"In this document are details about the child from Latin America who wrote the thank-you letter; she's from Brazil, named Karina Rosa, and she's eleven this year. Unfortunately, she dropped out of school last year due to her family's financial difficulties, which doesn't make for a very compelling news story."
"The United Nations Children's Fund has indicated that they can arrange for the person who originally received the donation to be interviewed by the media if needed."
"I think we shouldn't release all this information at once. It's better to let other media dig deeper on their own; otherwise, it might be perceived by the public as too orchestrated."
"Also, there's the matter of Davis Conde among the six wanting to settle. According to the evidence now in the hands of the Santa Monica police, even if the parties involved deny it, there's enough to prove their guilt. However, accepting a settlement and getting them to confess the truth about the incident might be more prudent."
"..."
"..."
In a conference room at the Shell Cottage in Malibu's Point Dume, the legal and public relations teams responsible for the attack four years ago sat around a large conference table, discussing back and forth.
Janet sat at the center of the table, flanked by the heads of the legal team, George Norman, and the public relations team, Patrice Kingsley.
After patiently listening to the discussions, Janet directed, "Arrange for the Los Angeles Times to publish the backstory of that $500,000 tomorrow. However, don't just let go afterward; continue guiding other media to dig deeper and provide them with materials when necessary."
Today is December 27th, a Thursday.
These days, the investigation and public opinion regarding the attack from four years ago were overwhelmingly in Simon's favor, but Janet, thoroughly infuriated, had not let her guard down.
In order not to link everything Simon now owned with the 'dirty money' used by Matthew Broderick for the settlement, Janet patiently refrained from disclosing the truth immediately. Instead, she meticulously gathered all information on the funds initially donated to the United Nations Children's Fund until an indisputable chain of evidence was established, deciding only then to make it public.
She was cautious because she knew that relying solely on a 'special thank you letter' stored at the Shell Cottage might backfire if concrete evidence couldn't be produced later. After all, it was hard for anyone to believe that a poor young man who had nothing would donate $500,000 without hesitation.
After further discussion about the $500,000, Janet scanned the faces around the room and said, "As for the settlement, I don't want to hear any more suggestions about it. I do not accept settlements. I want those bastards to be bankrupt and behind bars."
Feeling the icy certainty in Janet's tone, everyone else felt a chill, and the lawyer who had suggested considering a settlement involuntarily shrank back.
Janet, seeing no one else spoke up, glanced down at her notes to make sure nothing was forgotten, closed her notebook, and declared, "That will be all for today's meeting."
As everyone stood to leave, George Norman and Patrice Kingsley stayed back to discuss some minor issues with Janet. George eventually asked with a smile, "Janet, you and Simon aren't going to miss tonight's party at Daenerys Studios, right?"
Despite it being a weekday, due to it being the end of the year, Hollywood was nearly daily filled with various parties, and Daenerys Entertainment had also arranged a gathering tonight at Daenerys Studios to thank those who had collaborated with them over the year.
Familiar with Janet personally, and without the seriousness from the meeting, she checked her watch and replied, "Simon said he'd be back by seven, so we'll definitely stop by."
After Christmas, having returned from the East Coast, Simon had spent the last few days in San Francisco discussing the 1991 development plans with the executives of companies like Igritte.
As Janet's uncle, George Norman knew about this, as his niece, who had been staying at his home, had gone to San Francisco with Simon.
Knowing the nature of Jennifer's and Simon's relationship, neither George Norman nor the assistant's parents were in the dark.
Before Simon and Janet got married, the Reubold family had hoped their daughter could win Simon over. After the wedding earlier this year, due to Simon's continually growing wealth and power, for various reasons, the Reubold family had tacitly accepted the ambiguous relationship between Simon and their daughter.
Thinking of these, George would not bring it up in front of Janet. He added, "I'll be there tonight too, looking forward to introducing some friends to Simon."
"Of course, that's fine," Janet nodded, adding, "If you need additional invitations, just call Amy."
George laughed, shaking his head, "No need to trouble Pascal with such a small matter."
After
seeing off George Norman and Patrice Kingsley, Janet returned to the villa, called Simon, and was told he would board his plane in an hour. After a brief chat, she summoned her personal assistants from home to help her prepare for the evening's party in the third-floor wardrobe.
