I am Hollywood

[Chapter 545: A Gift from New York]

After Sophie left, Eric hurriedly finished his morning routine and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.

The past few days had been exceptionally hectic. Not only was Chris leading the Firefly Investment Company team to Paris today to discuss the acquisition of Nokia, but Eric also needed to sweeten the deal for some of the local European film entities, as per his agreement with Jack Valenti the night before, to ensure these local powers wouldn't obstruct the negotiations around the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Moreover, he couldn't completely let go of the promotional work for Jurassic Park.

As Eric's chief assistant, Allen had already compiled the important articles from today's newspapers that Eric needed to pay attention to. When he saw Eric enter the restaurant, he placed a stack of newspapers on Eric's table.

"Eric, I think you should take a look at this," Allen said, pointing to a magazine on top of the stack.

Eric picked it up. It was a French local news weekly. Although Allen had only made English annotations on the key articles, Eric quickly grasped why Allen wanted him to pay attention to this publication.

The news weekly dedicated an entire page to publish an image of a Tyrannosaurus rex rampaging through downtown Paris, with the prominent headline reading, "America's Cultural Offensive."

Without even reading the content, Eric could almost guess what the article discussed. France's so-called most expensive film, Germinal, had flopped at the box office against Jurassic Park, bringing in only one million francs on its opening day from an investment of over 160 million francs. The projected first-week total was only around five million francs, a figure that was even less than Jurassic Park's opening day take in France. It was no surprise that the French would react this way.

Eric quickly flipped through a few more newspapers but lost his desire to read further. Today, whether in French or English, the newspapers in France primarily focused on the box office impact of Jurassic Park.

Recalling last night's party, Eric couldn't help but break into a slightly sarcastic smile. Even the native French film powers were quietly switching sides to Hollywood; what good did it do for the media to fan the flames when ultimately, nothing would change the outcome?

He tossed today's newspapers aside and commanded, "Call the manager of the French branch and have him conduct some appropriate crisis management. We don't need to worry about anything else."

Allen quickly jotted down Eric's instructions and added, "Mr. Hansen's flight is scheduled to arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport around ten o'clock. I've arranged a few cars. Do you want to go pick him up personally?"

"I'll go myself," Eric nodded.

...

In the waiting hall of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Chris and his group's flight landed nearly fifteen minutes late.

As soon as Eric spotted Chris emerging from the VIP passage, he smiled and waved. Approaching closer, he noticed Chris's entourage behind him, but beside him was a middle-aged man who had nothing to do with Firefly Investment.

The middle-aged man seemed to be in his forties, wearing frameless glasses. At first glance, he appeared somewhat ordinary and clumsy. However, Eric didn't underestimate him in the slightest, as he had seen this man's photo several times in relevant documents. This was Jorma Ollila, the current CEO of Nokia. Despite his average appearance, Jorma Ollila's resume was anything but mediocre; he held dual master's degrees in political science and economics and had served as an executive at Citibank in his early thirties. In Eric's timeline, Nokia had successfully transformed from a near-bankrupt company into a global communications powerhouse under his leadership.

"Eric, long time no see," Chris embraced Eric and quickly introduced him. "I think you definitely know him, Mr. Jorma Ollila."

Jorma stepped forward and shook hands with Eric. "Mr. Williams, I'm Jorma Ollila. It's a pleasure to meet you. I really enjoy your films," he said warmly.

"Thank you, just call me Eric," Eric replied, releasing Jorma's hand. He didn't mind the slightly scrutinizing look in Jorma's smile and turned to greet the other members of the Firefly Investment team that Chris had brought along.

...

After everyone left the airport, Eric and Chris hopped into Eric's car. As soon as the engine started, Chris eagerly opened his carry-on suitcase. "Eric, based on the information you sent back to New York, I had another assessment done on Nokia..."

Eric interrupted Chris, playfully pointing to the car behind them. "You haven't told me what's up with Jorma Ollila. Why is he with you in Paris?"

Chris chuckled, temporarily closing his suitcase. "I practically picked him up from Wall Street."

"I know Jorma Ollila has been trying to draw investment for Nokia on Wall Street, but it shouldn't be as dire as you say," Eric replied.

"Well, to my knowledge, major investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have shown little interest in investing in Nokia. A report from the Boston Consulting Group over a year ago claimed that Nokia's mobile business couldn't compete with Motorola and Japanese manufacturers. Eventually, only Lehman Brothers, freshly free from American Express's control, showed interest in investing. However, Lehman itself is short on funds right now, and the terms they offered were pretty harsh. When I talked to Jorma Ollila, he had been negotiating with Lehman's investment division manager for a month and still hadn't reached a deal. From that perspective, Jorma is certainly capable, but he also became an obstacle for us in acquiring Nokia. Since he wouldn't easily compromise with a giant like Lehman, he wouldn't easily compromise with us either."

Eric asked, "Did you manage to get a hold of the negotiations between him and Lehman?"

Chris mischievously nodded, "Of course." He opened his suitcase and handed a couple of documents to Eric.

"The disputes between Jorma Ollila and Lehman Brothers mainly focused on the scale of the investment and the timeline for going public. Lehman initially only agreed to invest $50 million but wanted to take 10% of Nokia's shares. Moreover, Lehman's condition was to help Nokia go public in three years, while Jorma Ollila wanted them to help direct Nokia's listing to raise development funds directly from the market."

