I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1133: The Shockwaves]

An hour that felt both long and short finally passed.

At 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the Nasdaq Stock Exchange officially opened. The Firefly Group didn't release a sell-off announcement until the very last minute before the market opened, and those who had been anxiously waiting for an hour finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, due to rumors circulating in just that short hour about the Firefly Group potentially offloading large amounts of stock, some uninformed investors and opportunistic short-sellers still began to sell off shares after the Nasdaq opened.

As a result, shortly after trading began, the Nasdaq index dropped from 3,476 points to 3,435 points. In under ten minutes, the index fell by 1.17%, erasing over $40 billion in wealth.

Faced with this situation, many tech companies and Wall Street capital had no choice but to step in to stabilize stock prices.

Compared to the colossal Firefly Group, which had the power to threaten the entire Nasdaq market, short-selling hedge funds and a handful of reducing investors clearly couldn't compete with the entire new tech industry.

After a brief decline, the Nasdaq index quickly began to rise. Ultimately, after hours of fluctuation, the index not only avoided a drop but also broke records, surpassing the 3,500-point threshold once more.

...

As noon approached, Eric's Boeing 747 finally landed at a private airport on Long Island.

Disembarking from the plane, Eric made his way directly to a VH-60 helicopter bound for Manhattan, along with his assistant and bodyguard, while the crew of Iron Man prepared to fly back to Los Angeles.

Forty minutes later, the helicopter touched down on the rooftop of a building on Sixth Avenue.

After exchanging pleasantries with Robert Iger, who had personally come to greet him, Eric got into a car headed for the Oprah Winfrey Show studio headquarters.

The three black luxury vehicles drove together toward Midtown, and Robert Iger, sitting next to Eric, spoke up, saying, "Eric, I just received a call from Don Valentine at Sequoia Capital. He wants to personally apologize to you over the Hollywood Gossip situation."

"Sequoia Capital, Hollywood Gossip," Eric murmured, still focused on a document in hand, "Is Sequoia in such a state now?"

"It's not like that," Robert Iger explained. "Hollywood Gossip is a website that one of Sequoia's partners, Ronald Hill, invested in independently, and it's not directly related to Sequoia Capital. Don Valentine is merely acting as a go-between."

"Okay, I get it."

Robert Iger was unsure whether Eric was agreeing or refusing the apology. Still, he understood that the boss was clearly angry today and wouldn't say much for an outsider.

After a moment, Eric spoke again, his tone sarcastic, "It's always like this. When things go wrong, some people think they're too big to face repercussions; others feel insignificant and think they won't be affected either. This time, I will let them know that there are exceptions to every rule."

Robert Iger nodded in agreement but felt a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet, unable to suppress a slight shiver.

...

The Oprah Winfrey Show studio headquarters buzzed with activity. Over the years, Oprah had risen from a girl in a poor neighborhood to the queen of daytime talk shows in America, elevating her status in the media industry significantly.

During other times, if someone tried to cut in line and disrupt the production of the show, even a top Hollywood star, Oprah would confidently reject them.

However, the mandate handed down from ABC headquarters today left Oprah with no room to refuse. The more one rose from humble beginnings, the more they understood the immense power at play; Oprah knew she had to ensure that today's show, which had only twenty-four hours of production time, would go off without a hitch.

After announcing to all studio staff that they would be working overnight, Oprah began reviewing the materials related to the scandal, her headache intensifying.

While The Oprah Winfrey Show often tackled sensitive social topics to garner attention and ratings, today's incident was something she couldn't sensationalize. Not only could she not profit from it, but she also realized that the upcoming episode had to handle what was clearly a gossip bombshell with discretion.

As she read over some printed articles provided by ABC, her assistant reminded her, and Oprah quickly stood up to leave her office.

Just outside the studio, Oprah saw Eric and his team exiting the elevator and warmly greeted them, saying, "Mr. Williams, it's so good to see you."

"Hello, Ms. Winfrey," Eric replied, shaking her hand.

After exchanging pleasantries with Robert Iger, everyone headed into a conference room in the studio.

Once seated at the conference table, Oprah took a folder from her assistant, dismissed unrelated people, and got straight to the point, saying, "So, Mr. Williams, can you give us an idea of the scope we can cover in this episode?"

"Regarding today's incident, it involves two women and three children," Eric answered, adding, "You can just call me Eric."

Oprah nodded, feeling a little more relaxed. Her biggest worry was that Eric would shy away from discussing the scandal, forcing a clarification that would likely backfire.

Though she felt somewhat reassured, Oprah cautiously confirmed, "Eric, you mean you plan to publicly acknowledge the identities of the three children?"

"Yes, and I'd also like to share my perspective on this incident. I hope we can discuss everything openly during the show."

Oprah was somewhat taken aback by Eric's candid attitude.

In her view, this was clearly the best strategy to handle the situation.

"That sounds great, Eric. The public is always more open to understanding someone who is honest and upfront."

Eric was aware of the pause in Oprah's voice; she was clearly trying to imply the word "forgiveness."

However, Eric had never considered that adhering to his principles, which often conflicted with public perception, would require him to seek someone's forgiveness -- that seemed rather pointless. He arranged this episode simply to communicate his position on certain matters; he didn't want anyone using this incident as leverage to harm the women and children in his life.

Of course, Eric didn't mind projecting a facade of seeking public forgiveness through the show. After all, public opinion was a very manipulable and powerful tool.

