Birth of an actor

For ten years, Apple has been suing Microsoft for plagiarism and infringement of its own patents. Microsoft has also found a strong team of lawyers to deal with the lawsuit from Apple. The appearance and experience of the graphical user interface, Microsoft is not completely sure of winning the lawsuit, but in terms of the company's market value, the market value of hundreds of billions of dollars has made the company's CEO Bill Gates the richest man in the world, and Apple's current company The market value is only a few billion U.S. dollars, and the stock price is even falling all the way, and even the legal fees can hardly be paid.

Just as Apple's stock price fell more and more miserable, Apple's board of directors finally made up their minds to fire CEO Jill Amelio, who had just been poached from a US semiconductor company in 94, and invited him back to the company with Apple's acquisition of NeXT. Steve Jobs, then a consultant, returned as CEO.

Steve Jobs refused at first, but under the kind invitation of Apple, he "reluctantly" agreed to be the interim CEO of Apple. It is impossible to say that as soon as Apple invited Jobs, Jobs left Pixar, which has been developing for many years and has been thriving. Profitable business, and began actively planning a settlement with Microsoft.

Silicon Valley gossip is that when Steve Jobs finished driving Gil Amelio out of Apple, his first phone call was to Bill Gates.

In short, on August 1997, 8, at the company's annual meeting in Boston, Steve Jobs announced with Bill Gates, who appeared on the big screen remotely: Microsoft will pay $6 million to buy Apple's non-voting rights. The stock will not be sold for at least three years, and will develop Office software for Apple's MACOS platform. In return, Apple will withdraw its complaint against Microsoft and build IE browsers in all Apple computers it produces.

Microsoft’s capital injection into Apple almost shocked the entire Silicon Valley, the entire financial world, and even most of the American society. There are many interpretations of the capital injection that almost saved Apple this time, such as because Microsoft no longer wants to continue the lawsuit with Apple. Go on; Bill Gates has a strong Apple plot to save Apple and at the same time find some external pressure for Microsoft to promote internal harmony in the company; Don't look for an opponent to avoid being split up for being convicted of monopoly and so on.

In short, no matter what the reason is, Microsoft and Apple have reached a strategic cooperation has become an established fact, in less than an hour after Steve Jobs and Bill Gates jointly announced the news, Wall Street's investment Investors flocked to the stock market to snap up Apple's shares. At the end of the day's trading, Apple's stock price had soared 26.56 US dollars, an increase of 33%, which was twice the share price on the day when former CEO Gil Amelio resigned. Added 8.3 million US dollars to Apple's market value, and Apple was completely pulled back from the death line.

In addition to the cooperation between Microsoft and Apple, Steve Jobs' return to power at Apple is also a focus of media attention, especially as the public knows that he is both the founder of Apple and the CEO of Pixar. Now the two companies are developing momentum All are very fast, so is it possible for Steve Jobs to rank among the top ten richest people in the United States like Bill Gates?

"No, although I am the founder of Apple, I currently hold only one share of Apple stock. The reason for saving this share is that I want to see Apple's financial report emails every year." In an exclusive interview with "Time" magazine At that time, Steve Jobs frankly admitted that he had already resold all his shares during the years since he left Apple. Even the 150 million shares he got from selling NeXT half a year ago were sold not long ago.

"I sold it to Will." Steve Jobs said enthusiastically: "Just like I was born in Silicon Valley, but now I have one foot in Hollywood. Will is a Hollywood star, but he seems to be interested in Financial stocks are interested, and look, what a wonderful contrast we have."

"Will?" The Time magazine reporter asked in surprise, "William Bradley?"

"Otherwise, who else is there? Will is really a very smart and thoughtful young man." Steve Jobs shrugged, as if he was surprised by the surprise of the "Time" reporter: "Say something To be honest, when I resold the stock to him, I didn't expect the stock price to rise so high now, because Apple's situation was really bad at that time, and the cooperation with Microsoft was even less of a thing. At that time, I intended to sell Apple stock, but it doesn't matter who you sell it to. It was Will's enthusiasm that moved me and made me sell the stock to him. Now that I think about it, this young man made a good deal. Buy at the lowest price at the right time, and in less than three months, the stock price almost doubled!"

After the interview with Steve Jobs, the reporter of "Time" published his words truthfully, and also described his curiosity and doubts about William Bradley. In the next few days, this news was published All kinds of financial, entertainment, and even fashion and celebrity sections have been reproduced.

The income of Hollywood stars has always been the target of public curiosity, not to mention that this time it has been combined with eye-catching stories such as getting rich overnight. The same question: Isn’t William Bradley a Hollywood star, how did he know Steve Jobs and prepare to invest in Apple?Apple's stock price has doubled. Wouldn't William Bradley be ranked in this year's list of Hollywood celebrities with this income alone?And most importantly, although the film salary has reached 800 million US dollars, the output of works is not much, and it has only been this year that the value has risen sharply. How can William Bradley spend tens of millions without blinking an eye? U.S. dollars to buy stocks (even at the lowest price point, 150 million Apple shares were worth about $2000 million)?

