Chasing Stars in Hollywood

As the new week began, international speculators launched an even fiercer attack on the pound.

Faced with a flood of sell orders in the forex market, the British government managed to hold out only through Monday and Tuesday before reluctantly abandoning its defense of the pound, announcing a devaluation.

Alongside the decision to devalue, the British government also declared its withdrawal from the European Monetary System.

Anyone with a basic understanding of international finance knew that the root cause of this crisis for Britain, or Europe as a whole, lay across the Atlantic in the United States, which sought to maintain the global dominance of the dollar.

With the pound's exit from the European Monetary System, the European Community's ambition to use this system to counter the dollar was shattered.

European media recently lambasted Soros' Quantum Fund and other international speculators, making Soros a notorious figure. However, any astute observer understood that the real driving force behind this event was the US government, with Soros merely serving as the figurehead and scapegoat.

Nevertheless, whether figurehead or scapegoat, Soros did not come out empty-handed.

After the pound's capitulation, currencies like the Spanish peseta and the French franc faced varying degrees of attack, leaving the European Monetary System a mere shell.

During the entire confrontation, the British government had expended £27 billion in an attempt to stabilize the exchange rate, ultimately to no avail.

On the other hand, as a victor, Soros alone netted a $1 billion profit from this attack on the European Monetary System, while the total profit garnered by international speculators sweeping through Europe was incalculable.

Soros emerged from this battle with great fame, becoming a major figure on Wall Street.

Soon, media attention turned to the uncharacteristic silence of Cersei Capital during this attack on the European Monetary System.

From the stock market crash in 1987 to the Japanese stock bubble and the US bond market collapse, Cersei Capital had always been an active player. Yet, during this prime opportunity for arbitrage, Cersei Capital remained silent, which was unusual.

Media curiosity quickly turned to speculation.

On September 26th, the Wall Street Journal published a feature titled "Cersei Capital's Magic Waning," which drew considerable attention.

The article used the recently settled European currency crisis as a starting point, first praising Quantum Fund's stellar performance in this crisis before shifting focus to the "insider information."

A week prior, three top fund managers from Cersei Capital's Cersei Fund Management Company had suddenly resigned, taking a team of over ten people with them. Rejecting offers from other Wall Street firms, they swiftly established a new hedge fund and began soliciting funds.

As one of the most secretive companies on Wall Street, Cersei Capital had always revealed little to the outside world.

This time, the Wall Street Journal's reporter, sensing something amiss, managed to secure an interview with the three former fund managers after much effort.

The reason for their departure was the recent European currency crisis.

One of the departing managers had predicted the potential for a European currency crisis a year earlier and had reported it to Cersei Capital's top management, hoping to prepare in advance.

The top management at Cersei Capital, of course, was the Westeros couple.

Contrary to their usual astuteness, this time, the Westeros couple had made a misjudgment, believing that the pound, which had stood firm for hundreds of years, could not be forced to devalue and that no hedge fund or group of funds could possibly challenge the entire European Community.

In short, attacking European currencies was deemed a pipe dream.

Over the ensuing year, signs of imbalance within the European Monetary System became increasingly evident. With other Wall Street hedge funds beginning to position themselves, the three managers repeatedly submitted reports to the Westeros couple, urging them to prepare.

All requests were denied.

As a result, Cersei Capital could only watch as Quantum Fund and other Wall Street capitalists profited massively from the European Monetary System's turmoil, unable to do anything.

Disappointed by the Westeros couple's serious misjudgment, the three managers eventually decided to leave and strike out on their own.

What a tragic story!

The meteoric rise and sudden fall of a Wall Street prodigy—what could be more heartbreaking and captivating?

After the Wall Street Journal's article was published, numerous media outlets contacted Cersei Capital and other core members of the Westeros system, only to receive the standard "no comment" response.

Silence was taken as acquiescence.

This seemingly confirmed Cersei Capital's deep regret over its decision-making error.

Although Simon Westeros had topped the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list with a staggering net worth of $65 billion, such a basic mistake suggested that the Westeros system might be losing its aggressive edge from the past few years.

Of course, not all media agreed.

Unlike Quantum Fund and others, Cersei Capital was backed by the entire Westeros system.

This vast commercial empire included rapidly expanding companies like Melisandre and Nokia, both based in Europe. Many Westeros companies also had substantial business in Europe. If Cersei Capital had joined Quantum Fund in attacking European currencies, European countries might have taken action against the Westeros system, even if they couldn't touch pure hedge funds like Soros.

Thus, the Westeros couple's decision not to participate in the attack on European currencies might not have been a mistake.

This argument was quickly countered.

Three years ago, Cersei Capital had not refrained from operating in Japan, even when Simon Westeros was nearly "refused entry" by the Japanese government. Yet, the Westeros system's cooperation with Japanese enterprises remained unaffected.

If that was the case in Japan, it should be the same in Europe.

If the opportunity was evident, Simon Westeros had no reason to forgo this prime arbitrage chance.

Properly executed, Cersei Fund Management's profits wouldn't have been much less than Quantum Fund's, amounting to tens of billions of dollars—an irresistible lure.

