With the 58list job scam case ending in a way that embarrassed the traditional print media, the incident had finally settled down.
Simon handed over the subsequent handling of some events to the Igrette team and began taking a maternity leave with two women.
Both Jennys were due in early November, so from September to November, they had about two months. Although it was ultimately impossible to completely put everything aside, Simon planned to only spend an hour or two each day at home handling company matters and not go to the office every day.
The only minor inconvenience was having to fly back and forth between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
He wanted to have the two women together, but as the pregnancy progressed, the assistant increasingly disagreed, always feeling awkward and guilty in front of Janet.
After spending the weekend in San Francisco with the assistant following the resolution of the scam incident, Simon set off early Monday morning back to Los Angeles.
"Another case in Miami, where a woman claimed she was scammed while job hunting on 58list, was revealed to be a scheme to extort compensation from the website. The 58list team is preparing to file a lawsuit for fraud and defamation. In Washington, the New York Times Group submitted a report to the Senate over the weekend, accusing 58list's classified information service of being a form of predatory pricing intended to destroy the physical classified ad industry and create a monopoly. Mr. Schrupp believes that proactively pushing for a congressional hearing on 58list is the best solution to avoid a formal investigation by the Justice Department or Congress. Oh, and one more thing, Mrs. Brier fired the Weinstein brothers over the weekend."
On the Boeing 767 back to Los Angeles.
Simon lounged casually on the couch in the front cabin's living room, casually flipping through a script while listening to A-girl report on some company matters.
Hearing that Nancy Brier suddenly fired the Weinstein brothers, Simon finally looked up at her and asked, "What's going on?"
Allison, sitting in a single sofa nearby, glanced at her boss and said, "Harvey Weinstein attempted to assault an actress, a WMA artist, after a movie audition in New York last Friday. Mr. Friedman personally intervened and suppressed the matter. However, Mrs. Brier found out and made the decision on Sunday."
Simon was momentarily speechless.
Originally, he thought that bringing the Weinstein brothers into Blockbuster Entertainment would allow them to compete in the art film domain with Highgate Pictures, ensuring the Highgate team wouldn't become complacent.
However, he didn't expect such an outcome before things even got started.
Harvey Weinstein's scandalous behavior wasn't exactly rare in Hollywood.
The infamous Weinstein scandal erupted because the Weinstein brothers, after leaving Disney and losing their major backer, became competitors to other major Hollywood studios. With dirty laundry to air, they were easy targets.
This time.
Simon didn't need to probe too deeply to understand what had happened.
After Miramax went bankrupt earlier this year, joining the soaring Dandelion Entertainment under Simon's wing, Harvey Weinstein must have reverted to his old ways.
However, Harvey likely overlooked the fact that his direct supervisor was a strong, independent woman with a feminist streak. Having caused such a scandal without even achieving anything yet, he had to go.
Squandering such a golden opportunity was just foolish.
Simon thought for a moment and said, "Tell Amy to notify other studios and make sure the Weinstein brothers disappear from Hollywood."
The Weinstein brothers were undoubtedly capable.
Since his own company couldn't use them, Simon wouldn't give other studios the chance to cultivate potential competitors.
Allison agreed, jotting down the task in her notebook.
However, she couldn't help but think about Nancy Brier biting her boss's chin.
Simon suddenly asked, "A, do you think Nancy would fire me too?"
Allison looked at Simon, then shook her head earnestly, "You're the boss."
"Employees can fire their boss too," Simon laughed and continued, "What about you?"
Allison paused, understanding what Simon was asking. She couldn't help but avoid his gaze, looking down, "No, I wouldn't."
"Looks like I can do whatever I want."
She really wanted to roll her eyes at him.
A thought seemed to pass through her mind.
She didn't respond.
She doodled in her notebook, drawing circles, then eyes, then ears.
After a moment of silence, Allison resumed her report, finally pulling out a newly released issue of Forbes, saying, "Boss, do you want to take a look?"
It was September 6, Monday.
Forbes had announced half a month ago that it would publish the latest edition of the 400 richest Americans list in today's issue.
Simon already knew the figures beforehand.
Taking the magazine from Allison, he looked at the cover featuring a dense investment map of the Westeros system.
Forbes had wanted a photo of Simon, but unsurprisingly, he refused.
In recent years, while Simon's name constantly appeared in the media, photos of him were very rare, with even fewer paparazzi shots, and reports on his private life had dwindled.
After having flaunted his presence when necessary, maintaining a low profile now helped avoid giving people a sense of the omnipresent pressure of Westeros.
This actually reduced a lot of trouble.
Above the dense investment map was a bold, black number: $120 Billion.
120 billion dollars!
Almost double last year's 65 billion.
Flipping open the magazine, the first few pages listed the detailed rankings of the 400 richest Americans.
The top ten took up a whole page.
First place: Simon Westeros, $120 billion.
Second place: Bill Gates, $10.5 billion.
Third place: Warren Buffett, $8.3 billion.
Fourth place: John Kruger, $5.9 billion.
Fifth place: Helen Walton, $4.5 billion.
Sixth place: Rob Walton, $4.5 billion.
Seventh place: Jim Walton, $4.5 billion.
Eighth place: John Walton, $4.5 billion.
