[Chapter 923: I Am Monica]
Eric left Long Island on September 14, first heading to White Plains, north of Manhattan, to discuss the production of Shrek with the team at Blue Sky Studios. After returning to Manhattan, he attended several days of meetings with ABC, listening to reports on the television department's performance in various areas for the first half of the year.
Last year, the company signed an eight-year, $9 billion broadcasting deal with the National Football League, causing concern among the executives that ESPN might suffer losses due to the hefty rights fees. However, by monopolizing the broadcasting rights to the public's favorite football events, ESPN saw a significant increase in both cable television revenue and advertising income this year. In just the first two quarters, net profits had already exceeded $200 million, and the annual total might even reach $500 million, which was one-sixth of the Firefly Group's projected earnings for 1997.
Additionally, the performance of the A&E Network, primarily driven by Lifetime Television, had also shown noticeable growth. Hit shows like Sex and the City, America's Next Top Model, and others not only continued to boost Lifetime's prominence but also provided the company with sustained profits. Other cable channels like Disney Channel were also performing robustly.
The only disappointment was ABC's growth being considerably lower than that of its cable channels. With the rise of cable networks, ABC experienced a marked decline in overall ratings. The shift from broadcast to cable television was becoming an overarching trend in the American television industry. Although Eric could provide ABC with outstanding programming, he could not single-handedly reverse the industry's trajectory. Nevertheless, among the four major broadcast networks, ABC still maintained its top position in many metrics. To make itself look more appealing for sale, CBS sought to improve its second-quarter financials, but its revenue and net profit were no match for ABC's.
Thinking about the ongoing tug-of-war between Viacom and CBS, which had seen discussions reach $33 billion, Eric couldn't help but feel a sense of schadenfreude. CBS had a lackluster operational situation, and while CBS had some cable assets, none could compare to the substantial profits that ESPN brought to the Firefly Group -- certainly, CBS's own cable channels couldn't compete either. In contrast, Viacom's cable assets like MTV and Showtime appeared to be the most valuable.
Once the acquisition was finalized, it was clear that Viacom would face challenges in the coming years.
Privately, Eric and Chris discussed the first phase profits from the Firefly investment amid the Southeast Asian economic crisis. Statistics showed that the initially raised $700 million had ballooned to $1.3 billion. Of that, $300 million would be allocated for building up the Korean won, while the remaining $1 billion would gradually be recovered.
With Firefly's investments in companies like Yahoo, AOL, Amazon, Firefly Electronics, and Qualcomm still in heavy spending phases, and with the upcoming acquisition of Apple, the allocation of the $1 billion was easily settled. Although Chris and Emily decided to team up with Eric to buy a plane, they weren't in a rush to spend on that yet.
On another note, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had been on sale for more than two weeks, and after an impressive first week with worldwide sales of 116,000 copies, the second week saw sales soar to 150,000 copies as the novel's popularity continued to rise. HarperCollins anticipated that by the end of the remaining four months of the year, the book's total sales in the major English-speaking countries could reach 3 million copies.
In prior years, many blockbuster adaptations of popular novels didn't even reach such sales figures, so after the first week's results came in, Katzenberg eagerly called Eric to ask if they could start production on the Harry Potter movie.
However, Eric understood that the Harry Potter series was far from reaching its full potential, and he naturally rejected Katzenberg's proposal, deciding to wait until the second installment was released before officially greenlighting the film project.
...
Having finished up these matters, New York Fashion Week was coming to a close.
In the UK, under Eric's remote direction, Simon Fuller had already selected several girls from the Spice Girls lineup. Yet, Eric couldn't rush over to the UK just yet, as he needed to personally attend several casting calls for Victoria's Secret Angels.
Of course, with most of the important work done, he could finally relax a bit over the next few days.
In an apartment on the Upper East Hydee, it was still afternoon, but the curtains in the bedroom were drawn, allowing only a faint light to seep through.
On the bed, Cindy Crawford had her face buried in her pillow, breathing heavily for a moment before wriggling her body. She could not escape from under the man, so she teasingly complained, "Eric, are Giselle and Alessandra not satisfying you? Why are you bothering me here?"
Eric enjoyed caressing Cindy's skin and replied, "They already went to France. They aren't as leisurely as you."
Paris Fashion Week was set for the end of the month, and after completing their shows in New York, Giselle and Alessandra quickly rushed to Paris. Miranda had also been sent back to Los Angeles by Eric. Due to Fashion Week, both Giselle and Alessandra had become even busier than Eric, and with a few days of pent-up desire, naturally, it was Cindy who would take the heat.
"I just finished with this season of America's Next Top Model and have participated in a few shows. I need to prepare for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show next. I'm hardly leisurely," Cindy said, twisting her body. Finally, like a mermaid, she slipped out from under Eric, grabbed a piece of clothing, which happened to be Eric's shirt, and put it on. Standing on her tiptoes, she walked over to the desk by the window, opened up a laptop on the table, and said, "Since you're here, help me check my stocks. They've been all over the place lately, and it's making me anxious."
Eric turned to watch her fiddling with the laptop. Dragging a network cable back over, he thought about urging Firefly Electronics to speed up their Wi-Fi device development while joking, "The stocks you bought should have gone up a lot, right? Aren't you worried I'll get greedy?"
Cindy placed the laptop on the bedside table, leaned over to Eric with a playful glance, and teased, "Shouldn't it be you who's worried, Mr. Biggest? Aren't you afraid I might get greedy?"
Eric pulled the blanket over both of them, lifting the laptop in front of him while smirked, "Wasn't it Jealous-Daddy you called me? How did it turn into Mr. Biggest?"
"Mr. Biggest is what Candace has been calling you for years now. Jealous-Daddy was just something Linda came up with recently. Speaking of which, Linda's also in Manhattan these days. Why don't you go stir things up with her?"
