Brisbane, on Australia's east coast.
It was July 27. Hollywood's summer box office season was still in full swing, yet MGM's CEO, Sherry Lansing, had no choice but to fly all the way here in a rush.
Because Christopher Skase, chairman of Qintex Group, MGM's Australian parent company, had suddenly fled.
It all started with the bursting of Japan's stock market bubble.
As everyone knows, Australia is an economy with a strong dependence on external forces.
Throughout the 1980s, thanks to Japan's rapid rise, Australia's economy grew quickly by exporting minerals and agricultural products to Japan. In just ten years, Australia's GDP doubled, reaching 300 billion U.S. dollars.
But when Japan's stock market bubble burst at the end of last year, Australia's economy was dragged down as well, sliding into a slump from the start of this year.
During the boom years of the 1980s, Qintex Group expanded at breakneck speed by borrowing heavily.
If Australia's economy had kept surging, the company might have managed to hold on. But when conditions at home took a sudden turn for the worse, banks tightening credit, investors turning cautious, Qintex quickly found itself unable to continue.
After completing the purchase of 70% of MGM last year, Qintex went through a round of asset restructuring. Even so, its total debt still stood at 1.7 billion dollars, without even counting MGM's own record-setting debt of more than 800 million.
It seemed Skase knew Qintex couldn't last much longer. Starting late last year, he kept bleeding the company through various channels, funneling money into overseas accounts.
In a recent financial audit, Qintex's board discovered an abnormal 13.5 million-dollar "management fee" expense that had been illegally transferred to an offshore company. Digging deeper, they realized it was a shell company registered under Skase himself.
After an emergency consultation with shareholders and creditors, the board ultimately chose to call the police.
Skase was arrested, posted bail the next day, and without waiting for anything else to play out, fled cleanly and decisively to Spain.
With Skase on the run, Qintex immediately became a collapsing, scorching-hot mess no one wanted to touch. The shareholders and creditors didn't even have the energy to chase him down anymore. Preventing Qintex from imploding was the only priority.
At its peak, Qintex's holdings spanned media, film, resorts, jewelry retail, and more. But after all the turmoil, the company's two most valuable assets were now just Australia's Seven Network and America's MGM.
Seven Network had been doing fairly well in recent years. Still, even as a nationwide broadcaster, an Australian network simply couldn't compare to North America. Its valuation was only 800 million dollars. As for Qintex's 70% stake in MGM, it had cost 1 billion dollars to acquire last year. Selling it now for 1 billion shouldn't be too difficult.
Add in a handful of scattered minor assets, and Qintex's total estimated holdings were basically enough to cover its debts.
But if they moved straight into bankruptcy liquidation, those assets would definitely lose value.
And with well over a billion dollars involved, along with a tangled web of bonds and obligations, an outright liquidation couldn't possibly be completed in the short term. Qintex could only keep itself afloat as best it could, restructuring step by step, to minimize losses for shareholders and creditors.
Qintex headquarters in Brisbane.
Seeing Simon, Sherry Lansing finally felt the unease in her chest loosen.
When she'd first heard the news and rushed to Australia, she'd been afraid the MGM CEO seat she'd only just secured would be yanked out from under her.
Now, since the young man was willing to step in, and she'd joined MGM through his recommendation in the first place, then unless MGM changed hands, she probably wouldn't be kicked out anytime soon. After all, besides her, the Australians weren't exactly going to find another suitable Hollywood manager on short notice.
She just didn't know whether Westeros would buy MGM outright.
Thinking of the rumors circulating in Hollywood lately, Sherry couldn't help feeling a faint, rising anticipation.
Amy Pascal's total annual compensation this year might exceed 100 million dollars. For most Hollywood executives, that was the kind of number they wouldn't dare dream about.
As a woman who'd climbed step by step to the top of Hollywood's pyramid, Sherry Lansing had ambitions of her own. And she believed that if Westeros took over MGM, the company would quickly pull itself free from the years-long mire of stagnation.
The meeting about Qintex's post-Skase restructuring and management changes lasted an entire day. Sherry Lansing, as one of Qintex's top executives, attended from start to finish. That was how she learned Simon's real purpose here wasn't MGM at all. It was Qintex's Seven Network.