In San Francisco, having stayed at the Igritte headquarters until six in the evening, Simon finally rushed to the airport to return to Los Angeles.
Accompanying him were his assistant, housekeeper Alice Ferguson, and Peter Butler, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times who Simon had known for a long time.
After the New Year, Peter Butler would officially leave the Los Angeles Times to join Igritte, primarily responsible for the news and finance sections of the Igritte portal.
With AOL's exclusive deals with the three major carriers boosting the growth of the World Wide Web user base in the last quarter of 1990, and including other regions, the number of internet users relying on the World Wide Web had officially exceeded one million. This growth rate was even better than Simon's most optimistic predictions.
Thus, Simon adjusted his plans, intending to push aggressively into the internet sector at the beginning of the next year.
Igritte, AOL, and Cisco, the three companies forming the core of Simon's internet sector plans, had been discussing various plans for the next year since last month. Also, last month, Igritte began building two more data centers on the East and West Coasts for 2 million users each, expected to be operational by mid-January.
Mid-January 1991 coincides with the expected outbreak of the Gulf War.
The cloud computing plan was still secretly advancing, but due to various technical challenges, it needed time, though many of Igritte's other plans could not wait.
Once the two data centers were operational, Igritte's total user capacity would reach 5 million, a surplus in the short term. Therefore, Igritte would launch the one-stop website solution plan proposed by Carol Bartz last year ahead of schedule, offering server space and website solutions to commercial users interested in developing internet sites.
Implementing this business plan ahead of schedule would not only increase Igritte's revenue but also further enrich internet content resources.
However, this was just one of the development plans finalized in recent days.
Besides Carol Bartz's plan, starting early next year, Igritte would also aggressively target the media and social sectors, with Peter Butler's joining being a part of this. Additionally, Jeff Bezos had been actively recruiting talented media personnel from various fields to join Igritte for the past few months.
After Simon's attempt to collaborate with the Hearst Corporation fell through months ago, Igritte completely abandoned the strategy of relying on other media platforms for information and started building its own news media team.
In January, just a few days away, the new version of the Igritte portal would officially launch.
The Igritte portal would not only introduce the first generation of a simple search engine developed secretly over a year but also expand the media section to include news, finance, sports, entertainment, fashion, technology, and other channels, with sub-channels for domestic news, international news, photo news, etc.
In the social sector, after a year of technical accumulation, Igritte's personal pages would be split into column blogs and microblogs, beginning to segment the user base.
Also, to encourage active use of blogs, Igritte would host various online activities with cash or gift rewards each month over the next year.
Additionally, Igritte's email, forums, and online gaming sections would undergo revisions. The e-commerce business, overseen by the housekeeper, would also start trials over the next year.
Reaching a million users, although not as profitable as media outlets of similar scale, was a significant platform. Moreover, Simon hoped to boost the number of World Wide Web users to over 5 million by the end of 1991.
Once the user base reached 5 million, with subsequent growth, Igritte's portal could start building a profitable, comprehensive internet business ecosystem.
To achieve this goal, Simon had set no budget limits for Igritte this year.
As long as they could produce results, even if Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz spent $500 million or even $1 billion over the next year, Simon was willing to pay.
In the original timeline, many internet unicorns lost tens to hundreds of billions over several years and ultimately achieved nothing. Compared to those, Simon's seemingly extravagant investments were worth every penny. After the internet industry exploded, these technological and content accumulations could quickly be transformed into tangible market value through IPOs.
As long as Simon wished, by cashing out stocks, he could easily recoup all his initial investments.
The same was true for AOL.
Simon's promise not to lay off employees after acquiring Bell Atlantic was not only to start laying the groundwork in the new telecom field of mobile communications but also to support AOL.
Acquiring Bell Atlantic, while
the company wouldn't immediately venture into internet access services, would deepen its collaboration with AOL. Bell Atlantic's states on the East Coast would be AOL's primary expansion targets next year.
Also starting next month, AOL would launch a large-scale free trial service.
Users just needed to schedule an internet connection, and AOL would install it for free, allowing them to enjoy up to three hours of free internet surfing each day for a month. This phase of the campaign would last at least three months.
