I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1106: Beware of Firefly]

After introducing the two ladies, Antoine Arnault naturally turned his attention to Paul Roland.

However, Paul Roland was focused on Carmen Kass, his eyes betraying both caution and inquiry. He hadn't expected that after just stepping away for a moment, Carmen Kass would meet the son of the owner of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy. Previously, he would have welcomed the news with open arms, but now, if Carmen Kass entertained any unwarranted thoughts, it would be a disaster for him.

God knows, WM had just gotten over a disaster.

Feeling Paul Roland's gaze, Carmen Kass instinctively shrank her neck slightly, unable to offer any explanations in such a setting.

Delphina Arnault, who had come with Paul Roland, watched her brother seriously introduce Carmen Kass to everyone and found it somewhat amusing.

Of course, she wouldn't embarrass her brother in front of outsiders; instead, she greeted Paul Roland warmly and introduced him to Antoine Arnault, "This is Mr. Roland, the owner of Miss Kass's management company. What a coincidence that you know her!"

Antoine Arnault recalled Carmen Kass's remark about waiting for her boss and immediately understood the situation, which brought an awkward expression back to his face.

Upon hearing Delphina Arnault's introduction, Paul Roland returned his attention from Carmen Kass with a smile and shook hands with Antoine Arnault. Although he longed to whisk Carmen Kass back to New York immediately, he knew he had to maintain decorum.

Having just been teased by a pair of onlookers, Antoine Arnault felt a twinge of embarrassment at making a fool of himself again. He exchanged a few casual words with everyone and made an excuse to leave.

...

Once Antoine Arnault exited, Paul Roland relaxed and took Carmen Kass to find Delphina Arnault and Calice Becker a seat where they began discussing Carmen Kass's endorsement deal with Dior's J'adore perfume.

As Gisele had mentioned, J'adore was merely a new perfume line, and the future was uncertain. Still, this was Delphina Arnault's first project after joining the family business, and to ensure success as much as possible, Dior put significant effort into this product.

With the contract for the Victoria's Secret Angel endorsement secured, Carmen Kass was set to become one of the fastest-rising supermodels in the fashion industry over the next few years. Additionally, her image and temperament aligned perfectly with J'adore's positioning, so both parties quickly reached a preliminary collaboration agreement.

...

Once the discussions wrapped up, Delphina Arnault and Calice Becker excused themselves to mingle with other guests. Carmen Kass seized the moment to quietly say to Paul Roland, "What if I just drop this endorsement?"

Paul Roland paused briefly at Carmen Kass's words and then shook his head with a smile, "No need for that, Carmen. Just make sure you know what you're doing. By the way, didn't you say you wanted to thank Mr. Williams this afternoon? I thought about it, and since the Oscars are this weekend, that's a bit tricky. But I'll see if I can get you an invitation to the Vanity Fair party; that way, you'll have a reason to go to Los Angeles."

Carmen Kass's eyes flickered; she lowered her head and whispered, "And what about him?"

"I can't say for sure what Mr. Williams is thinking, so you should just approach him directly." Paul Roland guessed her concerns, clarified, and added with a smile, "By the way, the North American media is buzzing today. You should pick up a newspaper tomorrow morning."

So, it turned out he wasn't suggesting a meeting himself.

Disappointment washed over her. Upon hearing the latter part of Paul Roland's words, she felt confused and looked up at him.

Paul Roland nodded, "Of course, it's about Mr. Williams."

...

In Paris, it was nighttime; meanwhile, it was daytime across both coasts of North America.

Indeed, the North American media was abuzz today. The new annual Forbes Global Billionaires List had finally been officially released. To keep up with the trend, Forbes even chose to publish the 1999 Billionaires List via the internet for the first time.

Prior to this, many media outlets had predicted this year's rankings, but the long-standing authority of Forbes meant that both the public and the press in North America remained focused on the data provided by them.

Without any suspense, Eric's name remained firmly at the top of the list.

Equally unsurprising, Eric became the first individual to amass a personal fortune exceeding $300 billion.

$315.5 billion.

This was the exact figure ultimately confirmed by Forbes.

Forbes valued the Firefly Group at $120 billion, an increase of $20 billion from the previous year. With a 73.7% stake in the company, Eric's wealth from the Firefly Group alone amounted to $88.5 billion.

Beyond that, Eric's other assets primarily came from technology stocks owned by Firefly Investments, with this portion valued at over $200 billion.

Moreover, Eric's personal fortune of $315.5 billion blazed past the total wealth of all others in the top ten of the Forbes list.

While the overall recovery of the North American and global economy had led to a noticeable rise in the wealth of most billionaires, even the combined total wealth of the nine billionaires ranked second to tenth was only $245 billion -- $70 billion less than Eric's fortune.

Last year, Eric's personal assets of $136.7 billion had already captured the world's attention. This year, crossing the $300 billion milestone left most ordinary people unable to fathom the true meaning of such staggering wealth.

...

However, amidst the confusion, there were still those who considered themselves clear-sighted.

