America's Road to Fame

Chapter 121 A Trip to Silicon Valley
Of course, in response to this problem of Marvel, William Chen still has a choice, that is, to give up the negotiation now and let Marvel use the loan to shoot the two movies by mortgaging the company's assets.

After the economic crisis came, the banking system collapsed, and the economic operation of the entire society fell into a state of capital depletion. At that time, when the acquisition negotiations were restarted, Marvel could be acquired at a lower price.

But in this way, on the one hand, Marvel’s valuation may not drop too much at that time. It’s not that the economic crisis is coming, and all companies will be opportunities to buy bottoms.

If we summarize the previous economic crises so far, we can find a very interesting phenomenon, that is, every time the economic crisis comes, the entertainment industry will have better development.

The main reason for this is that when the economic crisis comes, although people's income generally decreases, the entertainment activities they should have are still indispensable.

The final situation is likely to be that people who would have chosen to travel or other higher-consumption entertainment activities have become relatively lower-cost entertainment activities, such as TV series and movies.

Therefore, if the acquisition at that time really turns into a long-lasting negotiation, once Marvel's two films are released and achieve better box office, then Marvel's valuation will actually increase by then.

There is also a risk that even if the economic crisis comes and Marvel is in trouble, there may be another competitor, such as Disney.

This is not impossible. In William Chen’s previous life, Marvel was acquired by Disney after all, and the news revealed at the time was that Disney had already been eyeing Marvel very early, but only internally. After discussions and observations, the acquisition was finalized.

If Disney really jumped out to compete with William Chen, then William Chen would not have an advantage at that time, because since Marvel wants to sell itself, it will naturally choose a party that is more suitable, whether it is the integrity of the film industry or the brand. In terms of influence, Disney is far better than Chen William, who currently only has a future film company that is similar to a shell company.

Therefore, William Chen finally decided that Nelson will continue the final negotiations with Marvel to finalize the specific terms for William Chen to invest in Marvel and hold a small part of the shares. Then William Chen will close his position in gold futures a week later. Take out part of the funds to complete this investment.

……

Next, Chen William rushed to Silicon Valley.

More than ten days after the launch of the HOLA APP, the number of downloads and registrations exceeded 100 million, which is an outstanding achievement.However, according to David Jones' estimate, after a month, this number can reach 500 million.

Because HOLA is different from the previous APP, it is the first social APP completely aimed at smartphones, while the previous Facebook and Twitter were transformed from the Internet software on the PC side.

It has a special attribute, that is, it is completely registered by the mobile phone number, and it can match the mobile phone address book to add friends and invite friends, so it has the characteristics of explosive growth from point to surface.

When more and more people use the HOLA APP, a trend will form, and those users who have not downloaded it will also start to try it in order to communicate with friends more conveniently.

After William Chen arrived at HOLA Technology Company, David Jones told him that the next updated version - HOLA version 1.1 is under development. In this version, according to William Chen's instructions, sending photos to friends will be added. function, and HOLA Technology cooperates with Siri Company to build Siri in HOLA APP, but in this version, only Siri's text function is supported.

That is, users can use text to chat or consult with Siri. Siri's artificial intelligence also needs to be fed. The more users use it, the more it will accumulate and become more intelligent.Just like at the beginning, when users consult, there may be cases where the answer is not what they asked, but as the number and frequency of users increase, Siri will continue to improve, and eventually it will even make you feel that the other party is not a robot. More like a real person.

After HOLA's voice intercom and voice call functions are launched, it will be able to support all the functions of the current Siri APP. At that time, it will be equivalent to providing each user with an intelligent assistant, which will not only help users solve problems during use, It can also satisfy their more questions.

"Acquisition?"

William Chen looked at David Jones and asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have contacted us now, and they all have the intention to acquire us. Other well-known venture capital firms, including Sequoia, KP, and DFJ, have contacted us and hope to invest. .”

It seems that these people still have good noses. Once any start-up companies pop up, they will come here. However, William Chen does not need these at all, and he is not short of funds. As for resources, after the subprime mortgage crisis, they will come With Starq being hit hard, he can start investing in the stocks of technology giants whose prices are at a low point, and when he becomes their shareholder, he will not lack resources.

"Reject it first, just say that there is no shortage of funds now, and I will contact them when I need it in the future."

Of course, even if you refuse, you can’t be too decisive, otherwise those people see that there is no chance in HOLA Technology, turn around, and they are likely to support similar projects that pop up later, and even encourage other start-ups to move in this direction transformation.

Although William Chen knew that competition was bound to come, and he would not be afraid of competition, but if he could delay the process a little bit, why not do it?

After dealing with the matter here, William Chen received another invitation from Musk.

There are really no secrets in Silicon Valley. William Chen just went to his own companies for a visit, and Musk did not know where he received the news.

Uh, he forgot. Wherever he goes now, those reporters can take pictures of him. Fortunately, he has many bodyguards now, so he is not in danger of being harassed.

But think about it, if the subprime mortgage crisis comes, he will make a lot of money by short selling, which will inevitably attract some hatred. Should he add more bodyguards then?This can be considered. It would be good to have two security teams of 5 people, and take turns to go out to follow me for 24 hours. I have to write this down and tell Roger later.

Although his cousin seems to be out of tune, he spent most of his time in the security company that the Delray family had a stake in. After all, he is a former member of the Marine Corps. Anyway, from what he said, his strength is no less than that of Those elite bodyguards don't know if they are bragging.

When he arrived at Musk's place, William Chen found that things were not simple, because after arriving at the small gathering he claimed before, William Chen saw people coming and going in his family, and many of the beauties inside were familiar. Yes, either a Hollywood starlet or a well-known model.

Of course, there are also Silicon Valley elites.In fact, this is also normal. Silicon Valley is not far from Hollywood. Countless beauties in the United States will go there to try their luck. What if they are spotted as stars?Those who really didn't make big-screen movies can finally go to the not-too-distant San Fernando Valley to make movies.

Moreover, the income of those well-known stars and models is not too much, so they are very keen to attend the gatherings here in Silicon Valley, because not only can they get the appearance fee, but they may be spotted by some new rich man , turned around and became the proprietress of a technology company.

Compared with rich men from old money families and elderly businessmen, in the eyes of these beauties, those nerds in Silicon Valley who have skyrocketed their wealth just because they wrote a piece of software are more attractive. After all, these people are often More simply, many people are the kind of unpopular nerds in school, and they may not have had any serious relationships, so they are easier to be captured.

Just like in Huaguo, many programmers who got rich because of the Internet are more likely to be targeted by those women who make money. It's the same reason.

The difference is that it is more common for the rich to sign prenuptial agreements in the United States, so those women who marry the rich rarely get half of the property, but the breakup fee and a certain amount of alimony are unavoidable, especially when the other party has children .

(End of this chapter)