In a sitting room downstairs in the villa, Janet and Sophia Fache had finished discussing the recent operational adjustments for Château Latour and were chatting casually about other topics. Janet glanced at her watch without thinking and saw that Simon and Raymond Smith's meeting had already lasted one hour and forty minutes far exceeding the original one-hour agreement.
Sophia also checked her watch, stood up, and said, "It's already noon. I should head back."
Janet walked Sophia to the villa entrance and noticed her glancing unconsciously toward the stairs. Smiling, she said, "There's been a lot going on lately. Simon has to fly back to Los Angeles this afternoon, so you probably won't get to see him this time."
Sophia rolled her eyes at Janet in mock innocence. "Who said I wanted to see him?"
"Yeah, who said that?" Janet caught the slip in Sophia's words and teased, "I never said you wanted to see him."
Sophia's face instantly flushed.
Although Simon had rather coldly warned her that day not to think about things she shouldn't, ever since that intimate encounter, her feelings toward the young man had quietly begun to change without her realizing it.
At the very least, that afternoon of passionate entanglement had left an indelible mark on her.
After settling the children here, she had decided that as long as weekends weren't too busy, she would come visit them. But this morning, upon arriving and learning that Simon happened to be here, she had barely settled in before using the excuse of discussing Château Latour's operations with Janet to rush over.
Before coming, she couldn't help changing into the office-lady outfit the young man particularly liked and had carefully applied her makeup.
In the end, she hadn't seen Simon, but Janet had spotted the tell.
Under Janet's teasing gaze, Sophia practically fled in embarrassment. She drove away from the estate, raised a hand to gently touch her burning cheek, and for some reason the image of him roughly leaving multiple red marks on her body that day floated into her mind.
Oh God, she was beyond saving.
After seeing Sophia off, Janet didn't go upstairs. She called over the ABCD quartet of girls and began preparing lunch. Raymond Smith would clearly be staying for the midday meal.
Inside the villa study.
Raymond Smith had already instructed his assistant to temporarily cancel this European trip, and he hadn't even avoided Simon while making the call.
When Simon first mentioned that Westeros Company had acquired 4.9% of Bell Atlantic's shares and hoped to purchase the entire company, Raymond Smith had even thought the young man was joking.
The news that Daenerys Entertainment was about to compete with Panasonic for MCA was already public knowledge.
After confirming Simon wasn't joking, Raymond Smith instinctively asked if he planned to abandon MCA.
The answer surprised Smith even more.
Simon Westeros intended to launch two acquisitions simultaneously, with a total value exceeding ten billion dollars.
Raymond Smith subconsciously treated Simon's offer as a traditional leveraged buyout and had nearly refused outright. He had no desire for Bell Atlantic to fall into the same fate as RJR Nabisco or Time Warner after being acquired.
Only after Simon roughly explained his acquisition intentions did Smith abandon the idea of immediate rejection and begin asking about more specific acquisition details.
Because of the thorough preparation beforehand, and with Simon guiding the conversation, their discussion unknowingly grew deeper and deeper, covering post-acquisition changes in Bell Atlantic's operational strategy, debt repayment models, the company's next phase of expansion, federal government policy trends in the telecom industry, and more.
When the midday sun spilled across the coffee table between them, covered with various documents, Raymond Smith finally realized it was nearly twelve o'clock.
Simon, however, hadn't noticed the time at all and continued, "Public companies often have to abandon many long-term plans just to meet the short-term gains shareholders care about. Once Bell Atlantic is privatized, those constraints will vanish. We can comfortably place much larger bets in the high-potential mobile communications and internet sectors. As long as we build sufficient advantages in advance, the moment federal regulations on telecom mergers loosen again, Bell Atlantic can immediately pursue far broader expansion."
Raymond Smith was drawn back into the topic by Simon's words and said, "Simon, the prospects for mobile communications are indeed quite clear, but the internet. How can you be sure you're not betting on the wrong horse? According to your plan, our investment in basic infrastructure upgrades alone would reach the billion-dollar level. If the internet industry doesn't develop as expected, the company would face not just financial losses, but potentially an existential crisis."
