Chapter 190: A Gift from Hearst

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"Sir, the two paintings you purchased, along with the certificates, have been delivered."

"So quickly?"

"Would you like me to store them?"

Wayne had just returned to the estate, taken a shower, and changed into a comfortable robe. As he took the coffee handed to him by Erika, he thought for a moment and said, "Hang Innocence in the study. As for The Two Sisters, you can decide where to place it."

These two paintings weren't rare masterpieces expected to increase in value, so Wayne had bought them just to hang them for viewing and had no plans to store them.

"Understood, sir. These are the newly arrived invitations."

"..."

Wayne’s expression stiffened as he noticed the maid behind Meda holding yet another thick stack of invitations. His good mood quickly soured into a headache.

"You handle it for me. Decline as many as you can, and just say I’m in seclusion working on a script. Yeah, a script with Leonardo. They’ll understand."

True to his word, for the next while, Wayne’s routine consisted mainly of traveling between his estate and Roxbury Street.

During the day, he would visit the villa on Roxbury Street, where he’d have coffee and play cards with Martina and Monica Bellucci. He would always return home before dinner to dine with the beauties at his estate and engage in deep conversations.

And late at night, in the quiet of the estate, he would enjoy Erika's private service, while also focusing on ‘writing’ his script.

However, the public's interest in him remained as high as ever.

Though The Bourne Identity had been out of theaters for some time, Mean Girls was still showing, and its box office had far exceeded Harvey and the major distribution companies' expectations, heading toward the $300 million mark.

For a film with an all-new, unknown cast of actresses, reaching such an astonishing box office gross was even more incredible than the success of American Pie.

This realization led to two conclusions.

First, Wayne was truly a box office sensation, especially in the eyes of producers and investors. His ability to attract audiences was now on par with A-list male stars like Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Will Smith.

After all, even Tom Cruise had his share of flops.

Wayne, on the other hand, hadn’t had a single one.

The second point was that Wayne had an uncanny eye for casting actresses and a Midas touch when it came to making them stars.

Even before Mean Girls had left theaters, the Mean Girls Squad had already reached C-list status. The most popular among them, Megan and Scarlett, had even broken into the B-list.

Though they were still at the bottom tier of the B-list, that was an undeniable achievement!

To rise from being unknown to a B-list actress with just one film—this leap left many aspiring actresses in Hollywood green with envy.

Witnessing this success, Warner, which had acquired The Dark Side, and Sony, which had just purchased The Notebook, wasted no time in fast-tracking the release of these films.

The Dark Side was one thing—Matt Damon was still stuck in the B-list, and although Martina had risen to a C-list actress, the film still needed a significant promotional push.

But with The Notebook, all Sony had to do was announce that Wayne, Jessica, Nicolas Cage, and Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon were starring in the film, and it instantly became headline news in all major entertainment outlets.

On the first day of its global release on May 20, the film boasted a staggering 94.7% attendance rate in North America and 60.2% overseas, grossing $21.33 million domestically and $32.05 million internationally!

Sony had truly struck gold this time.

Even Wayne, usually calm, couldn't help but smile when he saw the numbers, knowing that he had missed out on a big opportunity this time.

At this rate, as long as The Notebook maintained decent quality, it was likely to become another box office smash, grossing over $500 million globally.

Factoring in DVD sales and the savings from reduced promotional costs, Sony was poised to make around $200 million in profit from this film alone!

Before Spider-Man, Sony had never made so much money from a single movie!

This staggering profit didn’t go unnoticed by Sony’s top executives.

The same day the first box office figures came in, Wayne received a major gift from Sony.

Howard Stringer personally visited and renegotiated a supplementary contract with Hemerra Productions.

Then, without further haggling over the acquisition price, Sony bought Production I.G. for $24 million and handed it over to Hemerra Productions as part of the deal, with revenue-sharing incentives based on box office performance.

"Quite the generous move..."

Now, although Sony was still set to make over $100 million from The Notebook, Wayne had no complaints.

After all, Sony had played fair in this deal.

The other six major studios certainly wouldn’t have been so generous in cutting him in on the profits.

"Since that’s the case, let’s go ahead and acquire Bones and UFOtable as well!"

After some thought, Wayne made a call to Marissa Mayer.

Unlike Production I.G. and the other companies he had previously acquired, Bones and UFOtable were still mid-sized animation studios, having been established only recently.

However, both studios already had distinctive styles.

Once these acquisitions were completed, Wayne would essentially have a monopoly over the Japanese animation industry.

On May 24, Mean Girls officially ended its run with a total domestic box office of $180.6 million and an international gross of $131.1 million, bringing the global total to $311.7 million.

This film alone earned Wayne $123.7 million in profits.

And now he had to face an important question.

After completing the acquisitions of Production I.G. and four other animation studios, Hemerra Productions still had a hefty $174 million in cash reserves.

And this didn’t even include the separate earnings from Marvel and Industrial Light & Magic, the company’s subsidiaries.

If Wayne didn’t want to pay taxes amounting to nearly half of Harvey Weinstein’s fortune, he had to figure out how to spend this money.

As for his personal expenses, those were covered by company accounts and his multimillion-dollar film salaries.

“It's still too early to buy into Apple. That’ll have to wait until 2003."

“Pixar is off-limits now. Otherwise, Jobs would lose his mind."

“Companies like Google, ASML, and NVIDIA are already at their ideal stock levels. Increasing shares further would only harm their growth."

“So, what should I invest in?”

At this point, real estate seemed like a highly profitable option.