With such debates, most media continued to believe the Westeros couple had made a significant error.

Newspaper and magazine readers also preferred stories of prodigies losing their touch—both sad and satisfying.

For the Westeros system, conveying that Cersei Capital hadn't participated in this speculative venture was sufficient. Media fantasies about Cersei Capital and the entire Westeros system's decline could ease the growing resentment towards the ever-expanding Westeros empire.

After all, Forbes' announcement of Simon's $65 billion fortune, while impressive, also sparked discussions that the Westeros system's expansion should be curbed.

Regarding the three departing fund managers, their exit was indeed due to Cersei Capital missing this speculative opportunity.

However, it wasn't merely about disappointment with the Westeros couple.

The managers understood why Simon and Janet made their decision. They knew that similar opportunities would be missed in the future for the broader interests of the Westeros system. Thus, after an open discussion, they chose to leave to escape these constraints.

Despite leaving, the managers maintained good relations with Cersei Capital, even staging a "tragic" performance for the media.

To avoid detection, Cersei Capital did not invest in their new fund but used its network to help them secure over $500 million in capital.

These details, of course, were strictly confidential.

With the Wall Street Journal's article published, Simon didn't pay it further heed.

At Daenerys Entertainment, after the premiere of "Desperate Housewives" with 7.36 million viewers, the second episode saw a rise to 8.39 million viewers due to positive reviews and high interest. The 18-49 core demographic rating also climbed to 4.6.

USA Network predicted that before the winter break, with an expanding base viewership and rising popularity, "Desperate Housewives" could average over 10 million viewers.

In the era when major broadcast networks still dominated most viewers, a TV show breaking the 10 million viewership mark was common.

For a cable network, however, a show averaging 5 million viewers was a major hit, and breaking 10 million was nearly miraculous.

In the original timeline, AMC Network surged to prominence years later with the million-viewer hit "The Walking Dead."

While today's cable TV industry differs from over a decade later, USA Network and AMC shared similarities.

Both faced pressure from traditional broadcast networks and other competitors, carving a path to success with a single hit show.

However, unlike the later plateauing cable industry due to streaming, the early '90s cable industry was still booming.

Though a women's network, like CNN or MTV, USA Network had significant growth potential with careful management.

With the success of "Desperate Housewives," USA's management considered more targeted sub-channels, initially planning a teen girl network or one for urban elite women.

Given that Paramount Communications owned half of USA Network, Simon did not immediately approve the management's expansion requests.

In the original timeline, Viacom would launch a bid for Paramount Communications next year.

This time, however, things were different.

Viacom lacked the strength to acquire a company as large as Paramount due to the rapid rise of Daenerys Entertainment.

The crux was Blockbuster.

In the original timeline, Viacom was a major shareholder in Blockbuster, a video rental company with significant cash flow like many retail businesses.

Historically, to bridge the funding gap for acquiring Paramount, Sumner Redstone first nearly doubled the premium to $8 billion to acquire Blockbuster, then used Blockbuster's cash to finance the Paramount takeover.

With Simon's intervention, Daenerys Entertainment held 35% of Blockbuster, making it the largest shareholder.

Viacom had no stake in Blockbuster due to Daenerys Entertainment's intervention.

Moreover, under Nancy Brill's management, Blockbuster's market value recently surpassed $6 billion.

Even if Viacom still wanted to

 buy Blockbuster and Daenerys Entertainment and other shareholders agreed, the lack of shareholder advantage and high stock price meant Viacom couldn't afford even a 50% premium.

Such a move would destabilize Redstone's control over Viacom.

With the bond market crash-induced economic downturn still lingering, mergers and acquisitions remained challenging.

Without Blockbuster's massive cash support, Viacom could only use stock for the Paramount acquisition.

With Paramount's size matching Viacom's, its shareholders would never agree to sell for uncertain stocks without substantial cash benefits.

Though Viacom's purchase was unlikely, many capital interests still eyed Paramount.

Simon was certain Paramount would change hands within a few years.

Like Columbia Pictures, the buyer was likely to be foreign capital.

With US television still restricting foreign capital, Paramount's sale to a foreign buyer would allow Daenerys Entertainment to reclaim full ownership of USA Network.

But that was for later.

September marked the annual fashion weeks.

This year's Milan Fashion Week ran from September 21st to 29th.

With the summer season over and the fall season underway, Hollywood had a brief lull. Seizing the fashion week opportunity, Simon and Janet flew to Europe, partly for vacation and partly to handle accumulated matters there.

Their first stop was Finland.

The digital communications wave was fully underway, with countries worldwide deploying second-generation digital communication technology.

Nokia not only led in GSM technology development but was also the first European company to launch GSM-format digital mobile phones.

Riding this industry wave, Nokia had seen rapid growth over the past year.

During the Cold War, to counter the Soviet Union, major countries like the UK, France, Germany, and Italy opened their telecom markets to small Eastern and Northern European countries. Although the Soviet Union had collapsed, the open market policy remained, laying the foundation for Nokia's rapid expansion in Europe.

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