week. In addition to arranging a few newcomers, the rest are basically just He was held for Carmen Kass.

Everyone got up and left the conference room. Carmen Kass was shouted by Paul Roland and took a few words before letting her go.

Out of the meeting room, Carmen Kess originally intended to return directly to the apartment, but was shouted by a group of girls.

"Carmen, everyone is going to have dinner, are you going to be together?"

The girl named Carolina Kakuwa, from the Czech Republic, signed a contract with WM earlier than her last year, and is also a key target for WM. However, this girl is only fifteen years old this year. Her career has just started and her potential is huge. If it was before, the other party is far from being able to compare with the 21-year-old girl who may not have the chance to go out.

In the past six months, WM concentrated resources to transform her into another supermodel of Gisele Bundchen, which caused dissatisfaction with other models of the company, so her popularity in WM has not been very good.

However, people always do this. When others are stronger than themselves, it is easy to create jealousy. However, if you are far away from the crowd, there is often no comparison, but you will want to make good friends.

In recent days, after suddenly becoming the spokesperson of the Vimy brand, she clearly felt the change within the company. Several people in Europe, Kate Moss, warmly called back to congratulate her, the company stayed in Other models in New York have changed their attitude towards her.

Feeling the look of several girls, Carmen Kass hesitated a little, and nodded: "Okay, then, I invite everyone."

Although she has her own pride and reluctance, she has never been a lonely person. In Europe, she was very good with the model of her brokerage company.

The girls were very happy, they heard that she was going to treat them, and they were not polite. They surrounded them and walked around with them.

The group of people found an English restaurant nearby, an English restaurant, which sounded a bit strange. Does Britain have something to eat? But this is precisely recommended by a British girl of several people. The reason is also very good. The British food is notoriously famous in the world. If you choose this restaurant, you will not be able to control your appetite.

I am going to fly to Paris soon, and no one dares to eat anything at this time.

I ordered some simple foods, and a group of beautiful girls who provoked the diners of the whole restaurant began to talk while eating. Everyone is from all over the world, and there are very few common topics. Unwittingly, they have reached the recently popular witch Blair.

“Yesterday’s new film industry issued a statement that it was only a movie propaganda. The movie seems to be scheduled to be released on March 5th, the same day as the opening of Paris Fashion Week.”

"No wonder, my mother lived in Maryland when she was a child. I also specifically called back to ask her. She said that she had never heard of rumors like Witch Blair."

"Not at all. I heard that this is the practice of the Maryland state government to cover up the facts. The film company took the matter down and propaganda into fiction, so that everyone would not pursue Maryland’s handling of the matter. It’s said that many people have died in these years. If you pursue it, many people will take responsibility."

"I also think so. The new line film industry only arranged 200 screening rooms for this movie. Obviously, I don't want more people to see it. You think, if it is really a movie, it is so high according to the current movie. The degree of attention, as stated, can also arrange 2,000 screening rooms."

"March 5 is released, but unfortunately we can't catch up. However, coming back from Paris, maybe you can go and see."

"Well, when it’s time to go together, I just don’t know if the ticket is good or not. There are only 200 screening halls in the United States. There may not be several theaters in Manhattan.”

The girls groaned, Carmen Kathy was a little silent, only occasionally echoing a few words.

She also paid attention to this matter a few days ago.

It’s just that I’ve been too busy in recent days, and I’ve lost a lot of thought about it.

Is the new line film industry not a subsidiary of the Firefly Group?

Suddenly thought of the man.

I don't know what he is doing now.

Have you thought of yourself?

The thought came out of her heart, and she suddenly got a little confused. How can you have such a strange idea!

"It must be a lie."

Without a head, this sentence blurted out of her mouth.

At the dining table, I heard her saying that the girls who were talking about it suddenly stopped and noticed her embarrassment. I felt that she might not like to talk about it, so they changed the topic with interest.

The discussion about witch Blair in an English restaurant in Manhattan is just a detail of the whole society's hot discussion.

After more than a month of brewing, the rumors about the witch Blair have really turned into a viral-like topic storm, and the influence is not even limited to the Internet. Many traditional media have participated.

Because of the too many conspiracy theories, and the slogan of the new line film release, the "Witch Blair" team secretly continued the guidance of the theory. Most of the public did not believe that this was a movie. Promotion.

So, in the next few days, the entire federal debate on this matter became more heated.

When ordinary people were talking about witch Blair, AOL and Time Warner finally officially announced the long-awaited merger plan.

March 3rd.

AOL and Time Warner executives officially held a press conference at the US online headquarters in Manhattan, announcing that AOL will acquire Time Warner Group through equity swaps for $63 billion. After the merger, AOL will hold 55% of the shares of the new company, and the original shareholder of Time Warner Group will have a total shareholding ratio of 45%.

At the same time, according to the market value of AOL's $77 billion, the total size of the merger will reach $140 billion. Although much lower than the historical US dollar trading volume, the first super-merger in the history of corporate mergers with a total transaction volume of more than 100 billion US dollars still sensationalized the whole world.

On the day of the conference, under the enthusiasm of Steve Case, the share prices of AOL and Time Warner both rose. As of the close of the day, AOL’s share price rose by 17%. Time Warner’s share price It is a 26% jump.

AOL and Time Warner's share price surged, but also led to the entire Nasdaq market.

