The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Chapter 239 Oral Agreement
Los Angeles, Detective Brig.

Erica sat in the office, looking through the documents in front of her. On it was a photo of a middle-aged man with his name printed next to it - Douglas Coster.

This man was subpoenaed by the FBI today and subsequently returned to the Burbank hotel where he was staying.

The other party is from BlackRock Investment Group and is said to be an expert in business acquisitions.

Erica didn't see how the acquisition worked in detail, but she saw the cruelty of business war.

Decades have passed, and business wars in America remain essentially the same.

Erica is not well versed in business warfare, and her ideas are not as complicated as Hawke's.

Her logic was simple: if Douglas wanted to kill her boyfriend, then she would kill Douglas.

But we need to think of a way to get rid of it.

Erica is an LAPD officer who comes from a family of police officers and has inherited the fine traditions of the LAPD.

The first thing she thought of was to frame someone.

Erica took out her cell phone and made a call, instructing the family security company: "Keep an eye on the target at the Burbank Hotel. If they go out again, notify me immediately."

She called Hawke again, and Hawke went to Pacific Investment Group and was discussing investment with her mother.

…………

U.S. Bank Plaza Building, Pacific Investments Group.

In the reception room, Hawke met Peter Thiel again, as well as Reid Hoffman, whom he had introduced to him.

The host, Mary Ferguson, said directly: "Peter and Red came from San Francisco this time for Twitter."

Peter Thiel didn't beat around the bush and said to Hawke, "The last time we met, we talked about Twitter's investment and development. Twitter is growing rapidly now. The Ice Bucket Challenge has attracted almost all the celebrities in the United States to participate."

Hoffman added: "Peter and I also attended and made a donation to Tom Cruise's charity foundation."

Hawke smiled and said, "Tommy should really appreciate your support."

"Twitter is now truly the number one social media on the Internet." Pacific Investment Group, controlled by Mary, is the second largest shareholder of Twitter.

She deliberately asked Hawke: "Now there are more than 4000 million registered users worldwide, right?"

Hawke responded: "It passed 4000 million users last month."

When Peter Thiel and Hoffman came, they were mentally prepared and knew very well that with Twitter's popularity and number of active users, the valuation could be an astronomical figure.

But if no action is taken now, Twitter's market value is likely to continue to rise.

Peter Thiel said: "My long-term investment company and Reid's foundation are interested in investing in Twitter."

Mary said nothing but looked at Hawke.

After Pacific Investment Group lost the bet, all matters related to Twitter's investment and operation were handled by Hawke.

If Twitter wants to develop further, it is inevitable to introduce external funds and resources.

Hawke thought for a moment and said, "Two months ago, people from BlackRock's San Francisco branch talked to me about financing cooperation. They put forward many unrealistic conditions. After a period of tug-of-war, I rejected them, and then something very unpleasant happened."

Peter Thiel nodded and said, "I have heard that. Excuse me, BlackRock does not have a very good reputation in the investment circle. When they make investments, some unpleasant events often occur."

"So, I hope Twitter will attract partners and comrades-in-arms, not enemies." Hawke does not have too many illusions about these investors, but if he can lend them some strength, he will not be polite: "I hope my partners can fight side by side with Twitter."

Hoffman didn't want to get involved in BlackRock's affairs, but he also didn't want to miss the opportunity to invest in Twitter, so he turned his attention to his companions.

Peter Thiel was more courageous than Hoffman. After just a moment's consideration, he said, "Investment, shares and common interests will naturally bind us together. We are of course partners and comrades-in-arms."

Mary interrupted, “You are from San Francisco, so you must know more about Blackrock and Douglas.”

Hawke’s attitude is very clear: If you want to invest in Twitter, you must first stand on my side.

Twitter received an interest-free loan from the governor's economic development plan, and will receive a series of policy subsidies every month, so the funds will be able to sustain it for a while.

Peter Thiel understood what Mary and Hawke meant. He didn't say anything for a while, but exchanged glances with Hoffman.

Long-Term Investment Corporation is one of Schwarzenegger's sponsors this time and is itself inclined towards the red camp.

From a profit perspective, investing in Twitter will bring greater benefits.

He nodded slightly to Hoffman, and seeing that his companion had no objection, he said, "I will assist Twitter in dealing with BlackRock's fierce attack."

Hawke said: "Cooperation can always find common ground among differences and find our common interests."

Hoffman laughed. “Yes, common interests.”

"There are a few things I need to say in advance," Hawke said slowly, "Twitter's financing will adopt a dual-equity structure, establish a board of directors, and the management team headed by me will have independent operating rights."