As Eric read through the documents, he puzzled, "Why is he in such a hurry to go public? If Nokia's prospects are good, wouldn't waiting a bit get more benefits?"

"I've had analysis done on this," Chris explained. "Most of Nokia's equity is currently concentrated in a few Finnish banks, which means any significant business adjustments require approval from those bank shareholders. This situation leads to very limited autonomy for Nokia's management. However, if Nokia could go public in North America, it would become a widely-held company, giving management greater freedom to operate as they would only need to answer to a broad base of shareholders instead of banking shareholders."

"Ultimately, he wants more power, right?"

Chris nodded. "Exactly. So when I first approached Jorma Ollila, he wasn't very enthusiastic about Firefly Investment. I worried that if he continued negotiating with Lehman, they might suddenly strike a deal, so I shared some information on Cisco with him. That's when he agreed to come back to Europe with me."

Although Firefly Investment had scattered Cisco's shares among several investment funds, it remained Cisco's largest shareholder. However, besides necessary personnel and financial oversight, Firefly hadn't interfered much in the company's operations. Eric understood that Jorma Ollila likely recognized this fact.

"Speaking of which, Cisco completed its acquisition of COC Communications last week, expanding its operations into the Catalyst 5000 switch business. After this acquisition, our shareholding dropped to 31%. However, based on Friday's closing price, Cisco's current market value has reached $5.3 billion. The detailed information is still being compiled at the headquarters and will be sent to your email once finished. I just wanted to give you a quick update."

Eric nodded to show he understood. Ever since the Clinton administration announced the information highway initiative, computer network-related companies had seen their stock prices soaring over the past half year. Cisco's stock price had doubled since the beginning of the year. Though the craziness surrounding tech stocks hadn't peaked yet, this trend had already caught the attention of many Wall Street investors.

Once Chris finished speaking about this matter, he quickly pulled out an elegantly wrapped gift box from his suitcase. "Now, for the second thing. Someone asked me to bring you a gift."

Eric didn't notice the mischievous smile at the corner of Chris's mouth and unwrapped the packaging with some confusion. Inside was a 5x7 photo frame, showcasing two chubby little ones sitting on a sofa. One little boy stared blankly at the camera, while a girl, having much of Joanna's features, seemed restless and was reaching out with her small hand as if trying to grab something.

Upon seeing the photo, Eric remembered the two little ones were born on April 10th, and that recent days marked their three-month birthday -- something he had completely forgotten. He hadn't called home either, and surely Virginia must be upset; that's why Chris brought him this "gift."

Chris added, "I went to Kevin's baptism with Emily that day. I'm the little guy's godfather now. I thought you surely knew, which is why I didn't notify you. The other day, Emily visited them and brought this back for you, and that's how I realized you hadn't called recently."

Children typically underwent baptism a few months after birth. Eric hadn't expected Virginia to decide on it without consulting him. Chuckling awkwardly, he then realized something. "Kevin's baptism -- what about Elia?"

Chris shrugged, "That should be a discussion for you and Joanna." Noticing Eric's perplexed expression, he added, "Joanna is Jewish. According to tradition, the child follows the mother's religion, so from a Jewish perspective, Elia should be considered Jewish. On the other hand, she can also be considered English; English people generally adhere to Christianity. Therefore, deciding which faith the little one follows is a matter for you and Joanna to discuss."

Eric felt somewhat strange and murmured, "My daughter is actually Jewish."

Having known each other for so long, Chris understood that Eric wasn't particularly sensitive to ethnicity. He also knew Eric didn't mean any discrimination in his comments. He chuckled, "Yes, if you decide to let Elia inherit your position in the future, she'll definitely be well-received in Hollywood."

"It just feels a little weird," Eric laughed along. "What about you, Chris? What's your ethnic background?"

Chris replied, "My family is of Norwegian descent, having migrated during the Age of Exploration. Now, I suppose we'd be categorized as American."

"Norwegian? I thought Hansen might be a British surname," Eric joked.

"Ah, the inherent arrogance of the British," Chris teased before explaining. "The surname Hansen basically means 'son of Hans.' If you've read fairy tales, you'd find that the name Hans often appears in Nordic stories. Norway is one of the Nordic countries."

Eric set aside the photo of the two little ones. "Alright, enough of that for now; let's get back to Nokia."

Chris nodded, pulling out several documents from his suitcase. "This is some comparative testing that I commissioned Cisco's technical department to conduct. The communication method used by Nokia significantly outperforms most current mobile devices.

Currently, leading mobile phones use analog signals that are susceptible to interference during transmission, leading to poor call quality. In fact, many mobile communication companies are exploring new communication standards.

From the testing results provided by Cisco's technical department, Nokia's 1011 phone employs a digital signal that is very stable. This type of signal uses the same binary principles as computers, eliminating distortion during transmission.

Thus, I believe if Nokia's GSM network can be promoted, it would instigate a huge transformation in the mobile communications sector, and since Nokia is the first to roll out GSM phones, they would gain a significant advantage. If we don't want our investment to go down the drain, after the acquisition is finalized, our first task must be to persuade European nations to fully adopt the GSM standard."

Eric remarked, "That seems like something we should do after the acquisition is complete, right?"

*****

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