Since there was a Mr. Big in Sex and the City, Cindy presumably meant the show's lovely author, Candace Bushnell.
Hearing Cindy, Eric replied, "Isn't she dating someone? I'm a gentleman; I wouldn't want to interfere in someone else's relationship."
"That French businessman? They broke up ages ago. Only someone as silly as Linda would think they were getting married."
Eric chuckled, not wanting to get into it any further. Besides a few women he was more closely involved with, he approached his relationships with others in a more carefree way, which was beneficial for all parties involved. He could indulge in the forest while they could lead their own lives without any burdens. Therefore, when he learned that Linda Evangelista had started dating someone, he willingly stepped back, and his attitude toward other women shifted and remained the same.
Cindy also perceived Eric's mindset and said with a smile, "If Joanna or Virginia found boyfriends, would you also let go?"
"They're the mothers of my children; it's different."
Cindy's eyes flickered, "You seem to trust them quite a bit?"
"Of course."
Eric nodded with a smile; he had treated both women like wives over the years, and there was already a tacit understanding among the three of them.
Although Eric only spent two or three months a year in the Hamptons, the two women living together, along with the three kids, made the place never feel empty. Recently, when Eric returned home, Virginia even playfully teased that they didn't need him anymore.
As they chatted casually, Eric absentmindedly browsed Yahoo's homepage, then opened a stock trading app on the laptop. Cindy reached over, unapologetically entering a series of passwords to access her account.
At the end of April, Cindy mentioned that her stocks were worth nearly $50 million. Now, checking again, though she still only had stocks in Microsoft, Cisco, AOL, and Intel, their total value had risen to $76.9 million, more than 50% increase over five months.
With interest, Eric opened detailed graphs for each stock.
Of the four, Microsoft had the highest increase in value, climbing from $120 billion at the beginning of the year to $177.3 billion now. Next was Cisco, which grew from $33 billion to $46.9 billion, meaning Firefly's 26% stake in Cisco had appreciated by $3.6 billion over the past half-year.
AOL's market cap had recently reached $19.3 billion, marking growth of less than 30% from $15 billion at the start of the year. Lastly, Intel's market capitalization surged from $48.3 billion to $113.1 billion between 1996 and 1997; more than double, yet since March, Intel's stock had essentially stagnated, even experiencing declines in the recent two months.
Noticing Eric lingered at the Intel stock data page, Cindy remarked, "That's what I'm worried about -- Intel. I looked it up, and their chip sales have not met expectations this year. Other competitors like AMD, IBM, and Motorola have new chips out, taking market share from Intel. Eric, should I sell all my Intel stocks?"
Later on, many people would only know about Intel and AMD, but in reality, throughout the 90s, there were many manufacturers producing CPU chips. The chips currently used by Apple were made by Motorola. It was just that the Wintel alliance grew increasingly dominant, pushing most other brands out of the market, leaving only AMD barely surviving.
Shaking his head, Eric replied, "Honestly, in my view, Intel's stock is the most valuable among these. Their earnings for the first half of this year reached $2.5 billion, which is actually more than the combined profits of the other three."
"So you mean, hold on to them?"
"Of course," Eric nodded. "Even if you don't sell for ten or twenty years, with these stocks, you'll get at least a few hundred thousand dollars in dividends every year."
Cindy pondered, "I'm not low on money at the moment. According to what you're saying, should I keep all of these stocks?"
"If you're keeping everything, then just follow what I taught you. Wait for Yahoo to go public and sell them all at once; you'll be able to recoup decades of dividends in one shot."
Cindy figured that Eric must know which of those stocks weren't worth holding long-term. However, since Eric hadn't provided many details, she smartly decided not to press further.
As they dabbled with the laptop, evening had unknowingly approached.
The light in the bedroom dimmed, and Cindy picked up the phone from the nightstand to check the time. "It's almost six o'clock; the Fashion Week organizers are hosting the closing party at the Gramercy Hotel tonight. Are you going?"
Eric had no plans for the evening, so he nodded, "Of course. Let's grab dinner first and then head over. You've worn me out this afternoon -- I'm starving."
"You're the one who wore me out."
Cindy shot him a playful glance before turning on the light and sashaying to the wardrobe in Eric's oversized shirt, exuding allure.
...
Women take their time changing; after finding a restaurant for dinner, by the time Eric and Cindy arrived at the Gramercy Hotel, it was already past eight, and the party had begun. More importantly, Cindy had forgotten the invitation at home.
In the elevator, Eric looked at Cindy as she rummaged through her purse, and chuckled, "You think we can get in just with our faces?"
"What if the doorman is face-blind? You'll have to convince them you're Eric Williams."
Cindy shot back with a laugh, fished out her phone, and dialed a number quickly as the elevator doors opened. After a brief chat, they approached the banquet hall's entrance, where a high-ranking executive from the event greeted them warmly, ushering Eric and Cindy into the party.
The spacious banquet hall held about a hundred or two hundred people, and the atmosphere was light and relaxed.
Eric was no stranger to the fashion scene now. While he wasn't an Anna Wintour-level media executive or a top designer, being at the helm of the world's largest media group allowed Eric to wield more influence in this circle than anyone else in the room.
Of course, Eric didn't come to steal the spotlight; after chatting with several interesting guests, he planned to drag Cindy to the dance floor to enjoy some dancing, but just as they reached the edge of the dance floor, a familiar Latin lady approached him with a bright smile.
Surprised to see Penelope here tonight, Eric smiled and extended his hands, "Hey, Penny! So glad to see you here."
The lady's smile faltered for a moment, and as she stepped forward to give Eric a hug, she explained with a slightly melancholy tone, "Eric, I'm not Penny. I'm Monica."
*****
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