America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 339, Section 337: The World's Richest Man

New York, NASDAQ Stock Exchange, one of the world's largest stock trading centers.

Countless companies around the world dream of ringing the bell here, but there are high barriers to entry, and it's not something you can just walk into.

The term "ringing the bell" is actually a Chinese expression.

In the 19th century, the opening and closing of stock trading was achieved by manually striking the door.

They started by striking the judge's small wooden hammer, but the sound was too soft.

If you knock on the floor from the second floor, the first floor might not hear you, so later they replaced it with a large bronze gong brought over by overseas Chinese.

After the advent of the electronic age, it was replaced by an electric bell, but the idea of ​​ringing a bell still spread to China and is still used today.

For example, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has a real bell, while the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has a gong.

The United States, on the other hand, doesn't use these physical items. They simply hold a ceremony, and then the Nasdaq screen counts down, which is equivalent to an official announcement.

Today, the place is packed with people, including countless stock market investors and journalists from all over the world.

The reason is self-evident: Facebook is about to officially list on the stock market.

As a country with an incredibly developed financial industry, New York doesn't have stocks going public every day, but the frequency is quite high.

The fact that it attracted so much attention and created such a large spectacle is one of the few major events in recent years.

It's at least much more impressive than when MGM relisted.

Unlike those companies that are scrambling to get in.

Since last year, countless organizations and groups have been urging Facebook to go public as soon as possible.

Especially after Myspace collapsed, even more lobbyists began to circulate around Eric, but he rejected them all without hesitation.

Facebook, like an unattainable goddess, has finally stepped down from its palace and unveiled itself.

Eric led Fitz out of the car and headed straight for the exchange's main entrance.

Upon seeing the person in question appear, the reporters who had been waiting outside immediately surrounded them.

Brush brush brush brush!

Flashes went off incessantly, and all sorts of cameras and lenses were aimed at them.

"Mr. Cooper, could you tell me how you're feeling right now?"

"Mr. Cooper, what do you think Facebook's market value can reach?"

"Mr. Cooper, how is Facebook's business in South America progressing?"

……

Fitz pointed to his watch: "Excuse me, everyone, please move aside. Time is almost up."

After passing through the passage, the two representatives stood at the front.

When a company goes public, the ceremony usually has dozens or even hundreds of people in attendance.

Because companies that manage to go public have typically gone through many rounds of financing.

The boss is coming, and all the major shareholders are coming too.

Facebook, on the other hand, did not consider this aspect and is practically Eric's sole proprietorship.

The logic is this: the fewer people there are, the more impressive the person standing on the stage is.

After speaking for only a few minutes, Eric pressed the button.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

Numbers appeared on the Nasdaq screen, and countless eyes were simultaneously drawn to it, counting down silently and aloud.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

As the last number dropped, the Facebook logo was projected onto the large screen.

Simultaneously, GG's tagline: "Facebook, connecting us all!"

As Facebook's stock ticker lit up, almost all the traders inside the exchange entered the market simultaneously and began a buying frenzy.

This is an incredibly thick cake; countless people would want to take a bite.

Those 3% internal shares were never fully absorbed.

There are no rich kids among Facebook's staff; at most, they are considered part of the elite class.

Even the wealthiest Fitz managed to scrape together less than $5000 million.

According to him, this was obtained by maxing out his credit score and borrowing money from various banks by overdrafting his identity.

If even the CEO did this, then there were even fewer others, and in the end, only about 1.3% of the shares were bought up internally.

In other words, roughly 60% of the shares were put on the market in this wave, which, based on the opening price of $56.6, is worth close to $700 billion.

Moreover, as trading began, the stock price was jumping up rapidly, like a kangaroo climbing a mountain.

"Mr. Cooper, how much revenue do you expect the IPO to bring you?"

As soon as the ceremony ended, a reporter from the Financial Times rushed up to ask questions.

Eric smiled; this was a very intriguing topic.

