American Peanuts

Chapter 220 Racing and staking, summer season is coming
"Electric cars? I thought you would mention Internet technology companies." Petra tried to say.

The company Charlie Rossi mentioned was a small company, which seemed different from the technology companies she expected in Silicon Valley, which often have millions of users. In short, this was not the goal that the two expected.

"Of course not. It is precisely because this is not a traditional Silicon Valley company that it has investment value. Facebook, Twitter, Google, everyone knows that this is a business that can make a profit without losing money, but no one else can see the amount of money you have. Will take a look, understand?" Charlie started to be alarmist.

In fact, if hundreds of millions of dollars are really poured down, most companies in Silicon Valley will greet them with a smile, after all, there are only a few unicorns.

But just like the account managers of most Wall Street investment banks, the purpose of helping customers make money is essentially to fill their own pockets. This is why they always boast in advance and promise various benefits, but the final result will always be Far from what they said before.

"Of course, it's not impossible if you have other ideas. You can trust the professional investors from Wall Street." Charlie then put on an indifferent attitude.

"I think I can give it a try. How much does it cost?" Tamara followed.

"It depends on how many you have." Charlie dusted off his trouser legs.

The figures reported by the two satisfied Charlie very much.

"Very good, I will inform you then." Charlie stood up and left with Paris.

As soon as he got into the car, Paris couldn't wait to say: "Although the two of them are fledglings, you have to weigh it carefully. If you don't want to get into trouble, it won't do you any good."

Her words were full of warning.

"Of course, I know this is essentially Bernie's money. Don't worry, this is just a mutual benefit. We both get what we need, and I will let them make money." Charlie said selectively.

He does have this consideration, but more importantly, he wants to take a long-term view to catch big fish. Now the economy is not good, and rich people are trying every means to prevent their property from shrinking. As long as he can make the other party make money, he can Will raise the bet.

"Who knows what you're thinking?" She looked at the mysterious Charlie and shook her head helplessly.

Although the acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar has drained all the liquidity at his disposal, it is not impossible for him to acquire Tesla, but Lao Ma will not sell it to him, and this is the only way way so as not to make him suspicious.

Since returning from his mansion in the lower reaches of Chelsea, Charlie has had a rare few days of leisure. The merger of Land Rover and Jaguar is proceeding in an orderly manner, and the transaction with Far East car companies is also going smoothly. Charlie finally accepted some symbolic rewards. Based on the other party's tone, he was ready to further negotiate with London taxi companies and MG.

No wonder Charlie was investigated for this matter.

As for the Rover brand itself, it will transform into "Roewe" in a few years. As for other acquisitions, it actually has little to do with Charlie.

In the past few days, Charlie took Tyler Aymer and Keira on a trip to Ireland. In addition to sightseeing, they also wanted to meet the crew who were filming the pilot episode of "A Song of Ice and Fire."

Christina Pierce, the producer, has done a pretty good job. The filming of the pilot episode has almost been completed. The next step is to negotiate with several major TV stations.

After returning from Ireland, some employees of PB Company also came to London, led by William and Ivany, including some old employees of the magazine editorial department, and a whole business negotiation team.

They came, the editors came, to take up residence in the editorial office of the local version PB, where they will remain permanently.

Charlie has a three-way agreement with Prince Edward and Richard Branson's Virgin Publishing.Charlie is responsible for content, Prince Edward provides the necessary legal support, and Virgin Publishing is responsible for distribution.

In addition, Ivany is responsible for leading a series of business negotiations with the Virgin Group, mainly on the agency of derivative products. By the way, Virgin Records has also taken over the performance management contracts of Taylor Swift and Adele in the UK. Now the following After the negotiations were completed, Charlie and Richard Branson came forward and held a small press conference in London to announce that they had become a strategic partnership.

Richard then invited Charlie to visit his private island in the Atlantic Ocean. During dinner, he said to Charlie: "I have everything here to meet all your cooperation requirements."

"I brought all the good things I put on the table." Charlie corrected.

"No, there is another important event, Gisele Bundchen. After she resumes work, I can find many job opportunities for her in Europe."

It's no secret that Gisele is pregnant.

"You have to ask about her personal wishes regarding her comeback." Charlie shook his head and did not agree immediately.

Giselle's attention is now on those luxury goods, and it seems that this posture is not ready to return to the runway, but Charlie and her have not exchanged opinions on this matter.