More precisely, the Johnston family wanted to buy Seven Network.
After the past two years of capital market maneuvering, the Johnstons were sitting on a substantial pile of cash.
In Raymond Johnston's mind, that money should naturally go first toward expanding the family's mining and transportation businesses. Simon understood as well: Australia's mining resources would see large-scale consolidation in the 1990s, eventually giving rise to a world-class mining giant like BHP.
In a consolidation on that scale, Johnston Holdings, worth only around five billion dollars even as a whole, would have a hard time influencing the bigger picture.
Unless Johnston Holdings could rapidly transform into something massive, then in the face of a hundred-billion-dollar industry oligarch like BHP, small and mid-sized mining companies would either be acquired or crushed. Surviving independently would be extremely difficult.
Right now, BHP and Billiton were still two separate companies, and their market caps weren't anywhere near as terrifying as they would become later.
With enough funds and the right tactics, it wasn't impossible for the Johnstons to punch above their weight. But Simon didn't know enough about that world. For now, the best advice he could offer was to build strength quickly through diversification.
Besides, compared to the slow accumulation required in mining, media had enormous room to appreciate in value during the 1990s. And with Simon's Hollywood resources plus the Johnston family's deep-rooted connections in Australia, not expanding into that direction would be a waste.
Australia, like North America, currently imposed many restrictions on foreign capital investing in domestic media. Likewise, those restrictions would gradually loosen over the coming years.
Simon's long-term plan was that once Australia opened its media industry to overseas investors, Westeros, backed by the vast capital it had built up through finance, the internet, and media, would buy out Johnston Holdings' peripheral businesses outside its core mining sector in one sweeping move.
That way, the Westeros system could expand into Australia, while the Johnston family would accumulate enough capital, and with the help of financial leverage, attempt an underdog takeover of a giant like BHP or Billiton, then continue expanding.
To help the Johnston family build more capital, Simon wasn't only looking at media. Recently, he'd also been discussing with the old man the possibility of entering Australia's telecommunications industry.
Australia's telecom sector had been a state monopoly until now, but opening it up was currently under discussion.
And in the two budding branches of telecom, mobile communications and the internet, the Westeros system could provide strong technical support. If these industries could go public in North America over the next few years, riding the tailwind of the new tech wave, they could cash out enormous sums as well.
Overall, Simon wasn't just buying land in Tasmania. He truly intended to turn Australia into his overseas base.
If the plans in Simon's mind could be realized one by one, and Johnston Holdings eventually grew into a behemoth like BHP, combined with layouts across other industries, then by that point, Australia's economy would essentially be in the hands of Simon and the Johnston family.
Of course, none of this could happen overnight.
Over the next decade, completing even an initial framework would already be a rare achievement.
But the one thing Simon never lacked was time.
If it took ten or twenty years to gain the kind of economic position Samsung holds in South Korea, controlling a country from within its economy, that would be entirely worth it.
After a full day of meetings, Qintex's shareholders and creditors finally reached an agreement with the Johnston family: Seven Network would be sold to Johnston Holdings for 700 million dollars in cash, allowing Qintex to repay its maturing debts and maintain operations.
At the same time, as a potential exchange of interests, on the Hollywood side, Daenerys Entertainment would take two films from its original ten-picture plan and collaborate with MGM to help the studio regain its footing.
Night fell, and the all-day meeting finally ended.
As everyone filed out of the conference room, Sherry Lansing stepped forward at last and stopped Simon, inviting him. "Simon, want to have dinner together tonight?"
Simon nodded. After a moment's thought, he added to Veronica Johnston, who'd come along for the negotiations, "Come with us."
Veronica froze for a second, then gave a small nod and murmured, "Mm."
They'd already been introduced during the day. Sherry Lansing knew this icy-faced woman was Janet Johnston's paternal aunt. But with a woman's instinctive sensitivity, Sherry could clearly sense something unusual between Westeros and this woman.
Still, the thought only flickered through her mind before she refused to dig deeper.
It was other people's business, after all.
Overthinking it, and angering this young man, would be a terrible trade for her.