Perfectly timed, as next month, the Gulf War was expected to break out.
During the flight back to Los Angeles, Simon discussed this with Peter Butler.
"Although internet media platforms are just emerging, compared to newspapers and television, their advantages are quite clear.
Like the upcoming war in the Gulf region, daily newspapers can't provide immediacy of information, and while 24-hour news channels like CNN can offer real-time coverage, they can't store information, and viewers can't be expected to stay in front of their TVs around the clock.
In contrast, portal sites can address both issues.
We can provide immediacy and long-term storage of news information. Users can log onto the internet anytime to see current news events as well as browse past occurrences. Moreover, the content provided by portal sites is richer than that of newspapers and television. If we can seize the opportunity next month, Igritte's media business will definitely resonate deeply with the public."
In media history, many platforms have emerged opportunistically.
Just as the Hearst family used their media network to stir up the Spanish-American War, boosting their newspapers' sales during that period. In the original timeline, Fox News broke CNN's dominance in the US news channel sector by providing comprehensive and timely coverage of the 9/11 attacks.
The upcoming Gulf War presents a similar opportunity for the development of the Igritte portal.
Peter Butler, still teased for his article years ago that overly praised Westeros, had seen undeniable advancement at the Los Angeles Times due to it.
However, climbing to the highest levels at a company with a century of history like the Los Angeles Times isn't just about having sufficient ability.
Therefore, when Simon personally contacted him to join the Igritte portal, Peter quickly decided to leave his newly promoted position as deputy editor to join this new media platform, responsible for the key news and finance sections.
As a media professional, Peter knew the importance of the news and finance sections. Although he didn't gain control over more channels, he recognized the sincerity in Simon's invitation. Moreover, Peter didn't believe his article about Simon had landed him this job.
The young man who had created a series of miracles fully deserved the praise in that article, and achieving his current success, he surely wouldn't hire someone just because of a flattering report.
After Simon finished speaking, Peter said, "Simon, I've considered it, and around mid-next month, I plan to personally go to Saudi Arabia to follow up on this event."
Simon, seeing this, showed a look of appreciation, "No problem, but make sure to arrange things well here in North America."
As they continued discussing, the plane soon landed at Los Angeles International Airport.
Outside the window, dusk was settling.
After parting with Peter Butler, Simon rushed back to Point Dume to change before heading with Janet to the Daenerys Studios party, arriving after half-past seven.
The couple naturally became the center of attention as they entered the grand hall of the cinema.
After a round of greetings and mingling, they reached a circle of film studio heads. Just after saying hello, Peter Guber, CEO of Columbia Pictures, couldn't help but say, "Simon, the box office for 'Home Alone' really is unexpected."
Everyone turned their gaze to Simon as Peter Guber brought up the topic.
In the past week, Hollywood's biggest box office dark horse was undoubtedly 'Home Alone,' which premiered on December 21st.
This perfectly festive children's comedy grossed $26.15 million in its opening three days from December 21st to 23rd. Although this wasn't extraordinary initially, during the weekdays, the popularity and box office momentum of 'Home Alone' continued to rise.
After a brief lull on Christmas Eve, the box office on Tuesday and Wednesday exceeded expectations. While today's figures would only be available after midnight, industry consensus predicted that 'Home Alone' would comfortably exceed $40 million in its first week.
This would make it the second film of 1990, after 'Die Hard 2,' to break the $40 million mark in its opening week.
However, the steep decline in the box office of 'Die Hard 2' in its second week, over 50%, clearly couldn't compare to the still-rising 'Home Alone.'
Before this, based on John Hughes' past box office performances, some thought that 'Home Alone' might not even gross $40 million in total in North America. Thus, surpassing $40 million in its first week was unexpected even within Daenerys Entertainment
.
Previously, Hollywood had generally assumed that 'Ghost,' which ended its summer run with a domestic gross of $217 million, would secure the 1990 box office crown and be the only domestic film to cross the $200 million mark that year.
Now, the surprise success of 'Home Alone,' with its current popularity, seemed poised to surpass 'Ghost's' figures and claim the top spot in the 1990 box office.
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