"I would say, in Italy, in Milan, she is much more famous than you. If your business wants to cross the English Channel and enter the interior of Europe, there is no better person than her." Richard Branson advise.

"It sounds good. If one day comes, I will do it."

"I think this day will come quickly." Richard Branson continued.

After staying on Richard Branson's island for a few days, Charlie had to return to London early. Now the merger of the two companies has been basically completed. Accounts such as fixed assets and current cash have been sorted out, as well as the accounts of some temporary personnel. The plan was also completed, and all the cronies of Bianca and Smith were uncovered during this period. Except for the two leaders who were charged by Charlie, all others were fired by Charlie.

After cleaning the room, it is time to look to the future.

This time, Charlie was the protagonist and participated in the second press conference in a short period of time, officially announcing the successful completion of the acquisition. In addition to Ford CEO, Elon Musk was also present.

"As a director of a film company, I deeply feel the changes in the industry, from the beginning to circumvent Edison's patent restrictions, to the big studio system, to the Paramount Act, to the separation of production and broadcasting in the 70s , the industry has experienced several turmoils within it.”

"Now, this change is also happening in the automotive industry. Although I am only a baby compared to traditional large car groups, I do not define Jaguar Land Rover as a chaser, but as a leader. Next , Land Rover Jaguar will conduct a series of in-depth cooperation with EV car companies across the ocean."

At the meeting, Charlie announced the news directly.

After the press conference, Lao Ma also fulfilled his previous promise, and Charlie officially became the company's executive director and important shareholder.

With the support of Land Rover Jaguar parts suppliers and factories, the production of Model S, the successor of Road Star, has also been smoothly put on the agenda. At present, reservations are accepted on Tesla's official website, which is better than Musk's original plan. The plan was two years ahead of schedule.

By the way, Charlie also introduced two special investors to Musk, naturally Tamara and Petra.

"With their help, Tesla no longer needs the low-interest loan from the Department of Energy. We can directly increase investment in R&D and double the size of the original R&D team." Charlie planned.

Lao Ma asked Charlie in detail how they met. Charlie told him everything about the royal gathering, and Lao Ma finally agreed to the other party's investment.

At this point, the British tour came to an end, and Charlie returned to Chicago. Just three days after returning, Gisele Bundchen was pushed into the delivery room and gave birth to a boy. During this period, all her model friends who were close to her came.

Patriarch Victoria named the little one "Juno".

Later, when I asked Gisele, she was not interested in coming back at all.

After all the troubles and arrangements, Charlie has become much more comfortable. He has been staying in Chicago and his life is very comfortable.

The only fly in the ointment was that Taylor didn't get what she wanted. Faith even took her to check her body, but everything was normal.

As the days go by, the belly of Ivanie, who was previously pregnant, gradually grows. Together with Charlie's current pair of children, the number of caregivers and nannies in the villa has exceeded double digits, which makes Charlie wonder whether he should change in Chicago. A larger residence.

In addition to the family, the company's business has achieved more or less development in the past six months.

For example, in terms of derivative products, we have strengthened our cooperation with Tom Ford and launched a series of joint models.

In addition, the "Palace" social network also started testing in a low-key manner at the end of May. It focuses on adult social networking, lifestyle sharing and consumption decision-making. Yes, it is a replica of a certain book.

Relying on the reputation Charlie had previously established on social networks, he quickly attracted the first batch of users, but that was all. To put it mildly, he is currently firmly in the top ten social networks in the North American market. To put it poorly, it is not as good as myspace. Wait until the gap between several top players is too big.

The road to commercialization is not clear. Except for a few companies that maintain advertising cooperation with PB, there are no relevant companies placing advertisements on it.There are not many "kol" in the palace, and the user ecology needs to be improved.

The ultimate reason is that the number of users does not dominate. At this time, when FACEBOOK and Twitter are making rapid progress in the world, these two social networks have grabbed too much limelight.

In addition, there are also some objective factors. For example, Charlie’s technical department lacks talent reserves, and the number of relevant employees is not at the same level as competitors.

At that time, we had just entered the 3G era, and the traffic price was still relatively expensive compared to the following years. Palace focused on the mobile experience, and the usage scenarios were also on the mobile terminal. This meant that the web experience was not excellent, and it was considered a one-time experience. "Something too forward-thinking."

