The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Hyatt Regency Beverly Hills.

Douglas Coster from BlackRock's San Francisco branch walked into a business room with two assistants.

Emma Bateson was already waiting here.

The two sides entered the private conference room to discuss investment in Twitter.

Emma said bluntly: "Twitter and Hawke Osmond do not reject investment from BlackRock, but the premise of the investment is that BlackRock must not interfere with Twitter's operations and Twitter must maintain sufficient independence."

She paused for a moment and added, "Hawk Osmond also proposed a dual-equity financing model, where he controls the company's voting shares, while other companies only have investment dividend rights..."

BlackRock cannot accept such conditions in any way.

Douglas said directly: "He imagined it too well. At least more than a billion dollars has been invested. If Twitter does not follow BlackRock's position, this investment can be said to be a failure."

Business affairs are not limited to business, but also involve a series of subsequent related matters.

Emma hadn't finished her words yet: "Other aspects, such as increasing the number of minority and female employees in the company, were all rejected by Hawke Osmond."

This attracted Douglas's attention, and he asked, "Did Hawke give a reason?"

Emma said: "He said that this was interfering with Twitter's independent operations."

Douglas tapped the armrests of the chair with his fingers, focusing on this aspect.

This matter involves the future strategic plans of BlackRock Group and Vanguard International Group.

Since the mid-to-late 1990s, the two investment companies have grown rapidly, but after the donkeys lost the election and the pigs of Texas came to power, the rapid development momentum of BlackRock and Vanguard International was halted due to the impact of the policy and political environment.

Take California, a deep blue land, for example. The donkeys are now suffering a series of setbacks.

BlackRock and Vanguard International belong to the deep blue group. If they want to enter the fast lane of development again, it is crucial for the donkeys to regain their absolute advantage.

The two companies worked with several think tanks in Washington to develop a strategic plan for marginalized groups.

The means used are to use media, entertainment and business to build momentum and push the feminist movement into a new stage, while allowing marginalized minorities, homosexuals and drug addicts to enter the mainstream of society and gain more voice.

This group of people have been ignored by society in the past, and their counterattack mentality has made them more willing to stir up trouble and have a more positive voting attitude.

The votes of normal people are votes, and the votes of these people are also votes.

Moreover, the voting enthusiasm of this group of people is much higher than that of ordinary people.

Specifically in terms of business, BlackRock has formulated a future plan to establish a complete assessment system for marginalized groups. Companies that want to receive investment from BlackRock must score high in this system's assessment.

For example, the proportion of female, gay and black employees employed by a company is an important assessment criterion.

This plan has not yet been actually implemented. BlackRock implemented it for the first time on Twitter, but it was rejected.

Douglas frowned. Even if it was for the implementation of the strategic plan, the acquisition of Twitter had to be pushed forward vigorously.

A poor kid from Wyoming wants to go head-on with BlackRock?

He thought for a while and said to Emma, ​​"You continue to maintain contact with Twitter through formal channels and tell Hawke Osmond that BlackRock will continue to increase its stake and will not give up easily. Let him know BlackRock's attitude."

Emma is a middleman who gets paid to do things: “I will.”

"I'll be in Los Angeles for a while." Douglas stood up and left: "Call me directly if you have anything."

Out of respect and politeness, Emma accompanied Douglas to the hotel entrance, and even went out of the hotel herself to help Douglas open the car door.

Douglas nodded to her and got into an Escalade.

On a Ford car diagonally opposite the hotel, Carlos put away his telephoto camera and said to Juan in the passenger seat, "Write down the license plate number."

Juan held the DV in his left hand and filmed through the front windshield, while he grabbed a pen with his right hand and wrote down the license plate number in a notebook.

Carlos picked up the car intercom and said, "The target vehicle is a black Escalade. Follow it from front to back. Be careful not to be spotted."

The Escalade drove away from the hotel, but the Ford did not move.

Behind the Escalade, there was another business car with a burly bodyguard sitting in it.

Carlos and others were very experienced in tracking, so they started the car and chased after him.

The black Escalade headed northeast and soon arrived in southern Burbank and entered Universal Studios.

Douglas Coster got off the car and went straight to the headquarters of Focus Features in Universal Studios, where he met with James Schamus, the founder of Focus Features, and his old partner Ang Lee. The newly established film company was planning a gay film project, which was in full compliance with BlackRock's strategic plan. A film fund under BlackRock was ready to participate in the investment and production of the film.

