Chapter 150: ETA

In the evening, at the Capet Mansion, Evelyn Capet drove over to visit her son.

After taking the coffee from the servant, Evelyn looked at Charles, who was half-lying on the sofa, reading a book.

"Charles, how's it going? Did Donna Langley agree to join Capet Pictures to help you out?"

Charles put down the book and sat up, somewhat uncertain, saying: "She seems interested. I offered her a $1.5 million annual salary, and with bonuses and other incentives, she could make $3 million a year easily.

Also, Capet Entertainment is in a rapid growth phase. There will be equity incentives offered, too. She's an ambitious person, so she should consider it!"

"If you offered an even higher salary, even I would consider coming over to help you," Evelyn laughed. Her annual income was also over $3 million, depending on her artists' project involvement for the year.

Charles shook his head, saying, "You know you can always come over and help out anytime. Capet Entertainment now has more than 450 employees!"

"Alright, but you know I can help you a lot from ETA too!" Evelyn Capet shrugged.

"ETA can't just focus on the entertainment industry. You've got to expand into sports, finance, and international business. Ari Emanuel always limits his vision to Hollywood. How can ETA grow big like that?" Charles scoffed.

"Helping clients with financing, project planning, or creating our own projects, dealing with rights transactions, and more. Talent management should be treated as just one module of the business, not the whole thing!"

"Right now, our company has sports entertainment, TV, and film divisions. Music and novels are also part of our business," Evelyn Capet agreed with Charles, but expansion required capital to support growth.

"What you said about international business and the sports sector has a lot of potential. Hollywood has CAA, which is hard for us to surpass. UTA and ICM also have more resources," Evelyn Capet clearly understood the situation.

"Oh, I heard there was some conflict between Nancy Josephson, one of the co-chairs of ICM, and the company. Wasn't she always trying to recruit you?" Charles smiled.

The poaching between ETA and ICM was intense, especially since ETA's founders initially came from ICM.

"If I went over, could I get the same level of authority? Besides, Nancy Josephson is the daughter of ICM's founder," Evelyn shook her head.

Charles nodded and suggested, "In that case, why don't you buy more ETA shares to increase your influence and propose to the shareholders to bring in external capital for acquiring some independent talent agencies?"

Evelyn nodded. Being able to directly control ETA would be great. As long as she had enough talent, ETA wouldn't dare to go against her.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Can't believe you're home alone reading on a weekend!" Evelyn said, patting Charles on the head.

"What if I transfer $10 million to your account? Would that be enough?" Charles wasn't sure how much cash Evelyn had, but ETA was worth about $100 million now.

"Okay, consider it a loan to your mother," Evelyn knew Charles wasn't short on money; his personal account had over $25 million in cash.

"By the way, I heard you invested in some CDSs. Make sure to sell them. With house prices slowing down and the Fed starting its rate hike cycle last year, I feel a bubble is forming," Charles reminded his mother.

"Now? Since 2001, housing prices have been rising. Will it really stop?" Evelyn was skeptical.

"Trust me, it won't be long before the bubble bursts. Housing prices can't keep going up indefinitely. It's just like the tech bubble in 2000. When the Fed raises rates high enough, subprime mortgages will start defaulting en masse. Sell those CDSs while housing prices are still high!" Charles said seriously.

Evelyn looked at her son's serious face for a few moments and then nodded, "Actually, I didn't invest much, only about $2 million."

"Just wait. When the time comes, we can head to Wall Street together and make a killing. Most investors have been blinded by the high housing prices in recent years. Lower-tier credit loans made it too easy to buy houses. Many buyers can't really afford them and rely on rising prices to offset the interest. When the Fed raises rates, the bubble will burst, and housing prices will crash. It's unavoidable!"

This was the best harvesting opportunity ever. Missing it would be a disappointment to everyone.

"Got it!" Evelyn said, grabbing her purse and heading out.

After Evelyn left, Charles opened his laptop and checked his email.

Batman Begins had been in theaters for half a month and made over $100 million in North America. Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which had been out for an extra week, also crossed the $100 million mark in North America.

War of the Worlds, which premiered at the end of last month across 3,908 theaters in North America, had an opening of $64 million against a production budget of $132 million.

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg's star power was no joke.

However, with the statuses of Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, War of the Worlds would see both taking at least half of the profits, especially from the initial box office (excluding the cinema's share).

Additionally, DVD sales, TV rights, and other subsequent earnings would be substantial given their status!

Luckily, Spielberg wouldn't be directing the live-action Transformers movie himself. Otherwise, Hasbro wouldn't have considered any other company.

Michael Bay, the director Spielberg recommended to Hasbro, had The Island releasing on the 22nd of this month, while Wedding Crashers would release a week earlier on the 15th.

If Michael Bay's sci-fi blockbuster was easily defeated by a romantic comedy, would Hasbro still have confidence in Michael Bay?

Charles took out his phone and called Phyllis Jones, instructing her to arrange a follow-up visit to Hasbro's top executives.

"Boss, when do you want to go?" Phyllis Jones asked over the phone.

"By the end of this month. I'll go to Rhode Island then!" Charles replied, knowing it would be a more persuasive time.

*****

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