Chapter 234: Liquidation for Cash

At a dock in the south of Melbourne.

After three days of continuous shooting, "Batman" finally completed its first action scene.

The story begins with five consecutive murders in Gotham City, with victims shot, necks broken, and even signs of animal mauling. Batman, following the clues, comes to the rescue of Vicki Vale, a reporter from the "Gotham Times," just as she is about to be killed. He then tracks the killer through the sewers to a deserted dock on the city's outskirts.

The killer reveals himself as a huge, toothy, scaly creature resembling a crocodile. After a tough fight, Batman finally subdues the Croc-Man.

Meanwhile, a shaken Vicki Vale calls the police, leading Commissioner Gordon to rush to the docks. With the police's arrival, Batman leaves before he can interrogate the Croc-Man.

This action scene is followed by a dialogue scene, which marks the first official encounter between Commissioner Gordon and Batman.

The night's shooting, from 6 PM to 2 AM, still follows the eight-hour schedule. Being in the southern hemisphere, it's summertime, and the days are long. By the time preparations are complete, night has already fallen.

At 1 AM, after finishing the action scene and with little need for set change, the police in the scene clean up the aftermath, and Commissioner Gordon, notified earlier, approaches a warehouse nearby.

The set is already prepared, and Simon discusses briefly with actors Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones before the shoot begins.

With the clapperboard sound, the stationed actors spring into action.

Commissioner Gordon hesitantly approaches a streetlamp near the warehouse, while Batman crouches at the edge of the warehouse roof, cloaked in his cape.

The camera composition symbolically contrasts the two characters: one in light, the other in darkness.

Sensing a faint noise overhead, Gordon looks up and finally sees the 'wanted criminal' he's been pursuing.

After a brief standoff, Gordon speaks first, "Alright, even though... you did well."

Batman, however, is not in the mood for pleasantries. In a calm, cold tone, he says, "Did you find the connection?"

Gordon nods, "Including Vicki Vale, three journalists have been attacked in the past week. Something is happening in the city; someone is trying to cover it up."

Batman hesitates, not revealing to Gordon the five connected murders he's discovered, only saying, "I need an interrogation report on that crocodile."

"I don't work with criminals," Gordon retorts quickly, noticing Batman's hesitation. He asks, "Do you know something else?"

Batman replies in kind, "I don't work with cops."

Gordon frowns, "Then why should I give you the report?"

"Tomorrow night, 12 o'clock, same place."

Gordon shuffles his feet, pondering how to gain some leverage. After a brief daze, he looks up again, only to find the rooftop figure gone.

"CUT!"

Simon, monitoring the scene, calls cut and begins reviewing the footage.

Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones quickly join in.

"The emotion isn't quite there," Simon explains to Tommy Lee Jones. "Tommy, this dialogue signifies a latent understanding forming between you two. The rhythm needs to be just right. Also, your movement just now was too deliberate. Adjust it next time."

Simon needs a certain feeling and can't instruct the actors too explicitly. They need to figure it out themselves.

After further discussion and preparation, the actors start the second take.

Bruce Wayne, when in Batman mode, is mostly expressionless, so the performance demands on Adam Baldwin aren't too high. Tommy Lee Jones is a seasoned actor. So after a few retakes, Simon gets the satisfactory result he needs.

At 2 AM, the crew wraps up on time.

Simon goes to bed around 3 AM and is up by 9 AM, having breakfast and returning to his hotel suite's study.

Jennifer's main job is to maintain contact with the two companies in North America and doesn't need to stay up late with Simon on set. When Simon enters the study, his female assistant has already prepared the day's documents for review.

"We have established a long position of 5,000 contracts in Nikkei 225 futures on the Osaka Securities Exchange, at around 31,200 points, with an average margin of $25,300 per contract, totaling $126 million in margin. Dad believes keeping a reserve of $50 million is enough to mitigate risk, so we can increase our position by another 1,000 contracts."

The Nikkei 225 futures are traded on both the Singapore International Financial Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange, with contract multipliers of 500 and 1,000 yen, respectively.

Based on the 1,000 yen multiplier of the Osaka Securities Exchange, each of the Westeros Company's contracts is worth around 31.2 million yen.

In recent years, the yen has continuously appreciated against the dollar, reaching a rate of 123 to 1. Converted, 31.2 million yen is roughly $253,000, far exceeding the value of S&P 500 futures. The same 10x leverage with a 10% margin equates to $25,300.

Simon listens to Jennifer's briefing while flipping through the documents.

In the past two weeks, the Nikkei 225 index's growth rate has noticeably accelerated. Last December, when the Nikkei 225 index breached 30,000 points, the monthly gain was only 623 points. However, in the last two weeks, it rose by a substantial 860 points, a 2.7% increase.

Simon is unsure if this is due to others catching wind and entering the market.

The Westeros Company currently has only about $200 million available, initially transferred from Daenerys Entertainment. After completing the planned 5,000 contract position, only $70 million would remain. Not being as certain about Japan's stock market trajectory as he was about the North American market in '87, Simon cannot afford to go all in and must keep reserves to cover potential margin calls.

After calculations, if the Nikkei 225 index reaches over 38,000 points, as in the original timeline, the Westeros Company's $200 million could potentially double by year's end, yielding a 100% net profit.

This one-year endeavor for a 100% net profit isn't too impressive for Simon. If he invested based on his memory, he could earn just as much in a year.

For instance, buying shares in Columbia Pictures now.

