Chapter 348

The operation of Thomas H. Lee selling Snapple shocked all of Wall Street and made THI Private Equity a highly sought-after entity.

Additionally, this provided Arthur with the strongest backing for acquiring MGM!

After returning to New York from Boston, Arthur learned that Microsoft had undergone yet another stock split - the fifth since it went public.

At $97 per share, the stock split 2-for-1, and now Microsoft's total market value exceeded $34 billion. Arthur spent hundreds millions of dollars in cash to purchase 3.34 million shares of Microsoft's preferred stock.

"Damn it, I now own about 1% of Microsoft's total shares," Arthur sat in his office in the Galaxy Building, thrilled but still thinking about Yahoo, Google, and Amazon!

He looked at Emily Shear beside him. "California Pacific Company's office in Silicon Valley should always keep an eye on the development of the tech industry. For some new tech startups, we should boldly venture into them!"

Emily nodded, "We understand that, and we have already purchased a plot of land in Santa Clara to build a new tech industrial park."

"That's good," Arthur felt reassured. Silicon Valley cannot be evaluated by conventional wisdom.

"Oh, boss, it seems Mr. Kirk Kerkorian has gone to France to visit members of the Credit Lyonnais board," Emily reminded.

Arthur sneered, "Credit Lyonnais reached $330 billion in assets last year and is said to have become the largest bank in Europe. Unfortunately, its continuous astonishing losses and accumulation of bad assets have resulted in last year's loss reaching 12 billion francs!"

"Kirk Kerkorian?" Arthur stood up, "What makes him think he can compete with me?"

"Loan $500 million from California Pacific Investment Company to Galaxy, and I will personally go to Paris!"

Arthur did not want to waste time on the MGM matter anymore.

In the evening, Arthur attended a business cocktail party at the Plaza Hotel where he met the famous investor Warren Buffett.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Group, being a major shareholder of Capital Cities/ABC Group, had some intersections with Arthur, as Galaxy owned 20% of the most valuable ESPN channel under the ABC Broadcasting Network.

Arthur really wanted to ask Buffett if he had thought about starting the Buffett lunch event now but managed to hold back.

However, Berkshire Hathaway's primary businesses are insurance and investment, and it rarely involves the high-risk movie industry.

"Oh, Mr. Hearst, good evening!" Arthur greeted William Randolph Hearst III, the chairman of the Hearst Corporation, with a smile.

Seeing it was Arthur Smith, William Randolph Hearst III managed a polite smile, "Good, congratulations to you this time!"

Nothing else could be said but to praise the highly successful investment in Snapple.

Moreover, ESPN's rapid development was another point of regret for the Hearst Corporation as they lost to Galaxy in the purchase.

Now, ESPN's valuation has exceeded $3 billion, growing as fast as MTV; one focuses on sports entertainment and the other on music entertainment!

"Thank you, thank you," said Arthur, patting William Randolph Hearst III on the shoulder.

"If I hadn't been given the opportunity by Hearst Corporation back then, I wouldn't have been able to acquire a stake in ESPN. The growth of cable television has been truly unexpected and incredibly fast!"

"Arthur, excuse me for a moment, a new friend just arrived and I need to go say hello," William Randolph Hearst III, not wanting to continue the conversation with Arthur, said.

Watching William Randolph Hearst III leave, Arthur smiled. Suddenly a voice sounded in his ear, "The Hearst Corporation regretting missing out on acquiring the ESPN shares has impacted William Randolph Hearst III greatly. Arthur, William still feels quite embarrassed meeting you now!"

Arthur turned to see Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the chairman of Conde Nast, who at 67 was still robust. "The Hearst Corporation still has some notable newspapers and magazines. Although they missed ESPN, they still have other foundations."

Indeed, the Hearst Corporation's current development was less impressive, with the highest-selling newspaper being the San Francisco Chronicle, which can't be considered a national paper.

Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr. signaled, and a waiter came over with two glasses of wine. He raised his glass and clinked it with Arthur's. "You haven't been in New York much recently, have you?"

Conde Nast, as a publishing giant with magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, could rival Time Publishing Group and had close ties with Hollywood.

Collaboration between Galaxy and Conde Nast was also quite common!

"New York? I've been here enough, but just have many things now," Arthur said while glancing towards Rupert Murdoch in the distance.

"I heard FOX Broadcasting Network is setting up its own news and sports channels?"

Newhouse nodded, "That's no secret, FOX continues to merge with local TV and radio stations. To become on par with the big three broadcast networks, FOX's approach is understandable."

Arthur shook his head, seeing Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corporation as formidable rivals. As for Disney at this point, it really couldn't compare with them!

"By the way, Arthur, Disney's Michael Eisner and General Electric chairman Jack Welch recently met in Long Island, you can probably guess why," Siyi Newhouse remarked.

Arthur furrowed his brow. What else could it be? It had to be about NBC under General Electric.

Not just NBC, but Capital Cities/ABC, CBS, and others also drew the entertainment media industry's attention!

"NBC hasn't developed well under General Electric's management, but I doubt Jack Welch would sell NBC," Arthur speculated, knowing Disney would acquire Capital Cities/ABC in the next two years.

Ten years later, General Electric would merge NBC with Universal to form NBCUniversal!

Arthur finished his drink. These broadcast networks themselves were worth tens of billions of dollars, and incorporating some cable networks could easily result in mergers worth over $10 billion.

Right now, Galaxy wasn't ready to grasp such opportunities. However, if a certain price was paid, it might be possible to merge with CBS and exchange equity, ensuring Arthur could retain his voice.

But doing so now wouldn't be worthwhile!

*****

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