These are nothing new and are common in Silicon Valley, and Peter Thiel and Hoffman have no objections.

Hawke added: "Twitter also maintains its independence in guiding public opinion. Every once in a while, I will plan an event like the Ice Bucket Challenge to keep Twitter active in the users' field of vision." As for the latter, they are plans targeting so-called marginalized groups that are comparable to corporate viruses.

For example, Twitter controls the number of female employees and minority groups.

There are also Indians who are common in Silicon Valley, but Twitter does not use them at all.

These are all matters of principle that can easily bring down a giant company with a glorious history.

Once there are more female employees in an office, the internal friction alone can be very serious.

Social media like Twitter is the best medium for fighting, and you can imagine the kind of mess that will happen.

Only after the two sides reach an agreement on these principled issues can they move forward with investment and financing related matters.

During the meeting, Hawke talked about BlackRock's initiatives for marginalized groups.

Peter Thiel and Hoffman have also heard of it.

In California, this is the general trend of social development.

After half an afternoon of negotiations, the two sides reached a series of verbal agreements.

This is just the beginning.

Subsequently, it will be necessary to hire a professional third party to value Twitter, as well as to consider the dual-equity structure design, financing amount and proportion, shareholder rights and responsibilities, etc.

These will take time to discuss in detail.

Hawke, Mary, Peter Thiel and Hoffman agreed on the next interview time, and the latter two said goodbye and left.

After seeing the two off, Hawke discovered Erica had arrived and had been waiting in the entertainment room.

Mary called the two men to her office to talk.

Hawke asked, "Not busy today?"

"There is no case." Erica went to get three cups of coffee and said, "As for Douglas, I plan to find an opportunity to frame him."

Mary looked at her daughter and said with a little dissatisfaction: "Hey, honey, you are a police officer, and a star officer of the LAPD!"

Erica smiled and told the truth: "Star police officers can also frame people, especially their enemies."

Hawke didn't mind and asked, "What aspects specifically?"

Erica said, "It's nothing more than guns and drugs. The current situation is that Douglas is hiding in the Burbank Hotel and commanding his men remotely over the phone..."

Hawke followed her line of thought and thought: "According to what Tim said, Douglas came to Los Angeles this time not only to buy my shares in Twitter, but also to be responsible for implementing the marginalized population plan."

"Marginalized people?" Erica asked. "The groups like homosexuals and transgenders you mentioned last time?"

“It’s not just them, it’s also black people and women who want privilege,” Hawke said.

Mary interrupted at this time: "This marginalized population plan is very troublesome. After I reported it to Paul and others, they discussed it specifically and found it difficult to deal with."

Hawke warned: "I think this plan must be taken seriously. It may break the current situation of donkeys and elephants."

Mary asked, "You seem to have some original ideas?"

"Yes, there are some." Hawke said without hesitation: "In fact, I have handled many cases in this regard before."

Erica added: "Steve Nutter's Sage Project and the selfie scandal involving two Hollywood stars are both typical."

Mary had learned about Hawke's case in detail. After thinking about it for a while, she said, "If you go to the donkey, you can also do a lot."

Hawke said, "It's scary to think about being around a bunch of gays and transsexuals in the future."

Mary took note of this and planned to go back and say hello to Erica's grandfather Paul and ask some of the people above to listen to Hawke's opinion.

Hawke then returned to the point: "According to Tim, the development of the marginalized population plan depends on traditional media, the entertainment industry and emerging online media. BlackRock will focus on Hollywood as a breakthrough point, using Hollywood movies to drive the pace of public opinion."

He said: "If we can figure out which Hollywood filmmakers Douglas has been in contact with, maybe we can track his whereabouts."

Erica said, "It's up to you and Brian in this regard."

Hawke took out his cell phone and sent text messages to Eric Eason, Dwayne Johnson and Tom Cruise, asking them to find out if there were any recent film projects in Hollywood that had business dealings with BlackRock and its foundation.

Eric Eason had limited connections, so he asked Catherine to help him ask around, but to no avail.

Dwayne Johnson did hear a piece of news that Warner Bros. had reportedly contacted the BlackRock Film Foundation, but he was not sure which film crew it was.

Tom Cruise called when I was about to get off work.

"I mobilized my connections and also used my connections in the Church of Scientology to find out about the matter you asked about." Tom Cruise has been in high spirits recently and is particularly concerned about Hawke's affairs.

He said: "John Travolta heard from director John Wu that a new film project of Ang Lee seemed to have the support of BlackRock."

(End of this chapter)