In the following two trading days, while AOL and Time Warner's share price continued to rise, the Nasdaq index once again set a new high, breaking the 2,900 mark and only one step away from 3000 points.

3000 points, which happens to be the peak of the Nasdaq index predicted by most Wall Street investment institutions.

Therefore, when the Nasdaq index broke through 2,900 points, the instigation of the entire technology stock market was more obvious.

According to Chris’s news from Wall Street, many investment institutions have now cleared all the technology stocks they hold. At the same time, a large amount of funds poured into the stock index futures market and began to build large-scale technology stock futures positions.

Although maintaining a high growth rate, Yahoo!, which has a P/E ratio of more than 600 times, has undoubtedly become the most popular short-selling target for hedge funds.

As of the close of March 5, the number of Yahoo stock futures sold by hedge funds has exceeded 76 million shares, equivalent to 6.1% of Yahoo's total share capital, involving a total amount of 7.7 billion. Both the short-selling ratio and the value of the value far exceed the other technology companies in the Nasdaq market.

However, as a zero-sum game, stock index futures, such a large empty single throw, naturally means long-term multi-head contract follow-up.

then.

AOL merges with Time Warner.

The Nasdaq index is approaching 3000 points.

Yahoo!

Any of these, the potential impact is enough to make the entire technology stock market ups and downs.

Three things are encountered at the same time. There is no doubt that this March of 1999 will be the most turbulent month in Nasdaq history.

The technology stock market was in full swing, and Eric returned to the West Coast again, first to San Francisco to attend the annual meeting of Firefly Electronics.

Firefly investment has already taken large sums of cash by reducing US online stocks. Yahoo! Networks has also successfully completed its listing operation and accumulated enough development funds for the next three to five years. Eric is now fully seated at Diaoyutai. attitude.

Even if the Nasdaq index really collapses in advance, a large number of technology stocks hoarded by the clover fund cannot be cashed out, and the development of the entire firefly system will not be affected.

With the annual financial reports of various companies in the firefly system, Eric has spared no effort to invest in new technology companies for many years and finally got a more substantial return on profits.

Among the companies, Nokia, which has a 51% stake in the Firefly System, had a net profit of $1.96 billion in 1998. Cisco, which has a 26% shareholding, also had a net profit of $1.35 billion in 1998. It’s just that the profit sharing provided by the two companies is enough to support the Firefly system to continue investing in other new technology companies that are still at the discovery stage, and there is no need to transfuse the Firefly Group as before.

However, what Eric did not expect was the annual financial data of Firefly Electronics.

Throughout the year, Firefly Electronics shipped a total of 23.75 million Fireflyer players worldwide.

Among them, Fireflyer's first-generation player shipments were 4.05 million units, Fireflyer's second-generation 1G capacity players shipped 8.3 million units, and Fireflyer's second-generation 2G capacity players shipped 11.4 million units.

In the end, the electronics company, which only has a portable music player device, had annual sales of $8.252 billion.

Moreover, although the company's early marketing investment is very large, in addition to the MP3 player, it has to bear additional research and development funds for the tablet operating system, processor chip, touch solution and other aspects of technology, but in 1998 After the tax was reserved, Firefly Electronics still achieved a net profit of $811 million.

If the financial data is made public, it means that the electronic product company, which was established just four years ago, has successfully squeezed into the ranks of the top 500 companies in North America, and ranks quite high.

According to Forbes magazine's list rules, non-listed companies will not be included in the list of top 500 companies unless they are actively reporting or have detailed public financial data. In just a few short years, an electronic company with a profit size of nearly $1 billion has been formed. If possible, Eric even hopes that the financial data of Firefly Electronics will not be leaked.

But this is obviously just a delusion.

Although operated, the Forbes Group has agreed not to track the financial data of Firefly Electronics, nor will it add Firefly Electronics to the Top 500 list. However, the sales data of the global portable player market is not covered by the Firefly system.

According to data from third-party statistical agencies, in 1998, the global portable music player market reached a total size of 87 million units, a 6% increase compared to 1997, in which the other party gave the Fireflyer digital player 2300. The sales data of Wantai is almost the same as the actual shipments within Firefly Electronics.

Based on these data, it is not difficult for the industry to speculate on the revenue and profit scale of Firefly Electronics. Even considering that the tablet R&D plan is still in a confidential state, the external estimate of the firefly electronic profit level is definitely higher than the actual situation. many.

In two years, the Fireflyer player has swept the 26% market share of the global portable music market, which has to be said to be a miraculous achievement.

But it also means that Firefly Electronics, which is almost exclusively enjoying huge profits, will face competitive pressure from all sides.

After all, even if a closed patent wall is placed in advance around the portable digital music player, in the face of huge profits, other electronics manufacturers will undoubtedly find ways to even enter the market without any need.

With the gradual disclosure of shipment data in the portable music player market in 1998, Sony, which has just completed a patent swap with Firefly Electronics, can't wait to announce that it will release its first digital music player product in June this year.

Speaking of it, the technical difficulty of digital music players is really low. Some electronic manufacturers with strong technical strength may only be able to get through the technical details of the Fireflyer Fireflyer player in a few weeks. If it is not blocked by patent barriers, at this time, There will definitely be more plans for manufacturers to release digital music players.

Faced with strong competition that can be expected, even if Firefly Electronics has multiple technical and industrial advantages, everyone has to work hard to make more efforts to maintain the leading edge of the Fireflyer player.