"Ray, I compiled a memo earlier on various ideas for the internet industry. If you're interested, you can take it back and have a look. I believe no industry exists in its own right, it needs us to pioneer and create it. Global electronic information networks began sprouting in the sixties and have been brewing for over twenty years. They've already seen widespread application in military, commercial, research, and government office settings. That alone proves the internet industry's development potential. Since the internet can be applied in so many professional fields, there's no reason it can't be promoted in the far broader consumer market."
Simon paused briefly here, then continued quickly, "Imagine this, Ray: one day, in addition to the news, forums, personal homepages, and email services already provided by the Ygritte portal, people could also access movies, music, games, dating, shopping, and countless other online services you can think of or can't even imagine yet through the internet. How enormous would this industry's potential be?"
Raymond Smith had also browsed and tried the online services offered by the Ygritte portal. After thinking for a moment, he pointed at the pile of materials on the coffee table and asked, "Simon, aren't you afraid I'll just take these ideas and run with them myself? My control over Bell Atlantic isn't as weak as you imagine."
Simon shook his head with a smile. "That's only because you haven't done anything that sufficiently defies the shareholders' will. In a company like Bell Atlantic, even if you hold considerable power, you can't do whatever you want. I'm sure there are plenty of executives inside Bell Atlantic who'd love to take your position. As a public company, the moment you encounter setbacks while pushing these strategies even temporary ones your so-called 'control' over Bell Atlantic will quickly evaporate. In comparison, as long as we can agree on the company's fundamental direction, I can tolerate the management incurring losses in a particular business line for five years or even longer."
Raymond Smith fell silent for a moment.
The two had already been discussing for over an hour. Raymond Smith knew that if he hadn't been tempted, he wouldn't have talked with Simon for so long let alone canceled his original itinerary.
Yet accepting Westeros's acquisition offer ultimately had pros and cons.
On the positive side, just as the young man said, freed from the strict oversight of public-company regulations, he could pursue more aggressive strategies boldly, and the company wouldn't have to rack its brains over quarterly earnings reports.
However, on the negative side, as Bell Atlantic's chairman and CEO, he currently held very real power. As long as he didn't push overly risky reforms, he could comfortably remain in this high-paying position until retirement.
On the other hand, once the company was acquired, the man who currently held the reins would essentially be giving himself a boss. If the company's future development met the young man's expectations, fine, but if not, he could be kicked out at any moment. Even if he secured a massive golden-parachute severance package in advance, his career would basically be ruined.
After weighing it back and forth for two or three minutes, Raymond Smith looked up again and said, "Simon, I need more commitments and guarantees from you."
"Ray, you surely know Amy Pascal. As Daenerys Entertainment's CEO, she'll be receiving over one hundred million dollars in compensation this year. I believe that's the highest salary ever for a female executive. Many people within the Westeros system will also receive extremely generous rewards this year, so you don't need to worry that your efforts won't be rewarded."
Simon's tone shifted as he continued, "But Ray, I also understand your other concern, you need to retain sufficient authority even after I complete the acquisition of Bell Atlantic. Frankly, I can't promise you anything absolute. I've reviewed your track record and am fully confident in your ability to run this company well, but I absolutely will not step back completely. If you follow Hollywood news, you know how ridiculous the two executives Sony hired after acquiring Columbia are acting now. They're wantonly squandering and ruining that major studio. Before being hired, both were actually excellent producers. The main reason for this situation is that their power lacked any constraints. With that precedent before me, I absolutely won't make the same mistake."
Raymond Smith's expression remained somewhat hesitant.
Simon waited a moment, then added, "Ray, I recall a funny anecdote from Silicon Valley about Apple. When Steve Jobs invited John Sculley, who was then still working at Coca-Cola to join Apple, he asked: Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or seize the chance to change the world? Actually, I'd like to say the same thing, Ray. Do you want to steer Bell Atlantic safely until retirement, then be quickly forgotten after a lively retirement party? Or do you want to create a business miracle worth remembering for generations, together with Simon Westeros?"