Eric's unexpected demeanor quickly helped Oprah nail down the tone for the episode. After discussing the finer points for over an hour, they all moved to the studio auditorium to begin the official recording of the episode.

...

On the West Coast in San Francisco.

At Sequoia Capital's headquarters, Don Valentine hung up from his call with Robert Iger and told a slender middle-aged man across from him, "Williams simply replied that he understood."

As one of the most influential venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Sequoia Capital was actually a coalition of over thirty investment funds. The man on the opposite side, Ronald Hill, was the head of one of their larger funds.

Hearing Don Valentine's words, Ronald Hill realized that Eric clearly had no intention of accepting the apology.

Adjusting his tie, Ronald spoke nervously, "What more does he want? In just one morning, to maintain the Nasdaq index, the entire new tech sector has at least poured in 3 billion dollars. Does he think that's not enough?"

Don Valentine placed the phone back onto the receiver, saying, "Ronald, complaining won't help. You should focus on damage control. I still don't understand why you invested in such a troublesome website."

"Adam Wimbrey, the founder of that site, was my classmate in high school. He initially pitched the idea to me, and I thought it was good. Plus, it only required $2 million to secure a 70% stake, so I agreed," Ronald explained with a forced smile.

"Did you know about this in advance?"

"Of course not! If I had known, I would have absolutely prevented that fool from going ahead. This is Eric Williams we're talking about. I'd rather that fool provoke the president."

"So, what you're saying," Don Valentine tapped his fingers on the desk, "is that you're not particularly close with Adam Wimbrey?"

"Right now, I wish I had never met that person."

"That simplifies matters," Don nodded, his tone serious. "Ronald, if you don't want to be implicated, you need to get to the bottom of this. Adam Wimbrey clearly didn't do this for no reason. Also, until this matter is resolved, I hope you can temporarily step down as the manager of the LH fund."

Though Don's tone was mild, Ronald Hill instantly understood that he was being pushed out of Sequoia Capital, which was a hundred times worse than he had imagined. He had worked for eight years to get to where he was today, managing a fund with over a billion dollars under Sequoia Capital. Leaving the firm, Ronald had no idea if he would have the courage to start over.

Suddenly standing up, Ronald Hill stared at the solid wood desk in silence for a moment, his expression shifting emotionally before he finally spoke, some plea in his voice, "Don, it doesn't have to be this way."

"Sorry, Ronald," Don also stood up, turning to pat Ronald Hill on the shoulder, leaning against the desk with an air of regret. "The timing is sensitive. We can't risk even a hint of being targeted by the Firefly Group. You should know this is a behemoth with capital nearing $1 trillion. $1 trillion -- this is equivalent to one-ninth of the North American economy, and no one dares to confront such a capital giant. If Eric Williams had announced a sell-off this morning, we would all be finished. But you just heard, he doesn't plan to let this go."

"But this really has nothing to do with me."

"When children make mistakes, adults often bear the responsibility," Don again placed a hand on Ronald Hill's shoulder, saying, "If I were you, the first thing I would do is shut down that website and investigate everything thoroughly, proactively providing a report to Eric Williams."

"Don, I can do that, but can you please hold off on announcing my departure from the company for now?"

Don shook his head again. "I will have Deborah issue your resignation notice soon. Ronald, stay strong. You already have a net worth exceeding $30 million. Even after leaving Sequoia, you can still pursue your own ventures. However, I believe your top priority should be handling this matter properly. That's all for now; I have another meeting to attend. Take some time to calm down."

With that, Don Valentine left the office without hesitation, leaving Ronald Hill standing there dazed.

...

After the downturn at market open and the fluctuations of the morning, the Nasdaq index slowly rose throughout the afternoon.

By the end of trading, the Nasdaq index had surged to a high of 3,526 points.

Moreover, many investors noticed a rather peculiar phenomenon immediately.

Within the Nasdaq market, in contrast to most tech stocks that barely maintained their prices and hadn't dipped during the morning's fluctuations, the stocks of Firefly Group's companies like Yahoo, Cisco, Amazon, and Qualcomm all saw significant gains.

Among them, Yahoo's stock price skyrocketed by an astonishing 6.1% in one day, with its market value climbing from $132.6 billion at open to $140.7 billion, marking a daily gain of $8.1 billion. Similarly, Cisco's market value reached a new high, ending the day at $295.6 billion, just a step away from the $300 billion mark.

Statistics showed that this single-day increase boosted the total asset size controlled by the Firefly Group by $57 billion, adding more than $11 billion to Eric's personal net worth.

Thus, by the evening, television news programs and internet media across North America were once again commenting on the wave of new technology.

...

On the other hand, although news of Eric Williams' illegitimate children had spread among the public, the response wasn't as intense as one might have expected. Most traditional media, along with the nearly silenced internet platforms, showed a remarkably indifferent attitude towards the situation.

Of course, there were still questioning voices.

CNN, belonging to Time Warner, contrarily produced a late-night talk show segment discussing whether Eric's suppressing of online media had affected freedom of the press.

This was, in fact, a very sensitive topic. For Americans who valued freedom, if this discussion gained traction, Eric's assault on press freedoms would likely spark more backlash than his scandal.

However, despite CNN's ulterior motives, the topic failed to garner widespread media frenzy.

In reality, most news events tend to escalate significantly only when the media draws attention to them. Similarly, without media involvement to fuel the fire, and lacking sufficient public discourse to steer the narrative, the public naturally perceives that the issue isn't significant at all. As a result, CNN's solitary bombshell turned into a dud.

*****

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