Ninth place: Alice Walton, $4.5 billion.
Tenth place: Rupert Murdoch, $3.5 billion.
This year's list featured Simon's overwhelming lead and the Walton family quintet as the most striking parts.
Bill Gates became the second billionaire, which should have been a big deal, but unfortunately, his $10.5 billion net worth was still not even a fraction of Simon's.
Moreover, compared to 1993 in the original timeline, Bill Gates' net worth had increased significantly.
In memory, Bill Gates should have ranked below Warren Buffett with a $6.1 billion net worth in 1993.
Historically, due to the economic environment, demand for personal computers, which were mainly used for office purposes, remained relatively low in the early '90s, limiting the growth of software supplier Microsoft.
This time, with the advent of the new tech wave and the widespread adoption of the internet, personal computers quickly evolved beyond office use, becoming household items like TVs and VCRs, leading to a substantial increase in PC sales.
As an ally in promoting internet development within the Westeros system, Microsoft also benefited from this wave, aiding Gates in becoming the second billionaire in federal history.
However, this time he would probably remain in second place permanently.
Another surprise in the top ten was Rupert Murdoch.
Compared to last year's $2.6 billion, the Australian media tycoon's net worth increased by $900 million this year. Though ranking tenth, with little gap from those behind, he had made it into the top ten, leaving Sam Redstone behind.
Simon knew Murdoch's net worth growth primarily stemmed from News Corp's global TV business expansion, while the newspaper business, considered his foundation, was evidently declining under the internet's impact.
Despite being over sixty, Murdoch showed no traditional businessman's conservatism. News Corp had begun investing in internet technology companies, and Murdoch had consulted Simon on several occasions.
In Simon's view, Murdoch was more adept than Redstone.
While both were business giants, Redstone stagnated after completing Viacom's traditional media layout, and continued to decline in the new century.
This time, unable to acquire Paramount as in the original timeline, Viacom certainly couldn't afford CBS, leading to Sam Redstone potentially fading from the forefront like another media mogul, John Kruger.
The section following the list featured a special article detailing Simon's personal assets.
In the past year, Simon's personal assets grew fastest in companies like America Online, Cisco, Microsoft, and Intel.
Among them, America Online and Cisco had recent market values of $35.6 billion and $38.7 billion, respectively.
Considering Simon's holdings in both companies, his assets exceeded $40 billion.
Shares in other listed tech companies like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, SUN, and SGI held heavily by Westeros contributed $13 billion to Simon's wealth according to Forbes.
Additionally, there was the recently listed Nokia.
Forbes estimated Simon's stock value at $60 million based on the average stock price in the week following its August 20 listing.
Together, these listed tech company shares amounted to nearly $60 billion in wealth for Simon.
Simon's non-listed company assets were equally substantial.
Four particularly noteworthy companies within the Westeros system—Dandelion, Melisandre, Igrette, and Cersei—were all non-listed.
Igrette raised $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation earlier this year, confirming the internet company's immense potential value, triple its $5 billion valuation from last year.
Dandelion Entertainment had also initiated IPO preparations, with its valuation rising from $20 billion last year to $25 billion.
The expanding luxury brand Melisandre saw its valuation increase to $5 billion.
Cersei Capital retained a valuation of $10 billion.
Combined, these four companies contributed $55 billion to Simon's personal wealth.
Besides the four companies, Westeros also had a significant non-listed asset, Verizon Communications, originally acquired and integrated with MCA. Forbes valued Verizon at $15 billion this year, up from $10 billion last year.
The four companies and Verizon together accounted for $70 billion.
Combining both sections, the total was $130 billion.
Moreover, these assets were easily identifiable or had clear references due to listed stock prices.
As the Westeros system's industrial layout expanded, many smaller-scale or lower-holding non-listed company assets and Simon's personal wealth in cash, properties, and real estate became harder to quantify.
Forbes provided a rough estimate of $10 billion for this segment.
Forbes estimated Westeros' liabilities at $16 billion last year and around $20 billion this year.
Much of Westeros' investments and expansions over the past year, including the construction of the Manhattan Westeros Building and personal spending by the Simon couple, were financed through bank loans.
For other billionaires, an increase of $4 billion in debt in a year could jeopardize their financial status. However, relative to the vast scale of the Westeros system, an additional $4 billion in debt was insignificant.
If necessary, Simon could easily liquidate some core assets to clear the $20 billion debt.
Thus, after comprehensive calculations, the total assets amounted to $140 billion, minus the $20 billion debt, leaving Simon Westeros with a net worth of $120 billion.
$120 billion, more than double the combined wealth of the other top ten billionaires' $50.7 billion.
Moreover, this year's Forbes 400 richest Americans list had a combined wealth of $469.1 billion.
Including Simon's $120 billion, Simon's net worth alone accounted for over one-third of the combined $349.1 billion of the other 399 top billionaires.
On a broader economic scale, Simon's net worth equaled 1.8% of the USA's 1992 GDP of $6.5 trillion, surpassing the Rockefeller family's peak of 1.5%.
Additionally, if Simon's $120 billion net worth were considered an economy, it would rank 27th in the 1992 global GDP list, ahead of Russia, Portugal, and Israel.
A true fortune capable of rivaling a nation!
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