For BlackRock's strategic planning, Hollywood is definitely the best publicity platform.

James Schamus offered Douglas a work for film adaptation, Brokeback Mountain, a gay short story by Annie Proulx.

Douglas was a layman in both novel and film writing, and he only made one request: "I can give you a sufficient budget, but the film must be competitive enough at the Oscars, and even win at least one of the four major awards: Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture."

Ang Lee has remained silent, but he regretted losing the Best Director award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a few years ago. With the support of a financial sponsor this time, of course he wants to try again.

As for the hidden purpose behind the sponsor, he neither cared nor paid attention.

This kind of business cooperation is nothing more than mutual benefit.

James said politely, "The establishment of Focus Features was based on BlackRock's financial support. We will do our best to cooperate on film projects, especially Brokeback Mountain. But if a film, especially one that focuses on the gay community, wants to win an Oscar, it also requires luck in addition to operations."

Douglas never believed in luck: "The key to winning an Oscar is nothing more than money. What's the secret of Harvey Weinstein's successive Oscar wins in recent years? Nothing more than being willing to humble himself and spend money on public relations."

He looked at James and Ang Lee and said very seriously: "You two, this film has extraordinary significance for BlackRock and America. I need it to have an extraordinary impact."

The other party was willing to donate generously, so James had nothing to say and agreed without hesitation.

Douglas added: "Also, BlackRock's film fund will have a long-term investment plan in Hollywood. Black equality themes, women's rights themes, homosexuality and other minority themes will be priority investment targets. Do you understand?"

This type of work is not unique in Hollywood. James seemed to have seen a brand new way of film production and quickly responded: "Leave it to Focus Features."

Douglas discussed with the two men for a while, left Universal Pictures and went to visit Burbank.

In BlackRock's plan, the entertainment industry, especially the film industry, together with the traditional media industry and emerging Internet media forces, can form a perfect ecosystem.

The emerging online media is naturally Twitter.

Now the ecosystem is missing a link.

…………

San Francisco, Bay Area.

In the offices of Long-Term Capital Management, Peter Thiel stared at his computer screen, watching the live news on his Twitter page.

Across from him, his college classmate and good friend Reid Hoffman, who co-founded PayPal, was looking at the laptop in front of him.

The same content is displayed on the laptop screen.

Ice bucket challenge videos.

Like many people in the Silicon Valley technology circle, the two participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Peter asked the other party: "How about the social software Twitter?"

"It's very useful." Reid Hoffman has been using Twitter for the past few months: "The interactivity, entertainment, media and ease of use are second to none on the Internet."

Peter said, "Give up the LinkedIn social media you were going to invest in, join my investment team, and we will invest in Twitter together."

LinkedIn is also a social media software, but its scale and performance are far inferior to Twitter.

Hoffman is a famous angel investor in Silicon Valley: "This company has grown so fast that I have lost interest in it before I decided to join LinkedIn."

He has doubts: "There are many websites and software on the Internet that suddenly become popular and then quickly disappear."

Peter, however, has confidence in Twitter: "I invested in Twitter not only because of the company, but also because of its founder Hawke Osment."

These days, he has been getting to know Hawke through Bryant and has even talked to Hawke on the phone: "Let's not talk about other aspects. The Kobe Bryant incident I showed you last time and Tom Cruise's ice bucket challenge this time have both made Twitter the focus of Internet attention. Hawke Osment has turned the incident into a high-rated TV series with climaxes and twists through repeated operations."

Hoffman also watched the whole thing from the sidelines via Twitter: "It's really interesting."

He pondered for a long time and asked, "Investment requires a suitable time. As far as I know, BlackRock's San Francisco branch has been working on Twitter."

Peter Thiel smiled: "So, I have been waiting and not jumping in."

Investment must first be in line with one's own interests and maximize one's own interests: "BlackRock is very powerful and never sticks to one method. It is also a deep blue force. In order to force Twitter to submit, it will definitely use various means to make Hawk Osment compromise."

Hoffman understood immediately: "When Twitter and Hawk Osment are facing a serious crisis, we will show up as saviors to save him and Twitter and get the best solution."

Peter Thiel snapped his fingers: "Now we just have to wait and see." (End of this chapter)