In 1988, Columbia Pictures released 15 movies but earned only $88 million at the box office – that's an average of less than $6 million per film.

Columbia's joint venture with HBO, TriStar Pictures, fared slightly better, with 15 films earning $198 million in 1988. But TriStar has reportedly accumulated over $500 million in losses over five years. To conceal this, Time Inc., HBO's parent company, had to distribute losses across other divisions.

Despite rumors of Sony's potential acquisition of Columbia, its stock price continues to fall due to poor performance, dragging down Coca-Cola, which holds 49% of Columbia's shares.

Columbia's market value is now only $1.6 billion with a 100% debt ratio. Another drop could lead to insolvency.

However, Simon remembers Sony eventually buying Columbia for $3.4 billion later in the year, more than doubling the value. Sony also assumes Columbia's $1.6 billion debt, making the total deal worth $5 billion.

Simon could easily double his investment by buying Columbia shares now, with lower risk.

However, doing so in Hollywood could lead to unnecessary speculation and even insider trading investigations.

With Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and others who reigned over Wall Street falling, the FBI, basking in the limelight, would love to net Simon Westeros, whose wealth accumulation trajectory is even more astonishing.

Therefore, despite seeing many stock arbitrage opportunities, such as the recent RJR Nabisco buyout and the upcoming Sony-Columbia deal, Simon restrains himself from acting.

Making money through the Japanese stock market doesn't come with these risks.

Resisting Japan's rise is a political correctness in recent American history.

But the profits from speculating on Nikkei 225 futures don't necessarily come from Japan, not that Simon needs to care about that.

Pondering continuously, Simon hears Jennifer convey James Rebould's suggestion and quickly agrees: "That's fine."

Increasing the position to 6,000 contracts remains within a manageable risk. But even so, the expected return still falls short of Simon's appetite.

Capital remains a significant issue.

Simon refuses to use loans for speculating on futures, and obtaining such loans for this purpose is unlikely. He doesn't allow himself that kind of risk.

Thinking this, he suddenly remembers something and asks Jennifer, "Is your dad still at the company?"

Jennifer nods, "It's only 6 PM in New York, and dad is still there. He called during your breakfast, saying he'd wait for you."

She picks up the phone on the desk, dials a number, and hands the receiver to Simon.

After reducing Motorola shares, Westeros Company holds stocks in 25 listed tech companies, with board seats in 16 of them. The rest are simple equity holdings without board participation.

To avoid impacting the tech stock market during the Motorola divestiture, Westeros Company issued a one-year no-sell statement for companies without board seats and a three-year no-sell statement for those with board seats.

A year has passed since the announcement, and Simon can now liquidate some tech stocks to raise more capital for the Japanese stock market operation.

After half an hour on the phone with James Rebould, they roughly determine a divestiture plan for six stocks, three of which have performed poorly recently, and three Simon had already planned to reduce, like Apple.

Simon had specifically avoided joining Apple's board for this.

Westeros Company bought into Apple during the stock market crash, with the company's market value around $3 billion. With an initial investment of $150 million and a slight increase last year, the stake just exceeded 5%.

Recently, Apple's market value has risen to $5.3 billion, with Westeros's stake showing over 75% in book profit, valuing their shares at $260 million.

Although Simon recalls Apple's market value exceeding $7 billion in the coming years, he's not willing to wait. Of course, he won't sell all at once, as owning about 5% is significant for a publicly listed company, and selling too much at once would severely impact Apple's stock.

However, liquidating six stocks, even if Westeros's announcement affects their prices, would easily yield $300 million in a month. After Daenerys Entertainment completes its financial audit, more funds can be transferred to Westeros.

With over $500 million in capital, Simon can confidently increase his Nikkei 225 futures position to 15,000 contracts.

While he could invest more, Simon decides to exercise restraint.

After the month's liquidation and market stabilization, Westeros will continue to divest, but the surplus funds will be used to increase stakes in Microsoft, Intel, and others, offering even greater long-term returns.

Ending the call with James Rebould, Simon begins reviewing documents from Daenerys Entertainment.

After reading Robert Ager's report on ABC's request for a significant price reduction for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Season 2 and a share in advertisement insertion profits, Simon calls Los Angeles.

It's just after 3 PM in Los Angeles, during working hours.

Daenerys Entertainment earning $250 million from the first season of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" while ABC only makes $80 million is a situation Simon wishes could continue, but he knows it's not possible.

Last year, the company exploited Hollywood's writers' strike. ABC won't make the same mistake this year.

Fortunately, Daenerys Entertainment has already negotiated a three-season deal with NBC for "Survivor."

"Survivor," despite higher ratings than "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," has a smaller footprint at NBC due to airing only once a week for 13 episodes per season. Thus, NBC hasn't shown the same strong rebound as ABC.

After discussing the negotiation plan with ABC, Simon just hangs up when the phone rings again.

Answering, it's Sofia Fieschi calling from Florence, Italy, where Gucci's headquarters is located.

On the phone, Sofia informs him that she has negotiated a 39% stake in Gucci and is continuing talks with other members of the Gucci family.

Although a preliminary agreement with the Gucci family was reached last time, their shares are quite dispersed, so specific prices and other conditions need separate discussions with the three branches of the Gucci family.

Sofia also predicts that with ample funds, she could secure over 60% of Gucci's shares, higher than originally planned.

Simon, phone in hand, opens Nancy Brill's plan for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game development, his expression turning to surprise.

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