He naturally didn't know how much income it would ultimately bring him, but he estimated that even if it didn't reach the hundreds of billions level, it would at least be eight or nine hundred billion.

After this wave, surpassing Buffett and Bill Gates is a certainty.

"I know everyone has a lot of questions to ask, and besides what I just said, I also have a few things to say."

"There's limited space here, let's go outside and share this moment together. You've all bought stocks, right?"

Those present exchanged knowing smiles, then followed Eric out of the stock exchange.

Seeing that he came out so quickly, most of the media who were not allowed to participate in the bell-ringing ceremony surrounded him again.

Not far away, many passersby in Times Square were also waiting.

"Quiet down, everyone, quiet down. Mr. Cooper has something to say," Fitz shouted.

Facing the gaze of thousands of eyes, Eric cleared his throat.

"Today is a special day. Facebook's journey to where it is today is related to every single user."

"Just like our GG language says, Facebook connects us all!"

"Going public is just the first step for the company. Next, we will continue to expand our business globally and serve everyone with an even better attitude."

"We hope you will continue to support Facebook so we can grow together. Thank you!"

Clap clap clap!

Many people spontaneously offered their applause.

"That's the first part of what I'm about to say. Next is another major decision."

After a brief pause, fully capturing the media's attention, he loudly announced: "I will launch a takeover bid for Time Warner, planning to acquire Warner Bros. Pictures in its entirety!"

Upon hearing this, the audience was initially stunned, then erupted in uproar.

Everyone thought he had some plans for Facebook, but then he dropped an even bigger bombshell.

Admittedly, there are countless film and television companies in Hollywood; to exaggerate, some close down and others open every day.

But that's Warner Bros., a nearly century-old brand, one of the world's top film and television companies, with a market value of nearly $200 billion. It's definitely not some nobody.

Everyone knows MGM won, but directly acquiring Warner Bros. is a huge leap forward.

Moreover, you'll have to pay a premium when you acquire it; 1.5 times or even 2 times is not impossible.

If this deal goes through, it could be worth as much as four or five hundred billion US dollars, making it the largest acquisition in recent years.

Reporters grabbed microphones and started asking questions, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.

Eric didn't linger and quickly left under the escort of his bodyguards.

Although he left, the controversy caused by the listing ceremony did not stop, but instead intensified.

The headlines in the internet, finance, and entertainment sectors were all dominated by it, and even social news was no exception, with unprecedented levels of discussion.

People are speculating about Eric's net worth and whether he could surpass Bill Gates to become the world's richest man.

The answer to this question came at the close of trading in the afternoon, as Facebook's stock price began to stabilize after a day of trading.

Its final market capitalization reached $1533 billion, far exceeding the initial valuation of $1145 billion, fully demonstrating the market's optimism about Facebook's future development potential.

This number surpasses companies such as Oracle, IBM, Apple, ExxonMobil, Samsung, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, making it the runner-up in the technology category and the third-place winner across all categories.

Second place goes to Saudi Aramco, a major Middle Eastern energy company with a market capitalization of $2169 billion.

Technology is also number one in all categories. The world's largest company by market capitalization is Microsoft, with a market value of over $2400 billion, which is quite a large difference.

Despite Microsoft's market capitalization being much higher than Facebook's, Bill Gates, as the president, actually has less net worth than Eric due to his relatively smaller shareholding.

According to the latest Forbes ranking, Bill Gates' personal net worth is $571 billion.

Eric has already made $824 billion from today's stock trading alone.

Even if Gates has a lot of hidden wealth, it could never exceed this figure, not to mention that he also owns companies like MGM and Hasbro.

Even based on publicly available wealth, Eric's net worth exceeds 100 billion.

No comparison, absolutely no comparison.

Beverly Hills, the Cooper family home.

A grand celebration party is underway, and in addition to family, some close friends have been invited.

Looking at Liu chatting with Gadot, and Avril whispering with Elizabeth.