Many media have also dubbed "Charlie Rossi's Waterloo" and other such titles. In the eyes of outsiders, Charlie Rossi, who has always been too smooth, finally tasted the taste of failure.

Only Charlie himself knows that the "Palace" on this track is actually waiting at the finish line, but this race has just started, and it will take time to verify.

This leads to another problem. Public operation is a very expensive operation. Now Charlie throws three Maybachs into the Atlantic Ocean every day.

But if it closes down and reopens in a few years, he will face direct blockage from several social giants, and it is still unclear who will win and who will lose.

Now we can only exchange money for users and compete for land.

"Frontline" needed money. Under Charlie's repeated urging, Kevin Feige worked overtime day and night and finally completed the filming work. Several movies have begun post-production, and one movie is expected to be released every month starting from mid-July.

As for the headquarters of PB Films, "Zombieland" starring Margot Robbie was also released in early May, with a box office of 25 US dollars in the first week, and the cumulative global box office exceeded [-] million US dollars. In addition to the previous release of "The Wolf of Wall Street" , Margot Robbie is already a minor celebrity.

And Nicole Kidman finally won the coveted Oscar for Best Actress at the Oscars ceremony in early March for "The Reader".

As for this year's highlight, "The Twilight Saga," Charlie has put it on the summer schedule for release in mid-June.

As for the other two companies related to Charlie, Apple released the latest IOS system integrated with the app store plus the iPhone 3G version at the WWDC at the end of May. In addition, the ios client game launched by zygna and the electronic version of PB magazine were regarded as Focus on showing up at the press conference.

Affected by the increase in Model S orders, Tesla's valuation has also skyrocketed. In addition to allowing Charlie and Musk's personal net worth to rise rapidly, it has also made two fledgling heiresses a lot of money. They made a fortune in June. Three reductions in exchange for a lot of cash.

One night at the end of June, in the UK, in a mansion on the outskirts of London, current F1 president Bernie Ecclestone and his family were gathering for dinner.

As Bernie's second wife, Galicia Slavica has been married to the billionaire for 22 years, and she is also the biological mother of Tamara and Petra. In addition, together Also attending the family dinner was Bernie's eldest daughter, Deborah Ecclestone, who was born in 1 and currently holds a senior position within the F[-] Group.

The families of rich people are often very complicated. Some of them still maintain the friendship on the surface, while others are like fire and water. Today’s Bernie’s family belongs to the latter. Family dinners can even be called “serious”. The youngest daughter, Pei Terra spoke first.

"Dad, you and mom should go watch the latest love fantasy movie." She suggested nervously.

"Only bored idiots and young people full of fantasy would like that kind of thing." Bernie shook his head nonchalantly, and then looked at his eldest daughter.

"How's the Las Vegas Grand Prix going?"

"The local GOV has agreed that we will continue to use the direct operation model." Deborah began to report on work matters.

Bernie nodded frequently.

"Bernie, when will Tamara be allowed to join the company? She has graduated two years ago." Galicia asked immediately.

Bernie is 78 years old this year. He is still very strong and participates in work every day.But at this age, no one can say for sure, but the inheritance has not yet been decided, which makes Galicia a little anxious, eager to let her daughter join the company.

"Yeah, it's time for my sister to get some exercise. I'll arrange some positions for her later." Deborah, the eldest daughter, said with a smile. She looked very welcoming, but in fact she had another idea in mind.Speaking of which, she is even three years older than her stepmother Galicia, and her relationship with her two daughters is not much better.

"It's too early." Bernie didn't seem to have this intention.

Galicia cleared her throat and pretended to ask her two daughters: "Last time, Bernie asked you two to read some investment books. How did you two do?"

"Well, not only did we read it, we also took the initiative to try investing. We made some money through Tesla, not much, just a few hundred million dollars." Tamara said very modestly.

The mother will deliver the message, she will tell the result, and she will give her father a surprise. These were all discussed before, in order to gain the prestige of killing Deborah.

"Oh? I've heard of the name Tesla. Are you two involved?" Bernie changed his usual seriousness, finally showed a happy smile to his two daughters, and took the initiative to ask.

"I met Charlie Rossi at a party. I remembered it. It was a royal party, right? You two did a good job. Go back and have more contact with him. I hope one of you can marry him." Bernie suddenly said .

(End of this chapter)