They chose a nice restaurant near Qintex headquarters. The three sat down, ordered, and Simon spoke first. "How's the 007 rights issue coming along?"
"Still negotiating. I'm planning to buy the SPECTRE rights from Kevin McClory and settle this dispute once and for all. He's asking five million dollars, honestly, it's a bit steep. As for the script, based on your earlier suggestion, the company has finished the first draft of GoldenEye. Simon, do you want to take a look?"
"I'm heading back to Melbourne later," Simon said. "After you return to Los Angeles, have someone send the script to Malibu first." Then he added, "Also, the male lead needs to be changed. Timothy Dalton really isn't suited to 007. You can reach out to Pierce Brosnan and see if he's interested."
Sherry Lansing thought of Pierce Brosnan, who'd entered Hollywood's sights earlier this year thanks to Pretty Woman. "Brosnan does seem like a good fit. But he probably won't take the role easily."
If Brosnan were still a second- or third-tier actor, he'd obviously be eager for 007.
But now that he'd joined the A-list, very few stars were willing to lock themselves into the shackles of the 007 image. Even if 007 brought enormous fame, once an actor played him, it was often hard to shake the shadow the role cast over their career.
Since the character's birth in the 1960s, across so many generations of 007, only Sean Connery had managed to keep his career trajectory relatively strong. Even that was thanks to CAA's full support.
Simon understood this perfectly. He only said, "Talk to him first. If it doesn't work, find someone else. The important thing is to sign him for multiple films."
Sherry Lansing nodded, committing it to memory. She hesitated, but couldn't hold it in. "Simon… why don't you just buy MGM?"
Simon had expected that question, but didn't answer. He simply shifted the topic to the collaboration on those two films.
If not for his planned acquisition of MCA, Simon would've bought MGM without hesitation. Or even just taken over part of the stake from Qintex. He believed Qintex would have been delighted.
But no matter how battered MGM was, it was still one of the Big Seven.
In the early 1990s, U.S. antitrust regulation in the media industry was still extremely strict.
Daenerys Entertainment was already powerful enough. If it also controlled MGM, the MCA deal would definitely trigger an antitrust investigation. Simon didn't intend to lose the bigger prize over something smaller.
He'd also considered having the Johnston family buy a portion of MGM's shares.
But in the eyes of U.S. regulators, that wouldn't look much different from Simon controlling MGM himself. Under federal antitrust statutes, even without direct shareholding, collusion to monopolize still counted as monopolization.
After dinner, Simon saw Sherry Lansing to her hotel. Then he and Veronica headed to the airport. The flight from Brisbane to Melbourne took just over an hour, and Simon didn't plan to stay the night here.
Veronica still had to come back tomorrow.
But when Simon returned to Melbourne, she followed him back in silence.
By the time the plane landed in Melbourne and they returned to the Johnston family estate, it was already past nine at night.
Anthony Johnston was waiting for Simon. The moment they got home, Anthony handed him a packet of information he'd just received.
In the past few days, many people still firmly believed Iraq wouldn't actually move against Kuwait. But the Middle East situation was becoming more and more like a tinderbox, ready to ignite.
Simon read the materials in his hands, and the last trace of worry in his heart vanished into thin air.
The documents, sent from New York, showed that earlier this afternoon, Baghdad local time, Saddam had suddenly met with the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie. The content of their discussion hadn't been made public, but the materials Simon received clearly laid out what was said.
Ambassador Glaspie had promised Saddam that Washington would not interfere in the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait.
Based on what Simon remembered, he knew perfectly well that promise was pure nonsense. The Bush administration's real goal was simply to drag Iraq back into the mire of war.
Yet Saddam had clearly believed it.
With the overall situation now set, the next day, Simon quietly flew back to North America, intending to personally witness the waves this war would stir.
The last days of July slipped by in silence.
And then, on August 2, explosive news swept across the globe.
In the early hours of August 2, Iraq's Republican Guard suddenly crossed the Iraq-Kuwait border, surging forward like an unstoppable avalanche and smashing toward Kuwait City.
This war, woven from countless schemes and calculations of interest, both open and hidden, had officially begun.