But Wayne cared more about influence than returns.

Spending $170 million to acquire promising companies would have a far greater impact than buying a few more luxury mansions.

In America, once your personal wealth reaches a certain level, lacking sufficient influence becomes dangerous. Otherwise, your fortune might end up as someone else’s gain.

Thinking about this, Wayne couldn't help but recall Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had invited him to a party a few days ago, and Antonio Villaraigosa, who had also attended the event.

According to U.S. laws, there is a limit on individual political donations.

So, if he really wanted to invest in Antonio Villaraigosa, he would need a large enough workforce.

"A quality company that can employ many people."

In essence, what he needed was a labor-intensive company.

Once this idea came to mind, the first company he thought of was Foxconn. In his previous life, Foxconn had a park in Green City with 300,000 workers, indirectly affecting the livelihoods of over a million people.

If this were the case in the U.S., with that many employees, even members of Congress would bow down to him, treating him like royalty.

However, he quickly dismissed this thought, as the timing wasn’t right—it was only 2001.

Additionally, such companies required substantial investment. A sum of $170 million was no small amount in this era, but it still wasn’t nearly enough.

Thus, Wayne thought of the textile and garment industry.

Running sewing machines was undoubtedly a prime example of a labor-intensive industry. Furthermore, the fashion industry was closely related to the entertainment industry.

If he bought a trendy brand now, he could quickly boost its reputation through product placements in films and celebrity endorsements.

Not to boast, but with his current influence, even if the brand was originally an ordinary, obscure one, he could easily elevate it to a top-tier brand in the U.S. in no time.

If he asked Annie Hearst for help, leveraging her influence as the owner of four of the world’s top ten fashion magazines—Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Esquire, and ELLE—the brand could become globally recognized in no time, as long as its quality and design weren’t too bad.

Additionally, if he acquired a fashion brand, the modeling agency he had just purchased would also have a purpose. He could expand it significantly rather than simply treating it as his private playground.

It would be a win-win—he’d be winning twice!

That’s right, after reviewing the rosters sent by the two companies following Leonardo’s message, he decided to acquire both. After all, the total cost was only a few million.

He then very straightforwardly renamed the two companies to “Wayne’s Garden.” The eighty or so models in the companies were all eagerly training while waiting for a visit from their new boss.

“I wonder how much it would cost to buy Supreme at this time.”

Wayne’s first thought was Supreme. The brand was founded in 1994 by British designer James Jebbia, initially specializing in skateboarding apparel, selling simple T-shirts and hats.

Later, it grew gradually thanks to its understated yet cool designs, and by 1999, it had become one of the top ten streetwear brands in the U.S.

After 2004, Supreme maintained its status as the top streetwear brand in the U.S., a position it held until Wayne’s time-traveling event.

However, the brand never grew very large. Even by 2020, it only had a few stores worldwide, so when VF Corporation acquired it, the purchase price was only $2.1 billion.

Currently, Supreme had stores only in New York and Tokyo, so acquiring it shouldn’t be too expensive.

Of course, acquiring a streetwear brand would only be the first step. What Wayne needed was a large workforce, so after the acquisition, he would need to buy a textile factory in Los Angeles to expand production.

“Hey, Li Ying.”

Wayne called Li Ying first to tell her about his plan.

Li Ying wasn’t surprised. To her, Wayne’s acquisition of a modeling agency was a clear signal that he was entering the fashion industry.

After all, she knew that Wayne had a close relationship with Annie Hearst, and with Wayne’s own status and influence, entering the fashion industry would give him significant advantages.

“No problem, boss. I’ll take care of it as soon as possible.”

Then, Wayne called Sarah.

He planned to merge the acquired streetwear brand and textile factory under Wayne Group. To do so, he intended to transfer the $170 million from Hermora Pictures to Wayne Group’s account by prepaying a year’s rent for Wayne Tower.

That’s right, Wayne Tower had just begun construction, with a total budget of only $350 million. It wasn’t even finished yet, and it was already collecting rent.

Even after time traveling, Wayne hadn’t forgotten the excellent traditions of his previous life.

“Should I call Annie Hearst? Supreme’s headquarters is in New York, and with her help, the acquisition would probably be easier.”

After thinking it over, Wayne decided to call Annie Hearst.

For someone like Annie, this would be a simple matter, just a word from her. Wayne asking for her help wouldn’t inconvenience her; instead, it would deepen their collaboration.

However, just as Wayne was about to press the call button, Meida knocked on the door and walked in.

“Sir, a ‘gift’ from Ms. Annie Hearst has just arrived. How would you like to handle it?”

Wayne was momentarily stunned before quickly realizing what she meant, and his eyes lit up.

“A gift? How many?”

“Five.”

“Only five?”

“…"

Seeing Wayne’s disappointed expression, even the usually unflappable Meida, who knew his character well, couldn’t help but feel a bit speechless.

However, to be fair, such things weren’t uncommon among the aristocracy, so as a qualified butler, she didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“Take them to the second-floor lounge. I’ll take a look first,” Wayne said after a moment’s thought.

The second-floor lounge had a semicircular balcony overlooking most of Los Angeles. When he wasn’t writing scripts or swimming, Wayne usually liked to sit there, sipping coffee and enjoying the view.

Jessica and Charlize Theron were the same.

But at this time, they were probably busy maintaining their figures in the gym, receiving professional yoga instruction, so Wayne wasn’t worried about running into them.

Of course, even if they did run into him, it wouldn’t matter. They were used to it by now.

(End of Chapter)