Chapter 361 But He Is a Lunatic

In the face of Eric's sudden strength, Robert Shea's face became ugly, but his momentum also weakened, and he asked unwillingly: "Eric, then you should tell me that you will use this money to do it. what?"

Eric shook his head without hesitation: "Sorry, Robert, I can't tell."

The muscles on Robert Shea's face twitched angrily, and then he quickly said: "Eric, if you insist on this, I think my next film may need to introduce external investment."

"no problem."

Eric readily agreed. Robert Shea had the same idea as he set up the Black Ant Film Company before, and wanted to use Firefly's distribution channels to earn more profits. The so-called external investment is likely to Most are just Robert Shea's personal investments.

It seems that the box office success of "Sleeping with the Enemy" has made Robert Shea more inflated, but that's fine, anyway, Eric has already made up his mind to let Robert Shea go by the end of the year, even if he uses Firefly's channel, It's only this time, let alone whether it can make money or not.

Hearing that Eric agreed so readily, Robert Shea hesitated instead, and quickly added: "Of course, Firefly still has to participate in some of the investment, and I won't let our own company suffer too much."

Eric sneered in his heart. Robert Shea still had some self-knowledge left, saying that he would not let the company suffer. In fact, he just didn't want the film to be completely separated from himself. In this way, he was doing it for his own benefit. It is impossible to ignore the film. The film sold out. Of course, all the credit belongs to Robert. If he fails, Robert Shea can also find an excuse to deal with it.

However, Eric nodded again: "That's fine."

"That's it, I'll go to work first," Robert Shea looked meaningfully at Firefly's Chief Financial Officer Caroline Elliott, who had been waiting beside him, and got up and left the conference room.

"Eric, are you really going to take all the company's money?" Only the two of them were left in the conference room. Caroline Elliott pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose and asked uncertainly.

Eric nodded and asked, "How much money is in the company's account now?"

Caroline Elliott handed over the folder in her hand: "A total of 149.5 million US dollars."

Eric opened the folder and muttered, "Why so few?"

Caroline Elliott rolled her eyes,

Is that less? Even the Big Seven may not necessarily have such a huge cash flow.

"Eric, there are already a lot. This is because the $75 million box office share of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" at the beginning of the month has just entered the company's account. Otherwise, there are only more than 70 million in the account now. Several movies have made a lot of money, but in April they paid 150 million US dollars in various taxes alone. In addition to the six months of "Ghost Love", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "X-Files" And the funds occupied by projects such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the company's channel expansion and videotape announcement consumption. And the funds you have successively withdrawn for Black Ant Pictures, Pixar and the digital field, these add up, It's a miracle that the company has nearly 150 million left."

Eric quickly flipped through the detailed income and expenditure report, and realized that what Caroline Elliott said was the truth.

Firefly is in a period of rapid development. Like many companies in this period, the consumption of funds is very large. If the box office sales of Eric's films did not provide enough funds for Firefly, Firefly will inevitably go on The path to external financing.

"Well, leave 9.5 million in liquidity, and wait for my news to transfer the rest to the designated account," Eric said after closing the report.

Caroline Elliott hesitated: "Eric, $9.5 million is definitely not enough. The second part of "Friends" is already in production. Based on the cost of $1 million per episode of eight episodes per month, It needs 8 million, not to mention the company also needs other expenses.”

The first season was a success, and the cost of the second season of Friends skyrocketed, hitting $1 million per episode.

Thinking of the sweet face he hadn't seen for a long time, Eric showed a brief hesitant look, but soon said: "It's only a month, Caroline, and it's impossible for us to have no income this month, at the end of the year. Haven't all the videotapes of those movies already been released? Also, you can negotiate with Fox to see if you can advance a portion of the advertising share of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", and if you really can't, then suspend it."

Caroline Elliott couldn't help but pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose again, frowned slightly, and wanted to say something. After looking at Eric's face, she swallowed the words she wanted to speak.

After finalizing the funding, Eric quickly boarded a flight to New York.

The headquarters of Firefly Investments is located in a building in Manhattan's business center. The company's main asset is a 23% stake in Cisco. In addition, Chris is also responsible for Eric's private wealth management.

Although he had received a phone call before, when Eric arrived in New York, it was less than 12 noon Eastern Time, which surprised Chris Hansen.

The two came to the office together. Eric took out the newspapers that he had sorted out last night and pushed them in front of Chris, briefly saying his thoughts.

Chris listened to Eric's analysis, although he was a bit unprofessional, but to the point, nodded from time to time, and waited for Eric to finish before saying: "Eric, because of the situation in the Middle East, crude oil futures have indeed continued to rise during this period. If you feel If you are interested, you can invest 10 to 20 million to play."

"Chris, do you think I flew to New York in such a hurry just to have fun?"

Chris stared at Eric and sat up straight, feeling a bad feeling in his heart.

Eric pressed his arm on the table, leaned forward slightly, stared at Chris and said seriously: "Chris, before coming, I have contacted Firefly, Pixar, and all the liquidity in the digital domain, and the specific data is still there. Statistically, I estimate it is about 200 million US dollars, and I will continue to raise funds with all my strength in the next month.”

"So?" Chris asked in an uncertain tone.

"I want to make a big bet," Eric replied: "200 million US dollars, all long crude oil futures!"

"Eric, I think you need to calm down. Did you listen to someone's bewitching?"

Chris reached out and found a copy from the newspaper that Eric handed over, and pointed to a data article in the financial section: "Look, in the past three months, the price of crude oil has risen from $14 per barrel to $18, Most statistical agencies predict that even if the situation in the Middle East is deadlocked again, the price of crude oil will not exceed $20 per barrel. If you are in the market three months ago, you will definitely make a lot of money, but no one can predict, and now the oil price has reached A high of $18, and then it will definitely fluctuate between $18 and $20, and the risk of entering the market is extremely high.”

"What if there is a fight in the Middle East?" Eric asked rhetorically.

Chris remembered what Eric said when he first came, and realized that Eric had just been passing the information in the newspapers in front of him, suggesting that he might have to start the war again in the Middle East.

"This is even more impossible, Eric, who will fight whom?" Chris asked rhetorically: "The military value of those Arab countries in the Middle East is generally not high, let's say Saudi Arabia, millions of square kilometers of land, only a mere 70,000 The army, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and other small countries are almost like no, and Iraq, which is most likely to cause war, has just fought with Iran for eight years, and the domestic economy is about to collapse. Saddam is not a fool, don't look at him now. Kuwait Small countries like the United Arab Emirates show off their power and slander Kuwait for stealing Iraqi oil, but at best they are just blackmailing some benefits as they used to."

"Of course Saddam was not a fool, but he was a lunatic. Chris, think about what would happen if Iraq invaded Kuwait?" (To be continued...)

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