"After extensively investigating the vast corporate assets controlled by the Firefly system, I felt a profound fear. I could almost envision a scenario even more terrifying than the Rockefeller family's control over the federal energy sector through Standard Oil. If it weren't for Steve Case's team successfully leading AOL to an exit, the Firefly system would have nearly constructed a complete profit chain throughout the internet industry. This chain encompasses equipment manufacturers, service providers, and content providers. Cisco, AOL, and Yahoo all belong to the ranks of the internet industry's absolute leaders, with Yahoo alone controlling over 70% of North America's most significant portal market share.

Although AOL's departure dealt a severe blow to the carefully crafted internet industry chain of the Firefly system, it did not impede its crazy expansion. Amazon, meanwhile, is the most significant example of a platform that shares the number one market share in North America.

Furthermore, after acquiring Sony's film division, the Firefly system now controlled four of the seven major Hollywood studios, facilitating a fierce takeover of Hollywood's media resources. Last year, of the $7 billion in box office revenues within North America, the Firefly Group, MGM, and Fox collectively garnered over $4.5 billion in box office receipts, accounting for nearly 65% market share. One can only imagine that once Columbia Pictures, which holds famous franchises like Men in Black, bounces back, the Firefly system will gain a near-monopolistic advantage in Hollywood.

If anyone believes that the Firefly system's power is confined to just these areas, then they are gravely mistaken.

During the research process, I also discovered that while Eric Williams' comprehensive layout across the internet sector failed due to AOL's exit, this truly astonishing young man, reminiscent of an alien, is quietly making brilliant strides in another crucial technological field -- the mobile communications industry. His foresight in this area is nothing short of astonishing.

Seven years ago, when digital communication technology was still emerging, Eric Williams invested heavily to acquire 51% of Finland's Nokia Group's mobile communications division, establishing absolute control over this mobile device manufacturer. At that time, Firefly Investments paid a mere $420 million for that 51% stake. Seven years later, Nokia has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of mobile communications equipment and handsets, boasting a market valuation of over $60 billion.

Close to this, five years ago, Eric Williams again acquired a controlling stake in another company, Qualcomm, which was then relatively insignificant.

This investment turned out to be a masterstroke.

While major communication equipment manufacturers were at each other's throats over second-generation digital communication technology patents, Qualcomm quietly controlled thousands of third-generation digital communication technology patents, creating a patent barrier that the entire mobile communications industry could hardly cross. If interested, readers can explore the differences between Qualcomm's CDMA technology and the second-generation FDMA technology to grasp the reality of this unexaggerated claim. At this point, it was evident that the entire mobile communications sector had similarly woken up. Taking into account the data from Forbes, last year, Qualcomm's market valuation was just $5.76 billion. In the short span of one year, that figure skyrocketed to $28.6 billion by the time Forbes compiled this data.

Finally, the Firefly system also invested in one of the three major telecom operators, Sprint. Although Sprint ranks weakest compared to AT&T and Verizon, they managed to acquire a larger number of licenses during the mobile communications license auction than the combined total of AT&T and Verizon. Considering Eric Williams' strategic positioning in the mobile communications sector, Firefly Investments' stake in Sprint makes perfect sense. Currently, Sprint's market valuation has also reached $56 billion, which is a 500% increase compared to three years ago. There is no doubt that Eric Williams once again placed the right bets, or perhaps, I dare say, Eric Williams seemed to possess foresight into the future.

So, let's reconsider: Nokia, manufacturer of mobile communication devices; Qualcomm, developer of mobile communication technology; Sprint, mobile network operator. The synergy here closely mirrors Eric Williams' strategic layout with Cisco, AOL, and Yahoo in the internet sector.

Despite the severe bubble present in the Nasdaq market today -- where market dynamics have detached from economic fundamentals, creating a speculative playground for investors -- I must admit that sectors like internet, mobile communications, and electronics have undoubtedly become new economic realms at least as significant as the early-20th-century oil industry in the new century. Therefore, I must caution the federal government that it has become paramount to vigilantly monitor the terrifying Firefly's continued expansion. Otherwise, for the next century, all of North America, not to mention the world, could fall under the shadow of this firefly."

...

In the following days, with the release of the Forbes Billionaires List, among the plethora of media articles discussing Eric's personal wealth, Howard Glassman's report for The Washington Post undoubtedly stirred the most significant reaction.

Even Eric himself was left astonished by Howard Glassman's profound analysis of the Firefly system's industrial layout upon reading the article.

Yet, amazement quickly gave way to a headache filled with various troubles.

While most people could hardly comprehend what $300 billion truly represented, the ordinary public's envy of the wealthy remained a persistent emotion in this world. As fears of oligopolistic monopolies mounted, following the publication of the report in The Washington Post, numerous articles calling for the federal government to impose restrictions on the Firefly system's expansion were quickly released.

Eric gradually realized that accumulating wealth wasn't a challenging task for him. Perhaps, for a long time to come, guarding what wealth he already possessed would present the real test.

Of course, this storm of discussion not only pressured the Firefly system; the article in The Washington Post also led to a significant rise in stock prices across all publicly traded companies connected to the Firefly system. From March 15 to March 19, within just a week, buoyed by the overall surge in the Firefly system's tech stocks, the Nasdaq index officially breached the 3000 mark.

*****

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