If you have a question, you need to find the answer. No one can compete with the media in chasing the truth. Soon, the 60 shares of Amazon under William’s name (currently worth more than 3000 million US dollars) and the shares of other listed companies held by William Stocks (even including leading companies like Microsoft and established companies like IBM) have also been exposed, and the value of these bright assets alone exceeds 5000 million US dollars.

This number is really staggering, especially for those who have learned about William Bradley’s growth experience through news reports half a year ago and "Oprah's Talk Show", it is even more incredible: it is not that the Bradley family has ever gone bankrupt ever?Didn't William Bradley rent a small apartment with his mother three years ago and work for a living?Why in just three years, William Bradley's assets have swelled to hundreds of millions of dollars? !

Had Edwin Bradley left some shadowy legacy to William Bradley?

This guess was rejected as soon as it appeared, not to mention that Edwin Bradley was only a Millionaire (not Billionare, even if he was a Billionare, the investigators of the US Bankruptcy Court are not so easy to fool, and some Nearly a community can attest that the Bradleys lived poor lives before William became famous.

Or is there any distant relative of the Bradley family who is a rich man who chose William Bradley as the heir of his inheritance, just like those characters written by Alexandre Dumas?

But such speculation is too dramatic, and there are no dead or dying billionaires with the surname Bradley in the United States. The relatives of the Bradley family known to the public, such as William’s grandfather and uncles who are still alive, They all live in New York, Washington, Atlanta and other cities, and although their jobs are decent, they are not rich.

In any case, it is an indisputable fact that William Bradley, in just three years, has struggled from a troubled rich man with a slightly tragic fate to become a rich man with a net worth of hundreds of millions. Even if Hollywood gave him the original accumulated capital, but The speed of this capital expansion is too scary, three years, 5000 million US dollars!This kind of life experience is not only inspirational, it is super inspirational!It's as legendary as a novel movie!

Although Hollywood does not lack celebrities and billionaires with assets worth hundreds of millions, the rapid rise and the mysterious asset expansion still make people feel unbelievable and curious. After the news spread, the entire Hollywood was a sensation, and even half of Wall Street, half All of Silicon Valley, half of the fashion world, and every William Bradley fan.

"Founder Jobs introduces the most special individual shareholder to Apple" ("San Francisco Chronicle")

"A young legend from Hollywood - William Bradley! ("The Hollywood Reporter")

"Young version of "Stock God" Buffett? (Los Angeles Times)

Even the A-list stars and studio executives are now amazed and envious of William's investment vision and speed of making money, and the number of invitations hoping that William can attend the party is increasing rapidly-they are curious about where William comes from What is the original capital and the current net worth (no one believes the figures on the bright side, people always tend to hide more truth in the dark), and can't wait to know what William's investment trick is .Although these A-listers and bigwigs are not short of money, and even rich, no one can refuse the temptation of skyrocketing net worth overnight.

Every day, there are a lot of rich people waving banknotes and scrambling to throw money into Silicon Valley, but Silicon Valley really rarely receives funds from Hollywood, and vice versa. It is different from the talent exchange between Wall Street and Silicon Valley from time to time. When Silicon Valley meets Hollywood , generally can only get a cold ending. Steve Jobs can be regarded as the first celebrity who has achieved success in two completely different industries. Now it seems that William Bradley can be called the second indivual.

Although the shares held by William can't be said to be able to occupy a seat on the board of directors, employees of technology companies such as Apple and Amazon are indeed very curious about him. Tech geeks like to talk about William Brandley recently. Not the appearance and identity of Silicon Valley (too handsome Hollywood movie stars), and the speed of making money too much in Silicon Valley (hundreds of millions in a short period of time).

As for Wall Street, Wall Street should be the circle that knows the most about William’s wealth—there are bankers standing behind Wall Street, and any movement of funds cannot escape the eyes of the bank—of course Wall Street is also very fond of William, The Wall Street Journal even did a feature on him, "William Bradley—"Hollywood's Billionaire Boy" or "Wall Street's Gold Boss"?" ", but compared to William, Wall Street bankers are more in pursuit of Lance Roderick, because no one knows better than them how much money Lance Roderick has made in the past year.

If William knew that Wall Street bankers had a little prejudice against him, such as a little extra opinion of his current wealth, "Anyone who has a good friend named Lance Roderick can change become a billionaire.", then not only will he not feel annoyed, but on the contrary, he will probably feel very relaxed. Too much extra attention is not all good for William, after all, he does not have enough background and has too many secrets. Lan It's a good thing for William that Stan can take some of the attention away from him.

But in Hollywood, no one can help William in this regard. Although he is not yet an A-lister, in terms of exposure and media love, he is no less than an A-lister.Even if he doesn't have a movie coming out recently.

……

When William hung up the phone and went back among the people, the real estate agent with an overly bright smile on his face was talking to Madeleine Brandley, Amon Goffman, Danny Byrne, etc. and others introduced the house in front of them: "This European-style villa located on Mulholland Road covers an area of ​​1.5 acres (about 6000 square meters), with five bedrooms and two separate reception areas, an independent Luxurious guest rooms, an outdoor swimming pool with an automatic heating system, which used to be the love nest of Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford. Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere were assigned to this villa after their divorce. She thought the villa was too big and a little far away from the urban area, so she decided to sell it. Although it is a bit far from the city center, the scenery is very good—”

While talking, the real estate agent pushed open the floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony on the roof: "Look, standing here, you can overlook the entire Los Angeles at 280 degrees. It is the best place in Beverly Hills."