Although they were still unclear about their relationship with each other, Eric felt increasingly confident in bringing these women together.

Perhaps this is the confidence that wealth and fame bring to men.

Standing by the pool with his arms outstretched, he suddenly thought of Iron Man, Tony Stark.

"Stark, I'm afraid even Stark isn't as rich as me, and he probably envies my life."

In stark contrast to the enthusiastic celebrations in Beverly Hills, a tense atmosphere was brewing within Warner Bros.

When Eric announced the acquisition to the media, Barrymeyer suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and his heart tightened instantly.

He collapsed onto the sofa. His wife wanted to take him to the hospital, but he didn't care about that at all.

As soon as I could walk, I rushed to the company.

During this period, MGM gave up its release slots to other companies, and Warner Bros. and Disney also didn't release many new films.

This was something Barimeer and Michael Ienas had agreed upon; they certainly wouldn't be able to swallow their pride by hastily admitting defeat.

They must build up their strength, challenge MGM again, and reclaim the top spot.

Little did anyone expect that Eric would pull this stunt.

The acquisition, and it was announced right after Facebook went public.

Coming with overwhelming momentum, it's clear they intend to undermine our foundation.

"Charles, aren't you usually the one with the most ideas? I need your advice! Say something!"

The middle-aged man who was named sighed: "I've said enough, Barry. This is not a situation we can control."

"Didn't you see Facebook's market value? Eric Cooper, that kid, has plenty of money right now."

"If Eric Cooper threw out $300 billion, Richard would probably laugh it off."

"But at $350 billion, he would feel that the deal was worth it."

"Once it's increased to $400 billion."

"Bang! He'll rush to Eric Cooper that very night and beg him to sign the papers as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Barrymeyer angrily pointed to his own nose and roared, "I don't want to hear your complaints, I need a solution. If he really succeeds in acquiring us, we all know what will happen."

"I'm definitely leaving, but you won't have it easy either."

"Think about it, when that guy took over MGM, he practically purged all the old guard from the company as soon as he took office."

"Everyone, who among you hasn't fought against him? This is a defensive battle, a battle to protect our interests."

A senior executive took off his glasses in frustration: "But what can we do? You know the decision isn't in our hands, Barry."

"Everyone is aware of the group's current situation; it has hundreds of billions of dollars in debt waiting to be repaid."

"While we're having this meeting, they're probably having their own meeting at headquarters."

"We were just discussing how to save ourselves, while they were discussing how to sell Warner and how to get a better price for it."

At that moment, the conference room door was pushed open, and another senior executive threw his phone onto the table.

"I just found out that Richard flew back from Europe immediately after hearing the news."

"Just recently, an emergency meeting was held over there, the content of which is what we're guessing."

"To be honest, you can't count on those old foxes. They want money more than anyone else, especially cash transactions."

"The only thing that can save us is the government's antitrust investigation."

"Eric Cooper already owns MGM, and if he also takes control of Warner, it will put dominant pressure on other Hollywood studios."

"Is it feasible? This reason seems a bit weak no matter how you look at it. After all, Sony took the lead a few years ago, intending to acquire MGM, but the Cooper family beat them to it." Barimeer said with some concern.

"We should try it even if it's not feasible; it's the best we can find right now."

"No, wait a minute, let me think about it again."

"Perhaps starting with film and television is not a good idea; we should consider the comic book business instead."

"What? A comic book?"

"It's about comics. We've overlooked a very important point. Don't forget that Eric Cooper, besides MGM, also owns Marvel."

"Marvel comics currently account for about 35% of the market, and DC's market share is about the same."

"The two combined already occupy 70% of the comic book market, which is even more terrifying than the market share occupied by the merger of MGM and Warner. They are absolutely likely to form an industry monopoly."

Barrymeyer slammed his hand on the table: "You're right, that's a good point."

"Haha, who would have thought that a lackluster comic book business would become our lifeline?"

"Gentlemen, we must hold our ground! Victory will be ours!"

(End of this chapter)