Hearing Simon's words, and thinking of how brilliantly the young man before him had shone in just a few short years, a long-lost surge of passion stirred in Raymond Smith's heart. After a brief final hesitation, he finally reached out his hand. "Simon, I accept."
Simon gripped Raymond Smith's hand tightly, and the tension in his heart finally eased.
With Raymond Smith secured, there were no longer major obstacles from Bell Atlantic's board.
After everyone had lunch together, Raymond Smith hurried back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania only about a hundred kilometers from New York which was Bell Atlantic's headquarters. Smith also took with him a draft letter of intent for Westeros Company's acquisition of Bell Atlantic, mainly covering some informal acquisition pricing and exit-fee terms.
Simon had preliminarily offered an informal total price of 6.3 billion dollars, representing a 10% premium over Bell Atlantic's average share price over the past three months.
For the exit fee, Simon promised 2% of the final transaction price this time.
Although he had agreed to Simon's acquisition offer, during lunch Raymond Smith quickly reverted to his professional role, frankly stating that Bell Atlantic's recent share price had been severely undervalued due to market conditions. Therefore, Simon would need to present a sufficiently sincere offer to win over the company's many shareholders.
However, thanks to Raymond Smith's cooperation, the acquisition was now confirmed as friendly, with very low likelihood of competitors emerging. Coupled with Bell Atlantic's persistently sluggish stock price over recent months, the original 8 billion dollar budget was more than sufficient.
After all, in typical friendly acquisitions, stock premiums were generally kept within 20%.
Even factoring in the market downturn causing undervaluation, based on Simon's initial estimate of a 30% premium, Westeros's acquisition price wouldn't exceed 7.5 billion dollars and would more likely be around 7 billion.
Moreover, in the letter of intent, Simon had promised that not only would he not extract cash from Bell Atlantic to repay debts in the future, but he would also inject at least another 1 billion dollars into the company's development.
Therefore, the overall budget for the Bell Atlantic acquisition remained 8 billion dollars.
After seeing Raymond Smith off, Simon also hurried back to Los Angeles.
Following two final days of preparation on Sunday and Monday, on Tuesday, October 31, Daenerys Entertainment officially submitted a public offer to MCA.
Seven billion dollars.
All at once.
Panasonic had already offered 6.6 billion dollars. If Daenerys Entertainment only raised it by one or two hundred million, it would seem extremely insincere. So Simon simply went straight to his upper limit.
Countless people had been waiting, and the moment of truth had finally arrived.
As North American media rushed to report Daenerys Entertainment's move, MCA's stock price surged once again. By the afternoon close on Tuesday, MCA's market capitalization had already approached the 7 billion dollar total offer from Daenerys Entertainment.
Panasonic had accumulated over 12 billion dollars in cash reserves overseas in recent years, while Simon Westeros's personal cash assets had also reached 8 billion dollars. Both sides possessed formidable strength.
As a result, many people had already begun anticipating a fierce bidding war.
On the other side, after several rounds of intensive board consultations, Bell Atlantic responded to Simon's acquisition offer on November 1, agreeing to enter formal acquisition negotiations with Westeros Company.
James Rebould personally led the team to begin discussions with Bell Atlantic's management.
Because of the extensive preparation in the early stages, the Westeros acquisition team only needed to re-verify Bell Atlantic's operations and balance sheet details they already understood and quickly shift the focus of negotiations to specific acquisition terms.
At the same time, the team also began secretly contacting and lobbying Bell Atlantic's shareholders.
As a long-established public company that had undergone the 1984 breakup, Bell Atlantic's shareholding remained highly dispersed afterward. Most shares were held by various retirement and insurance funds across North America, and very few shareholders held more than 5%. This significantly increased the difficulty of Westeros Company's acquisition of Bell Atlantic.