Seeing William approaching, the corner of the real estate agent's mouth curved up even more forcefully: "The current price of this villa is 750 million US dollars, of course, if you want to buy it from Will, we can erase the change, If you'd like to pay the whole house down the line, you can get a whole new design as well. Also, I know a really good company that just finished decorating Harrison Ford's vacation home."

"The scenery is good, but it's nothing special." William stood on the balcony and felt it, then turned to ask others: "What do you think?"

"The terrain here is high and the area is large. It is a good place to isolate the camera." Amon Goffman said.

"Isn't it a bit too big?" Danny Byrne shrugged. "I think I can play golf in the yard."

"I also think you'd be lonely living here by yourself, Will," Madeleine said. "Who called just now, Lance?"

Although William's original idea was to buy a villa in Beverly Hills to live with Madeleine, Madeleine firmly disagreed. She believed that both William and herself should have a completely personal private life. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to bring a girl home and run into me in the house?" Madeleine explained, "I know you want to take care of me, Will, but parents should be with me. The adult sons live separately so as not to disturb each other's lives."

So at Madeleine's insistence, William finally bought a two-story detached house for her in a wealthy area with a beautiful environment in Santa Monica. Buy yourself a house.

"Maybe this place is a bit too big for me." William politely rejected the villa to the real estate agent, without telling the other party another reason for his rejection - he didn't like Richard Gere, and he didn't want to Buy the house that the other party lived in—and then answered Madeleine: "Yes, it was Lance's call just now. He came back to the United States and is now in the old house."

"Is something wrong? Is Lance okay?" Madeleine asked worriedly.She also clearly understands how bad the relationship between Lance and Taylor Roderick is, how reluctant to go back to the old house every year except for the family gathering at Christmas, and it is only summer now, and Christmas is still far away, so There will be this question.

"Lance is fine." William reassured: "Don't worry, Mom, Lance is definitely not being questioned by Mr. Roderick when he returns to the old house, and nothing will happen to him."

In fact, when Lance returned to his old house, he was ordered by Taylor Roderick urgently, and he was about to ask him to blame him. He didn't know anything about it beforehand, and he was shocked by Lance's snowballing assets. If he didn't ask Lance face to face, Tyler Roderick would not let it go-but it wouldn't be right to ask questions. Lance has no impact, because unless Taylor Roderick really regards his only heir as an enemy and fights with all his strength, no one can stop the current Lance Roderick from continuing to rise.

The real estate agent waited for William to finish speaking, and immediately said: "Since you don't like this place, why don't we just go to the next one? I have many charming houses in my hands. This is a resource that other real estate agents will never grasp. You Surely you can choose a house you like, no, home, Will."

"Okay, no problem." William nodded.

So the real estate agent turned around and left first, ready to take them to the next villa. William deliberately stepped back, looked at the back of the real estate agent and said to Amon Goffman: "Within two days, we have rejected him. five villas, but he didn't seem unhappy at all."

"That's because he knows that he will definitely be able to make a big deal from you. Even in Beverly Hills, it's not like there are tens of millions of dollars in real estate transactions every day, and more are renters. "Amon Goffman smiled proudly: "And you are not what you used to be, Will, especially in the eyes of this group of real estate agents, an Oscar winner who rents a villa can only bring talk, really Those who can afford a villa are their gods."

In fact, it’s not just a real estate agent. William, who is filming "Meet Joe Black", can feel that before and after some of his assets were exposed, the crew's attitude towards him has changed significantly-in fact, this is also true. It’s easy to explain, an actor who can only act will always be the one who gets paid to start working, and an actor who can not only act but also make money, in addition to being an actor, with a little bit of ambition, there is a high chance of becoming an investor, producer The filmmakers even started their own film companies.

A group of people drove to the next location respectively. The real estate agent drove in front to lead the way. William and Madeleine chatted while driving. Amon Goffman and Danny Bourne drove another car. The first class was Danny Bourne. After closing the car door, Amon Goffman complained: "Lance is like this, Lance is like that, why did William mention Lance Roderick's tone, like he is not just a friend, but like a member of the Bradley family Same?"

"Because they grew up together, they are really good friends." Danny Byrne replied: "But don't ask me the specific details, Amon, I don't know very well, although Will and I , Roderick Jr. all went to Calgate School, but I can't get involved in their circle in Calgate. To be honest, Will and I only got acquainted after he transferred to Santa Monica. , about little Roderick? I don't know anything about it."

"Damn, I'm so jealous of that guy."

"Why aren't you happy, Amon?" Danny Bourne shrugged carelessly and said, "Will was like Ami and Ami in front of me when he was filming, maybe Will is the kind of person who is used to treating people close to him. What about the guy who talks about it?"

"Really?"

"Of course, why would I lie to you?"

"Okay." Amon Goffman turned his face to drive, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.